Skip to main content

The Inside Line: Gillingham (01/03/2014)

Last week’s “abysmal” display at Bramall Lane has plunged City right back into the relegation scrap just as it looked as if there was an opening to inch clear. A response will be expected by boss Steve Cotterill and it’s certain that the home fans will want to see some fight and commitment from those in red shirts this week, as we play Gillingham for the third time this season.
An all-too-rare clean sheet helped City towards a 2-0 victory – and a home cup tie against Premier League Crystal Palace – at Priestfield in August, whilst a few weeks later Marvin Elliott’s header earned a point against the Kent side.
Luke Cawdell – a sports journalist and Gills’ correspondent for Kent Online – was kind enough to speak to Lewis Hancock for this week’s ‘Inside Line’.
Although in 13th position, Gillingham are only six points above the relegation zone and have to play a lot of teams below them in the table. Do you think there's enough quality in the squad to not be dragged into a relegation scrap? Should Gills fans be worried?
I think the Gills are already in a relegation scrap. They may be sitting mid-table but I don’t think anyone is under any illusions, be that the fans, the players or the manager. The target has been 50+ points for Peter Taylor ever since he came in. So far he is on course to achieve the objective. Plenty of teams below have games in hand but they gave to win those first. Taylor has added some young players from the Premier League and the Championship, like Watford’s Connor Smith and West Ham defender Ryan Inniss. They will all help as the season hots up. There could be a few nervy times ahead but I think the Gills have enough quality to get the results they need.

What do you think of Bristol City's plight this season?
Like most people I have been surprised to see how badly they have done this season. Looking through the squad there is quality aplenty in there. Gills would love to have some of those players, like midfielder Marlon Pack. Sam Baldock is clearly a class above this division and Tyrone Barnett has a decent reputation. Peterborough tried to use him as a bargaining tool to sign Jack Payne a while ago. I am sure Gills fans would have been happy to have a player of Barnett’s quality. City can bring in quality, like Adam El-Abd – players well out of Gills’ price range.

Adebayo Akinfenwa has recently said he's been 'frustrated' about being on the bench a lot of this campaign. Does he have a right to feel aggrieved? Are Gills better off with him in or out of the side?
He came off the bench at the weekend along with McDonald and the pair immediately linked up, creating a chance apiece. Unfortunately the Oldham GK Mark Oxley was in top form. Bayo hasn’t completed many 90 minutes and he’s either been used as sub coming on in the 60th minute, or off. His lack of minutes have come about due to Danny Kedwell’s early season form. Kedwell physique means he can do more work for the team, getting up and down for 90 minutes, and I guess that’s why Bayo has had less minutes. But when Bayo does play, he always has the knack of creating chances, which is why Cody McDonald enjoys playing alongside him so much. If Bayo could do 90 minutes at 100% he wouldn’t be on the bench so much.

It was Akinfenwa that caused the City defence problems in the reverse league fixture. Who else has the potential to hurt City on Saturday?
As mentioned, Cody McDonald has the potential to hurt you. He loves playing off the shoulder of the defender and chasing onto balls. He’s missed a few one on ones this season but scored some real gems as well. He seems to do better when he doesn’t have time to think, it’s more natural instinct. Connor Smith, on loan from Watford, played really well at Oldham, linking the midfield and attack up well. He’s quick and lively and a good passer. He has played well away from home in a 433 formation.

Peter Taylor hinted at selecting the wrong team in the 1-0 loss to Oldham. How does he tend to set his side up to play?
He said he didn’t regret the team he selected. He made six changes and with the chances the team created you could say his team selection worked. Who knows, maybe had McDonald started he could have tucked a few chances away. But even he was denied by the keeper late on. He likes playing 433 away, with two wide men (possibly Weston and Fagan) playing either side of a striker (McDonald or Pigett). A three man midfield was what he set up with at Oldham. He could stick with that again. He hasn’t got many natural wingers in the squad.

Finally, can I have a prediction for the match?

Gills either seem to win or lose under Taylor but I’m going for 1-1 this week!



The Exiled Robin

Follow me on Twitter ---'Like' us on Facebook

http://exiledrobin.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/theciderdiaries --- www.twitter.com/theciderdiaries
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Cotterill was sacked

In the end, it was very sudden.  In a season where pressure has increasingly grown on Steve Cotterill for all sorts of reasons, an unknown combination of a lacklustre, exhausted-looking performance at home to Preston, an unsavoury altercation with an abusive ‘supporter’ at the end of that game, or perhaps a behind-the-scenes disagreement over transfer policy look to have ultimately curtailed his time at Ashton Gate. No manager these days can win just four out of 28 games in a season, be in the bottom three, and expect to be impervious to the threat of being sacked. But given such an incredulous level of success last season, Cotterill was surely closer than most to having a level of credit in the bank to be given until the end of the season? I share views with many as a general principle where I wish all clubs would give mangers more time to build, but the days of giving a manager the luxury of years of under-achievement, of the type Alex Ferguson enjoyed, resulting in a ...
12 comments
Read more

The Inside Line: MK Dons (substituted) 24/08/2013

This new series on The Exiled Robin threatened to come a cropper in its early days with a fixture against Franchise FC, as I wasn't prepared to seek an opinion on a club created in such a fashion.  Not that I doubt that those supporters who follow them do so in the same irrational and desperate manner we all do with our clubs, but the way they came about, with the corresponding direct negative impact on another community-based club, manes they are - ironically enough - disenfranchised from the football community as a whole.  Anyway, as a result I decided to instead focus on their predecessors, a club reborn and one that has found it's way back into the football league for a second time. Chris Lines, (NOT the ex-Gas player, as far as I know!) writes his own blog and occasionally offers his view for the fabulous Two Unfortunates, as well as spending his weekends following the fortunes of AFC Wimbledon. You can follow Chris on Twitter @NarrowtheAngle : ...
13 comments
Read more

Scott Golbourne: He's Coming Home - a Wolves view

The signing of Scott Golbourne (not Goldborne, Goldbourne or Golborne!) must have been as much a relief for those in the club’s hierarchy as it was for us supporters. Constantly barracked and ridiculed over the past few months for the seemingly disastrous lack of transfer activity, Golbourne is only the second permanent signing for the senior squad in 18 months since we embarked on our hugely successful League One title-winning campaign. Plenty of loans have been tried in the meantime, but only Jonathan Kodjia’s bolt-from-the-blue signing from Angers in the summer has caused the editors on Wikipedia to move a player's full time club to Bristol City in that time. Any fan over the age of 17/18 or so will fleetingly remember Golbourne, of course, as he spent his formative years with us but his opportunities were limited at that stage so I knew little about him, other than he’s looked like a pretty solid looking traditional full-back in the games I’ve seen him in since. ...
7 comments
Read more