Mark Gower

[Beefy]

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

I'd guess that Gower chases more balls and goes into more challenges than most players with his sort of injuries would do. Lets not forget the type of serious back injuries that he's had. Anyone who has ever had back problems even temporarily should wonder how it's even possible to play football in that condition.

As someone else said in another thread, Gower offers more defensively than Tommy Black does.

 

[bigmolt]

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

You weren't at borient last weekend then. The G man was still chasing lost causes and went in tackling hard. Even in last Min's. He not my fav player but another loyal servant with a lot of quality that people slag off. It makes no sense to me.
The abuse he was getting early in first half from the back of w block in west stand was disgusting. When a lot of us stood up and applauded him to try and drown out the abuse he was getting. We were told we were a load of F 'ing wan@ers. Please don't blame the blue voice for this as it was mostly them that tried to encourage the team and Gower . It was about 12 idiots singing about someones sex life doing the barracking .

 

[C'mon you Shrimpers]

. 70 mins was far too late yesterday to replace him.[/quote]

was that before or after his contribution to the equaliser. Let me see. Oh yes.
Even when Gower is having a dodgey game like Saturday he is quite capable of doing the things that make a difference on a football pitch and that is why he's in the team. Few of the others have this spark.


PS if you watch he replay he gets the ball, brings it forward , passes to Revell runs into the box taking away the defenders leaving Macca with the simple job of volleying the return ball from revell into the net

PPS the last bit was a joke BTW.

 

[hockleyshrimper]

Gower gets a lot of abuse, and it clearly affects him. He often looks in the crowd when someone shouts at him and you can see he doesnt look happy, even swearing back at people on a few occasions!!! Im sure he knows when he is having a bad game, but he is our most creative player, and we should encourage him because he is much better when he is happy.
Scannel doesnt look anywhwere near match fit to start yet so i wouldnt call him an option yet. So, in my opinion, Gower would be the first name on the team sheet.

 

[Blue Streak]

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 put this theory to the test last night. After 5 minutes i turned to my son and said Gower was gonna be awful tonight (based on the above theory). Never had i spoken a true word. Simply pointless having him on the pitch. Two good crosses and one decent corner simply isnt earning your wages in my book. How many times did he just stand as players ran past him ? How many times did he avoid tackles ? How many times was he walking aimlessly around when he should have been offering himself as an outlet ? If he has a medical condition or something then please tell us so and we may have some simpathy but i'd be furious if i was on the bench being kept out by his lacklustre displays of late. Oddly enough he didnt stop running for 90 minutes against Orient. He rarely got into a canter last night. What is the problem ?:confused:

 

[Jam_Man]

Didnt go last night so cant comment on that, but against Hartlepool even though he played poorly he was continually calling for the ball and making himself available.

Generally he doesnt hide in my opinion.

Hopefully he is due a good game against Bournmouth on Saturday.

 

[Magnum PI]

Blue Streak.. See its true...
We can try it out again on saturday against Bournemouth

He was as dreadful as a few others were last night..
I remember thinking how poor our bench was and that if we fell behind what were we going to do? Wondering why we have no strikers on bench, but Hooper at Hereford, and Harrold nowhere in sight of 1st team yet being fit. Very very naive management.