I have just been reading this article this morning...http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/s...n-s-tozer-unimpressed-by-gillingham-1-4329647 Where it is claimed that Northampton Town's Ben Tozer, does not believe that Gillingham are worthy league two leaders despite their victory at Sixfields on Tuesday night. Er excuse me but have we not got 25 points, which is 5 clear points of second place Port Vale and up until our visit to Vale they were thrashing some sides. That makes us worthy leaders in my book. I could probably accept that I have not been impressed at times, however, we are organised and consistent and as long as we are more impressive than the rest of the League Two opposition then that is all that matters. Two goals to one was the impressive difference between us and Northampton on Tuesday night. I have only witnessed one team that was better than us this season in Rochdale and they duly took the points. As for the rest, well the table does not lie. Thoughts please...
Ive got to admit i was going to do a similar post as i have been reading the forums of the teams we have played and all of them bar the Port Vale fans cannot believe we are top of the league based on the performances they witnessed! The table does not lie and i agree we have been very organised and lot fitter than seasons gone. I also agree that i havent always been impressed by what i have seen, but on the flip side imagine if we start playing really well!!!
League tables do not lie or at least they tend to be the best indicator of performance once 10 or so games have been played. The key words this season seem to be resilience and organisation which are often the recipe for success and the downfall for entertainment. Some of the home games have been downright robbery by the Gills but the fans will not care too much if the results are right. The interesting thing this year is to compare with last year when we had glorious attacking football, goals galore, bundles of excitement all overwhelmed by the frustration of conceding too many goals and throwing away points. I think most fans would prefer what is on offer this season but wouldn't it be fantastic to start dominating matches at home?
I think the press have done this chap up like a kipper, no where in the article did he suggest we weren't worthy leaders. He said (and to paraphrase slightly) "they are top of the table, we matched them, therefore there is no reason that we can't achieve what they have achieved". Which nobody can argue with. Time and time againwe see less "gifted" teams go up because they are hard to beat, our team under Pulis which got automatic promotion out the basement division was essential a bunch of thugs (Dave Martin, Simon Ratcliffe, Dom Naylor et al) and the odd touch of finesse (Mark O'Conner). It wasn't pretty but it was effective and the comparison can be made with Allen's Gills side. As for Bristol point about the fall in attacking flair, I still think we are scoring enough goals (it would be interesting to see a comparison which lastr season at this point) but the defense is significantly tighter. Last season I thing we consoled ourserves with the "at least we are good going forward" mindset where as known we are a more balanced team. Edit: Just done a quick search and at the end of September last we had scored 18 and this season we have also scored 18 (by my calcs, league only), and if it wasn't for the 6 at Hereford last season would be well behind. I rest my case
Er, he did say "“I don’t think they were that good to be honest. I don’t know how they’ve played in their other games but if that’s top of the league then why can’t we be top of the league?" Although I would agree, he's probably only trying to suggest that there's no reason his team can't get up there. It's not like we are Barcelona or anything are we? We don't have Messi, Ronaldo or RVP in our team. I remember Hess saying similar last season after we went down to the then leaders Sarfend 1-0 to a very late goal. And at that time I thought he had a point. We were every bit as good as them but at the time they were top, we were about 8th. iirc the Southend fans weren't too complimentray about Hess after the comments either
GillsConnect have done a points comparison after 10 games for the last 10 years. This season we have 25 points compared to 17 at this stage last season. We've only got to match what we did last season in the remaining games and we should get automatic. http://gillsconnect.com/s/Gills_New...TEN_GAME_POINTS_TOTAL_SUGGESTS_PROMOTION.html
yes, next question! the one thing they always say is the table doesnt lie! as for the rochdale game, we certainly didnt get going but would have liked to have seen how it ended if we still had 11 players on the pitch
Personally, having supported gills since early 70's, I'm still apprehensive until we pass the 50 point mark and safety.... I think all the talk of auto's or play-offs is extremely premature. I would like to see the previous 20 seasons tables after 10 games and see how many of the leaders at that stage ended up in the top 3 after 46 games. I think it might surprise/disappoint us a little. I seem to remember Sarfend started last season at a canter. Whereas Swindon lost 4 of the first 5 didn't they?
SirKeefy - If it helps, I did a little research last season and the main period which is a good guide to your final standings is Christmas. It is probably still on this site somewhere from last season, what was concluded is that since the creation of the current league two structure and of the top three teams after the Christmas period, two are generally automatically promoted. I have never done any research on 10 games and it would probably be pointless in doing so.
A better indicator for me is the Cobblers fans comments at the bottom of the piece. I like the one that agrees we are in a false position as we should be mid table in league 1.
This season we have become tighter ( cut out the sloppiness as said by Tozer ) in defence, and taken our chances with great efficiency. It's a simple formula that most teams in any league can adopt - but rarely successfully. Gills appear to have got it right - up to now. It's been great seeing 5 away wins in a row. In most of these we have looked very solid at the back - and I'm not bothered if we have done a smash & grab raid at Northaampton to get the points - in the other matches we have been fairly comfortable when we went in front - long may it continue.
Even if we haven't played brilliantly every week our record stands for itself. Only one team have managed to beat us so far and only one other took a point off. Think they are all just jealous
