Can people put their post match moans on this thread please - just so I can ignore it and not have to read the thoughts of people who sound as though they are about to slash their wrists.
I never normally moan, but having watched that game I'm gonna start this thread off. If we are going to have to rely on Gray & Varney to score our goals this season then we are doomed!! Ha ha ha.
Other than that, I thought we had a good go today in difficult circumstances. It's not easy to see where the goals are going to come from though.
Referee had a shocker, how that was a sending off i don't know. Youga barely touched Priskin (if at all) and even then Hudson was also alongside him so how he could send him off i don't know. The lino was level with them and didn't even flag. But that aside i thought we battled well in the 2nd half without really creating much. Fortune was at fault for the goal, appalling attempt to defend the ball, missed it, and Smith ran on and scored. We created little. Gray will only score goals if we get decent crosses into the box, and we didn't do that. Varney had one half chance when put through by Sam but the covering defender put him off. The one positive, Bailey. He looks like he'll be a decent signing. Battled for everything, won some headers, got some tackles in, not afraid to put it about, and is prepared to shoot from outside the box, something i rarely see from Charlton players. Actually there is a 2nd positive. Hudson. The bloke is a rock. If he gets injured, god help us.
echo that abouut Hudson - that he had a great game today and won all the headers.
game was not helped by the ref & lino. ref was awful & priskin should not been on the pitch before tangling with Youga. He had already been booked & had clattered both Hudson & Fortune before that. lino was a complete joke. a couple of times the ball was at least a foot over the line and still no flag for a throw.
all that said - as soon as we went a goal down you knew the game was lost. At the moment we couldn't fight our way out of a wet paper bag. Only positives today was Hudson & the back 4 (minus Youga) Bailey improved as the game went on & we actually did better with 10 men tahn we did with 11.
Varney & Gray look all out of sorts - dickson needs a run of games & he'll start scoring. Shame we let big Chris go,,,4 in 2 now and he'll have enough goals by xmas to beat all our strikers put togther.
I went today and my thoughts on the game are as follows. We huffed and puffed, were in the game right up to the end but frankly didn't create much and a draw would only have rewarded the effort rather than any creative achievement. I have to confess that I was distracted at when Watford were attacking for their goal so I'm not sure who was responsible for allowing Smith to get behind us.
As for the players
Weaver - decent game good handling, even managed to catch a few crosses
Semedo - looked OK but doesn't get forward enough for me
Hudson - Really excellent, won pretty much everything, brave as well - my MOM.
Fortune - Partnered Hudson well, didn't do much wrong from where I sat
Youga - Penalised too much for use of arms, looked assured though. Sending off seemed harsh - I'd like to see it again
Racon - Neat and tidy, also good in the tackle
Bailey - decent debut after a quiet start - couple of shots and tried hard to get us going second half
Bouazza - One half decent run, not much else then subbed for tactical reasons
Sam - less skillful version of Thomas - some huff and puff but seems reluctant to really force things, poor crosses - dropped to full back and did OK in the final 15 mins or so
Gray - Worked hard but never got a sniff
Varney - One chance when went through on goal which was smothered by Poom otherwise not at the races
Subs
Basey - Good performance - I'd like to have seen him play left midfield
Holland - Huffed and puffed - shot over from the edge of the box - not able to influence the game
Dickson - One long range shot on target - looks lively and I like to see him start
I can't fault the players for effort, they were up against a well organised a physical side. We needed a break and just didn't get one all game.
Right , so we have totally dismantled an average/poor premiership outfit...
We now have an average Championship team, that we are hoping with some burning thunderbolt of inspiration, some how get us into the playoffs and we start the ride again....
Our front line is not very good, our midfield has the creativity of a hard working ex premiership proffesional in the twilight of his career...
I don't understand why the board have panicked.....surely could have waited for this year's parachute payment to run out....something is terribly amiss here. I pity anyone who has bought a season ticket because they are selling the club from under you.....the first year my father didn't get a season ticket because my mother is ill... it was the right move.
It's not about panic, it's about five directors putting in £15m of their own money with the proviso that the club trim it's sails so that they don't have to put in another £15m in twelve months time. If you were putting your money into an enterprise knowing that it could not cover it's own costs, would you do it?These guys aren't mega-rich like Abramovitch. It's not a problem for him because he will be make another few Billion each year. These guy's have modest fortunes that they've built up over many years.
Nicky Weaver made some Premier League stops especially as we were chasing it towards the end
The Bad:
The Referee - decision for the red card was just dreadful, as above - he wasn't the last man, the linesman was 10 yards away and didn't flag and I don't even think it was necessarily a foul
Andy Gray obviously has got to have better service but anyone who thought he worked hard? I must be seeing a different game, I see Luke running his nuts off every week and not being able to hit a barn door but Gray rarely closes down and looks a lazy barsteward to me
Fortune - Went to Vicarage Road in our relegation season and saw him cost us two goals, I thought that was the end of him. Somehow we've ended up with him in our first XI this season... he looks awkward and i've always got my heart in mouth watching him. I haven't seen the highlights but to me his effort at defending the aerial ball for their goal was total crap.
All in all I think we didn't have enough going forward but without the Referee and Racon's blow we could've got a point.
I saw Gray challenge for ball after ball in the air and put it about. He is no Varney because he doesn't have any pace, his job (until Youga went) was to play slightly behind Varney and try to get him in on goal - it worked once, the rest of the time they just seemed to be on a different wavelength to me. Varney huffed and puffed but he looked desparate to me at times.
I suspect it was Fortunes mistake for the goal but as I said earlier I didn't see what happened. As for the rest of the time I thought Fortune played alright. In Hudson, he has the perfect partner as Hudson is decisive and a ball magnet when it's in the air.
I agree with your final point ISLS, we just didn't threaten enough and if Pards thought we really threatened in the second half well he's guilding the lily in my view. Yes we had a couple of half chances and the odd shot that whistled high and wide. How many saves did Poom make, one was it? Two if you count the long range effort by Dickson. Not enough quality in the final third did for us, not defensive frailties in my view.
In my opinion we desperately need a centre half and we desperately need to do something different up front... whether it's from loans or small buys
We have two CBs at the club and everyone realises this must change and I'm sure the wheels are in motion
As for upfront the lads at the moment as you say Bing seem a world apart, it's a shame because on paper they should hit it off. For a big lad I think Gray is not a great header of the ball, he challenged as you say Bing but I can remember him winning about two balls in the air all day and one of them was because the defender didn't jump - maybe it's his jumping that lets him down? I think £2million on him is pretty dire to be honest, particularly if you aren't going to play around his 6-yard box poaching style.
Up front we've got: Varney, Gray, Todorov, Dickson, Fleetwood, McLeod.
That looks bundles on paper but when one is long term out, another has a chequered record to say the least, two are young upstarts, that leaves two who currently aren't gelling as well as you'd hope...
Premiership strikers who aren't getting a look in:
Kamara, John and Healy at Fulham - already got a rapport established there Helgusson at Bolton Ched Evans at Man City Nugent at Pompey Jason Roberts at Blackburn Connolly at Sunderland Henri Camara at Wigan
Does anyone know anything about Todorov? In full time training? Ready within a month? It seems to have gone dead on him and personally though I think he's a cut above when fit I think we will only see him about ten times this season and could've done with him off the wage bill if that was the case.
We seem to be asking Gray to do a flick-on, holding up the ball type of role when he clearly isn't all that good at it. Iwelumo on the other hand... Should never have got rid. The flack he got on here was unbelievable. Good player.
just seen yesterdays iwelumo goals. 1st a typical iwelumo goal. cross from the right headed into the bottom corner. 2nd a tap in after another player had hit the post.
Big Chris the fox in the box eh? I always thought he was a decent player for his type. The biggest problem was our players lumping it up to him every time they had the ball, rather than passing it about. That was down to players who were lacking in confidence. I'm sure our manager knew this as well as we did though but he didn't seem to be able to draw them away from this. The other problem was the lack of quality delivery from wide areas once Reid went. I went to Bristol City, after the best part of a good game with both sides having decent periods we won the game when Reid got down the left and put in a fantastic cross which Big Chris buried with his head.
Good for Iwelumo and his great start to the season ............. but he's getting a service, "1st a typical iwelumo goal. cross from the right headed into the bottom corner" ..........and even if he was still at Charlton he wouldn't be scoring, because no one is consistantly putting in crosses or creating chances.
Even with Ronaldo up front, let alone Gray, we wouldn't be scoring - because our wide men/midfield are not creating chances.
Yeeep I guess I agree. I don't think I've seen one of our central midfielders make a run past one of our strikers in about a year. And what with the lack of crosses despite masses of wing-play (though with a lack of rb/lb overlaps), we appear to be playing a fundamentally flawed brand of football. Nevermind the goals, where are the chances going to come from?
I hate to go back to the support thing, but I was actually slagged off for clapping the team off yesterday, by some sad bitter arse who goes by the name of John the Rat, and his brain dead gang of friends.
People haven't mentioned Youga's performance on this thread much................ He was dreadful! He dwindled on the ball and when he did have it he lumped it up the pitch or out of play most of the time. He seems very short of confidence. It was probably one of the worst performances by a left back I have seen in a while. He can't get much worse than that surely?!
As for the ref and linesman. They were diabolical. The linesman seemed completely scared. He should have been doing a league two game. Twice the ball went out of play when the wind carried it and he let play go on. I was in direct line of sight with the touch line. The ref I thought got the sending off wrong but I'm not so sure from watching it on the Championship this morning.
Were you sat near the left hand touch line about 10 rows from the front? There was an old woman sat next to me constantly swearing which you might have heard. If so, I saw the bloke you call John the Rat swear at you. Not impressed by him. The players tried and unfortunately it wasn't enough. It's only the second game of the season and I don't think we were that bad.
Comments
Would like to hear how the new fellas got on, and how the team overall looked, from those brave souls who travelled up to 'north london'.
Other than that, I thought we had a good go today in difficult circumstances. It's not easy to see where the goals are going to come from though.
from the midfield that is. I wasn't there only just got back from hols today so nt heard anything on the game.
strikers are only as good as the chances they get and we've hardly got th most creative midfield at the moment
But that aside i thought we battled well in the 2nd half without really creating much. Fortune was at fault for the goal, appalling attempt to defend the ball, missed it, and Smith ran on and scored.
We created little. Gray will only score goals if we get decent crosses into the box, and we didn't do that. Varney had one half chance when put through by Sam but the covering defender put him off.
The one positive, Bailey. He looks like he'll be a decent signing. Battled for everything, won some headers, got some tackles in, not afraid to put it about, and is prepared to shoot from outside the box, something i rarely see from Charlton players.
Actually there is a 2nd positive. Hudson. The bloke is a rock. If he gets injured, god help us.
game was not helped by the ref & lino. ref was awful & priskin should not been on the pitch before tangling with Youga. He had already been booked & had clattered both Hudson & Fortune before that. lino was a complete joke. a couple of times the ball was at least a foot over the line and still no flag for a throw.
all that said - as soon as we went a goal down you knew the game was lost. At the moment we couldn't fight our way out of a wet paper bag. Only positives today was Hudson & the back 4 (minus Youga) Bailey improved as the game went on & we actually did better with 10 men tahn we did with 11.
Varney & Gray look all out of sorts - dickson needs a run of games & he'll start scoring. Shame we let big Chris go,,,4 in 2 now and he'll have enough goals by xmas to beat all our strikers put togther.
As for the players
Weaver - decent game good handling, even managed to catch a few crosses
Semedo - looked OK but doesn't get forward enough for me
Hudson - Really excellent, won pretty much everything, brave as well - my MOM.
Fortune - Partnered Hudson well, didn't do much wrong from where I sat
Youga - Penalised too much for use of arms, looked assured though. Sending off seemed harsh - I'd like to see it again
Racon - Neat and tidy, also good in the tackle
Bailey - decent debut after a quiet start - couple of shots and tried hard to get us going second half
Bouazza - One half decent run, not much else then subbed for tactical reasons
Sam - less skillful version of Thomas - some huff and puff but seems reluctant to really force things, poor crosses - dropped to full back and did OK in the final 15 mins or so
Gray - Worked hard but never got a sniff
Varney - One chance when went through on goal which was smothered by Poom otherwise not at the races
Subs
Basey - Good performance - I'd like to have seen him play left midfield
Holland - Huffed and puffed - shot over from the edge of the box - not able to influence the game
Dickson - One long range shot on target - looks lively and I like to see him start
I can't fault the players for effort, they were up against a well organised a physical side. We needed a break and just didn't get one all game.
We now have an average Championship team, that we are hoping with some burning thunderbolt of inspiration, some how get us into the playoffs and we start the ride again....
Our front line is not very good, our midfield has the creativity of a hard working ex premiership proffesional in the twilight of his career...
we not very good... end of story...
Oh well, as long as we dont go down so be it.....
(this is a moan thread right)
Hudson is a rock
Bailey showed promise and worked his nuts off
Racon looked tidy but will now be sorely missed
Nicky Weaver made some Premier League stops especially as we were chasing it towards the end
The Bad:
The Referee - decision for the red card was just dreadful, as above - he wasn't the last man, the linesman was 10 yards away and didn't flag and I don't even think it was necessarily a foul
Andy Gray obviously has got to have better service but anyone who thought he worked hard? I must be seeing a different game, I see Luke running his nuts off every week and not being able to hit a barn door but Gray rarely closes down and looks a lazy barsteward to me
Fortune - Went to Vicarage Road in our relegation season and saw him cost us two goals, I thought that was the end of him. Somehow we've ended up with him in our first XI this season... he looks awkward and i've always got my heart in mouth watching him. I haven't seen the highlights but to me his effort at defending the aerial ball for their goal was total crap.
All in all I think we didn't have enough going forward but without the Referee and Racon's blow we could've got a point.
I suspect it was Fortunes mistake for the goal but as I said earlier I didn't see what happened. As for the rest of the time I thought Fortune played alright. In Hudson, he has the perfect partner as Hudson is decisive and a ball magnet when it's in the air.
I agree with your final point ISLS, we just didn't threaten enough and if Pards thought we really threatened in the second half well he's guilding the lily in my view. Yes we had a couple of half chances and the odd shot that whistled high and wide. How many saves did Poom make, one was it? Two if you count the long range effort by Dickson. Not enough quality in the final third did for us, not defensive frailties in my view.
We have two CBs at the club and everyone realises this must change and I'm sure the wheels are in motion
As for upfront the lads at the moment as you say Bing seem a world apart, it's a shame because on paper they should hit it off. For a big lad I think Gray is not a great header of the ball, he challenged as you say Bing but I can remember him winning about two balls in the air all day and one of them was because the defender didn't jump - maybe it's his jumping that lets him down? I think £2million on him is pretty dire to be honest, particularly if you aren't going to play around his 6-yard box poaching style.
Up front we've got: Varney, Gray, Todorov, Dickson, Fleetwood, McLeod.
That looks bundles on paper but when one is long term out, another has a chequered record to say the least, two are young upstarts, that leaves two who currently aren't gelling as well as you'd hope...
Premiership strikers who aren't getting a look in:
Kamara, John and Healy at Fulham - already got a rapport established there
Helgusson at Bolton
Ched Evans at Man City
Nugent at Pompey
Jason Roberts at Blackburn
Connolly at Sunderland
Henri Camara at Wigan
Does anyone know anything about Todorov? In full time training? Ready within a month? It seems to have gone dead on him and personally though I think he's a cut above when fit I think we will only see him about ten times this season and could've done with him off the wage bill if that was the case.
1st a typical iwelumo goal. cross from the right headed into the bottom corner.
2nd a tap in after another player had hit the post.
Even with Ronaldo up front, let alone Gray, we wouldn't be scoring - because our wide men/midfield are not creating chances.
That's my moan
As for the ref and linesman. They were diabolical. The linesman seemed completely scared. He should have been doing a league two game. Twice the ball went out of play when the wind carried it and he let play go on. I was in direct line of sight with the touch line. The ref I thought got the sending off wrong but I'm not so sure from watching it on the Championship this morning.
And how on earth did Priskin not get sent off?!
Were you sat near the left hand touch line about 10 rows from the front? There was an old woman sat next to me constantly swearing which you might have heard. If so, I saw the bloke you call John the Rat swear at you. Not impressed by him. The players tried and unfortunately it wasn't enough. It's only the second game of the season and I don't think we were that bad.