Torquay United v Southend United - 17/11/12

[AustrianAndyGull]

Agree Nick, league 2 IS our level but there is no excuse for persistent cack and Ling is clearly THAT clueless and that much of a buffoon that he genuinely can't see why the fans are complaining or he is as stubborn as Arsene Wenger. You all keep paying you money, getting fobbed off with excuses, oh we were poor today oh we were toothless oh we lacked any threat WELL CHANGE IT THEN DICKHEAD AND STOP F*CKING MOANING ABOUT IT! YOU'RE GETTING PAID FOR CHURNING OUT THIS SLOP WHILST RECESSION HIT TORQUAY FANS HELP YOU EVEN FURTHER BY ACCEPTING IT WEEK IN WEEK OUT! York IS the last for me unless i see a thoroughly positive performance otherwise that is it. I won't and can't pay to watch any more of Ling's brainwashed robots and i suppose i'll have to wait until he leaves the club. Tragic really because he isn't a bad manager overall but it's so dull i'd rather watch Manish Bhasin.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I've been downtrodden to the depths of despair with the worst football by a country mile since i started watching the Gulls in 2005.

[Southampton Gull]

This is fine, and a club of Torquay's size can't expect to be in the top 7 every year. Ling should be under no pressure unless the situation really starts looking serious. But what do we do next season when we will almost certainly be minus Rene Howe? Do we think Ling can replace him, with his clear lack of intent and genuine enthusiasm for engaging with the transfer market? Or will the answers be in the building??

I'm not sure whether you're being ironic so apologies if you are.

Who brought in the likes of Olejnik, Saah, Downes and Howe? I have absolute faith in Martin Ling being the best man for the job, if he can't be backed with cash from the Board then we'll have to make do for now.

[Plymouth Gull]

All I can say then is it's a good job you weren't watching Christmas 2006 games mate. Still remember the scenes from that Boxing Day game against MK Dons...

[AustrianAndyGull]

I saw some of the games the season we went down to the conference. I remember going to Rochdale on a cold Tuesday night and we lost 2-0 i think. We gave it a go but we just had generally rubbish players. The key thing here is 'we gave it a go'. Not in Martins vocab unless we're 3-0 down. Martin is doing a really good job despite me sounding off and if he wishes to play the way he does ALL the time then i have to accept that but i'm not prepared to let it cost me money because in my moral compass i do not think it is accaptable. I hope this comes across. I've said a million times i'd rather die trying than not try at all and what Martin gives us is unforgiveable even if it does get get dour but steady results. That is my philosophy and i don't see it in martin, i see him as a weak man going into a smaller and smaller shell because he has no confidence in himself. I still class myself as a true fan even if i don't go even if many of you won't. Whether we like it or not Christmas is on the horizon and my daughter deserves more of my money does than Ling as at least she tries, fails and tries again. Ling doesn't fail, he just doesn't try.

[Plymouth Gull]

So now we're excluding last season, are we? He proved last year & even the start of this one we can go out and attack teams. However it hasn't been as effective this season, because we lack the attacking personnel (injuries and some lack ability). It's a rocky patch, I'm not sure how long it'll last - hopefully today was a real kick-starter but you just don't know do you? Yes it is boring but we, as fans, just have to ride it out.

[Chris B]

I'm not sure whether you're being ironic so apologies if you are.

Who brought in the likes of Olejnik, Saah, Downes and Howe? I have absolute faith in Martin Ling being the best man for the job, if he can't be backed with cash from the Board then we'll have to make do for now.

No need to apologise, Dave, I was being serious. I agree Ling is the best man for the job, but I question his transfer policy and persistent use of a system that doesn't suit his players. Ling started last season with 4-4-2, and changed formation specifically to suit Howe and particularly Eunan O'Kane. Well, Eunan's long gone, and now we continue playing the same system with no attacking central midfielder, indeed with the most talented and creative of them stuck on the left wing.

Referring to his transfers, I can imagine Ling arrived at his interview with the names Robert Olejnik and Rene Howe in mind as potential gems he could bring in, develop and sell at a profit. Fantastic work. Brian Saah was a more obvious choice, having worked with him at Orient and Cambridge, but again, Ling did well to see Saah could step up after a spell in Non-League. You can credit him with the signing of Downes, but Ling only turned to him after a host of other targets had gone elsewhere (Michael Raynes, who joined Oxford, is one I remember).

You say 'the likes of Olejnik, Saah, Downes and Howe'. What else has he brought in? Bodin I can live with as a long-term investment. Cruise, who was supposed to challenge Nicholson, but Ling freely admitted can't actually play left back; Easton, who doesn't improve us; Jarvis who is a worse option than Atieno in 4-5-1. Nice blokes and good pros, but no great use to us, and I'd wager all of these are on better money than the players they replaced (LRT, McPhee, Atieno). And I'm not even going to mention the improbability of Karl Baker or George Artemi ever making an appearance!

[miltonkeynesgull]

Think we've gone slightly into the realms of ridiculousness with some of the comments here.

Needs to be said that I wasn't there, and I know how it feels when you've spent so much money attending games and feel like you've got nothing in return. I have, however, spent a fortune getting to Wycombe, Barnet and Oxford to watch varying degrees of sub-standard performances. But that's how it is being a football fan - especially one who follows a small League 2 club.

To call it the worst football since 2005 is an exaggeration because, as poor as it is at the moment, it is nowhere even close to those dark days. It's not 2003/4 Leroy-esque, that's for certain, but it's not bad enough to deserve comparison with the Roberts era.

I also don't think it's fair to be accusing some of not trying. The effort has been there in every game I've seen so far - that is without question. Performances haven't been what we'd like, and I think ML could do a lot differently (loanees, tactics, mindset etc), but he puts everything into it.

The squad's not great - it won't go down as a classic in years to come - and performances have been poor, but I'm confident we'll be ok. We won't go up, but we won't go down. We've had huge changes to the squad over the summer that have weakened us, but also made massive strides off the pitch that will help us in the long term. Actually, by mentioning 2005/2006, I've been reminded of just how much of a better place this club is at.

Yep we haven't got much money, and we're probably going to have to make do with what we've got, but I still think we'll be ok. This is not a crisis. It's not great, but it's not a crisis. Lets face it, most of us have seen far worse in our time! Any talk of not going again whilst Ling is there is, frankly (in purely my opinion), a massive overreaction.

Problems that need sorting, and changes that need to be made, yes...but not a crisis.

[Mav]

Ling's quote on BBC website "Let's be honest, we're Torquay. There's no money in the coffers to go and get four or five players and replace them all, so we'll stick with the group and the crowd need to stick with us."
I paid my money and turned up, if he wants the crowd to stick with them, I suggest he ask's the players to turn up as well.

As for this quote "Southend made us look very poor on the day", NO they didn't make us look poor, we where bloody poor, and we made them look decent.

If we don't have the players, and we play a better side and they play us of the park, I can live with that. However I will NOT accept excuses from the manager when most of the players do not give anywhere near 100%.

Utter load of crap today

[Chris B]

Mav - he does also say 'It isn't good enough and the players know that', whilst acknowledging he as manager, and the entire coaching staff need to take responsibility. Say what you like about Ling, but he's always honest and fair in his assessments of games.

[Yellowledbetter]

I'm not calling for heads to roll in the management team, but in my opinion even with a fully fit squad we still look pretty clueless when attacking. I've seen some dreadful performances this season and I can't see anything changing at the moment unless we maybe try something different (seem as we're skint). Ling doesn't seem to be able to see this which is what frustrates people I think. I honestly don't believe the squad is as bad as some people suggest but more the negativity in each games tactics, and the fact we have no 'plan B' which was evident last year also.

I feel some heads need banging together and certain players need to take a look at themselves before stepping upto the mark and giving the fans some form/glimpse of attacking intent to be proud of other than the current well below par performances.

[brucie]

On that joke of a peformance you have got to wonder whether Ling has gone as far as he can with this team. He appears tactically inept. He started with a midfield three of Easton,Lathrope and Mansell and played Craig on the wing which is a waste of time.
Easton is useless for starters. We will never score goals with that line up and the formation that Ling employs - by the time he actually goes with the team that might score goals ie 4-4-2 with Howe,Jarvis.Thompson and Bodin the game is inevitably lost.
Ok he could not do anything about Mansell's red card but on that peformance we won't get the 25 points needed for safety this season.
As for Rice - well he is an embarassment. Decked out in luminous orange like a fat budgie he let the first shot of the game through his legs. God knows what he was doing for their third goal and hesitated for their fourth when he could have come off his line and saved it.
Really he is a western league keeper at best and I doubt that we will ever see him again in a Torquay shirt. The worst goalkeeping peformance since Mark Coombe.
A dire afternoon and a complete waste of money.

[RussianGull]

Disappointed in the team today.

Disappointed in Lings comments on the BBC also.

[The Farmers Friend]

Enjoyed the result today in a perverse sort of way.

After years and years of being a tinpot joke of side (let's be honest now...), to lose so badly at home and just be plain old pissed off like fans of any other team rather than looking over your shoulder at some boiling pit of doom like we did for so many years is kind of a luxury.

Anyway, my prediction: we won't play anywhere near as bad on Tuesday and you can all tweak your moves in the perpetual game of I Told You So then, without having to worry about the long-term future of the club any more. Which is nice.

Tschüß!

[AustrianAndyGull]

We don't play on tuesday mate.