cheltenham town v torquay united - 13/5/12

[portugull]

cheltenham were so lucky not to concede in the first 10 minutes when Jarvis so nearly scored.

Martin Ling has a real dilemma for the second leg given that our bench is so poor compared to cheltenham.

Atieno is simply not worth playing. No effort, no skill, no passion, surely he will not get a new contract. Given the lack of choice I would definitely play McPhee as the central striker because surely he must be better than Atieno.

All is not lost as the cheltenham defence is vulnerable particularly if we can get the ball out wide.

what has gone wrong with the teams belief? Graham Turner summed it up on Sky when he said that United were a shadow of the team from a month ago.

I still think we can do it and Lee Mansell will lead from the front.

COYY.

[cinderford robin]

What a good game the best so far in the play offs(I know I'm going to say that because we lead .) but I like Torquay same sort of club as us. This game is not over we are Cheltenham town we don't do things the easyway. Can't wait for the trip down Thursday.

[Dave]

What a good game the best so far in the play offs(I know I'm going to say that because we lead .) but I like Torquay same sort of club as us. This game is not over we are Cheltenham town we don't do things the easyway. Can't wait for the trip down Thursday.

Funny you should say that, because not doing things easy is what us gulls say about our club aswell, you always have to have hope, an early goal for us Thursday and things look very different, however got to admit think it is over for us, as stated our team has very little left in the tank, and today highlighted it for me, when we went 2 down I looked at our bench from a fan's point of view, and thought to myself what would I do to change this, I could not come up with an answer.

And the point was proved ,the player we brought on to boost our attack ,was our second choice left back, says it all really.

[kittiwake]

Unfortunately this decision to not add to our squad whoever it was by has completely backfired and this season which could have been so unbelievably great has now fizzled out into just being a well done that was excellent season but nothing ultimately achieved. Make no mistake this tie is absolutely 100% over as without Howe there is no chance of us scoring twice.

Onto today well I'm still annoyed at our 2nd half display. 1st half was ok, we created a couple of good chances of which Jarvis and Howe should have both done better but as ever we fail to make those chances count. Eunan was pulling the strings, Cheltenham never looked like hurting us and we're 1-0 down.

The 2nd half was just awful, Cheltenham were light years better than us, should have scored about 5 goals if it wasn't for a couple of last ditch blocks and clearances, what summed us up was their centre forward makes it 2-0 with a header. We go straight up the other end and hit the bar with a 10x easier one.

We just never score any goals as our forward players other than Howe are substandard at best and not good enough at worst. I can never fault our effort or endeavour but sadly in Cheltenham I saw everything we don't have. They look like a L2 promotion side, power and strength at the back, tidy central midfielders, rapid wingers and a massive depth in strikers. 4 to be precise. If things didn't go Cheltenham's way today they could look to their bench and bring on Duffy, Goulding, Smikle, we're losing and we bring on a left back to play out wide. A complete lack of depth in the forwards and plan B has ultimately killed us this season. You will nearly always see the teams with the best strikers go up and if I was a Cheltenham fan I'd feel very confident right now that they could win the whole thing.

What a waste.

Scored twice against Hereford without Howe so can do it again - if they play 4-4-2. Suits Tai far better than being alone up front. If fans were still watching when LRT came on today, they will have seen Tai's play improve considerably with two shots on target within a short time.
He links up well with Jarvis if they are given the opportunity.

[Northumbergull]

I agree there, Kittiwake! Tai seemed to struggle on his own but was different when support was at hand.

As for our visiting Robin, Cheltenham deserved their win today but it will be a different game on Thursday. Our team just gave up the ghost after we went one down, I truly can't believe we'll do the same twice. Cheltenham weren't all that good either, squandering a heap of possession in the second half for only a single goal. A better team would have finished the game 5 or 6 nil.

Cheers

Bruce

[jonnyfive]

Wonderful line back there: "our other forwards are substandard at worst and not good enough at best." Say what??

Gobbledegook aside, I agree with the sentiment. I would go so far as to say that Atieno is the worst Torquay player since McPhee. Harsh I know...

[ferrarilover]

If you've seen one Torquay performance this season, you've seen them all.
Batter the opposition first 20 minutes, come close but fail to get the goal your play deserves.
Concede a goal to the oppositions first and only shot on target in the whole half.
Go to pieces and forget which colour we play in.
Get to half time.
Come out with all good intentions.
Concede a goal early to the oppositions first and only shot on target in the whole half.
Continue to forget what colour we play in.
Pour forward in the last 10 minutes, win a succession of corners but ultimately do nothing with them.

There we are then, the script for just about every single Torquay game since February.

Bobby has now not made a save of note (he's caught a couple of crosses and picked up a couple of "shots" so poor they don't deserve the name) for 2.5 games. We've conceded to every single shot on target against both Hereford and Chelts.

Sorry boys, don't want to seem negative Nigel, but we've had it this year. We wouldn't score 3 goals on Thursday of Chelts forgot to bring a keeper. So, so poor going forward, which makes a mockery of some genuinely excellent approach play. Shame, but a big changing of personnel needed to maintain a challenge next year. Seems very strange saying that of a team who should, really, have gone up automatically, but there it is.

Matt.

[6667GULL]

Bring in McDonald and start with Ellis upfront with Jarvis, he did OK at Hereford in the second half, can't be any worse than Tai.

[numpte]

Unfortunately this decision to not add to our squad whoever it was by has completely backfired and this season which could have been so unbelievably great has now fizzled out into just being a well done that was excellent season but nothing ultimately achieved. Make no mistake this tie is absolutely 100% over as without Howe there is no chance of us scoring twice.

Hurumph!!!!!!!

a) perhaps there was no decision to make i.e no funds. Look whats being erected on one side of the pitch. Personally, having looked at that eyesore for 20 odd years i'd take another season in L2 for financial prudence at this time of stand construction which despite grants from the local authority and football foundation has taken significant investment by the club.Also lets remember Chelts received a significant cup windfall (Spurs away) to add funds to their large squad.

b) THE TIE IS OVER????? mmmm, you'd be one of those leaving the etihad at 90 mins then? Certainly a tall order but it isnt over.

[chippygull]

Disappointing, but God we looked so weary..great first 20 mins. and Rene was giving their centre half all sorts of problems. Then.....{ nothing } Strength seems to be a factor in our squad, Oastler, O'Kane, Lathrope, (and lil' Danny) are so light weight and just get shoved off the ball with meat heads like Burgess around...
Good turn out, but a lot of grumpiness and too quiet by far. The saddest thing is it looks as if Ling will have not done as well as Buckle on paper, which, given his ability and our hopes and expectations, is bizarre. I know I FEEL like he's done MUCH better!!

[royalgull]

Wonderful line back there: "our other forwards are substandard at worst and not good enough at best." Say what??

Gobbledegook aside, I agree with the sentiment. I would go so far as to say that Atieno is the worst Torquay player since McPhee. Harsh I know...

Well done for getting the quote completely arse about face. Especially as it's a whopping two posts above this one.

our other forwards are substandard at BEST and simply not good enough at WORST, whichever case scenario you really want to look at it.

[royalgull]

Hurumph!!!!!!!

a) perhaps there was no decision to make i.e no funds. Look whats being erected on one side of the pitch. Personally, having looked at that eyesore for 20 odd years i'd take another season in L2 for financial prudence at this time of stand construction which despite grants from the local authority and football foundation has taken significant investment by the club.Also lets remember Chelts received a significant cup windfall (Spurs away) to add funds to their large squad.

b) THE TIE IS OVER????? mmmm, you'd be one of those leaving the etihad at 90 mins then? Certainly a tall order but it isnt over.

Exactly my point there may be no funds whatsoever to have brought in a loan player. Or maybe the manager decided what we had was enough? Maybe both, who knows. You look at Cheltenham and you look at us, look at the forwards. That's why they will win this tie. (Valid point on the Spurs game) I'm one for giving our own a go first which we've done well for the msot part of this season but we've been a striker short all year and with Howe's injuries in the last month it's whats really killed us.

As Matt rightly says and I've thought it all year we're a 1-0 side and as soon as we go 1-0 down we may as well all go home because we give up and never ever look like scoring. If anything we get worse most of the time. We have won ONE game from a losing position all season, that being when we got a penalty and Port Vale went down to 10 men. With Tai and Jarvis up front (only option, the fact some are even considering playing Ellis there sums it all up) there is more chance of Joey Barton getting the Fair Play award than there is of us scoring 3 goals to beat CHeltenham on Thursday.

[royalgull]

Disappointing, but God we looked so weary..great first 20 mins. and Rene was giving their centre half all sorts of problems. Then.....{ nothing } Strength seems to be a factor in our squad, Oastler, O'Kane, Lathrope, (and lil' Danny) are so light weight and just get shoved off the ball with meat heads like Burgess around...
Good turn out, but a lot of grumpiness and too quiet by far. The saddest thing is it looks as if Ling will have not done as well as Buckle on paper, which, given his ability and our hopes and expectations, is bizarre. I know I FEEL like he's done MUCH better!!

It's all relative, Ling has done wonders this year with the lack of resource and the squad of players on paper he has to work with. There is no way we should be in the playoffs. If you compare the side from last years PO Final to this one I know which one I'd choose and rather watch but ultimately Ling has got the maximum out of these players so whatever happens it shouldn't detract from what he's achieved this year even if we don't get to the final this year. It's not really a contest and it doesn't matter. I think if we mixed the two teams up we'd have a hell of a team!

[tauntongull]

Statistics very rarely lie and if you look at our record we have won a significant number of goals 1-0, surely this highlights our inability to score - but our ability to defend. Goal difference also qualifies this. I believe our place in the league is a little flattering for us personally but that said we showed great spirit during the first half of the season. As another member posted, I think we look tired and a I have to say it - clueless at the moment. What happened to the sharp interplay and passing we had earlier in the season.

I am afraid the depth of our squad and lack of game changers from the bench is what I believe has led to our demise. Again, we have to accept that Mr Ling was operating within budget constraints and we have achieved more than many felt we would at the beginning of the season.

Personally I would have thought that as a player, contemplating three further games to your season would have been a strong motivator for putting more effort to finish your season early - but alas no. For several games now we have looked nothing like the side we were earlier in the season.

I said before the game we needed to keep an eye on Mohamed, McGlashan and Summerfield as these were their playmakers. It wasn't the first time that Nicholson has been given the runaround by McGlashan. From the replay on Sky he was caught ball watching and McGlashan got in behind him from a move which started from a misplaced pass from Lathrope. Mohammed will run his socks off but burns himself out - the last 20 minutes he did very little.

We have to stop playing to Cheltenham's strengths if we are going to get anything out of the game on Thursday. Elliot is slow and quite clumsy but good in the air - so why do we insist on pumping the ball forward to Morris to flick on? Equally I lost count the amount of times we hoofed or hooked a ball clear when players had time to take the ball down and play it. Playing through or around the back of Cheltenham's back four will yield results - have we got the strikers to do it though? Lost count how many times Atieno couldn't hold up the ball or do anything significant with it. Can't really complain at Jarvis for effort - maybe a lack of games hasn't helped him.

If Man City can score two goals in 5 minutes after being out of most of the game - so can we. The question is, psychologically are the players strong enough to put in a heroic performance after recently results. The crowd has been behind them all season even after some very poor displays but if you want the crowd to get behind you - as a team you have to be seen to be putting in 100% effort. On a day where we do, I feel we can beat anyone.

Mans needs to make a war cry and for us to come out at Plainmoor with all guns blazing - we have absolutely nothing to lose. Give them no time on the ball and mark their key players. Get the crowd going with a great effort and watch Cheltenham panic at the thought of losing their two goal lead. Come out slowly and allow Cheltenham to settle - as we have done in a number of home games this season and I am afraid it's all over

Still keeping the faith.

[brucie]

Yes play Ellis up front with Atieno, drop lathrope and go 4-4-2 - we might as will go down trying to win rather than draw 0-0 because we won't score playing our normal formation.
Whilst we look to have no chance - if we get the first goal it is at least some sort of game.