This Saturday will be our twelfth League Two game of the season when we welcome Port Vale to Priestfield on Saturday 8th October 2011. The Gills are currently ninth in the league having won five, drawn two and lost four. How does that compare to the eight teams above us? Six teams have lost three games each and just two teams have only suffered two loses, so in comparison it seems a pretty tight league, when you consider the Gills have only drawn two games, when four of the teams above have drawn more, so it could be considered a reasonable start to the 2011/12 season. However, the concerns might be that during pre season and during the course of the season the Gills have increased their squad, to somewhere in the region of thirty players. The pre season signings were: Goalkeeper: Ross Flitney (& Paulo Gazzaniga) Right Back: Matt Fish Centre Back: Andy Frampton Midfield: Charlie Lee, Chris Whelpdale and Lewis Montrose Strikers: Danny Kedwell (& injured Adam Birchall) We have since further signed or got on loan: Striker: Frank Nouble (West Ham – one month loan) Striker: Jo Kuffour (Bristol Rovers – loan until 30th December 2011) Left Back: Joe Carter (signed until the end of the season) Now who have I forgotten? So what I do not understand is why we are not storming this league and being so inconsistent? Now I don’t care about the paint pot and getting knocked out of it in my opinion done us a favour but Hessy did not exactly field a weak side, in fact from reports it seemed as though they should have won it in the first 45 minutes. Apparently it was the same old story, playing for 45 minutes of the game and the players as usual appear to be somewhere else for the next 45 minutes! I will be going to the game this Saturday I am fully behind the manager and the players, despite the frustrations of making life difficult for ourselves again in another league two campaign. So I ask one thing, when we take to the turf this Saturday at Priestfield, regardless of whether we have another poor league two ref, regardless of our current injury situation, Chairman Scally has bought in a good team, so for once let the fans have a FULL 90 minutes display? The last time I asked this question was just before the Hereford United game, now I’m not asking for six goals but if you feel the need...
I think there is cause for concern. In a age when fans are quick to get on managers back I hope Hess appreciates the positive backing he is getting, at least on this site anyway. As of yet i have yet to be convinced we've moved forward from last year. Still letting me heart rule my head and hoping that the team will click some time soon and we'll march on from there.
The pre-season optimism and the wave of new signings has seemingly done nothing but set us up to fail. I, like many, was full of it on the day that we announced 7 new signings to the club (and later Birchall) but why wouldn't I be? On paper, players like Whelpdale, Lee and Frampton were real coups, and exactly the kind of players we should be attracting to the club, a mixture of young and slightly older players who play with passion and desire, and have the hunger to succeed. But the game isn't being played on paper. In fact, it's currently being played on a very rocky, inconsistent surface that we are just unable to conquer. I think this is down to a couple of things.... Tactics:- Now obviously the Birchall injury was extremely unfortunate, and couldn't be helped. I, unlike a lot of the fans, could see Andy Hessenthaler's point of view when he refused to rush into signing a replacement striker until the loan market opened. I think the acquisitons of Nouble and Kuffour will be very shrewd ones and I look forward to seeing them unfold. Lack of width is another key issue. We have players that CAN play on the wings, however I'm not sure that any of them are out and out wingers. Even Luke Rooney, who undoubtedly has potential, has the tendency to roam all over the pitch, and with Whelpdale doing the same on the other wing, we are sometimes terribly unbalanced. Our away form, Hereford aside, really does not fill me with any degree of confidence. We are going away to teams, playing a 4-5-1 formation, not having the cutting edge to finish teams off, and paying the price at the other end, often against players who are quicker across the ground and a lot more direct. Experience in the form of Frampton and Lawrence counts for very little if up against these kind of players. Selection:- Stimson had the same problem, and now Andy has the same. What is our most favoured line-up? I know some players are still adjusting to the team but by now we should have an idea of our most effective line-up, formation etc, and I'm just not convinced. Now injuries play their part, we all know that...but there are still some gaps to be filled. Maybe you could all come up with your most effective XI? Mine as below (when everybody is fit and ready):- Flitney Fuller Lawrence Frampton Martin Whelpdale J Payne Lee Spiller Kedwell Kuffour SUBS:- Gazzaniga King Weston Rooney Nouble
Chelsea, ManU, Arsenal, ManC. Have you ever seen any of the above play 90 minutes of consistant football? I doubt it, a winning team is the one who converts their dominant periods into goals. Every team will have periods of the game when they are under the cosh, other times when they are on top, I have yet to see a team dominate for a whole game. As for our best team, anyone who saw Nouble on the wing Tuesday would know that he was awsome, just a shame they had a magician in goal.
