A lovely sunny afternoon enhanced by a pleasant couple of pints in The Bugle prior to looking at the ground. The pitch looked magnificent but the reassuringly familiar temperamental hand driers in the Covered Upper End Gents proved that not all areas of The Valley had been subject to the New Broom as did the reassuringly familiar queues at half time which I decided not to join.
Great to see Malcolm and Rylo on the pitch before the match. A happy ending to unfinished business from last season to set us up for this.
To the match. Callum McManaman looked very much the danger man and was a handful for Wiggins from the off as Wigan dominated the early exchanges. Then Charlton were able to push forward and the ball came to Jordan Cousins on the left. For someone who is not a left winger he made an excellent job of breaking forward, cutting inside and unleashing a right footed shot that left a keeper of Scott Carson's stature grasping fresh air as the ball headed for the top left hand corner like an exocet missile.
That man Mcmanaman was still about though and later in the half he left Wiggins for dead and scored what has to be acknowledged as a fine individual goal beating Henderson at his near post.
Thereafter there was always that nagging fear he'd do it again and prove the difference between what looked like two even sides. Luckily for us it was our man Frank Moussa who proved the difference and, with the help of a deflection, gave us a slightly fortunate victory although that said we definitely deserved at least a point.
Invidious to pick out individuals from a solid team performance, other than Cousins for his excellent goal, but I was impressed with the way the new boys slotted in particularly Buyens who did a lot of the dirty work in midfield yet showed the odd spark of creativity too. Tucudean was the least impressive for me but I'm not going to judge him on the evidence of one match.
All in all an excellent afternoons football marred only by a few of our morons in the Covered end Lower, who looked almost old enough to be his father, upsetting a former Charlton Player of the year.
EDIT: Forgot to say how impressive it was to see Pope clean out two Wigan players taking the ball! Doesn't look afraid of mixing it physically that lad.
Yes, Yes, Yes! It was about bloody time we got lucky with a deflection. We all remember the catalogue of deflected shots last season that left our keeper stranded and all of us beaten, open-mouthed.
We must learn to keep the bright early start going: we sagged after 20 minutes, rallied at the end of the first half - yet had nothing going forward in the second. Wigan have better players than us: it was patently obvious throughout the game that they dig themselves out of defensive holes accurately and quickly, and win possession in midfield. I was surprised by the weakness of their attack.
In the second half, we lapsed in to our failings of the past two years. Ten-yard triangles on the half-way line end in tears. Our two strikers lack the movement off the ball to stretch the opposition and inspire passes from defence. And, we are still deathly slow with the basics - even our goal-kicks at 1-1 take an age, the keeper retrieving the ball itself, placing it precisely, waving the team from left to right, puffing out his cheeks and tapping his heels...
Good coaching will build a head of steam and keep the momentum going. This time last year we failed with Gower, Hughes and Pritchard, et al. The players we have now are a bloody sight better. There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't stamp our authority on this league and be in the play-offs next May.
Yes, Yes, Yes! It was about bloody time we got lucky with a deflection. We all remember the catalogue of deflected shots last season that left our keeper stranded and all of us beaten, open-mouthed.
We must learn to keep the bright early start going: we sagged after 20 minutes, rallied at the end of the first half - yet had nothing going forward in the second. Wigan have better players than us: it was patently obvious throughout the game that they dig themselves out of defensive holes accurately and quickly, and win possession in midfield. I was surprised - gladly - by the weakness of their attack.
In the second half, we lapsed in to our weaknesses of the past two years. Ten-yard triangles on the half-way line end in tears. Our two strikers lack the movement off the ball to stretch the opposition and inspire passes from the defence. And, we are still deathly slow with the basics - even our goal-kicks at 1-1 take an age, retrieving the ball itself, then our keeper is waving the team from left to right, puffing out his cheeks and tapping his heels...
Good coaching will build a head of steam and keep the momentum going. This time last year we failed with Gower, Hughes and Pritchard, et al. The players we have now are a bloody sight better - and there is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't stamp our authority on this league and be in the play-offs next May.
Left feeling very happy. A lucky stoppage time winner always does that! Thought Gudmansson looked class, Bikey immense, TBH did well as did Buyens. Great strike form Jordan, hope that lifts his confidence. Was disappointed with Wiggins, he did not seem right today, and wished Wilson had been given a start. Was very impressed by Pope flattening two Wigan men at the same time. Great to see Malcolm looking fit and well before the match and well received along with Rylo, his life saver. All in all, a good afternoon, even if the result was a little bit lucky, we deserve some! Just one thing that puzzles me, why was everyone wearing boots in silly colours? Whats wrong with black?
Left feeling very happy. A lucky stoppage time winner always does that! Thought Gudmansson looked class, Bikey immense, TBH did well as did Buyens. Great strike form Jordan, hope that lifts his confidence. Was disappointed with Wiggins, he did not seem right today, and wished Wilson had been given a start. Was very impressed by Pope flattening two Wigan men at the same time. Great to see Malcolm looking fit and well before the match and well received along with Rylo, his life saver. All in all, a good afternoon, even if the result was a little bit lucky, we deserve some! Just one thing that puzzles me, why was everyone wearing boots in silly colours? Whats wrong with black?
Good to speak to you in Barts before the game, HA.
Great result , what with one thing and another I'm not gonna get to see the rip roaring goal scoring Addicks till Brighton away but all sounds very promising Once I opened Charlton Life and saw there wasn't a load of whinging threads about how shit the ref was I knew we'd won !
Great strike from Cousins , didn't think he had that in his locker fairplay Wiggins got turned this way and that but on the limited I've seen of Henderson (he looks like he's carrying a bit to me) it may be a blessing if Pope gets a run
Last minute dream winner and a proper loop gutted not to be part of it but a win is more important than me Scum winning and us being lowest of the south london footballing triumvirate takes the edge of it but it's a marathon not a sprint , keep going Big Bad Bob
0.5% top two.........9.5% 3rd-6th.......... 40% 7th-12th.........49% 13th-21st......... 1% Relegation
Yes, Yes, Yes! It was about bloody time we got lucky with a deflection. We all remember the catalogue of deflected shots last season that left our keeper stranded and all of us beaten, open-mouthed.
We must learn to keep the bright early start going: we sagged after 20 minutes, rallied at the end of the first half - yet had nothing going forward in the second. Wigan have better players than us: it was patently obvious throughout the game that they dig themselves out of defensive holes accurately and quickly, and win possession in midfield. I was surprised - gladly - by the weakness of their attack.
In the second half, we lapsed in to our weaknesses of the past two years. Ten-yard triangles on the half-way line end in tears. Our two strikers lack the movement off the ball to stretch the opposition and inspire passes from the defence. And, we are still deathly slow with the basics - even our goal-kicks at 1-1 take an age, retrieving the ball itself, then our keeper is waving the team from left to right, puffing out his cheeks and tapping his heels...
Good coaching will build a head of steam and keep the momentum going. This time last year we failed with Gower, Hughes and Pritchard, et al. The players we have now are a bloody sight better - and there is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't stamp our authority on this league and be in the play-offs next May.
Quick !
Someone take Viewfinder's temperature !
:-)
It has lowered to 98.4 - and I expect Fanny the nurse to keep it steady...
Seems a lifetime ago now that we had a few of our more hysterical posters predicting inevitable impending doom because we lost a pre-season friendly at Welling!
Just seen the highlights on the Beeb. Great first goal, lucky with the second but if you kick enough balls at a end, one will go in I suppose. Their goal was good but looked like our defence should have done a lot better but McManaman is a quality player.
Rosler is a prize penis, no need for what he did at the end of the match. Would like to see him serve a touchline ban, embarrassing for someone like him to stoop to that level. SCP served a 2 game ban for less.
Just seen one of the pundits praise Charlton as a good club and one that could do well this season. Must be a first for the usually anti-CAFC Beeb.
So many positives. The only thing I wasn't happy with was the pressure through bad goal kicks, too much fancy dribbling and bad passing. Other than that thought it went well and felt the win as soon as 5 minutes injury time was announced, we looked threatening on the wings the whole game and they looked tired.
Bikey and Ben Haim were brilliant, Bikey had a few meh moments but I thought TBH was just class, I counted 0 mistakes and some really crucial clearances, vital play for the second goal too. Solly, solly. People are being too harsh on Wiggins, he got better gradually and he was up against McManaman...everyone knows he's always on point for at least the first half, he won't play against any tougher than that this season. Not fussed about goalie, I think our defence is that solid, think both our goalies are good enough.
Buyens had to be the best player on the pitch for most of the game, what a player. Bit gutted about Jackson, stomach bug or not every game now he has seemed missing for me. I struggle to even give him a rating cause I don't notice him. His set pieces not great, struggles to keep up, not the best passer. Great captain and composure yeah but I think we'd be better off replacing him. JBG, naughty player, shame about the bad shots, other than that good game for him, loved his roulette. Cousins has to start every game, I'd be happy to see him and Buyens start in the midfield.
George again people being harsh, can tell he's a smart player, he'll come good, miles better footballer than Church so no complaints. Igor didn't have the best game but he's still a problem, gives the other team something to worry about, was gutted he missed the 1 on 1.
Finally, pitch beautiful, Bob, early days still but taken a liking to him. We play good football, call it arrogant but I think there's only a handful of teams that we should be worried about, think everyone else is for the taking.
If we signed another mid that can orchestrate an attack and another good striker (Delort maybe?) we'll make play offs in my eyes. Solid defense with good backups, solid midfield with decent backups, decent attacking line up but no back ups.
So far so good, and although Wigan will probably claim with some justification that they deserved a draw there were some very encouraging signs for us today. I thought that Ben Haim and Bikey looked a solid combination at the back along with Solly, although Wiggins was below his best and Buyens was impressive particularly first half. Vetokele also worked hard but should have put his late chance away and we need to take guilt edge chances like that and Harriot's miss last week. Nevertheless I would have certainly taken 4 pts out of the first 6 and it sets us up nicely for another tough game against Derby on Tuesday night. Also a word of praise to BP for some good substitutions at the right time which ultimately won us the game - COYR.
Fantastic.... Got a real feeling about this season... can't wait to get a feel for the game hope there is extended highlights on Player... and the Big Balls Bob incident just shows he's already one of us...
Moussa scoring, all be it deflected bodes very well for the future... there's just that feeling around the place isnt there...
Really looking forward to the season now...
Get Delort, and maybe a creative mid and we could be serious oppoition this year...
After today I am very positive on how this season will go. Wigan will be in and around the promotion places and our keepers didn't have a save to make other than the goal. Going forward we look like we have quality to trouble the opposition.
My MotM was Buyens, he was everywhere. Tuchadean was much better than last week, he needs to get used to the pace of this league as at times he wanted a little too much time with the ball.
Igor had little to go with but created a fantastic chance for himself. Henderson distribution is awful and it was the same last week, he can't kick a ball with any accuracy!
John still is a great man, I have had the fortune to sit with and talk all things football from Sunday league to premiership, the man just breaths football and is a genuine nice fella
For a long time he has had a soft spot for cafc and told me our time will come again
Went straight from the game to a party and just surfaced this morning with a heavy head and a contented grin. Thought there was a real buzz about the place yesterday. Hopefully this team will gel and we will have a less stressful season than last year. Most of the relevant stuff has been said elsewhere in the this thread so I won't repeat it. Surprised that little has been written about Andy D'Arsehole who even by his own standards was utterly inept yesterday. Not particularly biased against us, just generally incompetent.
Just one thing that puzzles me, why was everyone wearing boots in silly colours? Whats wrong with black?
Erm......where have you been the last 20 years? Boots in silly colours have been around for ages.
You can go back 45 years mate to Alan Hinton of Derby. Check this extract out from Wiki;
Whilst at Derby he was universally and affectionately known, amongst the fans by his nickname `Gladys` which stemmed from his aforementioned white boots and curly blonde perm
In regards to silly boots did anyone see Bikey's... one was pink the other blue
Yeh quality, I wonder if they are like the 'love' and 'hate' tattoos you see on the knuckles of some followed by the question 'which one do you want'? Brave man who tells him to his face they look silly :-0
Comments
A lovely sunny afternoon enhanced by a pleasant couple of pints in The Bugle prior to looking at the ground. The pitch looked magnificent but the reassuringly familiar temperamental hand driers in the Covered Upper End Gents proved that not all areas of The Valley had been subject to the New Broom as did the reassuringly familiar queues at half time which I decided not to join.
Great to see Malcolm and Rylo on the pitch before the match. A happy ending to unfinished business from last season to set us up for this.
To the match. Callum McManaman looked very much the danger man and was a handful for Wiggins from the off as Wigan dominated the early exchanges. Then Charlton were able to push forward and the ball came to Jordan Cousins on the left. For someone who is not a left winger he made an excellent job of breaking forward, cutting inside and unleashing a right footed shot that left a keeper of Scott Carson's stature grasping fresh air as the ball headed for the top left hand corner like an exocet missile.
That man Mcmanaman was still about though and later in the half he left Wiggins for dead and scored what has to be acknowledged as a fine individual goal beating Henderson at his near post.
Thereafter there was always that nagging fear he'd do it again and prove the difference between what looked like two even sides. Luckily for us it was our man Frank Moussa who proved the difference and, with the help of a deflection, gave us a slightly fortunate victory although that said we definitely deserved at least a point.
Invidious to pick out individuals from a solid team performance, other than Cousins for his excellent goal, but I was impressed with the way the new boys slotted in particularly Buyens who did a lot of the dirty work in midfield yet showed the odd spark of creativity too. Tucudean was the least impressive for me but I'm not going to judge him on the evidence of one match.
All in all an excellent afternoons football marred only by a few of our morons in the Covered end Lower, who looked almost old enough to be his father, upsetting a former Charlton Player of the year.
EDIT: Forgot to say how impressive it was to see Pope clean out two Wigan players taking the ball! Doesn't look afraid of mixing it physically that lad.
We must learn to keep the bright early start going: we sagged after 20 minutes, rallied at the end of the first half - yet had nothing going forward in the second. Wigan have better players than us: it was patently obvious throughout the game that they dig themselves out of defensive holes accurately and quickly, and win possession in midfield. I was surprised by the weakness of their attack.
In the second half, we lapsed in to our failings of the past two years. Ten-yard triangles on the half-way line end in tears. Our two strikers lack the movement off the ball to stretch the opposition and inspire passes from defence. And, we are still deathly slow with the basics - even our goal-kicks at 1-1 take an age, the keeper retrieving the ball itself, placing it precisely, waving the team from left to right, puffing out his cheeks and tapping his heels...
Good coaching will build a head of steam and keep the momentum going. This time last year we failed with Gower, Hughes and Pritchard, et al. The players we have now are a bloody sight better. There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't stamp our authority on this league and be in the play-offs next May.
Someone take Viewfinder's temperature !
:-)
Will look out for you on Tuesday evening.
Once I opened Charlton Life and saw there wasn't a load of whinging threads about how shit the ref was I knew we'd won !
Great strike from Cousins , didn't think he had that in his locker fairplay
Wiggins got turned this way and that but on the limited I've seen of Henderson (he looks like he's carrying a bit to me) it may be a blessing if Pope gets a run
Last minute dream winner and a proper loop gutted not to be part of it but a win is more important than me
Scum winning and us being lowest of the south london footballing triumvirate takes the edge of it but it's a marathon not a sprint , keep going Big Bad Bob
0.5% top two.........9.5% 3rd-6th.......... 40% 7th-12th.........49% 13th-21st......... 1% Relegation
Seems a lifetime ago now that we had a few of our more hysterical posters predicting inevitable impending doom because we lost a pre-season friendly at Welling!
Rosler is a prize penis, no need for what he did at the end of the match. Would like to see him serve a touchline ban, embarrassing for someone like him to stoop to that level. SCP served a 2 game ban for less.
Just seen one of the pundits praise Charlton as a good club and one that could do well this season. Must be a first for the usually anti-CAFC Beeb.
One of the most respected lower division managers knows his stuff
Bikey and Ben Haim were brilliant, Bikey had a few meh moments but I thought TBH was just class, I counted 0 mistakes and some really crucial clearances, vital play for the second goal too. Solly, solly. People are being too harsh on Wiggins, he got better gradually and he was up against McManaman...everyone knows he's always on point for at least the first half, he won't play against any tougher than that this season. Not fussed about goalie, I think our defence is that solid, think both our goalies are good enough.
Buyens had to be the best player on the pitch for most of the game, what a player. Bit gutted about Jackson, stomach bug or not every game now he has seemed missing for me. I struggle to even give him a rating cause I don't notice him. His set pieces not great, struggles to keep up, not the best passer. Great captain and composure yeah but I think we'd be better off replacing him. JBG, naughty player, shame about the bad shots, other than that good game for him, loved his roulette. Cousins has to start every game, I'd be happy to see him and Buyens start in the midfield.
George again people being harsh, can tell he's a smart player, he'll come good, miles better footballer than Church so no complaints. Igor didn't have the best game but he's still a problem, gives the other team something to worry about, was gutted he missed the 1 on 1.
Finally, pitch beautiful, Bob, early days still but taken a liking to him. We play good football, call it arrogant but I think there's only a handful of teams that we should be worried about, think everyone else is for the taking.
If we signed another mid that can orchestrate an attack and another good striker (Delort maybe?) we'll make play offs in my eyes. Solid defense with good backups, solid midfield with decent backups, decent attacking line up but no back ups.
Henderson
Solly TBH Bikey Wiggins
Buyens
JBG NewCAM Cousins
Vetokele Delort
^ now that would be a team.
Moussa scoring, all be it deflected bodes very well for the future... there's just that feeling around the place isnt there...
Really looking forward to the season now...
Get Delort, and maybe a creative mid and we could be serious oppoition this year...
My MotM was Buyens, he was everywhere. Tuchadean was much better than last week, he needs to get used to the pace of this league as at times he wanted a little too much time with the ball.
Igor had little to go with but created a fantastic chance for himself. Henderson distribution is awful and it was the same last week, he can't kick a ball with any accuracy!
Can't wait for Tuesday now.
For a long time he has had a soft spot for cafc and told me our time will come again
Just a shame some oiks decided it was appropriate to give Carson the wanker sign after we scored. Why?
Whilst at Derby he was universally and affectionately known, amongst the fans by his nickname `Gladys` which stemmed from his aforementioned white boots and curly blonde perm