David Jones won the game for Wednesday today with his bold and aggressive substitutions.
I thought we coped very well in the first half against a very physical and direct Wednesday side. Matthew Taylor was excellent. Wagstaff looked very lively. Whilst we didn't create much during the first period, at half-time I thought we had a decent chance of going on to win the game.
Jackon's goal almost immediately after the break was the result of a terrific move; the first real quality we'd seen all afternoon. However, we then failed to build on the platform created.
Instead, Jones seized the initiative. By bringing on Leroy Lita he freed the impressive Michail Antonio to move out to the left from which position he was a serious threat. We were still well in the game though, but when Jones upped the ante another notch with the introduction of the brutish Madine we simply failed to respond. We needed to give Wednesday, and the lumbering Gardner and Llera in particular, something to think about, but were unable to do so. Nor did we do anything to counter the serious aerial threat now posed.
It was no surprise when Wednesday scored, nor that the monstrous Reda Johnson scored it from a very straightforward diagonal ball into the box. In the end I'm afraid that the more positive side won the game and no doubt they'll believe deservedly so.
Very disappointing because I'd say that Wednesday are by some margins the poorest footballing side to play at the Valley this season.
Powell does have a blind spot when it comes to making subs, there've been other occasions, e.g. Hull at home during a monsoon, when the players were clearly knackered but no fresh legs were brought on at all. One thing I would point out is the lack of midfield cover on the bench (I said the same thing after Blackpool). We desperately needed another midfielder to come on (probably to replace pritch) someone like Hughes or Darel Russell, to break up play and shield the back 4, as the last 20 minutes Wednesday were completely on top. Dervite isn't good enough to be the midfield sub.
Waggy was excellent, Wilson seemed half a yard off his usual level of performance.
I find the criticism of the Wednesday performance a bit unfair. in the second half they looked dangerous, the likes of Antonio and Lita making some very dangerous runs, and it's a bit much for us to criticise them as a physical, hoof ball team, as that's how we play most of the time.
In the battle of the CBs playing against old teams and being baited, Llera today had a better game than Morrison did...
Powell does have a blind spot when it comes to making subs, there've been other occasions, e.g. Hull at home during a monsoon, when the players were clearly knackered but no fresh legs were brought on at all. One thing I would point out is the lack of midfield cover on the bench (I said the same thing after Blackpool). We desperately needed another midfielder to come on (probably to replace pritch) someone like Hughes or Darel Russell, to break up play and shield the back 4, as the last 20 minutes Wednesday were completely on top. Dervite isn't good enough to be the midfield sub.
Waggy was excellent, Wilson seemed half a yard off his usual level of performance.
I find the criticism of the Wednesday performance a bit unfair. in the second half they looked dangerous, the likes of Antonio and Lita making some very dangerous runs, and it's a bit much for us to criticise them as a physical, hoof ball team, as that's how we play most of the time.
In the battle of the CBs playing against old teams and being baited, Llera today had a better game than Morrison did...
I'm with AFKA on the subs - I couldn't see who Powell should have brought on. We were up against a side that sling crosses, long balls and set pieces into our box, and occasionally run at us.
We could have switched to 4-4-2 and ended up with the same result. Dervite or Cort would have invited too much pressure. BWP and Harriott aren't physical players. Fuller and Green aren't known for their work rate and defending. Those subs may have won the game for us but they could have made us weaker.
We're a mid table side that can beat and lose to any club in this division. A couple of wins and there's talk of the playoffs on here, a defeat and some are worried about a relegation battle.
The usual predictable hindsight and criticism of Powell and certain players, both here and elsewhere. Everything is black or white. A win next week and the playoff push will be back on. A defeat and Powell's ability and job will be questioned again.
Of course there are things we could do better but there's a lot that we're getting right that we weren't just a few years ago.
We've got a good manager and a squad that competes but has limited options.
A great win at Blackburn last week a disappointing home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday today.
This league is so tight and unpredictable which is why I bang on about avoiding relegation. Let's just get to 50 plus points and take it from there.
Today's game was one we could, probably should, have won although a neutral would (and did) say a draw would have been a fair result yet we came out with nowt!
I'm looking to blame someone in true Charlton Life style but it's difficult. Powell should have changed it maybe but how and who? We'd taken the lead and looked reasonably threatening until all of a sudden we stood off them and let them play. Would Green, Fuller or the other subs have kept up the workrate? I'm not sure they would.
When we played on the ground we looked good and better than them. Trouble is we had spells of lumping to not particularly tall Yann which didn't work against such a big side. On the ground Yann looked good today but not in the air.
Waggy. Let's blame Waggy the Charlton Life scapegoat. Trouble is I can't. He hit the post and worked hard throughout having a shot saved in the first half and another narrowly wide in the second. Other than when we scored he was our most potent attacking threat.
In short as a team we didn't do too much wrong for 75 minutes, other than Hamer dropping the ball in the first half which, Johnson luckily hooked wide of an open goal, and were in a position to win a hard fought game having scored early in the second half.
For reason or reasons unknown we then decided to take our foot of the gas and sit back and we got punished.
That is this league though and hopefully we will learn from it. I'm not slashing my wrists quite yet!
Posting without reading so apologies if it's already been said. We hit the woodwork twice, but we conceded two lousy goals. From my position in the East Stand it looked to me that either hamer was wrong footed, or he thought the first one was going wide, but he made no attempt to get to the header. i think he could have done better. The second looked like a wicked deflection. I thought we were on top throughout, yet we lost...obviously because we didn't kill them off when we were having good spells in the second half, but there it goes. we lost to a team that would do well on Saturday night at the Appollo, I mean I have never ever seen a shot clear the roof of the Jimmy Seed! The Wednesday fans must be loving it, and yes I am cheesed off in every flavour of fromage by the loss. For me Wagstaff was clearly our man of the match...it's like having a new signing.
The usual predictable hindsight and criticism of Powell and certain players, both here and elsewhere. Everything is black or white. A win next week and the playoff push will be back .
Scoham I usually love ur posts so a little disappointed you have used the above comment.
Tactics don't have to be changed, but personnel can make a difference.
As I said before, it can relieve a bit of pressure on the back four especially, but fresh legs can boost the rest of the players, whether it be winning a throw up the pitch or a burst of pace and a hard tackle.
Would we have got all three points still...who knows, but the deeper we got the more Wednesday felt like they could get something from the game.
Drab first half from both sides, no atmosphere from either set of fans and had 0-0 written all over it at that point.
Our goal sparked the game into life, and we dominated but both sides looked dangerous with us creating the better openings. The score could've been 3 or 4-1 by the time we started inviting Wednesday onto us. And the game changed.
Our lads were dead on their feet after 80 minutes, as they were against Blackpool. We either need a bigger squad for more options off the bench, or fitness needs to be looked at because conceding late goals at home can't become a habit.
Posted this from my phone earlier and still stand by it but reading other's comments , I have a few extra thoughts since.
First forty five minutes were poor and neither side looked worthy of scoring a goal, let alone winning the game.
Aside from the first 90 seconds of the second half and despite operationpig's (against run of play after barely 90 seconds of pressure, what are you talking about?) BBC stats, we dominated from 45-75. Sure, Wednesday had their own chances, but we were limiting them to long range shots that weren't troubling Hamer (what about Johnson's balloon shot that went over the stand?).
The game changed after 75 minutes though and it wasn't Sheffield Wednesday's subs that changed the game, it was our lack of subs (Lita came on after 55 minutes and looked pretty ineffective until we let them pile the pressure on). Like AFKA and Scoham, I looked at who was on the bench and wondered who could do the job for us that was needed, and none of them were the answer. We simply need better options in situations like this and we won't progress until those options are brought into the club. We have a great first XI but not much behind that, four or five signings over the summer and we'll be much stronger IMO.
Gutting to lose the way we did. I didn't think Wednesday had anything about them to seriously trouble us but we invited the pressure when we lost our legs, plus didn't make any subs and we paid the ultimate price.
As I said - I couldn't work out who should have come on. One of the two goals we conceded was from a set piece - the players on the pitch are stronger defensively than those on the bench (aside from Cort or Dervite, but a third CB could have made things worse).
Ten minutes can change so much and what was an efficient as a total disaster and Powell needs to be retired, Wilson sent back to Stevenage etc,. Wilson was not good, Dale should have scored but these things happen we played with the team that won the League last season, it was not quite good enough, Powell made the decisions that he thought were right - All the people on here who repeat the mantra "In Powell we trust" have to just take it. We won't be relegated and then we'll see what happens in the close season.
Listen to it whilst at work, the first half was flat by both teams, Gardner was unmarked and should of scored, Reda also should of scored in an open net but thought the lino had his flag up for something, thought this was going to cost us in the end, youalso had a Morrison header that hit the bar, but apart from that it was a flat half from both sides.
Second half we set off and attacked you from the off but it was from this you broke and scored, slightly against the run of play if I'm honest.
You hit the post and that was that and the goal that was it, from then onwards it was all Wednesday after wave after wave of attacks, the goal was coming that's for sure, when it did I'd of took the draw, Dave Jones then made them attacking subs and it told as Lita scored on his debut against his old club in the 89Th minute.
Great Saturday for us, cheers lads and good luck v Palace.
Happy as larry.
LOL
You sure that commentary was at the valley??
Honesty there was absolutely no waves of attacks from either side. The fact the game had 3 goals amazes me.
Second half we were the ones asking the questions, okay it wasn't a case of clear cut chances but after we went 1-0 down we upped the tempo.
Shots on 3-9 Shots off 6-6 Corners 3-6
Possession 48% - 52%
Surely not more BBC stats???
Seriously it was a dire game. A draw was probably a fair result.
I wouldn't say the shot count matters at all considering Wednesday had a shot that actually went over the roof of the Jimmy Seed and out of the ground.........
A lot of comments saying "who could Powell have brought on?" etc. CP obviously picks the whole squad so he could've and should've covered the midfield position on the bench,knowing all week what condition the pitch would be in and that players would surely tire. The blame lies on him for this one IMO
Unfortunately not the first time this season we have lost points due to not being more effective with our subs maybe powells assistant's should start bending his ear a bit more if he wont do it.
Didn't expect to see a classic and certainly didn't but disappoionting that we couldn't see the game out. Thought cp should have changed things a bit as we were getting pushed back too much after going ahead, but i suppose it's easy to be wise after the event and he probably thought we were coping ok. Shows what this league is like that we can beat the likes of leicester and cardiff but can't take a point off wednesday. Still as 1 or 2 people have mentioned will soon be forgotten if we can beat the palarce next week.
Scoham/Afka, the reason we conceded possession was we only had one up front but he was knackered and couldn't hold it up. I would have gone 442, we needed a extra body up front to try and hold on to possession. To expect Pritchard and Jackson to burst from midfield and help Kermo was just too much. We had to go 2 centre midfielders and another centre forward on, whether that be Wilson off and Pritch pushed out to right midfield or Pritch off. This could also have caused them problems as they had gone so attack minded we may have hit them on the break, but our midfield certainly didn't have the legs to hit them on the break.
great win & credit to the players for holding out under all that pressure - I left with 20 mins to go as there was no way we were going to lose once we went ahead.....................
If Powell didnt make a sub and Waggy scored his chance where he hit the post, not one person on here would talk about Powells tactical naivety. Quite umbelievable how harshly some people are talking about powell. Lets not forget without that man we would be in league one playing Crawley and Stevanage.
Lest we forget, I believe the ref bottled not sending off the SW player for that tackle in the first 5 mins. It was late and studs up.
SW are the worst footballing side I have seen this season. They will stay up as they play hoof ball and are a strong physical side. If that is what they need to do, so be it. We just needed to be better than that, and to be fair, we were in patches. Morrison was being held which meant he hit the bar and that could have been a pen, Waggy hit the post and went close with another, looked another good pen shout in second half.
Waggy should have been moved right wing and Harriott bought on or Wilson replace by Fuller to give an outlet with 15 to go.
Waggy MOM.
Not relegated = good season. Mid table = great season, anything more = SCP manager of the year.
Thats crap mate, even at games when we have had a couple of goals lead, I will continuly call for a manager to makes subs if I feel a player has played his game.I have seen us concede 2 goals leads plenty of times let alone 1 goal leads.
Forgetting the game I cannot for the life of me work out what BWP has done so wrong not to get a look in. He would stretch there defence for the last team and occupy them I would have done him for Wilson and I know he would work just as hard
If Powell didnt make a sub and Waggy scored his chance where he hit the post, not one person on here would talk about Powells tactical naivety. Quite umbelievable how harshly some people are talking about powell. Lets not forget without that man we would be in league one playing Crawley and Stevanage.
Sorry I have always said he is tactically naive, but is great a motivating his players which is why he can change games at half time but less often during play
If Powell didnt make a sub and Waggy scored his chance where he hit the post, not one person on here would talk about Powells tactical naivety. Quite umbelievable how harshly some people are talking about powell. Lets not forget without that man we would be in league one playing Crawley and Stevanage.
?????
But waggy did hit the post so we were still only 1 nil up. With a few players blowing out there arris.
Btw I bloody love powell and am behind him 100% but he is not exempt from criticism win or lose.
Comments
I thought we coped very well in the first half against a very physical and direct Wednesday side. Matthew Taylor was excellent. Wagstaff looked very lively. Whilst we didn't create much during the first period, at half-time I thought we had a decent chance of going on to win the game.
Jackon's goal almost immediately after the break was the result of a terrific move; the first real quality we'd seen all afternoon. However, we then failed to build on the platform created.
Instead, Jones seized the initiative. By bringing on Leroy Lita he freed the impressive Michail Antonio to move out to the left from which position he was a serious threat. We were still well in the game though, but when Jones upped the ante another notch with the introduction of the brutish Madine we simply failed to respond. We needed to give Wednesday, and the lumbering Gardner and Llera in particular, something to think about, but were unable to do so. Nor did we do anything to counter the serious aerial threat now posed.
It was no surprise when Wednesday scored, nor that the monstrous Reda Johnson scored it from a very straightforward diagonal ball into the box. In the end I'm afraid that the more positive side won the game and no doubt they'll believe deservedly so.
Very disappointing because I'd say that Wednesday are by some margins the poorest footballing side to play at the Valley this season.
Waggy was excellent, Wilson seemed half a yard off his usual level of performance.
I find the criticism of the Wednesday performance a bit unfair. in the second half they looked dangerous, the likes of Antonio and Lita making some very dangerous runs, and it's a bit much for us to criticise them as a physical, hoof ball team, as that's how we play most of the time.
In the battle of the CBs playing against old teams and being baited, Llera today had a better game than Morrison did...
We could have switched to 4-4-2 and ended up with the same result. Dervite or Cort would have invited too much pressure. BWP and Harriott aren't physical players. Fuller and Green aren't known for their work rate and defending. Those subs may have won the game for us but they could have made us weaker.
We're a mid table side that can beat and lose to any club in this division. A couple of wins and there's talk of the playoffs on here, a defeat and some are worried about a relegation battle.
The usual predictable hindsight and criticism of Powell and certain players, both here and elsewhere. Everything is black or white. A win next week and the playoff push will be back on. A defeat and Powell's ability and job will be questioned again.
Of course there are things we could do better but there's a lot that we're getting right that we weren't just a few years ago.
We've got a good manager and a squad that competes but has limited options.
A great win at Blackburn last week a disappointing home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday today.
This league is so tight and unpredictable which is why I bang on about avoiding relegation. Let's just get to 50 plus points and take it from there.
Today's game was one we could, probably should, have won although a neutral would (and did) say a draw would have been a fair result yet we came out with nowt!
I'm looking to blame someone in true Charlton Life style but it's difficult. Powell should have changed it maybe but how and who? We'd taken the lead and looked reasonably threatening until all of a sudden we stood off them and let them play. Would Green, Fuller or the other subs have kept up the workrate? I'm not sure they would.
When we played on the ground we looked good and better than them. Trouble is we had spells of lumping to not particularly tall Yann which didn't work against such a big side. On the ground Yann looked good today but not in the air.
Waggy. Let's blame Waggy the Charlton Life scapegoat. Trouble is I can't. He hit the post and worked hard throughout having a shot saved in the first half and another narrowly wide in the second. Other than when we scored he was our most potent attacking threat.
In short as a team we didn't do too much wrong for 75 minutes, other than Hamer dropping the ball in the first half which, Johnson luckily hooked wide of an open goal, and were in a position to win a hard fought game having scored early in the second half.
For reason or reasons unknown we then decided to take our foot of the gas and sit back and we got punished.
That is this league though and hopefully we will learn from it. I'm not slashing my wrists quite yet!
We hit the woodwork twice, but we conceded two lousy goals. From my position in the East Stand it looked to me that either hamer was wrong footed, or he thought the first one was going wide, but he made no attempt to get to the header. i think he could have done better. The second looked like a wicked deflection.
I thought we were on top throughout, yet we lost...obviously because we didn't kill them off when we were having good spells in the second half, but there it goes. we lost to a team that would do well on Saturday night at the Appollo, I mean I have never ever seen a shot clear the roof of the Jimmy Seed!
The Wednesday fans must be loving it, and yes I am cheesed off in every flavour of fromage by the loss.
For me Wagstaff was clearly our man of the match...it's like having a new signing.
Tactics don't have to be changed, but personnel can make a difference.
As I said before, it can relieve a bit of pressure on the back four especially, but fresh legs can boost the rest of the players, whether it be winning a throw up the pitch or a burst of pace and a hard tackle.
Would we have got all three points still...who knows, but the deeper we got the more Wednesday felt like they could get something from the game.
First forty five minutes were poor and neither side looked worthy of scoring a goal, let alone winning the game.
Aside from the first 90 seconds of the second half and despite operationpig's (against run of play after barely 90 seconds of pressure, what are you talking about?) BBC stats, we dominated from 45-75. Sure, Wednesday had their own chances, but we were limiting them to long range shots that weren't troubling Hamer (what about Johnson's balloon shot that went over the stand?).
The game changed after 75 minutes though and it wasn't Sheffield Wednesday's subs that changed the game, it was our lack of subs (Lita came on after 55 minutes and looked pretty ineffective until we let them pile the pressure on). Like AFKA and Scoham, I looked at who was on the bench and wondered who could do the job for us that was needed, and none of them were the answer. We simply need better options in situations like this and we won't progress until those options are brought into the club. We have a great first XI but not much behind that, four or five signings over the summer and we'll be much stronger IMO.
Gutting to lose the way we did. I didn't think Wednesday had anything about them to seriously trouble us but we invited the pressure when we lost our legs, plus didn't make any subs and we paid the ultimate price.
Oh well, onto the next game. COYR.
Towards the end their defence had the time and space to walk over the halfway line with the ball.
great win & credit to the players for holding out under all that pressure - I left with 20 mins to go as there was no way we were going to lose once we went ahead.....................
SW are the worst footballing side I have seen this season. They will stay up as they play hoof ball and are a strong physical side. If that is what they need to do, so be it. We just needed to be better than that, and to be fair, we were in patches. Morrison was being held which meant he hit the bar and that could have been a pen, Waggy hit the post and went close with another, looked another good pen shout in second half.
Waggy should have been moved right wing and Harriott bought on or Wilson replace by Fuller to give an outlet with 15 to go.
Waggy MOM.
Not relegated = good season. Mid table = great season, anything more = SCP manager of the year.
But waggy did hit the post so we were still only 1 nil up. With a few players blowing out there arris.
Btw I bloody love powell and am behind him 100% but he is not exempt from criticism win or lose.