The truth hurts - but Gills were poor. Flitney made one outstanding save ( thank gooness ) - but their striker missed an open goal from the rebound, and we got lucky with their disallowed goal. If Bradford had tried a bit harder we would have easily lost - thank goodness they seemed to want to waste time right from the first whistle. Why did we keep on pumping the ball in the air -all their back 4 were well over 6' The few times we put the ball on the ground, we had a bit of success - notably the wing play of Nouble ( whose passing was not good. ) All I could hear around me was fans urging the team to play the ball on the deck - cuoldn't Hess not see that the high ( very high ) balls were not working - and instruct a different tactic. As I left the ground I heard a few people voice an opinion I share - Gills were lucky to have got a point. ( don't be fooled by us hitting the post and a late goalmouth scramble when it seemed that it should have been easier to score than not ) I don't expect Gills to win every time - but I felt frustrated that we just kept on with plan A -- which from the outset was not going to work. Hess has been a fantastic servant to the Club and probably has forgotten more about football than I'll ever know - but surely he could see we needed a plan B. The good news ( we all know ) somehow we went up one place - just wish things could have been better-maybe we'll win the FA cup. UTG
Annoys me that when you go on Kent Online there is a bunch of idiots calling for Hess to go, they do that each week but when we win there is less comments, They go away, they are idiots.
I've taken my time to put a post about the game. Thought it best to sleep on it. Here comes the the good, the bad and the (down right ugly) The good. Err we kept a clean sheet (some how) and we are into a playoff place. The bad. Think I'm going to leave the bad for the ugly actually. The UGLY. Well pretty much everything. I really don't wish to be negative but there isn't much else I could be. My biggest problem is where to start. But I have to start somewhere so I'll start with the tempo. Where was it? This was the slowest game of footy I've ever seen? Not helped by Bradford taking forever to take throw ins, free kicks, corners, is Parky's grand idea to bore other teams to sleep cos that's exactly the effect? Why did we not try to force the pace rather than be content to let the time just trickle past is beyond me. Next up, this follows on closely from the previous point too many players, by which I mean ALL, spent too long out of the game. We didn't have anyone try to take control of the game. I can't say anyone had a good game some player were average and that was about as good as it got. Dead balls were dreadful today. Pointless, aimless and idealess. Wasted, wasted, wasted. I'll give my views on the players now. Flitney 5, he didn't have much to do but his handling was poor and kicking was woeful most of the time but he did make a very good save (which we were lucky the rebound was not taken advantage of) and he did come out of the box well a couple of times. Frampton 4, I expect more from the captain. No drive, no getting at other players to raise their games. Playing wise was ok but I want more than that from him. Richards 5. I'm sure he must have tattooed somewhere (or possibly have a sign in his toilet) the phrase "If in Doubt, KICK IT OUT" just a shame that he must always be doubt as it's all he ever does. Aimless hoof that 4 out of 5 times goes out of play or straight to the opposition. Martin 6 my MOM or closest thing to it purely because I feel he did his job. Stayed out wide, got forward, defended well enough. Still nothing special. Lawrence 5. few good blocks and headers but caught out of position a few times. Weston 5. Left side of midfield not his position. Ineffective for large parts of the game but wasn't alone. Did try to run at defenders the 3 or 4 times he got the ball. Lee 5. I feel like this is getting a tad repetitive, spent too long out of the game. His throw ins seem to be our only weapon. Payne 6. Tried hard, some good tackles, but some in dived in to when it wasn't needed. I feel he needed to make himself more available for the defence when they had the ball. Nouble 6. First half was really useful, had the beating of the Bradford defence and by the 40th minute they were destroyed, knackered, done for. So what happened in the second half??? Kedwell 4. Needed the ball more. JK4. 4 being his score. Good first 10 minutes then marked out of the game. Not enough service. Subs, didn't have enough time on the pitch. Hess 2. This by no means is me giving a "Hess out" call but my honest view of his effect during the game. Subs were too late, where was the energy from the side lines? What happened at half time? Glass of hot milk, a cookie and a bedtime story would be my guess. Overall a very bad game of football not helped by either team. Nil nil was the right result but we certainly couldn't have complained if we had lost. Bradford came with a game plan and once again we seemed happy to go along with it. Were the players thinking of 3rd round FA cup and what might be IF we beat Orient? Got to get there first. Please just focus on what is next to come, PLEASE! I'm more than happy for people to disagree with what I say. UTG Still there
Ah... Saturday v. Bradford. The day that the crowd turned up but the team didn't. I can only echo the words of many who have posted, and whilst I number among those who don't approve of hoofball tactics as a matter of principal, there is little (or in fact virtually no) point in kicking long balls upfield when (a) it's windy, as you've no idea really where it's going to land and (b) the opposition central defenders are 9" - 12" taller than your target striker. To be honest I came away from the game questioning, in my mind, whether in fact Hessy is in fact the right man for the job. He doesn't seem to know what his best team is, and the style of play is baffling. That said I think that they missed Jackman (assuming he would have played midfield), and actually commented on the way out that someone like Rooney (if not Rooney himself!) could well have made a difference. But both of those comments are assuming that the midfield would have been able to get the ball from the Gills defence, rather than having to try to win it back from Bradford midfield. Bradford are a last quarter of the table club, and played like one. That Gills only managed to scrape a draw says more about the way they played than the way Bradford played. I think that fundamental tactical changes are necessary for us to stand any chance of getting into the automatic promotion places.
I am not against Hess, but I do feel that he has taken far too long to change things and his subs have been ineffective. We missed Whelpdale a lot on saturday, and I can't help thinking that after the dire first half Hess should have taken the "up your game or you're off on 60 minutes" attitude, instead the second half was just as bad.
For any Gills fans that are interested, I have done a match review, however, I promised someone I would write for them this week... http://www.gillingham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=263903 No worries I am still staying at not606, I just took an opportunity that was offered to me. Sorry if the report is a bit brief in match detail but that just summed up the whole game for me.
