Torquay United Fans Forum

4-4-2: always hated it; a disastrous formation for us. We should be going with 4-3-3 or 4-2-4 or even the good old-fashioned 3-2-5 (or was it 2-3-5..?). But, given our now desperate situation, perhaps we really ought to be trying something new, such as 5-0-5 or 3-2-3-2 or 3-2-1-4...?

austrianandygull

I think at home from what little i have seen this season we are more offensive than we are away

Very much so Andy, in fact if you look below the play off places there is only one side (Chesterfield) who have scored more goals at home than us.
Despite this there was (unfortunately in my opinion) a clamour amongst supporters for a change of formation to 4-4-2. A system I don't think Lingy particularly liked or believed in, a system the players haven't adapted well to, and a system that doesn't suit Rene Howe in the slightest and he looks more fed up match by match that he has to play it, and of course a system that has seen the goals dry up almost completely.

As another thread mentions, you can probably have the 4-4-2 system you want but the price you pay for it is losing a lot of Rene Howe's effectiveness. Let's just hope that by the end of the season we don't look back on the change to 4-4-2 and think it proved to be a very costly change that some may regret asking for. I'm sure Alan Knill will do his best to try and bring in the players who might help make it work.

RN Gull wrote:Our problem at home is giving away silly goals, by defending too deeply and not being offensive enough. Away from home we are pretty sound defensively but cannot score. If we can sort CM out we should be able to win at least 5 of our remaining games.

Pretty much the way i see it RN. These have been the issues right the way through the season though yet still we seem incapable of changing. I think at home from what little i have seen this season we are more offensive than we are away but struggle to finish off teams when we have our good periods and like you say, we alwyas seem to get punished by a sloppy goal or something. Away we are ultra negative on the whole and won't score many by playing that way. I still think we need a couple of strikers too.

Our problem at home is giving away silly goals, by defending too deeply and not being offensive enough. Away from home we are pretty sound defensively but cannot score. If we can sort CM out we should be able to win at least 5 of our remaining games.

austrianandygull

we generally don't look like keeping a clean sheet away

It's certainly quite true that our defence has looked a bit rocky in away games at times this season, and I think Alan Knill might try to bring in a further defensive player if he can. But despite our bad form throughout February we should remember that there are only 2 teams in the whole of the division who have conceded fewer goals away from home than us.

Plenty of tough away games to go and an ability to shut the opposition out will be a big help in our struggle for survival.

The thing is IMO, we will not win any of our remaining away games. We don't look like scoring away, we generally don't look like keeping a clean sheet away and we certainly don't look like winning away. The Daggers game is a possibility for an unexpected win but defeats at Northampton, Southend, Gillingham and probably Morecambe are on the cards. That leaves us with our home games (above). I'd say under normal circumstances they are all winnable but we aren't playing them under normal circumstances. Given that Chesterfield up until they scored at Dagenham on saturday had the worst away scoring record in the division with us ( now it IS us ), then i would consider we could nick a 1-0 against them. York are hit and miss but are likely to have a new manager in and that always means a sudden upturn in fortunes unless you're a Torquay new manager. I think everything points to certain relegation and i just don't see any way out now. We HAVE to beat Oxford and i'll give us a squeak that we can get some confidence back and maybe pull out a few more wins from somewhere but the longer it goes on and the more games come and go it becomes increasingly apparent that we are heading out of the football league. We need to win at least half of those home games and maybe squeak a few draws away. I can't see that happening in a million years unless some new faces are brought in asap.

Just had a look at our remaining home games

Torquay v Oxford Utd Sat 9 Mar
Torquay v Chesterfield Tue 19 Mar
Torquay v York Sat 23 Mar
Torquay v Bradford Mon 1 Apr
Torquay v Barnet Sat 13 Apr
Torquay v Bristol Rovers Sat 27 Apr

Some big games in there espcially York and Barnet, if we got 50points i think we will be safe, we only need 12 more, win those 2 and we are half way there!!

couple of loanee additions and lets make plainmoor more of a fortress and secure our league status!!