Ma seems to think all in the garden is rosy and things just aren't going for us at the moment, I suggest if he needs help deciding what's wrong then he should just look at the stats. Colchester:- possession 54% Gills 46%...... Colchester shots 15 with 5 on target Gills 14 with 6 on target.....Colchester Fouls 11 Gills fouls 15. Wolves:- possession 56% Gills 44%.....Wolves shots 24 with 9 on target Gills 13 with 3 on target.....Wolves fouls 5 Gills fouls 13. Brentford:- possession 57% Gills 43%....Brentford shots 15 with 5 on target Gills 3 with 2 on target... Brentford fouls 6 Gills fouls 18. Swindon:- possession 50% Gills 50%....Swindon shots 17 with 7 on target Gills 13 with 6 on target....Swindon fouls 11 Gills fouls 16. Bristol C:- possession 60% Gills 40%.....Bristol shots 20 with 7 on target Gills 15 with 3 on target....Bristol fouls 6 Gills fouls 12. Crawley:- possession 57% Gills 43%....Crawley shots 20 with 10 on target Gills 9 with 3 on target....Crawley fouls 6 Gills fouls 16. Opposition possession for 6 games 55.66% Gills possession for 6 games 44.33%..........we need to stop giving the ball away. Opposition shots for 6 games 109 on target 43 Gills shots for 6 games 67 on target 23.......You don't score without getting shots on target. Opposition fouls for 6 games 45 Gills fouls for 6 games 90.........Each foul loses possession, you can't shoot without the ball, you can't score without shots. MA is right when he thinks our set pieces are losing us games but wrong in thinking it's a defensive problem, it's losing possession, losing territory, which in turn loses the game.
Soon as that set piece went in for Crawley, I just turned to alwaysright and said, you knew it was going to go in and they just did something we can never manage to do. Score from a set piece. As for their third goal if we had given their player any more space we might as well have all disappeared back down to the changing rooms, because you could have fitted a bloody elephant between their player and who ever was meant to be closing him down. The BIGGEST worry by far and I mean this, the absolute biggest concern, was even Gillingham of old always battled in the dying minutes. We had 6 minutes of added time, 10 men against 10 and no excuse in this world will appease me for those last 6 minutes where we showed no passion what so ever. It was worse than the previous 90 minutes of football. There was no fight, no initiative, no nothing. I've done all six league games so far this season and Wolves was the worst but those Crawley added 6 minutes must have been the worst performance since I can't remember when. I will still continue to go and I will be at Northampton for Coventry on Sunday, but this time MadDog shut the talk and make sure the lads battle until the very end. I don't care if we lose, I just want to see some full blooded passion, like we did not go down without a fight...then at least if we lose, I can go home happy and hold up my head high and say the lads put up a fight.
brb I totally agree - and don't flatter yourself - not just because you are a friend - because even if my neighbour had uttered your words I would be in total agreement! No - it is because you are right. I have seen (far too) many defeats by the Gills than I would have liked - BUT - where the team battled to the end, and came up short, I have applauded their effort. As you state, there was NO passion after we went down 2-3. That was on 78 minutes, and if it was possible to have less passion or desire to retrieve a point, the team showed it in the added on 6 minutes. I described it in another thread that the Crawley fans humiliated us by chanting 'Ole' as their players passed the ball between themselves. Our players might have well joined Charlie Lee for an early bath. I fear that our camel train may stop at Northampton next week. After the abysmal performance at Wolves, I told you that I had better things to do on a Saturday than to get up at stupid o'clock, make a 100 mile round trip ( just to catch the coach ), and fork out an average of £ 70 for a gutless display of excrement - as you witnessed, I was fuming and spent much of our journey home just festering.
