AFC Wimbledon v Torquay United - 21/4/12

[bixieupnorth]

It seemed like wimbledon new our tactics and coped with us well.We gotta go 2 up next week and go for it

hardly surprising as we've used the same tactics since our run started, doesnt take much to work it out and and stop eunan pulling the strings

[Jeff]

Truly awful game of football today. We were woeful, looked short of ideas and very little energy. We looked like a team who are completely spent.

Very few players came out of today with any real credit. Bobby, Saah, Ellis, Lathrope probably the pick of the bunch. O'Kane was miles away from his best, looked a shadow of the player so devastating earlier in the season. Stevens had an absolute stinker, possibly the worst I've seen him play in a very long time.

Credit to Wimbledon, they weren't world beaters but they really pressured the ball and gave us no time to settle. We didn't deserve anything from the game at all so can have no complaints.

I'm sorry to sound all brucie on here, but I can't help but think the season is over. If you compare the season to the end of a tour de France stage, we started our sprint too early and appear to have run out of steam. The only glimmer of hope is that it seems Accrington have ended their experiment and are playing properly now, and Crawley seem to draw on the road. I assume they will win against Hereford, which means we need 6 points and hope Accy do us a favour. But beating Crewe will be a big ask.

I dread the playoffs to an extent, as we will be the team backing into them rather than coming in on form. Our best chance is we get the similarly hamstrung Cheltenham in the semis - who I'd back us against. Although the final would be tough, you've got to hope that the players can raise themselves for a final for one last push.

Of course this season should be viewed as a success. It's just hard to take when we have done so damn well since October.

[Regiment]

spot on jeff. many times over the years i've made my way home from a game wondering how we didn't win. today we deserved nothing. it was fairly even in the first half, AFC started much brighter in the second half and once they scored, it was game over. i can't remember their keeper making a save of any note, which says it all really. we can't blame anyone but ourselves today.

i'm just being honest, i'm not criticising the team unfairly - they have given us a fantastic season - but we were just poor today. i just hope we pick ourselves up, because if we go into the playoffs (as will most likely be the case), we need to do so on the back of good performances, so i really hope we raise our game next week, or crewe will absolutely tonk us, and potentially we could end up against them in the playoffs, so winning next week is really important.

i thought oastler, saah and ellis were our better performers today, along with Bobby (as usual), but none of the lads were at their. the yellow army were brilliant as usual, and we need to keep that up and help the lads over the finish line.

[brucie]

Wisconsin gull - You actually need to take a reality check. Ling is not going to put Macklin in the team. In two weeks time he is goint to be out on his arse.
Ling has got the best players we have out on the field, the other viable ones are on the bench and the rest are dross. Hopefully at the end of the season LIng will be able to get rid and get three or four more in who can actually challenge for a first team place.
Yes we are playing with tired players who are half crocked , but that is because we have nooone else to replace him.
As for tweaking the system - it isn't going to happen either.
Lings achievement has been nothing short of astounding. In fact its the best achievemnet by a Torquay manager since Ian Atkins somehow saved us from certain relegation.
That said, it has been fairly obvious that we have had a number of fairly lucky wins of late.
However we are still in there with a chance. Nothings easy - Shrewsbury didn't beat Accrington and Crawley didn't win today either. Just goes to show.
Anything could still happen but if we get in the play offs we have no chance of going up.

[popside_yidlad]

wouldn't be against a 4-4-2 next week.....we gotta go for it and we gotta win.

However in no circumstances would i start with Tai up front in preference to Jarvis......for the main reason that he is err...crap.

The reason I would go with tai is that he is one of few players we have with actual pace. The idea would be that by the threat of the pace running behind the crewe defence they may well drop off leaving eunan and rene space to operate in. But with rene its easy to play a high line and close the space

[tktufc91]

Very poor performance today. I felt sorry for Rene because in the first half the ball was just being lumped up the field. One minute he was up front, the next on the wing, the next in midfield. Danny, well, one of the worst performers today. All momentum of an attack was ruined when he cut in on his run. Why?!!!

The rest were pretty average.

Yellow Army were great as always. Wimbledon fans were crap in terms of vocals. Only made a noise when they scored etc.

The assistant manager or whoever it was next to Terry Brown, ****!

I went to Bradford earlier in the season and I thought we we're crap, this was pretty damn close.

Still, two games to go and 3rd is still in sight, STILL BELIEVE!!

[womble]

Thought the nerves got the better of Torquay this afternoon. You had the better chances of a first half we had the possession in but you didn't turn up in the second half and we played well.

If you'd scored first it might well have been different, but the pressure's off us now. we were a bit quiet until the first goal - but then that was an end of season nothing game for us. The KM acoustics don't help - there were songs from our end but didn't hear much at all from Torquay from the stand to your left, when I'm sure you must have been singing...

Good luck for the rest of the season anyway, hope you pip Crawley to third

[Gullscorer]

We are remarkably still in with a shout.

Two more games for tired legs to pick up two wins. I worry that the fatigue is kicking in and our small squad will not welcome a potential three extra games.

Most teams in League Two have small squads. Why should we have more tired legs and fatigue than them? If we are not up to the pace then perhaps we should look at our training. Fitness levels can and should be maintained even at this stage of the season. We're not playing two games a week any more..

[bixieupnorth]

All momentum of an attack was ruined when he cut in on his run. Why?!!!

because hes right footed, hes been asked to play on the left by st martin, but hes naturally right footed so is almost always gonna cut in to finish the move with his right foot

[popside_yidlad]

because hes right footed, hes been asked to play on the left by st martin, but hes naturally right footed so is almost always gonna cut in to finish the move with his right foot

Danny asked to play there he believes its where he is most effective. Which has been right for most of season. Would not like to be crewe next Saturday. I get a feeling there may well be a backlash from this.
Danny could be big part of that

[AustrianAndyGull]

Very poor performance today. I felt sorry for Rene because in the first half the ball was just being lumped up the field. One minute he was up front, the next on the wing, the next in midfield. Danny, well, one of the worst performers today. All momentum of an attack was ruined when he cut in on his run. Why?!!!
The rest were pretty average.

Yellow Army were great as always. Wimbledon fans were crap in terms of vocals. Only made a noise when they scored etc.

The assistant manager or whoever it was next to Terry Brown, t**t!

I went to Bradford earlier in the season and I thought we we're crap, this was pretty damn close.

Still, two games to go and 3rd is still in sight, STILL BELIEVE!!

I take it you haven't been a Torquay fan for very long? After 5 or 6 seasons of watching him i don't expect anything else.

[Colorado Gull]

Before I start, this season has been a success even if we don’t go up. The players and staff have done fantastically well this season to finish in the top half, let alone a playoff spot!

I went to the game yesterday with confidence and I could only see a win, to say I was wrong is an understatement. We were awful the worst performance I’ve seen since a game in October. The simple reason for that is we have ran out of steam and have nothing left to give. We have got into this position (4th) by working so hard with a tiny squad and we have run out of energy. Yesterday’s game showed that.

We never looked like scoring yesterday and we never got going. We looked very tired and are link up play was nonexistent. IMO our tactics were wrong, playing 4-5-1 and pumping the ball up field to an injured striker was poor. However when Howe did hold the ball up, his options were very limited as Stevens and Morris had a bad game. I think Bobby had an ok game, but the back pass was a silly mistake by Olejnik’s part. I could see (and it was difficult where the away fans were) that it was back pass and Bobby should have just booted the ball away. Saah was not in the wrong in that situation and he actually had a good game, with Ellis matching Saah’s performance. Oastler did ok up against a tricky winger, but I didn’t think he went up field as much as he has been lately. Nicho did alright but Manse and Lathrope had an off day. Eunan had a very poor game and his performances have been ‘off par’ these past few games. Rene Howe showed signs of class holding the ball up and his first touch was exquisite at times.

Ellis had the best chance yesterday from a corner and he should have scored. When Ellis headed over the bar from 6 yards out AFC Wimbledon went up field and scored, GAME OVER. Wimbledon weren’t anything special, they looked quite good coming forward but we made them look good. What annoyed me yesterday was that even when we went a goal behind we still played with one man up front. Their defence wasn’t that strong and we should have exploited that with a strong striking force.

I am not a moaner and show my support to the side every week, but I can’t see us being promoted this year, for the reason I stated above. If we can’t finish the 46 game season with something still left to give, how are we going to survive in two more games (play off’s). We are playing players that are injured and are having to be strapped up every game; even some players can’t train so they can play on Saturday.

We need to beat Crewe on Saturday with Crawley slipping up against Hereford, both I can’t see happening. My prediction: Crawley will win with us drawing or losing to Crewe, meaning we either had to beat Hereford on the last day 13-0 and Crawley to lose, or our Automatic dream will be over on Saturday.

Wow! That has got to be the most depressing post I have ever written and I apologise but that is my honest opinion. However as I said at the start, this season has been a success even if we don’t go up and I will celebrate the fact that we have done so well when I was hoping for a mid table finish.

[tktufc91]

I take it you haven't been a Torquay fan for very long? After 5 or 6 seasons of watching him i don't expect anything else.

Been a fan since 2001 but this season is the first season I have seen more matches than what I would usually see (Normally 3-4 matches a season, this season must be around 10). As regard to Danny, on his day he can be unplayable, however I went to Bradford away earlier in the season and he did exactly the same as yesterday. Would like to see Jarvis start ahead of him IMO.

[Colorado Gull]

I also have two vidoes from yesterdays game 1) when the players come out 2) a good version of us singing "martin lings yellow army". However I don't think that they will get many views :-|

[Colorado Gull]

1st one from yesterday's game

[youtube]tp4LR3WQeCE[/youtube]