Torquay Utd V Sutton Utd 25/02

[Burnhamgull]

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.

Would that be the Sheffield United who are seven points clear at the top of League 1 this evening? He might be only the Assistant Manager but he must be doing something right or they would have got rid of him.

Whilst I wouldn't want him back here as manager, he's obviously doing a lot better in his job than Nico is in his.

[Burnhamgull]

I

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!!

Blimey!

[PhilGull]

I love Nicho and have been a great supporter of him as manager but I really am struggling to keep it up. We keep seeing promising young talent coming in and sitting on the bench. We have no leaders in the team, it doesn't matter who wears the captains armband, they're all soft as shit. And there is no hope on the horizon, even if Nicho left I don't trust Harrop or Osborne to bring in anyone better. We are shit, we have been shit for a number of years no and I can only see it getting worse.

[Modgull]

My God, that was incompetence personified today. How can a side neglect to test a keeper who had clearly never played in that position before? We clearly have no leaders on the pitch and no direction from the management team on the sidelines. It is difficult to see where the next win will come from given the advantage we were gifted today - and we need 6 of them if we are to survive the drop.

Today plumbed new depths for me - there is no sign of improvement only a complete cluelessness around the squad.

I hope they prove me wrong on Tuesday night for the next 6 pointer but somehow I think they won't.

[MellowYellow]

Would that be the Sheffield United who are seven points clear at the top of League 1 this evening? He might be only the Assistant Manager but he must be doing something right or they would have got rid of him.

Whilst I wouldn't want him back here as manager, he's obviously doing a lot better in his job than Nico is in his.

Is he doing a better job than Nico? or is it due to substantial amount of funds being ploughed into the club by Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad Aldulaziz of Saudi Arabia who's mission is to take Sheffield into the Premier. I am lead to believe £90 million has been invested for the rebuilding of the club. How much are GI investing to rebuild our club and to give Nico a chance to develop a promotion seeking team? Begs the question!

[DevonYellow]

Enough is enough how much longer do we have to put up with the weekly excuses spouted on social media by the manager?

His backers tell us to sack him would be making the same mistake we have done in the past. To me the only mistake we have made is appointing a former fans favourite player, with little managerial experience, as manager for the second time around...Hargreaves mark II?

We can't change the players so changing the manager is the only roll of the dice we have left.

I've supported this club for 28 years through thick and thin but today we sank to another low and it is getting embarrassing. As nice a guy as he is and no matter how much he loves the club it's plain to see from the results and league position this is not good enough.

[Ausgull]

Very depressing reading all the fans reports from the game and to those who actually went to Plainmoor and experienced this crap I would be demanding my money back.
I really cant add anymore to what has already been said but the club is heading for a slow death unless major changes are done now, surely those in charge are not blind and can see what is going on and need to do something about it.
The players maybe be world beaters in training but as soon as they get on the pitch they get stage fright and lose all confidence and something in not right and has to change.
And I agree with most comments about loan players why bring them in and not use them and as for young Ruairi Keating put him along side Brett Williams from the start and if its not working then make changes, poor kid getting 5 minutes at the end of each match is not the way to go.
Finally i have not been a fan of recycled players who come back to the club for a second time as their are rarely as good as when they left and the prime example's are LRT and Shaun Harrod who have been nowhere as good as they were first time around.

[gullpower]

Utterly depressing when your team can't even score in an open goal which is effectively what it was. His body language said he didn't want to be there, he was jogging on the spot cos he was freezing cold and he was useless.

I know he gets a lot of stick for putting the ball over the stands when he tries to make a pass but Courtney Richards barks out the orders and organises the team. Not so Verma and I think Richards was missed.

[merse btpir]

Enough is enough how much longer do we have to put up with the weekly excuses spouted on social media by the manager? H is backers tell us to sack him would be making the same mistake we have done in the past. To me the only mistake we have made is appointing a former fans favourite player, with little managerial experience, as manager for the second time around...Hargreaves mark II?

Two appointments that came at least three years too early in the lives of those two former players.......

Managing a professional club in this situation is no job in which to learn as you go yet without experience. What else can Hargreaves or Nicholson have done? The fault lays not with those who take the jobs but those who hand them out to their favourite former players without a clue as to exactly what the job entails because they naively see players (all players) in the same light as they see fans.......players are not fans, they are employees who's interest in the club ceases to exist once they move on.

Where else but badly run football clubs can you go straight from the shop floor to the managerial position running the business?

I think Nicholson would tell you that the huge mistake he made this summer was in assuming that those players who eventually got by under the influence of the raft of experience he was able to bring in midway through last season's serious dysfunction would 'train on' and become better players than they ever can be......Young, Verma, Richards, Moore, Chaney, Gerring, Reid (he'd been here before) LRT (he'd been here before) Blissett; NONE of them improved, raised their reliability levels, cut out the errors of giving away possession and goals, increasing their threat on goal by creating shooting opportunities; another season of dross, failure and embarrassment from people he describes as 'young players' yet in reality a squad not really any different in average age than any other in this league.

The boards who appointed them have been have been naïve; and the two former players have been naïve in their execution of the job with the almost inevitable calamitous results.....relegation from the Football League and now quite possibly, relegation from the National League.

When Alan Knill was appointed I had one respected former director ask me "who's Alan Knill? I've never really taken any notice of what he has been doing since he played; can you enlighten me?"

What else can you think when a director is party to 'signing off' the appointment of a manager without the requisite knowledge of the appointee? Why does he see fit to ask a complete outsider to the boardroom instead of his fellow board members?

Serious malfunction within the corridors of a failing club; and when the crowd sang 'you don't know what you're doing' ~ admittedly through ignorance of the physical state of Brett Williams ~ yesterday they should have been singing it three years ago.

[wivelgull]

Earlier on this thread I wrote that these reports were among the worst I have read; I was wrong: they ARE the worst!

[TUST_Member_Rob]

I was thinking about the game more last night, looking back at the goals made me think it was a game we should have won 2-0 rather than 4/5/6-3 etc.

All the goals we conceded were completely avoidable by doing the basics. Only Young went to their short corner which Deacon scored from, McGinty needed to deal with their ball in for the 2nd and if Anderson knows where his man is and Moore doesn't flap about we keep a clean sheet.

I dont remember Moore making an actual save?

Also their RB bald head idiot, surprised its not been mentioned on here, what a disgrace he was. The nothing challenge by Williams and he goes down throwing himself on the deck in complete agony, it was more painful to watch.

also just on williams, when KN came out before the warm up to put the cones out I overheard him say to a fan that Williams was ill and missed the thursday/friday sessions and probably wouldnt last the game.

[Gullscorer]

Earlier on this thread I wrote that these reports were among the worst I have read; I was wrong: they ARE the worst!

No, they are the best, most accurate reports, about the worst performance ever by a Torquay United team!

So what's the problem? The problem is everywhere, from the inaction of GI to previous boards and managers to the current boss and squad. What's the solution? There is no quick fix. I read somewhere that the manager's future budgets will reflect the income from attendances. If that continues to be the case, then we are definitely doomed..

[tomogull]

It's all been said really. I have supported Kevin Nicholson and still do, but, in my view, he is making wrong decisions and not learning from them. It's no good him blaming the players week after week. He must carry the can for the team selection and how the team is set up. The match changed yesterday as soon as the goalkeeper went off. We were 1 - 0 up, playing with the wind against a defender who drew the short straw and went in goal. In my view, we should have gone for the throat and brought on Critchlow and moved Reid alongside Williams (taking Lathrope off) or bringing on Keating to play alongside Williams - or both. Nico did nothing. We ploughed on, humping and hoping. What is the use of bringing in players on loan if the manager isn't confident enough to play them? Not one shot on target in the first half and the reluctant 'keeper had little to do in the second half. He must have thought to himself that this goalkeeping business is a doddle. For those who weren't there (you lucky b*ggers, you) it is no exaggeration to say that they might just as well have put a cardboard cut-out of the 20 stone pie-eater in goal, and still we wouldn't have won.

Their first goal came from a short corner. Now there's a novelty ! When was the last time we tried something different from a corner instead of lofting it into the goalmouth where there are about 20 players jostling for the ball? Our play is so pedantic and unimaginative. Only Luke Young attempts a bit of creativity. Players' form is being affected. Sparkes, usually one of our better players, had a poor game. Verma, who I like, has not played well for a few games. Moore had a nightmare, although the windy conditions made it difficult for goalkeepers. Some have had a go at Chaney on here, but it is difficult for a young lad to come into a team playing so poorly. He does at least show a bit of urgency and energy when he plays.

Nicholson has got to make some changes. For a start, I'd give the captain's armband to Luke Young or Jared Hodgkiss. I'd bring in Gallifouco in place of Lathrope. Okay - he makes the odd mistake or two, but at least he has a football brain and keeps the ball on the ground - and he scores a goal or two which Lathrope will never do as shown by his hopelessly wide weak shot in the second half. And he has to put some faith in Critchlow and Keating .... or send them back from whence they came.

And another thing - Sutton had a tough game against Arsenal on Monday night. Some of their players are part-time, but still they looked the team that wanted it more than we did. This time last season, we were playing confident, good football and didn't look like a side in danger of relegation. Now we are a team with no confidence, playing goddam awful football and look like a relegation side. That last home match against North Ferriby looms bigger and bigger each week ........

[gullpower]

Also their RB bald head idiot, surprised its not been mentioned on here, what a disgrace he was. The nothing challenge by Williams and he goes down throwing himself on the deck in complete agony, it was more painful to watch.

More to the point he then gets up and runs to join the action completely ok.

Time and time again we see serial gamesmanship from other teams. It's about time Torquay players learned to do the same. Fight fire with fire.

[brucie]

Tomogull - if it was "windy and made it difficult for goalkeepers" what exactly was our excuse considering they didn't have a keeper in goal?