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Hope no one minds me having a go, I know Nick and Matt are both busy people right now and there not much time before the Daggers match.Nick feel free to replace it , if you have already written one for this match.

Here goes, Dagenham come to town Tuesday night, there last visit to plainmoor during there promotion season was also a Tuesday night and I remember a very boring poor 0.0 draw, pre-season I thought that Dagenham would be a top half team, in John Still they have a manager who twice took Barnet into the league 2 play-offs and won the conference title and league 2 play-offs with Dagenham , it comes as a great surprise they have struggled so badly this term, there last game ended in a 4.1 defeat at Crewe they lined up like this.

Lewington
Ogogo
Doe
Spillane
Llesanmi
Abdulla
Bingham
Green
Nurse
Woodall
Montano


What can I say about the mighty high flying gulls, confidence is high, and the team are now creating chances and scoring goals away from home as well as at Plainmoor, our attack has been well lead by Mark “bicycle kick “Ellis, supported out wide by the wing wizard Stevens and Ian Morris dancing, Martin Ling appears to have a fully fit squad to chose from with the only selection headache being, Atieno or Howe.

Think we have every right as Gulls fans to expect a win here, that said I don’t think anyone will underestimate the Daggers, the team are serving up a real treat for us right now, so come on gulls fans, get up get out and show the team we are right behind them, turn up to plainmoor in your numbers and shout loud and proud.

2.1 Torquay.

Should we loose so we can send Argyle back in the relegation zone?

Im joking, these next two games are massive. We need to win them both and take all 6 points with the fixutes we have after.
With Rotherham, Shrewsbury, Cheltenham they could be big games to see how our season could pan out.

If we can win the next two games, it will leave us in a nice position. If we could then pull out a few results against them three teams after then we would be in striking distance of the autos.

Not sure the next two games will be easier than any others. Dagenham got hammered again on Saturday and they will be desperate to get some some of result on Tuesday.

Yep, agree with Brucie. These games shouldn't be taken lightly by any means....

brucie wrote:Not sure the next two games will be easier than any others. Dagenham got hammered again on Saturday and they will be desperate to get some some of result on Tuesday.

Lost 7 in a row I believe. Hammered at Millwall last Tuesday aswell. Exactly the sort of banana skin we'd usually slip on, but I have more confidence in Ling to avoid them.

This good forms got to end sometime (I'm thinking it'll be at Rotherham) so hopefully we can take full points from these two.

I hope that the attendance will be higher than what we usually get on Tuesday nights. We will always have the dilemma of half the singers at the end of the pop and half of them in the middle. But I do hope there’s a good enough atmosphere on Tuesday so we can get another 3 points!

Will it be our 4th 2-1 win in a row?

COYY!

If we are to push on win our 'Ling vase' this season, then we need to prepare for D&R in the same manner as the past 5 games.

I am hopeful that my bud Ogogo will oblige with an Ogogo (og) to help our goal difference - probably to much to wish for

Think Atieno will start and Howe will come on after 60min this time

Fancy a hatful

Gulls 5-2

Ellis, Stevens, Atieno (2), Howe

Neither the Dagenham nor the Northampton games should be approached lightly. However, both the team and the supporters at Dagenham appear to be quite dispirited at present, so the Gulls should take the opportunity to go for a really big win to boost our goal difference. Northampton will be a somewhat more difficult proposition and a tighter game, though one we should win. But both victories must be earned and will not simply fall into our hands.

Wins for us would also do Argyle a favour, so we may get a few of their supporters cheering us on. I'm tempted to return the favour by getting to Home Park for their game against Southend on 4 February..

brucie wrote:Not sure the next two games will be easier than any others. Dagenham got hammered again on Saturday and they will be desperate to get some some of result on Tuesday.

A rare occurence but i actually AGREE with Brucie here. These games should be taken very, very seriously because if we can land the 6 points then that puts us in a good position should we have a poor February. For me the Daggers game will be tougher as the cobblers are bereft of any confidence and have just hit rock bottom therefore i think they will be easier opposition if we can get our noses in front against them. Like other posters, i am sure Martin knows this and will approach the games with the utmost of professionalism and set his teams out to win each match.

Does anyone think now would be a good chance to try Atieno and Howe together up top? Personally, i'm not sure if we should as we seem to be getting the best out of players in the current system but I thought this could open up a debate.

Reasons for trying the change:
- Gives a chance for Atieno and Howe to work together and many seem keen to try and reward Tai for his recent good form.
- Playing more strikers against the bottom clubs should mean we have a bigger goal threat, in a game where we need to be scoring, and winning.

Discuss.

Ok we got 13 out of 15 points with Atieno on his own. But i still dont rate him.
Positives
He has manged to hold the ball up a few times
He can flick the ball on well sometimes
A few times he sounded decent with the ball at feet
He can run and chase players

However, from the games i saw
Couldnt pass a ball,
Wasnt strong in air and wouldnt try to hard if the ball was directly played at him
Lost the ball the majority of the time when an easy laf off was possible
Was to slow to make up his mind when on a quick break. This happened quite alot in oxford and plymouth.
Doesnt make runs, he will run after the balls been played, doesnt run to create gaps.



Alot of our goals since atieno has been on have been from set pieces, Howe gives movement to allow the likes of eunan and stevens to make runs. Howe is stronger than tai has better ball control than tai, i think we are more of a threat from open play with howe upfront. We cant rely on set pieces alone.
Howe is the better footballer, we are a footballing side. No brainer.

stevegull wrote:Does anyone think now would be a good chance to try Atieno and Howe together up top? Personally, i'm not sure if we should as we seem to be getting the best out of players in the current system but I thought this could open up a debate.

Reasons for trying the change:
- Gives a chance for Atieno and Howe to work together and many seem keen to try and reward Tai for his recent good form.
- Playing more strikers against the bottom clubs should mean we have a bigger goal threat, in a game where we need to be scoring, and winning.

Discuss.

Yeah why not, it worked at Bristol Rovers, can't see why we shouldn't give it ago against a team which on paper we should beat. Appreciate D&R are fighting for their lives but it could be used as an opportunity to try systems out. Intially at least.

A win for the Gulls and give hope for Argyle from the drop !!

As far as taking this game lightly , I totaly agree with Brucie, A-Andy and Gullscorer, rest assured I can not see Martin Ling , Taylor or even captain Mansell letting any of our players underestimate the Daggers, and with our full support , can only see a win here.

As for the team set up , dont try and fix what is not broken, keep doing what got you 13 points from 15 in the first place, agreed Howe is the better option up front, however still no need to rush Howe into 90 mins, start Atieno give Howe the last 25 mins , get Howe fit and flying for Feb, when the team are really going to need him.

Having just watched D&R on the Crewe Player they were poor.
My bud Ogogo (og) bagged a classic with the help of an air shot by the keeper
For me, the mark of the good teams is the way they take care of business against the the lower teams. SoTuesday will be a really good read on where we have come since the dark days of October - I fully expect the lads to turn up the wick and push on.
COYY