I have watched his latest interview on Gills Player and I thought it time to reflect on that and previous thoughts I have had in regards to our Striker. I will be honest and say that he has never been a player that has gained my immediate admiration other than for being a fan that has stood/sat in the Rainham End. What a great achievement to go from supporter to player and a difficult one to live up to in the process. Keds has always been a hard working individual despite at times having his critics. I would not say I have ever been a critic of Danny more so that I get a bit flustered when people unduly praise him for bias of being an admirer. However, he is our top scorer this season, now whether that comes from open play or penalties I am not going to go and look at the stats, other than to say that Deon Burton will vouch for the fact you can not always be so lucky with a taking a spot kick. We have not lost a league game this season where Kedwell has started. He has been out due to this groin concern and in the interview Danny Kedwell conducted himself superbly by rightly accepting the managers decision. MA tinkers with the squad a little to much at times and Danny Kedwell has earned his place this season to be starting everytime, as for those that point to his ability for argument sake in comparison to Port Vale's Pope, then I would reiterate the words of Keds by stating it is a team game not about one individual. After all when did a top scorer actually last earn a league two team a championship trophy. Danny Kedwell you conduct yourself admirably and are in the starting line up for Saturday, the only trouble is I am not the boss and have to leave that decision up to some guy who goes by the name of Mad Dog.
Looks like he played first half yesterday with the development team against Watford. Hopefully just getting him ready for Saturday. Gills – Hawkes (Nalder 86) , Evans (Butcher 82), Carter, Hare, McKain (Brunt H/T), Frampton (Brown H/T), Hessenthaler, Dack (Haysman 60), Kedwell (Nyafli H/T), Payne (Parter H/T), Strevens (Nyafli 60)
I like Keds, yes he has his faults but he is a L2 striker so we can't expect brilliance from him. He is hard working and there seems to be more fluidity between the forwards and midfielders when he plays, the problem in my opinion is that he needs someone with pace to play off him and apart from Birchall we lack a quick striker. We also have Burton and Strevens who can also operate as the target man so competiton for Kedwell's place is fiece. I am not overly concerned about his lack off goals from open play, we seem to score fairly regularly and a forwards role is to help create chances as well as burying them.
I watched him a few times at Wimbledon and was always quite impressed by his ability to support his front men who tend to score loads of goals but he has never been a prolific scorer himself and never will be. Gills goal deluge last season replicated what happened at AFCW even though his own tally was modest. He suffers the handicap of having a heavy frame but I think his mobility and work rate are fine. What nobody can argue with is that Gills results are hugely superior when he is in the team than when he is left out. The obvious approach is to have Kedwell as first choice with Burton (who struggles to play 90 mins) available as a potential high impact sub if Kedwell is off his game. There is a bit of a tendency to knock him because of the high number of pens that he scores but the importance of these goals cannot be underestimated as demonstrated on Saturday.
It's a tough one and we all have our own favourite combinations. Can Birchall live up to early promise i.e. when we bought him and work well alongside either Burton or Keds? Is a tough away game at Rotherham the time and place to try it out? I personally believe that Birchall has the potential to be better than Jacko....not Cody Mac though. Strevens has never shown the ability to be a prolific striker at any level, whereas Burton, although a couple of years older, oozes class. Keds has that desire and shows effort beyond his skill level that more than makes up for the lack of pedigree and will always go the extra distance for the Gills. We are a lucky team at the moment with such a depth in our squad. Personally, I would start with Kedwell then arrange subs as and when the need arises or is prudent to do so. On that side of things I am more than happy with MA's decisions this season. He does not leave it too late, nor does he make (often) an ineffectual change. Fingers crossed for Saturday.
brb - I must take issue with your rather negative comments on MA tinkering with the squad. Good managers pick the best team to play the opposition not the best players in the squad (Hessy did this). Fergie never picks the same team he always tinkers with it. We should be grateful that at last we've got someone in that knows what he's doing.
I will take the bait, thank you Lenny. MA is good but one of the things that does concern me is his tinkering of the squad. Talking of negatives it can have a mental impact on squad members i.e. why have I been dropped, then understanding those reasons and trusting in the manager. This all takes time, it may seem fine at first but put yourself in the place of Connor Essam, Danny Jackman, Danny Kedwell, Jack Payne? I could go on. We have faltered in the last month and we may put that right in the weeks to come. However, as has previously been said, we must know our strongest eleven. So for argument sake if it came down to the final game of the season and needing all three points for automatic promotion, MA would have to make that decision, left out players would not be happy in this 'team' game when MA has to decide whom his best players were to do the job. Therefore at this CURRENT time any thoughts to leave out Danny Kedwell is well...madness and tinkering, unless you bring someone new in or find new potential within your current strikers. As for Fergie, how can you use a pampers league manager to support your comment in comparison to the operation of a lower league team! You have no idea what Fergie would do at a L2 club, whether it be playing his strongest team or continuing to tinker. Also the impact on a League Two player being left out of the starting eleven must have more impact than the riches and fortunes combining future family/financial security of a Premier player. As for Hessy having played the best players, I would question that one as well, because for a majority of the time, I did not believe he did, unless forced too by injury or suspension, obviously that is based on my own personal preference.
brb- thanks for the taking the bait, I knew I could rely on you!!! We have a big squad, MA should use this to his advantage, most league 2 teams dont have the same depth in quality. Personally im not a Kedwell fan at all, hes slow and immobile. He reminds me of Mulligan, trys hard but has a poor scoring record (penalties dont count) and ultimately utterly ineffective.
Interesting differing opinions Lenny & BRB, and my opinion is somewhere between the two of you in terms of rotation, I do think that some rotation keeps players on their game and football is more of a squad game these days, but I think sometime this season we have changed too many players after a good performance, and I do think that the central core of the side should be picked more often than not, If you take Chelsea say as a comparison, over recent seasons Cech, Terry, Lampard and Drogba have played more often than not and in for us in my opinion that would see Nelson, Barrett, Lee and Kedwell should start in the same manner. I am not Kedwells biggest fan but our results with and without him suggest he should play, unless we sign a better player in January.
In my opinion I think he's extremely important to our team. Not very often in lower leagues do you actually get a fan of the team playing for the team and you can not deny, he does what any one of us would try to do if we were lucky enough to play for the club and thats give 110% every game. His work rate for us is comparable of the work rate that Rooney gives for ManUre (albeit not as talented bless him). His ability to be selfless and bring other players into the game than have a go himself is also commendable of how mcuh of a team player he is. Most of you have mentioned that we have not lost a league match when he's started and that stat speaks for itself, also penalties or not, he's still our topscorer and much better in the team than out of it. As to partner him, thats for Mad Dog to decide. I would quite happily see any of the other strikers used this season to partner him but if it was my choice (which it isn't) I would go for either Birchall or Weston to add that speed and fox-in-the-box ability to compliment Kedwell's selfless play.
Whilst we may not have lost a game he started, we did lose against Exeter as a direct result of a poor Kedwell pass leading to Exeter's third goal. Burton is the player who has scored more goals from open play and more goals per minutes on the pitch than anyone else in the team. Having said all that, if you're against a team with fast defenders making it hard to get in behind them Kedwell is strong enough to batter them into submission, if your against a slow defense then Weston and Burton would do well.
