Torquay United Fans Forum

lucy6lucy wrote:Very good analysis, however why would he bother going unless he is a scout. How many of you torquay based fans who cant afford fleetwood travel next week will wake up next sat and go and watch plymouth or exeter and give your rivals money. Strange person.

Guess we (Argyle fans) don't really see Torquay as a true, major rival. Not to sound cocky, but it's fairly obvious that our rivalry with Exeter is more heated, Torquay are definitely seen as secondary or tertiary rivals. Almost all Torquay fans would say that their rivalry with Exeter is of greater importance than that with Plymouth, too.

ferrarilover wrote:I'm not convinced he had unveiled anything new. Bodin hopeless, Nico a liability, everyone else pretty good, with the exception of Harding and Manse. It's like reading a combination of my match report and the rest of this board for the last 6 months. What it has done is confirm that it's not just a select few of us who can see that Bodin isn't worth 70p, let alone 70 grand, nor that Nico is miles past his sell by date and that NTFC have stitched us right up with Harding.

A delightful summary of a very strange match, for which we are thankful.

Matt.

Wouldn't have said Bodin's useless - merely lacking in end product. Our team at the moment is desperately lacking in true wingers - we mostly play with a striker on the right wing and an attacking midfielder on the left. In fact, youth players aside, we don't have any out-and-out wingers. Would I take Bodin at Argyle? I probably would - I see a lot of potential in him. That said, your right side of Tonge and Chapell is considerably stronger than the left side of Nicholson and Bodin. Ball actually provided the best stuff down that flank with his drifting, your best chance came when Ball crossed it in for Bodin from the left.

Mansell's dead-ball delivery is good, but that's not really enough to cement a place in any side these days. He just looks cumbersome and old, and Harding looks crap. They struggled to boss the middle of the park against a very poor Hartlepool central midfield - most teams in this division (including ourselves in all honesty) would give Mansell and Harding a very hard time. I know very little about one of Hartlepool's centre midfielders on Saturday (Dolan) but his partner Simon Walton is god-awful. Slow, clumsy, unfit, can neither attack nor defend, almost universally considered one of the worst captains in our history. It was a miracle how he managed to blag his way to a higher division when he left us.

Hello everyone, I attended the Torquay vs. Hartlepool game today as a neutral, as I couldn't afford the trip up to see my team Argyle play Morecambe, and Torquay is an easy, quick and cheap train journey from Plymouth. I just thought that you might want to get some views on the game from, I guess, a more neutral perspective. Second time I've been to Plainmoor and I went in the 'Bristow's Bench' stand, as last time, but in the home rather than away section on this occasion.

In my opinion your best player was Callum Ball, excellent striker, worked hard, good touch and big, really good all-round and looked too good for this level today. Your right-back Tonge was excellent defensively and decent going forward. Centre-backs were alright, I think Downes (looks older than 28 btw) exuded more confidence though. Nicholson looked like a liability to me, too slow and carried by the other three.

Central midfield was the weakest area, neither Mansell nor Harding (especially the latter) were particularly good, especially when facing an opposing midfield that included the god-awful Simon Walton. Bodin occasionally looked dangerous but all-in-all flattered to deceive, and Chappel was exciting, quick but his crossing needs improvement - I see a lot of potential there. Hawley was good in the air for someone of his size but didn't look like he was going to threaten with goals, and was overshadowed in my opinion by Ball.

In terms of subs, Cameron played very similarly to Bodin, seemed a bit more selfish though. You were much better when Knill brought on Lathrope for Harding, passing was much better. Benyon only made one noteworthy contribution, and it wasn't really a positive one.

While Hartlepool were awful, I don't think you looked a bad side and could and should have won. There are a few players I'd take from you for Argyle, namely Tonge, Chappel, Ball and possibly Hawley and even Bodin too. Solid mid-table side for me you are, definitely better than last season.