[ 2 Jan 16 ] GILLS v Oxford Match Thread

[Garawa]

- The Gills have double the amount of wins over Oxford (18 to 9) and the remaining 13 games ended as draws.
- The last 8 games against Oxford have only produced a paltry 5 goals. Oxford scored 1 goal on 2 occasions whilst the Gills scored 1 goal in 3 of the games.
- The Gills have won 6 and drawn 4 of the last 12 meetings with Oxford, scoring 9 and conceding 5. The game before saw a 6-0 win for Oxford!
- The last 8 games against Oxford saw a clean sheet kept 11 times (6 times by the Gills and 5 by Oxford). The Gills have 2 in the league this season, Oxford have 2 in 11.
- Oxford beat Bury 3-2 in their last away fixture but had only won 1 of the previous 10 away league games before it.
- The Gills are win-less in 4 games against Oxford whilst Utd have won the last 2 games 1-0 (their only wins in the last 12 meetings and their only goals in 8).
- Oxford have won 1 of their last 5 games in the league scoring 5 goals in that time (3 coming in the game v Bury) with none scored in the last 2.

3.03 Kick-Off ( 3 - 5 - 2 )

3.50 Half time 0-0 (47:23)

4.06
The second half kicks off.

4.26
GOAL! Gillingham 0-1 Oxford United: Dunkley

4.37
RED CARD! Oshilaja is sent off for a second bookable offence.

4:57 FULL TIME 0-1 (98:13)

Position: 17th
Attendance: 6,414 (1,238)
Referee: Lee Swabey

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

Hopefully we can start 2017 off with a win.We have had a lot of away games in the last month,so it's good to have a home game.Dack and Konchesky will miss the game through suspension,so I'm not sure who will get the nod for left back.

[gillsfan1066]

With Edinboro as our " leader " , probably someone who has played up front all their career.

[Garawa]

Think he may try and go 3-4-2-1. Cargill, Ehmer and Oshilaja (or Herd) as a back 3. Wagstaff, Wright, Hessy and Jackson as the 4 (I believe Wagstaff went there in the second half against Millwall). Byrne (or Donnelly) and Jet behind Cody. I'd have Knott there but he wasn't selected for Millwall but I thought he has been un-used sub recently?

[gillsfan1066]

Any reason we don't like playing with eleven guys on the field for 90 minutes ? For God sake Scally get rid of this clown Edinboro , the guy couldn't mange a piss up in a brewery. The way were going we might be playing Dover in a " REAL LOCAL DERBY " this time next year.

[lidbid46]

That was truly awful; the only excitement came when a fox was discovered at the back of the RE before going on a mazy run to the Town End just before kick off! All downhill from there. Everyone was awful, even Nelson who managed to chest away a tame shot at the end. I've never commented on JED before but I was not impressed by him standing in his technical area with his arms folded as the players capitulated in front of him. Tactics are non existent; why play with three at the back when those three players don't understand what they are supposed to do? Why don't the players know before the first, second or third corner against them what their jobs are? Shoving each other into gaps or calling to people to mark an unmarked player is just embarrassing. Is any thought given during the week to what to do given a variety of situations? I haven't seen anything change as the patterns of the matches shift and change this season. If it happens that what we are doing at the beginning works, then we compete and sometimes win. If however, anything goes against us, such as conceding a goal, an injury or a change of tactics from the other team, nothing happens in response. JET was an embarrassment this afternoon; someone has put a video on Twitter which lasts for a full minute during which the ball is always in play, when he just wanders about, even when the ball comes near him. Nouble was exactly the same. Cargil, who I have been very impressed with so far, looked as if he had never played at this level before and the midfield played Hide and Seek for most of the game; I think the Oxford players could still be looking for them to be honest! If this continues; there is no doubt that Gills are going to be dragged into a relegation battle. Something needs to change during this break we have; either with tactics, intensity, players or management.

[Garawa]

I agree with all of that. I'm a big fan of Jet and Cargill but the former always gets unfairly criticised but looked disinterested today and the latter well off his usual standard. I don't think either side deserved to win the game and 0-0 would have been a fair result. Other than their goal their only other shot on target was a tame shot that hit Nelson's right hand whilst we had 2 on target but I cannot remember what they were. Not sure why games with Oxford are so dull with so few games! We play with more forwards than I've ever known yet create less than makes sense and rarely get anyone up to play alongside Cody (who was strangely dropped today).

Saw the Oxford players arrive late and had to walk to the ground. It was a distraction and may have put them off - judging by the first half I think it did. But in the second it seemed as if the visitors felt the longer the game went without them scoring, the more the Gills would command the game. They knew our defensive frailties could give them the advantage and so turned on the power. Without creating much, it was enough. Why we could only show that when losing and down to 9 men against Millwall I don't know.

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

It sounded like a really poor performance,one shot on target as well.Oxford seemed to miss a few good chances to make it more comfortable.A poor start to the year,and not the result you want after losing to Millwall a couple of days before.We have to wait until the 14th January now to play again which makes the result more frustrating.

[Garawa]

We had 2 shots on target but I don't remember them!

Edinburgh sacked Tuesday morning because of this game. Fans had turned against him so wonder whose next. Can't drag on for weeks like last time. New manager has a transfer window to deal with.

[Garawa]

People are question whether Jed had lost the dressing room, I don't think so at all. I felt they were behind him (unlike Allen) and stated often I felt it was too many changes and they didn't really know what was expected. Seems Mr Scally agrees after this quote after the sacking:

He said: “I don’t believe that the players weren’t trying, I just don’t think they felt comfortable with the way we were trying to play, or how we were trying to play. I am not sure they even understood exactly how we were supposed to be trying to play.

“I think it is an organisational issue rather than a quality issue.

“The upside is that we have a squad of very talented players, there is not a bad egg in the camp and they all want to do very well as a team and whoever comes in is going to find them a very receptive bunch to work with.”