by fan_of_mulligan » Thu Nov 12, 2015 1:52 pm
One of the first comments you often see after a cup defeat tends to be this comment - Oh Well, at least we can concentrate on the league - I personally think that your league form and cup form go hand in hand and I would much rather go into the match against Bury on Saturday off the back of back to back wins against Stevenage and Yeovil Town in The FA Cup and Football League Trophy then two defeats in a row, and Bury won 4-0 against Wigan Athletic in The FA Cup First Round on Saturday so they will be full of confidence going into Saturday's Match, where as Gillingham don't look confidant and we have conceded seven goals in our last three matches and only scored three times, and if your conceding seven goals then you need to be scoring seven goals to be getting draws and wins from these matches.
One thing I will say about our most recent results is that, teams now know Gillingham's strengths and weaknesses and the opposition know what to do to exploit our weaknesses, so Gillingham now need to find another way of playing and finding ways to gain advantages of our strengths, rather then the opposition exploiting our weaknesses, Justin Edinburgh tried The 4.4.2 diamond midfield against Stevenage and that didn't work because Emmanuel Osadebe and Jordan Houghton were too light-weight in the middle of midfield, Justin Edinburgh changed the formation to a 3.5.2 / 5.3.2 against Yeovil Town and that system didn't work and when we changed to 4.4.2 Gillingham looked a lot better, but regardless of what system or line up Justin Edinburgh names, if we're going to persist with long balls over the top then Rory Donnelly and Cody McDonald mind as well not be on the pitch, these two need the midfielders to provide them with the ammunition not blanks, and long balls to Cody McDonald and Rory Donnelly just isn't going to work, the last two matches is proof of this.
And we know that Rory Donnelly and Cody McDonald can score goals, Rory Donnelly scored six goals in four games and that purple patch has dried up because he isn't being given the service that all strikers require, and Cody McDonald has been Gillingham's Top Goal-Scorer in three of the past five season's and we know that Cody McDonald is a proven goal-scorer, but both players cannot start alongside each other in attack, and in my opinion we're crying out for A Target-Man who can win the aerial battles, win those flick on's at the near post for Ryan Jackson's long throw in's and just give us the option to stick the ball to someone in the final third who can hold the ball up and play simple one touch layoffs to start a attack for Gillingham - Matt Smith has been mentioned, John Marquis is currently playing for Leyton Orient and Kevin Davies has retired, but those three all fit in with the type of striker Justin Edinburgh is looking to sign.
One thing I noticed before The Penalty Shoot-Out was taken, is that one of The Safety Officer's went over to speak with Referee Dean Whitestone, so did The Safety Officer tell Dean Whitestone to take The Penalties at the opposite end of the pitch and not in-front of The Rainham End, Doug Loft saw his penalty went in off the inside of the post and Ben Williamson's penalty was almost kept out by Chris Weale, so perhaps Gillingham used up all there luck going into the final round of penalty kicks, Rory Donnelly was unlucky with his penalty and such a shame that his miss meant that Gillingham's progress in The Football League Trophy did not go any further.
It was a very strange game, Yeovil Town could of been out of sight inside fifteen minutes and Gillingham had chances to win the match right at the end of normal time, but I lost count of the amount of times Yeovil Town won the ball in the air, we just about won against Scunthorpe United, scrapped a draw against Southend United, lost to Stevenage 3-0 and lost against Yeovil Town on penalties, it appears that Gillingham do struggle against teams who have that aerial advantage and will win the physical battles, which is why we're desperate for a target-man to challenge against taller and more physical centre back's and give Cody McDonald and Rory Donnelly the service there so desperate for.
Gillingham would of got £10,000 for beating Yeovil Town and £18,000 for winning against Stevenage, that money would of enable Gillingham to possibly bring in better quality player because we can afford to sign them, not only have we lost the last two matches, but we have lost out on almost £30,000 in prize money, and maybe even more then that had Gillingham reached The Third Round of The FA Cup and The Area Final / Main Final in The Football League Trophy.