Dover Athletic v Torquay United - 3pm 5th Aug

[Hornblower]

This league is not going to be as easy as people think, Win Saturday and its a good start.

[dagglebert]

There seems to be almost universal agreement that we need an experienced CB and more forward cover. Johnson must see this too. So either there is no budget; he is waiting for Moxey, Martin and Dawson to be fit (risky if this is going to take some time), which will bring more options to the squad; or he has it in hand (ie waiting for right availability). I hope for some good news soon, but a nagging fear is how long it took to bring in good players last season. If we had recruited Stobbs ,Collins, Lawrence and Nouble even 2/3 weeks earlier than we did we would have stayed up.

[culmstockgull]

Good post Brucie, I am glad that I am not alone in thinking we missed a trick in not getting Law, a purpose built left back with pace, I would need convincing that Truro were offering a better contract, yes,we have Moxey and Martin in the left back role but Moxey will need regular game rest and also as it stands he needs to be covering at centre back, Martin, not sure why we kept him, even on the odd occasion he was fit he never stood out.
I know he is not everyones cup of tea but Ellis is still without a club, he has the one thing we do not possess, a purpose built centre half of experience, he would bring calmness and stability to the back four. Even if we only had him on non contract terms for a month or so , he would get match fitness and his agent could then promote him to other clubs as a fit experienced centre half.
It worries me that Johnson has indicated he has blown the budget, more so when we are only one game into the season, I am sure he is desperately trying offload the likes of Hanson, Crowe and Marshall and even tomlinson, but frankly how do you promote them to other clubs, they never made the national league team on a regular basis and now they cannot make the south team, who would want them, the only alternative is to loan them out and keep paying the majority of their wages which doesnt help us at at all in freeing up finance.

[Cheddargull]

I know he is not everyones cup of tea but Ellis is still without a club, he has the one thing we do not possess, a purpose built centre half of experience, he would bring calmness and stability to the back four. Even if we only had him on non contract terms for a month or so , he would get match fitness and his agent could then promote him to other clubs as a fit experienced centre half.

Signed for Chorley last month.

[aggrey_25]

loans this week are key

[happytorq]

McGavin....that was a fairly invisible performance wasn’t it!

Don't know if anybody else has pointed this out (haven't read all of the posts yet) but McGavin put a very nice pass behind the defence that ended up creating Hall's goal.

[happytorq]

His asertion that Dover were "athletic" isnt good enough. Thats something we are clearly not.

haven't seen the interview, but are you sure he wasn't just saying "Dover Athletic"? :D

ignore this - MellowYellow beat me to it..

[happytorq]

Prediction League update... thanks for all your predictions, was a good turnout, a low-scoring week with nobody getting the score and only 3 people picking up 1 point in the league. Still plenty of time to catch up if you missed it this week to be in with a chance of winning TUFC merch.

get in - top 6!

[Cheddargull]

It worries me that Johnson has indicated he has blown the budget,

In the past Johnson has stated that there is no set budget and he just asks the owner for finance and he usually gets what he wants. Personally I think statement you refer to was the usual bullshit Johnson comes out with when looking to cover his tracks.

[desperado]

Maybe McGavin did put in a nice pass to create the goal but afraid that's not enough.
I want to see every player fit as they can possibly be and running his socks off for 90 minutes and he doesn't.

[Gullsandbeyond121]

Maybe McGavin did put in a nice pass to create the goal but afraid that's not enough.
I want to see every player fit as they can possibly be and running his socks off for 90 minutes and he doesn't.

It is about time he has done something. He is one of the many reasons we find ourselves in the NLS. He and many others owe the supporters a lot more. Running for 90 minutes should not be an option. Dwelling slowly on the ball far to often. He needs to wake up.

[portugull]

If you watch the Match Highlights and in particular the 2 goals conceded you see the following.

Sean Donnellan watches a header to the Goalscorer and then turns his back on the striker instead of attempting at least some sort of block.Am I being harsh?

For Goal No 2 we have 3 players in the center circle and none of them have the pace or athleticism to ensure we deal with a simple ball over the top.

We have no shape and this is down to Aaron Downes who should be coaching these players not to make it easy for the opposition.. Am I being harsh?

[brucie]

no the two goals conceded were shocking. As I said we are going nowhere with that defence. Might as well accept mid table now - as someone else said loans this week are key.

[aggrey_25]

its mind blowing that the performance we put in against argyle and city and we go out and do that on saturday. its concerning the defence side of things, 100% need moxey back in for simply experience.

we need a sub striker as hanson isn't the answer and got to get a few out so we can get these loans in. im hopeful plainmoor will be a fortress this year

[longfordgull]

One of the things I found most worrying about the Dover game was Gary Johnson's body language in the postmatch interview. He looked and sounded like a broken man.