Torquay United Fans Forum

Tbf for all we know, there might be a couple finalised by tomorrow morning. Hopeful I know but possible.

Jeff wrote:
I wondered about this, but Nico left in September and Mohammed signed for them in October so unfortunately its not like they worked together then. They will of course know each other from when he played for us on loan, so its not out of the question. Mohammed does seem to have a preference for the West Country when you look at his career history, so its possible

He was previously at Cheltenham if I'm not mistaken?

The first friendly is july 15th meaning we've got to make at least three signings in just over month to even have enough players for it! (not including the bench!!), but I suppose we would be worried more if they didn't announce friendlies too.

Scott Brehaut wrote:We won't get relegated - complete madness to think we will too, in my opinion.

We will get wins and draws between now and the end of the season, starting with this weekend when we beat Kiddy 3-0.

I'm not worried about the future - I truly believe that KT will find the right buyers who will pump money into the club, allowing the manager, whomever that is, to buy players that will be good at this level and able to hold their own in the league above when we get promoted again.

In fact, I'm rather excited about this new dawn.

Got to say I agree with you here. Not much point in thinking otherwise, because the club has had low-points before and lifted again; who's to say it wont happen again.

I too thought that the attendance did not look like the twelve-hundred we supposedly had. I felt really sorry for the players last night. It was clear to me they hadn't been given any sort of instruction as to what to do with the ball; they quite clearly did try for a good duration of the game, but as I said it just doesn't seem like they've been told what to do where and eventually you would start to feel what's the point actually.

Maybe we're lacking tactics because CH broke his board to put them on

In all seriousness though, tactically, the competence of Hargreaves' decisions are disgraceful. Bowman doesn't look like he could finish his dinner and is flat footed for large period of the game. Briscoe won more headers than Bowman throughout the game, despite being 5 inches smaller and fatter; I'm a little fed up of what Bowman has to offer. We have two new strikers on the bench, one of which is "obsessed" with scoring goals and yet he decides to bring on our super prospect Yeoman- who quite frankly lacks any sort of balls to get really stuck in and at his age (in this league) should be producing what they called the best finishing in the team but hasn't, so its wasted cash really. I said I would make my judgement on Hargreaves AFTER last night's game based on the changes to the team and the tactics he'd implicate. I can't say he's the answer to getting out of this now, purely because he doesn't seem to know what to do.

Being outplayed again, Chester playing simple, fast effective football. Deadly on the counter. Torquay aren't playing as a unit at all, hopeless balls upfront. Ryan Bowman with a great chance when he took it past the goalie, should have squared it to Briscoe to pop it into an empty net. Instead, he tried to go alone and gave enough time for the goalie to get back. Briscoe had a chance to shoot but then passed it to Bowman and the chance went- not making the right decisions at all. Then Young hit the bar from a free kick, Chester countered with some quick passing and its 0-1.

tomogull wrote:Good to see a bit of common sense has prevailed on this thread and that over half the posters think that Hargreaves must be given more time. But our patience is being sorely tested !!!

Have to agree with you there! COYY let's go for the win tomorrow

arcadia wrote:What you are saying to play a 3-5-2 is a good idea but the right side wingback could be the problem now the lad from Plymouth has gone. I think we have the players for 4-1-3-2 as we've got to change from the last couple of weeks as we are so weak in the middle.(Not good enough)

Yes it certainly has been weaker since berry has left, however, I wouldn't mind giving the old 3-5-2 a go simply because teams like Juventus and Liverpool have managed to pull it off with players that are not naturally full backs. Take Lazar Markovic for example, 21, yet operates as a left wing who can fall back when needed to a 5-3-2. All I'm saying is the full backs haven't been effective at all so this is a way of eradicating them, and as you said I think it'd be worth a shot I can imagine 4-1-3-2 certainly would make a hardier midfield, however I do think we struggle upfront even with two so we could see even less goals. On the contrary, perhaps that midfield would make a more solid formation when moving forward and we could see more goals - who knows. All this being said, it all depends on whether firstly Hargreaves is brave enough to make changes such as these and secondly if he is humble enough to take the blame should those changes put us more in the sh1t. I can't see us being any worse with those formations though.

Yes, the predicament we are in is one of many and we as people can't do anything about it on here. I will be making my judgment within the coming weeks because when the going gets tough I feel the only way you can really see how good a manager is is by the changes they make, then I will say if I think he should go or not. If the same mistakes pop up for the next 1 or 2 games, I will lose faith completely because mistakes that can be addressed should be sorted when they happen week in week out. Easier said than done of course. I will be interested to see if he has a new plan, a change of formation- any form of some sort of idea to get us out of this rut!!

arcadia wrote:If Chris gets back to basics and gets some discipline back in the side there is no reason why he can't turn the tide but it means putting Briscoe back up front with Bowman and Mcdonald with Downes at centre back with the French guy fullback. The midfield needs addressing and after Saturday. I still think three could be the answer so perhaps Pearce could go fullback and the French guy holding midfield player.
I just hope we can get a result. It will be interesting to see what Chris does.

Funny you should say that, I would just considering the prospect of a 3-5-2 formation. Gueguen I feel would be what i think is much needed height in midfield; the Wrexham game was a perfect example of how our current midfield can be cut through like butter. I do recall a Plymouth fan stating the danger of playing Young as a midfield two and I kind of think he was right. Youngy seems to make these blistering runs at players who dodge out the way and before you know it we've got one player up the other end of the pitch huffing and puffing to get back. With all do respect I see that Young is putting in a tremendous amount of effort and energy when doing this but he needs to learn fast that it leaves a hole in midfield. I would be looking at relieving Young of most of his defensive duties and try him out in more of a creative role behind the striker/s.

This is the sort of team I'd adopt (disregarding any injuries etc.) 3-5-2

Pearce - Macdonald - Downes
Chappell - Gueguen - Richards - Ajala
Young
Briscoe - Bowman/Campbell

I'm not saying this would work in any case whatsoever, but I think its getting to a point where it couldn't get any worse so what's the harm in experimenting and if it clearly doesn't work take off one player bring a full back on and resort back to the previous formation. For this season I've thought fullbacks have been fairly ineffective so this is something i'd try

ferrarilover wrote:Which one was Wakefield?

Matt.

Think that pretty much says it all! Standard player with not much in the way of creativity. Not a lot more to say really.

http://www.hyufc.com/teams/management.html

This is the bloke, 6 years at Reading and director of Pro Direct Soccer Academy. More experience than we've got!

"Tristan came to the club as Assistant Manager in 2011/12 after 6 years at Reading FC. Had a brief stint as joint Caretaker Manager ensuring the club was steered to Conference South safety in 2012/13 before becoming Phil Babb's Assistant in 2013/14.

A UEFA A Licence qualified coach who is UK Director of the PRO DIRECT Soccer Academy, Tristan has led teams to ESFA National titles and Conference Youth Alliance titles.

He has developed some fantastic young players in his many years of coaching, many of whom are now playing International Football and are within the professional game themselves. Tristan’s most memorable moments in football include appearing at Wembley as a schoolboy and on a coaching front when he first watched a player he had nurtured through make their international debut for England u18s in a European Qualifier."

Its funny really, what confidence can do to a player. Think of when he first came on loan, scored a few goals, beat a man and created goals too. But then when form slips and the crowd starts to get on the team's back- oh how things can change. I think he was a nervous guy, tried to make himself look better and act confident, but he wasnt/isnt really. Such a shame.

Glostergull wrote:I heard this on Radio Bristol today. I thought to myself is that the same leadbitter who played for us.
yes they havent done that well in pre season games and only beat Gloucester City 4-3. but freindliess are not a good measurment of how the season will pan out as we well know. I think we have put together a great squad so far but it remains to be seen how well we perform when it all kicks off in a couple of weeks time.

Yes, I know that friendlies aren't very reliable, however, it'll be how they play as a team at the end of the day- not the players they've signed.. Although that does help!

Haven't they lost most of their pre-season games?