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So why doesn't LING realise this when we've known it for weeks and weeks! What a knob!

Deadline Thursday for loanees i believe.....we'll see what reaction we get....probably more defenders !!!

We used to have attacking talent like Tomlin, Kee, O'Kane, zebroski, Robinson playing for us. The good old days.

Now we've got Easton, Craig, Bodin and Jarvis.

Couldn't be more :-I about our side. It is just beyond mince.

royalgull wrote:We used to have attacking talent like Tomlin, Kee, O'Kane, zebroski, Robinson playing for us. The good old days.

On the specific players themselves, Robinson was beyond our budget to make it permanent; Kee was homesick; Tomlin hated being based in the South West; Zebroski demanded a move for personal/geographical reasons; O'Kane played the release clause card.

I see your point in terms of talent, but we surely pushed the budget way beyond breaking point at the end of the 2010/11 season? There must be enough in the budget to add one or two attacking players now, though.

As i've said before, other clubs much lower in non league than us and with poorer budgets seem to attract half decent players now and again. We always seem to bemoan this lack of money and our geographical position as an excuse, it won't wash anymore. There are players everywhere who are looking for a foot in the door or to resurrect their career , it seems as if players would rather play in the conference than join us. Just like we get ripped on transfer fees when every other club seems to do well thankyouverymuch. Something isn't right somewhere.

We used to find them.

We don't anymore because the managers views on the way the game should be played are total opposites.

Buckle went OTT with forwards but would rather have too many than too few. Would always be aggressive and play for wins.You score 2 we'll score 3.

Ling plays 3 defensive central midfielders, and plays for 1-0 wins.

I know what i'd rather watch.

Andy - we have some decent players, too. In the attacking positions, the likes of Howe, Bodin, Stevens and a few others can be more than useful. Ling has been unlucky with the serious injuries for Morris and Macklin, and the niggly ones Stevens is suffering. But a manger needs to be able to think fast and it's almost negligent not to have a list of prosepective players to bring in when low on numbers and confidence. We'll see what the manager does in the next week...

As for your comment about players prefering to play in the Conference. In fairness, I'm sure Fleetwood and Rendell are earning considerably more at Luton than they would here.

royalgull wrote:We used to find them.

We don't anymore because the managers views on the way the game should be played are total opposites.

It increasingly looks like Ling used his time away from full-time management and spotted a couple of potential gems for our level: Olejnik and Howe. The rest of his signings are players he's worked with before, like Saah. You sense he doesn't enjoy the transfer-side of management. And, lest we forget, John Milton was often credited with many of the signings made while Buckle was manager.

A manager who works with what he has and doesn't demand loan signings every other week will always be more compatible with our board's vision for the club, especially as long as crowds aren't critically low and relegation dogfights are being avoided.

Ling plays 3 defensive central midfielders, and plays for 1-0 wins.

I know what i'd rather watch.

We'd all rather exciting, flowing football, but 1-0 wins were just fine last season. In fact, I've never known a season where I expected Torquay to grind out wins routinely. We ought to have finished the job, but I can't help but be relieved we're not in League One right now!

As for the here and now, playing 3 DCMs is baffling, and I'll keep calling for Craig to play in the middle. Surely next week he won't be on the left with Cruise replacing the suspended Mansell??!

What's the point in having good attacking players when you don't play to their strengths and use them though? We could have Van Persie but he'd still only be able to knock out goals from thin air because we don't get forward enough to support him.

It showed today that playing our best passing midfielder on the wing, he was ineffective, but if we play nathan craig in the middle he can make chances, so why play him on the wing then have defensive minded players hoofing the ball to the isolated howe upfront, the second half when ling decided to play thompson on the wing and not a central midfielder, he whipped one ball in and we scored straight away. 4-5-1 is a good formation if you use the right players.. and it just doesn't suit our team at all. Bodin plays better on the left, Thompson gives every left back he plays against night mares so why dont we use them out wide? Then have Craig pulling the strings, lathrope breaking up the play and jarvis up top with howe in a 442. It might just work..

For me, Bodin has to be dropped. Thompson deserves his chance.

If anyone goes for Tommo, it's Easton. That said, for me, the X that finished today as well as Stevens should start the next match (maybe a change at GK, but I'm happy with Rice).

Matt.

Just something i noticed whilst watching the FL show on iplayer. A large proportion of goals in all divisions came about through crosses in the box or an attack breaking and couldn't help notice that when a goal was scored the team who scored it usually had 5 or 6 men in and around the box. Many times this season for us when we have made an attack or slung a ball in we've been lucky if we have more than 2 in camera shot. Food for thought?

And it seems lately that we can have 5 or 6 Gulls players in our own penalty area and the other team still scores..!!

Don't worry. Come the end of the season we'll either get beaten by Exeter City in the play-offs or have another great escape by finishing a point above Argyle to send them down to the Conference... :~D

Wycombe have scored 3 times at Rotherham tonight, we were scared to get over their half way line. Do Wycombe have much better players than us or has Ainsworth given them confidence and set them up with a positive mindset? They may well lose 4-3 but they've had a good go, scored 3 and the fans have had a f*cking good night out.

Will we have a similar outcome at York with our 'better' players. No. Why? Martin=Defend