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Seems an unusual number online at present for a Wednesday afternoon. Reminds me of the French Revolution with the crowd waiting for the axe to fall!

supergulls wrote:Harrop didn't even pick the team that day, the first thing he did was sit down with manse and nico and he asked them how they should play. They told him to recall Lathrope from aldershot and play the diamond that had served so well under Ling which is what he did. Did he pick the team most definitely not but he put the names on the team sheet and took the applause

Common sense!
But was he told to talk to Mansell and Nico. or did he make the move because it was a good decision as we ended up with a balanced side.

Geoff Harrop is the youth coach? So saturday mornings I expect he's travelling around the country with the youth team so I doubt he'd have actually seen much of Torquay 1st team playing, even in training I imagine he's not working with the first team much so it would be pretty understandable for him to ask the senior pro's at the time about the other players.

royalgull wrote:Geoff Harrop is the youth coach? So saturday mornings I expect he's travelling around the country with the youth team so I doubt he'd have actually seen much of Torquay 1st team playing, even in training I imagine he's not working with the first team much so it would be pretty understandable for him to ask the senior pro's at the time about the other players.

It's interesting the shape of the midfield I've been saying this for weeks Ling was a good manager and he did this.
I wish Nico and Mansell could have stayed as they were better than what we've got now!

We don't have the players to play that system now that's the difference and that's what it always comes down to, you play to the strengths of what you've got. It's why Hargreaves has gone to 3 at the back because our full backs aren't good enough, in Ives case he's a 17 year old boy who's had to play far too much this season. In Guegen, Downes, Pearce, MacDonald we should have 4 capable centre backs for this league in theory.

When we had Eunan who we could protect a bit with Manse and Damon and then a battering ram centre forward in Howe who could every now and then magic us a goal out of nowhere on his own we were ideally suited to play the 4-5-1. Especially as defensively we were always solid under Ling. Once we lost Eunan it became tougher and then other managers have their own ideas on what they want to do or who they bring in dictates the formation.

Said it to someone last night, Braintree played 3 midfielders who all sat together and nullified young and Richards,

I think it was under Ling) but one of his best decisions when we weren't playing well was to switch to 4-3-3

Lathrope was the hold CM and Mansell and Okane played in front, we instantly became more solid!

On Saturday i would do:

---------------------Richards
---------------Harding------Young
------------Briscoe--------------Ajala
----------------------Bowman

Before anyone gets too carried away with the notion of getting rid of Chris Hargreaves, there were a LOT of people on here calling for Knill to replace Ling (a lot more than seem to want to admit it now) despite Ling having a good season under his belt previously and results under "temporary" manager Knill being no better than those under Ling earlier in the season. That didn't exactly work out well.

This is not a great squad and of course the manager has to take some responsibility for that, but it would be foolish to get rid of Hargreaves rather than to give him a chance to learn from the experience and do a better job next season. This is his first management job - you weren't seriously expecting perfection in the first season, were you?

Hargreaves may pick the team but he was not one of the under-achievers on the pitch yesterday not making half the effort that he made as a player.

I was one of those who believed CH should be given more time but, much as I would have wanted events to unfold in a different way, it's certainly looking as if time is running out for him. And for me, the biggest indicator is that the same group of players who were doing brilliantly for a few weeks early in the season have turned into a bunch of lily-livered no-hopers whilst nothing has changed except that they have now had a season with CH as their manager. The bright new hopefuls who arrived in the summer and showed such gifted promise seem to have had all their talents and potential managed out of them.

However, it's probable that CH will remain our manager for a while yet, in which case he'll certainly have a little more time. Looking at the season's remaining fixtures, it's most unlikely we'll be relegated. But if Kelvin Thomas comes up trumps and we have a new regime in charge during the summer, it's possible that CH, if he is not immediately paid off, will be given something of a budget and a few months to start afresh, and if we are not challenging at the top of the table come November/December, then there will be a change of manager.

Many will say that change should come sooner rather than later, and, given the course of events in recent times, that view is a perfectly reasonable and understandable one. I still feel CH should be given more time, and I should certainly like to see him begin next season with a new regime in charge and a chance to show what he can do with a bigger budget and a new squad, but if he leaves after the end of this season, though it saddens me to say it, I would not complain, and I doubt that few would.

PlainmoorRoar wrote:Said it to someone last night, Braintree played 3 midfielders who all sat together and nullified young and Richards,

I think it was under Ling) but one of his best decisions when we weren't playing well was to switch to 4-3-3

Lathrope was the hold CM and Mansell and Okane played in front, we instantly became more solid!

On Saturday i would do:

---------------------Richards
---------------Harding------Young
------------Briscoe--------------Ajala
----------------------Bowman

From your postings, it seems you told about a dozen people last night ! I'd perhaps agree with your formation but with Richards playing alongside Young and Guerguen playing behind them as a 'holding' midfielder. I'd also play Campbell up front and leave Bowman out of the squad altogether - he's been awful since about Christmas and his attitude is even worse.

PlainmoorRoar wrote:Said it to someone last night, Braintree played 3 midfielders who all sat together and nullified young and Richards,

I think it was under Ling) but one of his best decisions when we weren't playing well was to switch to 4-3-3

Lathrope was the hold CM and Mansell and Okane played in front, we instantly became more solid!

On Saturday i would do:

---------------------Richards
---------------Harding------Young
------------Briscoe--------------Ajala
----------------------Bowman

Brisco will struggle there he needs to be just behind the striker as he has not got the legs to get up and down another striker Prynn or Cambell might fit in.

Royalgull, well done for taking the time to put the blog together. It's a good, if depressing read.

thank you

Despite it being a damning inditement of our performance in recent years, I enjoyed reading that blog post royal. Good stuff.

Can't believe he has survived the day, kept checking the site in expectation that he'd be gone!

Martin Ling's twitter makes for interesting reading:

https://x.com/martinlingy

He has retweeted:

Will always love Greavsie and its not all his fault it really isn't he has inherited our worst team ever but it hasn't worked. Get Ling back


If his board had a set of bollocks or brains between them they'd have backed Martin Ling and none of this would have happened. #tufc


@martinlingy WE NEED YOU BACK, PLEASE RETURN!!!!!!!!



@martinlingy please come back. !!!!! @TUFC1899

Amongst others. Would take him in a heartbeat.












@martinlingy Think theres a vacancy for you at @TUFC1899 to settle some unfinished business.

He was also retweeting a lot from fans last week. Thought this was interesting.