Exeter

[Gulliball]

It's pretty hard to argue with a 1-5 scoreline.

[tomogull]

well this was a strange one, we were 1-0 down at half time and to be fair we was playing with the same slickness and urgency as we did against Cheltenham. I think Exeter only had two shots in the first half obviously scoring with one of them but it was pretty even possibly Exeter shading it. Now comes the strange bit in the 2nd half we came out with a formation of 4,2,2,2 which just didn't work and we got slaughtered. we were in each others way had no width and what more can I say. I have never seen a team line up in this manor. we had a strong side out which was

Thompson

Hutchings Deaman Mackenzie Cruise
Craig Lathrope
Sullivan Thompson
Yeoman Benyon

final score was 5-1 to exeter

Thanks for this supergulls. On paper, this looks a decent enough line-up and it strikes me as being unfair to the players to change the formation at half time to a strange 4 2 2 2 (unless you're Brazil) when in your opinion, we were matching City in the first half. Surprised to see that Jack Deaman was in the line up. I thought he'd left the club as we hadn't heard any more about him. Does anyone know if he's signed? How did he play?

[supergulls]

He has been injured and has been recovering I think he rolled his ankle in training. He hasn't signed a contract he's still on trial

[tomogull]

He has been injured and has been recovering I think he rolled his ankle in training. He hasn't signed a contract he's still on trial

Ta Supergulls. Blimey - Deaman's trial is lasting longer than O. J. Simpson's.

[Richinns]

After getting done 5-1 cannot imagine anybody lining up in the back four came away feeling very positive about their first team prospects.

[ferrarilover]

To be honest, it all sounds as if this game was an experiment gone wrong. I'm not sure we need to worry too much. From what SuperGulls has said, first half we were alright, second half we tried some weird and wonderful nonsense and it all went Pete Tong. Didn't a youth team game featuring Dan Sullivan finish something like 16-0 to Cheltenham last year? Doesn't seem to have done him too much harm.

Matt

[Dave]

Maybe, maybe not, Matt. It would appear AK doesn't want to put this down as an experiment gone wrong, he appears to be upset with the commitment levels shown by the development team.

http://www.torquayunited.com/news/artic ... 20697.aspx

[Modgull]

Wow - he hasn't pulled any punches with that outburst!

[Lloyder5]

Yep, they should be quite clear about where they stand.

[chunkygull]

i dont know where my earlier post has gone, but, never mind.

AK in the article is mad about the fact that 1st half we were competing and 2nd half we capitulated but it does not mention the tinkering that was masterminded by him for the 2nd half in the form of an unusual formation, which is clearly why the side struggled.

although if he feels players did not put the effort in or did not do correctly what was asked of them, then he is right to have a go and the fringe players wont find themselves anywhere near the 1st team squad anytime soon.

[Southampton Gull]

Apologies mate. We had some downtime, presumably whilst being moved over to a new dedicated server. We can only load from the very latest backup so I suspect that's what caused your post to go missing. Hopefully it wasn't one of your lengthier ones.

The only other one I know of is from a disgruntled asswipe who wants his account deleted anyway

[Lloyder5]

i dont know where my earlier post has gone, but, never mind.

AK in the article is mad about the fact that 1st half we were competing and 2nd half we capitulated but it does not mention the tinkering that was masterminded by him for the 2nd half in the form of an unusual formation, which is clearly why the side struggled.

although if he feels players did not put the effort in or did not do correctly what was asked of them, then he is right to have a go and the fringe players wont find themselves anywhere near the 1st team squad anytime soon.

AK did say the following;
I wasnt the same team that played in the second half, I did try to tweak it and play a different shape, but that wasnt what made the difference.

[Dave]

We have a squad only 11 can start, any manager worth his salt should want those in the squad not in the starting 11 to be knocking on his door, and if he doesn't answer smashing the door down, wanting to know why and want they have to do to get into the front 11.

So it's up to to the every player to treat these games as thier big chance to show the manager what he is missing, if some have approached this game as a doss about at the cat/fiddle then they only have themselves to blame.

But then I would also ask is the manager handling the situation correctly. Nothing wrong with knoocking a player down, stripping him back to the bare metal so to speak, however to bring that player back to the level you want, you surely have to give the player real hope that his efforts will be rewarded with a first team start, otherwise you will get the point were a player gets frustrated and just thinks I have no chance what ever I do.

Messing around with the formation may have may it very difficult for some of the lads to perform at their best. However to balance that out you could also look at Martin rice and say, well there is a player who was left on the sidelines for and long, long time, worked hard waited for his chance and now is taking it.

Having 16 players all deserving a starting place can heap pressure and give the boss a massive headache, but surely a nice headache to have.

[Dave_Pougher]

Ok moving on,,,,

Was surprised to see a strong Yeovil side let Barnet do a job on them
Was impressed with Yeovil’s all round pitch presence when we played against them on that horrible boxing day