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Post by pikeygull on Jan 31, 2009 18:53:06 GMT
One other observation - how on earth have Ebbsefleet got 3,700 today!? Did the fans get paid to attend or something!? Not quite. Ebbsfleet had free entry for fans today. Still 3,700 very poor show. Prehaps the other 29,000 fans watched on the webcam |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Jan 31, 2009 18:55:18 GMT
Thanks for your report Peter, on other day it could have been such a different game altogether, your report does make the game sound not as bad as it did on the radio  |
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merse
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Post by merse on Jan 31, 2009 18:58:16 GMT
 In my experience Pete, it's the ones who spent most of their pre-match energies decrying the opposition and all about them who then turn on their own at the end out of sheer frustration at being made to look the prats they are! 
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Post by stuartB on Jan 31, 2009 22:40:55 GMT
Not pretty
what was Bevan doing for the 3rd? oh dear
I have put the clip in for you Stuart.
Dave R
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Post by capitalgull on Jan 31, 2009 22:52:34 GMT
Well they were three goals that could easily have been avoided, although maybe the second (Woods?) and third (Bevan) might have been affected by the conditions.
Would be clutching at straws to blame conditions though - shocking stuff all-round.
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merse
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Post by merse on Feb 1, 2009 4:05:22 GMT
Dreadful, dreadful goals conceded at Southport with no attempt on several occasions to close down and prevent the ball being played on for the first goal and Woods showing the worst side of his tendency to get caught ball watching totally oblivious of the scorer goal side of him. I'm sure the BBC commentator said it was Hodges who let the ball bounce for the second goal...................elementary error, and as for the third......................  From those few clips an air of being well below the switched on and cutting edge level demanded by professional football, and once again (and this won't be welcomed) a suggestion to me that the eye and minds of the players has been taken off the matter in hand by the social event that follows...................at Woking a similar "no show" in the first half preceded the Annual Christmas outing and today it is Todd's wedding. A week for the manager to concentrate a few minds and remind people just who butters their bread. Maybe a training session that only ends an hour before the wedding would do for a start. Yes, I know it has been a tough week on the road what with following a draining finale to the Coventry game and I think two rather below par performances in less than "throbbing" arenas and something like a thousand miles cooped up in a coach; but THAT rubbish simply cannot be tolerated!  A former player told me last weekend that everyone he knows hated playing at Haig Avenue with it's wide open spaces, shite pitch and constant wind..........................I bet there's a few more who hate going there now as well!
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Post by aussie on Feb 1, 2009 10:46:17 GMT
This is typical of players who think they are better than they are, o.k we put two championship teams under the cosh recently and played brilliantly BUT if you walk out on to a pitch with the attitude that " well we just did really well against giant teams compared to us" then a smaller team that is as pumped up as we were when we played Blackpool and Cov will give you a right seeing to! The Billy Big Bollocks factor starts to creep into the dressing room then all of a sudden you get beat by Tommy Tiny Testicles and you look a right prick. Thats what I think influenced the game. We thought we could just turn up!
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Feb 1, 2009 10:47:55 GMT
Merse you do make me laugh at times with your ever changing view points, when you say THAT rubbish simply cannot be tolerated you were I take referring to the performance of the team?
If anyone on here had dared to say that our players under performed, because they had their minds on Toddy's wedding, you yourself would have shot the poster down in flames. I'm sure you would have said that our players are professionals and would be more than capable to concentrate on the game they were playing in.
So was Bevan just going through his speech he was going to be giving at the reception? maybe his mind was on the party piece he was going to do, a great limbo dance and he had got it so perfect, that the bar was only 6 inches from the ground, such a sight to see this giant get under it.
No I was not at the match, but like you listened on the radio, I have also took the time to read the report of petergodfrey who was there and as you know, was a good player for Newton Spurs in his younger days and someone who's views you would respect.
It seemed to me the game was played in a very strong wind and if it was only half as strong as the wind in the Bay this weekend, over hitting through balls and misjudging high balls, that have moved in the air would be a big factor in the game. Pete summed up the first half well, Thompson out so wide on the pitch and not central and long balls just being pumped forward, often over hit, but most by what I heard, just seemed aimless balls to nobody in particular.
The formation was all wrong in the first half and maybe also the players minds were not fully where you would want them to be, not because they were going to a wedding, but because they thought it would be a walk in the park , as is often the case when a team plays any team from a lower league.
Pete seemed to think for the first goal the player had not intended to put the ball where he did, but we all know Woods is not blessed with great pace and it really was no surprise to see the forward, get in front of Woods and to the ball first, much like Green has been doing in our team lately.
If it was Hodges who let the ball bounce, then once again a ball that high and moving in the wind can be misjudged by even the very top defenders, just this time a goal came from it. For Bevans mistake I still find it a bit strange and once again I would suggest that the ball was moving so much in the wind and he simply got it wrong. All keepers make howlers and this will be seen as one for sure.
It was only when we put strikers on the pitch and played then where they should be played, that we started to enjoy more of the match and also when we had our best chances, at one nil down, we could have so easily been two to one up, if the Sills goal had stood, or the Dsane shot crossed the line.
I'm not defending the team here, it was a poor result, but it did not sound like were outplayed, made to look second best, we lined up with the wrong players and played the wrong tactics from the kick off and that played its part on the game and not that the players had their minds only on Toddy's wedding.
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merse
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Post by merse on Feb 1, 2009 16:28:55 GMT
Merse you do make me laugh at times with your ever changing view points, when you say THAT rubbish simply cannot be tolerated you were I take referring to the performance of the team? If anyone on here had dared to say that our players under performed, because they had their minds on Toddy's wedding, you yourself would have shot the poster down in flames. I'm sure you would have said that our players are professionals and would be more than capable to concentrate on the game they were playing in. I'm not defending the team here, it was a poor result, but it did not sound like were outplayed, made to look second best, we lined up with the wrong players and played the wrong tactics from the kick off and that played its part on the game and not that the players had their minds only on Toddy's wedding. You do like to take liberties with my posts at times Dave. You have misconstrued my suggestion that a concentration of minds equates to "extra training" - it does not, it suggests that a prolonged effort be made to re-assert the priorities of what being a Torquay United footballer means. The mental preparation that subsequently manifests itself in on field performance is done in the days leading up to a game.......................nowhere in my post will you find any inference that the keeper'r mind was on "the wedding" whilst out on the pitch. What is one of the club's valuable strengths could on this occasion have been it's Achilles heel..............namely, the intense loyalty and support for a colleague, added to the natural "down" feeling after the late Coventry disappointment and the extensive travelling of the week. There's nothing sinister in my suggestion, nor anything derogatory in it; merely trying to fathom the poor level of performance which you seem to be gleefully unaware of - try referring to the match stats then: not a single shot on target from OUR boys and the comments of then respective managers.............it's all in the NLP Dave, pop out and avail yourself of a copy. How my posting deserves the tag of "ever changing viewpoints" is mystifying. Do you think I am capable of watching a film clip of three goals conceded without noticing the glaring sloppiness in the defending of all three? Do you not think that Paul Buckle and Shaun North will not be doing exactly the same thing and taking the squad to task for an effort which the manager himself described thus ......................"We didn't deserve anything" and "From our point of view, all three goals were poor and I think maybe we've beaten ourselves"As for you maintaining that the tactics and line up were "wrong" - you haven't seen the game, you hadn't any knowledge of how Southport line up and play, so you are merely expressing how you would have turned the team out. Something you could only do without knowledge of the fitness and state of mind of each individual in the squad, the conditions of the day and the knowledge Paul Buckle had of Southport ( a very competent team) and with hindsight of already knowing the result. |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Feb 1, 2009 16:59:46 GMT
.nowhere in my post will you find any inference that the keeper'r mind was on "the wedding" whilst out on the pitch. Well forgive me, but you clearly suggested minds were elsewhere. |
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Post by romfordkev on Feb 1, 2009 19:35:52 GMT
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Feb 1, 2009 21:24:34 GMT
Shocking defending by WOODS for their first two. Perhaps a dropping offence given Robertson's good showing at Lewes. And Bevan really did look awful for that third. I don't agree with DaveR's comment on another thread that the 4-4-1-1 isn't working. There were too many central midfielders playing yesterday, unlike the 4-4-1-1 that brought us victory at Lewes.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Feb 1, 2009 21:43:57 GMT
Rob there are some game where playing 4-4-1-1 might work and may be the best way to play, away to Lewes was not such a game and the views were we looked poor and in the end beat a very poor side.Southport was also not the right game to play that system and we got what we deserved and that was nothing.
Playing 4-4-2 with Green up front with Sills has looked better and was working well and only needed a bit more time to work even better.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Feb 1, 2009 21:54:46 GMT
I would agree we didn't look great at Lewes, but I wouldn't rubbish the 4-4-1-1 tactic as ultimately it produced 2 goals and we won.
As for yesterday, as I said, too many central midfielders. I guess Bucks felt Adams had done enough at Lewes to start again. Not in that formation again, please.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2009 23:23:19 GMT
Hinckley....Harrogate....Southport....just as well we'll never have to play in Conference North. So it's the year we get tanked at Eastbourne and Southport but beat Blackpool. Remembering we're also playing Weymouth this season, I wonder when we played the most clubs from other seaside resorts? .....and, following some cracking responses to the Greenwich Meridian poser, any thoughts about which British grounds (I'm using the term deliberately as opposed to "English") are closer to the sea than Plainmoor? Now to yesterday. Yes it was bloody awful. I'm intrigued by the talk of minds on Toddy's wedding. This hadn't crossed my mind, and I can't comment, but – almost immediately from the first whistle - something seemed to be missing. I had it down to a mixture of anti-climax after Coventry, this week's travelling, the conditions and the mental prospect of a course of hurdles ahead which would even challenge that old Southport worthy Red Rum. Aintree or Haydock, we simply weren’t at the races yesterday. For sure, the wind was dreadful and the pitch soft. Beforehand I walked Southport Pier – the country’s 2nd longest after Southend – and turning back inland noticed the strength of the offshore wind. For those who don’t know the area, Southport’s hinterland isn’t unlike The Fens or Somerset Levels – there’s nothing much in way of shelter for miles. Haig Avenue is on the edge of town and, as you can see from Romford Kev’s excellent pictures, there’s no cover on the east side of the ground. The chill comes from Siberia via Wigan. Full credit to Southport who looked a decent side. For all the talk about the missing leading scorer – Kilheeney – Steve Daly was a handful upfront and I liked Matty McGinn in midfield. The wide player Mark Duffy was a bit erratic but displayed enough to show why Morecambe tried to sign him before a league transfer embargo got in the way. You get the feeling the players and management know what it’s about. Looking at the line-up, the Southport team was just what you expected: plenty of good Liverpudlian semi-pros, a few over from Manchester and one local. Apparently the manager - Liam Watson – and many of the players helped the club win Conference North a few years back. Then, after promotion, Southport went full-time causing the players – and later Watson – to leave (mainly in the direction of Burscough) to be replaced by inferior full-timers. Now they're part-time again, Watson is back along with many of his players. What happens should Southport win promotion again is anyone’s guess. Yes Dave, it’s a decent main stand at Southport and I chose to sit yesterday. In the teeth of the gale I’m afraid although it was positively balmy compared to Weymouth on Boxing Day. Kerry Miller’s book says the stand was opened in 1967 by the Burnley Butcher himself – Bob Lord. Here’s a picture from Kerry’s book:  One last thing to say about Haig Avenue is that a friend of mine is the head of the school behind the away end (as shown in Kev's pictures). Given her husband's extreme interest in football - 150+ games a season from summer football in Clwyd to big finals thoughout the world - and her total indifference to the game I had to smile at her school neighbouring a football club. It was good Southport made such a fuss of the 50th anniversary of our first visit. There was something in the local paper – the wonderfully-named Southport Visiter – three of the Southport team of 1959 were at the game and the programme cover was featured in yesterday’s equivalent:  Yesterday’s programme also contained three adverts – or announcements – for the Friends of Real Lancashire. These remind us that, when we go to Barrow next weekend, the town has moved from Lancashire to Cumbria since our last visit:  |
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