Hi all, I'm new to the site. I've written a short article with a few thoughts on our start to the season. Enjoy! "We restricted them to very few chances”, said Martin Allen at the end of Gillingham’s defeat to Coventry on Sunday. This was an absurd statement from Allen immediately following a match in which Coventry’s forwards bombarded the Gills’ goal with 25 shots across the 90 minutes. Stuart Nelson made several exceptional saves leading to tongue-in-cheek chants of ‘England’s Number 1’ becoming increasingly legitimised after every spell of intense Sky Blue pressure. Adam Barrett was also outstanding, making two goal-line clearances and many more heroic tackles when an overdue breakthrough looked inevitable. “If they keep playing like that then they are going to be fine,” Allen said. A more subjective statement than the first perhaps, but still indefensible. If we keep playing like that we will finish some distance from safety. Long balls were relentlessly launched by the back four the back towards Cody Mcdonald, a tenacious and lively forward who depends on through balls from a selfless strike partner or a cultured midfield player. He simply cannot compete for lofted long balls against League 1 centre halves. After 15 minutes he resorted to running behind his marker as he jumped in the desperate, misplaced hope he will somehow mistime his free header, leaving Cody with an unlikely one on one chance against Coventry’s otherwise redundant goalkeeper. It really was quite a sad sight and reminisced of other periods in Gills’ recent history where long ball tactics coincided with poor runs of form. Ronnie Jepson’s side for example. Or Andy Hessenthaler’s team towards the end of the 2011/12 season. That pitiful performance under Mark Stimson at Wycombe in 2010. You’ll remember that those three managers left the club soon afterwards, at best in a mediocre whimper and at worst under a vitriolic barrage from a packed away end in Buckinghamshire. But the blame shouldn’t be laid at the feet of the defenders playing those long balls, or even the manager. By the time a last-ditch block was made (probably by Adam Barrett) the Gillingham midfield were on the 18 yard line, making a passing move into the middle third a non-option. The choice was either a suicidal pass to an under pressure Danny Hollands within shooting distance of our own goal or a hoof upfield towards a lonely Cody Mcdonald and a tired looking and anonymous Danny Kedwell. The fault lies with Sunday’s midfield. A common misunderstanding of the long ball game among many fans is that the target man is expected to win the resulting high ball, heading to a forward running teammate to try to craft a shooting chance. This outcome would of course be welcome, but is too difficult to pull off consistently. The target man (namely Kedwell in Gillingham’s case) doesn’t need to win the ball. Instead, he just needs to apply pressure to the defender and when the second ball lands in the middle third the midfield can compete for possession and build an attack. But on Sunday the midfield didn’t move up quickly enough to pick up the second balls. The midfield weren’t in the middle of the field. When the ball was headed back towards them, they were still stood on Barrett and Legge’s toes. And so Coventry would take back possessions unchallenged and their technically superior players would pass the ball until they create yet another chance. Thankfully the resulting shot normally found its way to Stuart Nelson’s outstretched glove. Had he not been on form the scoreline could have been embarrassing. A defensive approach was understandable against one of the better League 1 teams. Long balls are often effective if not pretty. But the reason it didn’t work for Gillingham is that Danny Hollands and Charlie Allen will not win many second balls. And even when they do, they don’t look capable of consistently turning that possession into chances. Amine Linganzi has looked at times (particularly in his half-hour appearance at Crawley) like a former top-flight player but looked distracted, or worse, uninterested on Sunday. Steven Gregory is not the answer. He's hesitant on the ball and timid without it. In September and October of last season we were demolishing teams at Priestfield and nicking disciplined wins away from home. What has changed? We have the same goalkeeper as we did on those exciting Autumn Saturdays of 2012. The defence has been bolstered since then by the towering Leon Legge. Up front we have reunited the Cody and Bayo partnership that yielded 36 goals in 2010/11, complementing last season’s top scorer, Danny Kedwell. But the midfield is weaker. The midfield is the difference. In the early stages of last year’s title-winning season (remember that?!) Allen could have put out a midfield of Jack Payne, Charlie Lee, Chris Whelpdale and Danny Jackman, with a dependable David Wright sat reassuringly behind them. That looks to me like a midfield capable of competing in League 1. They tore apart Burton Albion and Aldershot at home with ball retention and quick triangle passing. They went away to every other team eventually promoted from League 2 and outmuscled them to take away the points. Two of that midfield 5 were ousted by Allen and one returned to his parent club. None of the replacements are improvements and that is where urgent changes are needed. Still, at least we’ve kept Lee and Whelpdale, eh?
Very good article and having attended all the league games home and away at this early stage I have to agree with much of what has been written. I will need to go over it again to digest it properly but like your opening thoughts, Martin Allen's statement does seem to be 'absurdist' - to me it appears we are travelling to these teams and treating them with far to much respect. I hasten to add although I might point out the error of our ways, I can honestly say I have not booed or jeered our team and in general I have not seen such actions from other fans either. Another reason Scally's recent statement is slightly lost on me. Ok it might be a rallying call fair enough. Just look at the names we had in midfield in your latter paragraph and the MadDog changes are there for all too see. Add to that the shaking my head in disbelief at why we are paying wages for two strikers that MA will not pair together. We may as well have kept Burton. I will continue to support and applaud my team while at games and alwaysright will confirm I applauded them off on Saturday...even if he thinks i'm mad. However, I will not kid myself or anyone else when I write about my team, that this is a cock up from the man on the touchline of monumental proportions. ~Article promoted.
StroodGill - welcome. How dare you come out with 'utter garbabe', especially after our team put in a 'fantastic' performance. I expect us to replicate the same '100% effort' in the remaining fixtures - We'll be fine. You do realise that I don't mean any of that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ My thoughts have been well documented ( I hope Mr. Scally & Mr. Allen has had the time to read my brand of 'fantastic garbage' )
Some good points by Stroodgill but a few areas of disagreement from me. The idea that a short ball game cures all ills is nonsense. At league 1 level success comes from playing to your strengths. i am not entirely sure what the strengths are now, but a long ball game is a better fit for the current squad than when Jackman and Payne were around and the opportunity to make major changes in personnel has passed by. People sneer at Ronnie Jepson but he did an amazing job with the resources at his disposal and finished mid table twice in league 1. The poor guy had no goalie, no money, Gary Mulligan as striker in chief and got slated for failing to bounce back into the Championship. What would we give for mid table mediocrity now? MA can still turn this round but only if he has the appetite to do so. It looks like Scally is distancing himself and it seems like Scally made the decision to recruit Macdonald and Akinfenwa rather than MA. This is a bad sign. But if they can patch things up, recruit a midfielder who can pass both long and short, and get 4 or 5 wins by the end of November, it is all salvageable. If not, it is all over before mid season and MA will be off.
