Article: Lack of initiative up front | Football, Gillingham

Gillingham FC are now six games into the new season, after a brilliant start of ten points in four games, the Gills promotion push ground to a halt last Saturday (27th August 2011) at Rotherham, when they were convincingly beaten 3-0. However, like all promotion contenders, you are bound to falter at some stage, so any criticism would have been completely unfair, especially after the earlier solid performances.

The Gills now had two consecutive Saturday games coming up at home to make amends, plus a potential six points at stake.

So Shrewsbury were to be next to take to the Priestfield turf on Saturday 3rd September, a warm day in probably 23 degrees heat, so one that was sure to take its toll on the players during the course of the game.

A virus had swept through the Gillingham camp earlier in the week and Kedwell and Lee were doubtful before this game, although come 3pm they had somehow both made the starting line up.

I took to my usual seat in the Medway Stand, looking through the match day magazine which I had purchased for £3; my attention drew to the Shrewsbury squad, in particular the Shrews number ten Marvin Morgan, reason being I can remember a season or two back, highlighting him on the message boards as a favourable signing for the Gills in my opinion. The next name down the sheet was the number eight, Nicky Wroe who had found the net a couple of times for Shrewsbury in August.

How ironic these names were to prove to be!

I’m no tactician and don’t pretend to be, so don’t expect your usual post match report, it’s just about my view after the Gills v Shrews game.

Kedwell missed a penalty in the first half, having previously scored two penalties in the previous home game against Plymouth, so no criticism of the lad; you are going to miss them some times.

However, Shrewsbury managed to convert their 94th minute penalty (Nicky Wroe) and snatch what was a deserved 0-1 victory and those three vital points.

So a second consecutive defeat for a team that Chairman Scally had spent well on pre season to build what should be a good League Two side at the very least. We can get in to discussions about Birchall our new striker being out through a pre season injury, but let’s not have or find these excuses this season.

We showed absolutely no initiative up front today, whilst the likes of Marvin Morgan ran as ragged, we have the likes of Dennis Oli who has had my support and backing many a time but what was he doing today? Luke Rooney it is all well and good keep making those darting little runs but what was the end result, nothing, there is no one up front and the keeper is just going to keep saving those soft punches time and time again.

4-5-1 is not working, drop it Hessy and get yourself another striker in before next Saturday’s Accrington match, don’t panic people may say but that is six points now dropped, we may be counting the cost of this at the end of the season. Promotion material is about consistency, if your target is an average of 2 points per game, we have now taken a backward step with ten points against a target of twelve. Targets are set every day of every week in any job and for the last two weeks you have under achieved. Move the goal posts as much as you like but it’s about time you started to get it right.

Strikers cost us money I may hear? Just remember a failed promotion will cost us so much dearer.

http://www.gillinghamfan.com/match-reviews.html

 

To be fair brb, i thought Rooney was our best player today, if not the best on the pitch, he won us the pen, and was wide open a couple of times on the left but people couldn't get the ball to him.

Today, was the first game i've been able to get to this season, and i have to say I was very disappointed. I'd heard good things from previous games, but all i could see was the same hoof the ball up field tactics that I have been seeing for the last four or five years. I was particularly disappointed with lewis montrose and curtis weston today, who i thought were very poor, they offered nothing at all. What I fail to understand is our insistence in playing the ball in the air all the time. When we actually got the ball down on the ground i thought we looked good.

To be fair to lads, I was quite impressed with us for the first half an hour, and the above comments mainly apply to the second half (or when Payne came off and we seemed to lose our shape). I have to say, I think that Keds missed pen not only stopped us from taking the lead, but actually deflated the lads a little, and gave the Shrews the impetus.

With regards to Dennis Oli, that is one of the worst performances on a football pitch I have seen, and I watched a game down Hempstead park the other week. He was useless, he just seemed as though he didn't know what to do with the ball when he had it, and he didn't really seem to want it all.

Positives from the game, I actually thought Rooney had a very good game, Flitney made a couple of fantastic saves (and we probably would have been a goal or two down before that injury time pen if it weren't for him to be honest) and of course, as i said, I thought we looked good before the pen miss .

Unfortunately, we were poor in the second half, bar a couple of decent breaks that fizzled out into nothing, and Oli has confirmed (in my eyes) that he useless. This game, i feel, has certainly highlighted the need for another striker when the loan window reopens...

Now, I don't usually rant etc, but as I said, this is the first game I've been to in ages (the last being an equally disappointing 0-0 draw last season) and I'm just disappointed that we weren't better.

Rant over, and fingers crossed for an improved performance next week. I'm sure it will be!

UTG

 

It looked a bit more 4 4 2 than 4 5 1 to me. Dismal displays all round with only an outstanding performance from Flitney keeping Gills in the game. Ironic that he gave away the pen. Lawrence and Fuller can feel some pride in their performances but that was it. The sickness bug may have played a part but that is a convenient excuse. Shrewsbury did look decent and will be near the top in May but it is looking like Gills can beat the mediocre teams but are well short of the ability to beat any quality of opposition.

 

but on the plus side you are still very much in contention, same as us

 

I thought we were poor today, most of the time we just play long ball football and when we have kewell playing on his own upfront he had to waste energy chasing long balls which he didn't make. I thought Rooney was good today, however even though he did get a penalty it did annoy me as too often when he gets into the box instead of looking shoot he looks for a penalty.. i thought Lawrence was solid today and was really impressed by Flintley today, man of the match for me, kept us in the game with 3 great saves, also i like how he tries get the fans in the rainham end pumped up, and i thought our support was excellent today even though we played poor, it's what the players need... i felt he was unlucky conceding the penalty. The game showed us we need to desperatley get a striker when the loan window opens, and was another lesson to our players! lets hope for a turn around next week!! UTG!

 

In my opinion, I don't think Rooney is the answer and I can't see him being anything more than an "impact" player i.e coming on with 15-20 mins left of a game to try and do something. I made a point a few weeks ago that his pace lets him down when he comes up against a side at this level or higher. I couldn't make it to the game but the Sky reporter said that he was looking lively in the opening stages and fair play to him but that's another game where he has started and we have not scored at all in the game and have dropped points. Rooney whenever I've seen him play is a player that is all huff with no real end product.

I'm not worrying that it's 2 defeats on the bounce as it's still quite early in the season and again it's a much better start than last season so can't really complain. However I get the feeling that Hess has given up on Oli and S Payne with recent comments from the Rotherham game by saying bringing Oli made us worse and I think as soon as the loan window opens on Wednesday we will get a striker possibly for the Accrington game next week most likely from West Ham because of the Hendon link. Now that Whelpdale is back I think we will start to have a bit more attacking flair and better creativity and as soon as that second striker comes in whether it's Birchall or someone else things wil improve.

 

when Hess came to Gills Oli was out of contract and i was surprised when he renewed it.I thought he was given a 1 year deal but must have been more as i dont believe he would still be playing for us now.Clearly not up to the task.Ive seen sunday league players better than him.

 

Now I'm sorry but i do feel that everybody is being way too over critical. There were many positives to take from todays game as well as things that can be worked on.

Things that, in my mind, need to change: the formation, well not so much the formation but how the players set up the formation. All during the match there was way too much space space between any of the midfielders and Kedwell so when the ball was played forward to him he had 2 defenders on him and the midfield just took too long to get up to him and when they did it just didn't seem to be in sufficent numbers.

The most disappointing thing for me today was the shooting. Oh dear oh dear. when we did actually shoot it was either well off target or just plain weak and straight to the keeper.

Now for the good things. I didn't actually think anyone played that badly. but going down to 10 men just before half time when we took Jack Payne off and didn't seem to bring anyone on replace. Strange tactic and didn't work. Maybe next time we'll remember to bring on someone when we make substitution. But other than that there were several performances that were more than acceptable. Flitney made some good saves and most of his kicking was good, although he did have a few that were woeful. Fuller had, IMHO, his best game in a Gills shirt, he only got caught out of position a couple of times and did manage to come back with some good takles. Framps and Lawrence were solid again and I thought Jackman played OK considering it was his firt start for a while and Ainsworth will gives many a leftback a torrid time this season. Rooney played well, was energetic, had drive, moved the ball around well and did everything i expect of him, but for the last 10 minutes after his cramp we were effectively playing with 9 men. I thought Motrose was OK, Lee has been better but wasn't awful, Payne (why did he come off? anyone) was the base of the midfield and we seemed to lose that foundation and people lost where thwy were supposed to be. Unfortunately Weston looks lost in a 5 man midfield. Kedweel once again put in bags of effort but with no striker to support him we seemed to have no idea what to do in front of goal. Whelps looked rusty when he came on but did OK, at least they remembered to bring someone on when they made the substitution.

As Superbob said after he penalty miss we seemed to lose hope. Maybe if that had gone in well who knows what would have happened.

I completely disagree with anyone who says we only played hoof ball. We did move the ball around well at times.

We desperately need to sign a few of players on loan because we are lacking in left midfield and a couple upfront. I really don't think it'll take much to finish the curent jigsaw. I really think that we missed something psycologically by not signing anyone or even looking like we were going to sign anyone before the transfer window closed, especially as everyone can see what our shortfalls are, we could have shown some real intent but, and I wasn't surprised, we seemed to take the day off from that. In my mind Birchall will more than likely be out for the season. Once he has recovered from the injury he'll need time to get his fitness back up and then his match sharpness, we need a permanent replacement for this year.

We all knew going into these 2 games that losing both games was a distinct possibility. We now have to focus on our next game.

Well done to Shrewsbury, best of luck for the rest of the season.

I think we would have been worthy of a point and to lose to an injury time penalty makes it feel sooo much more painful. We will always lose games duing the season but when we do lose I don't want it to be through lack of effort. Today I feel that we put in the effort.

UTG

 

P.S

Oh just incases you haven't twigged I am fully aware that Oli was brought on for Payne but, as my mum always said, "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" so I thought it best to just leave him out all together.

 

Hahahahahaha

Just to add, to be fair to the lads, as my Dad said, things could be far far worse than they were today (he's an argyle fan)

 

We need a striker NOW, Oli is rubbish. When was the last time he had a good game, two seasons ago. You could see this result coming. Yes Shresbury were better than the other two sides we had played at home before but apart from the second half v plymouth we really dont look like scoring, even in that match we had 2 pens.Bring in someone before next week or we could be losing more points.

 

I just wish to add three additions to my original thread...

Having now read back my own words, it appears I am being critical of Rooney, so I hasten to add that was not my intention. I'm sure a few of you will know from reading my comments on this board, that I am completely the opposite and a supporter of Rooney's, what I was trying to say is he sometimes needs to put the brakes on until support arrives, if it ever arrives!

In regards to Oli, the opposite can be said in regards to my comments, I have been how can I say it, very, very generous in my choice of words, imo Hessy needs to make some stark choices, if someone is not up to it, after being given endless chances, then cut your loses and show them the door.

Finally on the mentioned 4-5-1 formation, I noted Bristol's comments re 442 and I have also seen this mentioned on another site that it was 442, so I stand corrected if that was the case.

 

I think you will find the virus was worse than stated and we were very lucky to field a side at all, Rooney on from the start ?? gives it all away, he is brilliant but also devilish, will be a brilliant player as he matures.
Whelpdale back on the bench was good to see but a bit early me thinks.
A missed penalty, bad luck you cannot score them all.
The season has just started and what a start,if we have a run like last year we will all be cheering, so CHEER NOW its only 2 games and we are still up there UTG

 

Until we buy a proven goal scorer at this level, mid-table is about the best we can hope for.

 

I don't think we created enough good openings for even the best striker to score, how many times did we get behind the Shrewsbury defense ?

Overall a poor team display.

 

Grumpy is making an important point. i think it is a huge mistake to assume that the missing ingredient is a striker. If this was the case we would be seeing lots of pressure on the opposition's goal near misses and a sense of injustice because the score was not reflecting the play. In reality we are seeing the opposite and if, say, McDonald had been there yesterday he would not have hardly had a kick, same as Kedwell . What we are seeing is the opposition dominating midfield and the supply line to up front is completely cut off. The likes of Lee/Whelpdale/Payne look fine individually but as a unit they are just not delivering. Weston, yesterday was simply embarrassing. The bright side is that all these players do have ability and it is not unusual for a group of new players to need time to gel so they might come good. More important is to recognise that it is foolish to imagine all problems will be solved with a striker.
Not all was gloom yesterday. The defence did not buckle when Shrewsbury outplayed us but it needed a lot of good work by Flitney to keep it that way. Something needs to happen to improve midfield. Kedwell is going to have to raise his game, not just show good effort and if Rooney is going to be included he needs to perform for 90 mins not 20. I never thought i would say it but i suspect we are missing Maher.
It is still early season and it needs 10 games to understand form and ability. So far the signs are mixed.

 

Bristol i agree about the midfield but Kedwell needs help upfront. How many times is the ball booted up top then will lose possition and the other team starts again. This is no different than when Dimson was manager. Last season Cody was helped by Akinfenwa. Oli is the only option which is a joke.If we cant get a striker i would try Ronney closer to Kedwell instead of the wing as he is not scared to shoot,

 

I feel a bit sorry for Rooney.He is only a young lad ,keen,and really wants to play for the Gills But as soon as results go against us everyone seems to want to blame him .Maybe the more experienced midfield players need to stand up and be counted.We have got Weston,Montrose,Lee,whelpdale in the middle with young Jack.Its a quality midfield on paper but not really doing the business as yet.

 

Sitting in 45oC heat in Dubai (before moving on to Basra) and feeling a tad down. I did feel that Saturday was not going to be our day as we have limited options with the team that we have. Missing the penalty did indeed turn out to be a turning point. The teams that have had us over in the last few months have had Izael Macleod and now Marvin Morgan inflicting the damage. We have got to not only dal with similar threats but also be able to build constructively and feed our own rampaging forwards............ well forward. There is an issue which needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. We don't want to miss out this year......we want to be in the mix at the end. A good start but two successive defeats 4 goals against with none for IS a matter for concern.

 

I think there's some cracking points been made here, so I think I'll run over each player with my own little version...

Flitney - jury was out at first but is certainly a very capable goalkeeper. Best of an average bunch against Shrewsbury.

Fuller - gets a lot of flack from the cretins that sit in my block of the Rainham End but is still very committed to the cause. His problem being that I feel he makes the wrong decisions and his positioning is sometimes suspect.

Frampton - an in-form Simon King aside, this guy is our best centre half for a number of years. Solid, vocal, and I feel what he lacks in pace he makes up for his reading of the game.

Lawrence - big fan of his, but whether he can keep up this partnership with Frampton remains to be seen. He is sometimes a bit rash and his yellow card record means he may miss a few games this season so will need to work hard to reclaim his place I feel. But other than that he's been a solid performer.

Martin - been much more impressed with him thus far, wasn't a fan of his last season if I'm honest. Don't really understand why he was dropped on Saturday as I don't like Jackman as a full back. Martin seems a lot more comfortable at left back as opposed to the wing.

Lee - been impressed with what I've seen of him, however what really aggravates me is his passing, or lack of it. He's an intelligent player who likes to get stuck in and runs his heart out, but too often he tries little flicks or through balls that just come to nothing. Against the Shrews he seemed to tire out very quickly, probably as a result of not being well.

Montrose - i'm sitting on the fence when it comes to Lewis. He does some good things in the game (for example the run and disguised pass to Rooney in the build up to the penalty) and then goes off the boil particularly in the second half. Again, similarly to Lee, he seems content on flicking the ball on instead of taking the time to look and pass.

Payne - seems like his injury problems might keep him out for a while. Certainly missed him when he went off on Saturday as he was the only real protection to the centre-backs, and no one really took on that role in his absence. Only suspect thing about Jack is a distinct lack of range of passing.

Weston - the most frustrating player on the team in my eyes. He has a so much talent on his day but too frequently he just doesn't show it. Seemed to take up a position on the wing on Saturday which just doesn't suit him at all. He's much more threatening running through the middle and linking up with Kedwell. Gets lost too easily in games and is such a shame.

Rooney - a lot of points have been made about Rooney, just what do you do with him. It is usually unfair to give somebody a tag of just being an "impact player" or a "super sub" but unfortunately that's what he seems to be most of the time. Obviously tired out on Sat as a result of not playing too many 90 minutes of football. Did well to win the penalty and generally looks a threat when running at defenders, still needs help on his distribution however.

Kedwell - well I'm a massive fan of his but the need for support is obvious. His battling qualities and love for the club have already endeared himself to the home supporters but I don't feel that we are seeing his full potential as he is not used to playing as a lone striker. Generally has very little support and this will in turn frustrate him. But I have every confidence in Hessy and Scally finding a bright loan talent that can support Keds and take some of the heat off.