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According to Dave Thomas Dawson is 6 weeks away from playing completely ludicrous as he seems to have been signed on whilst he needed an operation.

Of course Johnson and co want it kept quiet, I mean its a criminal waste of money. Da Silva is rumoured to be wearing a leg brace - so dont expect him to be back anytime soon.

Its all very well saying Collins hasnt hit any heights but why is he playing in central midfield? He looks the one player (as well as Jarvis) who might cause the opposition problems, so why not put him up font in preference to Ash who doesnt really look up to much.

desperado wrote: ↑17 Oct 2023, 12:52 What gets me is the watering of the pitch before the game. I get why they do it but it suits
the opposition more than us ! They are the ones who play the slick quick passing on the ground.
We play a mix of ground passing and long ball, the ground passing often resulting in the ball going backwards and ending up with a long ball anyway. Other teams seem to know exactly what they are doing whereas in our passing build up play, there is often that slight hesitation of 'who's in a good position to pass it to. We are ponderous and there doesn't seem to be that understanding that other teams have.

Somebody elsewhere sent a request that it was not watered quite as much on Saturday as the Protesters do not wish to slip over !

As for watering the pitch although I did not see much of it saturday the first maidstone match Halstead lost his footing numerous time, in fact on one occasion he threw up both his arms in frustration at the bench. I would not mind if we played fast football as a matter of course but usually that last for five minutes then back to our default hoof ball. As for collins in central midfield, it is another attempt by johnson to find someone out of the squad who can play and shore up the middle, such ,tactical decisions that should have made in pre season but either way collins is not the answer, its debateable if he has the ability but he certainly does not have the engine or drive for such a role,saturday he lost the ball on many occasions and made little or no attempt to recover the situation, that is not the hallmark of a midfielder.

desperado wrote: ↑17 Oct 2023, 12:52 What gets me is the watering of the pitch before the game. I get why they do it but it suits
the opposition more than us ! They are the ones who play the slick quick passing on the ground.
We play a mix of ground passing and long ball, the ground passing often resulting in the ball going backwards and ending up with a long ball anyway. Other teams seem to know exactly what they are doing whereas in our passing build up play, there is often that slight hesitation of 'who's in a good position to pass it to. We are ponderous and there doesn't seem to be that understanding that other teams have.

That's a very good point, because I bet they don't water the training pitch before a training session.

Not sure about watering the training ground.
Have a decent bit of rain ..and Seale Hayne is waterlogged !!

I agree about the pitch watering. I remember a few years ago when we watered so much at half time, the second half was delayed whilst they cleared puddles from the 6 yard box. Anyhow, we should have a pitch to suit our team.

I suppose they play Collins in midfield is for his energy ajd quality, but then we miss him further up the pitch.

Just imagine if we unveiled a few new signings before Saturday. I'm not holding my breath....

It's a strange one with Dawson, before he came to us Gloucester City weren't really playing him, was that because he was crocked all the time?, he obviously needed an op, but GJ is extremely tight lipped about anything "getting out" almost bordering paranoia at times....I've been a good few times this season, we do miss Dawson but personally I would of looked elsewhere and let him go, that's not knocking him, just his track record/age suggest he's injury prone otherwise I'm sure a league 2 club would of snapped him up.....I do actually feel sorry for GJ he knows the squad hasn't delivered like he thought it was going to, he can't dig them out and slaughter them, these players owe him, he's probably been over loyal, and stuck by them, but what he can't do is hang them out to dry-this is our squad ladies and gents and we have to deal with it, that means working on the training ground, application, professionalism and turning up up and having a go.. I was genuinely impressed on Saturday 1st half, we didn't deserve to be behind, but 2nd half we didn't show up at all, very disjointed and just disappointed with how we performed, I'm not a fan of GJ, but I actually believe he needs up till Christmas and let's see whereabouts we are then.

brucie wrote: ↑17 Oct 2023, 13:21 According to Dave Thomas Dawson is 6 weeks away from playing completely ludicrous as he seems to have been signed on whilst he needed an operation.

Of course Johnson and co want it kept quiet, I mean its a criminal waste of money. Da Silva is rumoured to be wearing a leg brace - so dont expect him to be back anytime soon.

Its all very well saying Collins hasnt hit any heights but why is he playing in central midfield? He looks the one player (as well as Jarvis) who might cause the opposition problems, so why not put him up font in preference to Ash who doesnt really look up to much.

I agree that Ash does not really look up to much, I thought he was going to rip this League apart. Seems rock bottom on confidence and not convinced he can partner Jarvis, maybe the next 3 games will prove different. If there are no incoming loans which looks likely maybe bench Ash and play Collins up top. With the lack of goals of late anything is worth a try.
Donnellan to midfield and Hanson Right back..what could possibly go wrong ?

Problem is all the players have something to give but they’re not the full package. Asa used to be, Mox used to be but the rest are playing here for a reason. Mc gavin is Jan Molby 25% of time. Jarvis is Giroud 25% of the time. As has been said a few 50% loans are needed fast.
Currently at England v Italy. Ain’t much better. If I bump in to Watkins I’ll see if he’s up for a loan move

Mr Tea808 wrote: ↑17 Oct 2023, 19:53 I was genuinely impressed on Saturday 1st half, we didn't deserve to be behind, but 2nd half we didn't show up at all, very disjointed and just disappointed with how we performed

We've yet to put in a 90 minute performance. The good half is actually an improvement on earlier in the season, when we were having spells of dominance lasting a whole ten minutes. Wouldn't be so bad if we were scoring when on top, but we haven't been.

Wolborough wrote: ↑16 Oct 2023, 17:30 We need a decent right back, left back and centre half. We need a pacey strong midfield player, we need a powerful centre forward. By not filling the glaring gaps was will continue to perform poorly, we will struggle to keep towards to top of the table.

Yeovil Town sign Exeter City forward Sonny Cox on loan.

Cheddargull wrote: ↑17 Oct 2023, 22:44 Yeovil Town sign Exeter City forward Sonny Cox on loan.

Sadly sums up where we are.
Doubt brother Johnson has even heard of him .
I am dreading Yeovil at home and have been since
Nouble joined them.

I was in Bristol on Monday and reading some on line comments from Bristol city, they seem to have as many proper right backs as we do midfielders, so much so they are loaning them out, one particular 20 year old already included in the the first team squad has been loaned to gloucester and another seems to be on the way to Bath or Yeovil. Is Bristol a step too far from the torquay dugout for pete Johnson to go have a look at their under 21's.

Just a quick comment on the watering thing, I went to watch Tivvy at Poole Town last night, the pitch was bordering on immaculate, no watering needed, Poole certainly passed it around happily without the water bill mounting up!