What is going wrong on the pitch?

[Jack]

We all know that there are plenty of issues off the pitch but was is going wrong on the pitch particularly against the lower teams. We have taken 6 points off Dagenham and Redbridge and 4 off the likes of Forest Green and Gateshead but we have been done over twice by the likes of Maidstone and Sutton. 25 of our 35 points have come from teams in the top half of the table.
We are full time and normally we have 18 plus players available to choose from and we really should be a mid table team at the very least. It seems that we compete better against the better teams so what is going wrong when we play against the cr*p sides. Are we too casual? Do we need to change our tatics and team formation against some of these teams so that we pressure them from the outset. Are we too predictable for our oppoenents? Posters have commented on a few threads about Nicho being unwilling to give some of the kids a chance to come on as a sub and play their own game for the last 20-26 minutes. We desperately need some results against the likes of Solihull, Guiseley, Southport and North Ferriby and we should have enough quality in our squad if the team plays with the right attitude and commitment. Nicho must ensure that we dig in against these teams and give them a hard time from the start.

[Burnhamgull]

It's dead simple.

The other teams score more than us within the 90 minute time limit.

[M_Gull]

We have had good results in beating Dagenham away and getting a point at barrow but against the teams around us it has been terrible. Losing to north ferriby without scoring is an absolute joke, very poor away at Maidstone
As we have been at almost every match away this season.
Dagenham is the only win I've seen in the 10 away I have been to this season. If it wasn't for kieffer Moore, we'd be down and out now so credit nicho for getting him in at least but overall very poor.Williams should've started from the start as you aren't going to get goals from Jamie Reid and harrad as we have seen.

[Dave]

It's down to mentality, and not just the players, from the manager to players, the club it's and fan base, there's no fight, no grit, no determination. There's and old saying 'if it is not broken don't fix it' but on the flip side, if any of us are doing something week in and out, in what ever walk of life, and it's not working, why would we continue to do the same thing.

We have seen the same old, same old, tired team selections, formations and tactics for weeks on end, and they're queuing up to beat us, there is enough in this squad to have avoided relegation comfortably, it wants a rethink, training, team selection and how they're set up to play. But the same old same old excuses are brought out though.

Again mentality, this team have become far to used to failure. We saw Saturday, the team actually started quite brightly Saturday, but as soon, as Sutton scored, the faces, heads, shoulders, knees and toes of our team went straight down through the toilet, almost like most them thought 'oh here we go again' we're going lose. Don't accept it, don't let it happen to you. That should be the mindset.

Why have we got better results against the higher placed teams, easy to get yourself motivated to play against the big boys, on the big bucks, it's the bread and butter stuff that makes a team.

How us fans, booed and hissed at Sutton's tactics Saturday, gord there was times in that match Sutton played it pretty ugly. A big point to be made here 'they won, we lost' catch my drift.

Maybe our manager and team need to harden up a little.

[chunkygull]

Brilliant post from Forevertufc there. Absolutely on the money, the voice of common sense and reason as usual

[westyorkshiregull]

Not good enough as a whole. ..lacking a bit of class
..look back in the past always had a couple of natural players...loram ...fowler ..Russell ...Jack. ...lacking some hard men...caldwell ...mcnichol ...lloyd. ..Taylor ...think on paper good enough mid table but no more...take away some confidence and off field problems and crap wages .....it's wishy washy and I can't see a end....too much money at top of game and to little at bottom we are on a slippery slope and can't see a end.

[kevgull]

Football is all about winning, unfortunately we have too many losers in our setup.

[SuperNickyWroe]

Not good enough as a whole. ..lacking a bit of class
..look back in the past always had a couple of natural players...loram ...fowler ..Russell ...Jack. ...lacking some hard men...caldwell ...mcnichol ...lloyd. ..Taylor ...think on paper good enough mid table but no more...take away some confidence and off field problems and crap wages .....it's wishy washy and I can't see a end....too much money at top of game and to little at bottom we are on a slippery slope and can't see a end.

Why do we keep referring to the past?????

We are where we are......

And if this lot don't get their fingers out their ar*e then the national south is beckoning.....

[merse btpir]

This is a hard league ~ mentally and physically ~ and to play in it you need mentally and physically hard players and management. All the evidence points to that not being the case; simple as. League tables don't lie but so many of the Torquay United fan base are living in the past believing their club to be superior in some way to many of the other clubs in this league.

Nice stands, a nice pitch, nice people in the boardroom to welcome the opposition and a crowd ~ home and on the road ~ that are nice to their underperforming management and players. These nice management and players know they will not be pilloried as they might at other fallen Football League clubs yet still they continue to under perform and look forward to walking around the pitch at the end of the game applauding their supporters and expecting to get applauded back.

Is the penny dropping with some of you yet?

This club has become a pushover and well on it's way to becoming a laughing stock too. It's certainly on it's way to becoming a regional football club instead of a national one yet still there appear to be those out there within whom the alarm bells are not ringing. Did many of you listen to the Herald Express podcast tonight? Therein lies your evidence; a dozy, complacent and slippers and cardigan comfort zone trio of apologists for mis-direction and mis-management only now waking up and saying "oh look; here's the bottom four!"

Ever since the ridiculous promotion of last season's skin of the teeth escape as some sort of laudible act has this club and many of it's supporters slept walked into another relegation so when you ask "What is going wrong on the pitch?"; the answer has to be "what has been allowed to happen by those off the pitch"

[tomogull]

Well Jack - it would have been far simpler and quicker if you'd asked what is going RIGHT on the pitch. Here are a few random thoughts in no particular order, although I think the first point is high on the list -

a. No leader on the pitch. We would not be where we are if we had someone vocal like Guy Branson. Arran Racine may have made a difference if he'd remained injury free.
b. The tempo of our play is so slow. If we are to pull away from the bottom four, we have to up the tempo and go for it.
c. A lone striker whose natural play is not as a lone striker. We have to play with two strikers.
d. Lack of creativity from midfield, apart from Luke Young and even he isn't firing on all cylinders in a struggling side.
e. Confidence at a low ebb resulting in loss of form by some players and there seems to be a lack of team spirit in the side.
f. Predictabilty - you mentioned it. Take the Sutton game. Whilst our defenders were thinking "Oh look - they've taken a short corner - that's a bit different", the ball was in the back of the net. When was the last time we tried something different from a corner instead of lofting it into the middle?
g. Throw ins - one of my bug bears. We get zillions every game, but what happens? There is little movement(nobody seems to want the ball). The player taking the throw in, especially LRT, waits until every player is closely marked and most times the ball doesn't even go to one of our players. When Forest Green (I think it was) had a throw in, the ball was dispatched quickly before players were marked AND they had two or three players making themselves available.
h. Lack of funding during the close season which would have enabled the manager to bring in those two or three players which would have made all the difference to this side.
i. You also mention issues off the pitch. This is bound to affect the players thinking.
j. As forever posted - we have to be harder. Close down opponents quicker for starters.

Apart from that, Jack, I can't think of anything that is going wrong on the pitch ........

[MellowYellow]

Poor on the pitch, in turmoil off it - and you ask what's going wrong! The common denominator of 'on the pitch; chaos , for whatever reason, is the wheels have fallen off spectacularly. I guess to get of GI backs for a few minutes you have to ask if our manager is up to the job or simply out of his depth. Don't get me wrong, I support Nico and unless absolutely necessary, I would not sack him, on the basis that continuity breeds success - or it should? . I just hope that Nico in these dire times is not over-managing. Sometimes players just needs to go with their gut instinct of where the ball will be delivered and where the opportunity for a strike a goal may lie. Rather than individually tailored set pieces or runs implicitly laid out for the players that clearly are not working, it may be advantageous to allow the players to express themselves with their own instincts.