Im amazed that there are some people not necessarily on here but even within the Valley who are drowning their sorrows by saying we still have 13 games to go.
My reason - There isn't !! There are 10!!
We are 7 points behind the leaders at the moment and unless my calculations are wrong which ever way you look at it that will take 3 games to even get on level terms, therefore effectively there are 10 games left.
The other way of looking at it is there are 13 games left to claw back the 7 point deficit but it all amounts to the same equation at the end of the day.
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If we don't go up so be it but let people have their say on what they think the reasons are and highlight where THEY think it went wrong.
Repliers to this thread no damn well where im coming from on this matter but as usual twist and turn it to suit.
There are two angles of looking at my thread, the title of it and what F-Blocker said but either way somewhere along the line, and like it or not we have 7 points to make up and by my maths that will take three games out of 13.
What happens if we win our next 3 and Stike and Watford lose, how many games will be left? 10!
Not aimed at you though !
Yes Roy, he means you (aka Charlie Block)
When I sit down and trundle through the stats as I so often do I always make a note of the worst possible scenario first then follow that up by looking who has to play who.
I don't think many have understood where I am coming from on this topic, im not sitting here urging us to fail or laughing my nuts off because we have it all to do, Im just telling it as I see it personally and I cannot, however hard I try, get away from the fact that somewhere along the line we have to have 3 results better than the teams at the top and that is just to even get level.
I wish it wasn't the case I wouldn't be here pointing it out otherwise Id much rather it be the other way around with us at the top.
Now that's just being silly. I have to say reams, it's not the first time you've come out with something like that about this board and I struggle to see why. As you've said, boards like these are about opinions and not everyone is going to agree - but then you seem to get all stroppy when people don't agree with you. You can't have it both ways mate.
... but if that wasn't the way you meant it then that's all Kool And The Gang with me!
Realistically I think we'll end up somewhere similiar to where we are now, cant see past Watford and WBA.
Yesterday felt a bit like Sheff Utd at home last season, the result wasnt the end of the world, but we needed the 3 points a bit more than the opposition and we couldnt quite get them.
I still think we are a better side than Watford football wise, but their system works very well, especially away from home, credit where its due.
Far too sensible an approach for most of us here!:-)
3 weeks ago, West Brom were 4 points clear, so everybody said they were certainties for the title.
In October, Watford were 9 points clear .....it was just a question of who was going to go up with Watford.
6 weeks later, they'd lost a stack of matches, and were 5 points from top.
In October, Stoke were outside the top 6, now they're top.
10 years ago, it was the week of the then transfer deadline in March when we signed Eddie Youds & Danny Mills.
We then went on a great run from outside the playoff positions, finally finishing 4th.
We couldn't have foreseen that in the February .........
i guess for me, like oggy this division is so unpredictable. there are many games and points to play for, so much will depend on whether Gray, Halford, and Cook can be as inspirational as Youds, Mills and Healy were and what happens to the teams around us. I will gladly take an automatic postion if we can get it but wont be disheartened if we end up in the playoffs because this season has certainly been a darn more exciting than the last two seasons in the premiership.
So reams youre right there are 13 games left, lets give the team all the support we can until the end of the season.
Up the Addicks
We have got within 4 points on three seperate occasions then blown our next match and all im saying is we cannot keep wasting opportunities as a time will come when the games will run out and we find ourselves in a totally different battle and that is fighting to stay in the play offs.
Hey im behind us all the way but Pards and co only have themselves to blame and when we lose at home to the likes of Colchester, away at Scunthorpe and only take 2 points this week to waste another golden opportunity they deserve to be blamed as I have done but that does not detract away from my love and support for the club.
In order to stop the mopesing around the frustration needs to come out and when it does with me it does!!
Perhaps you were one of the unrealistic people before the start of the season who predicted us to run away with it.
I want us to finish in the top two of course but agree with you that we're not going to do it.
The difference is that I predicted at the start for us to finish 6th and at the moment we look like finishing 5th. So I find it hard to get too stressed about it. Why are you getting so stressed about it? Just take it easy and see how it pans out.
Up the Addicks!
Most importantly though as Ive said in the past I really do feel that the best way back up is in the first season.
If we fail I really do not know where the money will come from to strengthen again for next season which we will have to do to compete with the relegated clubs.
Don't necessarily agree that the first season is the easiest. Surely this is more a season of adjustment ,as it arguably was for West Brom last season. I'd be more worried at the moment as a West Brom fan. Next season we'll still have the parachute payment and they won't. Meanwhile if you look at the likely 3 coming down I'll be worried only about Derby as they know the league. Bolton, Fulham or Boro would get a shock, and although I think Reading would fare better I think their best players would be ripe pickings for other Premiership teams. All these relegated teams would have to assemble a new team as we have this season. I think you forget how our team is completely new: next season they'll be better, stronger and more prepared for it.
Reidy was a big loss, good money for a player of his injury prone career but I think that teams we played worried about him and had a game plan because whilst they shadowed him all over the pitch it created gaps for the likes of ZZ.
Now ZZ is the marked man but we have nobody else of their ability who can benefit from it.
That is the loss we have with Reid, im not just referring to his goals or ability to split defences and create something from nothing.
Up front we have a major problem. We have Gray and Varney who are as good or at least will be as Miller and Phillips at WBA, but the difference is they have a plan B with Bednar and Gera.
Im afraid Iwelumo and McLeod are in a different league when it comes to our options.
It's 16 games since Chris scored and in that time Varney has improved past him having played in a league lower last season and it does not auger well for our attacking options.
We will make the play offs but a loan striker has to be brought in I think somebody like Nugent or Zamora who can make a difference by changing a game.
This is where I think Pards is naive sometimes and it's been a good few seasons since I've been optimistic about who's on the bench who can come on and rescue the game for us. That trend has to change as it can only be good for the club that we have a proven goalscorer on the bench because the ones on the pitch would have to step up a level to keep their place
Reamsy, Smokin Ice, Jimmy and others are all putting good points into the mix but we mustn't forget, this is a very transitional season for us.
Look at Sheff Utd ...... they knew the division despite having a new manager, same nucleus of players, lost Jagielka but gained England international James Beattie. They must have fancied their chances but who would have predicted they would appear so helplessly adrift of even the playoffs?
But it might only take a decent run and they could come from nowhere to claim a playoff place ..... and perhaps promotion.
So, at this stage, don't write any club off.
And that includes Charlton or anyone in with even the faintest shout.
But for Pards and Charlton, this is our transitional season - as Smokin said, we are unsurprisingly consistantly inconsistant. Nice turn of phrase - but so far it applies to each of the top clubs and not just Charlton.
But we are becoming consistant and we are really threatening a run, if the stats are anything to go by.
Yesterday, was the 1st time we conceded 2 goals since New Year's Day and in those 10 League matches, weve only lost twice - or once in 9 games, if you like.
Most of the Division would think that's a decent run but not for us because we've only won 3 of those games (2 against then play off sides, one of which is now top). Our main problem is, we're creating chances but not scoring enough to seal the win and are taking often only 1 point instead of all 3. We do lack that cutting edge.
That's the biggest issue.
The other point, Watford highlighted yesterday. We are still not physically dominant enough, especially in the air.
We are a bit lightweight for this division and Pard's to my mind hasn't really addressed that successfully.
This is true but with the quality we have compared to most others, we should be able to pass around the lumps we come up against. The problem is we haven't quite gelled as a team. Yesterday both goals we created were from excellent skillfull team play, we just don't do it enough. Against Palarse, admittedly a much weaker team than Watford, we passed it around with aplomb and they chased shadows for most of the game. Much of that was down to Magic and to a lesser extent Paddy, breaking up play and always finding Charlton players with their lay offs. We kept the ball really well. That just didn't happen yesterday, especially in the second half. I feel we have the makings of a quality team, it's just a question of whether we can set up the run we will need to get us to the top spots. My gut feeling is that our best chance of doing it is still ahead of us, by coming with a late run.
I think there was a case for playing Sodje yesterday, there was also a case for having Semedo on the bench in case we needed to shut up shop. To be fair to Reams, he's really been saying this in some of his posts and his points are valid. What we don't know is how fit Sodje is as he's been out since boxing day. What we know about Pards is that he is more likely to try and get a third goal, than shore things up. I suspect that yesterday he thought he would need attacking options on the bench bearing in mind the game would be tight. I don't think he expected to be 2-0 up at half-time and then when they got a goal back, didn't expect us to concede a second immediately. But shit happens. He threw attacking options on in an attempt to win the game but we just couldn't fashion the chances to win it.
I hope that Pards learns something from yesterday. Maybe gung-ho is his way but sometimes boxing clever works and switching to 4-5-1 may have been the right move at half-time but he didn't have Semedo on the bench. Personally I would also look at setting the team up differently away from home. The fullbacks are often hemmed in away and I would go 4-5-1 with Varney wide and Gray or Big Chris as the loan striker.