Torquay United Fans Forum

Any updates at all?

My God were we poor.

Speiss getting a 2/10 would be generous - at fault for all 3 goals.

Only Courtney Richards can say he played as well as he could out of all those playing today - I thought he was terrific.

Marsh and Sheppard at least had a go when they came on, and Briscoe showed glimpses.

The rest barely even deserve a mention.

Jeff wrote:James Alabi who I think we had on trial in the summer (played in the Galmpton game) has signed for Ipswich. Quite a step!

... and scored tonight against Doncaster. Brilliant.

Ok now I've calmed down I feel better placed to make a few comments about last night's match.

We were the better team in the first half, and they were better in the second so I suppose a draw would have been a fair result, but they're not a bad team at all based on last night's showing. They pass it well and had a couple of tricky lads up front.

Our defence did very well on the whole - ExoGus put in a usual decent performance and the star man was once again Nathan Smith, who one day will be a top top defender. He reads the game so well and has terrific timing in tackles. He's also a lot stronger and better in the air than his size would suggest. We need to get him tied down for the season as he's way too good for this level, whether it's at centre-half or at right back.

Hurst had a really good first half, making clever passes and driving runs but I feel he tucks in a little too much, and in the second half it left us without a true wide option on the right. Butler worked very hard but couldn't produce a good enough delivery that often into the box, and when he did, there wasn't anyone attacking it. In all honesty I thought the system could and should have been changed in the second half. Woking doubled up on attacks in the wide areas and it became hard for the wing-backs, especially Butler who had two quick players against him, to defend without proper support. I would have liked us to perhaps bring off Hurst (who is still coming back into fitness and also was less effective in the second half) and bring on Sheppard. We could have returned to a 4-2-3-1 again with Smith shuffled across to right back, Sheppard ahead of him and then Briscoe on the left. Briscoe looked a little lost in the role he played last night, he didn't really have the fitness to get on the ball much as Woking's midfield was too quick and strong. Moving him out wide may have given him a bit more space, and he could have helped the full back out against Woking's quick overlaps.

Speiss could have been a bit stronger for their goal, but I think people calling for the return of Lavercombe are incredibly stupid. Speiss has done well this season so far and looks a very competent goalkeeper - the last thing we need to do is drop him after one mistake mid season, which would completely shatter his confidence. Some keep mentioning the 'resale' value of Lavercombe and don't seem to realise that Speiss could also be sold himself should it come to it. He's young and clearly a decent player.

I like Fisher up front, he's quick, strong and although his finishing was a little off he constantly caused trouble. He could have possibly got the goalscorer Yakubu sent off had Huxtable deemed the Woking player to have taken Fisher down through on goal. It wasn't a stone cold call for me, but on another day that decision may have gone our way. There's definitely a player there in Quigley - he's very strong and decent on the ball and in the air, but he needs to play and build a partnership with Fisher a bit more, as they seem on a different wavelength. They are both young though and see no reason for them not to build a good strike force as time goes on. I thought Carmichael and Richards were superb first half, both passing well and good at breaking up play.They struggled a little bit in the second half though as Woking seemed to out number and thus outpass us in the middle. Nevertheless they kept running trying to break up the play when they could, and I'm especially pleased for Courtney who is obviously a decent player but came under a lot of stick at the end of last season. He was messed around by the previous management and I'm delighted he's got his career back on track as he sounds like a good lad and a top pro.

Quick question - where was Fairhurst? I would have liked to have seen him last night coming on for Briscoe at the hour mark, as he was clearly out of steam and off the pace a bit. A couple mentioned that Fairhurst had previously played in a withdrawn striker number '10' role, and that perhaps was what we needed a little of last night. Heslop came on and looked totally off the pace. Woking's midfield was in full flow and Heslop had clearly not played much recently as he just couldn't get on the ball. He needs a few more weeks to get ready.

Second quick question - why didn't we use Sheppard earlier? Sure his end product could use a bit of work, but the only way to get Woking off the front foot was to offer our own bit of pace on the flanks, especially on the break.

Final word on the Referee and the sub controversy. Sometimes common sense prevails, and last night it did not. The referee's job is to uphold the laws of the game, but to also allow the game to proceed with the emphasis on the players and the match. As someone rightly pointed out, the best referees are the ones you don't notice. I don't doubt that it's a difficult job, but when you make decisions like he did last night you are only making it harder for yourself.

Can't really be bothered to write up a proper review.

First half we were better, second half we weren't brilliant and our heads went after the sub farce. We must have given him the wrong number and then the referee decided not to let us get away with it. He was poor throughout the second half really, missing the foul on Richards in the last minute, booking MacDonald for 'dissent' and sending off Cox.

O'Kane played pretty well I thought.

brucie wrote:Who cares ?

Me.

Yeah it's important to remember that the players we signed under Hargreaves were actually pretty good, and the calibre was certainly of a top 6 style. It was the mismanagement and lack of a good base from our players that got relegated that let us down.

Yep can only echo what others have said. We started poorly but grew into the game second half. We won't concede many goals this year, I'm certain of that and our success may well be dependent on whether we can find the winning formula up front. Playing Fisher on the wing is not that, and if this formation is going to be continued we need more genuine wide players at the club, as only Sheppard and maybe Briscoe offer this. Quigley I thought did ok up front, he won a few headers and will be a menace with his strength, but the problem is we needed to get a few players closer to him.

Overall, good game. Crowd a little disappointing but the atmosphere inside was the best we've had for a while - you get the feeling that everyone at the club is pulling together and that translated to the players; I think that's more valuable than an extra 200/300 on the gate. These players at the club now seem to be playing with far more heart and determination than most I've seen before, and that is refreshing seeing these young players working hard and trying to improve rather than some of Knill's dross waltzing around with their final payday. They'll get better, and so will we. I'm confident in Cox, we just need to give him and this young squad time.

Macclesfield will be alright this season. They have a few in the forward areas that can play, Holroyd, Dennis and Whittaker will be a handful for most teams.

Just a quick note to acknowledge Smith and his man of the match award - fully deserved and although ExoGus (that will catch on) were imperious in the centre, Smith dealt with the very pacy winger with ease.

torq2u wrote:I agree with Yellow. Rotten bad luck for Luke and the team.

By the way, Yellow, why not suspend the quote from Brucie in your signature - at least till 5pm tomorrow?

I could do, but it's just too funny to remove.

That is a proper blow...

Good luck Lukey, we're going to miss you.

I think they've lost a lot of their better players this season, including Fairhurst to us which is why they're less confident. They're very much in the same club as us in terms of them being an ex league club without the financial resources to throw around at the top of the league.

I think we'll win; I've seen enough from us pre-season that would lead me to believe we'll beat teams around Macclesfield's (perceived) level and with the fans very much behind the players, manager and the club I think we'll start aggressively and successfully. There won't be much in it though I don't think, but I fancy us to knick a tight game.

Torquay 1-0 Macclesfield, Briscoe with the goal.

On the matter of the gate, I think we'll be higher than some predict - 2,674.

Do we really have a 'relegation budget'?

Do Altrincham, Barrow, Boreham Wood, Braintree, Bromley, Guiseley and Welling have bigger budgets than us?

I see that FourFourTwo have given us the quite frankly ridiculous prediction of 19th for this season.

I went for 6th - 10th and just outside the play-offs. I imagine we'll be tough to beat and won't roll over for the smaller teams like we did last season, but that being said I'm not convinced we've got the quality up front for a promotion charge. Fairhurst could be good, but we still need another good goalscorer and figurehead up there. Kellerman and Young being out is a disappointing one too - and my prediction is also based on Young not being out for that long.