Gillingham FC Forum

Those of you who have known me for a while will know that I don't enjoy criticising the management or the players but I cannot help it today. A horrible start to the game when it was clear that the players; particularly the defenders had no idea what their role was, was followed by a reasonable period in the first half. We claimed a good equaliser and then looked for a long time as if we were finally going to take a game by the scruff of the neck and win quite comfortably. It was no surprise to me when we took the lead; also by the way no surprise that a defender was once again scoring our goals. Then what happened - we make some frankly bizarre substitutions which completely confuse the players again and we spend the rest of the game camped in our own area desperately hacking the ball away to await the next attack. Was anyone shocked when we conceded yet again in injury time? Everyone around me was screaming at the players to get higher up the pitch - we've seen it all before and knew what was likely to happen. I thought we may have got away with it after they had hit the post and the bar but did we learn? Of course we didn't! Never mind that the goal was a strange one and that Nelson had a bit of an abberation; it was always going to happen. The question is; if we can see it why can't Taylor or the players see what is happening? Don't they train for different possibilities, such as being a goal up with seconds to play? We got away with it the other day, but not this time. Yes, we scored against Bradford in the last minute last week but that is beside the point when thinking about home games. What happened today was completely avoidable in my opinion. German is probably a lovely lad but he was all at sea when he came on. He looked exhausted after one run, he didn't chase or harry defenders enough and he has few ball skills I'm afraid. Kedwell was available on the bench and he would have done all the things that German couldn't. I'm afraid this is down to the manager today; no need to make some of the substitutions and using the wrong personnel when he made them. I feel drained tonight; supporting Gills used to be fun but I'm really not enjoying it very much at the moment.

I think Legge is the problem....in a good way. He was the scapegoat a few games ago and fans called for him to be dropped and he has had a couple of very good games in my opinion and looks like outscoring Cody to boot! Suddenly we are playing 5 at the back to accommodate him, either that or he trying to stop conceding the opening goal which clearly isn't working!!! That is fine until you want to make a more attacking substitution. Bring on Dack or McGlashan and you have to change the formation totally as neither will be wing-backs. Either that or you have to move EVERYONE in midfield!! Bring on one and the other later and the formation has to change dramatically twice which, if chasing a game can't be very good! A 5-3-2 doesn't really allow for any straight swops and with a constantly changing side its no wonder they look confused.

It seems like Kedwell might be loaned out but its Cody I feel that needs to. Dickenson had 2 shots on and 2 shots off target yesterday, Loft had 3 and 2 and Egan had 2 on........Cody? Just the one off target for him in the 71 minutes he played and he managed none at all in the 68 he played last weekend. He just doesn't look up for the fight at all and he is the only player whose position will never change!

I couldn't agree more lidbid46 I have completely lost faith with our management team. Why was Kedwell left sitting on the bench when you needed someone who would chase and compete for every ball which he always does. One of the problems with Cody is all the team seems to do is pump high balls up to him which he is never going to win with a big centre back right behind him, what he needs is someone like Bayo or Danny laying the ball off to him in the penalty area then he will score. Also how was it deemed Bayo was unable to play the full 90 mins or two games in a week for us but seems to manage ok at Wimbledon.

I know it's just morbid curiosity but I wonder if there are any stats comparing our record of conceding late goals with the average ? It seems to be the only area of the game where our 'strike rate' is impressive.
Once again we have paid the price for Taylor's obsession with 'safety first' tactics, which in our case is anything but, We are not robust enough in midfield to sit back and defend a lead.

Certainly not with 5 in defense if still playing that way by that point. Don't have any figures for last minute but I do have the last 10 minutes......

Chesterfield 7 conceded & 2 scored
Leyton Orient 7 & 6
Bradford 6 & 4
Gillingham 6 & 5 (conceded 7 in all competitions with 5 coming in the last minute)
Yeovil 6 & 4
MK Dons 5 & 8
Notts County 5 & 2
Peterboro 5 & 3
Rochdale 5 & 2
Scunthorpe 5 & 2