TALKING POINTS

Sam Jones – @samuellejones

Sam discusses the League draw

THE REFEREE

Now, I don’t want to be the guy who blames the referee for the draw. Or starts an article with a moan about said referee. But that is exactly what I am going to do. Torquay were not great by any measure, but that was one of the most inept refereeing performances I’ve ever seen from Samuel Reed.

There were the usual 50/50 decisions that didn’t go United’s way, but I counted three or four decisions that the Ref and his Merrymen got blatantly wrong. All of them could have changed the course of the game in United’s favour. In the first half, a basketball style block in the St Albans box went unpunished and apparently grabbing Cooke when he’s threatening to escape is fine. There was a questionable challenge on Cooke in the lead up to their goal that could have been given on another day, but the most egregious was the penalty shout in the dying seconds. Poor Omar was lunged into in the box, St Albans got nowhere near the ball and the United midfielder was left writhing in agony. An utter baffling decision, that only gets worse the more you watch it.

This is somehow not a penalty….. pic.twitter.com/10Iv84TqN9
— TORQUAYTALK (@TORQUAYTALK) September 21, 2024

He did get the red card right, as it was akin to Grievous Bodily Harm on poor Ed, but it took him so long to make the decision it looked like he wasn’t convinced. A truly horrific performance at Plainmoor, I hope we never see him on the Riviera again.

SAN MARINO IN DISGUISE?

Now I’ve got the rant about the ref over and done with, I’m now going to have a go at the tactics. I’ve never been the biggest fan of the 5-3-2, it always feels very rigid and if you don’t push the wing backs up then you have no width. It also reminds me of Gary Owers, and that is never someone I want to recall. But United’s version today was more akin to European minnows playing at Wembley, than an NLS team looking to get back into the big time.

On more than one occasion when St Albans were knocking it around at the back, we found ourselves in a flat back 6 or 7. The full backs would line up along side the centre backs and Threlkeld and/or Hayfield would drop along side the back three. This is fine if you’re defending a 1-0 lead away or are playing a big team away in the Cup (remember those days?) but not when you’re 0-0 at home against the bottom of the table side. This essentially meant that we only had 3 or 4 players applying pressure to St Albans and made us so easy to play through. Either press, or have a low block. You can’t do both.

We were better at the start of the second and then dominant when they had 10 men with Dreyer essentially playing the Quarterback role, but in the first we looked terrified. Two bad results will do that to you, but its Wotton’s job to give them the confidence or change the system to suit the players. As a minimum, push the two full backs much higher to actually get some width in the team and provide more of an out ball for the Gulls.

THE OMAR MUSSA EXPERIENCE

So, today was my first experience of Omar Mussa (and actually my first experience of Wotton-ball) and it was a sight to behold. He was brought in as a player that would be a game changer, probably playing a couple of divisions lower than he should be. And based on his appearance today, I can see why we thought that. Unlike many, he was not afraid to get his foot on the ball and try to make things happen.

He combined well with Tonks on the right hand side and got a few crosses off which mainly went for corners. He wasn’t afraid to take a man on and take a shot. This was good to see when so many men in yellow wanted to give the ball to someone else. He’s obviously not trusted by Wotton, which is why he is limited to 20 minute cameos, but based on the last few results it might have been a good idea to bring him on earlier/start him.

Now, unfortunately this may be the last we see of him for a while/ever. There is a timeline where he works his way into the box, is flattened by the defender and the penalty is rightfully given. We are then praising him for winning it as he did really well to get himself into that position. In that timeline he also walks off the pitch on his own accord. Instead, United have to settle for a draw and he is carried off on a stretcher in serious distress. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery and we get to see him back at Plainmoor soon.

WOTTON’S BEDSIDE MANNER

I like Paul Wotton. He is everything that the previous few managers were not. He cares, he’s honest and he’s very active on the touchline. He also doesn’t hide from bad results and always acknowledges the fans rain or shine. These sound like the bare minimum things for managers to do, but based on the last couple of years it is not. He also looks sharp in a black jumper and black jeans, which is a surprisingly difficult feat.

However, I am very glad he did not become a Doctor as his bedside manner might resemble that of Dr House M.D. From the minute a throw in was given the wrong way, Wotton was screaming at anything that moved. You could tell how frustrated he was at our performance and the officiating that smoke was coming out of his ears like a cartoon kettle. I am all for a bit of tough love and passion from a manager, but there is a very fine line and if crossed could lose him the dressing room.

This was especially obvious in his treatment of Omar Mussa. I’ve already mentioned how he doesn’t trust him, but his screaming to get him back on the pitch after being mauled by the St Albans player was pretty shocking. You can blame it on a communication error, but it was clear to almost everyone else that Omar was in serious trouble and it’s not good optics when the manager is screaming at him to get back on. I trust Wotton, and believe he will learn from this but the frustration boiled over today and he probably went a bit too far.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Despite being a grump in the previous talking points, I’m taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture. The last 3 games haven’t been great but this is only the 10th competitive game that most of them have played together and only the 14th/15th time ever. We have a squad that needs gelling, and a manager still finding the balance with the team. We’re sitting in the top half of the table, and only four points off the top. 6 months ago we didn’t even know if we would have a club anymore!

The team now have two weeks until the next game. We are waiting for injury news for Palmer and Mussa, but the early signs don’t sound good. Hopefully Jordan Dyer will be back soon, and maybe some more re-enforcements in the midfield to strengthen us up. Hopefully Wotton and the lads will take some time off to relax, regroup and work out where to go next. The team looked a bit lost yesterday, but there is still a long way to go and at least we still have a club to support.