Good win, made it very difficult ourselves but 3 points none the less. Flitney-7. Shakey first half. Had a decent second half. Lawrence-8. Had a very good game, thats the Lawrence we like to see. Richards-7. Unluck for the injury. Like Lawrence thought he was having a bery good game till then. Frampton-6. Got skilled too easily for their first. Martin-6. Did ok. Was always going to have a challenge with the pacey wingers. Lee-6. Put in some good challenges but could've supported the defence more. Jackman-7. Thought he was excellent first half, stopped Bayo getting the ball. Faded second half. Whelpdale-6. Not a left sided player. Had a fairly quiet game. Nouble-8. Had a very good game out wide. Kept getting behind the full back. Kedwell-8. Not as effective as Nouble and Kuffour for goal threat, but I thought he was excellent. Did his defensive duties well. Was very unselfish when playing Rooney through 1 on 1. Was good to see him score the pen aswell. Kuffour-9. Brilliant finisher. We need to keep him. Fish-4. Not convincing at all. Lawrence looked better at right back then he did. Weston-Not enough time to have an impact. Rooney-6. Made a nuciance of himself the short time he was on. Should've scored the 1 on 1 though. Feel free to disagree.
I wouldn't disagree with much of the analysis but you really are flattering Kedwell and Kuffour. Kuffour had a fabulous first half after which he "disappeared" a point he acknowledged in his post match interview. He had certainly done a good job but was fortunate to take man of the match from Jackman who held the dodgy midfield together. For me playing the three heavyweights together at the back always spells trouble even when they seem to be playing well individually. You could not fault Lawrence's spell at right back but I think everyone knew that a speedy opponent would have skinned him. However he looked a lot safer at full back than when Frampton got murdered at AFCW. I am still not sure whether Flitny had a great game or not. He certainly made some good saves but the three long shots that flew off his chest were either errors or extraordinarily powerful shots. I think it was the latter but I might be wrong. Fish is a quandry. To me he is the best raw material in defence for years with pace, balance, ability to win in the air but young and very inexperienced. He is much like Nosworthy after his first few games. On the other hand his distribution can go anywhere, just like Nosworthy. He came on on Saturday and looked like a fightened rabbit facing lots of stupid crowd comment which did nothing to help. I thought about when Jack Payne started and Dimson (who did little else right in my opinion) nurtured him well by taking him off when his game started to get stretched or when he made a few mistakes. Poor Fish has just been dumped in at the deep end and if he does not get looked after by Hessy his potential will be wasted. Overall there were some decent performances but there is no escaping the fact that Gills only just beat a bottom half team. Some defensive midfield improvement is needed and I suspect Montrose will find his name on the teamsheet. Bournemouth might be an opportunity for experiments.
im sorry, we conceded 3 goals, and about 14 shots on target, and apart from fish, no defensive player scores lower than 6??
Flitney-7. Was OK but put himself under pressure at times. Lawrence-9. Richards-6 Frampton-5 Martin-6. Lee-6. Has been better Jackman-8 Was in the running for MOM Whelpdale-6. Like Lee has been better Nouble-8. Kedwell-7. Kuffour-8. Fish-4. Agree not convincing. We need another right back. Weston-Agree not enough time to have an impact. Rooney-7. Should have scored, but at least got in the position to do so. Entertaining game, our defence struggles with any pace coming at them, we will continue to concede goals until this issue is resolved. UTG!!!
