FOM BLOG FIVE THINGS TO PICK OUT FROM CREWE ALEXANDRA 2-0 GILLINGHAM
After Gillingham’s 1-0 Home Defeat Against Grimsby Town At Priestfield Stadium, a result which ended Gillingham’s unbeaten home record in the league, and in-fact, you had to go back to Gillingham 0-2 Crawley Town On Boxing Day 2023 for the last time Gillingham had lost a home game in the league, Gillingham had the chance to respond to that setback with an away visit to The Mornflake Stadium as Gillingham took on Crewe Alexandra in League Two, and prior to this match kicking off, Gillingham were still top in League Two whilst Crewe Alexandra were twelfth and in mid-table.
However, rather then responding To The Grimsby Town defeat with a win against Crewe Alexandra - which is what we were hoping for - Crewe Alexandra won 2-0 against Gillingham ad Gillingham put in there worst performance in the league against A Crewe Alexandra Side who were missing several players due to injury, It was a result met with frustration and irritation amongst The Gillingham Supporters in the away end, and back to back defeats in the league without scoring a goal, and here are the five talking points from Gillingham’s 2-0 away defeat against Crewe Alexandra…..
ONE: INABILITY TO SCORE OR WIN FROM A LOSING POSITION - This was a stat that worked against Neil Harris, and ironically enough, Crewe Alexandra 2-0 Gillingham was Neil Harris’s final league game in-charge as Gillingham Manager, and Gillingham lose away against Crewe Alexandra by the same 2-0 score-line, all three matches that Gillingham have conceded the first goal in - Doncaster Rovers, Grimsby Town and Now Crewe Alexandra - have seen Gillingham not only concede the first goal, but Gillingham have not scored in all three matches and Gillingham have also lost all three league games where the opposition have scored first.
This stat is one that cannot continue if Gillingham want to be competing for the automatic promotion spots and the playoff position’s in League Two, because there are going to be matches where the opposition score first and Gillingham have got to find ways to draw and win league games from a losing position, and Gillingham found ways of winning matches from losing positions last season, Accrington Stanley, Notts County and Morecambe were three matches that Gillingham won from a losing position, would have been four had Swindon Town not scored a stoppage time equaliser for 2-2, but this stat is one that Gillingham have got to improve on going forwards, because it was a concerning stat amongst the fan-base last season, and if three league defeats when conceding the first goal continues throughout the season and there are six or seven defeats and Gillingham have not recovered from going a goal down, then talk about this stat will only increase and there be more genuine concerns whenever Gillingham go a goal down.
TWO: MISTAKES FOR BOTH GOALS - Gillingham have been excellent defensively this season, and the defence has been praised for defending a 1-0 lead against Chesterfield and Tranmere Rovers with ten men, and Gillingham went on to win the game 3-0 against Tranmere Rovers, and Gillingham put in a fantastic defensive performance to win 1-0 against Notts County at Meadow Lane and even in the season where Gillingham managed to retain our Football League Status, Gillingham had a strong defensive record which was much better then the other teams battling to avoid relegation at the bottom of League Two.
However, both goals were preventable, for the first goal, a mis-placed pass from Remeao Hutton see’s Shilow Tracey get on to the loose ball for Crewe Alexandra and run forwards in possession of the ball, and Shilow Tracey passes the ball through to Jack Lankester, who skips past Shadrach Ogie’s challenge far too easily before squaring the ball to Shilow Tracey who scores a simple tap in to give Crewe Alexandra the lead, and for that first goal, the defending from Shadrach Ogie has got to be way better, show Jack Lankester down the line, prevent that cross from coming across the face of goal, and it’s a poor pass from Remeao Hutton, poor defending from Shadrach Ogie, and Crewe Alexandra have scored the opening goal when Gillingham have put in a very encouraging performance in the opening stages of the match.
And for the second goal, One of Max Ehmer or Shadrach Ogie have got to compete with Adrien Thibaut on the halfway line, and Adrien Thibaut somehow keeps possession of the ball, passes the ball out-wide to Shilow Tracey, and Shilow Tracey works his way into a shooting position before picking out the far left corner of the net with a fantastic strike which goes in off the post for 2-0, and at 2-0, Crewe Alexandra are in a commanding position to pick up all three points, But Max Clark, who put in one of his worst performances in A Gillingham Shirt, has got to stay tighter with Shilow Tracey and prevent that effort on goal, it’s not good defending from Gillingham to prevent Shilow Tracey from scoring for Crewe Alexandra, and preventing Adrien Thibaut from retaining possession of the ball on the halfway line, and poor defending is not the words to be used to describe Gillingham’s defensive performances this season, and Gillingham have got to find ways of getting our defence back to what it was doing for the majority of the early part of the season, which was keeping clean sheets and giving the opposition very few opportunities to score.
THREE: GLENN MORRIS KEPT THE SCORE-LINE RESPECTABLE - Gillingham lost 2-0 against Crewe Alexandra, but the score-line would have been 4-0 or 5-0 had it not been for Glenn Morris, Because Glenn Morris had made three saves to prevent Adrien Thibaut, Joel Tabiner and Matúš Holíček from scoring and putting the match beyond all doubt, because it only would take a goal from Gillingham and Gillingham are back in this match at 2-1 down, and Crewe Alexandra start to get nervous in the closing stages of the match.
And there is nothing that Glenn Morris could have done about either goal conceded against Crewe Alexandra, his saves kept the score-line down, kept Gillingham in the match so that if Gillingham were to score late on, then at 2-1 down and in the closing stages of the match, then Gillingham could have pushed for a late equaliser, and whilst Gillingham lost 2-0 and put in a very dreadful performance against Crewe Alexandra, Glenn Morris can leave the pitch with his head held high with his goalkeeping performance for Gillingham.
FOUR: GILLINGHAM NOT CLINICAL IN-FRONT OF GOAL - Gillingham had nineteen efforts at goal against Crewe Alexandra and that is an incredible number of efforts on goal away from home, however, only one of those efforts on goal was on target, and that was Elliott Nevitt’s one on one effort which was saved by Filip Marschall and Joe Gbode’s follow up effort goes over the crossbar, Jayden Clarke had an effort on goal which bounced up off the turf and went over the crossbar, Ethan Coleman had an effort on goal blocked before seeing his follow up effort comfortably fail to hit the target.
Jack Nolan had an effort on goal brilliantly blocked by Mickey Demetriou, Elliott Nevitt’s shot on the turn went wide, and the latter two were good efforts on goal, but there were other efforts on goal, particularly in the second half which were a complete waste, like the follow up effort from Ethan Coleman after his initial effort on goal had been blocked, Crewe Alexandra only had nine efforts on goal, but six were on target, and Glenn Morris had made three or four very good saves to keep the score-line respectable, and Gillingham just were not clinical in-front of goal, and when we do create decent clear cut goal-scoring opportunities, Gillingham are not taking those chances, and Gillingham were taking those chances when they came our way earlier on in the season.
FIVE: NOT GETTING THE BEST OUT OF ELLIOTT NEVITT AND JACK NOLAN - Gillingham signed Elliott Nevitt and Jack Nolan in the summer to address our lack of fire-power from last season, both players scored eighteen and seventeen goals respectively in The 2023 / 2024 season, and Jack Nolan created thirteen assist’s to go alongside those seventeen goals, But we’re currently ten games into The League Two Season, and Jack Nolan and Elliott Nevitt have scored two league goals between them, and Elliott Nevitt has scored for Gillingham in The Football League Trophy, so three goals scored between two attacking players who scored a combined thirty five goals for Crewe Alexandra and Accrington Stanley in League Two in the previous season.
And some supporters are making the point that Jack Nolan is being played out of position, that theory goes out of the window when you take into consideration that Jack Nolan was creating thirteen assist’s and scoring seventeen goals for Accrington Stanley playing as a right winger, and Elliott Nevitt lead the line for Crewe Alexandra in a 4-2-3-1 formation, so both players are playing in there respective positions that they played for Crewe Alexandra and Accrington Stanley, but have not hit the heights we have hoped for so far in A Gillingham Shirt.
Do both players still need time to adjust to life at Gillingham Football Club ??? - Are we giving both players the service and supply that they are looking for ??? - given that Elliott Nevitt and Jack Nolan have scored three combined goals between them at Gillingham Football Club, you have to say no, are Gillingham over-relying on The Remeao Hutton and Jack Nolan combination down the right side of the pitch, and we are basically playing the ball down that side of the pitch all the time ???
Should Gillingham have signed a left winger with pace who is a guaranteed starter so that someone of decent quality can be an attacking threat down the left which opens up more space for Elliott Nevitt and Jack Nolan to be able to create and score more goals ??? - Because Jayden Clarke has improved massively from last season to this, with three goals scored so far this season, but could Gillingham have done with signing A Andy Barcham, Myles Weston, Elliott List type of player, someone with just out and out pace and ability down that left side to not only provide more goals and assist’s from that side of the pitch, but also, give more space for Elliott Nevitt and Jack Nolan to be more of a threat in the final third ???
ADDITIONAL COMMENT
IMPACT FROM JOE GBODE - One player who tried to make an impact from the substitutes bench was Joe Gbode, Because Joe Gbode came on for Gillingham in the seventy eighth minute, and Joe Gbode uses his pace to go past The Crewe Alexandra Full Back, Joe Gbode had an effort on goal which failed to hit the target after Elliott Nevitt’s initial effort on goal was saved by Filip Marschall, and Joe Gbode was trying to make things happen with the limited time on the pitch, and after his cameo appearance, many supporters were saying post match that Joe Gbode needs to be starting for Gillingham because he is at least trying to make things happen by trying to take players on.
