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The last time the club was in this league the likes of Aveley and even Worthing would be easy wins,how times have changed!

There will of course always be defeats but the manner of this particular one is hideous. We can't even do the basics. Despite the results, we haven't had one decent performance so far. Johnson can have no excuses, his squad, his coaching and his recruitment. Time to go.

Interesting to hear the excuses later ...what a sick joke this "management team " are.

Surely we still have the conspiracy theorists in our midst ? What happened to the notion that Uncle Clarke orchestrated this and wants us to be dire , club folds , buys the land from the council etc etc blah blah………..

Although results had improved, performances hadn't to any extent - this was coming

Its time to go Johnson

Crap defence, crap midfield but don't worry Johnson will sign another striker.

Not suprised in the least at this result today. The fools that have not seen how we have fortunately been victorious in the last 4, wake up.
We are playing absolute dog shit and have been all season. Thank goodness for Mark Halstead.
Awaiting the latest interview excuses from Johnson this evening.

desperado wrote: ↑02 Sep 2023, 17:18 Crap defence, crap midfield but don't worry Johnson will sign another striker.

There's more than a striker needed.

The teams is in disarray . Can you ever remember a worse defence than this one? We will surely lose to Farnborough and Chelmsford and if that happens I cant see Johsnon surviving 3 defeats n 7 days. What an awful manager he has become.

brucie wrote: ↑02 Sep 2023, 17:25 The teams is in disarray . Can you ever remember a worse defence than this one? We will surely lose to Farnborough and Chelmsford and if that happens I cant see Johsnon surviving 3 defeats n 7 days. What an awful manager he has become.

It won't happen if that's part of the non 5 year plan. They've taken a humble man and are using him to destroy all.

I have been a big supporter of Johnson but something doesn't seem right with him. He looks tired and even a bit disinterested. As I look back I do wonder whether a number of those players that gave us three decent seasons were infact recruited by Owers. My boy has gone to bed he is gutted. He spent all last week trying to talk me into driving it. Sadly I have seen nothing this season to justify it. Don't take it as bad as my boy anymore but must admit working with Exeter an Argyle fans is difficult. Sadly they no longer regard us as a proper club, let alone a threat.

There’s no midfield. You can talk tactics and shape all day, but until we have two players in the middle who can get about the pitch and pick a pass we are going to continue to play in the same way.

jono_Gull209 wrote: ↑02 Sep 2023, 17:59 There’s no midfield. You can talk tactics and shape all day, but until we have two players in the middle who can get about the pitch and pick a pass we are going to continue to play in the same way.

Fair point. That's why we have Lapslie scrapping around because we aren't dangerous in midfield.

I have no idea how anyone can continue to support GJ’s hoofball. It doesn’t work. Even though we’ve won a few game’s recently the performances haven’t been there. Tactically awful and poorly coached. He should have been sacked early last season.

For those who were not there, that was every bit as demoralising as the Worthing game. This result has been coming. I left after we conceded the second - after a bright enough first 20 minutes I’d watched pretty much an hour of Aveley shooting practice, with Halstead again keeping us in it. I am surprised we actually made a game of it.

The word was that the team bus was late arriving having stayed in the Brands Hatch area overnight. However, I’d say that the first 20 minutes were our best of the afternoon. I thought we looked OK - plenty of possession and without showing any quality we created a couple half chances and one particular back post header which Tomlinson forced a save, but really should have given the keeper no chance. Poor shooting and general slowness of thought seemed to be our main issue, but I thought they looked there for the taking.

From then on, however, Aveley took control of things and could have been three or four up by half time. It was only a matter of time before Aveley took the deserved lead - although someone down that end later said that it looked offside. We were holding on to get in at half time just one down and I was hoping for a far better second half. That didn’t come and in fact we got worse - we lost the midfield battle and looked vulnerable as Aveley carved out chance after chance. A mixture of Halstead saves and poor finishing delayed the inevitable, but they finally got a second. At least it enabled me to get out of the car park before the end as that had a look of a nightmare ala the one at Argyle, albeit on a much smaller scale.

A few other observations…….

Easily the smallest ground I have watched a Torquay game at - had a whiff of Wall Park, Brixham with an additional Granstand and club house. We are where we are, but I hate these artificial pitches. A fair few West Ham shirts amongst the home fans - that’s probably the most other sides shirts I have seen at a ground. Nice enough set up though.

Today was a big opportunity for Da Silva. He skipped past his man in the opening minutes, but that was as good as it got for him. I don’t want to be harsh on a young player, but I think it is fair to say he didn’t make the most of this opportunity. To be honest, in the games that I have seen this season he has yet to find his feet this year.

Difficult to judge Luke Pearce on his 20 odd minutes, but he looked to have a decent touch and kept the ball as well as anyone else did, possibly better. On the evidence of this season, I’d give him a run ahead of both Collins and Da Silva.

Our midfield desperately need to get Dawson (in the form of last season) back. If that is not going to happen soon, we need to get someone in. We someone in anyway. Same can be said for our defence. Reinforcements are badly needed.

The pace of our play is incredibly slow - options from throw ins are painful to watch.

Painful to watch pretty much sums up the whole afternoon to be honest.