I'm not massively confident despite Swindon losing to Stevenage in the week. The minimum requirement is that the team show more fight than they did against Colchester, which I think they will. As for the line up, I'd go with this, Nelson Harriman, Barrett, Legge, Martin Gregory Hessenthaler, Smith, Dack Akinfenwa, McDonald Subs: Howard Davies Marriott Weston ***an Linganzi McKain
Nice article about Iffy & his time at both clubs http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.u...ts_on_life_at_Swindon_and_Gillingham/?ref=rss
After that diabolical game last week I think we may see the new loans getting a run out. I don't think theres a cat in hell's chance of Davis playing as Taylor clearly doesn't rate him,because if he did he would have had more chances by now and Taylor wouldn't be looking for another centre half as he keeps saying he is. This is how I think we will start the game,and depending how it goes,I expect ***an and Marriott to come on when Bayo tires and ***an to replace Hewitt because this is Hewitts first game for a while . I think both young Hess and Dack may be on the bench as they are both young and probably shouldn't start every week. ____________________________________________Nelson___________________________________________________ __________Harriman________________Barrett_______________Legge______________________Martin______________ _________Hewitt__________________Smith__________________Gregory____________________Weston___________ __________________________________Akinfenwa__________________McDonald_________________________________ Posts: 5 Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2014 2:30 pm
Not that it needs saying, but you have to try and beat swindon. Not as heated as its previously been but this match means a lot to Gillingham fans and I'm sure Peter Taylor (unlike Iffy reading that article!) knows that. Attack for me is going to be the best form of defence as I feel if you get at swindon they can crumble, as they showed against Stevenage. Line up hopefully as follows: -------------------Nelson-------------------- ---Harriman--Legge--Barrett--Martin--- ---***an---Hessenthaler--Dack--Weston--- ------------McDonald----Akinfenwa-----------
I can't even begin to second guess PT's team selection or tactics (that might be a good thing) but do agree with gfc that attack is the best form of defence. Unless I've missed something obvious, out of 92 league clubs only 3 have conceded more goals than us, Fullham 46, Millwall 50, Crewe 51 and Tranmere equal on 45, interestingly there are no clubs in league 2. Anyway the point is that if we can't defend then lets attack and just outscore the opposition, 5 - 4, 6 - 5, I don't care as long as we win.
I don't truly believe in modern football the hostilities any longer exist between us and Swindon. Just a load of middle aged camels like me going on about the past. Could be wrong. The County Ground was an absolute sterile place on our earlier visit in the season, I can remember back to the late 70's early 80's where you would take your life in your hands going there...probably the closest i've ever come to a real risky situation on the old terracing...where the only way out, looked to be fight your way out...until dozens of bobbies piled in. The majority learn to behave themselves these days...but nothing wrong in exchanging some verbal pleasantry to liven up the occasion and welcome them to Priestfield for old times sake...lol ps. in regards to the football, drop Barrett...but i just know PT will not do it.
Really can't wait for this one, the violence that used to accompany this fixture is thankfully a thing of the past but the atmosphere in generally better than against against most teams we play on a regular basis
I think Gillingham will line up as follows....................... --------------------------Nelson------------------------------------- Harriman--------Legge-----------------Barrett----------------Martin -------------------------Gregory------------------------------------- ------------Hewitt----------------------Smith---------------------- ***an--------------------------------------------------------Weston ------------------------McDonald----------------------------------- Subs: Howard (GK), Davies, Linganzi, Hessenthaler, Dack, Marriott, Akinfenwa Now I am not entirely sure if Peter Taylor will play a 4.4.2 formation or a 4.5.1 formation but with Danny Kedwell injured and with the way we played against Colchester United last Saturday I think we are more likely to start with a five man midfield with Craig ***an and Myles Weston playing either side of Cody McDonald and this appeared to be the way we played against Wolves in our last home game as well. The back five picks itself with Stuart Nelson, Michael Harriman, Leon Legge, Adam Barrett and Joe Martin all starting, some fans have called for Callum Davies to start but I don't see him starting under Peter Taylor, midfield has got so many options available as we have got Amine Linganzi, Elliott Hewitt, Jake Hessenthaler, Bradley Dack, Connor Smith, Steven Gregory, Craig ***an and Myles Weston all available and with so many midfielders available it makes sense to play five in midfield, but the question is which four or five get picked ??? I think Steven Gregory is first choice for the holding midfield position and I think that Elliott Hewitt and Connor Smith will play either side of him with Craig ***an on the right and Myles Weston on the left, we need Weston for his pace and ***an seems to fit the system perfectly, that means that Jake Hessenthaler and Bradley Dack get dropped to the bench and I know that appears to be harsh, but Dack was playing out of position and Hessenthaler might need a rest, Cody McDonald has to start up top because he is in fantastic form recently. I still see Gillingham lining up with a cautious mentality and we will defend deep and I don't mind defending deep if we put in the challenges and play like we did against Wolves but we cannot play like we did against Colchester United where they cut us open far too easily, we need to get the balance between defensive organization and putting in challenges spot on. I still see the opposition having the larger amount of the possession, but we need to make sure that when we get the ball that we keep it and hurt Swindon in the right area's - and we did not do that against Colchester United last week.
You had to be there @ Colchester to witness how bad we were. We cannot continue to be as defensive as we have been ( for too long under Taylor's tactics ) - we got lucky against Wolves - but that rarity will not be enough to gain the points for survival. We must be more adventurous. A point a game, from our remaining matches, will not be enough. AND it is highly unlikely we'll get a point from some of those games. This means that we will have to win 'some' games - but that won't be achieved by the extreme negative tactics that we seem to be employing. We have 29 points and 20 games left to play. If we consider 50 points as the minimum that we need to achieve, that means we need a minimum of 21 points ( more than one per game ! ) - 'On paper' I suspect that we will probably lose at least 8 of those games - this would leave finding 21 points from 12 games. I do not see more than 5 victories, and if we get a point from the other games it would all add up to 51 points ---- which might be enough - but I suspect that I'll be in hospital before the Shrewsbury game - recovering from a heart attack. please can we play a bit more football in the opposition's half ?
That's more like it! 2 - 0 to Gills against the old Enemy. So pleased for Michael Harriman to get a goal today as reward for all his good performaces in a Gills shirt UTG!
Nowt better than getting one over the swine. With any luck we can move on and wave as we pass them on their way down.
I thought we played really well and deserved our win.Taylor was spot on with the Team he named.Harriman was moved to Right Midfield,so Hewitt could play Right back.It was a brave move as it didn`t work so well against Oldham,but it worked perfectly today.Harriman was a big threat going forward and he is really quick and caused Swindon problems all game.Hewitt defended well and had a good game seeing as he played his first 90 minutes in a while.Legge had his best game in a while in defence,and was up there with Harriman for MOTM today.Gregory had another great game,and he has quietened the boo boys.We got in Swindon`s faces from the start,and that was what was missing last week at Colchester.We didn`t let Swindon settle,and we had some good chances in the game.Cody had two one on ones,but unfortunately his shots went either side of the goal both times.We did take the lead when we were awarded a freekick not too far outside of the area.Martin put the freekick in,and Legge headed the ball past their keeper to put us 1-0 up.Not long after Harriman let fly with a belter of a shot that their keeper tipped over,surprisingly the ref gave a goal kick.Swindon came close with a chance,but Nelson had to react quickly to save low down.Harriman made a great tackle in the area to stop Swindon which could have lead to a goal.We went in 1-0 up at Half-time,but could have had one or two more goals. Swindon had a spell where they looked like they would get back in the game.Their best player on show Pritchard came close with a header which he should have scored.He looked a decent player,but I thought our defence handled him well.Legge also made a great block to stop which looked like it would have lead to a goal.Taylor brought on Dack and good play from him winning the ball back by the corner flag lead to our second goal,he found Martin who then found Harriman who put the ball in the back of the net to secure the three points.That was his first professional goal in Football,and he deserved to score with how well he played.***an looked good as the experienced Striker when he came on aswell. It was a great Team performance,and a great response after last weeks poor performance at Colchester.I thought it was an entertaining game.We have moved up to 14th and have got into the 30+ point mark which is good to see.With Brentford up next away,I think it was important that we got three points today.
Very pleased with the performance yesterday. I think that was the best performance over 90 minutes as we wasn't just good in the first half we were also good in the second half. It is rare that we say that after winning 2-0 that it could have been a better margin than that but that was the case as Cody had a great chance when he run free of the defenders to score and also Akinfenwa should have scored in the second half when he was played through in the box but then he just lost his footing. Also Harriman went very close with the ball being superbly tipped over the bar by the Swindon keeper however it seems as if the referee did not see his hand touch the ball. Gregory is a player that has really impressed me this season, played so much better since Hessenthaler has come into the team and has continued to improve like he did at the back end of last season. (I did say I thought there was something interesting about him but was not sure at the time what it was) It does seem as if Gregory is a decent player and I feel that the criticism is unjust for him now as he plays a lot better, yes he still has an off game but he is a good player and I think he is someone who should get a new contract as he is getting better and better and I feel he has a good future at the club as he is still young so he will get better and will become a decent player. I think he was close to man of the match but I think Harriman was man of the match even before he scored but it was close between him Gregory and Legge but I would still give it to Harriman without the goal but with the goal I defiantly think he was man of the match. Leon Legge has become much more solid since he has been reinstated in the team and I have to praise him for that as I did have doubts at times that he was good enough at this level but I think from the last few games at home he has showed that he is good enough at this level. I was a big fan of him last season but I did think he would probably be better as a back up but I feel he has done enough of late to prove that he has a future at the club. Sadly same can't be said for Barrett although he played well yesterday has been too much of a liability this season at the back which is something that I feel has to be dealt with soon as he has cost us points at times this season so I think we need to bring someone else in or play Davies which is something which I don't understand why it don't happen as he seems as if he is a decent prospect but neither Taylor nor Allen seemed to rate him enough which is a shame as I feel he is a good player with a good future at the club and yet again another player who is young who will get better and better. Anyway back to the performance, much better and yet again another performance that shows we should be fine and should stay up around bottom half of mid table. Only if we could be a bit more consistent then we would probably be around 12th and with a couple of new players could even push on for a decent place in the table. Just strange supporting the gills at the moment as one week we play really well and beat Wolves who are up near the top, then play awfully and get beaten by an average Colchester side then after that we win 2-0 and keep yet another home clean sheet against Swindon who are yet another side who are up the top half of the table pushing for the play offs. I just don't understand what happens in the minds of our players because we seem to pick up more points against the better teams than the average sides in the league, so surely we can't be that bad, if only we could play a bit better against the sides in the bottom half and then we could be in an even better position than we are already in which I feel is a decent enough position as it is. Anyway next up is Brentford who are playing really well and are a very good side who I feel could go on to win this league, now if you look at the table and judge this without knowing anything about the sides you would say an easy win for Brentford and at first thought I was thinking Brentford will probably win 3-1 but yet again this is Gillingham and we know what they are like as they pick up some wonderful results against the good sides and this is one that I would not rule out us getting anything from as I could generally see them shocking us and getting a point at Brentford even though I put this down as a defeat at first because after our showing against Wolves the team showed us that they can really pull off some great results so this is why I don't think Brentford are beyond us even though I feel that they are a better side than Wolves. Anyway as long as are consistent then we will stay up as with 19 games to go I feel all we need to do is win 6 and we will be safe as that would take us to 50 points however I would not be happy with us just scraping 50 points as I feel that we are better than that. I think out the remaining 19 games we could win 6, draw 6 and then lose 7 of them. If you look at our average points over the season then this does seem to fit in with the amount of points that we pick up on average so that is why I think we will probably finish on around 56 points which I think would see us finish 16th which is not bad for our first season back in League 1. If we continue to play like we did against the likes of Swindon and Wolves then I feel that we could do even better than this and maybe even reach 60 points but we will only reach this if we are more consistent and cut out the stupid mistakes and the conceding of the late goals.
http://fan-of-mulligan.tumblr.com/post/74308230158/fom-blog-gillingham-2-0-swindon-town It has taken me ages to write my latest FOM BLOG for The Swindon Town Game but here it is, I hope you guys enjoy reading it because I have thrown everything into this blog, enjoy.
