Torquay United Fans Forum

On the positive side this was a much better footballing performance, and with new players to incorporate we looked much more like a team. However chances have to be taken, and again most of our attempts on goal were wide or high of the posts - the opening Eastleigh goal showed how tricky a low shot can be on a slippery surface - yes, it should have been saved, and, ironically, it probably would have been if the strike had been better hit.
It is misleading to say that Nicho, for all his passion, was a better manager because, under him and his assistant, our cohesion on the pitch was severely lacking; the first thing GO had to do was to get us more organised.
We did actually look like a unit yesterday - until the penalty miss, when we lost control and reverted to hopeful high balls which were easily repelled by a reinforced defensive back line. I agree that our substitutions and subsequent shape were questionable - the new winger hardly saw the ball and Dowling, who had been a bright spark going forwards, was a mere spectator out on the wing.
Basically Eastleigh were there for the taking, but at least they could shoot straight and not waste their few opportunities.

We'll only be in with a shout if we actually get more than the usual one or two attackers in the opposition penalty area; it's difficult to see how we expect to score when we do not attack en masse and build the pressure which enables other teams to score easily when the ball goes loose.
Our throws-in are invariably aimed up the line to two heads surrounded by four or five opponents - better teams take throws to feet and build on that possession.
We need a left-footed corner taker from the right wing to put in-swinging pressure on the keeper and defence.
We need to vary crosses into the box instead of just punting the ball at or beyond the far post in the hope that a forward might be there to score with a worldy bullet header.
And make the opposition keeper earn his money....
Or is this rocket science beyond us?

It might help us to score if we gambled enough to have more than one or two players in the opposition penalty area when attacking. It might also help if we were less static in the penalty box waiting for a hopeful cross in the air (who have we got who is going to plant a firm header in the net anyway?)- if we play two up front why is one of them not making a run to the near post for a possible tap-in on the deck? Against Maidenhead we were buzzing with movement and teamwork; against Dover and Hartlepool we have been static for throws-in and have thereby wasted both possession and attacking intent. Basic stuff really.
Btw, I thought Myrie-Williams did well at stand-in fullback, both defending and supporting the attack, but like the rest of the team became more anonymous in the second half as out teamwork and passing disintegrated.

One of the most disappointing aspects was the lack of tactical change when it was so obvious that long balls in the air to one target man were being easily picked off by the 3-man Dover central defence - we made some substitutions but still tried to go through the middle where Dover were so strong. Two of our subs were a little lacking in height against such defenders, so Keating should have been on much sooner to be alongside our other front man as we continued pump balls up the middle and to forget how we played and won so well against Maidenhead.
The Dover keeper came off the cleanest player on the field; how on earth did we expect to score on the day?
So we reach the stage where we need to win half of our remaining matches to avoid relegation oblivion - how can that happen if we cannot find a way to make realistic goal-scoring opportunities?

Wow indeed, what a transformation, congrats to the management team and to the squad. Everyone was involved on the pitch, good passing and intent, actually looking for the ball, a fluid 4-2-3-1 formation which gave the fullbacks licence to drive forward and to press the game, a back four keeping a high line and moving out together to catch forwards offside, terrific movement on set-pieces to pull apart a defence and to create scoring opportunities. Understandably the tempo dropped in the second half with the game won by half-time, but what an evening and what a general boost for us all.
Just unbelievable that we have not seen this style of teamwork and play for years.

Macclesfield were not that average - they played the ball out from defence confidently, their players seemed happy on the ball, they supported one another, their lively centre-forward came off his markers to bring others into play and got the support from behind - in short, basic teamwork playing the ball mainly on the deck. If only we could aspire to such teamwork - it has been lacking all season.
Our centre-forward on the other hand was often isolated with the ball whacked at or over his head, our wide men nearly always looked to go backwards if they had the ball to feet and our two midfield men had too much ground to cover because the wide men were too static; hence we revert to park-style hit and hope and become fragmented, and have no hope of trying to control a game (even though we are the home side and desperately need any points).
How professional is that? It was difficult to see how we expected to score, apart from the 12th-minute glorious through ball and unbelievable non-red-card for the keeper, and from a couple of very good headed chances spurned by our defenders getting forward for set pieces.
Hopefully our new manager can introduce a teamwork ethic (and even some basic passing, ball control, and purpose) even though we have a disparate squad of players whose main effort seems to be to show promise singly rather than collectively. Making the opposing keeper earn his money would be nice to see as well.....

We will win if we actually shoot at the goal instead of our usual high and wide; it is notable from other national league matches that teams earn tap-in goals from rebounds off the keepers, and yet we often do not force the keeper to make a save.

Yes the ref was poor, we showed tremendous spirit in the second half, the winning goal was a cruel deflection, but, as ever, our finishing was poor - why do players feel the urge to break the net when we know how light the ball is these days and it swerves all over the place, and yet we consistently hit high and wide. The Chester keeper had only two shots to save on target, just not good or intelligent enough in slippery ground conditions.

Keating and Reid played well together in the second half, came off defenders, combined passes and movement; contrast the first half when the ineffective Harrad was nowhere near his strike partner - typical of our season, why has it taken so long for us to play together, both up front and in midfield?
COYY - keep playing as a spirited team, but please please make the opposing keeper earn his money.

And with only being able to give one-year contracts, any player who has proven himself here will be looking to move on, so we shall forever be in the same position of trying to find cheap young inexperienced players and changing the squad every close season.

I agree with Taxilady and Louis - forget the personal recriminations, we should go back to basics. We are a fulltime professional club and I am so fed up with seeing smaller clubs and teams positioned beneath us playing us off our own park with good basic tactics, pass and move, support, hunting down the ball in twos and threes, building play and getting forward in numbers.
It really isn't rocket science, but we seem to set ourselves up to be strung out all over the pitch; indeed, our midfield twosome hardly ever pass the ball between one another, our strikers rarely play together (let alone come off their defender to receive ball to feet or chest in order to bring others into the play - instead they have to jump for long hopeful balls going over their heads or into the corners). And yet other modest outfits can play together as a team. And they even make our keeper come into play by shooting at the goal instead of trying to blast the ball out the ground.
Let's face it, our main tactic has been to go long and hopefully score from a corner; and yet when we play the ball occasionally on the deck we can make good scoring opportunities (which is what Forest Green allowed us to do).
Nico must really concentrate on teamwork, basic passing and purposeful movement, composure in the penalty area. We need 7 wins from our remaining games, so lets be professional and play together to achieve the points needed to safeguard our status.

I long for some coolness on the ball - too much lumping forward because we have a tall and very willing striker - we must learn to control a game from midfield, but that means someone being the focus - Damon Lathrope is the obvious one as he can read a game and pass well. Just hoofing the ball back to the opposition is not the way to hold out, the fans know it so how can the management not?
Loads of effort though, just needs channelling better as per the first half, that's when we looked dangerous and likely to score. Even Barrow didn't score or make much in the way of chances by their continuous and boring aerial bombardment, but did get an equaliser from playing on the deck.

Tranmere were well-organised and rugged, and their ball-control, passing, throws-in, and support play showed us to be lacking in those areas. We looked edgy in the first half and were too quick to boot the ball hopefully up to Blissett, who was often lacking in support.
Playing a 4-2-4/4-2-3-1 formation when one winger was hopeless made it very difficult to create goal-scoring chances from open play, and we were reduced to trying our luck from distance. When we did put crosses in, they were either over-hit or behind any players we happened to have in or near the penalty box. Why do we never attack the space between the keeper and his defence?
Shooting - all too frequently over the bar, why do we never shoot low and make the keeper scramble as per Luke's free-kick which looked in all the way?

COYY, the effort is there but not the basics in control and teamwork.

Agree with many of the comments about formation, lacking width and our two front men never near enough to play together, but yes we had chances to get a result. However, we do not seem to learn from the goals we concede, as we wasted so many set-piece situations by hoofing hopefully to the far corner of the penalty area - a tactic which consistently was either easily defended or was just over all the heads. And yet, particularly, Forest Green, Wrexham, Eastleigh put balls into the near post for runners and cause all sorts of mayhem to score; why do we never try this obvious variation. The only decent corner we took was by Racchi at the end of the first half aimed at the six-yard line with some pace - this led to melees and their keeper having to make two sharp saves on the line.
Nico, for pity's sake, try to make the opposition goalkeepers earn their money by actually having to do something instead of watching our harmless lofted balls cause no threat.
And for good measure, learn from Eastleigh's throws-in - nearly always to feet, play a neat triangle with support, and leave us trailing; but how do we take nearly every throw-in? - yep, up in the air again to two players marked by five opponents, hence just throwing away possession.
It's not rocket science in this league, one goal scored in six matches, how do we expect to score when we hardly target the goal????

Looking at the number of attempts on goal compared with those on target, we are absolutely woeful - how difficult is it to make the opposition keeper earn his money? How many keepers in this league are going to hold everything shot at them? You never know, if you aim at the keeper your bad shots might then go in the corner!

It is somewhat ironic that under Cox, when we had a glut of midfielders, we tended to miss out midfield with lofted hopeful balls, but now that we try to play more real football we are becoming short of midfielders....where does that leave our tactics for the rest of the season and our need for 10 wins?