My opinion wrote:Darlogramps wrote:en passant wrote:Darlogramps wrote:Genuine question - where does this "he lacked heart" and "he was pea-hearted" stuff come from?
Yes he didn't charge around the pitch like a nutcase. And yes he didn't go barrelling into challenges.
But that wasn't and will never be his game. I personally think he did show plenty of "heart" but because of the type of player he is, and the style he has, that will never come across. He was our third top scorer last season and provided plenty of assists, so clearly performed well generally.
I just think at times fans criticise players for not being what we want them to be, rather than judging on the type of player he is.
It was the same thing with Turnbull, when people slagged him off for not scoring goals. That just simply wasn't his game.
I am also dismayed to find too many comments on this thread saying that Gillies failed to pull his weight. Not in my assessment. Did the job he was paid to do. Didn't see too many having a pop at Harry Kane the other night for failing to be everywhere on the pitch and making last ditch tackles. Thank heaven for the sake of the national team that he knows where he will make the biggest impact and he stuck his two chances away. And for those who like to pick up on the details of what might get their knees jerking, I am not for a moment likening Gillies to Kane in terms of ability, just the application to the job he was on the field to do.
Yeah I agree. Gillies was never going to please the supporters who love the headless chickens like Cartman or Dowson.
For me he did the job he was in the team to do. Don't know what his critics were expecting. Yes he could be inconsistent but so is Thompson, yet he doesn't get anyway near the same level of criticism.
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First of all I must say I was a fan of Gillies and was pleased when he signed a new contract. But, secondly, I have to agree with those who said that he never tracked back when it was needed.
To compare him with Kane and expectations of making last ditch tackles is ridiculous.. Most managers like to have their wide men track back and cover the opposition wing back.. I can't think of any manager in any division who would have a wide midfielder playing a role solely to provide the forward line. All players have a responsibility to defend, football is a team game. You don't have to be a "headless chicken" or make "last ditch tackles" to be a team player.
Gillies did go missing for spells in games especially when the pitches were not to his suiting.
As I said earlier, I liked Gillies but he did have his faults and not doing the defensive grafting side of the game was one of them.
I'm sorry but that's not his game. He's simply not a defensive-minded player so I'm not sure what you're expecting of him.
You're making it sound like he's refusing to do any defensive work at all, which is simply untrue. He closed down, he'd try to win the ball back, he definitely put his foot in. He just didn't charge back like a nutter, or slide in for a lost cause (which is a pre-requisite for Darlo fans' recognition these days). Not because he won't do defensive work, but because it's not the player he is.
So if I'm honest, I think you're inventing things to fit your argument. I also don't understand your criticism of en passant's Kane comparison - the comparison of Kane not being expected to do defensive work is a perfectly fair one to me. You can't criticise a player for not doing something if that's not his role. And I don't think we should be expecting Gillies to be a defensive workhorse.
Gillies is an attacking creative player, good with ball at feet, good at set pieces, and aimed to set up the strikers more. That's why we got a fair return of goals and assists from him (his main function in the team). He wasn't the type of player to offer defensive cover in the way David Ferguson would have done on the left of midfield.
Being brutally honest, I don't think playing out wide suited Gillies, for the reasons I've suggested above. I think he'd have been better more centrally, or playing off Styche. That only ever happened fleetingly.
To me, that's the reason Saint Tommy has got rid - Gillies simply wasn't the type of player he wanted. Saint Tommy wants players who will move the ball quicker, who are a bit more balanced in that they're more solid defensively.