Oh well, I guess Andrew_Gills is the winner... I really thought that with a bit of time off and a squad hopefully revitalised after the transfer window dealing that we'd come out of the blocks hard and fast and blow away a team that frankly we should be able to blow away. However it seems like nothing's changed.
Outplayed for long periods, no fight in midfield, keds seeming to not even getting off the ground when jumping, Barrett looking a shadow of his former self, but on the bright side we always have a chance of nicking points with Cody. Has to be burton to start up front with him against the cobblers
Payne has gone and Jackman could potentially be leaving, this is a shame as they are the two that we needed today so we better replace them, I am gutted with this news.
Totally inept today. Allen has to take a lot of the blame as the team he started with was a joke. WHY was Fish and Weston on the bench when you had Lee rb and Frampton Lm at home. The midfield was truely awful with charlie Allen really poor. The rest didn't sem to know what position they should be. The defensive were lucky to only conceed one goal and Kedwell and Birchall were not working well together. Really fed up tonight. The home form is terrible, we should be dominating the first 20 minutes not sitting back. The final straw tonight is we have loaned out our best midfielder to peterborough for the rest of the season. Allen better have a quality midfielder to replace Payne or we wont be top 3 at the end of the season. Montrose and Dack were playing better than this lot, bring them back if we don't get anyone else in.
There is loads that I could say but I can't say it all, that was a poor match, York were not that good but were much better than us we were too lightweight and were very weak. The midfield was awful and Barrett was shocking at times so I am not happy with him. Lee was awful and I am sure he got the own goal, he nearly got another one aswell but he was better in the second half however I do have to praise him for playing on after that injury but why Fish did not start I don't know. However well done to McDonald who done so well in difficult circumstance. Ratings Nelson 5- not good in my opinion, some of his kicking not great and he nearly got caught out once. Lee 4- He was named man of the match but I feel that was because of him playing on after the injury and that don't change my opinion however he is strong which is what others need to be, he was better in the second half but Fish should have been at right back. Legge 6- Not bad but not great, he was good in the air but slipped over a few times. Barrett 3- Probably his worst game, he kept getting beating and showed that he lacked pace, I like him but he was really poor today. Martin 6- Not bad but at times he needed to get stuck in more as he let players past him too much. Whelpdale 3- First half he was shocking, second half he did get a bit better but the ball was stolen from him numerous times. Frampton 5- He is not the answer in this position but is not the problem, unlucky to be subbed because he was at least trying in my opinion. Gregory 5- I think he may have something there but he is not as strong as you would expect for someone of his height, his passing is not great but he got better as the game went on. Allen 3- Very poor and did not seem in the game, he did not get to the ball many times like the rest of midfield and did not close people down. Kedwell 6- Not great game but he did try many times the long ball did not help as he is not that tall, he is good in the air but the ball was being played too long and made him look like he had a bad game, I feel him and McDonald will work well. Birchall 5- Sadly he did not get much of a sight of goal, he tried hard at times but it did not pay off. Subs Fish 6- He was probably the best defender when he came on he got forward well and was good at the back and is much better at right back then Lee don't know why he did not start that was mental. Weston 7- He played well and kept getting forward, he is one of them players who always works hard and runs his socks off but many times it did not pay off however as soon as he came on we played a bit better. McDonald 8- Well done, so happy he is back and he saved us with a decent goal, his touch was great and he was rearing to go, he just looked like he wanted a goal and he worked very hard. In my opinion he looks like he has good fitness and should start Tuesday as he worked hard and kept running and running to get us a winning at the end but it was not meant to be. Man of the match is Cody McDonald not just because of the goal, it is because he seemed the main one who wanted this game, well done and hope he starts Tuesday.
The infuriating thing about today was that this was all self inflicted. At the start of the season the squad was excellent, now it is a shadow of its former self sabotaged by someone who just does not understand that the most important rule in football is "If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it". Everyone within talking distance at 2 45 said the same thing. How on earth can he have selected that team. How could that midfield today, even stand comparison with Jackman/Davies/Payne/Montrose. It cried out today for 90 mins where are you Danny Jackman please rescue us. Barrett's legs seem to have gone, Legge nearly threw a goal away on four separate occasions. For the first time this year I felt we needed Essam. Whelpdale had his worst game ever. It was not Frampton's fault that he was selected for a role he cannot play, Kedwell and Birchall fought gamely for a few scraps, Lee had to be admired for bravery but he seems totally accident prone and could have been badly injured three times today. Hessy just has to sort out MA before the damage goes beyond repair. Northampton are starting to challenge hard and we cannot afford to be beaten on Tuesday or it will be a season changing game. Two rays of hope. First it does look as if the "old" Cody has returned. Second Fish attacked in the second half for the first time in weeks. He was a real attacking force until December and not being selected might have shaken him for the good.
What today showed is that we need a proper centre forward, someone like Akinfenwa who has got a great first touch, can hold the ball up make chances and bring others into play. In short someone who is the opppsite of kedwell. I know I go on about kedwell but I cannot see what he brings to the team.Yes, runs around a lot but his first touch is terrible. He rarely tries to take players on,mainly because he hasn't got the speed or skill to beat a man, so he has to resort to passing backwards or square. A typical moment this afternoon was when he received the ball in the half circle and he just didn't know what to do. He knew himself that he didn't have the skill to attack the defenders so he finished up laying it back to whelpdale who was about 15 yards behind him and the attack broke down.He will never be on the same wavelength as Cody so until we sign someone Burton should play up front. I t will be sorry if MA doesn't get rid of kedwell by next Thursday if he can find a club to take him. Sorry but thats the way I feel about him after today
vinney - with everything having been more or less predictable so far and I include Wright in that comment, if I was to have another purely wild guess and nothing more, things might get interesting after Tuesday's game.
Oops - maybe sooner, I must be psychic, this was posted on twitter 9 minutes ago... Gillingham FC ‏@TheGillsFC Martin: "A couple of our players have been offered deals at other clubs in the last 48 hours. On Monday/Tuesday a couple may be out." #gills
The starting line up was wrong today, after our recent poor home performances we needed to have an attacking starting line up and be positive from the start and take the game to the opposition but alas with Frampton and Gregory, two defensive central midfielders, that was not going to happen. We were much better when Weston came on and Lee moved into the middle and a lot lot better when Cody came on. Mad Dog has done very well so far and improved a decentish team he inherited from Hessy to a promotion winning team with the astute signings of Weston, Burton, Barrett, Nelson, Wright and Legge and now of course the gem that is Cody and also has improved the tactics, fitness levels and coaching staff, hence why we are doing so much better than we have in this division in the last two years. However now is the time to push on and the game against Northampton is very important in terms of selection, performance and result, in Mad Dog we trust!
