What does our team look like?

[Garawa]

So by my reckoning we have the following players joining us for the new campaign:
GK - Glenn Morris
DF - John Egan
MD - Doug Loft
MD - Aaron Morris
MD - Jermain McGlashan
MD - Josh Pritchard
FD - Luke Norris
FD - Brennan Dickenson

Any thoughts as to who are likely to be starting regularly? Clearly there is a major overhaul of the midfield so who will be the ones to miss out? Totally guess work I know as many of these names are relative unknowns but I could see the following:

......................Nelson

...Fish........Egan........Legge........Martin

.......Hessenthaler........Loft

...McGlashan........Kedwell........Dack

......................McDonald

[gillsfan1066]

Assuming there are no injuries I think you have it about right , but I can see Josh Pritchard and Luke Norris coming off the bench early in games if McDonald is not hitting the back of the net,think both of them look good on paper, which of course is where the game is NOT played, lol.
Think we have the building blocks of a team for the next couple of years, of course the only thing worth winning is promotion THIS YEAR, to many factors come into play planning for two or three years down the road.

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

I`m not sure what Formation we will play this season,we may mix it up for Home,and then away.I`ll have a go.....

Nelson
Fish,Legge,Egan,Martin
Hessenthaler
McGlashan,Loft,Dickenson
Kedwell,McDonald

Subs: G.Morris,Barrett,A.Morris,Pritchard,Dack,Linganzi,Norris

[fan_of_mulligan]

I think we will line up like this........

----------------------Nelson------------------------
Fish----------Egan----------- Barrett--------Martin
---------Hessenthaler--------Pritchard-------------
McGlashan-----------Dack--------------------Loft
--------------------McDonald----------------------

Subs: Morris (GK), Legge, Linganzi, Morris, Dickenson, Kedwell, Norris

With one more defender likely to come in then depending on who else we are going to sign then this team could change again, The likes of Pritchard, Morris, Norris, Dickenson and Egan are all young players who are keen to play competitive first team football and they will make our team more athletic and more energtic.

And you have to give Peter Taylor a lot of credit for convincing these young players to sign for Gillingham because Brighton and Brentford wanted to keep Brennan Dickenson and Luke Norris respectively, and John Egan was a transfer target for a few Championship Clubs.

I am sticking with 4.2.3.1, as I believe this is the system we are going to play, but it is nice to have so many players who are comfortable in 2-3 positions on the pitch, that we can play a number of formations and make changes to the formation during the match without having to change the personal.

This is my first post on the forum so hello to all the regular members who contribute on The Gillingham FC Forum

[gillsfan1066]

Great to have you on board Fanny Muligan, let me be the first to welcome you, and open a bottle of pop and taste or toast your arrival, which ever comes first.
Now being the first to welcome you of course gives me the rights to collect your enrollment fees. Please arrange for a check for $5000 to be, wwwooowwww hold on I don't take your first born, Garawa has already sent me his first born as collateral, we have had him for three years now waiting for the check to arrive, kids eating us out of house and home, so no children thank you Miss or is it Mrs , or shall you just go by Ms. Fanny Muligan, her at home will have to get another job if any more strange kids arrive, and trust me that one of Garawa was just like his father.............. strange ?
It's a small army we have here, everyone marches to a different drum, (and in a different direction), but Captain Mainwearing Noircat does a great season long game called the Noircat League or something like that, and you can win great prizes, 3 wheeled skate boards, half day trips to Leysdown in January, under inflated balloons, Maidstone and District bus passes good for Christmas Day only, and if you win your division he takes you in his posh new foreign car to this stray cats place somewhere up the Maidstone Road and you get to pick any TEN cats you want to take home, and best of all you get to keep them, for like ever and ever. OK well not when they die , but you know what I mean.
This year there are another 527 competitions going on, organised by Sir Albert Garawa OBE, CEO,CFO and BAR ,which I will be honest I don't understand, but they can not be to difficult to fathom out because I think Lidbit won once, and he poor old darling has a plate in his head from a First World War clash of helmets with a German officer at the Somme or SOME other place in Turkmenistan (see Somme , Some , clever yes?) so I guess if I ever stop drinking and read the 452 page booklet of instructions I too could win a prize.
Anyway glad you have come to join us Ms.Fanny Muligan, I seem to have run out of beer, thirsty work running this welcoming committee thing,must have only had a 12 pack thought it was an 18, so I am off to the liquor store to get a few more to toast you and yours and don't forget , checks, money orders and cash,...... but not the kid,OK, CHEERS.

[Garawa]

You'll get used to Gillsfan's sense of humour eventually!!!

I'm beginning to think Loft might be more left side so it kind of leaves Dack back as a sub after seemingly starting to cement a starting berth. And no Kedwell? I think he is the classic number 10 we need (he and Cody need to swop shirts!!!) but with these players it is hard to see where hi fits in. I can't see him being dropped personally but someone is going to miss out.

[lidbid46]

Actually the plate is from the Boer War and is made from scraped rhino bone .............

[Rimshot]

Ah yes, the great Spike Mulligoon, a striker with a magnificent return of 15 goals in 107 games across 4 seasons. Frankie Valli definitely had more hits though.,

[Garawa]

Lasted 4 seasons though (like the Frankie Valli thing there). We have had players that did far less. As a striker his goal rate wasn't great but we have had considerably worse.

[fan_of_mulligan]

After seeing a few more pre-season matches I thought I make more changes to the starting eleven.........

----------------------Nelson------------------------
Fish----------Egan----------- Barrett--------Martin
---------Hessenthaler--------Pritchard-------------
McGlashan-----------Loft------------------Dickenson
--------------------McDonald----------------------

Subs: Morris (GK), Legge, Linganzi, Morris, Dack, Kedwell, Norris

I have to say that the left side of the defence concerns me and if Peter Taylor is looking to sign another defender then we either need a left sided centre back or a left back, we look a lot more solid down the right then we do down the left.

I can see Doug Loft starting in the number ten position and playing just behind Cody McDonald, last season our midfield was the weakest area of the team and now it is the strongest because Aaron Morris and Bradley Dack are named among the substitutes, and if we can get Amine Linganzi fully fit and playing 4 - 5 games in a row, then we might see the best from him this coming season as well.

I think we will switch between 4.2.3.1 and 4.1.3.2 throughout the season, but one thing that concerns me is that we have played Kedwell and German and Norris and McDonald against Folkestone Invicta, German and Norris and McDonald and Kedwell against Bromley and Kedwell and German and Norris and McDonald against Welling United and the link up play between our two strikers has not been great, losing Akinfenwa was a huge blow in every sense of the word because Akinfenwa could link up with Kedwell and McDonald.

Two players I have not named but will probably get more opportunities in and around the first team is Devante McKain and Antonio German, Devante McKain impressed in the defensive holding midfield position against Folkestone Invicta and Bromley and Antonio German was our Man Of The Match in The First Half against Welling United As Antonio German scored one goal and had three more attempts on / off target as well.

We might play 4.2.3.1 away from home and 4.1.3.2 at home, nice to have the players and personal to play in both systems effectively.

[Elgrande]

Kedwell should and will play; heart beat of the team.

[Garawa]

I agree. I think his style of play is perfect for the "new" number 10 role that so adequately evolved during the World Cup!

Lee, people are moaning that everyone is scoring except Cody! How has he looked as he has sounded fairly quiet??!!

[fan_of_mulligan]

I agree. I think his style of play is perfect for the "new" number 10 role that so adequately evolved during the World Cup!

Lee, people are moaning that everyone is scoring except Cody! How has he looked as he has sounded fairly quiet??!!

He had one chance in The Second Half that I expect Cody McDonald to put in the back of the net instinctively but Cody completely mis-kicked the ball, he set up Antonio German for the third goal though, even last season and back in 2010 / 2011 Cody McDonald did not start the season on fire and he normally needs to start a few games in a row before he is fully fit and firing on all cylinders.

I think when Cody McDonald scored that last gasp winner against Wolves at Priestfield, after that goal, Cody was scoring a goal a game, I don't mind Cody McDonald not scoring in pre-season against Dartford or Welling United, just as long as he sticks the ball into the back of the net against MK Dons and Yeovil Town

[Garawa]

Can't argue with that. It's funny reading some comments especially on Facebook. It's all doom and gloom but perhaps they were a tiny bit justified seeing that all apart from our main scorer were getting goals. Let's hope he is saving them up for when they count because if he goes too long he might struggle to get going.

[Elgrande]

Strange; Dodys pre-season form is not relevant, but the pre season form of others means leaving Kedwell on the bench. Oh well each to their own I guess.