Torquay United vs Rotherham United

[SteveDeckchair]

Saw the third goal on tv tonight. It's not pretty and neither is the first.

Nicho clearly stumbles as he is covering the winger allowing him a yard of space to cross for the goal. Poke mis judges the first shot and spills it into the net.

Gifted them two goals......

[PL21gull]

Midfield and wrong decision-making are our main problems - in the first half we made chances by passing movements, but in the second half we went long or tried inaccurate cross-field balls - switch play by all means, but not to the extent of leaving one man out wide on his own or squandering possession. Rotherham played 3 defenders tight together at the back then when they broke forward they quickly had up to 7 men in or around the penalty box; our system of just two in midfield - who are both harassers rather than creators - is just insufficient now, so we have to change formation, especially as Rotherham just walked through our 4-2-4 line-up from the kick-off for the third goal.
We made some excellent positions cutting in from the flanks along the goal-line - Rotherham's simple third goal showed how to manage such chances, whereas we just overhit high balls from fairly close range.... Why go high anyway when most goals are scored on the deck and we have no natural headers of goals? At least give both our forwards and opposition defenders the chance to slide the ball into the net, but we never even seem to think of attacking the near post.
Our corners are also becoming monotonous and unvaried - high loopy balls drifting away from goal which demand too much for our headers. So vary the tactic, and let's have some pace on the ball, let's attack the goal and make opposition defenders earn their money.

Basically, the way we set up is too obvious and easy to play against - our paltry points tally over the last 3 months is surely evidence of this. The players are giving great effort, but that effort needs better direction.

[chunkygull]

Midfield and wrong decision-making are our main problems - in the first half we made chances by passing movements, but in the second half we went long or tried inaccurate cross-field balls - switch play by all means, but not to the extent of leaving one man out wide on his own or squandering possession. Rotherham played 3 defenders tight together at the back then when they broke forward they quickly had up to 7 men in or around the penalty box; our system of just two in midfield - who are both harassers rather than creators - is just insufficient now, so we have to change formation, especially as Rotherham just walked through our 4-2-4 line-up from the kick-off for the third goal.
We made some excellent positions cutting in from the flanks along the goal-line - Rotherham's simple third goal showed how to manage such chances, whereas we just overhit high balls from fairly close range.... Why go high anyway when most goals are scored on the deck and we have no natural headers of goals? At least give both our forwards and opposition defenders the chance to slide the ball into the net, but we never even seem to think of attacking the near post.Our corners are also becoming monotonous and unvaried - high loopy balls drifting away from goal which demand too much for our headers. So vary the tactic, and let's have some pace on the ball, let's attack the goal and make opposition defenders earn their money.
Basically, the way we set up is too obvious and easy to play against - our paltry points tally over the last 3 months is surely evidence of this. The players are giving great effort, but that effort needs better direction.

some brilliant points there. so obvious it should be staring the coaching staff in the face. it isnt rocket science.

[Dave Caldwell]

Sounds as if the team has no pattern of play that suits their system 4-4-2 etc, if they are playing off the cuff then they will be disjointed, when fustration sets in team will tend to go long as they lose confidence to pass and it takes pressure off them, not a good sign as teams playing without confidence will only go one way.