Arsenal are top of the league!!!!!

[boundngag]

How long has it been since that happened last? Unbelievable! There are reasons to be optimistic; it looks like being a close season as there's not much between the teams, Giroud, Ramsey, Mertesacker and Jenkinson, have improved a lot, Vermaelen is still to come back, Sagna is a surprisingly good centre back and of course, Ozil is a world class player.

Having said that, I still think that Arsenal needed a centre back and a striker more than an attacking midfielder. They've needed another centre back for so long now, I find Wenger's refusal to address this somewhat baffling. However, that brings me to another positive - none of the other teams appear to be outstanding defensively, so this is not as big a problem as it was a few seasons ago.

[John]

Good result yesterday, Gillingham are bottom of L2 though after another dismal performance on Saturday

[larrydude]

Sorry to hear that John. The Steelers lost too. In fact, Every pro team in the city here lost yesterday.

[boundngag]

Not anymore, John! You've now climbed the table to 16th place! You're now above the likes of Coventry City (albeit with a points deduction) and Sheffield United (what's going on there?!)

Originally Posted by John

Good result yesterday, Gillingham are bottom of L2 though after another dismal performance on Saturday

[John]

We were there for the gam, a good result, perhap Martin Allen has finally gotten the team to gell. They certainly looked better than recent perfomances.

[boundngag]

Do Gillingham play good football? A long time ago, I used to watch my local team (albeit at a much lower level). The pitch was basically mud with sand on it the winter. A long ball would be played forward. 'Splat' it'd go. Stationary ball. If we were lucky and one of our players got to it first, it'd be crossed in. 'Splat' it'd go once more and there would be an ensuing goal mouth scramble. I presumes the Gills play better football than this?

[Annabelle]

They can if they leave Danny Kedwel and Cody Mcdonald up front from start to finish.

[John]

Originally Posted by boundngag

Do Gillingham play good football? A long time ago, I used to watch my local team (albeit at a much lower level). The pitch was basically mud with sand on it the winter. A long ball would be played forward. 'Splat' it'd go. Stationary ball. If we were lucky and one of our players got to it first, it'd be crossed in. 'Splat' it'd go once more and there would be an ensuing goal mouth scramble. I presumes the Gills play better football than this?

lol, yes they do. Things have moved on a great deal, the pitch is in good order, as it is at most L2 / L1 grounds these days. The team do play to a higher standard but so do all the other teams, it seems these days fitness and game preparation are all fairly much in the bag for the modern day league side. Where the difference lies is in creativity and that is where Gills have lacked so far this season. When the opposition are clearly outplaying us, Allen doesn't seem to have the ability to come up with a Plan B. He seems to lack tactical nouse.

In answer to your question though, yes, standards are a hell of a lot better