Not a sarky question, im genuinely intrigued.
I follow Charlton religiously and know based on what ive seen on our players their capabilities and strengths and weaknesses but outside that I havent really got a Danny about the majority of players in our league and the one above and below.
Obviously if a player has a blinder against us they stand out but usually ive forgotten about them a couple of weeks later.
With all the players we have signed and been linked with and the optimism that has come with it Im curious as to where those who seem to have knowledge of them get it from.
Surely it's not merely garnered from the 4.5 minutes of highlights between Lizzie's inane ramblings on the Football League Show?!!
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The others, some have done well against us but others I personally don't know ie Evina, Stephens and never seen Alonso.
For me they are nearly all players who been there and done it in this "pub" league. ie Hayes was promoted twice, Wiggins and Hollands made the play-offs, Green did well for Daggers
I'm with you Rodders..............over the past couple of seasons I have only missed a handful of games (none home and about 6-8 away) and i couldn't tell you adam from eve !! only a few named players can I say impressed me (Boyd & Mckail-Smith from Posh to name a couple) but 95% of the opposition pass me by.
good job I'm not the manager & I just hope Powell knows his onions !!
Its something thats puzzled me over recent seasons from reading forums and its impressive how much folk seem to know.
Obviously in the premiership theres few players that can escape the attention of even the most lazy armchair fan but once outside that particular goldfish bowl it's not as widely reported and the media loveathon with the top flight isnt as amorous with the lower leagues.
I think i am quite one dimensional when i watch Charlton in that i just focus on our players and am too preoccupied with urging the ball into the back of the net to appreciate any wider aspects.
combination of those two at this level is good enough for me at the moment.
but of course its only how they do when wearing the shirt that matters.
Excelent Thread Rodney...... Part of me goes with the flow but I have a young friend that a lot of you will know doubt know (Seb's bro) and goes to all home and away games and I agree entirelly with Golfaddick, in recent seasons the only players that stand out for me was Mackail Smith and the other striker that left plus the Millwall squad. He was hoping we would get Green and Wiggins although I didn't take much notice of them.. (well I am biased) and with Millwall they had that "hunger and determination and all their players new their strengths and weaknesses and played to their bes of their abilities and player for the shirt". Whilst I detest their hooligans I was hoping that someday that we would get a group of players that could do this. I since looked at the stats of Hayes (very good signing at this level), Green (good crosser and contributes to goals), the others i don't know too much about (apart from Colchester and to an extent Oldham that were tight fisted when it came to conceding goals). For the first time in about 7 years, and I have been following them since 1986 where I supported Liverpool (don't ask loved their team of Dalglish, Keegan and co), I feel very optimistic about next season and the direction we are going. It does sat a lot when some of the players we have been linked to had Championship clubs after them as well, ie Green and Wiggins but as soon as they saw us they had decided this is the club for them. They obviously know whats round the corne which we are not privvy to. Onwards and Upwards. I feel we are all on the start of the new rollercoaster and I want to enjoy it !! (I am only on my 2nd glass of wine !!)
Not being critical, but take it from those who follow the division - we have done very well. Know less about Alonso though tbh.
;o)
One thing I have noticed is the turnover of players every club has each summer.
Operative word there being seem. What they really know is an entirely different story.
We'll know if they're any good once they start doing the business for us. Plenty of good signings on paper turn into shockers and plenty of uninspiring signings turn into very soild players - Curbs made a career out of confounding fans' opinions, even down to his most exciting signing (Rommedahl) being a complete turkey.
Also like to read about jeff vetere covered end juniors view cos he seems to have his head screwed on
But at the end of the day once I've seen em ten times I'll know where we're at with most of these fellas and I'll be able to tell you where we're going :-)
As was said before, a player catches your eye, then when on sky you look out for him - sometimes they don't play up to the standard you saw previously, sometimes they play even better. Then you watch again - you get a feel for the best players. If you don't do this then you are not going to know who they are.
But if you want to trust anybody, Charlton would have watched these players much more than us and deemed their performances/abilities worthy of significant fees for this level.
Bournemouth supporters although disappointed to see Wiggins go reckon he has his weakness. Not a good header of the ball and gets caught out at diagonal crosses, good in possession and going forward not the best at defending.
Time will tell but it is also about the blend of players and what style you want to play. The fact he is comfortable in possession fits with Powell's idea of playing style. Powell also should be a good judge of a full back.
A bit of jealousy for sure, but they are looking at us and know that we are doing the right things. A year ago it was Southampton who were buying up all the available talent in L1, now it's us. The thing that should be remembered though is that they only secured promotion on the last day of the regular season.
This is a brave thread and I totally agree with the thrust of it.
While delighted we are signing new players and the club looking ambitious most if us have very little idea who these guys are or what they are capable of and some of the praise is totally over the top.
This is feeling like the Emperor's new clothes or at least Sir Chris Powell's new clothes.
Two seasons ago there were many occasions when an opposition player from Leeds, Millwall, Norwich or even Swindon shone or showed a glimpse of real football class which had you reaching for the back page of the programme to check who they were.
Last season, I genuinely thought all the teams except Brighton were very poor and played in a very similar style. They were like clone teams- Oldham, Notts County, Bristol Rovers; its all just a dull grey blur. I remember being particularly disappointed by Bournemouth. I genuinely can't remember reaching for my programme for any individual opposition players except in the context of a bad foul or moment of comedy.
Therefore I am slightly cautious about reaching for the champagne because we have signed a much "sought-after" midfielder from Oldham or Dagenham & Redbridge or even Bournemouth. They might be the pick of League 1 last season but that was a very poor crop indeed from what I saw of it. The Daggers were relegated not promoted after all so while these are positive developments I just dont understand the jubilation levels.
I hate to pee on everyone's bonfire but we still dont have a decent centre back in the entire squad or a midfield heavy-weight bruiser who can boss a game physically which is what we obviously lacked last season.