Dagenham and Redbridge V Torquay Utd. A Saturday 30th September 2017 -match thread

[merse btpir]

Dagenham were 'given a good workout' and the talk amongst their may fair minded fans was that they had got lucky..........
When you get a little over twelve hundred choosing to go and watch live football at that level rather than follow the sheep and join the 57,000 watching the Wet Hampsters twenty minutes down the line, you get a degree of reality, honesty and truth ~ even if some of them do choose to wear a Hammers shirt to Dagenham rather than the Daggers equally awful garment.

The team did at last look like a National League team yesterday; did 'National League things' that the previous management neglected to instil in them and looked like a good piece of work so far in progress. Yes, they lost; but at least there is hope now even if it is a tough ask but I would sooner face a tough ask under a tough management than a lost cause under a soft management....that is the difference.

Speaking to Gary Owers after the match yesterday reminded me of talking to Roy McFarland when he was the boss; experienced, streetwise and pragmatic. I don't give a shit about any individual player nor their feelings, what matters is Torquay United and getting it out of the shit those players and their previous management have got it in.

[tufcyellowarmy]

Yeah; well YOU especially need to get real and see the shit left in the toilet bowl for the paper on top of it..........it's eye opening what a bit of professional management can achieve when a side is set up properly, with square pegs in square holes and round ones in their appropriate pockets of the pitch.

Pressing, closing down and preventing crosses in a manner that Nicholson's lacksadaisical sides never did and controlling a game on the road as hardly ever before.

Utter bollocks !
Just consider the possibility if you can ,that this may be a combination of factors including behind the scenes issues which have affected the club for some time. Even in Nichos era.
Will you be saying the same thing in another 3 games , 10 maybe or even in 3 years time.
Im hoping to watch a similar performance on Tuesday evening and praying for a win. The current management have got to turn this around , but if they dont then my money is on Kim Jong Nicholson being spanked for it , not them.

[tomogull]

Flabbergasted! Never thought I would hear you say a negative word about the previous managerial incumbent.

He just can't help himself M.Y. I think it's call Compulsive Obsession Disorder. But a word of warning - remember the old saying. "Never Mud-Wrestle with a Pig. You get dirty and the Pig enjoys it".

[Yorkieandy]

Utter bollocks !
Just consider the possibility if you can ,that this may be a combination of factors including behind the scenes issues which have affected the club for some time. Even in Nichos era.
Will you be saying the same thing in another 3 games , 10 maybe or even in 3 years time.
Im hoping to watch a similar performance on Tuesday evening and praying for a win. The current management have got to turn this around , but if they dont then my money is on Kim Jong Nicholson being spanked for it , not them.

Absolutely spot on. Owers and co are on a hiding to nothing with GI running things. There must be something in it for Owers and co because they surely must be aware that the whole club is cancerous.

We can blame mismanagement for past issues but for future issues it's all been planned by GI.

It beggars belief that some fans still think there is a possibility of escaping the drop. That's a side issue though. There won't be a club in 5 years and the very same fans will sit back and say they didn't see it coming.

The club are going down and out of business but hey, great improvement against Daggers wasn't it?

[Dazza]

Nice of you to Care Andy and I suppose all of us will then ( provided you are correct) have to do what you do and borrow a long range club whose management we can have a pop at.

[United62]

Nice of you to Care Andy and I suppose all of us will then ( provided you are correct) have to do what you do and borrow a long range club whose management we can have a pop at.

This.

It WAS an improved performance and gutted that we lost in the way we did. But to have a York fan having a pop at us is a bit rich.

Never mind, at least the York fan will have his other club to support when we're all trying to find something else to do on a Saturday.

[tomogull]

I think you'll find Andy gave up on York ages ago. But as a supporter of Lost Causes, he remains a closet TUFC fan.

Whilst posters rant at Anderson (v Macclesfield) and McGinty yesterday, the root of the problem is further up field. We are not scoring goals and, stating the bleeding obvious, we have to score goals for those much needed wins. The lack of goals puts added unnecesary pressure on defenders. It is far easier to defend when leading, say, 2 - 0 than it is when drawing 0 - 0. I was not at the game yesterday but it is good to read that it was a much improved performance, thanks in part to a good debut by left back Davis. But the stats show we had just TWO shots on target, and four off target. That simply is not good enough to get us out of the mire we are in. In fact, it is pathetic. I do not understand the thinking of picking Rhys Murphy ahead of James Gray, although I accept that Gray may not have been fully match fit. I can't comment on Murphy's performance yesterday, but it was very much an anonymous debut against Macclesfield last week. He is not, and never has been, a prolific scorer - an average at best of about 7 a season. But I hope I'm proved wrong .......

To pull back the 9 points we need to get out of the relegation places will be a long haul and I think inroads have to be made during October with three home games (Maidenhead, Dover and Hartlepool) and two away games (Halifax and Ebbsfleet) although quite honestly, it's hard to see where our first win will come from. If we haven't pulled back some of the deficit by the end of the month, I fear the worst .......

[tomogull]

Dagenham and Redbridge (2) 6
Torquay United (0) 1

Wivel old boy - not only are you wildly out with your predictions about Torquay's scolelines (whatever made you think Torquay were going to score, for goodness sake), your predictions for yuor beloved Whitby Town are also wildly out. Only a few weeks back, you were all doom and gloom predicting relegation for the Seasiders but another good win yesterday at the Turnbull Theatre of Dreams puts them within 3 points of the play off places. You must have had a nose bleed last night. You've got me hooked as an armchair Whitby supporter - come on you Seasiders !!

Still off topic - sorry! - do you remember last season Dale Vince, chairman of Forest Green, saying that it was easier getting out of Division 2 than it was the National League? Looking at the Div 2 table as it stands today - how right he is !! Ho, ho ........

[United62]

I think you'll find Andy gave up on York ages ago. .

He said the same about Torquay United not so long back too.... must be nice to pick and choose whenever the mood suits.

[Dave]

YorkieAndy is right in one sense, even though think he's has it the wrong way around, the future of the club is not a bridge that needs to be crossed yet, so it's not the football that's a side issue to the future of the club, it's the future of the club that's a side issue to the current on field state of affairs which is happing right now.

Where he does have it wrong, no team has ever been relegated last week September, first week October. Sure it's been mentioned somewhere, Southport 2015-16 are a good example of this, something like 2 wins from their first 17 games , adrift in the relegation zone, when Dino Maamria was installed as the manager in November, they went on to finish 16th with 55 points, it's a big ask from here, but the fat lady hasn't yet begun to warm her voice as far as TUFC are concerned, there is still time, so it's doesn't beggar belief.

Took in a local game yesterday, so had no idea how this game panned out, so it is good hear the performance was very encouraging, very big week ahead now.

[arcadia]

The problem we don't know is are they running the finances into the ground say they tried and we then are in deep trouble.

[merse btpir]

Utter bollocks ! Just consider the possibility if you can ,that this may be a combination of factors including behind the scenes issues which have affected the club for some time. Even in Nichos era.

'Behind the scenes issues' do not effect how a side is set up to play ~ Owers and Kuhl demonstrated yesterday that they know how to do this and the only gripe I had was that the two front men (still to attain the fitness levels required at this stage of the season) were left on too long but then there is a game on Tuesday to factor in.

The low number of shots on target are mentioned in the thread.......agreed; they were low and that could have been improved with a more adventurous willingness to pull the trigger but then the preference might have been to retain possession which was much up on any other game I have seen this season.

There are some players in this squad playing below their natural level in my opinion.......Davies, Dorel, McQuaid to name three; the trick will be to optimise their fitness to get them up and running as they should be and hopefully lift the others as they do so. Forget off the fields issues just for now; allow these guys to get on with their jobs and see what happens.

[lucy6lucy]

'Behind the scenes issues' do not effect how a side is set up to play ~ Owers and Kuhl demonstrated yesterday that they know how to do this and the only gripe I had was that the two front men (still to attain the fitness levels required at this stage of the season) were left on too long but then there is a game on Tuesday to factor in.

The low number of shots on target are mentioned in the thread.......agreed; they were low and that could have been improved with a more adventurous willingness to pull the trigger but then the preference might have been to retain possession which was much up on any other game I have seen this season.

There are some players in this squad playing below their natural level in my opinion.......Davies, Dorel, McQuaid to name three; the trick will be to optimise their fitness to get them up and running as they should be and hopefully lift the others as they do so. Forget off the fields issues just for now; allow these guys to get on with their jobs and see what happens.

We've been waiting for the last 13 games Without success, i.e. A win. The team as a whole are just hopeless and are being paid wages they deserve. They fully deserve the criticism .

[Gulliball]

Some definite positives to take from yesterday. First of all Liam Davis was right up there for man of the match and looked like a cracking player. Fingers crossed the injury is behind him and he can make up for the lost time.

With Davis and Gowling back we finally got to see the first choice back four as intended and they looked good. I really like Evans as well in front of the back four. He was my man of the match up at Barrow and was up there with Liam Davis again yesterday. Very good on the ball, especially picking it up from the keeper and starting moves. Lathrope was ok, but having him and Evans there allowed Luke Young to play further forward where he can cause damage.

We look weakest going forward - on the wings and up front. McQuoid and Murphy did well enough but we didn't make too many chances. They can both get better with match fitness though. Jamie Reid had moment but as often lacked an end product, and I think we're missing Gosling to have some quality on the left hand side.

With players returning and the new arrivals we look stronger, but one more game is knocked off the list and we're down to 33 games remaining to get the points we need to stay up. The massive disappointment is that once again the opposition has won without deserving to - and if we can't get points when we are playing well then we have no chance.

Penalty was up the far end, so impossible to say if it was deserved or not. Like the Barrow goal, it was from a set piece and a defensive mistake cost us, which looks to be more of a mental/concentration block rather than fitness, and there was nothing yesterday to indicate that we were unfit or couldn't match one of the favourites for promotion from minute 1 to 91. The ref didn't endear himself to the away fans (Murphy's booking in particular) and at times in the second half it looked like he only had one arm as he didn't give anything our way for about 20 minutes, which made the late penalty awarded from nowhere even harder to take.

Home fans very friendly and magnanimous afterwards, but you can do that when you win.

[merse btpir]

The ref didn't endear himself to the away fans (Murphy's booking in particular) and at times in the second half it looked like he only had one arm as he didn't give anything our way for about 20 minutes, which made the late penalty awarded from nowhere even harder to take.

Murphy was booked for persistent misconduct and the ref pointed to five areas of the pitch where he had transgressed before showing him the card......I don't think anyone could argue against his booking on those grounds.

On the 'penalty from nowhere' I felt that the ref had bent over backwards not to give such an award and was consistently shouting to the players to 'keep it clean, stop holding' before corners were taken. In the circumstances, McGinty was an idiot for doing that and in any case he had got himself the wrong side of his opponent anyway...he really is a poor player with just a strong header clear and a big boot to his game. He gets turned for a pass time and is ponderous and lacks pace, definitely the weak link in that defence yesterday that needs replacing ASAP in my opinion!