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Mark Gower

Forums New posts
Magnum PI

Magnum PI

Private Detective
Hello All

My first post to the site.. been reading for a long while though saving up my vitriol and wizenedness for this fateful day

But anyway.. being a home and an away man i get to see Southend alot, and there is one amazing constant that never ceases to fail to amaze me, and that is that :-

You can always tell what type of game Mark Gower will have by his first 5 minutes. He is both the most inconsistent performer for the blues, and yet also the most consistent in that he is either completely awful or completely brilliant, and you can work it out after the first 5 minutes..

Dont get me wrong. I'm no boo boy, and i think Gower is probably our most latently talented player, but you just know when it isnt going to be his day, and so should Tilson by now.. 70 mins was far too late yesterday to replace him.
 
I agree with this 100%. On his day, G man can blow away anyone in this division, by when it is not his day he would not make a sunday league side. It is very frustrating, and I do agree he should have been replaced earlier.

However Magnum PI (welcome to the zone by the way), if you are a home and away man, you should know Tilly will never make a sub before the hour mark ;)
 
welcome & you are right about MG, how SFrancis was rated lower for the game I dont know. MG may get better with Mulgrow as he did with Hammell - we shall see. Anybody seen Kev?!

Dash
 
also i think gower can have a terrible game yet in so many matches in the past he either scores or sets up a goal. great player but he has no bottle. he deffinately needs to sort that out.

my personal opinion yesterday of him is that he had his worst ever game i have seen him play. there must have been 10-15 terrible crosses/corners. he simply was not good enough. he knew it himself and his head was down, even after we scored. i would have given him ten minutes after half time to prove himself and if he didn't then taken him off. was very suprised he got 70 mins or so.

most important thing it that we got the 3 poinnts, marky needs to keep his head up and just completely forget about his performance and play how we know he can against millwall.
 
He had a good January... nobody really stood out for me as we had a bit of a poor month but he was one that came out of it with some credit! He had a bad game yesterday but hes had so many good games in a Blues shirt we don't need to get on his back, thats up to Tilly! Against Orient he brought Black off when I think most felt they would rather it was Gower... this week he brought Gower off as it seems most people wanted him to - but it still wasn't early enough?!? Give him some credit. Also its not true to say if Gower has a bad first 5 mins then we should take him off... wasn't against Swindon he has a fairly poor 90 minutes and popped up with the late winner!!! Given the chance he always has the ability to pull something out of the bag... if only people would get off his back :(

But then its not only him - the crowd only seem to focus on abusing a few select players... currently its reserved for Gower, Hunt and Harrold. While I can understand criticism of Harrold I think Hunt and Gower have been 2 of our best players this season.
 
ShrimplyThe Best

The thread isnt really having a go at Gower, more at how he is either great or bad and nothing in the middle. The difference between good players, and great players is that great players do it week in week out, and that is why Gower plays in the lower leagues
 
I realise that and as I've just said he can have a poor start and still have an effect on a game so I disagree... he shouldn't be pulled off everytime he has a poor start to a game because he is still capable of scoring a winning goal!!!

League 1 is perhaps his level... but at this level he can be one of the best around :)
 
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It would take a brave manager to pull someone off after 5 mins, especially when the manager in question doesnt really like to sub anyone until 78 minutes..

anyway.. i bet he has a blinder on tuesday, and might even go and stick a tenner on him for first scorer
 
ShrimplyTheBest said:
Also its not true to say if Gower has a bad first 5 mins then we should take him off... wasn't against Swindon he has a fairly poor 90 minutes and popped up with the late winner!!! Given the chance he always has the ability to pull something out of the bag... if only people would get off his back :(
Click to expand...

Spot on and I was going to quote the Swindon example as well. Even though Tommy Black has largely outshone Gower in the last few games, Gower remains our primary source for creativity and unlocking the opposition defence and it staggers me how much stick he gets - there's a section of the South Upper near me that really have it in for him, sarcastically applauding any mistake he makes.

Gower was woeful yesterday but I'm never in favour of substituting him unless he's genuinely knackered - and in fairness that looked the case yesterday - because, as Swindon at home proved, he just needs one moment of magic to transform a game.

One aspect I particularly love about Gower is that even if he's not having the best of games, he never hides and is always demanding the ball. That's a terrific quality to have and one that will probably only be truely recognised when he leaves the club. That may be as soon as the summer as I believe he is out of contract, and I think we'll have a hell of a job replacing him if he does go.
 
Kris said:
One aspect I particularly love about Gower is that even if he's not having the best of games, he never hides and is always demanding the ball.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It always surprises me when I read people on here questioning his bottle. I'd have thought that it takes a brave player to constantly demand the ball no matter how poorly he is playing and how much stick he's getting from the crowd.
 
I thought Gower was poor in the first half but slowly came back into it as the game went on and I acutally thought he was good towards the end.
 
he is still our most likely to create something from nothing. i wasn't there and have seen him play some shockers... but looking at that bench there wasn't anyone who has proven they can:
a) change a game
b) create something from nothing a la Gower

he might have had a stinker, but I think Tilly would rather give him a decent amount of time to redeem himself, IMO he has more than earnt it
 
Beefy said:
Exactly. It always surprises me when I read people on here questioning his bottle. I'd have thought that it takes a brave player to constantly demand the ball no matter how poorly he is playing and how much stick he's getting from the crowd.
Click to expand...

He hasnt got any bottle in the sense that every tackle he goes in for is always half-hearted and he rarely comes out with the ball. Not like the other threee in midfield who all go in 100% commited and come out more often than not with the ball
 
Scannell looks well worth the risk to me.. especially against hartlepool who were there for the taking.. we didnt kill them off and it could have cost us

Gower didnt step up on saturday and it wouldnt necessarily surprise me to see Tilson rest him .. he very rarely subs before the last 10 mins.. and the last time i recall he did that was Leon Clarke at Donny.

I hope not, as i think Gower is due a good game..
 
Magnum PI - a great first post, and a great tache too!

:)

I know what you mean about Gower, but I guess he's kept on because he - perhaps more than any other player at the club - has the ability to turn the game on its head with a single piece of brilliance.

Here's hoping we see one or two of those tomorrow...

Matt
 
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