Dave
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Post by Dave on Jan 23, 2010 19:52:43 GMT
If you get chance listen to Paul Buckles interview on Radio Devon, probably available on their website and the BBC's website later, I listened to it in the car on the way home and it explains about the Hargreaves situation. Buckle explains that he didn't want him to go and still wants him to stay. I was expecting a Hargreaves lap of honour at the end of the game applauding the fans etc, but that didn't materialise. He just walked straight over to the tunnel, probably disappointed with his and the teams performance. Sadly we got some booing at the final whistle and chants aimed at Buckle, it was as I said to you at the game, more a case that Hargreaves wanted to leave once he knew he would not be getting a new contract and if Oxford had of really wanted him, he would not have been here to play today. The problem we have is having a look at players like Cox, I really do worry about the rest of the season. I can't judge him as a player as he has not played for us yet, but just looking at him I felt he will never stand up to the physical demands that will be made on him in this league. Bucks really needs to find some good strong pros and not the young players he is hoping will turn our season around. |
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Jan 23, 2010 19:53:43 GMT
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petef
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Post by petef on Jan 23, 2010 19:59:32 GMT
Petef’s report pretty much sums it up. Although I wouldn’t have been as generous to say that Poke’s performance was average. It wasn’t average, far from it. That said no-one achieved average today, we were poor. The worst performance I have seen from us for a while. No bite, no passion, no silky skills, not a lot at all to be honest. At 2-0 up we had already been outplayed and I would wager good money that no-one in the ground believed we would go on and win the game from there. It was always a matter of time. The biggest problem we had was in midfield. Wroe and Hargreaves just did not turn up today, I expected more from Hargreaves, I thought he might be out to prove a point, sadly he proved that the manager was right to tell him his playing career at Torquay is over at the end of the season. MoM he certainly was not, mind you it was difficult to chose one of them, I’d probably have gone for Penn or Macgrath. If they are only Burtons ‘reserves’ may I suggest a foray into the transfer market and snap these two up pretty quickly. We also miss Carlisle massively, so with the 2 centre midfielders MIA and Thomson not having a good game things were made easier for Burton to run the show, which they did. In hindsight we should have started Zebroski up front and dropped Benyon to the bench and stuck Stevens the right. We did look a little better when that happened. To be fair to Rendell he didn’t have too bad a game, but Benyon was anonymous so he had his work cut out there. Charnock had a steady game as did Smith after 20 minutes once he realised how good their right winger was and was beaten a few times all to easily. Mansell had a bit of a nightmare, giving possession away far to much, particularly in his own half. Overall a disappointing performance. Not enough effort, commitment or passion for my liking. Finally what was it with all the stewards stood in front of the popside for the last 10 minutes, were they expecting someone to kidnap Hargreaves or something. They incited the crowd more than anything else today. Also, when asked if they could move out the way because they were obstructing the view they just laughed. If they have to be there could they not crouch down next to the wall so that we can still see? Just like they do at other grounds? Poor show from them I say. I can only imagine the club envisaged that there may have been some sort of mass protest regarding the Hargreaves saga. Make no mistake all that is written on these and other forums gets circulated around the club in one form or another and is it any wonder they felt a threat when you read some of the anti club garbage that has emanated from both sites this week? In any case there is now a full explanation here news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_3/8450977.stmfstraight from the horses mouth on the whole situation for those not savvy enough to have appreciated the positions of both parties in the first place and have consequently wound themselves up into a frenzy in the past week or so. |
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Post by jmgull on Jan 23, 2010 20:00:01 GMT
The meek surrender of 3 vital points was very hard to watch today and was made all the worse as the Burton side were there for the taking.
After a slow start by us we surprisingly scored twice in 7 mins to lead by a couple of goals with our first two meaningful attacks........the Burton defense at that stage looked truly awful and you sensed a hammering could be on the cards.........the mauling, of course didn't happen as we struggled badly to dominate possession for the rest of the game.
Burton scored with 3 wonderful strikes..........but threatened little apart from that, they were neater on the ball and closed us down superbly, they grew in confidence from our inadequacy........has to be said though, we also missed 3 guilt edge chances when a 3rd goal for us would have taken the points for sure.........Rendell headed straight at Poole at 2-0 from six yards just before Burton's 1st, O'Kane was thwarted with his 1st touch at 2-2 when his even closer range shot was blocked from close range after a brilliant run by Stevens and soon after that the worst miss of the lot, when Robertson somehow managed to head the ball sideways from virtually under the crossbar when he rose highest to meet O'kane's cleverly flighted free kick.
Buckle got the side wrong today up front but he certainly wasn't helped by some very poor performances from some of our supposed best players....Wroe, Zebroski and Thomson were miles from their best.
With Carlisle injured a straight swap would have been the best bet in my opinion with either O'Kane or Stevens in his place, instead the pack was shuffled too much up front and Thomson was played on the right when he looks so much more dangerous running at defenders whilst cutting in on the left, Zebroski is wasted on the left and needs to play up front which gave Benyon another chance that he predictably didn't take.
here are my marks out of 10...
Poke 5 - beaten three times from distance and didn't smell any of them.....maybe could have done better with the second which beat him very easily on his inside post, kicking fell to pieces in the 2nd half.
Mansell 5 - typically just about coped defensively.....passing as usual pretty awful he could never play in midfield, its laughable for some of our fans to suggest otherwise.
Smith 7 - had a real tough job with Taylor running at him but got better as the game went on, easily our most composed defender.
Robertson 5 - gifted Burton's 2nd when brushed aside by Harrod, not good enough today and missed a sitter.
Charnock 6 - Steady.
Thomson 5 - A couple of good moments but when running at a left backs stronger side, he doesn't look quite so confident.....his corners are excellent, his crossing needs more work.
Wroe 4.5 - Just couldn't find his passing range today, gave the ball away so many times.
Greavsie 7.5 - Best of a bad bunch......gave everything as usual.
Zebroski 4 - had one of his quiet, ineffectual games.
Benyon 4.5 - tried hard, scrapped for everything........has no pace so is no threat, how has he had so many games this season?...subbed after an hour.
Rendell 7 - got his goal, worked very hard and won his share in the air, not his fault others couldn't get on the end of his flick ons.
Subs
Stevens 7 - buzzed around well, and we looked better when he came on.
O'Kane 6 - one bad miss, one great free kick.......still only a kid and unfair to judge, doesn't seem to have the prescience to have a big impact this season but i could be wrong.....one for the future though obviously.
Ellis - only on for a few minutes.
This result could have implications for the rest of the season.........talk of a mid table finish should go out of the window and we need to scrap hard for points now.
What does worry me though is that now with the likes of Sills gone and Nicholson surely going.........we seem hell bent on this passing game, our pitch wasn't great and it cut up a bit making it hard to zip the ball around......with the weather we've had pitches will be worse away from home and that style may not be whats required on certain days.......have we now got the personnel to go "long" when we need to scrap a goal in a tight game....no!
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merse
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Post by merse on Jan 23, 2010 20:29:19 GMT
......with the weather we've had pitches will be worse away from home  There should be no worries on that score on Tuesday Justin, It might slope in one half, but the Underhill surface is second to none and drains well. It is maintained by the Arsenal groundstaff as part of the deal whereby they play their reserve and senior youth team games there. If it's good enough for Jack Wilshire and Keiron Gibbs I'm sure it's good enough for Elliott Benyon.........................perhaps we should be asking whether he is good enough to play on it? |
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Jan 23, 2010 20:43:27 GMT
I agree with your marks there JM - although I personally thought Zebs was worth more than a 4 - he had a hand in both the goals - but his touch was terrible at times - no worse than many of the others. Bucks was more or less forced into starting with him on the wing due to the injury of Carlisle but it is far from his ideal position.
There have been some great match reports so I'l just note some observations......
- Some of those players produced worse performances far below those when we were in that long winless run - poor movement, sloppy passing, terrible marking and poor decision making. Hopefully it was just "one of those days" because I'm sure that they are better than today's showing
- If we are to assume that Hargreaves will leave over the next week, I'm extremely worried about our midfield. Wroe put-in one of his dreadful performances - for a player that we expect so much of and one that has played at a much higher level he was shocking.
- When the chips are down it's unrealistic to expect the likes of many of those young players to rally their team-mates and take the initiative. Performers like Harrad, Penn, McGrath and Boertian caused huge problems and their experience shone-through.
I agree with most of Bucks' comments - a reasonable explanation over the willingness to release Hargreaves at this stage of the season - although I still feel that Hargreave's departure will leave us with a far weaker squad and diminish our chances of retaining our league status.
It's a shame that it wasn't handled well by the club - I think that there was a very strange atmosphere in the ground today and I can't believe that this debacle hasn't had anything to do with it.....
I don't know where we go from here. I can only hope that Grimsby and Darlo keep losing because our team were totally outclassed by a very understrength Burton.
I really hope that he is able to work some magic in the transfer market this week
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Post by gull1977 on Jan 23, 2010 20:59:22 GMT
We just collapsed from cruising. Remember Exeter 2 seasons ago. It happened again. Experienced keeper (Poole) played well. Anyone got Shilton's number?  |
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merse
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Post by merse on Jan 23, 2010 21:24:01 GMT
- When the chips are down it's unrealistic to expect the likes of many of those young players to rally their team-mates and take the initiative. Performers like Harrad, Penn, McGrath and Boertian caused huge problems and their experience shone-through. Two significent players you mention there: Penn was linked with a move to Plainmoor during the summer but chose to go to Burton from Kidderminster which meant that he didn't need to uproot from his Sutton Coldfield home. McGrath is now a well established midfielder with a sweet left foot who has never founmd the need to move from his Doncaster base ~ even when he spent a season loan at Dagenham from Aston Villa as a youngster. |
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Post by gull1977 on Jan 23, 2010 21:32:51 GMT
Excellent Minutes Silence. Great tribute to Mr Brad, fans out performed the players. Come on team for Christ sake, I don't wanna travel to shit like Salisbury again!!
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chelstongull
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Post by chelstongull on Jan 23, 2010 22:29:59 GMT
Marks out of 10:
Poke ***
Smith ***
Robbo ***
Charnock: ****
Thomson ** (Sulky get)
Wroe **
Hargreaves *****
Zebs *****
Benyon *
Rendell ****
The players to light weight today to make a difference against a well organised Burton team. Thank gawd they had do many players out.
Very disappointed.
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Post by wrangatongulls on Jan 23, 2010 23:11:08 GMT
sorry to disagree with you all but both our centre backs were piss poor, wroe as usual cant pass to anyone of the same strip (just count his good passes to the ones he gives away )mind you hes the only bugger weve got tjhat can keep scoring penelties. hargreaves and benyon tried as for the rest no commitment, no passion, no will to win ....err or draw for that matter, where i do agree the worst tufc performance ive seen at least since mike green was manager
so on to the good news, we surly cant get worse than today, so by default its all up from here!!!!!!(we hope) has poke got an injury or flu ? kicking crap and reactions very unlike his normal standard.
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Post by loyalgull on Jan 24, 2010 0:27:02 GMT
a big player crisis at burton at present read somehere that up to 13 first teamers maybe out for saturday for one reason or another,so on paper we should win it,but we are torquay,and heaven forbid we know what could happen now. wished i kept my big mouth shut  |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Jan 24, 2010 10:39:32 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2010 15:58:40 GMT
Having been unable to get along to Plainmoor for some time it was a lovely sunny afternoon for me to reacquaint myself with the old place. As mentioned by others the game was proceeded by an impeccably observed minutes silence in memory of Mr.Brad. As I gazed across at surely two of the smallest Managers in the football league (Pesch & Bucks) the only noise to be heard was that of the buzzing shutter of the photographers camera as he merrily decided to keep snapping away while the rest of Plainmoor stood quietly. My bottom of the range compact..& even the camera function on my mobile phone are equipped with a 'silent' option to eliminate shutter noise, I'm surprised his equipment didn't have something similar.
Ten minutes after kick off I reflected to myself that I was struggling to recall a more lacklustre & seemingly disinterested peformance from a Torquay team, yet here we were winning 1-0!...it certainly can be a funny old game.
On about the half hour mark I'd seen three goals, including one which was one of the finest strikes I've witnessed in a while, we were still winning & I reckoned any neutral present would say they were getting value for money.
This is still only the old 4th division and alongside some very decent play at times you are always going to witness some players making rash or madcap decisions & it all adds to the entertainment.
It was my first time seeing young Smith & Thomson. Smith did adequately but it was a pretty torrid afternoon for the defence as a whole. With Poke in particular having an off day-although that is easily explained. Since the episode with the Hereford Santas, Poke feels particularly nervous at the sight of away fans in fancy dress. Now although there was no evidence of an inflatable rubber ring there was a Fred Flintstone, a Batman, and an escaped convict among the Brewers fans & all caught Poke's eye as he took to the field...as a result our keeper just couldn't settle for the duration of the match.
Thomson...well what a decent prospect he is. A few rough edges naturally, a couple of times when he was 'shown inside' he should have taken it rather than still attempting to go outside & getting dispossessed, and Manse had to chastise him for not tracking back but the quality of his crossing was what really impressed me.
Two goals to the good...& some were wondering how many times Burton's 46 year old keeper would be picking the ball out of his net. Pesch leaned nonchalently against the side of the dugout wearing his Roberto Mancini style overcoat but minus the trendily knotted scarf. He either wasn't too perturbed that his side were losing or else Karren Brady had worn him out the night before. Penn's wonder strike then put a whole new impetous into the Brewers Reserves & they began to realise the game wasn't lost after all.
The warning signs had been clear enough from the opening stages. Zeb & Thomson stayed wide & did little defensively. Wroe wasn't in the mood for chasing around too much so that left Hargreaves (after the week he's had) to repell the Burton midfield single handed. Admirably he managed to do that for the first 20 minutes chasing back and getting in some good tackles, but he tired, as is only to be expected and so the Burton attacks grew in frequency.
H.T
Just as I was contemplating what one of our legendary former defenders such as ,for instance, Steve Woods would have made of this disorganised defensive shambles if he had been there to see it when my attention was caught by the Squeaker who was telling us it was time for the half time draw. None other than Jim McNichol appeared on the pitch & he drew out ticket No.03126.
After a couple of minutes there was a further squeak appealing for the winner to come forward...which he duly did & 'Phil' from Newton Abbot claimed the money.
I would have brought on Ellis at half time, for no other reason than his enthusiasm & desire might have rubbed off on the others & woken them up.
The second half continued in a similar pattern to the first, only with our defence looking even more jittery & error prone than in the first period. Two good strikes sealed the points for Burton Reserves.
A few changes as the half wore on...Danny Stevens impressing on the left...Zeb becoming completely anonymous when he took Benyons place up front & young O'Kane connecting resonably well when Danny cleverly picked him out coming in at the far post. O'Kane kept his shot down & got it on target but his first touch didn't quite result in a goal.
The Stewards blocked my view of the last 5/10 minutes but I assume things continued in the same vein.
History shows that just when I think Bucks is making a bigger pigs ear of things than ever the Board dig him out by financing even better players coming to the Club. I imagine there will be the same response to the current fiasco.
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Post by aussie on Jan 25, 2010 10:33:58 GMT
Alpine mate that`s funny! Your mobile phone camera has a simulated shutter noise, it isn`t real that`s why you can turn it off, a real camera with real shutters has a real shutter noise that cannot be switched off!
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