And nothing to do with season tickets ! So, on Saturday we lost - to a last minute 'breakaway' goal..... but not all is doom & gloom (that's reserved for STH debate) During the second half Gills did a fair bit of attacking - which was pleasing. We had many corners - the routine of which needs to be worked on. With a bit more craft we might have scored the goal(s) to have won the game, but we got done by a sucker punch - a quick break away that led to Colchester's winner. I have earlier said that Colchester were wasteful and should have scored a couple more - true - but their end product was either poor or thwarted by Nelson. Most of the opportunities to really threaten our goal stemmed from Colchester's left sided attack - where, unfortunately Butcher was not good enough. This fact was quite plain to see. I was surprised that Martin Allen didn't use Lee to fill in for Fish as soon as it was obvious that Butcher was struggling with his situation - and who was well out of position as our attack, prior to Colchester's break away, broke down. I wasn't impressed with Butcher's performance. I'm sure there were nerves and that he will get better. ( I was critical of Fish in his first season with us ). I was less impressed with Martin Allen for not changing his personnel to combat a situation - a situation that caused Gills to have to be wary of the threat down our right side - instead of concentrating on getting the goal to win the game - which I believe we could have done if the injury to Fish didn't have such serious consequences. With lessons ( hopefully learned ) & with the signing of what looks to be a decent replacement for Fish, I am confident that Gills should be able to progress and more than be comfortable in our first season back in L1. ( the signs were there in the second half )
If you talk to fans of teams MA has managed,their only criticism is that he only has a plan a, hope this changes.
Passit - I'm not sure about the plan A aspect on Saturday but I was really nervous when MA brought back Cody and Bayo, I love both players to bits BUT it just made me feel as though MadDog had lost his own brand on the team. Think about it from the season before, all the fans favourites exiting the door and yet this season no new inventiveness. Yes, he has tried it with out Bayo and Cody together, maybe that is Martin Allen's twist to the whole affair but it did not work. I liked the way Keds appeared to play a bit deeper and I saw touches from Danny that showed he was more than a penalty king. But to leave Cody up front on his own is just criminal, especially when the opposition have a 6ft 5in keeper. If you are going to do that with Cody, then we don't need him. Bayo's arrival unsettled the Colchester goalkeeper and defence, he draws players away from crucial areas, a couple of decent flicks also from outside the box but no Cody on the field of play to read or pick up on them. Weston, centre, left, centre, left...come on manager make up your mind, what exactly is this lads role. Is he just someone you use for pace and agility against tired legs. The problem is the substitutions saw us lose to a late goal. Not their fault but it turned a positive point into a negative nothing. I'm seeing some of this complacency of old starting to creep back in the side, Lee blaming Butcher for a an attacking threat and Whelps...well Whelps...you will lose most L1 games in the last 10...if you can't stay on your feet upright and focused then we are going to concede. Counter attack 0-1. Look back up the field and who was to blame with just seconds remaining on the clock. I think we were every match for Colchester but better teams would have punished us and I hope seriously we are a stronger unit at Wolves, as we were last season when we were a L2 side. When Martin Allen was dismantling our youth last season, media claims stated he was building a side to smash league one. The only smashing I can see at the moment is Wolves putting five past us...but then I'm normally wrong. alwaysright I'm coming with you for the fun day out, hopefully exchange a bit of angry camel banter and ale...but as for winning, well much the same as asking if the sun will be out on Saturday.
