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I have to agree with much of what Brucie has to say as well.

The midfield is the problem, I think it is clear for all to see as we are lacking creativity and seem to be accomodating players as oppose to actually offering some support to a front line which seems to consist of Howe on his own! We need pace, this was seen in abundance against Rochdale when Bodin and Thompson scared the living daylights out of the Rochdale defence. Two pacy attacking wingers/attackers alongside Howe provides a multitude of problems to defenders and if nothing else asks questions of defenders. At present, it is all too easy for Howe to be marked out of the game as a defence only has him to worry about. Introduce say Bodin and Thompson running off him and they don't know who to focus their attention on.

No disrespect to the player, but for me the problem is Ian Morris. I watched him throughout the whole of the game yesterday and am not sure what his role is? He tends to be chasing shadows a lot of the time. I am not saying he isn't committed but he is neither breaking up play (i.e. like Mansell / Easton) or providing the link to the attack. For some reason, Ling does like him as a player and is trying to accomodate him in the line up, but he is no Eunan O'Kane. Instead, step forward Nathan Craig. Surely, it is time for him to be put in that role if Ling want's to persist with his formation as it is. Mansell, alongside Easton or Lathrope when he is fit with Craig given the licence to have the free role to find the passes for Thompson/Bodin/Howe etc provides much more scope for creativity.

I was sat in Bristow's Bench yesterday with the family (as normal) and you do not get the same atmosphere you would expect in the popside or even the family stand last year due to the size of the stand. Therefore comments will get heard by Ling and the coaching staff. As always, these supporters should be engaging brain before shouting mindless comments, but equally Ling needs to understand how frustrating it is watching the style of football we had to endure yesterday when it was painstakingly obvious to me and those around me that we needed to take the game to the opposition and cause them problems rather than sit back and play on the break all the time.

I reckon, given time to think that Ling will actually take positive actions (not necessarily as a result of the mindless idiots shouting abuse) but purely because if nothing else he will realise the natives are a little restless....

Hi,

Just a quick post, is it me or am I the only one with concerns over the actual management of the team.

Firstly I think fans should voice their opinions even during a game and even directly to the manager, in current times a manager should be robust enough not to react to these fans and if anything it gives the manager a rare chance to hear what some of the fans thinkof the game.... rightly or wrongly.

Secondly, sometimes silence is bliss, it seems ling has a great ability of posting comments on the website pre-season/pre-game that put the mockers on the results. Lets remember his comment that we were good enough to be a top three side and that we were good enough to come out on top of the three Devon sides. Lets remember despite Exeter losing both them and Plymouth manage to score goals, and away from home.

It phases me a little bit because Ling mentioned in his post match interview that the remit has changed since he joined, that we had achieved two play offs in consecutive years so therefore expectations are higher, is this statement a bit of a cop out... as a true fan my desire is always to go for the top and yet the way we play and the way Ling seems to very openly criticise in my opinion not a recipe for success.... your views.

Y_E_L_L_O_W

brucie wrote:Well that was by some way the worst Torquay peformance I have seen since Roberts was in charge. Ling shouldn't be whinging about the odd comment from the crowd, he should be concentrating on how he is going to sort out this shambles - he was blowing hard when he walked off at the end of the game and looked a worried man (and quite rightly so).
Credit to the defence - they performed admirably, but the rest of the team (Howe excepted) were abyssmal topped off by a ref who was a cretin.
Plymouth signed a central midfielder on loan yesterday who made a big impact. That should be a mighty big clue to Ling as to what the problem is here. Easton and Morris are average at best but putting them both in the middle equals us getting overrun by the opposition.
Thompson,Bodin and Howe looked a potent threat against Rochdale. Bodin looked on fire playing on the left against Rochdale/Cheltenham so why play him on the right where he isn't looking the same player.
Contrast Thompson and Stevens peformances yesterday. Stevens trotting up and down the wing like he did not give a sh*t and Thompson actually looking like he wants to play.
Actually Lings tactic of trying to win 1-0 has run its course. About time we tried playing to our strengths. We have no midfielders really but lets give Howe some support for once.
I would like to see us line up against Aldershot with this team:

Poke

Nico-Downes-Saah-Oastler

Bodin-Craig-Mansell-Thompson

Jarvis-Howe

And therein probably lies the problem. Can't disagree with anything written there (apart from Ncho at right back) ML would love to sign A,B & C but is prevented from doing so. I know we've had a lot of expenditure this season but I do feel ML might be getting a tad frustrated. My point was I was suprised that Lingy let the comments from the bench get to him, he certainly retains my vote for manager but I wonder who long before he gets fed up with this frustration. My one and only time on the bench was at the Rochdale game and people from the bench were winging then! So your obviously not going to ever please em.

Well pretty obviously we didn't play very well at all yesterday, and the worst thing being that the win was there for the taking as Burton were equally abysmal. However, we did not lose and as long as that is the case we should not be too harsh on the team. I actually think we are still in a transition period from the team that finished last season, and just like last season it is very hard to hit the ground running from the very start of the season.

We played equally as frustratingly/poorly for a good number of matches at the start of last season before the manager found the magic formula and then we never looked back. I would back us to do the same this season. We have been forced to shuffle the pack in every game- even yesterday with the dynamic Craig coming off- and for me the biggest miss by a distance is Lathrope. He is such a master of his position and though Easton does a creditable job in that role you get a feeling we are compromising Mansell's forward endeavours which drove us on through much of last season's poorest moments by not having Damon there.

I am not one for criticising the manager but I must confess that bringing on Danny Stevens may have been the wrong choice. I have been a big supporter of the little man, especially in the face of a lot of flying flak from some supporters, but I think he is best utilised as a starter when he can dictate the play to the fullback from the off, as opposed to having the play dictated to him by a fullback who may have made a steady or settled start. I think bringing Thompson or Macklin on the right, with he ineffective Bodin moving to his more comfortable left may have been the better option, but its easy for us all to say that in hindsight.

We are only 8 games into the season, still 114 points to play for, it grates me that some people can moan so early when there is so much time to turn it round. Some might say last season was a fluke, it may well have been, time will tell, but it hasn't half raised the expectations of some of our fans. With a lot of money being pumped into the training ground and into the stadium it is pretty obvious the board and manager both share the vision that we can be a sustainable league one club in the future. There is no point getting up to league one only to be relegated the following season (nearly cost us our football league place altogether last time) we are trying to get all the foundations in place to keep us there, as a result things aren't quite going according to plan on the pitch at the moment. However we are proving increasingly hard to beat (even yesterday a Burton squad overloaded with league two striking talent couldn't beat us at our most catatonic) and as last season proved we are capable on going on long winning runs at a moment's notice, some people just need to keep the faith.

We have the players in the squad to mount a promotion push, we just need to get them all fit and ready, and with a bit of tweaking find the magic formula.

Ling is a good manager far better than Buckle and has worked wonders of that there is no doubt. I was in the stand and to describe those shouting as mindless idiots is incorrect. Also no abuse was shouted at the manager or the players.
However the supporters are entitled to express their disatisfaction with what they were witnessing yesterday. The place was like a morgue because there was nothing to cheer about. To describe Burton as being nothing better than us is nonsense. Clearly their new manager has done a good job as they looked a better team than they normally are.
Stevens disinterest was not good enough actually.
Ling stated the problem is too many home draws - yes fair enough but the crux is that he has not got the personnel to grind out 1-0 wins. The defence and the midfield are not as good as last year.
Howe is an excellent striker. As I said in my last message though our strength could well be our front players. Jarvis deserves a chance alongside Howe and with Bodin/Thompson wide potentially we look likely to score goals.

Agree with everything said Brucie, I just question the tactics which the manager is solely responsible for...

I'm not sure we need to tinker with the formation much....with the right personnel the 4-5-1 has been proved to be fine, for the squad we have, if we had a fox in the box type striker rather than Jarvis....then 4-4-2 would give us a better plan B.
I agree that Bodin on the left and Thompson on the right looks potentially our best pairing on the wings......and Nathan Craig looks the only midfielder in the squad creative enough to fill the huge void left by O'Kane playing just behind Howe.
With that front four.....we have a chance of troubling the top half of this league.

Completely agree with Brucie on both his posts on this thread. Another consideration is the impact that the style of play has on Howe. If we carry on playing like this then I fully expect a lay-off for Howe through injury. Rene is, as Brucie says, an excellent striker; surely we will get more out of him with a supporting striker playing for the whole game?

well im speechless.
fellow posters agreeing with brucie! =D
even more unbelievable - i agree with him to! :no:
good post brucie.
they better get their fingers out of their a**e for next week when i turn up and watch them!

jocktheknife wrote:I'm not sure we need to tinker with the formation much....with the right personnel the 4-5-1 has been proved to be fine, for the squad we have, if we had a fox in the box type striker rather than Jarvis....then 4-4-2 would give us a better plan B.
I agree that Bodin on the left and Thompson on the right looks potentially our best pairing on the wings......and Nathan Craig looks the only midfielder in the squad creative enough to fill the huge void left by O'Kane playing just behind Howe.
With that front four.....we have a chance of troubling the top half of this league.

I agree and I think if you add Lathrope to pair Mansell you have a very good team. As last season Lathrope is key. The back four is as good as last year. GK not quite matching up but good enough. Change to 442 in games by bringing Macklin on and shuffling the forward pack if needed.

Towards the end of last season,I commented on the lack of goals and (as I termed) the 'smash and grab' 1-0 wins and accussed the players of having 'no bottle', for which I recieved a good slating (over the top actually).

I realise now that the tactics of score first and then 'put the shutters up' had worked, but now needs to change and the players allowed to play. Surely Ling is not a 'one trick pony'.

It was probably our goal difference that caused the panic towards the end of last season, and we now are getting to the same senario already....A lot would disagree but I would rather see us lose 6-5 than draw 0-0 or 1-1.

I wrongly termed lack of goals and convincing wins as lack of bottle...We should have the ability to score more..lets do it EH !!

As I said after the Rotherham game, I think give it until the end of the month, regarding the formation. I said 5 points would be good from the 3 games (AFCW, Burton and Chesterfield) so if we can get something next week I'll be content.

I would be alot more confident with 4-4-2 if we had another option upfront as I really don't rate Jarvis, at all. I'm hoping Ling is looking towards the loan market if he is considering a change of tactics.

As for the poster who mentioned whether Ling will start to get annoyed/possibly consider his future; his latest comments on the OS suggest otherwise. He certainly seems happy at the club, and seems excited to look over the completion of the new training facilities.

I'm still not worried, okay the performances haven't been fully up to scratch thus far, but we've shown glimpses. Cheltenham, Rochdale, we were excellent. Sounds like we were good at AFCW aswell.

Probably sounds daft but I'd rather be in our position, under the radar of everybody else, than up there in the spotlight. Exeter are bound to fall anytime soon, as are the likes of Gillingham, Vale etc.

I'll wait a couple more games before I start to get concerned but as for our level this year, we'll be top 10 but I'll be surprised to reach the playoffs again. Bobby is our biggest loss, Poke is good but is far less commanding than Bobby was.

The best form of defence is attack. Fast players on the wings, a couple of goalscorers in the middle to bang em in and put the wind up the opposition, a strong midfield to control the game, and a good defence. Simple(s)!

We're almost there. Yes, there will be injuries and suspensions and runs of poor form. But trust in Ling and his team to do the necessary. Give them our full support (moaners and whingers stay away).

Look at all the positives, count our blessings, and see where we finish up (and it could be up) at the end of the season..