Crawley Town Vs Gillingham Match Day Thread 7th September 2013 3PM- Broadfield Stadium This is the Match Day Thread for Gillingham’s Sky Bet League One 2013-2014 game against Crawley Town. This is the place to post all of your Team Predictions as well as Chat before and during the match. This thread can also be used to post Updates on the match. You can also post your Views on the match after the game and discuss the performance with others. I may write my own report if I have been to the game and I will give my overall opinion on the result and what I thought of the individual performances of each player. Team News Gillingham should have Amine Linganzi back from injury who has missed the last few weeks, other than that the only other injured player is Matt Fish who will be out for a while. Michael Harriman is away on international duty so this will mean that either Charlie Lee reverts to Right Back or one of the youth players will play there. Emile Sinclair could make his debut for Crawley Town after making is £100k move from Peterborough. Past meetings Gillingham have only played Crawley Town 4 times and only 2 times in the league, the only game in the league that we have played at the Broadfield Stadium we won 1-2 which was on Boxing day 2011 when we won the world cup with Jo Kuffour getting both the goals in that massive game. Our record against Crawley Town stands at 2 wins and 2 defeats so it is an even record. 18 Oct 2005 Gillingham v Crawley Town W 2-0 LDV Vans Trophy 26 Dec 2011 Crawley Town v Gillingham W 1-2 League Two 20 Mar 2012 Gillingham v Crawley Town L 0-1 League Two 04 Sep 2012 Crawley Town v Gillingham L 3-2 Johnstones Paint Trophy It will be a hard game as Crawley Town have a good side but it is one that we can win IMO as they are not too good for us to beat. The Current league table As of 06.09.13 Gillingham sit 21st in the league table after 5 games with 3 points, however Crawley Town are doing a lot better and find themselves 11th in the table after 5 games with 7 points. My View I really want us to win this one, I know Martin Allen has said we are underdogs again but we can't be underdogs all season because at this rate we are not going to win a game. I think we are good enough to stay up but if we are going to stay up then we need to win a game soon and get a good run together. If you look at the positive side we are actually on a 3 game unbeaten run in the league as we have drew the last 3 games. I know that this will be such a hard game but this is the type of place that we could go and get a win so come on you gills, go and get 3 points. The Score and Scorers My head says yet another draw, however the heart says we can win, the head is usually right but I will go with the heart yet again and this is what the heart says. Crawley Town 1-2 Gillingham (Drury- Kedwell, Whelpdale)
I think it is time that Martin Allen changes the team that we play in the league and gives this one a go, this is what I want to see. Nelson Lee Legge Barrett Martin Gregory Whelpdale Hollands Weston Kedwell McDonald With no Harriman we need to play Lee at right back IMO. I think that Bayo should be on the bench and then we can bring him on in the second half, I know he has been getting the goals but I think once we give Cody a run he will get the goals. We need Kedwell in the team but with Bayo it does not work as there is not enough pace.
MA has already said that Bayo will be starting and I think he still likes Bayo and Kedwell together. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he decided to play Butcher at Right Back again too. The most likely thing that will happen though is that he will put Whelpdale back to Right Back so he can keep up with the attacking full backs and not Charlie Lee. Here's my predicted team. Quite frankly I would like to see Callum Davies being given a run out at the back to keep either Barrett or Legge on their toes. Nelson Whelpdale Legge Barrett Martin Gregory Lee Hollands Weston Kedwell Akinfenwa
I think Gillingham will line up as follows....................... -------------------------Nelson---------------------------------- Lee-------------Legge---------------Barrett---------------Martin -------------------------Gregory---------------------------------- Whelpdale---------------Hollands--------------------------Weston ----------------Kedwell-------------Akinfenwa--------------------- Subs: Howard (GK), Davies, McKain, Allen, Dack, German, McDonald I think Charlie Lee is more defensive minded then Chris Whelpdale and we will see Charlie Lee playing at right back with Chris Whelpdale playing in-front of him on the right wing, Danny Hollands should start in a more advanced midfield position tomorrow and I think he will play in-behind Danny Kedwell and Adebayo Akinfenwa, both strikers really did bully The Swindon Town defenders in our previous away match and I think we will want to see the ball stick to the two front men (particularly away from home) and Cody McDonald will come on at some point after the hour mark to play against a tired defence - who knows Cody might nip in and score again as a substitute. I will be going tomorrow and even though we have not won a game yet I still think their will be 1000 Gillingham Supporters at the game tomorrow, who knows, maybe the away support could give the players the lift to get us our first win of the season - COME ON YOU GILLS!!!!!!!!!!
We really could do with Amine Linganzi starting. He's been a big miss for us and gives us that bit extra in the middle of the park. As for the right back position, it'll probably be Charlie Lee, even though we need him in the midfield. Team I'd play: Nelson, Lee, Barrett, Legge, Martin, Linganzi, Hollands, Whelpdale, Weston, McDonald, German. (433 formation). Weston and German on the flanks and Cody down the middle, it has to be given a go in my opinion. Subs: Howard, Davies, Kedwell, Akinfenwa, Allen, Dack, Gregory.
According to Crawley Observer, teams line-up photo, showing on theGillsFC on Twitter, Cody McD not in the squad today ?!
After a seemingly pretty boring first half, the opening ten minutes of the second half has exploded into life. It's 1-1 and both teams have had a player sent off! Entertaining stuff!
Would not have liked to be there though, winning and then have a 1 man advantage to then end with 10 men, losing the game and also see Leon Legge go off injured, when will we ever win again?
As a summary, on the balance we deserved to lose and simply didn't have enough quality across the park. Having said that, Charlie's sending off was farcical and was only done to balance things out, I don't think it was even a free kick, nor was the one that lead to their winner. Allen has some serious questions to answer, dragging Bayo after 30 minutes was outrageous, he was absolutely furious and rightly so, how can our manager embarrass a player like that when he's done nothing wrong?! We didn't look particularly dangerous going forward, and certainly looked shaky at the back again as we have done for every away game this year. Those of you that just go to home games probably think that our defence are up to the required standard this season, however I can assure you that on the road they are incredibly shaky. Dack and Whelps tried hard, linganzi displayed his obvious quality when he came on and looked very much fit, I would start him with one leg over Gregory. Kedwell huffs and puffs but is the epitome of our team at the moment, effort without quality. Cody wasn't even on the bench, Malcolm the kit man told us he had a stomach problem but I saw him get off the coach and he looked absolutely fine to me so I fear something more sinister is going on. We need to sort this rut out and play a system that suits our players, base the team around linganzi and Cody, why get them in and not play to their strengths? Supplement them with lee, whelps, Weston, Hollands and Bayo and we have a strong attacking threat, as long as we keep it on the deck and stop shipping goals otherwise we will back at Accrington again next year and I for one don't think I can handle that!
Yep........feeling pretty down in the dumps. Rotherham and Bradford are 'smashing league one' and the Champions from last season are nowhere..... Depressing.......
Charlie Lee is ok in midfield going forward but in defence is a liability, why did MA pick him when a bright "young" right back was warming the bench. Barrett and Legge were brilliant in league 2 against the long ball aerial tactics of poor quality opposition, fast skilful forwards in league 1 who keep it on the ground and they are pants. Comparing Kedwell against opposition strikers shows you he has heart, passion, yet a total lack of speed, quality, skill. MA always makes the same pre-match speech, they have a lot of quality all over the park and it's going to be a tough game. (excuses before a ball is kicked) MA always makes the same post match speech, the lads gave me everything, I couldn't have asked for any more. (try getting different lads)
simply not good enough today, i really dont understand how MA seems to think we're underdogs against the likes of crawley their facilities are inferior to ours their crowd less ( seems nearly everyone on here has forgotten about the deal with lindley catering which was reportedly worth £21 million over 7 years) and yet we cant compete. there are clubs in this league this season who we shouldn't be able to compete with but todays opponents, stevenage, peterborough etc are not in that bracket
The big question is if the current squad and management team are good enough to keep us up this year, we will only really have a proper idea after about 20 games, from what I have seen so far and to be honest at the end of last season I`m not that confident. A creative attacking central midfield player is a must as is a pacey central defender. There are some fine players in the squad but we need to pick up a win very soon otherwise confidence amongst the players and supporters is going to dwindle. Hopefully results and performances will improve quickly. Cmon U Gills!
I am not confident now either and I am usually positive all the time but the bubble has finally burst and I am seeing the light. I think it is annoying that Martin Allen keeps saying we are 'the underdogs' surely he thinks we can win a game. Also he needs to be critical of the team a bit more as that may mean that they play harder if he goes out there and tells the truth, not knocking Martin Allen, just saying a few things, however I am still 100% behind him.
