Gillingham take on the league leaders tonight with their manager demanding a change of mentality.
Harsh words have been said since a weekend loss at Barrow. The ability of the team hasn’t been questioned by manager John Coleman but the mentality has been.
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Coleman needs to decide how many changes to make for the match at Walsall and whether to bring anyone in who was left back in Kent at the weekend.
Coleman, speaking after the loss at Barrow, said: “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing. Whether you’re playing top of the league or bottom of the league. If you go out with a don’t care attitude you’ll get exactly what we got (on Saturday).
“The players didn’t care, in my opinion. It hasn’t happened on my watch more than three times in 25 years. That won’t happen again.
“The quality’s there. The mentality is absolutely terrible.”
The Gills head to Walsall without a win in their last nine games but Coleman won’t be accepting a lack of confidence as an excuse.
He said: “I know confidence is low, but that’s no excuse. You can’t have that as an excuse. That’s a ridiculous excuse.
“You’re a professional footballer. You’re paid to be a professional footballer. You’re paid to represent people. You’re paid to represent the club.
“I’m well paid, by the way. And the least, the very, very least you can do is run yourself into the ground.”
Coleman dropped recent signings Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Nelson Khumbeni to the bench at the weekend while Liverpool loanee Dominic Corness came on as a substitute for his debut.
Seven-goal leading scorer Jayden Clarke wasn’t involved.
Peterborough loan striker Jacob Wakeling made the trip to Barrow but wasn’t in the matchday squad. He hasn’t featured for the Gills since early December. Euan Williams is another player starved of action in recent weeks.
Coleman said: “People have just got to earn the right to play for Gillingham Football Club and they earn the right by working hard in training.
“You don’t become a better player because you haven’t played and the team’s lost.
“You’ve got to earn the right by how you train, how you work, what desire you’ve got to get on the pitch first and foremost, and then to stay on the pitch.
“I don’t take shirts off the players. Players take the shirts off themselves, or they give it back to somebody else. You don’t leave players out who are working their socks off or playing well.”
Coleman criticised the players for kicking it long too often at Barrow and said: “I can’t abide watching a team just kick the ball long and hope that the ball’s going to drop.
“Their centre-half put weight on! He’s heading the ball, he’s bringing it down on his chest. It’s senseless. We’ve got footballers who can pass the ball.”
Gillingham had a 58% pass success rate on the day.
They take on a Walsall team who sit top of League 2 but have been losing frequently in recent weeks. They’ve picked up just one point from their last four games.
Their three defeats of late, however, have all been away from home.
Walsall’s only league loss this season on their own turf came on October 1 when they were beaten 6-2 by Fleetwood.
The Saddlers boast the division’s best home record with 11 wins, three draws and that one solitary defeat, scoring 36 goals at the Bescott Stadium.
In contrast, the Gills have hit the net 25 times home and away, with just eight goals scored on their travels.
