Chris B wrote:For all those advocating Ling's waiting game in the transfer market, and the club's general idea of 'consolidation', how will this work if we find ourselves back in the BSP? What we need from our manager is a vaguely proactive approach in terms of player recruitment - loan signgings, no bank-breaking fees - and a forward-thinking approach. Please stop telling us you're doing the same things as last year every time you hear a dissenting voice from the stands: we *don't* have last season's squad, and those methods are patently not working.
Having previously been reluctant to put too much pressure on Nathan Craig, Ling now seems willing to risk our place in the Football League, relying on the inexperienced Craig, Bodin, Thompson, Macklin and Yeoman to deliver.
nathan craig stood out when he played central midfield when lee mansell was suspended,suspension over and craig gets put on the right wing,what a waste.unfortunately it seems mr ling has his favourites.how creative has our midfield been since.also how bad does j.oastler have to be for leadbitter to get another chance,did well when when joe was suspended,has more pace and can actually cross the ball when in attacking situations,again one of mr lings favourites.at home we dont need two defensive midfield players,either mansell or easton has to be dropped.as a left full back would you rather defend against thompson with his pace and trickery or a left footed player who you know is going to cut in on his left with not as much pace,dificult one that.if we are now playing with two up front we need wingers who are going to get to the byline and get crosses in.rene needs to do his work in the penalty box,the times he wonders out wide,plays the ball back,cross comes in and we have danny stevens trying to outjump a 6ft defender.
Sometimes wonder why i support Torquay, after all i was born in Plymouth and have lived here all of my life. I get the impression that our club has no ambition, yet i still love Torquay. A return to the BSP though is something i never want to experience again. Time for the board and Ling to act!
For the first time this season, I am beginning to lose faith in Lingy. I know he's done a great job over the last few years but we have seen far too many s*it performances that I no longer want to listen in on a Saturday to rubbish each week.
I didn't listen today and whether today's performance was better than recents weeks doesn't interest me one bit. We still lost.
We are in a relegation scrap and we need to bring in a few loan signings ASAP. Can see us being humbled by City on Tuesday night.
Has Ling been on Radio Devon yet? Not sure I can bear to listen to any "lets be realistic, this is Torquay quotes" or "this time last year" I'm worried about THIS time THIS year Mr Ling. He had my support until very very recently but the Exeter game (or both of them) could prove to be a tipping point.
A good start Tuesday would be to change both full backs, Leadbitter and Cruise in, have Craig in the middle with Mansell as the enforcer experience needed, and put Thompson out wide, yes he is raw I know the only one at the moment with genuine pace and who is a winger this formation deos not work with out proper wingers.
Not a too bad post match from Lingy to be fair but regardless he didn't offer anything posative as to what he intends to do to change things. Fear a humilliation on Tues. What we are currently doing isn't working Mr ling.
I don't know quite where to go with this as out of the 9 or 10 away games i have seen today was by far the most adventurous and positive. We created quite a few DECENT chances and we should have scored more than the one. There were parts when we still were cautious going forward but overall i am more than happy with the performance. Horrendously sloppy play cost us again and we again come out of a game with nothing when at the very least we deserved a point. You can't legislate for bad defensive errors but it happened and we slip closer to the drop zone. Pokey again was immense and so was Downes, Stevens should be told that he actually has another foot and it may benefit his career if he learns to use it but overall progress on the field if not the result.
Strangely enough it was Pope Gregory the 9th inviting me for drinks aboard his steam yacht, the saucy sue currently wintering in montego bay with the England cricket team and the Balanese Goddess of plenty.
Just in and I'm at a loss to explain how we lost that. We played well, did more than enough to get a draw, perhaps even a win, but mystifyingly we managed to chuck it away.
The game took a while to get going, with both sides cagey and nervy, but after around 15 minutes the game came to life. Burton volleyed just over after a lack of communication between Downes and Poke presented them with the ball just inside the box, and at the other end Nathan Craig set Ryan Jarvis through on goal with a beautiful dinked through ball, but he could only find the side netting. It was pretty much end to end for the rest of the half, with Pokey pulling out a top draw save to tip over a curling effort from Maghoma, and Saah blocking a goal-bound effort from Zola. At the other end Rene managed to bustle his man off the ball, setting himself clean through on goal, before firing straight at the keeper.
Then came the goal on the stroke of half time. The corner came in from our left, Downes headed it on at the edge of the box and Jarvis turned it in. 0-0 would probably have been fair at half time but who cares. Did feel at the break like we needed a second goal to kill off the Brewers, and so it transpired.
We started the second half the brightest. Craig nearly caught the Burton keeper out with a looping free kick from 30 yards which the man between the sticks managed to just tip over, before Jarvis shot wide when clean through. We were made to rue those chances when Danny (who was utterly, utterly abysmal - more on that later) played Manse a hospital pass which was intercepted, and blasted home emphatically by Zola. Undeterred, the chances kept coming for us. Lathrope went close twice, before Rene, through on goal, shot straight at the keeper, and then had the rebound deflected a matter of inches wide.
But of course, on 84 minutes, the inevitable happened, and a deep free kick from our right seemed to sail straight over Poke and into the far corner. Undeserved, but not unexpected. Starting to worry about our freefalling down the table now.
Poke - 9 - My MOTM. Was absolutely outstanding. Dealt with every shot and cross that came his way, and once more pulled out some top drawer saves. Only stopped short of giving him a 10 as it looked like he was caught out for their winner, but I'd need to see it again.
Nicho - 7 - Did everything well. Had a pacey winger to deal with and did as best as he could, and managed to limit his effectiveness.
Downes - 9 - Outstanding. Nothing got past him.
Saah - 8 - Dealt manfully with Zola. As with Downes, did everything asked of him. Good to have him back.
Oastler - 7 - Quiet, as Burton offered no real threat down his side. Did his job well.
Manse - 6 - Subdued performance. Did nothing wrong, but didn't seem himself.
Lathrope - 7 - Put in some crucial tackles and had a couple of decent efforts on goal. Thought he did ok.
Craig - 7 - Not a winger by any stretch, but put in some great crosses from the flank, passed neatly, and was a danger from FK's.
Stevens - 2 - Hopeless. Couldn't find a teammate with a pass, continually bottled it and didn't go into tackles, and didn't take on his man once. More of a hindrance than a help, and gifted Burton an equaliser. I'm a fan of Stevens usually, but we'd have been better off with 10 men today.
Howe - 7 - Put himself about well, posed a threat and should have scored, but had to contend with Burton trying their hardest to get himself sent off.
Jarvis - 8 - Good return from Jarvy. Great to get on the scoresheet, made some great runs, and always did the right thing in possession. Quality.
SUBS:
Did nothing. Bodin failed to hit the target from 6/7 yards with a volley, and that was about it.
I was going to do my match ratings later MKGull but yours would be exactly the same as mine so thanks for saving me the job mate! Oh, and the ref WAS garbage too!
Strangely enough it was Pope Gregory the 9th inviting me for drinks aboard his steam yacht, the saucy sue currently wintering in montego bay with the England cricket team and the Balanese Goddess of plenty.
Didn't go to the game today, I didn't even bother listening to it on the radio. Checked the score at half time and saw that we were winning, but the reaction to the '1' being by our name and '0' by Burton's was a dull face and to the words 'we'll lose this'. Bingo, we end up losing the sodding game after being ahead and once again conceding late on. Alright, the guys that went to the game said that we played better, but we're still just not good enough!
Mr Ling, you're making yourself look like an idiot! LOOK AT THE FORMATION!! I first looked at the line up and thought 'oh, no Easton!! Oh that can only mean Craig in the middle, two wingers and two upfront'. Good old Lingy teased us all with no Easton and decided to drop our most impressive player (Yeoman) and put in another centre midfielder. I mean, is he deluded!? Alright, we've got Jarvis back now, I personally would have put him on the bench and played Yeoman, he deserves his place. But even so, playing Jarvis or Yeoman, play him up top with Howe, it isn't bloody rocket science is it! I may as well copy and paste my post about the games and submit it again, I say this every, sodding, week! 4-4-2, Craig and Mansell in the middle, Thompson and Stevens on the wing, Howe and Yeoman/Jarvis up front. I mean it's laughable how easy it is, I mean common Ling!!
Another thing, we do need some new faces through the loan market, just to help us with the injuries we've got and so we have more options in attack. I don't think we need a lot, well maybe we do with the formation Ling plays, but if we play to the formation which I go on about every week, we would only need one of two loans. My honest opinion, I think Lingy is too afraid to make any loans. Look what happened at Cambridge, he tried to make his team better with bringing in a load of players, it didn't work and he got the sack. I think Lingy knows our board cannot afford to sack him, wants to get on the good side of the board (what he didn't do at Cambridge), has said that he won't spend any of our money on players and he can work his 'magic' with the players we've got.
I am absolutely dreading the Exeter game in Tuesday, the grecians can surely not wait to play us, because frankly at the moment, we're going deeper into a dire state.
Feel better reading reports from those at the game. But I'm still looking nervously at the table. Come on mr Ling, save us please. This club means the world to us. We will be here long after you've gone.
Good post Danny. To be fair to Jarvis he did really well, especially after coming back from his injury and he scored and worked hard. I would probably have brought Yeoman on sooner but i can't really complain about Lings selection and i have to give him credit for it because i would have gone Yeoman to start but Jarvo scored and played well. I do agree that we need a fesh face upfront but i must bring discussions back to my thread i posted months ago directly after diamondgirl had posted the thread entitled GOALSCORING. THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!!
My thread was about not keeping clean sheets being what it's all about. We've scored in 7 of our last 8 games but we have only kept 3 clean sheets in our last 18 league games, not including Harrogate. Many goals have been caused by sloppy play and defensive errors and the stat shocks me as i think we have one of the stronger defensive units in the league. We need the extra striker because we generally need more than a goal to win a game nowadays.
Strangely enough it was Pope Gregory the 9th inviting me for drinks aboard his steam yacht, the saucy sue currently wintering in montego bay with the England cricket team and the Balanese Goddess of plenty.
austrianandygull wrote:I was going to do my match ratings later MKGull but yours would be exactly the same as mine so thanks for saving me the job mate! Oh, and the ref WAS garbage too!
Nice to know we both saw the game the same way mate!
Ref was atrocious. Wildly inconsistent, gave free kicks for the slightest contact, and was easily swayed by the home crowd. Rubbish!
dannyrvtufc4life wrote:Didn't go to the game today, I didn't even bother listening to it on the radio.
How can you post this, and then go on a rant about the formation etc when reports from those there (even the most negative poster of late Andy :na: ) state that we played well and didn't deserve to lose.
Because its not just this game is it? Its about all the others before this one, they've all been the same! We may have played better today, but the fact of the matter is we lost, we're not good enough, things need changing and the formation is one.
Oh, and the ref WAS garbage too! 
