Torquay United Fans Forum

forevertufc wrote: ↑24 Mar 2018, 11:47 Do you honestly really think they did that, think of the size of the pitch and depth of snow, yep i'm sure they brushed it all off to the side

Southampton Gull wrote: ↑23 Mar 2018, 00:47 You don't need warriors at all. What you need are players who can play. Young can play.

What we need is a manager who can actually put a side out with a plan to beat the opposition, Owers clearly isn't that man.

Arrywithnobrain wrote: ↑22 Mar 2018, 15:32 The same old dog shaking the same old bone If you are aware of other ball games, apart from Association Football, you probably think that W.G.Grace is in some way responsible for England's latest batting collapse or that Webb Ellis is directly to blame for England's abject Six Nations performance. Take a mental laxative Merse to relieve your cranial constipation: Owers may be the new Mersiah but he hasn't exactly made a silk purse with the innumerable signings that he has made, has he? If only you were the Manager/Chief Coach/Groundsman/Minibus Driver/HE Reporter etc etc Merse, with your infinite footballing wisdom and endless list of contacts, the pig's ear that you consider to be Nicholson's legacy would not even have presented a challenge to you. With three quarters of the season remaining you would have comfortably assured Torquay United of the title so although Owers may be a lesser mortal than yourself he should surely have been easily able to avoid relegation if he was a capable manager. Instead all that he has managed is to turn the pig's ear into a dog's breakfast without even achieving the traditional 'dead cat's bounce' when he took over.
You may well be correct with regard to your comments regarding the infrastructure of the club but that has no relevance to the performances of the players. If the players perform badly the responsibility belongs to the man who picks them, coaches them and instructs them tactically: at present that person is Owers and the fact that the team has failed to improve during his tenure is attributable directly to his competence, or lack of it, rather than that of his predecessor.

westyorkshiregull wrote: ↑21 Mar 2018, 20:56 Pools 2.1 up. Quality goal from 30 yards

Jack wrote: ↑21 Mar 2018, 14:38 [highlight=yellow]Sadly, that is highly unlikely with the two clowns who are in charge of the team!

madgull wrote: ↑10 Mar 2018, 21:47 Okay, bear with me here. Due to postponements etc the fixture list has changed a little, but let's look at where we are now versus my predictions.

A v Macclesfield (1st) 0 points predicted (1 gained)
H v Barrow (20th) 3 points predicted (3 gained)
A v Maidenhead (13th) 1 point predicted (3 gained)
H v Dagenham & R(10th) 1 point predicted (0 gained)
H v Sutton (3rd) 0 points predicted (0 gained)
A v Maidstone (14th) 1 point predicted (0 gained)

Predicted: 6
Gained: 7

Admittedly it doesn't feel that way right now (to be brutally honest, I'd put money on us going down now), BUT...we still have a chance, with games against:
Leyton Orient (15th), Working (16th), Halifax (17th), Hartlepool (19th) Solihull (21st), Chester (22nd), Guiseley (24th).

Plus tougher fixtures against:
Dover (6th), AFC Fylde (8th), Ebbsfleet United (9th).

Now, I've extrapolated each team's predicted points for the remainder of the season based on their form in the last five games. Yes, before anyone swoops in with the incredible revelation that teams' form will change, I KNOW, but it will even out and some teams will drop away as others re-surge. Here's what I came up with:

14. Halifax 58 points
15. Leyton Orient 57 points
16. Maidstone 50 points
17. Eastleigh 49 points
18. Solihull 49 points
19. Barrow 48 points
20. Hartlepool 48 points
21. Woking 45 points
22. Torquay 39 points
23. Chester 36 points
24. Guiseley 31 points

This supposes that we pick up 12 points from our remaining 10 fixtures. Whilst my 'route to survival' would see us pick up an eye-watering 24, if we beat each of the seven teams involved in the relegation battle and lost to the top teams, we would bring back 21 points, leaving us on 48 points (and that's generously assuming that us beating all of these teams wouldn't bring their points-per-game average down) and involved in a 3-way goal difference shootout with Hartlepool and Barrow , currently -13 and -7 respectively to our -29, but we can dream of a big win against Hartlepool and a few stuffings for them along the way...or Solihull's form in the past five being a flash in the pan. :Oops:

In short, we have possibly the best set of fixtures imaginable to allow us to mount a Great Escape. It is possible...but I'm losing faith every game.

MellowYellow wrote: ↑11 Mar 2018, 00:17 Well you could have fooled me too Merse, because from my angle it looked like Owers set up the normal 5-3-2 defensive counter attack that we see both away and at Plainmoor week in week out with our backline a hotbed of indecision which never gets off the ground from minute one.

Before the match I thought to myself, is Owers really no more than a 'one trick pony' or can he break the mould and set a attacking formation. This game was crying out for a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 to allow our primary attackers to drive forward without having to wait for support from the midfield just to give us a smidgen of a chance to get the 3 vital points we needed. But no! Mr 'One Trick Pony' stuck to his tried and tested model of 'failure' the predictable 5-3-2. Now it was clear that this Maidstone team were no Dagenham or Sutton and were not going to outmanoeuvre us in any formation, even if they played till midnight. This team had not won a league match since Nov. since they beat Torquay's 5-3-2 formation - and OK they won a FA Trophy round 4-0 in Dec against Torquay's 5-3-2 formation. So why O' why stick to our failed 5-3-2 defensive counter attack.

As for it being all the players fault - I am not having that - the 40 players that have stepped through Plainmoors doors this season
cannot all be incompetent and inept (that also includes the 22 players Owers has signed) in fact I think some of them are half decent. If you wont to know why I think the 33 players selected to play this season consistently lose or fail to perform its because they play to position and managers instructions in a formation they have never got to grips with. If the process is consistently failing then it is down to our Managers atrocious lack of managerial tactical awareness and lack of game plan.

I await Owers response on todays game. No doubt he will have the audacity to lay all the blame on either the ref, the players, cancelled scouting trips, the fans because we deserve it or maybe the tea-lady for not putting two sugars in his tea. But rest assured he will not take sole responsibility (if any) for this total shambles.

Merse you were quick to plunge your venomous fangs into Nicho shortcoming after #greatescape2. (your entitlement to do so). But what of Owers? Other than the players, you lay no blame at his door in your match analysis for today's dismal display. Not a whisper! Surely you must see the dilemma - Owers arrives to a fanfare after our seventh defeat of the season, bottom of the NL table and already eight points adrift of safety, and now in his 6 months in charge he has subsequently made 22 signings, keep us in the relegation zone with the second worst goal difference in the league and now nine points adrift from safety. His record to date is to say the least - underwhelming. You may wish to defend him like Osborne as being the new 'Messiah' for next seasons Southern National League fixtures, but it is beyond me how he has clung to this job till now, other than the skin of his teeth being made of titanium.

nickbrod wrote: ↑10 Mar 2018, 22:23 The point is let's see the squad Owers puts together in the close season and then judge him in National South. The initial squad before a new season starts is crucial.

merse btpir wrote: ↑26 Feb 2018, 11:11
The club simply HAS to be self sustainable; there are no if nor buts about it!