anyway, back on thread.
Dire today. Just like I witnessed at Chesterfield & Notts County.
So disappointed for the travelling Yellow Army from the Midlands/South and the Bay. (Lovely to see you Taxilady....)
As I said in my OP, was hoping for a Stockport/Halifax type of performance and got that instead today.
I can take into account the missing players, but hope that I dont see that sort of performance at Harrogate in a few weeks.
Duku? Might as well let me play up front.
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I'm not sure what Johnson is supposed to do really. Our quota of loans is used up so he can hardly bring in nine new signings to cover for the injuries.
The ludicrous culmstock is just a complete idiot. We had practically no midfielders left today - they are all injured. We did incredibly well to get within two points of the top a couple of weeks ago, (even with the injury list) but its clear that the injuries to Davis, Vincent and now are top scorer have taken us over the top and we have just too many to cope with.
Chorley are basically rubbish and will get found out by Barrow on Tuesday night - unfortunately they got lucky by playing us at the best time for them and seized the opportunity winning with a goal that went in off someones ear.
Saying we need a reaction on Tuesday night is equally daft as Andrews is suspended so we have just Buse as a midfielder. Eastleigh won't believe their luck.
Well have to bring players in, like he said in his video. He’ll look to add to the team. This’ll so how much Clarke Osbourne cares. If he’s willing to bring out his wallet
Quite how anyone can blame Gary Johnson is beyond me. He has three quarters of his best 11 on the treatment table. His assertion that the team is good enough to win the league is spot on but doesn't take into account the horrific injury list.
It's been an extreme run of bad luck that so many injuries have happened at the same time and all long term ,if Man City were missing De Bruyne ,Sterling etc they would struggle. It's more unfortunate as we were within striking distance of topping the league but a team doesn't become rubbish overnight and when the luck turns and we have a semblance of first team regulars return then I'm sure we'll move up the league again in time to still have an impact on this league.
southampton Gull. Do you really think that the squad when fully fit, is good enough to win this league? May i suggest a trip to your psychiatrist and get them to increase your anti psychotic medication dosage. With a fully fit squad, i think we may have an outside chance of the play offs. PS Uncle Clarke says hi
Having a pop at Gary Johnson ia pathetic. We have virtually our whole first team out injured. We are Torquay United not one of the Premiershite franchises with 80 players ffs! GJ is doing a fantastic job with what he's got. He has never made excuses and is the perfect man to deal with this sort of situation. Let him get on with it with our full support. I'm expecting nothing from Tuesday but steady improvement from then on. As long as we're in touching distance of the playoffs by the end of the year we can bounce back. Incidently we're only 16 points from relegation safety.
I accept the injury situation but we still had better full time players on the pitch than Chorley. Whitfield, Andrews who have both played League Two football and Buse should be up to matching their midfield and Janneh and Kalala (Duku) should be able to trouble their leakey defence. The summariser on TU Radio , think it was Paul Bastard said 10 minutes from time ' those two incidents sum up the match for me , a couple of second balls and Chorley were first to both, come on United show some fight' or words to that effect
I think that a lot of people are missing the point. Gary Johnson is on record as saying that this squad is good enough to be competitive in this league. Gary Johnson, last January, signed most of the squad on extended contracts. In yesterday's Post match interview, Johnson says that the current squad isn't good enough and he is looking to move some players on and bring in some new players ASAP. That's not me talking, that's Gary Johnson. I find it hard to understand that a manager of his experience has got it so wrong.
To me it is absolutely clear this team is good enough to compete with the best in this league, we've shown it already. With these injuries it is always going to be tough.
Gary Johnson is a true hero, he saved us from 6th tier or worse abyss and now we look solid at NL level. He knows one or two are not good enough and we are hampered with injuries but he will do something about it. We are so lucky to have Gary Johnson, cast your mind back to the Owers era for a minute today and look how far we have come.
Two matches ago this squad were three points from the top of the table. This same squad were also struggling with injuries and player numbers.
So in my view this squad were good enough to challenge at the top of the table.
The last three games have been poor, the number of injured players has tipped over the edge. To blame King Gary is just mad, please please please trust this guy and realise how lucky as a club we are.
Issues will get addressed, player numbers will improve and I am sure we will finish the season challenging.
Let's get behind Gary and the team Tuesday night, it will not be easy and our support is needed, more so than ever at this time.
Midlandgull. I agree with most of what you say. There is no doubt that Gary Johnson is a great manager, his cv proves this. I just believe that he has made several mistakes during his time as our manager. I have always believed that to win the league, you need a minimum of 90 points and can only afford to loose 7 or 8 matches all season. This season so far, there is no outstanding team, this can be seen by the fact that despite our disappointing last 2 league results, we, had we had beaten Sutton or chorley and other results had gone our way, we could have gone top of the league. My worry is that sides like Bromley, yeovil and others have the squads capable of putting a promotion winning run together, whilst I believe Torquay do not.
For you Rob and dear old Brucie, I do not revel in Torquay's losses, it depresses me , I realise and accept they will happen in this and any other league, its the manner of those losses that annoys me, we pay good money and for us, travel huge distances to watch the team, something I have been doing for over fifty years, the team has one objective and then they can go back to driving their Mercedes and BMW,s. They have to perform to a given plan for two 45 minute periods, it is not rocket science, the phrase they switched off is banded about a great deal, they purport to be professional footballers, if they cannot achieve that simple aim of concentration then they are in the wrong career. I would start Keating every match, is he the best, immaterial, is he the most gifted, immaterial, he plays for a full 90 minutes, gives everything , is proud to be a footballer and more importantly has a genuine pride in wearing the shirt, and you cannot say that about all of the Torquay squad.
I believe Johnson to be a very good manager, especially so at this level who has tried valiantly to make the best of what he has, he is not immune from errors, either tactically or in acquisition. That we have so many loan players was a conscious decision by him at the start of the season and in my book a poor one, loans players have a valuable place, but not when fit,to be half of your match day squad ,He chased Duku for over a season and the player has been a waste of time undoubtedly on a big fat wage. We have seen week after week that teams in this league are stuffed full of seasoned pros who do not have to run around like headless chicken, they read the play, understand where the ball will end up and as a result boss and in many cases bully us off the park, are all these other national league managers wrong in their reading of the league and the players they bring in or is ours the only one with vision.
Whatever dreams some of you have of promotion, it will not be this season and not with this squad, that is not be defeatist, that is being a realist. Regardless , I will still be at Eastleigh on Tuesday.
