brb, I don't do reports but a few observations. A ball over the top toward the Ipswich goal and Kedwell started to run (walk) after the ball but was well beaten by the keeper so he gave up and trudged back toward the half way line, with no Gills players in their half the keeper was able to bring the ball well up field and do a long punt forward, Egan and Borrowdale I think managed to wrestle each other to the ground allowing the Ipswich winger an easy run to the by line and even easier unchallenged cross, "easy tap in" 1 minute 20 seconds on the clock. Second goal was well worked by the winger beating Borrowdale and getting a good cross into the near post, glancing header beat Morris in goal. The Ipswich keeper never made a save of any note. Overall I think the team are better than last season but are still weak when not in possession, we still allow the opposition too much room to play and pick their passes. I think we should be clear of relegation worries but not good enough for promotion, it's good to see we have a little pace in the squad at last and this should help us against league 1 opponents. Answering another thread, German played well and showed good control and passing.
grumpygit thank you for the insight. Just your first sentence fills me with dread. It was something that i commented on at away games in particular last season. People will say crikey let the season at least start. Sorry but it is but a mere evaluation of last season and that sentence. I still have that dreaded awful tune playing in my head...'leave one up Taylor, leave one up'. In regards to your latter comment, that appears more validation for German, maybe i'm reading it wrong?
I don't think the performance today was too bad however it could have been better. I think the passing is better from the team than last season but this does not surprise me as this is something I feel Taylor wanted to improve which is why he has bought in these type of players however when we didn’t have the ball we did let Ipswich onto us far too much. I feel that this is a problem that we need to sort out however I think the team will get better as they play more together. I like the look of Doug Loft, he does look the real deal, he can tackle, he is strong, and he passes the ball well and looks a real leader which I expect he will be in the coming season. It was between him and Dack for man of the match who I was also happy with as I liked the way that he got stuck in which we need to see from more of the players. I think I would edge towards Loft for man of the match as I feel he showed how good he was from reverting from midfield to left back however I hope he is not stuck there much this season as I feel we would benefit having a player of his class in midfield and not at left back. This is what I thought of the individual players; Nelson 6- I don’t think he had that much to do, he conceded one but other than that he was a bit of a passenger in the rest of the half. Fish 5- I don’t think he did that well, he wasn’t bad but he did not do that much and he was beaten a bit by the number 11 for Ipswich. I don’t think it is because of the injury as I think he looks fit as he was beaten just as much as Hare was. Legge 6- Not a bad performance at all by Legge, worked well with Egan and I hope they can put together a good partnership. Egan 7- A class act, I am very excited about the prospect of him playing over Barrett as he is strong, good in the air and looks like he can tackle well. Borrowdale 5- Not sure if this is harsh but I think he could have done better. Not sure if this was all down to fitness as he does not seem the type to get forward although I don’t think the fullbacks need to get forward as much due to the wide players so this may be down to tactics but one problem with Borrowdale was he was beaten far too easily a few times. Needs to improve. Dack 8- A very good performance got stuck in and attacked well. Liked the look of what he did. Close to man of the match. Loft 8- A very good performance which showed how good he actually is. He is such a good versatile player who plays just as well at left back as in midfield. I am so happy that we have signed him as it was a real coup to get him. It is good to have another player who will get stuck in and will work hard and give 100% like Charlie Lee but hopefully more consistent. Hessenthaler 7- Done alright, passed well and linked up with the rest of midfield well. McGlashan 6- Got forward well but also got back a bit to defend which will help us hopefully concede less. Kedwell 7- I think Kedwell done well, he got better as the half went on, I think he linked well with German. You can see he is starting to follow Taylor’s plans more as he is not chasing a lost cause as much as he used to. German 7- Surprised by how good he actually played. His control was like I remembered when he was on loan and he seemed like he really wanted to get stuck in so it was a shame he was taken off as I feel he was getting better and better. Subs Glenn Morris 6- Looks a decent shot stopper, good to have someone decent as a backup. Hare 5- Similar to Matt Fish’s performance, was beaten a lot by the Ipswich number 11. Aaron Morris 5- Did not see him do much was hard to judge him as he did not really stand out, maybe due to playing in a holding position. I don’t think the ball come through the middle of the field that much. Davies- Hard to judge him as he did not do much in the time that he was on. Barrett- Same as Davies. Linganzi 5- He had an alright half, few good touches few bad touches but an alright performance however I am not sure he will start the first game as there are a few ahead of him in the team which is a shame as a lot of people were excited about the prospect of him when he joined us. Dickenson 6- Looks very good and very pacey however my rating would be higher if he had completed more of his runs as he lost the ball a lot. Not all of this was his fault as he did not have much support however I feel he was waiting around a bit too much and could have got his head down more however he looked good and very threatening. Could be a real gem. Norris 6- Looks a real prospect, lost the ball through some bad touches but for a tall man he does look good running at players. He didn’t really get to link with Cody which is a shame but he did look good just needs to work on his first touch a bit. McDonald 4- Very disappointing, he did not have the ball that much at all but did not do anything in the half. I think it was tough for him and it was just one of them games for him but he does look like he is carrying some extra timber so it could be time to work on the fitness again over the next couple of weeks to get in better shape for the first game of the season. This may be just my opinion and I may be a bit harsh but I wasn’t happy at all by his performance and I am one of his biggest fans. I am sure he will play better than today when the season starts so I am not that worried to be honest. Anyway although we lost I am happy as we have seen a number of the new players now, only one we haven’t seen is Josh Pritchard who I am excited to see. Also Peter Taylor said that he could bring someone in on Monday, that will be exciting as that will hopefully be cover for the defence and hopefully someone who plays left back as I feel that is where we need the cover as once we have covered that area of the team we are sorted. Can’t wait for the season to start now.
brb, your not reading it wrong, I personally think German was one of the few players who didn't look out of place against championship opposition, he controlled the ball well, made good passes that reached their target, generally looked very lively.
At least I am not the only one that thought that about German. I think this the best that he has played for us since he joined permanently. He was more like when he was on loan with us.
Thanks grumpygit and Hoadie. It's strange really, although i've been to no pre season friendlies, I'm already getting a picture in my head of the players, from comments on here and twitter. German appears to be the surprise performance, although as i've said in the past some players were not getting a fair crack. Maybe due to set up and style. Hope the fans give him a chance, in the same way they give non preseason goal scorer Cody. Loft is getting plenty of recognition. Good to see Legge still putting in a good contribution, although overall, defence still letting us down. Ryan Inniss anyone...come on let's get this one sorted. Dack and Hessy as good has they were last season and not letting my judgement down. Been reading some bad stuff about Borrowdale today...but as i say...I wasn't there. and oh....i don't want to see Keds on the half way line
From my point of view, I liked what we did today considering it was a friendly. Thought that once we settled down we were good in midfield and worked hard up top but just couldn't break their strong defence down. What I found most pleasing however was Egan and Legge, who i thought were good together once they got into the game and looked pretty solid, I mean this was a typical friendly with minimal chances for both sides. I'll also add to the praise of German, he held the ball up well and dropped deeper to collect it, shame Keds was doing the same thing though, we needed someone in behind, however I will happily admit I'm wrong if German has a blinder of a season, can't see it though. I'm pretty confident that the luck and breaks we didn't get today will come against league 1 teams, I think we'll be mid table come the end of the season without to much relegation trouble, plus we can damage teams at any time with the pace and youth in the squad (which overall is much stronger this year) so we will certainly get some excitement.
I'm happy to read some more upbeat reports of our performance and various players. Reading some of the forums you'd think we'd just lost 5-0 to Barnet! Interesting about Antoio German. We just might have a decent strikeforce now assuming Cody gets up and running, Keds keeps working hard, and with Norris & German as decent back-up. Those two guys also look like they will get opportunities, moreso than last season anyway. It would be nice if they can step up to the mark.
A mixed bag of results last night, what a presume that would be the closest setup to our starting XI losing 1-0 to Dover and the "Reserves" comphensively rolling over Faversham 6-1. What struck me most in the write ups (link below) is the the team at Faversham seemed to be up for it more, with German and Norris being praised for being lively, whilst the team at Dover were lackluster with Keds and Cody being singled out for criticism. Now I am not sure if the write ups were carried out or editted by the same writer and the comparison between the two strike forces were specfically identified but it does givePT plenty of food for thought. http://gillsconnect.com/s/Gills_New..._A_DEFEAT_FOR_GILLS_AT_FAVERSHAM_&_DOVER.html
It's always tough to tell with pre-season. As much as I would love to see German revitalised and score 10-15 league goals I can't help but think it's another similar situation to Luke Rooney. Rooney scored a ridiculous amount of goals for us in pre-season against far weaker opposition but when it came to the league season was abysmal, making it easier to draw paralells to a headless chicken rather than his namesake, Wayne. Despite what was a uninspiring performance against Dover, I think we'll be ok. I tend to read nothing into pre-season apart from trying to gauge what system we're pushing towards which for once, is seemingly an emphasis on keeping the ball. Hallelujah.
I went last night expecting to see an improvement in passing and general all round performance. I was sadly disappointed. Individually the new players especially were an improvement on last season. I was impressed by Hause ,who looks about 6' plus and extremely strong. He knows how to put himself about and is quite skilful,looking to pass rather than hoof.I can see him and Egan being a very efficient pairing at the back. I didn't think the Danny Jackman lookalike (Marrs) looked anything special, but he should give Fish competition at right wing back . I don't know where Legge will fit in,unless Taylor goes for 3 centrebacks like Holland, and Man Utd are looking to do. Having said that we could have easily lost by 2 or 3 goals.As I said the players looked quite good individually except for Kedwell and Cody who were very poor,with everything breaking down when they got the ball. Not quite so much Cody,although he did miss a glorious chance when he tried to lob the keeper and it was so tame the keeper didn't even need to jump for it. Dickenson and McGlashen worked tirelessly, with the latter chasing everything and making good crosses. I've been saying all season that we need another striker,so unless Norris or German step up to the plate we are going to find it difficult to score many goals. It looks as if Taylor may have solved the defensive issues but dragged his heels on the attacking options. A fan had a go at Taylor at half time because we were so poor, and Taylor replied with " we can't play like Real Madrid every week". The worrying thing is, the KM said that this was going to be the probable starting 11 for the season. I know its only a friendly but if we continue like this, we will be in a relegation battle. I meant to say earlier that although individually we were mainly OK, the passing and general performance was poor. Work in progress me thinks.
Great summary vinney. Thanks. I'm tending not to read too much into pre-season either. It's funny how there are lots of comments around about us being poor in that Dover game and that we're going to do badly this season because of it. What about the 4-0 win and 6-1 wins we've had? Doesn't mean we're going to walk the league either does it. I wish fans would just realize pre-season is all about the things you mentioned here vinney. Get some fitness and match awareness up, work on tactics, formations, gel the team together and most importantly don't get crocked. It sounds as if our pre-season has gone very much like that (so far). We've had mainly wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat. Apparently we've looked decent in patches of most of the games, tried to play on the deck and keeping the ball. Our new players have had decent run outs and are probably getting used to each other and the existing players. All I want now is for another decent run out in our last pre-season game. Hopefully no injuries and the result really will not matter other than for a bit of confidence and to get the fickle fans off the teams back for a few days. The real work will begin next week and hopefully after 10 games or so we will see an improvement in our general play, skills and hopefully some decent results.
