Post-Match Thread and Ratings Gillingham 3 v Southend United 3

[Lord Football]

Not sure I'm as high as nine but its the ground with highest number of visits without a win for me.

I was high up in their main stand so had a good view of their first 2 goals. For a player that hasn't scored for ages and was not having a good game I thought both finishes were excellent. Not sure how you can defend the second, even in the Borough Combination.

May have been the first, actually, both happened in quick time. Ball came down the right initially. Dimi gave the ball away then missed a tackle, McGlashan tried a tackle fell over, defenders all over the place moving slowly, no one covering, people unmarked. There was really nothing positive to say about it from our point of view.

From the away end, high up, it looked dreadful.

 

[rigsby]

May have been the first, actually, both happened in quick time. Ball came down the right initially. Dimi gave the ball away then missed a tackle, McGlashan tried a tackle fell over, defenders all over the place moving slowly, no one covering, people unmarked. There was really nothing positive to say about it from our point of view.

From the away end, high up, it looked dreadful.

Yes your right it was the second goal when we were sloppy higher up the pitch. JW had actually made a good header to clear the ball. McG did stretch from behind for a tackle he was never going to make, not for the first time. When he should always stay on his feet as he will easily catch the player anyway.

That said it was a better ball in than we managed all day and a good old fashioned number 9 attacking the near post meant there was very little JW or Anton could do.

One more thing some credit to Timlin. He did take an early yellow for the team and made some really poor passes first half. However did do well second half and still got stuck in but used his head and was sensible as Gillingham are one of those teams who like to get players carded.

 

[Fairport]

A few worrying things were evident today. We seem to lack height and are always vunerable to corners, crosses and free kicks into our penalty area. Both full backs have been disappointing and we will be in trouble if Lenny goes this week. There is no-one in the squad that matches his strengths. On the plus side, we should improve when Kiernan, Turner, Wordsworth, Ranger and Coker become available. The sooner some of these are back the better we should perform.

 

[OldBlueLady]

So, so frustrating. We actually succeeded in allowing a not very good forward look like a top quality one in gifting him a hat-trick. What I really struggled with today though was, why, in such hot conditions, when Gillingham clearly looked to be struggling with people running at their defence, did we not chuck Ba on for the last 10 minutes? We made one substitution, yet it was a cauldron out there - so, ok, yes it shows their stamina is good, but McLaughlin was there and ready, Yearwood could have come on - there were options.

I'm quite hopeful that the police spotters identified the prat with the smoke canister and to answer an earlier question, yes, that will almost definitely cost the club more money it can ill afford - but, hey, it's ok because it's fun! :facepalm:

Players emerging today with credit, well, Oxley, White, Leonard, McGlashan, and then I'll allow Cox and Kightly, both of whom worked hard. The rest, well, they were frankly quite poor, Timlin spends ages giving everyone else instructions and then proceeds to spectacularly fail to find an orange shirt with a pass.

Delighted with Lenny's cheeky little goal, we had no idea what had gone on down our end! Chuffed to bits with Kightly's and pleased Cox has got off the mark (he needs it more than Demetriou!). Gutted at the penalty but then, knew the ref was a dick so hardly a surprise.

Oxley - 7, unlucky no-one in an orange shirt reacted after his penalty save
Demetriou - 5, poor, got out of position far too often, and I keep saying, I don't want him sitting on the edge of the box being the player in a shooting position - there are others far better equipped!
White - 7, by far the best of the defence, despite the grappling and neck holds by Gillingham's forwards
Ferdinand - 5, I appreciate what ms brush said, but the body language is not good and his game is really suffering. We need Turner back
Hendrie - 6, I really liked this lad when we had him on loan, but he is a shadow of what he was. I thought he did ok today
McGlashan - 7.5, my joint MOTM, used his pace and caused lots of problems. We didn't use him often enough
Leonard - 7.5, my other joint MOTM, looked more like his normal self, lovely goal
Timlin - 5, stupid yellow card and can't pick a pass for toffee. Breaks up play sometimes but that's about it
Kightly - 6.5, grew as the game went on, lovely goal
Fortune - 5, worst game I've seen him have for us, nothing stuck today
Cox - 6.5, worked very hard and deserved his goal

Subs:
Robinson for Fortune - 6, unlucky both with the penalty and the well judged shot on the bar which lead to Cox's goal.

Big thumbs up for the Gillingham stewards who I thought were excellent today.

 

[Benfleet Blue]

Repeated in error

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Absolute shambles and if Adam Barrett was ever as poor as Ferdinand people called for his head. Sorry it's not 4 games in its more like 4 years in plenty of money and backing and Brown really looks clueless now. No plan b a shambles of a defence who never in the period of his management could defend set pieces and a deal of 3 more years for a striker who's second touch is always a tackle. Failing to replace a midfielder who simply doesn't want to be here anymore is a big mistake. A tendency to bring in older players and crocks a big mistake and now we hear Kiernan had a history of knee problems. Great managrment. Makes it worse when we hear of players choosing Wimbledon over us. Sorry not knee jerk reactions but we really are going backwards. Absolutely atrocious and very very depressing. Have never been a Phil Brown lover but with the backing he's had it really should be better than this. Would absolutely love to see a manager come in who cares for the club and whose livelihood depends on success not just as a back up job.

It wasnt worth reading the first time you wrote this. I really dont know why you felt the need to repeat it.

 

[Barling Magna]

He probably repeated it because everyone ignored it. Correctly.

 

[rayleigh dan]

Absolute shambles and if Adam Barrett was ever as poor as Ferdinand people called for his head. Sorry it's not 4 games in its more like 4 years in plenty of money and backing and Brown really looks clueless now. No plan b a shambles of a defence who never in the period of his management could defend set pieces and a deal of 3 more years for a striker who's second touch is always a tackle. Failing to replace a midfielder who simply doesn't want to be here anymore is a big mistake. A tendency to bring in older players and crocks a big mistake and now we hear Kiernan had a history of knee problems. Great managrment. Makes it worse when we hear of players choosing Wimbledon over us. Sorry not knee jerk reactions but we really are going backwards. Absolutely atrocious and very very depressing. Have never been a Phil Brown lover but with the backing he's had it really should be better than this. Would absolutely love to see a manager come in who cares for the club and whose livelihood depends on success not just as a back up job.

Possibly. Barrett was an easy scapegoat last season, Anton has the luxury of a very good first season and the fact he's still probably our highest paid player and can't be dumped as easily.

For what it's worth I'm more worried about our full backs, Demi looked dodgy defensively last season but had good cover from Atkinson. Hendrie looks as bad defensively and 10 goals conceded from four games is shocking, especially from a 'safety first' manager like Brown. Has Phil forgotten his principles in search of too many marquee signings?

 

[LBBlue]

Well Phil thought it was rubbish. It's all down to squad mentality again.

Personally I think it is down to lack of creative quality and the fact that despite all the shots we have week and week out Fortune and McGlashan are hardly ever going to score which means all the opposition have to do is keep out Cox. And it wont change until Ranger and Wordsworth are back. Until we scored the first goal all we did was hoof it long. What's the point of having Kightly and Cox if no one is going to give the ball to them. A clever finish from Lenny after the keeper dropped it. After that Gillingham just cracked up and we failed to score on so many occasions because the players the chances fell to don't score.

Oh and when we broke and had 4 up against their 2 what a mess.

Others can slag off Demetriou but in the first half he was the only one who wasn't hoofing it. I thought he worked well with McGlashan with some neat short passing -but McGlashan for all his pace has little quality when it comes to passing crossing or shooting.

In theory we had four captains in the spine of the team Ferdinand, White, Timlin and Leonard but there was absolutely no leadership out there. The standard from both sides was abysmal really. On that showing neither side will do well.

 

[shrimperjon]

Bit of a theme starting already.

2 up at HT vs Blackburn, win the game
decent first halves against Newport, Plymouth and Gills. Don't put the games to bed, poor second halves cost us victories
usual PB blaming everyone other than himself, poor team, poor bench, individual errors. Picks same 11 .......

 

[buffalowolf]

Its going to be a long long season if this keeps up ,and its going to test the supporters, time to give some of the youths a chance PB . Time to be brave you have Matsuaka and Kryptonite on your books give them a chance ,cant be any worse than what is happening at present, also BA and DRU.Time to be brave PB also time to go into the loanee market in dire need of strengthening the present squad.As for the strike force hurry back Ranger, and Cole got to be better than what we have out on that pitch. Hurry back Ranger and Wordsworth.Sorry if i keep repeating myself but as things are going at present we will be struggling to avoid relegation and the supporter base will drop alarmingly.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Personally I think it is down to lack of creative quality and the fact that despite all the shots we have week and week out Fortune and McGlashan are hardly ever going to score which means all the opposition have to do is keep out Cox.

Which is why I found it particularly odd that McLaughlin didn't come on, he has goals in him as we have seen plenty of times in the past. Who knows about Ba though, we've not had a chance to see for ourselves in a "proper" game, I would have thought yesterday would have been a good time to chuck him on for the last 10.

Others can slag off Demetriou but in the first half he was the only one who wasn't hoofing it. I thought he worked well with McGlashan with some neat short passing -but McGlashan for all his pace has little quality when it comes to passing crossing or shooting.

Demetriou was out of position more often than he was "in" position which is half the trouble, several times Timlin dropped in there to try and help.

In theory we had four captains in the spine of the team Ferdinand, White, Timlin and Leonard but there was absolutely no leadership out there. The standard from both sides was abysmal really. On that showing neither side will do well.

Timlin would probably disagree with you, he was getting Brown's instructions and telling everyone what to do. I love Tims, his whole heartedness, his commitment but his passing has been dreadful, and when you've got someone playing crap telling you what to do, how much notice do you really take?

 

[Benfleet Blue]

He probably repeated it because everyone ignored it. Correctly.

If you've seen any positives since Blackburn I'd be surprised. We have gone backwards and with the backing given by RM I expected more. Poor buys, poor team selection and no plan b. An utter shambles at present. We look unfit and lethargic, can't defend, and never have defended set pieces under PB tenure so how do you see it improving ?

 

[rigsby]

If you've seen any positives since Blackburn I'd be surprised. We have gone backwards and with the backing given by RM I expected more. Poor buys, poor team selection and no plan b. An utter shambles at present. We look unfit and lethargic, can't defend, and never have defended set pieces under PB tenure so how do you see it improving ?

You clearly weren't at the game so why post such rubbish.

 

[OldBlueLady]

If you've seen any positives since Blackburn I'd be surprised. We have gone backwards and with the backing given by RM I expected more. Poor buys, poor team selection and no plan b. An utter shambles at present. We look unfit and lethargic, can't defend, and never have defended set pieces under PB tenure so how do you see it improving ?

We're in a similar place to last season, waiting on the re-emergence of several injured or unfit players. Woody and Ranger's return can't come quick enough, and Kiernan or Turner are needed to cover the CB position.

 

[RHB]

If you've seen any positives since Blackburn I'd be surprised. We have gone backwards and with the backing given by RM I expected more. Poor buys, poor team selection and no plan b. An utter shambles at present. We look unfit and lethargic, can't defend, and never have defended set pieces under PB tenure so how do you see it improving ?

At the moment the team are a bit of a curate's egg. Blackburn was a cracking game with lots of positives. Newport was grim, but didn't surprise me. Rotherham, I didn't go to, but I don't think anyone could find any positives from a 0-5 stuffing. So, to Plymouth, the first half produced loads of positives and a good reaction after Rotherham from the team. The first half, football wise was up there with the Blackburn game at times. The second half, not so good. Which leaves yesterday. Again I didn't go so I'm reliant of match reports and what I heard on the radio. We came back from 1-2 down to lead 3-2, must be a positive there somewhere I would think. Coxy scored (or at least claimed it) that is a positive for his confidence and through all of these games Oxley, the one many though was a donkey last season, has had solid reviews.

We are having trouble scoring at the moment, that happens when confidence is low. We have defensive frailties we know, but we also have two CB defenders brought in this season yet to return. When they do we will see. Which brings me to Ranger. Let's assume he still wants to be a professional footballer, and as a result he returns to the team and produces the form we know he is capable of. I've seen some cack so far, but I have also seen some good football and some positives which make me think it's not as bad as you make out. But its about opinions and you are entitled to yours. I just don't have to agree with them.

 

[rigsby]

Its going to be a long long season if this keeps up ,and its going to test the supporters, time to give some of the youths a chance PB . Time to be brave you have Matsuaka and Kryptonite on your books give them a chance ,cant be any worse than what is happening at present, also BA and DRU.Time to be brave PB also time to go into the loanee market in dire need of strengthening the present squad.As for the strike force hurry back Ranger, and Cole got to be better than what we have out on that pitch. Hurry back Ranger and Wordsworth.Sorry if i keep repeating myself but as things are going at present we will be struggling to avoid relegation and the supporter base will drop alarmingly.

Probably the same people I don't class as supporters and do everything other than support. If anyone wants to see how our youngsters are doing then come along on Tuesday its only about £7. Be warned though, if its like last years crowd it will be a positive atmosphere towards our young lads.

The moaning will be done on here by people who were never going to go anyway but claiming they are boycotting the competition for the good of football.

 

[wakes123]

Is Hendrie the same player that was on loan? I think he's really proving how much we miss Coker. Oh well, at least we didn't lose.

 

[geoffmundo]

What changes would you make? With the current injuries, etc the only player on the bench who I would consider starting is McLaughlin, but Kightly and McGlashan have probably been our best players this season alongside White.

No coincidence that 2 of the 3 best players are playing in the only 2 positions with competition for places.

i agree, but I don't think we can wait for our wounded to get match fit, especially those who have not had a pre-season. We need to get fresh legs in and if the budget has gone on Kightly and Kiernan then loans may be the only option.

 

[fbm]

The balance is all wrong.

Ferdinand is a class act but has always played alongside the more dominant centre back. At the moment we have no height at the back - or anywhere in the team, actually.

Kightly, as class an act as he is, does not work hard enough defensively. Having both him and McGlashan means that the work in midfield comes down to just 2 players - Timlin and Leonard. Yesterday, Timlin had an absolute mare asode from a delightful piece of skill near the end. He could barely find a Southend shirt. There seemed to be a bit of a ruck between him and Kightly as they were going off at half time. We are missing Atkinson, or someone like him, terribly.

Having said all that, if we are 5-0 ahead at half time as we should be...

Brown is right. Rubbish, absolute rubbish. I can't even be bothered to do the ratings. No-one seemed to play well at all and it just showed how poor Gillingham are. Eaves will never get an easier hat trick in his career.

I am absolutely cheesed off, even the day after.