Torquay Utd V Sutton Utd 25/02

[hector]

The Facebook post is probably about trying to deflect blame from himself. To be posting that quickly possibly illustrates a man more concerned with self-preservation than addressing the issues. But perhaps solving the issues are beyond him. It certainly looked that way. Certainly, things can't get any worse if someone else was managing.

[Hammdog2601]

I have one question.

Why does Nicholson never have faith in youngsters.


He brings In Chay Scrivens Jordan Lee, Gianni Crichlow, on loan and never gave any of them a proper chance. Brings them in as bench warmers.

[lucy6lucy]

Southampton Dave, the mystic meg. Nicholson is sacked on Monday , harrop takes charge until the end of the season.

[Dave]

Enough is enough, fed up to the back teeth with the bullshit excuses, yes we've not got a lot of money at the club, we can't afford to go out and buy the best players, seriously, you do not need to go out and bring players in from the league above on £1500 a week to have some basic team shape and organisation, if our team had that today they'd have finished this game off before half time, basic organisation comes from coaching, Sutton had it, as do plenty of broke clubs at this level.

The game got off to a good start for the Gulls, we had a huge slice of luck, an hopelessly over hit hoofed ball , got caught in the wind, the Sutton keeper misjudged it, and in his effort to keep it out injured himself, our first goal probably only hit the back of the net because the injured keeper couldn't get into position to get his body behind the ball, he subsequently went off, to be replaced by a defender, who had clearly never in his life played in goal, you could see it a mile off, this match was handed to us on a plate.

What followed is beyond words, 1, yes just 1 poxy shot on target our team managed to get at their spam keeper. As a friend said on the way out, it was like watching the red arrows today, our team looked individually and collectively totally confused at what they were supposed to be doing out there, all over the place, that comes from Nicho, and stop just blaming the players, man up and take some responsibility, coaching, man management, leadership, it supposed to come from you.

All this 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1 this that and the other formations, it is all bollox, trust me, as I've said before, you have to have the players to play any set formation, as I've said before, basic limited footballer, play basic limited football, play to their strengths, give them a game plan they understand, what in gods name is wrong with 4-4-2, it's simple, and can be flexible.

Ok I except the reason that Williams was taken off, but can someone tell me the point of bringing these players in on loan, we've lacked drive and creativity all season in the middle, so what is the point of bringing this lad in from QPR and then bringing Chaney. You know what, and this is true, I turned around when he brought on Chaney, and said to the group I stand, guess Nicho is going settle for a 2.3 defeat.

And then Harrod, Nicho did you see, I mean did you, Keating did more 5 minutes than Harrod's done in weeks, it's time for re-think, and now.

[bobby93]

To my mind, there were two very obvious variables in today's game that we did not adapt to, whereas Sutton did. One was the wind, the other was the 'keeper situation. I heard Nicho talking on the radio about how they've been training in these winds all week, so they should have known what to do. Now, I'm no football coach but my inclination would be to get the team to keep the ball low against the wind. Presumably this was - or should have been - touched on during the week. With the 'keeper, again I don't have any coaching badges but it seems obvious to me that we should be busting a gut to put pressure - both with attempts on goal and physically during set plays where appropriate - on someone who is way out of their comfort zone.

Whether this is the fault of the manager through miscommunication or the players in poor implementation is up for debate. Probably a combination.

[CP Gull]

For those not there, what you have to realise is how bad their stand in keeper was - sometimes in these situations a team will have an outfield player who pulls the gloves on and genuinely fancies himself as a keeper ... that was definitely not the case today. The little that this lad had to do in goal it was obvious that he was totally incompetent between the sticks, his handling and kicking were poor and he never made a dive for anything ..... quite simply because he never had to!

We were gifted an incredible opportunity to not only win this game but actually win it comfortably ... all we had to do was simply put the keeper under pressure by shooting ON TARGET at every opportunity and putting crosses, corners and free kicks under his bar at every opportunity and testing him .... we failed abjectly on all counts.

I never like to hear Managers turn on their players, and it is sad to hear Nicho doing that - in my experience once that happens there is usually only one outcome, but these are not "usual" times and given that GI have shown nothing to suggest that they care too much about the club and the situation we find ourselves in, then Nicho might just buy a further stay of execution, but the sort of performance we saw today, allied to the perilous situation we find ourselves in, is normally more than enough ammunition for the owners to pull the trigger, the fact that they probably won't doesn't exactly fill you with optimism for the future direction of the club.

As for Nicho challenging the players about how he could have prepared them better, is that really all that today was about - not for me! We were presented with an incredible advantage of not only being a goal up inside the first ten minutes but that Sutton had NO back up goalkeeper ! Personally, I was hugely disappointed and frustrated yet again that Nicho just does not react to situations as the game unfolds. We played a 4-4-1-1 formation and for me it simply didn't work and straight away we should have switched to 4-4-2 - quite simply Aman Verma was totally ineffective in "the hole" all afternoon and we should have given young Keating a chance much earlier than we did (with 5 minutes to go). Of course, more than anything we need a striker to replace Blissett, but we have been waiting TWO MONTHS for that and nothing has happened, so I guess we have given up on that idea!

I hear that Nicho has given his reasons for taking Williams off, but I still don't get it, you can't tell me that he was that poorly that he couldn't have soldiered on for another twenty minutes or so??? He scored and was still our best chance of getting another goal, when he was hauled off and replaced (along with Lathrope) by Chaney and Harrad who for all their qualities in certain aspects of the game are never likely to get you a goal. it was, it seems, cast in stone that Williams would be given an hour or so and then hauled off, before the game had started and Nicho (regardless of where the game was at) is never one for changing/reacting to situations, but prefers to stick to his tried and trusted approach of (nearly always) waiting until the hour mark before he makes his first substitution and more often than not they are just like-for-like,nothing ever too adventurous but steady as you go.

We are a poor side and without a real change of approach we are in serious danger of not only going down.... but going down with a whimper. Such a sad state of affairs for a once proud and successful (in its own small way) football club who regularly punched above its weight but is now being humiliated time and time again by sides that in the past we would quite simply have brushed aside. Today, was one of the lowest points I can recall, and there have been quite a few over the years, and yet you feel there could still be a lot worse still to come ......

[CraigUnder]

I've not been this depressed as a fan in years, Nicho is scraping the barrel now to find any old excuse for the loss... Just look at Sutton! played Arsenal on Monday.. travelled down probably this morning..part time club.. RB as a goal keeper.. and then outclass and out play us and win 3-2

Nicho, please do the right thing and leave.

[MellowYellow]

Southampton Dave, the mystic meg. Nicholson is sacked on Monday , harrop takes charge until the end of the season.

I take that as a joke, but the irony is it just may happen! if it does, two games in we will all be crying for Nico to come back.

If your not happy with Nico then why not give an assistant manager of a league one club the opportunity of managing a club in his own right - I hear the assistant manager of Sheffield United has a lot of pedigree and may be interested - anyone heard of him - goes by the name of Alan Knill.

[CP Gull]

Totally agree about the pointless exercise of bringing young players in and barely playing them .... Scrivens, Palfrey, Rooney (only played him out of position at RB when he had little choice), McCoulsky, Lee, Keating and Critchlow, not to mention Duke, Hancox and even Robba and Chamberlain - all squad members but never given a proper chance.

Also, can we please move away from this notion that Nicho keeps harping on about that we are a " young side" ... WE ARE NOT! We may be a young squad, but the fact is that Nicho never seems to trust the kids, so never picks them. Youngest player on the pitch today was 23 year old Jamie Reid and most of the guys out their today were in the 25-30 age bracket..... in theory in the (or close to) the peaks of their careers .... yeah right!!!!

[MellowYellow]

Did anyone take advantage of the 8/1 available on us losing to a team with a non-eating pasty 'right back' in goal.

[kerswellgull]

I am sure that what Nico says is true, that they prepared for the game but the fact that the team does not follow instructions or even do what is obviously needed says that he has lost the dressing room
Time to go I'm afraid

[Willowgull]

It is difficult to put into words how I felt after the game today. It was the lack of effort that disappointed me more than anything. I accept that we are a poor team but when you see players not trying that is unforgivable. I went into number 10s for a drink after the game and a few of them came in within 15 minutes of the game ending. They didn't seem that bothered.

LRT - utter disgraceful performance.
McGinty - Distribution is utter shite. Supposed to be a professional footballer and cannot pass a football 10 feet.
Verma / Lathrope - waste of space. Got no hope of staying up with those two in midfield.
Moore - making far too many mistakes.

I thought it would be that lack of fire power that would likely relegate us. But we have no midfield and no defence either. I rear the worst!!

[Dave]

Tp pick up on a couple of points, you don't really need coaching badges to understand when the opposing team ends up with someone in goal who was utterly clueless in all aspects of goalkeeping (not his fault of course) you, as a team need to get shots off at every chance, get early ball into the box, and get numbers in there.

One classic example, from a corner in the second half, the lad patted a dolly right in the danger area, central penalty area, not one single TUFC player in there, would have, had a tap in.

As for the players not looking bother, hardly a surprise, and can't blame them, constantly blamed by their own manger for every failing, and whether they deserved it or, the dogs abuse they received after the game was not called for. No need to clap them, I didn't, but no need for that level of abuse either.

[Dazza]

Unfortunately I agree the midfield in particular was sadly lacking all afternoon. We needed to be 2 goals ahead at the break with the obvious wind advantage - instead we ended the first half hanging on. Looking back that said it all. Does Mansell still live in Torquay?

[6667GULL]

We've seen some poor stuff over the last 5 years but today must rate in the top 6 utterly useless performances.
I was going to have more of a rant but why should I bother when the manager and players certainly didn't today.
Just two observations -
Was Verma captain?? if he was and i wasn't sure as he did even less motivating than Richards does which i didn't think was possible.
Chasing the game and you bring on Chaney and Harrod who haven't had a decent game between them all season?? that was well thought out.
I wonder what Robin Stubbs made of it all?? poor guy being associated with this load of shit.
Ranieri is available!!