10 League Games | Vital Football

10 League Games

NWBluesFan

NWBluesFan

Vital Squad Member
(16th) Wimbledon 2-0 Gills
Gills 1-0 Rochdale (23rd)
(14th) Tranmere 3-0 Gills
Gills 0-2 Harrogate (19th)
Gills 0-0 Walsall (15th)
(12th) Carlisle 1-0 Gills
Gills 0-0 Swindon (8th)
(10th) Grimsby 1-1 Gills
Gills 0-2 Mansfield (6th)
(24th) Hartlepool 0-0 Gills

Ok, we’re 10 games in. I said I wouldn’t make any judgements until this point because I’m a firm believer that – as a rule – trends offer much better insights than matches.

That being said, right now, I think even the most hardened Gills fans would be hard pressed to believe we’re anything other than in enormous trouble. A quick glance at our results, importantly with current league positions of the opposition included, shows why:

Two goals in 10 league games is well advertised - but perhaps more worrying:

* We've played just a single game against teams in a promotion/playoff spot
* Just 3 matches against teams in the top half, and
* Most worryingly, according to the stats, are averaging just 2 shots on target per game.

For the record, I’m no Johnyy-come-lately – I’ve followed the Gills since the late 1980s so I’m not just being melodramatic when I say this – but this has to comfortably be the worst Gillingham side in best part of 3 decades.

I’m not motivated by sitting here and pointing fingers for the heck of it. I'm not going to scream abuse at the players or gob off on social media. I'm sure the players and coaching team are plenty annoyed too. We also don’t know anything about budgets, broken signings or any of that heresay, but what I feel strongly is:

  • This squad is severely lacking in quality to play the current style of football we are trying. Its current execution is reflective of our league position – we are where we deserve to be. I’m not up for excuses about hard work, which can often be used to paper the cracks between wins and losses. I'm a firm believer that attitude and performance on their own usually lead to good results, but at some point you have to stop trying to smash a square peg in a round hole. Some serious back to the drawing board needs to be done for this team's identity before it's too late.

  • Keeping the ball out of the net is an admirable plan, but no number of 0-0s is going to keep us up this year. Only conceding 11 in those games at first glance seems quite good, but we’ve yet to play anyone of note in this division so it’s fool’s gold. At this level, you're often only as good as your front players and because we now can't change the squad, we need to give them every chance to succeed.

  • I'd like to see the club ideally, but failing that Harris, openly acknowledge how dire our performances have been so far and call it out. At times, we’re making Ade-let’s-have-12-behind-the-ball-Pennock look like Pep Guardiola in terms of forward play. If we’re going to concede, so be it - most fans won't be upset if we have a go and lose, but at least chuck some caution to the wind. A composed possession game is a pipe dream. We are going to have to roll up our sleeves and slog our way forward at this point with the lack of quality we have. If your conversion record is 3% (Hint: the stats say it is), your only real solution is to make so many chances that a few will go in.

  • I still personally think Harris is not playing with a full deck and am generally supportive that he has the pedigree to succeed, but he needs to get more out of the team than he’s currently getting. I'll give him a pass on the fact that a bunch of the players he called out last season are still on the books - probably beyond his control - but he's brought in a number of guys who have yet to make the grade too. He can't make them Lionel Messi, but a bit of fire in their bellies? That would be a good start. I know we are not as big or as physical as we've seen in years gone by - or even optimal for this division - but it's the size of the fight in the dog that matters. It annoys me no end when I see a lack of passion and effort, because when we lose it can look enormously like disinterest. I get that modern footballers should be composed, but I refuse to believe it is mutual exclusive. Leave it all on the pitch, the tackle - these guys have pride. It's time to show it.

  • It’s not panic stations quite yet but at this rate of point collection, we’re on for a total in the mid 30s, which will see us in the National League - that will be our end (if we think it's tough financially now, wait 'til that pyramid money is gone). It’s relegation form, pure and simple - it needs calling as such to at least get the alarm bells ringing.
I'll always support the Gills, no matter what league we're in. But we need to acknowledge where we're at right now. This isn't a time for a plaster on an open wound.

Wouldn't it be nice to hear from Mr Fisher on these boards?

COYG.
 
NWBluesFan said:
(16th) Wimbledon 2-0 Gills
Gills 1-0 Rochdale (23rd)
(14th) Tranmere 3-0 Gills
Gills 0-2 Harrogate (19th)
Gills 0-0 Walsall (15th)
(12th) Carlisle 1-0 Gills
Gills 0-0 Swindon (8th)
(10th) Grimsby 1-1 Gills
Gills 0-2 Mansfield (6th)
(24th) Hartlepool 0-0 Gills

Ok, we’re 10 games in. I said I wouldn’t make any judgements until this point because I’m a firm believer that – as a rule – trends offer much better insights than matches.

That being said, right now, I think even the most hardened Gills fans would be hard pressed to believe we’re anything other than in enormous trouble. A quick glance at our results, importantly with current league positions of the opposition included, shows why:

Two goals in 10 league games is well advertised - but perhaps more worrying:

* We've played just a single game against teams in a promotion/playoff spot
* Just 3 matches against teams in the top half, and
* Most worryingly, according to the stats, are averaging just 2 shots on target per game.

For the record, I’m no Johnyy-come-lately – I’ve followed the Gills since the late 1980s so I’m not just being melodramatic when I say this – but this has to comfortably be the worst Gillingham side in best part of 3 decades.

I’m not motivated by sitting here and pointing fingers for the heck of it. I'm not going to scream abuse at the players or gob off on social media. I'm sure the players and coaching team are plenty annoyed too. We also don’t know anything about budgets, broken signings or any of that heresay, but what I feel strongly is:

  • This squad is severely lacking in quality to play the current style of football we are trying. Its current execution is reflective of our league position – we are where we deserve to be. I’m not up for excuses about hard work, which can often be used to paper the cracks between wins and losses. I'm a firm believer that attitude and performance on their own usually lead to good results, but at some point you have to stop trying to smash a square peg in a round hole. Some serious back to the drawing board needs to be done for this team's identity before it's too late.

  • Keeping the ball out of the net is an admirable plan, but no number of 0-0s is going to keep us up this year. Only conceding 11 in those games at first glance seems quite good, but we’ve yet to play anyone of note in this division so it’s fool’s gold. At this level, you're often only as good as your front players and because we now can't change the squad, we need to give them every chance to succeed.

  • I'd like to see the club ideally, but failing that Harris, openly acknowledge how dire our performances have been so far and call it out. At times, we’re making Ade-let’s-have-12-behind-the-ball-Pennock look like Pep Guardiola in terms of forward play. If we’re going to concede, so be it - most fans won't be upset if we have a go and lose, but at least chuck some caution to the wind. A composed possession game is a pipe dream. We are going to have to roll up our sleeves and slog our way forward at this point with the lack of quality we have. If your conversion record is 3% (Hint: the stats say it is), your only real solution is to make so many chances that a few will go in.

  • I still personally think Harris is not playing with a full deck and am generally supportive that he has the pedigree to succeed, but he needs to get more out of the team than he’s currently getting. I'll give him a pass on the fact that a bunch of the players he called out last season are still on the books - probably beyond his control - but he's brought in a number of guys who have yet to make the grade too. He can't make them Lionel Messi, but a bit of fire in their bellies? That would be a good start. I know we are not as big or as physical as we've seen in years gone by - or even optimal for this division - but it's the size of the fight in the dog that matters. It annoys me no end when I see a lack of passion and effort, because when we lose it can look enormously like disinterest. I get that modern footballers should be composed, but I refuse to believe it is mutual exclusive. Leave it all on the pitch, the tackle - these guys have pride. It's time to show it.

  • It’s not panic stations quite yet but at this rate of point collection, we’re on for a total in the mid 30s, which will see us in the National League - that will be our end (if we think it's tough financially now, wait 'til that pyramid money is gone). It’s relegation form, pure and simple - it needs calling as such to at least get the alarm bells ringing.
I'll always support the Gills, no matter what league we're in. But we need to acknowledge where we're at right now. This isn't a time for a plaster on an open wound.

Wouldn't it be nice to hear from Mr Fisher on these boards?

COYG.
Click to expand...
Excellent post.
 
By the way, this was exactly the response I didn't want to see from Harris.

1664038803182.png

"Just got to be better with the ball" is weapon's grade ambiguity.

He even said in the post prior, ""If you can't win a game because you haven't quite got enough quality in the final third, you have to make sure you get at least a point."

It's clear he doesn't think we have enough up top. So just hoping they do better seems wishful. Call me old fashioned, but I'm less fussed if we play 'beautiful football at times' and more bothered by only having 2 shots on target a game. Get the senior players and coaching staff together and review your methodologies, boys!
 
NWBluesFan said:
By the way, this was exactly the response I didn't want to see from Harris.

View attachment 60295

"Just got to be better with the ball" is weapon's grade ambiguity.

He even said in the post prior, ""If you can't win a game because you haven't quite got enough quality in the final third, you have to make sure you get at least a point."

It's clear he doesn't think we have enough up top. So just hoping they do better seems wishful. Call me old fashioned, but I'm less fussed if we play 'beautiful football at times' and more bothered by only having 2 shots on target a game. Get the senior players and coaching staff together and review your methodologies, boys!
Click to expand...
Im Sure they work hard on the training ground, but if the overall ability of the players isn’t good enough then it won’t make much or any real difference.
 
NWBluesFan said:
(16th) Wimbledon 2-0 Gills
Gills 1-0 Rochdale (23rd)
(14th) Tranmere 3-0 Gills
Gills 0-2 Harrogate (19th)
Gills 0-0 Walsall (15th)
(12th) Carlisle 1-0 Gills
Gills 0-0 Swindon (8th)
(10th) Grimsby 1-1 Gills
Gills 0-2 Mansfield (6th)
(24th) Hartlepool 0-0 Gills

Ok, we’re 10 games in. I said I wouldn’t make any judgements until this point because I’m a firm believer that – as a rule – trends offer much better insights than matches.

That being said, right now, I think even the most hardened Gills fans would be hard pressed to believe we’re anything other than in enormous trouble. A quick glance at our results, importantly with current league positions of the opposition included, shows why:

Two goals in 10 league games is well advertised - but perhaps more worrying:

* We've played just a single game against teams in a promotion/playoff spot
* Just 3 matches against teams in the top half, and
* Most worryingly, according to the stats, are averaging just 2 shots on target per game.

For the record, I’m no Johnyy-come-lately – I’ve followed the Gills since the late 1980s so I’m not just being melodramatic when I say this – but this has to comfortably be the worst Gillingham side in best part of 3 decades.

I’m not motivated by sitting here and pointing fingers for the heck of it. I'm not going to scream abuse at the players or gob off on social media. I'm sure the players and coaching team are plenty annoyed too. We also don’t know anything about budgets, broken signings or any of that heresay, but what I feel strongly is:

  • This squad is severely lacking in quality to play the current style of football we are trying. Its current execution is reflective of our league position – we are where we deserve to be. I’m not up for excuses about hard work, which can often be used to paper the cracks between wins and losses. I'm a firm believer that attitude and performance on their own usually lead to good results, but at some point you have to stop trying to smash a square peg in a round hole. Some serious back to the drawing board needs to be done for this team's identity before it's too late.

  • Keeping the ball out of the net is an admirable plan, but no number of 0-0s is going to keep us up this year. Only conceding 11 in those games at first glance seems quite good, but we’ve yet to play anyone of note in this division so it’s fool’s gold. At this level, you're often only as good as your front players and because we now can't change the squad, we need to give them every chance to succeed.

  • I'd like to see the club ideally, but failing that Harris, openly acknowledge how dire our performances have been so far and call it out. At times, we’re making Ade-let’s-have-12-behind-the-ball-Pennock look like Pep Guardiola in terms of forward play. If we’re going to concede, so be it - most fans won't be upset if we have a go and lose, but at least chuck some caution to the wind. A composed possession game is a pipe dream. We are going to have to roll up our sleeves and slog our way forward at this point with the lack of quality we have. If your conversion record is 3% (Hint: the stats say it is), your only real solution is to make so many chances that a few will go in.

  • I still personally think Harris is not playing with a full deck and am generally supportive that he has the pedigree to succeed, but he needs to get more out of the team than he’s currently getting. I'll give him a pass on the fact that a bunch of the players he called out last season are still on the books - probably beyond his control - but he's brought in a number of guys who have yet to make the grade too. He can't make them Lionel Messi, but a bit of fire in their bellies? That would be a good start. I know we are not as big or as physical as we've seen in years gone by - or even optimal for this division - but it's the size of the fight in the dog that matters. It annoys me no end when I see a lack of passion and effort, because when we lose it can look enormously like disinterest. I get that modern footballers should be composed, but I refuse to believe it is mutual exclusive. Leave it all on the pitch, the tackle - these guys have pride. It's time to show it.

  • It’s not panic stations quite yet but at this rate of point collection, we’re on for a total in the mid 30s, which will see us in the National League - that will be our end (if we think it's tough financially now, wait 'til that pyramid money is gone). It’s relegation form, pure and simple - it needs calling as such to at least get the alarm bells ringing.
I'll always support the Gills, no matter what league we're in. But we need to acknowledge where we're at right now. This isn't a time for a plaster on an open wound.

Wouldn't it be nice to hear from Mr Fisher on these boards?

COYG.
Click to expand...
Yep, well put. When NH first joined he said he was aware that were a proud club, proud fans from a working class area that wanna see grit and fight in their side. We are not seeing that currently.

Only thing I’m not really sure about is the lack of quality comment. Reeves, Adelakun, O’Keefe, Williams? That ain’t a bad midfield for this division- certainly better than we’ve been seeing. With Green, McDonald and the elusive Jeffries as backup.

Mandron and Kashket up front? should be capable of double figures each.

Mackenzie, Law, Baggot, Ehmer? With wright and Alexander as cover. Again, in league 2 they should be more than able to do the basics.

Whilst we are light on numbers, I do think that as a team something isn’t right. These are professional footballers, and whilst they all have bad games or loss of form, I wonder if there is something else behind the scenes affecting things.
 
Lark said:
Im Sure they work hard on the training ground, but if the overall ability of the players isn’t good enough then it won’t make much or any real difference.
Click to expand...

I think there is a wide dichotomy here. Some posters have been claiming that we DO have a good enough team, which should be doing better, so that infers that everything is the fault of the coaching staff, and yet you, and some others, mention the overall ability of the players NOT being good enough.

Again, you could blame the manager and support staff for that but we are then back analysing budgets and speculating whether enough funds were provided for the quality needed.

Just 11 goals conceded in 12 (League and EFL Cup) games suggests that part of the team is doing well but I think the goal scoring record is now so shocking, I wonder if they need a psychologist or something.

Maybe the budget was OK but too much of it was spent on defensive players.
 
NWBluesFan said:
By the way, this was exactly the response I didn't want to see from Harris.

View attachment 60295

"Just got to be better with the ball" is weapon's grade ambiguity.

He even said in the post prior, ""If you can't win a game because you haven't quite got enough quality in the final third, you have to make sure you get at least a point."

It's clear he doesn't think we have enough up top. So just hoping they do better seems wishful. Call me old fashioned, but I'm less fussed if we play 'beautiful football at times' and more bothered by only having 2 shots on target a game. Get the senior players and coaching staff together and review your methodologies, boys!
Click to expand...

Shocking comments from Nil there. You could see from the beginning that Hartlepool were scared to be out there, so there was no new manager bounce. They got their “bounce” because our players were bad enough to let them play themselves into some sort of confidence.
 
These 2 comments beneath the midweek training montage video put on the club’s Instagram page summed it up for me. Bear in mind the second one is from someone who only watches our matches to see Baggott play so has no prior knowledge or experience of Gills.

“Circus team. Cannot teach players who have very limited ability. National League here we come.”

“Teach them how to score. 9 matches only 2 goals, it’s so bad. Elkan play so good, but ur strikers are shit.”
 
2 goals in 10 games this season is only part of the story. We only scored 9 goals in 18 league games under NH last season.

It's clear that he hasn't got a clue how to coach a team at this level to create chances let alone score goals.

We can't afford to sack him so I don't know what the answer is. Perhaps it would be money well spent to get someone else in to help.
 
Rob_b100 said:
Yep, well put. When NH first joined he said he was aware that were a proud club, proud fans from a working class area that wanna see grit and fight in their side. We are not seeing that currently.

Only thing I’m not really sure about is the lack of quality comment. Reeves, Adelakun, O’Keefe, Williams? That ain’t a bad midfield for this division- certainly better than we’ve been seeing. With Green, McDonald and the elusive Jeffries as backup.

Mandron and Kashket up front? should be capable of double figures each.

Mackenzie, Law, Baggot, Ehmer? With wright and Alexander as cover. Again, in league 2 they should be more than able to do the basics.

Whilst we are light on numbers, I do think that as a team something isn’t right. These are professional footballers, and whilst they all have bad games or loss of form, I wonder if there is something else behind the scenes affecting things.
Click to expand...
You're right, our midfield in particular should be walking league 2. But they're not creating anything for our strikers. Something is missing for sure
 
Colburn said:
You're right, our midfield in particular should be walking league 2.
Click to expand...

Why do you think that?

Shaun Williams is 35 and I had never heard of him.
O'Keefe is a wholehearted tackler and breaks up play but has never been creative.
Nobody seems to rate Lee.
Reeves always seems to be building up to fitness, and then breaks down again.
Jeffries has barely played
McDonald is also deep in to his thirties and has just missed over half a season with what was close to a career ending injury.

We have one wide player from non league and another that can not find a place in the squad of a middling League One Team

Have I missed anyone?

I am only pointing this out as, even if we got rid of Harris, I can not see any manager getting much better out of those limited resources.
 
GillsBluenose said:
Why do you think that?

Shaun Williams is 35 and I had never heard of him.
O'Keefe is a wholehearted tackler and breaks up play but has never been creative.
Nobody seems to rate Lee.
Reeves always seems to be building up to fitness, and then breaks down again.
Jeffries has barely played
McDonald is also deep in to his thirties and has just missed over half a season with what was close to a career ending injury.

We have one wide player from non league and another that can not find a place in the squad of a middling League One Team

Have I missed anyone?

I am only pointing this out as, even if we got rid of Harris, I can not see any manager getting much better out of those limited resources.
Click to expand...
Because Reeves, Williams, O'Keefe, Adelakun all have the ability to play in league 1 as does McDonald albeit coming back from injury. Ok not a lot of creativity but then where is the creativity. Jordan Green has touched the ball probably twice in the last two games
 
Feels like a continuation of last season, poor service, lack of potency up front and lack of goals.

Not sure what the answer is. Harris isnt the answer but who would be. Getting rid will just cost us money.

The only way forward seems new ownership with the desire and resources to make the club better.
 
markinkent said:
The only way forward seems new ownership with the desire and resources to make the club better.
Click to expand...

When we were at our lowest ebb (7-2 defeat) and we were all shicked that Harris took the job, I think we all had a suspicion that there may finally be some outside investment coming in, hence why he agreed.

I agree that it may be our only hope of turning things round.
 
We could do with some lending us a few thousand now to sign an out of contract striker. Tom Elliott has been mentioned by a few fans as a possibility.
Failing that it’s make do with what we’ve got til January, perhaps things may finally click or one or two players will raise their performances.
 
markinkent said:
Feels like a continuation of last season, poor service, lack of potency up front and lack of goals.

Not sure what the answer is. Harris isnt the answer but who would be. Getting rid will just cost us money.

The only way forward seems new ownership with the desire and resources to make the club better.
Click to expand...

In fairness, I think PS probably did throw resources to bring in NH. He wouldn’t have been the cheap option… …and that’ll make it all the more expensive to dispense of him.
 
If the squad is poor sacking NH wont change anything.

The question is:

Does the blame lie with NH and his tactics or the squad just being poor?
 
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