National League Torquay United v Dagenham & Redbridge Plainmoor 15/12/20 7.45pm KO

[davethegull2]

If we were going to lose a game I would prefer it was to D&R rather than one of our perceived rivals for promotion. We have had some games where the luck went for us, so some balancing out was due. The other teams are playing catchup. GJ will use this defeat to our advantage and plant the lads feet firmly back on the ground. I'm glad we have an 11 day gap now to the Yeovil game to regroup and get some of our wounded back to fitness. The Trophy game is an opportunity to hone our forwards finishing skills and rest a few. I wonder if GJ will risk Little in what could be an agricultural type of contest.

[SBP]

To me it was certainly a game of two halves. The first half the Dagenham front 3 tore us apart. Our full backs Cameron and Buse couldnt deal with them. The main defensive job of a full back is to stop the cross and we failed several times. Warren was struggling with there centre forward and it was very poor defensively. We could not get a grip with the midfield and that affected our passing and it was just very very poor. I thought at the break we were lucky not to be 2 down.
I do have some sympathy with Buse, he s not a right back and he's had very little football so it was a gamble that didnt pay off. Cameron is far more familiar with playing in that role and when he watches the highlights i think he will be disappointed.
I couldnt see the sending off from over in the pop side however looking at the players reaction it appeared a correct one.
Then in the second half with the formation change it was like the charge of the light brigade, wave after wave of attack, how many corners did we have??I dont know if it was just bad luck or we are just missing that quality but all in all honesty we could have been playing until today and we wouldn't have scored.
So fair play to Dagenham who defended with everything.
GJ will reflect however the players never stopped trying and gave everything until the whistle.

[desperado]

We were never going to run away with this league and be 10 -12 points clear. Can't complain about the second half when we started passing but the first half was too much long ball especially from MacDonald ! and we didn't play our usual game . Never makes it easier when you play against 10 men, need the ball to fall to you and a bit of luck when there is that many players in the box and it just wasn't our night, and you could sense that during the second half.
Can't afford a third winless match though

[standupsitdown]

I don't know why we played so many long balls in the first half. I wonder if MacDonald had been told to kick it long or just thought he'd make use of the wind - which took the ball over Dagenham's goal line.

Second half we were better but it's hard to break down such a massed defence and the ball just didn't run for us.

Can't fault the players' effort though.

[Whydoibother]

Despite all these wonderful attacking players we are still missing the target far too many times. Last night second half there keeper only had a couple to make . In the Maidenhead game we should have been 4 up at half time . We always concede one at home. Wrexham the same a free header a d one other shot on target. Dover should have been 5 or 6 but only 2 nil in the end.

We have to be ruthless at home for sure as concede one every game usually.

Here is hoping we score plenty against Yeovil. We certainly owe them one for last xmas

[exilegull]

A weakened defence combined with just one of those days going forward I think - Cameron should really have scored when he hit the post and Wright had 2 or 3 golden chances where either the ball wouldn't quite fall, or he didn't get the clean touch needed, where on another day he might have had a goal or two.

Having said that, one of my concerns after the first handful of matches would be whether we could score enough - the strong run seemed to put that to bed, but it is back there again. Evans combines so well with Whitfield and Nemane on both flanks and we have a lot of possession there, but then Wright is often left in the box on his own and i can't help think Evans should be the one arriving from midfield in the centre to support, but he can't be everywhere (although does make a good go of it!)

A couple of positives from last night - despite the recent run of games and knocks picked up, Whitfield, Nemane and Evans all looked very sharp. Little also looked really sharp and really good when he came on, directed a lot of the play and constructed some really nice moves.

[portugull]

I know we were playing against 10 men in the second half but we were absolutely dominant.
In the first half against Maidenhead we had 30 plus attempts on goal,15 on target, but scored just 2 goals.
Last night in the 6 yard box we failed to be clinical so many times I lost count. Sometimes that is just down to the run of the ball.
Sometimes a team creates 4 chances and converts every one. Last night as some have said we could have played another hour and not scored.
We do have plenty of quality but to me Danny Wright, and I know he scored a wonderful hat trick at Hartlepool, gets plenty of chances but his actual conversion rate is poor.
Despite a terrific run which sees us Top of the League we have scored 27 goals 1.93 per game. This average compares very favourably with other teams in our League but given our quality I am sure Gary will feel we have under achieved when it comes to taking our chances.
I am not moaning as we have played some wonderful football to get in this position but we just need to sharpen up in the box.

[culmstockgull]

I agree with the comments regarding our forwards, on paper they should be one of the strongest in the league, we must accept that Wright is never going to be a 90 minute man, last night being a rare exception, Umerah being the alternative coming on with Waters, although Wright and Waters know each other far better from their time at Cheltenham, my concern certainly over the last four matches is not our ability to create chances, quite the reverse but our ability to convert those chances into goals, now that same ratio becomes really poor. We have started the season well,with all the injuries our goals per game has come down to less than two. There was a lot of commentary talk last night about Nemane being given a free ranging role,he has undoubted talent going forward , but nil at defending and as soon as reaches the opposition penalty area he invariably makes the wrong choice. If anyone should have a free running role it is Evans who has a final product and better vision but we expect too much of him at times. We have a reasonable Christmas fixture list but if you look at January it is a very different matter with Solihull, Sutton and Notts county where if we squandered chances as we did last night I do see us getting a point from those games.

[DWB]

I agree with the comments regarding our forwards, on paper they should be one of the strongest in the league, we must accept that Wright is never going to be a 90 minute man, last night being a rare exception, Umerah being the alternative coming on with Waters, although Wright and Waters know each other far better from their time at Cheltenham, my concern certainly over the last four matches is not our ability to create chances, quite the reverse but our ability to convert those chances into goals, now that same ratio becomes really poor. We have started the season well,with all the injuries our goals per game has come down to less than two. There was a lot of commentary talk last night about Nemane being given a free ranging role,he has undoubted talent going forward , but nil at defending and as soon as reaches the opposition penalty area he invariably makes the wrong choice. If anyone should have a free running role it is Evans who has a final product and better vision but we expect too much of him at times. We have a reasonable Christmas fixture list but if you look at January it is a very different matter with Solihull, Sutton and Notts county where if we squandered chances as we did last night I do see us getting a point from those games.

Great observations and agree with all you have said. I mentioned last season that I thought there was a footballer in Nemane and I still feel the same, he has come on a lot from last season and think that he will start to make the ‘right’ decisions re his final ball. There was one incident in the second halve in their penalty area that was memorising, just didn’t result in a goal. I would be a lot more concerned if we were not creating chances.
Just a thought, and I am certainly not one for going back in time, but what if Jamie was still with us would he be converting more of these chances!!!

[exilegull]

There was a lot of commentary talk last night about Nemane being given a free ranging role,he has undoubted talent going forward , but nil at defending and as soon as reaches the opposition penalty area he invariably makes the wrong choice. If anyone should have a free running role it is Evans who has a final product and better vision but we expect too much of him at times.

Its funny how people watching the same games can have different views. As I see it Evans is the one with the free role, but its often that he ends up on the wing, forcing the wingers inside. If I were Johnson I'd be encouraging Evans to stay in the centre and either get in the box or be ready just outside and the wingers, (especially Nemane tbf) should be hugging the touchline and looking to get to the byeline.

I actually think Nemane works hard as well and tracks back very well.

Overall though its just a two game blip - one of the on a shoddy pitch against a team that battled extremely well and a harsh sending off and the other where the ball just didn't drop in the right place, when on another day three could have gone in.

If Little can stay fit and we can occasionally have at least one fullback on the pitch I'd be confident though, although who would make way for Little - I've been impressed with Randell, but I'd guess its him who would make way.

[desperado]

Guess the enforced changes didn't help us.
I know we had to find a new right back but could have kept Kerr and Cameron together and Andrews at left back and not changed 3 of the back 4 - I prefer him on the left side don't like him centre mid. Thought Randell played very well at right back second half.Looking at the highlights both Wright and Waters should have had 2 goals each.

[Louis]

Highlights