FL2: Torquay United v Port Vale 13th Feb 2010

hi,has anyone got the team line up and subs please

Flats has. Ringing in the changes. I like the look of this side. Hope Manse can settle in well to what is a "new" position to him. I'm sure it's been tested a lot in training. Now for the Battle.

Pertinent point is that just TWO of this starting line up began at the first whistle against Chesterfield when we started the season........................Mansell and Wroe

Not as significant as Benyon for Thomson. 1-1. And sounds like a debatable penalty decision against our very own David Fairclough.

And one of those players is playing in a completely different position.

Do you think it is pertinent in a positive, negative or neutral way? I am all for moving the squad forward, but a rebuilding of this magnitude at this time, when we are in our position is foolish beyond belief, in my opinion. This kind of project is surely better undertaken when a club has already secured safety during the final few months of the season with half an eye on the following campaign. It would have been far better to make changes in a more piecemeal manner

I worry that the most pertinent thing about this point is the similarity between this and the dreadful season we got relegated. I am thinking of our desparate way in which we are reliant on the loan system to the detriment of team coherance and morale. The danger is you end up with a team playing like strangers and when you go down the loan players clear off back to their home clubs. That was a master class of mismanagement and this is heading the same way.

The team needed some additions to add speed and a different dimension - we are generally all agreed on this point. However, to ship out players before securing adequate replacements was suicidal. We are very lucky to be in such a weak league at the moment - Grimsby have not won in 20 games and are still only second bottom!

Just back from the game and I'm afraid it just gets more and more depressing with very little of a positive nature to report.
Second best all over the pitch from the start Vale passed the ball confidently and swiftly and looked a couple of standards above our lot. We looked sadly today like relegation fodder no edge no creativity with that look of a team of strangers and all to familiar look of a doomed side heading in one direction.
Their first goal was pretty typical of the type conceded when you are struggling down the bottom. A hotly disputed free kick awarded on the left side of the penalty area semi circle - the only person who thought it was a free kick was the ref who was booed continuously after the event. Struck directly into the wall and the ball was always going to fall to one of theirs and bang one nil.
We created one or two chances before hand and tried to respond but could never penetrate a staunch Vale defence who had Zebs, Barnes and Thomson in their pockets for the entire ninety minutes though with the introduction of Benyon in the second half we were at least trying to pull their back line around a bit though with the exception of a good opportunist goal from Elliot, to little effect.
There are some BIG questions now being asked by all supporters who are now concerned and the main worry is that we are now a squad of strangers that contain players that have no more ability than the ones released in the window. and we will have to rely on these players to turn our fortunes around.
In conclusion we worked hard and huffed and puffed to little effect but looked like relegation fodder with my verdict on the players as follows.
Poke injured his thigh and pulled off a good deflected reaction save in the first half and looked to have found some confidence.
Smith looks better on the left cutting in when going forward and even he looks like he was struggling today.
Camara. OK its his first game for a while but is he really any better than Nicho ? On this showing I dont think so!! Stevland Angus comes to mind.
Charnock played well and looked solid enough alongside Branston who deservedly won the MOM . No passer of the ball admittedly but was no nonsense safety first at all times drove from the back but with nobody holding the ball upfront he was a very busy man.
The midfield is where are problems have been all season in my honest opinion and we looked poor and lightweight compared to Vale in that department today. We just gave then so much room in the middle of the park to play their passing game it was almost like watching a friendly exhibition match at times.
Mans did ok Wroe did OK but never rose to the heights to really influence the game and prompt some meaningful attacks.
Okane looks a good prospect but that's all at this time and probably had his best game in a UTD shirt today but its so unfair to throw him into this and expect miracles its simply not going to happen.
Thomson flatters to deceive and is so careless with the ball sometimes looked raw today missed a chance on goal in the first half firing wide from a cross just a few yards out. Cannot afford to play him at this time he was amazing the first time I saw him but one good game in ten isn't any good to any side.
Zebs and to those who think hes a target man better think again he just didn't get a sniff today and struggled all game, didn't give up though.
Barnes now I'm confused I really thought he would have had more about him after all the reports Ive been reading on here. An ok touch sure enough not that tall so wont win much up top and I didn't see to much to think that " This is the man to change our season" In time maybe but we are fast running out of that commodity.
Now a word about Mr Bevan an imposing figure if ever there was one but lacks mobility and his kicking is questionable to say the least. Should he have done better for the second goal cross? Ill watch it later and decide.
So more misery for us.
The PB out brigade will no doubt be shouting from the roof tops once again and the decisions he made last month to release our "lucky charms" are going to come back and haunt him for the rest of his life if he doesn't manage to pull things around because in hindsight its now looking like the gamble to change our playing staff and style in mid season isn't going to pay off.
Whatever Ill be there to the end and I cant wait for summer when I can forget this season and the club and get on with my bloody life again!!