Was Saturday's performance acceptable?

Taylor stated we went with a game plan, and the lads gave everything; so assuming the game plan worked, does that mean we went to defend for 90 minutes and the only shot we could manage was from a moment of brilliance? Is that acceptable?? Is no ambition acceptable?? Yes people say that going to teams as good as Utd will always be difficult, but surely if we have even want a chance of even a point we need to create more than one chance

 

I did not go to the game but listened on the radio which is not the best qualification to make comment. However it sounded like there was a well defined tactical plan which reflected realistically the resources available and also the quality of the opposition. Not many people would have given Gills a chance but they almost pulled it off. Classic smash and grab as played against Swindon and Peterborough when the opposition is much stronger than the modest and inexperienced Gills squad. Playing three up front would result in some real hidings and cause enormous damage to Gills youngsters.
This season is a world apart from League 2 when MA adopted outrageously negative tactics against poor quality oppositione. As I see it Taylor is consistently achieving more than we might expect from such a meagre crop of juniors and deserves plenty of credit. The thing is this squad will improve annually for several years. If he can keep them up there will be good times ahead. Stupid gung ho tactics mean certain relegation.

 

I too listened on the radio and on sounded like we were riding our luck the whole second half. The sheffield commentators were surprised we didn't have a go as they thought themselves vulnerable down the centre. I don't think united will have such a dominant 45 minutes of football as that again this season. I suspect one or two teams of our stature will go there this season and come back with a point or three, having made a game of it( and some might take a thrashing agreed). Apart from Coventry we have looked substandard for this division at each away game by all accounts.

pt is doing a very good job but i think he needs to rethink the way he sets us up away from home.

 

it was torture to watch from the 2nd minute (when the ball first entered our half ) - until the final whistle.
Our backs were to the wall all the time - except for a brilliant goal that deserved to win any game - but we didn't deserve anything from the game - we were not good enough

 

I listened to the game on Gillsplayer,and How we only lost 2-1 is beyond belief.They hit the post at least twice,we cleared two off the line,and Bywater kept us in the game with some very good saves.It was such a surprise when Norris put us ahead with a great goal and you start to think this could be a very good smash and grab.Then Sheffield Utd equalise not too long after,and once the 6 minutes for injury time went up you just know we will not hold on.Their winner was scored in the 97th minute which Taylor and Hessy were not happy with,but Gillsplayer said we were time wasting a bit so maybe that was the reason why.

It was gutting to lose so late on after defending so well to keep Utd out,but really we should have been well beat.I know we have not won one of our League away games yet,but it is still too early to worry about our away form as we have already won twice in the Cup competitions so far.

 

I was there and hence feel for once I have some degree of confidence in stating my opinion on what I saw on Saturday and I would have to say, in response to the question, yes, on the playing side at least the performance was acceptable. With the possible exception of Linganzi, all of the boys gave absolutely everything for the team with Egan and Bywater standing out as truly outstanding players. I do have to admit though that it is shocking that we can go to a team that without being big headed could have been beaten as there whole game plan revolved around how many times can we cross the ball into the area in a 90 minute time frame. They were far superior to us but only because we allowed and dare I say encouraged them to! Taylor seems to have a small time mentality when it comes to playing away in just hoping to scrap a draw rather than attack. No one expected us to win, so honestly I'd rather watch us get tonked 5-1 going for it and standing toe to toe with these bigger teams rather than shying away from the fight. With all of this said it was a great day out and the celebration of the most unjust goals I have ever seen when Norris banged home will live long in the memory and if the most blatant red card and free kick had been given in about the 96th minute when Norris was on the half way line we could have got the draw so maybe there's a reason i am a fan and Peter Taylor is the manager but I can't help but feel a tad embarrassed when the fans get behind the team as well as they did this Saturday but we still seem to be afraid, tactically at least, to show some real character and fight.

 

A wag posted on KOL last evening that Gills are the top team for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

 

I read that Norris scored

I managed to listen to some of the first half...but not enough to make a fair judgement on the game

 

Thanks guys, some interesting opinions there, I should probably qualify that by "performance" I was meaning not the tactics and setup as well, I wasn't knocking the players work rate.

As it has been said before I think the 2-1 scoreline flattered us someone, and the late goals implied that we were unlucky, we as it was the opposite and on another day we could have gone down 6 or 7, that is without 3 up front and going gun ho! It might be a personal opinion but the terminology "smash and grab" to me suggests some measure of control of the game, yes you defend but you limit the opponent to maybe 5 or 6 chances; to allow you opponent 27 shots on target to me suggests that we were lucky just to concede the 2!!

I like Taylor and I can see what he is trying to do, but I don't think the players are suitable for this uber-defensive set up he likes away from home, you are never going to win points if you don't create chances, yes you may scrap the odd 0-0 but there are quite rare.

 

Not sure if setting up to defend for a point is "shying away". I think we do have a team of fighters here. None of them seem to shy away. Fully agree though that we should show more attacking intent than seems to be the case in this one. But that's up to PT and I doubt he's going to change his ways on this. He hasn't so far.

Having said that, I'd strongly suggest if we'd taken the game to them (or anyone) and lost 5-1 we would not be having this debate. It would simply NOT be acceptable and there would be many calls for PT's and players heads. So I don't agree with the "sooner us have a go and lose 5-1" bit. Not me anyway.



And - brb - I've seen that Luke Norris goal. What a great strike! Technically superb. Might end up as our goal of the season
Nice way to open his account and score his first in a Gills shirt. Hope he can follow it up with 50 more in his next couple of seasons

 

I take what you've said on board and agree that it's not a good result but it was used as a worst case scenario rather than a accepted result I just struggle to get to that many games a season due to living away and having a lack of finances I just don't want to save money and try and find the time to go and support my team in person as much as I can only to see us be timid and overly defensive.

 

It all depends on where you stand. If we'd have been more positive we may have had 4 or 5 put past us by the sound of things, the problem is that we didn't have enough pace in the team to effectively counter. I don't think there is any argument that we have to set up defensively against that sort of opposition but what alarmed me from minute one was the lack of pace in the team, we need McGlashan to cause them more problems and to ensure there leftback doesn't advance up the pitch at will.

However, a point would have been brilliant, it was encouraging to have kept them out for so long but I agree that we need to have a bit more about us away from home and if we don't have a go against Notts County, I for one will be the first ranting and raving come the final whistle.

 

People say if we pushed on more we could have conceeded more, but we had one shot and scored (100% conversion rate) we could have won the game too, both hypothetical but both equally valid.

 

I certainly hope that PT starts to set us up in a more attacking way without going overboard. Nothing wrong with defending, so long as we offer something going the other way. They say attack is the first form of defence and I agree with the notion. Other teams can only spend the entire match in your half, IF they suspect you aren't going to offer much the other way. Its the old gripe of mine about having 11 players back at corners. If you just leave 1 or 2 up top the opposition will leave 3 or 4 back to cover. I have no idea why most managers seem to have everyone back. I hate it.

Maybe when (if?) we manage to put our strongest preferred side on the pitch, PT might be more open in our style. In Egan & Hause, with midfield cover from the likes of Morris, Loft etc, we seem to have a decent defence. We shouldn't have to be overly defensive in our style.

 

We don't have to be gun ho but can anyone give me a valid reason for not ever leaving one up? At a corner what use is Cody floating around our box when he could stand on the halfway line and drag two defenders back to cover him, I honestly don't mind us holding a lead or even being cautious but it just seemed to be an adamance this weekend that if we dare ask any question of there defence the sky would fall.

 

Mind you gfclukey, that was a damn good question that Luke Norris asked. And they couldn't answer it
Hope there's more like that to come from him.

 

I think maybe the reason we bring everyone back for a corner is the fact we don't want the opposition to leave players back. That way when we have more chance to catch them with a Pacey counter attack.

 

I think it is the whole mentality that annoys me the most, it is like we have sat down and determined that we can not win this game and the best we can do is a 0-0 draw

 

Personally and as I have said on previous posts I always believe that attack is the best form of defence in sport. The statistics and reports from Saturday suggest that it was only due to some very good goalkeeping and some poor United finishing that we only lost 2-1 and not 6-1. To be under the cosh all game is asking for trouble and though I am not suggesting we should have gone gung-ho and played 3 or 4 up front it would seem sensible to play at least two up front to try and ask questions of the opposition defence, hold the ball up, play the game further up the pitch and not let the opposition commit so many players forward. Personally I would be delighted if teams came to Priestfield and offered very little attacking threat and we then dominated the game and had 27 shots to their 4 and 16 corners to their 1, I would think we would win most of those games quite easily, alas very few teams would come to us and set up that way. I want us to be lot more positive on Saturday.

 

My abiding memories of watching Gills way back when, under Gerry Summers was opposition teams doing exactly that. We often dominated from start to finish and drew 1-1