Just back.

Quoted from jimgtfc

Brown was woeful today Lew. Agree about the others though, good to see Mackreth make an impact when he came on.

Disagree with you about Brown  he covered yards of space that the anonymous Disley should have been covering . No game plan , yet again , they were better in all departments . We will be under 3000 by October .

Quoted from pontoonlew

I'm 99% sure it was Disley who gave the ball away for the second (and lost his man for the first). Also sure it was LJL who's effort was saved.

Hmmm. I know Disley gave the ball away once or twice, but I was pretty sure that it was Brown who lost possession shortly before their goal.

I was also sure that the header from the free-kick was Toto's!

No doubt the 'highlights' will show what happened. Pretty poor defending all around for both the goals and whoever headed that chance should have scored.

Just listened to the post-match interview and Hurst notes that Brown was the one that lost possession for their second goal. Thought that was the case.

Like most of us ?I was disappointed by the way we performed in the first half when we gave them so much space and failed to get important tackles in. Better in second half but never looked like getting back into it. Having said all that, I don't think PH had much choice with his starting line up assuming Clay was not 100% and having to play Disley. The rest of the players were those who gave played some good stuff in earlier games albeit probably when given a bit more time on the ball. Now his selection options are limited with tough games coming thick and fast. Testing times for sure and re-enforcements needed quickly to stem the tide.

Whilst I thought Torquay looked quite good, I don't think they were unbeatable. Their number 10 and 24 were excellent players though and Toto and Pearson struggled to get to grips with them all game. In fact, I would go as far as to say they were both very poor today. The first goal came from Pearson being completely bullied and dominated by their big striker and one of the midfielders (Disley I think who I will get on to) lost their runner who scored. The second was from Brown stupidly giving it away on the half way line and Toto trying to be clever when he had the chance to boot it away. But apart from the goals and when they walked through early on and should have scored, they didn't really do too much going forward. Toto seems to be a good last ditch defender but the problem is he makes most these tackles because of his own mistakes. And Pearson really didn't cover himself in glory today, didn't appear strong enough.

As I said after the Lincoln game, Disley does not fit into the way we play best. I thought we would struggle when I heard the line up as none of the starting midfielders do the dirty work of tracking runners and breaking the play up. Had Clay been on the pitch to follow the run for the first goal, it might have been prevented. But we'll never know. Back to Disley and I feel his time has passed. He slows the play down too much, doesn't particularly break up play and just seems to not be the player he was a couple of years ago.

This wasn't helped by Brown being very poor today, the first time I've been disappointed in him. Hopefully this was just an off game though and he'll find form again. Neilson was also quieter than he has been but again, hopefully just an off game. We'll see in the coming weeks though.

LJL did alright with his usual bustling style. Actually thought his touch was a bit better than normal today, he took one particularly nice touch in front of the Findus in the first half. I feared the worst when Pittman went off as he is by far our best striker and I think Hannah is useless. I've said it for a while but he offers nothing other than some finishing ability and if you miss those chances he was given today you have to question whether he even has that. The first chance nearly went over the Pontoon from 8 yards and the second chance was 8 yards out with no defenders near, possibly the easiest it gets. Apart from that he was completely anonymous and offers nothing to general play. In my opinion a striker should be at least one of the following: quick/strong/tricky/smart (ideally more than one) and Hannah is none of these things. Doesn't even contest half the passes that go his way. If we're relying on him in the next few games, then we're screwed. Even if Pittman and LJL are fit for Tuesday, I'd still dip into the loan market as I have no faith in Hannah coming off the bench.

Thought that Hurst made the correct changes for once and had their keeper not made that wonder save and LJL not gone off injured, we might have got something out of the game. But it needs to improve and quickly starting by reverting to the personnel and system that worked so well! And it served to prove just how little depth there is in the squad. I'd be making calls tomorrow if I was PH regarding two or three players coming in on loan, starting with getting Boyce back and a striker.

Quoted from pontoonlew

I'm 99% sure it was Disley who gave the ball away for the second (and lost his man for the first). Also sure it was LJL who's effort was saved.

It was definitely Brown who should have not been so stupid in a precarious position.

That was awful. I

Anyone who thought that the 1-1 HT score at Lincoln was justified, saw us get our just desserts for another poor half-time display.  Why did we not learn from the Lincoln game to start better?

Was Clay not fully fit to start, as Disley offered nothing.

Injuries were both very unfortunate.  However, Torquay had chances to score before the first one.  They looked more fluid, passed better and worked better as a team than we did.  Even in the second half when they attacked, they had 4 or 5 in the box.  Good support from midfield.

We were better when the subs came on but too late.

Minor points:

Hannah said in the programme that he is good at goalscoring.  He had little service today but did miss any chances that came his away.

The Ref should have booked 2 of their players in the first half for kicking and and throwing the ball away when we had a freekick.

The Torquay fans (103) deserved a clap for coming all this way. They only really sung after the final whistle. At least they did not win 3-0 as they did last time.          

Quoted from pontoonlew

Stupidly bad. Disley was just embarrassingly crap. Magnay, Brown, Neilson and Mackreth when he came on were the only decent ones.

Apart from his corner taking, they were terrible.
Reminded me of Colbeck.

UTM

Torquay IMO are probably the best organised and hardest workin team we have played so far this season, and we struggled as we have done for the past couple of seasons against such teams.
Dont recall them troubling Mckeown at any point in the game other than the two goals which were poorly defended, possible penalty for us early doors when LJL appeared to get caught but other than that i think it was 62 mins before we put a serious effort on target from open play, just not good enough.
Pittman going off early obviously upset the apple cart a little so unlucky for Hurst but thats where this "better squad than last year" argument falls flat, Hannah came on and we didnt threaten again until the second half did we??
Torquay's 24 was a handful who gave Pearson and Nsiala a torrid afternoon and the No.10 was tricky who we couldnt get to grips with but outside of that they didnt hurt us that often.
We had 3 or 4 better than their chances to score but failed, their keeper made a couple of good stops to be fair but still overall we created little, relied soleley on Neilson to attack with any purpose.
There were brief glimpses of neat passing in the first half but went long too early as the game progressed.

My first visit view since the early opening draws and didnt feel inspired by what i saw, a half decent opposition relatively easily taking away three points, bad luck with injuries disrupting the team set up but as with last season there seemed to be no pattern to our play, no understanding between key partnerships, Disley/Brown..Pearson Toto and Hannah/LJL and when you dont have understanding down the spine of your team then it doesnt bode well.

Magnay looked excellent, a real turnaround from my first impression of him in pre season.  Long hard and depressing season ahead i feel.

Quoted from mariner91

Whilst I thought Torquay looked quite good, I don't think they were unbeatable. Their number 10 and 24 were excellent players though and Toto and Pearson struggled to get to grips with them all game. In fact, I would go as far as to say they were both very poor today. The first goal came from Pearson being completely bullied and dominated by their big striker and one of the midfielders (Disley I think who I will get on to) lost their runner who scored. The second was from Brown stupidly giving it away on the half way line and Toto trying to be clever when he had the chance to boot it away. But apart from the goals and when they walked through early on and should have scored, they didn't really do too much going forward. Toto seems to be a good last ditch defender but the problem is he makes most these tackles because of his own mistakes. And Pearson really didn't cover himself in glory today, didn't appear strong enough.

As I said after the Lincoln game, Disley does not fit into the way we play best. I thought we would struggle when I heard the line up as none of the starting midfielders do the dirty work of tracking runners and breaking the play up. Had Clay been on the pitch to follow the run for the first goal, it might have been prevented. But we'll never know. Back to Disley and I feel his time has passed. He slows the play down too much, doesn't particularly break up play and just seems to not be the player he was a couple of years ago.

This wasn't helped by Brown being very poor today, the first time I've been disappointed in him. Hopefully this was just an off game though and he'll find form again. Neilson was also quieter than he has been but again, hopefully just an off game. We'll see in the coming weeks though.

LJL did alright with his usual bustling style. Actually thought his touch was a bit better than normal today, he took one particularly nice touch in front of the Findus in the first half. I feared the worst when Pittman went off as he is by far our best striker and I think Hannah is useless. I've said it for a while but he offers nothing other than some finishing ability and if you miss those chances he was given today you have to question whether he even has that. The first chance nearly went over the Pontoon from 8 yards and the second chance was 8 yards out with no defenders near, possibly the easiest it gets. Apart from that he was completely anonymous and offers nothing to general play. In my opinion a striker should be at least one of the following: quick/strong/tricky/smart (ideally more than one) and Hannah is none of these things. Doesn't even contest half the passes that go his way. If we're relying on him in the next few games, then we're screwed. Even if Pittman and LJL are fit for Tuesday, I'd still dip into the loan market as I have no faith in Hannah coming off the bench.

Thought that Hurst made the correct changes for once and had their keeper not made that wonder save and LJL not gone off injured, we might have got something out of the game. But it needs to improve and quickly starting by reverting to the personnel and system that worked so well! And it served to prove just how little depth there is in the squad. I'd be making calls tomorrow if I was PH regarding two or three players coming in on loan, starting with getting Boyce back and a striker.

Couldn't agree more, particularly about Hannah.