Crewe Alex v Gillingham

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

There is a huge deal of difference between going for the win and defending for a point. But I have never heard an extra attacker being brought on for a midfielder being called defensive. I mean, your description of why he did it surely supports the case that it wasn't defensive, if he was trying to get the ball forward more and keep it there. It just confirms my suspicion that you(and others as well) are now intent on criticising Davis no matter what he does, because you'll only twist it to suit your agenda. I don't care if I do sound condescending, I clearly don't have any chance of having a reasonable argument.

In my opinion, going for the win is producing significant amounts of shots on target, attacking in several directions rather than to the wings like we do every time and counter-attacking with speed that doesn't allow the opposition to regroup and block our attacks.

We did none of this yesterday. We were more happy to play keepball and get bullied by the Gillingham fullbacks and the pressing of their midfield. Our midfield gets worse by the year, our wingers aren't clever enough, we're toothless up front and our fullbacks sell us down the river each time. Only Garratt and the two CBs are playing with any credit at this current moment in time.

 

[Camborne Gills]

I doubt your side will be plying their trade in The Championship in a years time.
Probably more likely we'll sneak up via the play-offs.

You may be right about us in the first place, but the only play offs you will win soon, will be the L2 play off next season (at best)

 

[SRNP]

I'm going blackpool but thats it now initll Davis goes.

 

[dannyc5]

There is a huge deal of difference between going for the win and defending for a point. But I have never heard an extra attacker being brought on for a midfielder being called defensive. I mean, your description of why he did it surely supports the case that it wasn't defensive, if he was trying to get the ball forward more and keep it there. It just confirms my suspicion that you(and others as well) are now intent on criticising Davis no matter what he does, because you'll only twist it to suit your agenda. I don't care if I do sound condescending, I clearly don't have any chance of having a reasonable argument.

There are two 'positive' outcomes from a football match. One is a win, and one is a draw. So you can either go for one or the other. Davis clearly did not go for the win, so that only leaves one possible alternative. How is playing a withdrawn CF for half a match at home going for a win?

And Davis has used Haber to bolster the defence on numerous occasions! For example, he has talked at length in the past at using him only to add height in the team to defend set pieces.

 

[Crewelad87]

I'm with Danny on this one. 2nd half we droped back and tried to rely on counter attacking (not very successful) Also Haber was clearly not brought on as an attacking threat , more away of trying to relieve pressure by hoping his physical presence could hold the ball (once again in unsuccessful)

Gillingham were there for the taking, I thought they looked very average. Despite having a very good squad that I've tipped to do well from the start, I was dissapointed in them, but we didn't even look interested in capatalising on it.


Davis Out.

 

[JJ1532]

Well, we'll all have to agree to disagree then. All I know is, if that in the last 20 minutes was us sitting for a point, then I hope we do it more often. Because despite having an anonymous midfield, no threat upfront and makeshift defence(especially in the last 10 minutes), we reduced them to 0 shots on target(and just 1 shot on target in the entire game) before the goal and 0 corners. Whereas at the other end, we had 2 free kicks which Colclough wasted, Cooper's effort which he put over, Inman's moment when he almost fed Haber, Colclough's chance when he went down looking for a penalty. Not too shabby considering we were playing the top scorers in the league and who also have the 4th strongest defensive record so far this season. Not to mention the fact that we have conceded 2 or more in each of our last 8 home games.

For me, if thats the game plan at home, Davis pretty correct. We reduced them to barely anything that they created, had roughly the same amount of chances and were full value for a point(which we didn't sit on, but hey ho, different opinions and all that jazz). The only thing he got wrong was bringing Cooper on instead of Wilson. If we play like that in home games going forward, I think we'll get more wins/draws than defeats. Obviously, that is the big question, will we play like that in the future? Probably not. Yes we didn't create anything of note in the 2nd half(although that was down to piss poor execution in the final 3rd), but I'm content with that performance.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Gillingham could easily have been 2-0/2-1 up before that goal given they missed an open net and then a sitter from 2 yards out in the second half. Does anyone know when we last out-shot a team at home? Therein lies the problem, we just don't create enough in games to warrant walking away with three points. I thought our centre halves and Ben Garratt were the main reason we kept Gillingham at bay, not so much the rest of the side, some who played like schoolboys (Turton and Kingsley, how many times were they skinned by the Gillingham widemen and forwards again?) and some who played with such lethargy they were pretty much comatose (Pretty much the entire midfield and Cooper).

If you don't pull the trigger and don't create, you deserve nothing from games, and that's a hallmark of Steve Davis' reign. We just don't take the game to teams at home and that attitude is absolutely inexcusable. We're experiencing a number of problems at the moment with a disinterested board, an incompetent media letting this happen and fans walking away in their droves but Steve Davis is almost entirely accountable for what's going on the pitch and it's getting worse and worse under him each year. I genuinely believe the majority of players have no confidence in his management looking at their body language on Saturday, it's like they can't wait for 5pm each week whenever they play at home.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Ben Garratt is actually saving our skin more than we appreciate. Considering most fans already consider him our only truly class player, that's some going.

 

[The Alex]

Davis can ruin all of our outfield players potential but there's only so much he can tell a goalkeeper to do wrong, thankfully.

 

[JJ1532]

But that's the thing, he isn't telling Ben anything. Whether it was Phillips, Shearer or Barber, Davis hasn't done any coaching work with Ben. Is it surprising then that Garratt is our best and most consistent player?

 

[Crewelad87]

Got to feel sorry for Garratt. He's a quality keeper , probably not quite getting the recognition he deserves due to playing in such a poor team. Been impressed with Nugent every time I've seen him play so far (not much)