Saint Greavsie...?

[kevgull]

Stevens should go to Dorchester and prove himself whilst Craig is returned to the squad.
I don't think Hargreaves or Hodges have the nous to fully appraise the players abilities, whether this is a Torquay player or a potential loan signing.

Stick to the tried and tested method Chris and don't change a winning side!

KISS!
Keep It Simple........Stupid

[nickbrod]

As I've posted elsewhere, 15 games left so let's go down (as currently seems inevitable) all guns blazing. I would much rather lose 3-4 than a pathetic 0-1.
Newcastle Manager Pardew told his players before their match today that they were playing for their futures. Maybe ours should realize that Non-League football will mean many (most?) going onto the football scrapheap.
Thinking about it maybe Danny Stevens was brought in to tell the others what it's like to be out of football when nobody wants you!
Can it get any worse on Tuesday or could we all be surprised? 13 home goals from 15 games and 4 were in one match tells us why we are where we are.
Attack,attack,attack.

[ferrarilover]

Whatever accusations you level at Benyon, his work rate and desire can't be questioned.

Brilliant, we'll just write to the FA and ask them to exempt us from relegation because we tried really hard.

Bennerz, just like every single other one of our players this season, hasn't looked like scoring. It doesn't matter if he plays or Stevens plays or Mr **** Blobby plays, we don't ever look like scoring.

We had Accrington penned into their own penalty area for 15 straight minutes on Saturday. In all that time, I think we had one utterly dreadful shot from Chapell to show for it. Accrington got within 18 yards of our goal once in an hour and a half and they scored. It's just pathetic.

Matt.

[Fonda]

I'm very aware how the scoring in football works Matt, but thanks.

[lucy6lucy]

There is a possibility that the club have made an error in not providing Hargreaves with a mentor for this season but the die has been cast. Hargreaves has a promising managerial career ahead of him but it is being threatened to be derailed before he gets going because of the shambles he inherited possibly being too big a job for someone so inexperienced and with so little time to salvage the season.

The club failed by sticking with the previous manager for three months too long. We are stuck because of their inertia and lack of bravery when we still had a fighting chance. Many of us were suggesting this. For people to be turning against Hargreaves so quickly is nonsense after just SIX games when people were prepared to wait and wait for Knill to get it right, when he was a supposedly experienced manager.

Chris Hargreaves is our manager now and will be for the long-term. He cannot help what cards he has been dealt although the constant reshuffling doesn't help. However, the situation at Plainmoor is beyond crisis now and I suppose all that's left to do is try and rally behind whatever team is put out.

[Dave]

There is no way on this earth our current situation is the fault of Chris Hargreaves, thought he showed a bit of inexperience yesterday with the substitutes, which almost turned into an episode of the chuckle brothers, to me, to you, will he wont he bring them on saga.

The fault lies way, way above Mr Ling's, Mr Knill's and Mr Hargreaves head, all were badly let down by some one making decisions with nothing upstairs.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Agree Dave. The subs thing does annoy me though as it is common sense. If it's not working then change it around as soon as you can. Admittedly we have nothing much to change it around with but it's the little fundamental things like this that can help tip a game in our favour. Ok we may lose but we lost anyway. I'm 99% behind Chris but the subs issue is starting to p*ss me off a bit so I've knocked a percent off.

Be brave Chris!

[hector]

Whatever accusations you level at Benyon, his work rate and desire can't be questioned.

I don't think anyone is questioning his workrate - more his suitability for league football.

[hector]

Personally, I thought at the time that Paul Sturrock would have been an ideal mentor for Greavsie. His contacts and knowledge of the game at this level could have been invaluable. Seems a shame that someone like that, albeit with health issues, is sat at home just a few miles down the road ....while we continue to struggle. Not knocking the job that Greavsie is doing but you cannot buy experience and he doesn't have that.

Agreed - Sturrock running the show until the end of the season with CH to take over then, would probably have been the best option. However, I suspect, if that choice was presented to him, he may have taken the Northampton job, if he was offered sole control there - if indeed, he ever was offered the job there.

[hector]

Brilliant, we'll just write to the FA and ask them to exempt us from relegation because we tried really hard.

Bennerz, just like every single other one of our players this season, hasn't looked like scoring. It doesn't matter if he plays or Stevens plays or Mr f**king Blobby plays, we don't ever look like scoring.

We had Accrington penned into their own penalty area for 15 straight minutes on Saturday. In all that time, I think we had one utterly dreadful shot from Chapell to show for it. Accrington got within 18 yards of our goal once in an hour and a half and they scored. It's just pathetic.

Matt.

Indeed, and the only shot, with any real menace, fired by a Torquay player was one from just outside the penalty area in the 2nd half by Connor Wilkinson. In fact it was probably the first 'hard' shot we have hit all season.

[Scott Brehaut]

Whatever accusations you level at Benyon, his work rate and desire can't be questioned.

True - but the same could be said of Manse and, to a lesser extent, Nico....but there are plenty on here saying that it's not good enough.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Interesting that Scott.

Take Hawley. Workrate good, gets battered about a bit but no end product.

Bodin. Faffs about a bit, does a few tricks and puts in a shift now and then but no end product.

Benyon. Workrate superb but no end product.

Jordan Chappell. Likes to show for the ball and gets involved but no end product.

Lee Mansell. Gets stuck in and good workrate but no end product.

I could go on but won't. Scott is right. The only player we DO get workrate and an end product from is Pearce. Until that changes drastically we drop. Matt is right in a sense that workrate and effort alone aren't necessarily going to get us out of the poo and that is why I thought it unfair to pick out individuals like Mansell as if dropping him is suddenly going to be the answer. It's just semantics. We need creativity which we haven't got and strikers who make dangerous runs which we haven't got. What we DO have is predictability and we are so easy to play against that any team doing their homework can walk away from Plainmoor with the points.

[nickbrod]

Pearce is our only Football League player currently picked. Downes would be if he were selected.

[ferrarilover]

The Boards fault end of. They haven't got a clue about football. Lost the link when Colin Lee went. Look what he's achieving now.
Anyone blaming Hargreaves must be blind.

Bonkers attitude.

Matt.

[yellowforever]

Bonkers attitude.

Matt.

A bonkers overreaction indeed, although he has a point at the lack of 'football people' at the club.

Who in our set up has any experience in the professional football world in a management sense? Hargreaves for 2 months, Harrop for even less. The board are all businessmen, and no more. There's nothing wrong with having businessmen in charge of the club, but I think an experienced figure from the football world involved in the set up would be much better. I'm not saying we should pay a Colin Lee level of wage, but someone should be there.