Simon Head
Gills desperately need a cure for our soft centre
Published by Simon Head on December 5, 2009
Towards the end of his career, I was a strong critic of Paul Smith. The Gills midfielder’s legs had gone by that point and was keeping younger, fitter players out of the side while the team on the field was struggling.
But looking back a little further, we’ll see one of the club’s best ever midfielders – a player who could sit in front of the back four and hold the middle of the park. He rarely gave the ball away, he made crucial interceptions and tackles, and he did his fair share of work in his own penalty area.
My belief is Paul Smith may have been in the team for a little longer than perhaps he should, but I also believe that we need to look back to Paul Smith’s prime to see the problem we currently have at Gillingham Football Club – and most notably our away form.
Let’s be honest, Gillingham haven’t been consistently good away from home since Andy Hessenthaler was in charge and I firmly believe the reason for our weakness on the road ever since is the fact that we have never adequately replaced Paul Smith. Simple as that.
The combative Alan Pouton looked like he could step into Smith’s shoes, but a string of injuries meant he could never string enough games together to stay in the side, but looking at the position ever since, we haven’t had anyone who can compare with the legendary Gills skipper.
And that’s the basic problem with Gillingham – and one that has affected the club for a good few seasons now. We’re good at home because teams turn up at Priestfield and sit back, allowing us to attack, using our best players. But when we go away from home, when teams attack us from the front foot, we’re consistently shown as having a soft centre and that, in a nutshell, is the main reason for Gillingham’s awayday blues.
The one spell when we actually did pick up our away form for an extended period was when our away form picked up after Christmas last season. That upturn in our fortunes coincided with the arrival of Josh Wright. The Charlton midfielder moved on in the summer and we signed Kevin Maher. Stimson was apparently quoted as saying that, had Maher been in our team last season, we would have won League Two, rather than sneaked into the playoffs.
To be brutally honest I (along with the lads I go to matches with) was less than impressed with Maher when he joined us on loan two years ago, and we’ve been even less impressed since he signed full-time. In stark contrast to Stimson’s reported suggestion, I actually believe we wouldn’t have made the playoffs with Maher in the team. He slows the play down, passes sideways or backwards far too much and, on the occasions that he does pass it forwards, he concedes possession far too much and opposition players just seem to breeze past him at will. Not the ideal list of traits for a would-be midfield enforcer.
Unfortunately, Mark Stimson’s two big signings, Maher and Mark McCammon, have both failed to improve the side. Both are likely to be among our higher wage earners, both have struggled to feature in the side and, when they do play, both have consistently failed to deliver.
Stimson appears to have sussed out McCammon and he appears to be used only in the case of desperation or injury to others, while Maher seems to still be a first choice selection under the manager, despite Stuart Lewis, Jack Payne and, yes, Adam Miller putting in superior performances in the middle of the park this season.
I’ve mentioned Miller as I believe we have loaned out a player who would have improved our team today or Tuesday had we brought him on to replace Maher in either match. Adam Miller has his faults and he makes mistakes, but he makes them in a positive way. He tries to do things and doesn’t hide. Based on the matches we’ve seen this season, Maher offers little. The sooner Stimson realises he’s signed a dud, the better for the fortunes of our side.
We need someone to make a serious difference to our team. Someone who can sit in the middle of the park, take games by the scruff of the neck, not let games pass him by and make us altogether tougher to beat. At the moment, and for a good few seasons now, we haven’t had a player like that in the middle of our midfield.
If there’s any semblance of a transfer kitty available, I’d be looking to put that money to good use as soon as possible to sign someone to do that job because if we can find a proper player to fit that role, then we will start improving our points tally on the road as well as at Priestfield.
You must be logged in to post a comment.