Torquay vs Macclesfield Match Thread

[Jeff]

Thank god thats over then. Sort it out Buckle, there is no point being "adaptable" if none of the formations generate a win.

[Northumbergull]

Keep it simple, Bucks.

Bruce

[bixieupnorth]

he thinks he;s chuffin tactical genius now hes won his first motm, stick with what we know paul please, 442 at home, no need to fanny about! really peeed off about that!

[Colorado Gull]

F***ing Useless! Can't believe today. Lost to Macclesfield at home 3-1! That was so crap today. Bev, what a howler. Eunan was the best by far. Gritt is bloody useless, touch of a donkey and speed of a snail! What was up with those subs? Eunan (our best player) off for Gritt. And Stevens (Our 2nd best player) on for Wayno. Why? Wayno at RB could not understand that, he looked so lost. Wroe needs to be dropped, but obviously he wont as he is captain. A bad excuse for a Captain, even a CM going from todays performance. Manse was hard but not great. All round rubbish today (Apart from Eunan & Danny/& Senda) Need to step up! Can't lose to Aldershot!

[brucie]

Best decision was that I didn't go again - Just goes to show what a quality player Ellis is. Normal guff from Buckle in his after match interview. We just don't have enough quality forwards - it looks as though Gritton is past his sell by date and Kee should be loaned out to Weston Super Mare.
Zebs and Benyon are both better playing off a target man than they are as a pairing.
Looks like we will be in for our normal relegation fight the way we are sliding down the table. Rubbish.

[Scott Brehaut]

Only our second loss of the season and people are already talking about us being embroiled in a relegation battle.

Seriously, some people need to get real, look at the league table and realise that we are only in September!!

[shaunicus]

Disappointing. No disrespect to Macc but regardless of where we are the table, games like this are ones we should be looking at and winning. As it is, we've missed out on a chance to go back to the top of the league. We certainly gave it a go and showed more going forward than we did against Accrington Stanley, but some sloppy defending cost us in the end.

I think Buckle's starting to believe his own hype with all the press he's been getting to be honest. We started 4-4-2, went to 4-4-1-1, then went 4-3-3 before throwing everyone forward at the end. He spoke during the week about the players being adaptable during the game but it's League Two for god's sake, just keep it simple. You don't need to be a tactical genius to do well at this level. When you're asking Guy Branston to bring the ball out of defence you know you're asking too much of your players.

Saying that, we weren't *too* bad today. We played some tidy stuff and looked good in the final third, and if Zeb scores instead of hiting the bar in the first few minutes we're probably talking about a different result. As it is it was our usually reliable defence that cost us - all three goals were entirely avoidable and very unlike us.

[brucie]

3-1 at home to Macclesfield isn't bad - it is appalling.

[shaunicus]

Yep, and at the other end of the scale, winning at Port Vale was probably just as unexpected. These results even themelves out.

[Colorado Gull]

3-1 at home to Macclesfield isn't bad - it is appalling.

Couldn't agree more! :evil: :evil:

[wivelgull]

Some information for today's absentees: If you had thoughts of promotion, prepare to shed them now. If the Accrington match was dire, this was even worse, especially after the first ten minutes which seemed so promising. But early missed chances proved disastrous for us; we had two early on, and then hardly anything at all. The first half was just about acceptable, while the second half was very poor indeed. For those of us who harboured deep suspicions about United's place in the higher reaches of the table, this match showed that those suspicions, hitherto kept silent, may now be voiced. Why on earth did we become so awful (nothing but long balls hopefully humped forward) after showing in the first ten minutes that we could produce decent movement? How did we become so bad in the space of a few minutes? I am not a football tactician by any means, but even I could see that what was happening on the field wasn't working, wasn't going to work, and never would work. Also it's becoming very clear (again) that certain players aren't really up to it. The attendance, falling, will be even worse on Tuesday night. I shall not be there. The thought of driving 100 miles on a dark night to watch what will quite possibly be the same dire stuff served up is not appealing. However, if we hope for a low to middle table placing at the end of the season we will not be disappointed.

My 5 star awards:

Bevan * and a half (the poorest showing by a United 'keeper for some time - get Poke back quickly!)
Senda ** (one or two decent touches, nine or ten bad touches. To blame for the first goal)
Nicholson *** and a half (works well with Stevens)
Branston *** (generally solid)
Robertson (every team needs 'The Big Boot' - and he is it)
Mansell *** (ok)
Wroe ** (is he up to Football League standard? Doubts are growing stronger)
Stevens *** and a half (on the whole a good game. When he an O'Kane went off, TUFC went to pieces)
O'Kane *** and a half (My MoM. Unusual for three and a half stars to get MoM - this shows the overall poor quality of the afternoon's performance)
Benyon ** (I have never been convinced)
Zebroski *** and a half (at least he's consistent)

Subs: Carlisle * and a half (oh dear - all pace gone)
Gritton ** (we would do much better with Sills on loan)

Back to square one, I'm afraid.

[wivelgull]

I should have given Robertson *** in my report.

[Colorado Gull]

It was so bad today but I don't think it is fair to say our promotion hopes are gone. We were sh*t we all know that, and were off the boil at the moment but as scottbrehaut said it's only September. We've got 38 games left to turn it around.

[shaunicus]

Why on earth did we become so awful (nothing but long balls hopefully humped forward) after showing in the first ten minutes that we could produce decent movement? How did we become so bad in the space of a few minutes?

Because the manager kept changing the formation, imo. Our players are playing at this level for a reason and don't have the tactical nous to keep changing things around.

For the record, I'd put the majority of blame on today's defeat down to Bucks. The substitutions were bizarre (O'Kane and Stevens were our best creative outlets) and badly timed too - in between Macc throw-ins and when they were building some momentum too.

[Scott Brehaut]

We won all our games last month, and got two points this month (and one game left).

14 points out of 24 so far. Does that really sound bad?

We are an inconsistant team!! End of!!