League 2 : Torquay United v Swindon Town

[stevegull]

Matt, I do think you raise an interesting points about trying youngsters instead of having the likes of McPhee picking up a hefty wage packet for sitting on the bench. I think we should give our youngsters a chance, and while Ling has said he is happy to give some of them a go, i don't think any of our youth players have played this season, with just Halpin and Yeoman sitting on the bench occassionally.

At least when you're brining on a youngster you will also get a 'trier' and it will inevitably help them improve as a football. Because if one thing has been proved about developing youth players, they need game time.

Over and out.

[Wisconsin_gull]

And we wouldn't have to pay for a yellow shirt.

Thanks Matt, you may have saved a life with this note...upon reading it I ran to the cupboard and checked on the sell by date for my 2 tins of Birds Custard...
'My old boots, Jul and Aug 2006
Thought the custard tasted a little J Arthur when I had it with my Christmas pud on boxing day

[Dutchgull]

I was at the game Matt so stop being so bloody condescending...."causing confusion" "lack of appreciation" who the feck do you think you are ?? ( ) As others have said Brett etc. He is not on a big earner he will come on and give his all . Granted he didn't perform well against Swindon but are you suggesting Ray Spear would be a better alternative. I don't think so. Against the likes of Swindon would you really risk playing him and destroying his confidence ? Literally men against a boy. And I am pretty sure I know which supporters would be the first to have a go at him if he didn't measure up. I don't think Ray uprooted many trees at his recent spell at Bideford so to plunge him in against a top of the table side would be madness unless we knew he was another Lee Sharpe which unfortunately I don't think he is. Bring him on if we are a couple of goals up and its near the end of a game possibly no problem with that. I am sure Mr Ling knows more about his players than us and for one would trust his judgement above mine and yours in this situation.

From the youth and reserve games in which I have seen Ray I would strongly advise him to curb the "nasty" streak that he has. I have seen him commit needless fouls which if he did it against the big boys he wouldn't last long.

I am sure that Ashley Yeoman our other young pro is thought of in a similar way and will get his chance but again when the situation is right for him and the team

Matt Its a shame that you have such a high opinion of your opinions. Sorry but I am often so irritated by so much of what you have recently posted that I prefer Brucie thats how bad its got.

[ferrarilover]

He couldn't have been any bloody worse. McPhee touched the ball two times and made an absolute cake and arse of it two times. That's a 100% failure rate (aaah, if only my maths teacher could see me now).

I have accepted now that he is fine and dandy as a squad filler and that he will most certainly give it his best shot, but my assertion is that that really isn't acceptable for any profession, football included. No one, as yet, seems to have offered any real counter to this other than the repeated mantra which seems to be that it is ok for him to be a bit of a have-a-go-Henry just because he isn't earning mega bucks. To give a complete solution, I suggest the youngsters, who certainly will try equally as hard, and earn equally as little, so unless they are equally as hopeless, then we are better off. Does no one else follow this logic, as Terry Wogan would say, is it me?

Also, there's no need to have a pop. I am certainly not interested whether or not you find me condescending, and I did say that I wasn't having a go when I mentioned about the confusion that was caused, I was, in point of fact, taking responsibility for it.

Matt.

[Southampton Gull]

Isn't it strange, someone who you deem so useless can score away at Accrington the week before. Of course we have to accept that you could have scored it wearing your mothers Xmas present lingerie and your Thomas the Tank dressing gown.

Give it up Matt, you're appearing like a demented chicken running back and forth across the M5.

[cambgull]

A bit like this, SG?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ac_0CljZLs

[brucie]

Soton/Scott - In answer to your questions, I have seen Mcphee play many times in his previous spell here and also saw him in a pre season friendly at Tiverton.
In his own words (not mine) - he stated that he was a far better player than when he left Plainmoor last time.
In an earlier match this season, the radio devon summariser (the travel bloke, can't remember his name) stated that Mcphee "wasn't league standard".
Who said I didn't listen to the Swindon match - I did. Even Ross Reid, who seems to love everybody was berating Mcphee when he came on.
What you need from a striker who comes on with ten minutes to go is to run around like buggery, make a nuisance of himself and hold the bloody ball up.
After all you do have a head start - the other players have been running around for 80 minutes or more so it cannot be too difficult.
So allthough I wasn't at the game judging by the radio commentary and the comments on here, it is surely a reasonable assumption that Mcphee was a complete liability when he came on.
Anyway will be at the Oxford game and the Plymouth match - the proviso for the latter being that we don't pick up any injuries and there is no possibility of the clown starting, otherwise I will save my money and stay home.

[Gulliball]

I personaly think Ellis has been fantastic since his recall, however today i really dont get how he got man of the match , or so many votes on the poll on this site, 3 sliced clearences, he can consider himself lucky not to have scored another bizare own goal today, and caught out of position time and time again today , and let Connell get goal side of him, and whether he fouled him or, when the lino gave it, under the rules he should have gone.

Yep he play's with his heart on his sleeve, and an agrression we all love, however there are times when we need to take our Ellis blinkers off, and today is one of those times.

Personally I think that's harsh. He was up against one of the best forward lines in the division, especially when you take substitutions into account and the fact that they used 6 forwards over the match, and I thought he handled them very well. One of the guys must have been 6 foot 6, but he won his share in the air and held his own in the physical battle. When he went off at half time and the faster, smaller forwards came on there was a completely different challenged posed and they didn't create many chances over the 90 minutes.

I'd agree with the comment on sliced clearances. He must have completely sliced or mis-kicked three clearances when forced to use his left foot, definitely something he needs to work on. But the yellow card was just a regular football incident, at least he stopped him before he got into the box and caused us a problem.

I had Lathrope as my man of the match for the work he did breaking up their attacks, but had Ellis in 2nd. It was a very good team performance, epsecially the first half, that was built on everyone playing well. Lathrope cut out a lot of attacks before they started, and Ellis & Robertson dealt with the rest, leaving Olejnik without too much to do. It was the first time I'd seen our new formation, but I can see why it's been working so well in recent months with the inclusion of Lathrope and Ellis.

[Colorado Gull]

I agree with everything Matt has said regarding Mcphee. He is useless, the first touch of the ball he had against Swindon I think he just ran it out of play! Then a few minutes later he had the best chance to run with the ball to the corner flag. But no Mcpoo runs straight into the Swindon defence and loses possession. Ok, his goal against Accrington was a good strike, but that doesn’t mean he is a good player? He can’t hold the ball up, he can’t run with the ball, he can’t take a player on without losing the ball; he can’t do a lot really. When he signed for us this season I said that I would give him a chance, I didn’t like him when he was here last I thought he was a poor player. Even though that’s how I felt I said I’d give him another chance and support him. He did well in pre season but other than that he has been poor. It is so frustrating because I want him to do well, but he just can’t perform to a league player’s standard.

[Southampton Gull]

Soton/Scott - In answer to your questions, I have seen Mcphee play many times in his previous spell here and also saw him in a pre season friendly at Tiverton.

This renders your opinion utterly worthless.

[ferrarilover]

Come off it Dave, you know full well that the argument about having scored a goal one week absolves all wrongdoing from other weeks won't wash, because it's poppycock.

Adolf Hitler once helped a little old lady across the street, doesn't excuse the Holocaust.

Matt.

[Southampton Gull]

He scored a good goal just a week before your allegation that he can't keep hold of a ball for more than a nano-second, in this instance I feel it totally balances out your conclusion...................

[Dave]

Personally I think that's harsh. He was up against one of the best forward lines in the division, especially when you take substitutions into account and the fact that they used 6 forwards over the match, and I thought he handled them very well. One of the guys must have been 6 foot 6, but he won his share in the air and held his own in the physical battle. When he went off at half time and the faster, smaller forwards came on there was a completely different challenged posed and they didn't create many chances over the 90 minutes.

I'd agree with the comment on sliced clearances. He must have completely sliced or mis-kicked three clearances when forced to use his left foot, definitely something he needs to work on. But the yellow card was just a regular football incident, at least he stopped him before he got into the box and caused us a problem.

I had Lathrope as my man of the match for the work he did breaking up their attacks, but had Ellis in 2nd. It was a very good team performance, epsecially the first half, that was built on everyone playing well. Lathrope cut out a lot of attacks before they started, and Ellis & Robertson dealt with the rest, leaving Olejnik without too much to do. It was the first time I'd seen our new formation, but I can see why it's been working so well in recent months with the inclusion of Lathrope and Ellis.

Valid points well made, however i was right in line with the penalty area second half, yes the whole back line were given a torrid time second half, i can forgive the sliced clearances that can happen to the best of them, what i cant was the number of times he was out of position, and atleast 4 times he let one of there forwards get the wrong side of him, having said that he has played very well since his recall, so maybe he should be forgiven.

Totaly agree on Lathrope, however diss-agree with what your saying regards Olejnik having nothing to do, i counted atleast 3 very good saves in the second half, plus he came out and clawed away corner with was so crucial, as there was a swindon player 5 yrds out who would have had a free and very easy header , i thought in the end Bobby O won us the points, and seeing the reaction of many of the team who ran striaght to Bobby at the end, think they would agree with me.

[ferrarilover]

He scored a good goal just a week before your allegation that he can't keep hold of a ball for more than a nano-second, in this instance I feel it totally balances out your conclusion...................

Not really, for a couple of reasons, chief among which is that we didn't ask him to score on Saturday, nothing like, merely show any basic control of the ball and retain possession, instead of doing the absolute and total opposite which is what he ended up doing.

IF he comes good in the end, then that's a bonus for all of us, but at the moment, he has been an absolute joke against Swindon, almost as bad against Shrewsbury, terrible in one other match he played (although the opposition escapes me) and to balance that, he has managed, finally, to score a solitary goal, for which we thank him, but it was, after all, little other than a consolation at the end of a dreadful match for TUFC.

I don't want him to fail, I will take no pleasure in being right about this, in my suggestion that he has given L2 football with us a crack and has fallen flat on his arse. I hope I am wrong, that he gets a few matches, scores a few goals and begins to contribute to the team, but I can see absolutely no evidence of that being likely, which is a very great shame.

Matt.

[Chris B]

Besides the two horrible, oft-mentioned moments, McPhee did actually control the ball and lay off passes with his back to goal on a couple of occasions. For me, his biggest failing was his total lack of pace. Instead of forcing the Swindon defenders into hurried and hopefully misplaced passes, his sluggishness allowed them time to play the ball as they pleased.

Whilst on the subject of our players' (in)ability to hold the ball, it'd be amiss not to mention what a great job LRT did on Monday.