Torquay United v East Thurrock United 11/08/18

[desperado]

Hall and - Dickson, it is actually, poor!!? thought that was easily Halls best game, agree with Budegull
similarities to Hargreaves, esp the way he wins his headers and gets a foot in and he is sharpening
up with every game, dont expect a creative genius though
Dickson , I am sure would admit himself didnt have a good first half but much
better second half . Those two absolutely key players this season

[Richinns]

MacDonald - 6.5
Fantastic save in the second half but what was going on first half with his (non) quick distribution? When the penny dropped second half we flowed much better as a team. Three clean sheets in a row for him.

Wynter - 6.5
Some decent attacks down the right but distribution in the final third lacking threat. Solid enough defensively.

Sokolik - 6.5
Solid and distribution was OK out of defence. Hopefully the injury is not more knee issues.

Niate - 7
Imposing player and was solid. His distribution was also better than I expected. Horses for courses and he seems very suited for what we will be facing much of this year.

Cameron - 7
I liked what I saw from him. Defensively sound, very decent distribution and vocal in organising. Seems like a really good find.

Davis - 7.5
Streets ahead of this level of football. He made a few mistakes today but far and away our most threatening player. Amazed he did not have a better option than us.

Hall - 5.5
Does the ugly things well and therefore an essential part of the midfield but yesterday his passing was woeful. Hopefully just an off day on that side of things.

Dickson - 7.5
Indifferent first half but second half ran the midfield with complete class. A real coup and I doubt there will be a better quality of player than him in the division.

Nabi - 6.5
Tidy player but seemed to take one touch too many at times. Did the full ninety and has more to come.

Williams - 4.5
Not a good showing today. Often frustrating player to watch. Should have scored after 2 mins and in the second half took too long trying to get a shot off instead of a simple pass to Nabi for a tap in. We need more from him than that.

Keating - 7
A real confidence player. Average until he got the first goal and then very good after that. Gives 100% which Brett could learn from. Really pleased for him and hopefully the boost he needs.

SUBS:

Reid - 6
Not much time to show anything and nothing of note to report.

Regis - 6
Similar to Reid. Big fella so could be utilised as a target man should the need arise.

Banton - 6.5
Only had a few minutes but looked a threat in the small amount of time on the pitch. 

OVERALL:

Very sluggish first half and lucky to go in ahead. Much better in the second half but wasted many open opportunities by over complicating things when a simple final ball was all that was required. East Thurrock were there for the taking in the second half yesterday and we should of won by 4 or 5. Points wise a great start to the season but we need to sharpen up for us to continue this return percentage (especially upfront).

[Hammdog2601]

A few positives from the game, Think Owers is starting to see his best 11. Good to have a striker scoring goals, I hope he pushes on and carries on now. Glad that he took his chance with 2 hands.

Liam Davies was superb.

Would like to see Wright on the bench for Reid. Not sure how many more chances Owers
Can give him.

Anyone know how bad Sololik injury is?

[Taelee73]

Oooooo, gossip, what was said, do tell, you cant say something like that and not follow it up with some info.

I said he talked a lot, didn't say it was interesting !
You know when you go round a mates or relatives house to watch football, you like BBC commentary and they have itv on ?
starts every sentence with "I'll tell you what", and there are a lot of sentences (the other two guys with him didn't get a word in)
TBH he just gave a match commentary, with opinions on players and what they should be doing and where on the pitch.
I guess it was interesting to hear what footballers talk about, mostly football !
The one thing he said about his future at Tufc I think we all alread know, so no need to say it.
And should of recognised konchelsky. Fair play dropping down the leagues to keep playing.

[madgull]

Hall and - Dickson, it is actually, poor!!? thought that was easily Halls best game, agree with Budegull
similarities to Hargreaves, esp the way he wins his headers and gets a foot in and he is sharpening
up with every game, dont expect a creative genius though
Dickson , I am sure would admit himself didnt have a good first half but much
better second half . Those two absolutely key players this season

I swear people have terrible memories. Hargreaves: he was tall, yes, but also one of the worst players in the air I think I have ever seen. Consistently mistimed his jumps and very, VERY rarely won headers, even against shorter opposition.

[Gulliball]

Think we are remembering different players then. Hargreaves was very good in the air. Our routine from every corner was Nicholson delivery to the far post, Hargreaves heads back across goal and someone puts it in. We scored a lot from set-pieces in that time, because of the quality of Nicholson's corners and Hargreaves and others being good in the air.

Also remember him being good at winning the high balls in midfield from a standing start.

[Dave]

Just to pick up on a few points. Personally have no problems with McDonald the goalkeeper, other than his first half distribution, was far to slow, the wing back system we play in my opinion is built around counter attacking, so the ball has to come out from the keeper quickly to allow the team to play out from the back, anyone who saw Bass in pre-season would have seen a world of difference in the speed of distribution between the two keepers.

First half he held onto the ball despite both wing backs available, and the thing more than a few of our players need to learn and quickly is, players at this will not give you time or space to play with the ball, so time and time again McDonald was forced to kick it long rendering our own system pretty much ineffective, thankfully as pointed out he was getting the ball out a lot quicker after the break, and difference in our teams performance was night and day.

Don't see the point in comparing any two players to be honest, Hall is Hall, Hargreaves is Hargreaves, but often with all of us fans it's easy to miss what a player does do for the team, I don't think Hall was poor, seems to tad slow however, but it did strike me yesterday, as soon as Hall was dropped back into defence, how the pendulum swung back into East Thurrock's favour, and they almost straight away got more joy in the middle of the park, spoke volumes to me, as to Hall's contribution in the middle.


Brett Williams, this discussion will come up all through out the season, and again for me it's about what type of player he is, and what type of player the manager wants, if your main priority is to have players that run and run, then Williams isn't your man, we know he can score goals for fun, but also needs a certain type of service, like Sill's for instance, did Williams get that service yesterday, not so sure, but if opposition managers are identifying him as the main goal threat, then maybe his presence on the park will be the very thing that creates opportunities for Keating and others.

[6667GULL]

Take the captaincy away from Williams as he certainly isn't a captain.
On the showings so far give it to Cameron.

[Jerry]

but it did strike me yesterday, as soon as Hall was dropped back into defence, how the pendulum swung back into East Thurrock's favour, and they almost straight away got more joy in the middle of the park, spoke volumes to me, as to Hall's contribution in the middle.

As Joni Mitchell sang "you don't know what you've got till it's gone". Easy to miss Hall's contributions to the side but, as forever says, you certainly saw the difference when he went back to centre half. Thought he did a good job filling in back there as well.

[__quiet__gull]

Just to pick up on a few points. Personally have no problems with McDonald the goalkeeper, other than his first half distribution, was far to slow, the wing back system we play in my opinion is built around counter attacking, so the ball has to come out from the keeper quickly to allow the team to play out from the back, anyone who saw Bass in pre-season would have seen a world of difference in the speed of distribution between the two keepers.

First half he held onto the ball despite both wing backs available, and the thing more than a few of our players need to learn and quickly is, players at this will not give you time or space to play with the ball, so time and time again McDonald was forced to kick it long rendering our own system pretty much ineffective, thankfully as pointed out he was getting the ball out a lot quicker after the break, and difference in our teams performance was night and day.

Don't see the point in comparing any two players to be honest, Hall is Hall, Hargreaves is Hargreaves, but often with all of us fans it's easy to miss what a player does do for the team, I don't think Hall was poor, seems to tad slow however, but it did strike me yesterday, as soon as Hall was dropped back into defence, how the pendulum swung back into East Thurrock's favour, and they almost straight away got more joy in the middle of the park, spoke volumes to me, as to Hall's contribution in the middle.


Brett Williams, this discussion will come up all through out the season, and again for me it's about what type of player he is, and what type of player the manager wants, if your main priority is to have players that run and run, then Williams isn't your man, we know he can score goals for fun, but also needs a certain type of service, like Sill's for instance, did Williams get that service yesterday, not so sure, but if opposition managers are identifying him as the main goal threat, then maybe his presence on the park will be the very thing that creates opportunities for Keating and others.

This post makes total sense, Hall is great for this team - try reading between the lines

MacDonald, poor bloke, wouldn't matter if he went all season without conceding, people would still moan.

Brett is Brett, marmite... I am a big fan!

Great post - forever....

[__quiet__gull]

Take the captaincy away from Williams as he certainly isn't a captain.
On the showings so far give it to Cameron.

Substance? Don't get this post at all.... Why take it from Brett? Because he hasn't scored 3 every game? Because he is 'lazy' - apparently!

Yep, give it to Cameron, how old is he?