Swindon v Gillingham prematch and matchday thread

[DiV]

He’s had nothing but pelters on here. Now people are moaning that he’s going.

As with all transfers, let’s see who his replacement will be.

He’s not had pelters from me, ever & yes I am moaning that he is going. My stance hasn’t wavered on that.

If our fans have been giving him pelters (and you’re right they have) that says a lot more about our fans footballing intelligence than MacDonald.

[Bennett]

I wish Macdonald would play as a solid defender instead of doing stepovers and the like.
Although if he's off I don't really care

[Nomoreheroes]

Gunning:
- Mixed emotions
- Very disappointed with first half
- Only us in the game in the second half even with 10 men
- Two points dropped
- Lost our shape in first half
- Everyone wanted to be up in the front line rather than giving depth, like what we'd worked on
- Thats why he made 3 changes at half time
- Could have changed 1 to 11 at half time!
- Changed formation and tried to utilise space we could work in
- Gunning admitted he could have crumbled under pressure of first half, but would rather do something, give it a go and lose 5-1 rather than do the same thing.
- Cain came on and had an affect on the game
- Both penalties were 'rascal' decisions
- McDonald:
Hawes: 'No McDonald. Talk about him leaving?' (paraphrased)
Gunning: 'I have no idea'.
Hawes: 'Why was he not in the squad?'
Gunning: 'I don't know'
Hawes: 'Do you not pick the squad?.....Sorry to be pedantic,  I've got to try to find out what's going on, its my job!'
Gunning: 'Thank you'
Hawes: '......OK. Lets move on'
- Gladwin: Good guy around the squad. It will be a loss. We'll adapt. Players leave and players come in. He can hold his head up high. Been a fantastic servant to the club in 2 spells. He's a great guy.
- Anyone watching the second half will see the pathway we are looking at
- Khan was fantastic, but its a silly decision maybe. Don't think he actually fouls him, think it was someone else.
- Couple of games in charge: Fantastic experience. A lot to learn.
- Shows that the new manager will be buzzing with the second half
 

[theakston2k]

All depends on who we bring in. If we bring in a defender with a bit of a presence and some experience then Macdonald is easily replaced. If we don’t then it raises questions about our intentions, next couple of days will be telling in terms of our ambitions for this season.

[Batch]

I thought you could appeal yellows in the case of mistaken identity.

Well I know you could

[Nemo]

It's not contradictory or fickle to think two separate things:

1) The squad needs a MacDonald *style* defender to deal with battering ram type forwards

2) MacDonald *specifically* has been fairly disappointing this season. He has 21 MoM votes in 16 games, only five more than Brennan and two and a half times fewer than Clayton. Compare him to Greer, who is pretty much the patron saint of modern era CBs and he's had nothing like the impact.

Every player improves in their absence from the side. MacDonald has come out on the wrong end of a fair few physical encounters this season. We do look better with him than without, but that doesn't mean he couldn't be improved on. Let's see who comes in.

[Bennett]

I rambled during the game, but the ref books Khan for "pulling back" but didn't book Gills 3 and 49 for the same thing.
It's really annoying there was no consistency...I guess I'm just glad the penalty for FBT's header and Khan's second yellow didn't cost us a point (directly)

[Boeta]

Mad Gavs tactics in the first half were a shambles.

How do you go from playing great with 4231 to today which in effect was 3-1-6 with Williams playing nowhere near centre mid and Hutton pushed up as usual.

Thank god for Charlie Austin

[Quagmire]

Such a shame Lavinier isn’t left footed. He’s a class act.

[BambooToTheFuture]

- McDonald:
Hawes: 'No McDonald. Talk about him leaving?' (paraphrased)
Gunning: 'I have no idea'.
Hawes: 'Why was he not in the squad?'
Gunning: 'I don't know'
Hawes: 'Do you not pick the squad?.....Sorry to be pedantic,  I've got to try to find out what's going on, its my job!'
Gunning: 'Thank you'
Hawes: '......OK. Lets move on'

I'm surprised no one else had said it but GG's response was a bit fucking Irish!

Gunning trying to convince us he doesn't know why MacDonald wasn't in the squad, is on the same level as my favourite betting analyst trying to convince us that Scott Lindsey was the stand out candidate for the Town job (maybe he was if no one else applied)!

Lord praise our saviour, Son of Duncan Shearer, Pele of Poole, Hoddle of Hungerford - Charlesworth Austino!

[Batch]

cone on bamboo, it's just gunning code for I'm not answering that

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Well that was one of the strangest and most appalling officiating I have ever seen. Their pen was clean in his face, our pen was soft, their second goal wasn't a free kick and was also offside. Just the absolute dregs of clueless shite clueless league two incompetence from the ref and one linesman. What will be done? The same as always, absolutely fuck all!

Outside of that, their first goal highlights why we need at least one Centre Back signing yesterday.

Brennan hasn't looked up to it all season to me and today furthered my opinion of that.

Jephcott and Austin are central strikers so it has to be either one of them in that formation and the other on the bench, or its two central strikers in a 4-4-2. I don't want to see them both on the pitch with that formation again, it clearly doesn't work.

Hepurn-Murphy again, so close to being a great player and just misses an obvious chance to square it. Being a bit more alert would increase his performance tenfold.

At least we're creating a fair amount and do look good going forward. If the officials hadn't completely fucked us, we may have won comfortably and bounced back from the one shocking piece of defending.

[Frigby Daser]

Mad Gavs tactics in the first half were a shambles.

How do you go from playing great with 4231 to today which in effect was 3-1-6 with Williams playing nowhere near centre mid and Hutton pushed up as usual.

Thank god for Charlie Austin

Exactly. Playing 4-2-3-1, we are 7-0 up in 1.5 games. The fact we spent 45 minutes playing the non-formation today was bizarre. It didn’t work. Why change from Grimsby?

Otherwise, onwards and upwards. Let’s see what these new boys in charge have got. All hail Lord Sandro for being the sole reason they are here (according to the script he gave the RealEFL). They are as lucky to have us as we are to have them.

Centre backs needed. Brennan had a poor game. FBT reassuring as ever. Cain looked good when he came on. Neat, tidy, but I hope we see a right foot as well at some point. Khan average first half, better second, and then needlessly sent off. Wakeling largely absent. RHM did well when he came on, with an absolute beaut of a cross for the equaliser. The goal would have capped it, by it was a good save. Lavinier very good, even if he’s on the wrong side. Jephcott had no service. Austin did what Austin does.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Well that was one of the strangest and most appalling officiating I have ever seen. Their pen was clean in his face, our pen was soft, their second goal wasn't a free kick and was also offside. Just the absolute dregs of clueless shite clueless league two incompetence from the ref and one linesman. What will be done? The same as always, absolutely fuck all!

Outside of that, their first goal highlights why we need at least one Centre Back signing yesterday.

Brennan hasn't looked up to it all season to me and today furthered my opinion of that.

Jephcott and Austin are central strikers so it has to be either one of them in that formation and the other on the bench, or its two central strikers in a 4-4-2. I don't want to see them both on the pitch with that formation again, it clearly doesn't work.

Hepurn-Murphy again, so close to being a great player and just misses an obvious chance to square it. Being a bit more alert would increase his performance tenfold.

At least we're creating a fair amount and do look good going forward. If the officials hadn't completely fucked us, we may have won comfortably and bounced back from the one shocking piece of defending.

Were you surprised he took Williams off?

[dalumpimunki]

How did months look for his 15/20 minutes of so?