Match Discussion: Game 31 - The Gulls (A)

[PON_News]

Game 31 - The Gulls (A)

Team: Torquay United

Date: 04/02/2023

Where: Plainmoor

What line-up should Luke Williams opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

[DonnyNotts]

Thankful for the win on the end, not a great game which was not helped by having Benny hill as a referee, sending off was a terrible decision. Take the points, but could prove costly.

[Chris]

Google kept alerting me of goals, but the actual score was 1-2 to us.

Until I knew the actual score, I wondered what the hell was going on. Good win for us, it's just a shame about the Wrexham result. It would've been nice had they lost or drawn at least.

[DonnyNotts]

20 hours ago, Chris said:

Google kept alerting me of goals, but the actual score was 1-2 to us.

Until I knew the actual score, I wondered what the hell was going on. Good win for us, it's just a shame about the Wrexham result. It would've been nice had they lost or drawn at least. 

Yea they seem to have a knack of sneaking late goals, they're a good team don't get me wrong, but also a lucky one.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

I initially thought their goal came from a Baldwin error, he misses his header and allows an easy finish to their striker.

Having seen the highlights, however, it's not his fault and he's effectively marking their only 2 men in the box when we have 4 'defending' in the immediate vicinity:

It's a counter-attack from a corner. Bad pass from Bostock, but not one we shouldn't recover from. We do a good job in getting numbers back defending, but I think it is Palmer who should be picking up his man and Ruben (?) helping him out. Midfielders and attackers though, don't always have the 'defenders brain' and see the danger incoming. 

Rawlinson certainly does see it, and is indicating as much.  Rodrigues is more concerned with returning to his normal position and Palmer is ball-watching:

By the time the cross comes in, Ruben is too late and Palmer is massively out of position, perhaps trying to close down the pass to midfield when that's easily already covered by Bostock:

 

The reaction by Rawlo is pure frustration at the lack of defending basics: Stick with your man and don't get attracted to the ball. Rodrigues pointlessly barely moves with his hand in the air claiming an offside where there clearly isn't one; Palmer is chasing shadows. 

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[Fozzy]

Good post @Super_Danny_Allsopp. Completely agree that either Palmer and Ruben should have picked up Lapslie, but both move up to beyond the 18 yard line. Just before the ball is played in, Baldwin glances across but he is stuck between the two attackers as he cannot commit to either. That being said, it was a quality cross that 9 times out of 10 would not have found the intended target.

[Chris]

Bostock's pass was really clumsy and poor for a player of his quality.

He's quick to realise and chases after the ball, but at some point his brain tells him to drift away rather than to press more by running more into the channel. 

Cameron and Chicksen couldn't react better to their bursts to defend, although that's easy for me to say without the adrenaline pumping. Cameron seems to be torn whether to support Bostock or make a move to cover the centre. At the point he commits, he really should try to stay natural to the ball positioning.

Chicksen is just in a panic, fleeting back with quite some pace but unaware as to where others are around him.

By the time their player receives the ball to pass, you can see we are only just starting to organise ourselves.

I don't think the players prepare themselves for what looks like a floating cross into an area where we should have easily covered the ball.

To be fair, seeing the highlights, the fault lies across the majority of the team.

Starting with the weak pass by Bostock, to the unorganised defending. Slocombe is a little slow to respond to the balls bounce, but his decision to move late - only putting up his left knee sums up the lack of awareness. There's honestly not much he could've done, but a quicker response to play may have seen him cover it. Those in front really should do better, even having bodies behind the opposition player can prevent someone getting on goal.

If we didn't have the occasional relapse, I would be worried but from a discussion point it was poor.