Anybody still think Harris is the man | Page 3 | Vital Football

Anybody still think Harris is the man

Anybody still think Harris is the man ?

Yes, I think he is.

My own view: we`re only four games in and our missing factor is an ingredient NH has already alluded to - Physicality. L2 is a Physical division and getting the balance between necessary size and creativity probably takes a while to fathom and even longer to get spot on - ask Salford. I`m sure NH knows what needs to be done - how he (and Shorey) manage it with what budget they have (and we have no idea what that is) is the big and pressing challenge.

I`ll not hesitate to be more critical if, after 10 x L2 games, our play and team make-up is the same as last night, but until then maybe we should consider that we`re in a different league with virtually a completely different team and were playing a different style of opposition.

We have to adapt - and whilst there`s a limited time-frame for us to manage that task, thankfully, we`re still within the window. UTG.
 
To answer the original question - yes, IF he's given enough time and appropriate resources. Trouble is, there's a big doubt about both of those.

Much of our recruitment this summer has been disappointing (slow and uninspiring), but I suspect Harris was having to go way down his wish list to find affordable players. That would help to explain the delays. Being lumbered with Ehmer, Tutonda and Lee has been a massive hindrance too. I fail to see what Lee contributes to any game. He's a total waste of space. In an ideal world, all those players would be completely sidelined but we simply don't have a big enough squad to enable that.

Hopefully it will get better because I still believe in Harris as a coach, but it will take time. Having said that, Harris needs a find a big ugly CB fast.
 
Harrogate had a striker last night (Alexander?) He didn't look like he could play football but put himself about, made himself a nuisance and won everything in the air. I described him as an animal to my son. Contrast to Mandron who is too nice
 
I firmly believe Harris is the right man but as we haven't got cash to throw around then he needs time to build the right squad, I'm talking another two windows to get rid of players he doesn't want and get the right mix of strength and players good on the ball. We need to try and stop this two year cycle of completely new squad and manager imo, as unless we get lucky and it clicks right away we never have enough time to build something promising. Frustrating times but patience needed.
 
Colburn said:
Harrogate had a striker last night (Alexander?) He didn't look like he could play football but put himself about, made himself a nuisance and won everything in the air. I described him as an animal to my son. Contrast to Mandron who is too nice
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Was he the Sam Ryder lookalike? I commented to my son that he was absolutely useless, but put himself about and gave 110% and probably did a lot more than the more talented ineffectual Mandron.
 
Just watched Harris’s post match interview and the way he's saying it, it doesn't sound as bad as the fans’ reactions. I feel better after listening to him. However, my heart would say trust the reports and judgement of the Gills fans about anything and anyone, any day...
 
Brexiteer said:
We're 20th at the moment, how low do you want to go?
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I meant some peoples expectations that we would go straight back up. And being 20th isn’t an expectation it’s a reality. We are effectively starting from scratch with a mostly new squad.
 
I think a more pertinent question is does Bomber think we are the right club for him? He is used to working with Championship players and is he coming to realise that he is expecting too much of our current level of player?

I think a much more likely scenario is that he might resign if things continue to go awry.
 
mick745 said:
We have a wholly new team that will take time to gel, if you have faith in Harris now is the time for patience while the team settles down. Mid-season will be the time to judge.

Having said that, do I think the club is ready to mount a pronotion challenge this season? No.

Could we be relegated? Maybe. In truth the club has been in decline for a long while now. The crowds are likely to dwindle further unless there is a quick turnaround, assuming those staying away havent giving up coming back completely.
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The crowds will almost certainly dwindle if we find ourselves playing Boreham Wood & Eastleigh on a regular basis, as you say the club has been in decline for a long time now & we seem to be doing our best to return to the dark days of the early 90's having gone full circle.
 
SteveTreacle said:
Was he the Sam Ryder lookalike? I commented to my son that he was absolutely useless, but put himself about and gave 110% and probably did a lot more than the more talented ineffectual Mandron.
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Couldn't have been Gary Mulligan, could it? Maybe grown his hair:lol:
 
LancsGordoRoad said:
I`ll not hesitate to be more critical if, after 10 x L2 games, our play and team make-up is the same as last night, but until then maybe we should consider that we`re in a different league with virtually a completely different team and were playing a different style of opposition.
We have to adapt - and whilst there`s a limited time-frame for us to manage that task, thankfully, we`re still within the window. UTG.
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Could the above two points not have been anticipated in advance through a little research? I am sure that Baggott is going to be an excellent ball playing centre back in the fullness of time and when he fills out and strengthens he will give as good as he gets, but he is at the stage where he is going to be outmuscled and, as someone else pointed out, he has not learned the ways to slow down and restrict a striker with subtle pushes and quick holding of the shirt, etc (we had many photos of this being done to Tom Eaves as well as hands in his face). Essentially, he is not streetwise and Ehmer has too many problems of his own to assist.
 
SE1_Gills said:
Yes, Harris is still the man for the job.

To answer someone else's question; you don't become a Millwall favourite without the ability to scrap.

I'm more concerned that bar O'Keefe none of our players are capable of scrapping.
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He said in an interview last week that he wanted to play attractive football but until the squad were "in tune" with each other, they would have to find other ways to win games. I took it that he meant "scrapping" and playing more basic football. I'm guessing they are finding it difficult when, deep down, the ethos is to get the ball down and play. They obviously need to be all in with one form or the other as reports suggest we play attractive stuff until the brown stuff hits the fan.
 
GillsBluenose said:
Do we know whether Harrogate, Wimbledon and Tranmere had the huge turnover of players that we did during the summer?

If not, they would obviously have more cohesion, despite modest budgets.

Our players are probably still trying to remember each others names.
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Their prob more likely to remembers the fans names as there be less of them soon.;)
 
GillsBluenose said:
I think Harris said something about getting the players to watch a rerun of Saturday before last night's game.

Perhaps now get them to watch a rerun of the second half spell last night when Harrogate could have filled their boots if not for Morris. Then follow it with double training. Then finally a meeting so the players can have an exchange of views. If their on pitch behaviour is anything to go by, none of them will say anything, but just spend the time looking at one another and passing the buck. Lee will probably just set off for the bogs and Ehmer will follow, getting there 5 minutes later.

I certainly don't think Graeme Souness would have called it a "mans" performance.
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If Souness was there he would have said its a womens performance.
 
GillsBluenose said:
Could the above two points not have been anticipated in advance through a little research? I am sure that Baggott is going to be an excellent ball playing centre back in the fullness of time and when he fills out and strengthens he will give as good as he gets, but he is at the stage where he is going to be outmuscled and, as someone else pointed out, he has not learned the ways to slow down and restrict a striker with subtle pushes and quick holding of the shirt, etc (we had many photos of this being done to Tom Eaves as well as hands in his face). Essentially, he is not streetwise and Ehmer has too many problems of his own to assist.
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You`d have thought so, but then again, I also quoted Salford City; even with a (comparative) huge budget, it`s taken them three seasons to figure out the right balance for a top L2 side. They`ve (finally) done it, and i`ve no doubt they`ll realise the benefit with a 2023 promotion.

I agree with you about young Baggott - we need some bigger bodies, all through the line-up, to (literally) take the weight of guys like Green, who requires some space to be at his best.
 
Regardless of whether our recruitment of players has been good, bad or indifferent we were a fecking shambles as a unit. That comes through hard work on the training pitch, which clearly hasn't been done. 3 of the back 4 playing last night have been here all pre season.

Granted Williams is a big miss but we have had no characters and leaders when the going got tough in our first few games.

Our whole management team need to take responsibility for the recruitment process that has been worryingly lethargic. We were told at the back end of last season that they'd identified targets and were planning for this season already. Still we haven't got the players in the door (judging by the first few games) of the type of characters we're going to need this season IMO. Can't see any of our current squad becoming the horrible bastards that we're going to need. We're too nice at the moment.
 
I think we sometimes talk at cross purposes when we talk about expectations. It's a general thing between fans but for instance when you talk of it Steve I read it as aspiration and I'm with you there. We should certainly be looking to do well but expecting success is something else. Regardless of budget we have a lot more work to do than most teams, who had the basis of a settled side already.

You were right over the appointment of Harris, I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to join us. I think he's a good manager and has as good a chance of putting us on the right track as anyone else. I'm not settling for average but I do expect it to take a while for us to settle and establish ourselves.
 
Colburn said:
That's the one. Useless but effective
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You're going to have to explain that description my friend, You can't be both of no use and effective. If you mean he lacks the finer footballing skills I'd go along with it but he was far from useless.
 
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