Torquay United v Maidstone Sat 14 Oct KO 3pm

[oldpedant]

They drew Oxford away. Not too inspiring. Can remember going away there in the early 80s. Had my boot laces removed on entering the ground. When I went to collect them on the way out, instead of my pristine red laces was presented with a scrappy, tatty old black pair. Complained but told by a copper like it or lump it!!! Charming place

Er…that’s Maidenhead! Maidstone are away to Braintree or Chesham. Equally uninspiring but maybe a route to round 2.

[toastkid]

Twas a cock up for the goal, regardless of what the ref decided. I think Donellan tackled Halstead, then it went from bad to worse.

Cock ups every week.

[UnitedinDevon]

Thanks for replies......

For disclosure, I'm still convinced we will win this league, regional or otherwise.

My point about being positive is the same as last night. Fans going to games with a negative mindset is never good. We all want the same thing, but putting too much pressure on players will only make promotion all the more unlikely.

I totally agree about the secrecy regarding injuries. Ridiculous. De Silva? Dawson may be involved next Saturday, equally he may never play again. Who knows.....

I also agree the squad is unbalanced. One too few strikers, weak in defence and lacking a genuinely creative midfielder.

Having said all that, I still believe Johnson is the man to take us up. If he doesn't, it's time for someone new.

[Brixham63]

GJ hasn’t bought in any loans. Why?…can the budget really be blown and this is it squad wise. An answer is required to reset expectations…no loans and it’s play offs…fully fit squad it’s the play offs…3 decent loans and we can still go straight up..the lack of information is bizarre

[SWgull]

The same lack of information which has been a feature of this administration and management all along. I can kind of understand Johnson not wanting to put too much information out there a couple of days before a game - though even this is questionable. However, when you think of long term absences, I mean has there ever been anything officially announced about Dawson's absence?? I'm not sure there has - that is bizarre, as if he is not even at the club?! Surely something along the lines of he had an op in the summer and should be back training/playing in (insert month here!). Of course, it also begs the question why the hell did the club sign him if they knew he would be out for a significant chunk of time?

[gullsgullsgulls]

The same lack of information which has been a feature of this administration and management all along. I can kind of understand Johnson not wanting to put too much information out there a couple of days before a game - though even this is questionable. However, when you think of long term absences, I mean has there ever been anything officially announced about Dawson's absence?? I'm not sure there has - that is bizarre, as if he is not even at the club?! Surely something along the lines of he had an op in the summer and should be back training/playing in (insert month here!). Of course, it also begs the question why the hell did the club sign him if they knew he would be out for a significant chunk of time?

The only rationale I can think of is that it is not good news and they are simply too embarrassed to admit that they blew a chunk of the budget on a player who may not feature until [insert random month] 2024.

If he is expected back before Christmas I would be trailing it as a 'good news' story right now to try and quell the toxicity.

[toastkid]

I think the fans could do with seeing some new additions (on the pitch) coming in. A new striker, right back, centre half. We need to see the intentions of the club now. Need to get a bit of positive momentum.

[happytorq]

As has been said many many times before; this team still has glaring deficiencies that have yet to be addressed. In defence we're forcing Ollie Tomlinson to develop right in front of us every saturday afternoon - that's not ideal, even though he does seem to be improving apace. Ross Marshall is good enough for 90% of the time, but it's the other 10% that costs us games. We've needed a strong centre-half since July, and everybody has known it.

Despite both Stobbs and Collins joining permanently in the summer, neither have yet to reach the heights of those 10-or-so games. That, in turn, has not given Ash and Jarvis the service we'd expect. Jenkins-Davies was improving prior to his injury, so it was disappointing to see him leave.

Whose fault are these deficiencies? Is it the manager who doesn't appear to have made too much of an effort to fix them? Is it the owner for not providing an adequate budget to plug gaps?

It's probably both - we heard pre-season that the budget was stretched after pretty much everybody re-signed. That speaks to an oversight of management to me; if you know your budget is going to be X amount, you probably shouldn't offer contracts totalling that same X if you'll still need players. Moxey and Hall are probably pretty well paid (comparatively) and given their participation this season, perhaps offering them new deals was a mistake (especially since if we do manage to get promoted, the job still isn't done).

There's also the unknowns - Is Dawson ever likely to play for us? Radio silence on injuries (sidenote; I see no reason that the fans can't be given an idea of where a player is and how long they'll be out for. Bloody Welling aren't going to change their entire style of play simply becasue Dawson can play, ffs)

Whither Dillon Da Silva? I think we gave him a contract and then he disappeared. Was never particularly keen on him but it's pretty laughable that we can't fill a subs bench for a cup game.

I don't know whether changing the manager would make a difference, but it might well be worth a try. That said - it's not going to happen, is it. If, as assumed, he's on a pretty thick wedge, the owner won't sack him, and it seems very unlikely Johnson would resign. Call it arrogance, call it self-confidence, call it what you will - he'll still believe that he can get this club promoted.

They just need to beat Welling on saturday, and not just 1-0. They need to really play decently against a side who is struggling, even in this very poor division. Anything less than a 3 goal victory will be poor, I feel.

[Dave]

Seen quite a lot written about whether the ownership have provided a big enough budget to plug the gaps in the squad, and many suggestions our squad is paper thin.

Agree we are short of numbers in the squad, but I'm going to use the term 'for all the wrong reasons' again, been said in an above post it was patently obvious to all we were short of a right back, centre back and a striker, totally agree with this point. So if the budget was already pretty much maxed out, why did GJ sign DeSilva on the eve of the new season, when we already had Stobbs and Collins who fulfil the same position as DeSilva , money wasted, a squad position wasted as they all can't play.

Not going to be hypocritical I was happy to see Dawson signed, with the benefit of hindsight that looks to have been a huge and costly mistake. With Asa Hall , there's never going to be any doubt he's been a great servant to football, and a great servant to our club, but last season, again it was obvious, his best days had past him by, his retention for counts as another huge waste of money and a squad space that could and should have been filled with a centre back.

this leaves us with; Hall, Hanson, McGavin, Donnellan, Lapslie and Dawson all central midfielders, again they can't all play in the centre, so we've seen Donnellan press ganged into defence, but, must be pointed out he is a central midfielder by trade, us fans moan about the concession of poor goals, this is one consequence of Donnellan playing there over and above as a makeshift defender when needed , not just the penalties he conceded alone last season, but Saturday as he clearly got in Halstead's way doing him no favours.

Which highlights the need for a right back, so for me it appears our squad is paper thin for all the wrong reasons, and money probably was there, I would suggest miss-spent.

[Cheddargull]

I don't know whether changing the manager would make a difference, but it might well be worth a try. That said - it's not going to happen, is it.

I don't think there's much point sacking Johnson. Even if we got in a top manager he would still have to work with the dross Johnson signed and I don't think the outcome would be any different.
At the end of this season most of the contracts on these duds will expire, that is the time to get a new manager with a free hand to sign his own team.
I always thought Yeovil would win the league, new owners and Mark Cooper finally getting the players he actually wants. But I did think we would be in the top 3 but after the Maidstone league game I'm not even sure we will make the play-offs. One thing I'm sure of is we won't get relegated (although I didn't think we would at the beginning of last season) so we might as well keep Johnson, write the season off and start afresh next season with a new set up.

[Cheddargull]

Seen quite a lot written about whether the ownership have provided a big enough budget to plug the gaps in the squad, and many suggestions our squad is paper thin.

Agree we are short of numbers in the squad, but I'm going to use the term 'for all the wrong reasons' again, been said in an above post it was patently obvious to all we were short of a right back, centre back and a striker, totally agree with this point. So if the budget was already pretty much maxed out, why did GJ sign DeSilva on the eve of the new season, when we already had Stobbs and Collins who fulfil the same position as DeSilva , money wasted, a squad position wasted as they all can't play.

Not going to be hypocritical I was happy to see Dawson signed, with the benefit of hindsight that looks to have been a huge and costly mistake. With Asa Hall , there's never going to be any doubt he's been a great servant to football, and a great servant to our club, but last season, again it was obvious, his best days had past him by, his retention for counts as another huge waste of money and a squad space that could and should have been filled with a centre back.

this leaves us with; Hall, Hanson, McGavin, Donnellan, Lapslie and Dawson all central midfielders, again they can't all play in the centre, so we've seen Donnellan press ganged into defence, but, must be pointed out he is a central midfielder by trade, us fans moan about the concession of poor goals, this is one consequence of Donnellan playing there over and above as a makeshift defender when needed , not just the penalties he conceded alone last season, but Saturday as he clearly got in Halstead's way doing him no favours.

Which highlights the need for a right back, so for me it appears our squad is paper thin for all the wrong reasons, and money probably was there, I would suggest miss-spent.

[Wolborough]

We need a decent right back, left back and centre half. We need a pacey strong midfield player, we need a powerful centre forward. By not filling the glaring gaps was will continue to perform poorly, we will struggle to keep towards to top of the table.

[culmstockgull]

The squad unbalanced, whatever next.Yes, we need a centre half but only of the experienced variety and another striker but the way the club works the first loan through the door would be another goalkeeper. As for the back positions,Johnson will play anyone out of position to fill a hole working on the basis, I have given you a briefing on your repsonsibilities now go out and do it, but we humble supporters know that rarely works.
We seem to be in general agreement there is no more money, but it would be easy to make savings, we have a goalkeeping coach who knows less on how to be a pro keeper than Halstead and lovett, so get rid, we supposedly have a conditioning coach, why then do most of the squad look out of it two thirds in, several exceptions, lapslie and jarvis, so offer halstead a few bob extra to be goalkeeping coach and same with lapslie or jarvis to be conditioning coach, get rid completely of Pete johnson, that should free up enough to cover the costs of a few loans.

[Gullsandbeyond121]

The squad unbalanced, whatever next.Yes, we need a centre half but only of the experienced variety and another striker but the way the club works the first loan through the door would be another goalkeeper. As for the back positions,Johnson will play anyone out of position to fill a hole working on the basis, I have given you a briefing on your repsonsibilities now go out and do it, but we humble supporters know that rarely works.
We seem to be in general agreement there is no more money, but it would be easy to make savings, we have a goalkeeping coach who knows less on how to be a pro keeper than Halstead and lovett, so get rid, we supposedly have a conditioning coach, why then do most of the squad look out of it two thirds in, several exceptions, lapslie and jarvis, so offer halstead a few bob extra to be goalkeeping coach and same with lapslie or jarvis to be conditioning coach, get rid completely of Pete johnson, that should free up enough to cover the costs of a few loans.

And the stats man and his mate posing around the pitch prior to kick off, before venturing up to the gantry.
Whatever stats are produced are probably a little to complex anyway ! I guess he susses out the part time opposition and offers the feedback.

[desperado]

What gets me is the watering of the pitch before the game. I get why they do it but it suits
the opposition more than us ! They are the ones who play the slick quick passing on the ground.
We play a mix of ground passing and long ball, the ground passing often resulting in the ball going backwards and ending up with a long ball anyway. Other teams seem to know exactly what they are doing whereas in our passing build up play, there is often that slight hesitation of 'who's in a good position to pass it to. We are ponderous and there doesn't seem to be that understanding that other teams have.