Hessy is considering playing Oli up front with Keds tomorrow. Considering Keds himself say he was looking forward to restablishing the partnership he had with Den at Grays this can only be considered a positive. But how well will the two work together? http://gillsconnect.com/s/Gills_New...DWELL_AND_DENNIS_OLI_IN_TANDAM_FOR_CREWE.html
I'd be very surprised if Hessy opted for anything other than 4-5-1 for away games this year, especially not with Birch out andno other decent striker to note. Oli will be good to bring on, nothing more than that.
To play oli over the likes of Weston, Spiller or Montrose is just wrong. You have to start with your best 11 and Dennis is nowhere near that level.
We need to hit the ground running and to do that we need two strikers as we aren't going to score that many with just 1 up front. I'd rather have Oli up front tomorrow than play 4-5-1.
I would give Oli the opportunity, simply because one goal in two games, currently indicates our problems up front, even though Weston eventually came on in both games. Kedwell spoke about Oli pre season, so let's give it a go for at least the Crewe game. We are solid at the back so what have we got to lose, other than 2 points in a bore draw, which is my prediction.
Manchester Gill whilst I agree with your sentiments we have to accept what we've got until / if we get the right type of striker to play off Kedwell. We all want Gills to be free scoring - but with the shortage of proper strikers we have to play to our strength - which is mainly in our defence and midfield. There has been mainly positive comments from the fans regarding the performance, thus far of our players in these areas of the pitch. I repeat my suggestion of 17 low scoring wins and 29 goalless draws being enough. We are already ahead of last seasons schedule - when we only had 3 point after 5 games. I am going to Crewe tomorrow and wont be too disappointed to see 0-0. Of course I'll be shouting to encourage to win - I do not go to watch us lose - but I do try to be realistic in my expectations....nonetheless ..... UTG
I trend to agree with ManchesterGill, we should be looking to go into every game looking to win and we have a better chance of doing that with two up top rather than just one. I feel that some of the members here don't rate Den, if we had Cody at the club and Hess played 4-5-1 there would be uproar but the 4-4-2 option seems a lot more positive and if we have two fit forwards we should play them.
We should have played 451 against Barnet and Macclesfield last season. I think we should try and keep it tight tomorrow with a 451. Crewe will come at us. If we go behind then put Oli on and go 442 but I would be happy with a point from what is one of the tougher away days !
Obviously we would be in uproar because it would Cody who scored 20 odd goals last year, is fast and can play off another striker well. But we don't have Cody we have Dennis Oli who didn't score many (if any) last year, has the turning circle of a train and can't play well off another striker.
If Cody was here (or Birchall fit for that matter),then 4-5-1 wouldn't arise. But we don't have anyone the calibra of those two, so one up front is the only option. Oli at best is an inpact sub, and should only be used as that. I watched him in the few pre-season friendlys he played in, and in spite of scoring a couple of times, he continues to frustrate as he always has. Playing him is a waste of a better player starting,albeit in mid field
I agree that we have to accept what we've got and even with Birchall the strength and depth up front is quite low. However how many teams do you see playing 4-5-1 willingly and making a good job of it. Of course if we had Birchall then we wouldn't be talking about this but our poor start was the main reason why we didn't get into the playoffs last season where I seem to remember the first handful of games were played with a 4-5-1 so it's pretty easy to guess what we need to do this time around. If we have a good start then we won't need to play catch up half way through the season and I personally think we need to play 2 up front. Now is the best time to use Oli and/or Payne to see if they are good enough to step up when needed and Kedwell knows how Oli plays which is bound to work to both of their strenghts. Also say if Keds "burns himself out" because he's being played up front on his own, what then?
Lukey clearly Oli can play off another striker seeing as he did at Grays (that other striker being Keds) and being quite successful at it. I made the mention of Cody to point out that we would all prefer to play 2 up front rather than just the one and I think that having Den up front is more likely to score than Weston / Montrose / Lee playing in a midfield 5 and failing to support Keds
Oli is better playing wide right in a 4-3-3 but he can play alongside Kedwell in a 4-4-2 and has a lot of pace and will race on to Kedwell`s flick on`s, what happens after that is always a bit of a mystery with Dennis but he will always give 100% and on his day can be good. At the very least it will give the Crewe centre backs something to think about rather than if Kedwell is playing on his own. If Dennis does not start than Weston has to play just behind Kedwell as we need to improve our attacking threat.
If we must play 4-4-2 I would rather we play S.Payne. He looked sharp when he came on against Brighton and was really good at getting away from players with pace. If we play Oli we will be playing two players who are too similar to play together. (Jackson and Brandy are a good example) Although if we play Payne and Kedwell we have two player who can compliment each other. Despite what I have said I still want us to play 4-5-1 it worked well in the last to matches and going with it today will get us the result.
With a bit of luck,after today this discussion will be irrelevant, as Hess said yesterday he hopes to get someone in by Tuesday, or failing that next Saturday
