It was just so blindingly obvious to everyone in the ground that that was going to happen - how can't he see that?
It's too early to think about a sacking but Slade needs to buck his ideas up because that is just not good enough.
Thoroughly depressing. Empty stadium, no atmosphere and dross on the pitch.
We need our Charlton back because the club is unrecognisable to what it was. The scenes at the full-time whistle weren't pretty.
Apparently Slade blasted the side for the worse performance of the season! !!! But Russell your the one that sets them up that way!! Look in the mirror! Lookman on the bench! Bokata not even getting a game! Ajose on the bench! Novak up front with a player very similar to him but better as he's strike partner! ! And poor Jacko trying to play left wing that he hasn't played since 2011 season!! Wtf
Russell Slade: “I’m bitterly disappointed. I thought it was our most disappointing performance of the season.
“We looked devoid of ideas, we looked leggy, they were first to every ball and we were fortunate, in many ways, to get a point tonight.
“It wasn’t just the last 10 minutes tonight, they first 10 minutes weren’t much better either. We were dysfunctional at times. I know we’ve had a lot of different partnerships, particularly at centre-half recently, which doesn’t help, but we didn’t look like we had played with each other tonight.
“We didn’t understand each other’s strengths, but when we did it paid off. We made 21 passes before we finished for the goal, but we only did that maybe two or three times in the first half and that was it. Clearly, that is not enough.
“It can’t be on a part-time basis, it has to be every single time. We are all disappointed, we’ve had a good chat amongst ourselves. We know we’ve taken a step back tonight and we have to show improvement on Saturday.
Q: A section of the crowd showed their dissatisfaction. Is it important for them to stick by the team?
RS: “They’re entitled to that tonight. It was a poor performance and we could have quite easily lost the game.
“Fortunately, we came out of it with something, but we have to put it behind us. It’s gone now, we can’t control it and we have to build up the full focus for Saturday against Rochdale at home and make sure we put in a better performance.”
Slade should have taken Novak off and put Botika on long before they scored. All could see that our midfield was being over run and putting five acroos tge pitch would have plugged the holes and still have given us Lookman, Homes and Botika going forward. How is it we can all see the problem but he can't?
Needs to pull his socks up and he may need to promote a kid from the youth team if he wants to play 4-4-2
Novak and Maginnis are two big lumps.Maginnis holds the ball up ok and scored a goal.The goal was quality build up play,but that was a very rare event.Novak didn't do much and is lacking in pace,Slade could of changed him at half time,but as he is a safety first kind of manager he didn't. Holmes is a busy player who makes things happen,and Lookman showed glimpses of quality when he came on.The defence looks panicky and the midfield is a gaping hole.The two forwards showed little movement and didn't offer the midfield many options.
Magennis is a great player. Novak is a non-entity.
Novak scored 15 goals in 35 appearances at Chesterfield last season.
Why can he do it there - but not with Charlton? That's the question.
Slade should have taken Novak off and put Botika on long before they scored. All could see that our midfield was being over run and putting five acroos tge pitch would have plugged the holes and still have given us Lookman, Homes and Botika going forward. How is it we can all see the problem but he can't?
Needs to pull his socks up and he may need to promote a kid from the youth team if he wants to play 4-4-2
Botaka has looked lively whenever I've seen him come on, and willing to track back as well, so I've no idea why he's not playing more
Possibly the worst Charlton team effort I've ever seen and there's been some shockers over the last 50 years.
Embarrassing performance.
2 hours to get to The Valley to watch my beloved Charlton coz some f*ckwit broke down in the Blackwall Tunnel and I get to watch football of a considerably worse standard than my Under 18's used to serve up when I was coaching and managing a local side up Suffolk - honestly, the football tonight was of a lower and worse standard than that.
Bloke two seats from me summed it up, his face totally bemused by what he was witnessing on the park, a lost soul he was, he commented near the end, 'I think this is the worst Charlton side I've ever seen' - and you could see he really meant it.
Those of you who wished great misfortune under the current owners, as much as I respect your frustration, oh how we'd swap this for the same time last season and that squad we had. In the words of Joni Mitchell, 'You don't know what you've got til it's gone'.
Tonight the atmosphere felt like I was watching a poor Ridgeon's League game - no fans, no atmosphere, no decent players - or at least none that could perform to their best with what was around them, failing to provide for them.
The Club is dying on its feet - never mind though, once we've killed it off we can all drive through the tunnel to Stratford to watch a new team.
dross,,,,utter dross. I've seen some poor performances in the past but this must rate as one of the worst, bearing in mind who we were playing. An Oldham side who were in the bottom 3 and who hadn't scored in 3 games & only scored 4 all season. Most other teams would have gone all out to score 2 or 3 knowing they wouldn't come back from it. Not us. we score & then sit back waiting to play out the remaining hour or so by passing sideways & backwards - anything than going forwards.
I dont like sacking managers & we've had far too many over the past 3 years but Slade is not the answer. He makes Curbs seem like Pep, Jose & Sir Alex all rolled into one & has no idea how to use his best players. Last sat he left our best players on the bench and although he started Holmes tonight he once again left Lookman & Ajose on the bench. He may not have been given funds to buy the best players going, or been given a squad thin on quality - but the quality players he does have he refuses to start with them.
The sad thing about it is that we are not far off a decent team that could make the play-offs if only they played the right formation, by the right manager & with the right tactics.
At best we have a mediocre squad, largely due to the financial restraints imposed on Brussell by You Know Who but compounded by a manager who hasn't set the world alight thus far.
We have to challenge the game plan of the gaffer from minute 1 to minutes 90+. We have to believe that his aim is to gain 3 points from every home game but his substitutions regularly mean that we question his "goal".
Teaching my grandmother to suck eggs wasn't something I planned to do but FFS, our midfield is sorely lacking in skill, pace, character & just about everything else you can think of. Sadly, even I have to believe that JJ's legs are best kept "on ice" in readiness for a last throw of the dice from the bench.
Why have a player on the bench & not bring him on who, basically is unknown to other L1 teams & who has given glimpses of what he COULD do to change a game ...and I don't mean Rojo.
I wonder what the team spirit is like behind the scenes - have the members bonded? Are they " a unit" ? Does the gaffer inspire confidence ? Is he inspirational ? SO many questions.
Finally, how many of us could have written the script tonight ?
If we can't beat teams like Oldham ( no offence meant) at The Valley then I see little hope for this season. We know as far as the squad is concerned, we have what we have until January. And as I'm sure others have pointed out before my post, if we sacked RS, who the hell would want to join our version of Ringling Brothers ? So, where do we go from here ?
More than ever, at this moment in time, I am numb. I didn't enjoy one minute of tonight's game...I was bored / disinterested/ distracted/ angry throughout the 90 minutes - something I don't believe I have ever felt at a Charlton match before & it breaks my heart to admit this.
Whatever it takes, WE HAVE TO GET OUR CLUB BACK before the disease that threatens its very existence becomes terminal. We are not yet at rock bottom but the speed & manner of our decline is frightening. Sadly, until we are rid of this toxic regime, I see no future.
" Just sell our club, our famous football club " !
What exactly do players like Crofts and Foley do? They don't really have any specific qualities to bring to the side, they just make up the numbers.
Crofts mainly gives the ball away to the opposition, in dangerous positions, and doesn't track midfield runners. The only useful thing to do with him would be to melt him down for glue.
Foley is on a 5 month temp contract. It should be zero hours though as he makes zero contribution.
That was horrible. Pathetic, weak, clueless, incompetent – and bloody lazy. Littered with the most basic errors: in the first half Crofts 'cleared' from our box: 15 yards straight to an Oldham pressing midfielder – then 20 seconds later he made exactly the same mistake again.
Here is a common fault, witnessed not just this year but seasons before: our defenders punt the ball to the half-way line in the centre of the pitch – and there is no-one there. No-one. This vacant space is immediately seized upon by our opponents, to launch yet another attack. Where, in God's name, are our midfielders? On the very rare occasions this evening when one of our players might have actually been close enough to the ball to jump for a header, he couldn't get off the ground.
Jackson stood five yards from his Oldham counterpart, watching him win possession, unchallenged. Even Magennis, usually willing to leap, was rooted: immobile. Ulvestad is entirely anonymous, devoid of any authority or influence. We did the usual Charlton thing – tip-tapped nervously on the periphery, lost the ball, then retreated like cowards.
We started again from the keeper: doing the crab-like shuffle across the back. Note how often those easy sideways balls arrived slightly behind the runner, so he had to check and backtrack to retrieve - that is sheer technical incompetence - which gave Oldham the essential fraction of a second to press. And so, it's back to the keeper once more.
Every single team from the Kent League to the Prem plays with guts, fire and spirit on their home turf – for their own professional pride and for the fans. We are so hopeless that our strikers don't rush the defender in possession to make a block; even good old Churchy managed that. The defender strolls forward into our vacant midfield, and sets up another assault...
It's ghastly. Oldham imposed themselves on the game, got forward on the flanks and hammered crosses fast and low. Another ten minutes, and we would have lost exactly as we did against Wimbledon last week, committing suicide in The Valley of Death.
In the last minute tonight we had a rare corner. All three subs were on; the whole team ran forward in anticipation. Lookman took the corner – and sent the ball sailing over the box to the opposite touchline, where it bounced out of play.
This is brainless and incompetent. Physically weak and mentally dim. Utter, utter dross.
AFC & latics. Really looking forward to Saturday. Rochdale beat trotters tonight so should be a good game. Looking forward to seeing a crowd even if they don't get behind the team for 95 mins.
At best we have a mediocre squad, largely due to the financial restraints imposed on Brussell by You Know Who but compounded by a manager who hasn't set the world alight thus far.
We have to challenge the game plan of the gaffer from minute 1 to minutes 90+. We have to believe that his aim is to gain 3 points from every home game but his substitutions regularly mean that we question his "goal".
Teaching my grandmother to suck eggs wasn't something I planned to do but FFS, our midfield is sorely lacking in skill, pace, character & just about everything else you can think of. Sadly, even I have to believe that JJ's legs are best kept "on ice" in readiness for a last throw of the dice from the bench.
Why have a player on the bench & not bring him on who, basically is unknown to other L1 teams & who has given glimpses of what he COULD do to change a game ...and I don't mean Rojo.
I wonder what the team spirit is like behind the scenes - have the members bonded? Are they " a unit" ? Does the gaffer inspire confidence ? Is he inspirational ? SO many questions.
Finally, how many of us could have written the script tonight ?
If we can't beat teams like Oldham ( no offence meant) at The Valley then I see little hope for this season. We know as far as the squad is concerned, we have what we have until January. And as I'm sure others have pointed out before my post, if we sacked RS, who the hell would want to join our version of Ringling Brothers ? So, where do we go from here ?
More than ever, at this moment in time, I am numb. I didn't enjoy one minute of tonight's game...I was bored / disinterested/ distracted/ angry throughout the 90 minutes - something I don't believe I have ever felt at a Charlton match before & it breaks my heart to admit this.
Whatever it takes, WE HAVE TO GET OUR CLUB BACK before the disease that threatens its very existence becomes terminal. We are not yet at rock bottom but the speed & manner of our decline is frightening. Sadly, until we are rid of this toxic regime, I see no future.
" Just sell our club, our famous football club " !
Who could argue with your sentiments, Fanny.
The big question must be, even if RD and his circus did throw in the towel, who, in their right minds is going to buy this sinking ship?
So many folk feel the same as you and tonight I cannot express my frustration and anger in words but, for myself, I cannot see investors queuing up to take up the poisoned chalice. The fans should have or need to come up with something better than, 'Sell the Club and do one' - they need to attract a buyer and the way things are going, that will not be easy.
If you were a potential investor and you saw the way the Club has been brought to its knees by fans voting with their feet and killing revenue/income streams so aggressively and so early in the tenure of the owners, would you not be deeply concerned that the same might happen to you as the new owner?
Leuth Surely no addick seriously thought we were going to finish top 2 in view of L1 track record. There's not really much hope for those that put any hard earnt on that scenario.
I thought we were unlucky against Wimbledon, and that we still had the team for a promotion push, but tonight was very worrying. Might be time to blood another youngster?
At best we have a mediocre squad, largely due to the financial restraints imposed on Brussell by You Know Who but compounded by a manager who hasn't set the world alight thus far.
We have to challenge the game plan of the gaffer from minute 1 to minutes 90+. We have to believe that his aim is to gain 3 points from every home game but his substitutions regularly mean that we question his "goal".
Teaching my grandmother to suck eggs wasn't something I planned to do but FFS, our midfield is sorely lacking in skill, pace, character & just about everything else you can think of. Sadly, even I have to believe that JJ's legs are best kept "on ice" in readiness for a last throw of the dice from the bench.
Why have a player on the bench & not bring him on who, basically is unknown to other L1 teams & who has given glimpses of what he COULD do to change a game ...and I don't mean Rojo.
I wonder what the team spirit is like behind the scenes - have the members bonded? Are they " a unit" ? Does the gaffer inspire confidence ? Is he inspirational ? SO many questions.
Finally, how many of us could have written the script tonight ?
If we can't beat teams like Oldham ( no offence meant) at The Valley then I see little hope for this season. We know as far as the squad is concerned, we have what we have until January. And as I'm sure others have pointed out before my post, if we sacked RS, who the hell would want to join our version of Ringling Brothers ? So, where do we go from here ?
More than ever, at this moment in time, I am numb. I didn't enjoy one minute of tonight's game...I was bored / disinterested/ distracted/ angry throughout the 90 minutes - something I don't believe I have ever felt at a Charlton match before & it breaks my heart to admit this.
Whatever it takes, WE HAVE TO GET OUR CLUB BACK before the disease that threatens its very existence becomes terminal. We are not yet at rock bottom but the speed & manner of our decline is frightening. Sadly, until we are rid of this toxic regime, I see no future.
" Just sell our club, our famous football club " !
Who could argue with your sentiments, Fanny.
The big question must be, even if RD and his circus did throw in the towel, who, in their right minds is going to buy this sinking ship?
So many folk feel the same as you and tonight I cannot express my frustration and anger in words but, for myself, I cannot see investors queuing up to take up the poisoned chalice. The fans should have or need to come up with something better than, 'Sell the Club and do one' - they need to attract a buyer and the way things are going, that will not be easy.
If you were a potential investor and you saw the way the Club has been brought to its knees by fans voting with their feet and killing revenue/income streams so aggressively and so early in the tenure of the owners, would you not be deeply concerned that the same might happen to you as the new owner?
You what @purdis ???? You think maybe RD and other potential investors will be deterred by those of us staying away, such that we should rethink? How about this lot do 'do one', then we can see who or what we have to work with..
Jeez, have only just realised that we played tonight - although judging by the comments on here that may actually be debatable.
I can' hardly believe I've gone so quickly from someone who missed only about half a dozen home games in 30 years or so to someone who doesn't even know we are playing.
If that's happened to me then it will have happened to others. And that's got to be a concern for the future of the club.
I can't get to evening games at the moment but I'm not missing it.
Can't make Saturday, won't bother with the Checkatrade nonsense, next game I can make will be Coventry. Knowing what RD is like with managers I wouldn't be surprised if Slade has been sacked by then or close to it.
Thought we'd win tonight, but it's hardly surprising that we didn't. Did we have enough decent chances to win it?
Playing cautious football might have got Orient and Yeovil in the play-offs but teams are going to be more cautious against us themselves. I can't see the sort of starting lineups he's putting out ever getting consistent results.
Does he not trust Botaka defensively to give him a start?
Talking more about the line ups in general I can't work out how this team is meant to fit together. He's often played Fox and Jackson down the left or sometimes Solly and Foley down the right. Both very defensive choices with little attacking threat.
How did Novak and Magennis look as a partnership?
Good questions, Scoham. Here are the answers:
Did we have decent chances to win it? No. It's the same old problem: midfield is simply incapable of carving openings for the strikers.
Does he [Slade] not trust Botaka to give him a start? No. Yet Botaka looked fiery in brief cameos as sub in previous games. Given the somnolent torpor of our regular midfield, Botaka should be playing from the kick-off. Similarly, Slade should drop Ulvestad and play Ollie Muldoon, who has come through the ranks and will at least have the urgency to impress his family and friends in the stands.
How did Novak and Magennis look as a partnership? Non-existent. In fact, none of our players form partnerships. These days, three accurate forward passes anywhere on the pitch in the entire 90 minutes are a cause for celebration.
We all despise Duchatelet & Co., we all know Slade isn't good enough - but what really appals me are the failings of the players themselves. They have the whole week at Sparrows Lane - experienced pros, academy graduates and fresh blood with Novak and Ajose - yet straight from the kick-off they play like shadows of men, frozen in fear.
This lack of cohesion, absence of mutual understanding, failure of bravery or ambition, is unacceptable anywhere and on any terms. Against Oldham last night our players didn't even try.
The Club is dying on its feet - never mind though, once we've killed it off we can all drive through the tunnel to Stratford to watch a new team.
Wow just fucking wow "once we've killed it off" wtf are you on about ? Should we all turn up and fill the stadium and watch that shit or will it suddenly all turn good (ask Newcastle fans if that works) It's these wanky owners who have turned us in to this shit house , not the fans ffs
The big question must be, even if RD and his circus did throw in the towel, who, in their right minds is going to buy this sinking ship?
I cannot see investors queuing up to take up the poisoned chalice. The fans should have or need to come up with something better than, 'Sell the Club and do one' - they need to attract a buyer and the way things are going, that will not be easy.
If you were a potential investor and you saw the way the Club has been brought to its knees by fans voting with their feet and killing revenue/income streams so aggressively and so early in the tenure of the owners, would you not be deeply concerned that the same might happen to you as the new owner?
You just have to be kidding me !
Peter Varney had punters interested in buying this poisoned chalice , the clown that owns us didn't bother for a meet up Any potential new owner who does their due diligence will know that fans are staying away due to the inept ownership and club we currently have .
Apologies if you've had your head stuck in the sand for the last two years .
The most disappointing thing about last night was that I wasn't at all surprised by what happened. There was some decent football played on the night but unfortunately from our point of view it all came from Oldham. We have 1 or 2 decent players but we look what we are, an average to poor League one team with little prospect of higher league football in the near future. And the midfield in particular is as poor as I can remember in some 50 years of watching Charlton. Indeed if we are not careful we could well be in a relegation fight. Slade won't last the season at this rate, particularly if he keeps our best player Lookman on the bench for the most part. All in all prospects are not great at present.
Gutted again. We cannot defend. Everyone knows it and Slade needs to address this asap. Every time the opposition have the ball anywhere near our goal we all expect the worse. The other thing is that there is no passion or desire as a TEAM. Every time Jackson goes off it feels like we concede fairly soon after. You need someone to stop others from switching off. Wimbledon and now Oldham. Bloody hell. We have good players and Slade needs to get them playing as a team.. Even if we had won it would have felt like a loss such was the dire nature of our play.
Possibly the worst Charlton team effort I've ever seen and there's been some shockers over the last 50 years.
Embarrassing performance.
2 hours to get to The Valley to watch my beloved Charlton coz some f*ckwit broke down in the Blackwall Tunnel and I get to watch football of a considerably worse standard than my Under 18's used to serve up when I was coaching and managing a local side up Suffolk - honestly, the football tonight was of a lower and worse standard than that.
Bloke two seats from me summed it up, his face totally bemused by what he was witnessing on the park, a lost soul he was, he commented near the end, 'I think this is the worst Charlton side I've ever seen' - and you could see he really meant it.
Those of you who wished great misfortune under the current owners, as much as I respect your frustration, oh how we'd swap this for the same time last season and that squad we had. In the words of Joni Mitchell, 'You don't know what you've got til it's gone'.
Tonight the atmosphere felt like I was watching a poor Ridgeon's League game - no fans, no atmosphere, no decent players - or at least none that could perform to their best with what was around them, failing to provide for them.
The Club is dying on its feet - never mind though, once we've killed it off we can all drive through the tunnel to Stratford to watch a new team.
"We've killed it off"? - wtf are you talking about?
The Club is dying on its feet - never mind though, once we've killed it off we can all drive through the tunnel to Stratford to watch a new team.
Wow just fucking wow "once we've killed it off" wtf are you on about ? Should we all turn up and fill the stadium and watch that shit or will it suddenly all turn good (ask Newcastle fans if that works) It's these wanky owners who have turned us in to this shit house , not the fans ffs
The big question must be, even if RD and his circus did throw in the towel, who, in their right minds is going to buy this sinking ship?
I cannot see investors queuing up to take up the poisoned chalice. The fans should have or need to come up with something better than, 'Sell the Club and do one' - they need to attract a buyer and the way things are going, that will not be easy.
If you were a potential investor and you saw the way the Club has been brought to its knees by fans voting with their feet and killing revenue/income streams so aggressively and so early in the tenure of the owners, would you not be deeply concerned that the same might happen to you as the new owner?
You just have to be kidding me !
Peter Varney had punters interested in buying this poisoned chalice , the clown that owns us didn't bother for a meet up Any potential new owner who does their due diligence will know that fans are staying away due to the inept ownership and club we currently have .
Apologies if you've had your head stuck in the sand for the last two years .
Unbelievable Jeff
Just look where we are now compared to 12 months ago in terms of squad, crowds, support and, most importantly, football. We are as bad as we've ever been as a team.
I seem to recall SCP commenting in an interview that Varney promised him money which never came. The grass is always greener.
The ultimate cause of our demise is the players themselves but one thing is for sure, the current squad reflects the much reduced level of income the club has received over what is now a long period of time.
I don't blame the fans for staying away - it's not my position to tell you whether you should come or to judge you for not coming - freedom of choice and I spent nearly a grand on showing my misguided loyalty.
The West Ham debacle highlights how it could be (and I'd swap their problems with ours any day) and Newcastle is a good example of how fans loyalty can still fail miserably, I agree.
I just cannot believe what I saw last night and how bad we are compared to the euphoria of 12 months ago when JBG's 98th minute header hit the back of the net to beat Hull (now a Premiership team and JBG now a Premiership player).
The arrival of West Ham at Stratford and the draw on local support caused by it may prevent CAFC from ever becoming a great club again - the problem is we sit in a 27,000 seater stadium with its inherent costs and overheads, drawing crowds of under 9,000 - something's got to give.
embarrassing performance last night, shocking all over the pitch, the only one(s) with any credit for me were Rudd and BFG....how on earth did Konsa get MOM (rabbit in headlights springs to mind) he needs to be taken out of the team now.
BFG and Pearce to build a central defensive partnership please.
CM is our biggest worry...no idea who can play in there, preferably someone with plenty of energy alongside Jacko.
Novak shouldn't be starting, he's a sub (no pace), Josh and Ajose up top with Lookman out wide.
Our biggest problem is that we cant score enough goals. In Tony Watt we had a striker who would have torn this league to bits so the decision to loan him out and still pay most of his wages has been the biggest and most costly mistake made this season. I dont care if he's challenging to manage on the training ground. He's contracted to us and we should have managed him and forced him to honour his contract by playing for the team who pay his wages. I really think it would have made the difference and given us the spark we lack.
We are where we are though and as many have said its time for Botaka to come into the team and for Lookman to play up front.
Until Jan we simply need to play our best players so if Holmes and Lookman are not injured (Tex to when he's fit as I rate him more than Pearce / konss) they play the full 90 mins every game. If we do that then we may still be in with a chance when the much needed Kashi hopefully comes back into the frame in Jan and we have a chance to bring in reinforcements.
Comments
Russell Slade: “I’m bitterly disappointed. I thought it was our most disappointing performance of the season.
“We looked devoid of ideas, we looked leggy, they were first to every ball and we were fortunate, in many ways, to get a point tonight.
“It wasn’t just the last 10 minutes tonight, they first 10 minutes weren’t much better either. We were dysfunctional at times. I know we’ve had a lot of different partnerships, particularly at centre-half recently, which doesn’t help, but we didn’t look like we had played with each other tonight.
“We didn’t understand each other’s strengths, but when we did it paid off. We made 21 passes before we finished for the goal, but we only did that maybe two or three times in the first half and that was it. Clearly, that is not enough.
“It can’t be on a part-time basis, it has to be every single time. We are all disappointed, we’ve had a good chat amongst ourselves. We know we’ve taken a step back tonight and we have to show improvement on Saturday.
Q: A section of the crowd showed their dissatisfaction. Is it important for them to stick by the team?
RS: “They’re entitled to that tonight. It was a poor performance and we could have quite easily lost the game.
“Fortunately, we came out of it with something, but we have to put it behind us. It’s gone now, we can’t control it and we have to build up the full focus for Saturday against Rochdale at home and make sure we put in a better performance.”
http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/charlton-oldham-athletic-reaction-russell-slade-3332846.aspx#wT3dU1WZ4MPCIsjs.99
Needs to pull his socks up and he may need to promote a kid from the youth team if he wants to play 4-4-2
Embarrassing performance.
2 hours to get to The Valley to watch my beloved Charlton coz some f*ckwit broke down in the Blackwall Tunnel and I get to watch football of a considerably worse standard than my Under 18's used to serve up when I was coaching and managing a local side up Suffolk - honestly, the football tonight was of a lower and worse standard than that.
Bloke two seats from me summed it up, his face totally bemused by what he was witnessing on the park, a lost soul he was, he commented near the end, 'I think this is the worst Charlton side I've ever seen' - and you could see he really meant it.
Those of you who wished great misfortune under the current owners, as much as I respect your frustration, oh how we'd swap this for the same time last season and that squad we had. In the words of Joni Mitchell, 'You don't know what you've got til it's gone'.
Tonight the atmosphere felt like I was watching a poor Ridgeon's League game - no fans, no atmosphere, no decent players - or at least none that could perform to their best with what was around them, failing to provide for them.
The Club is dying on its feet - never mind though, once we've killed it off we can all drive through the tunnel to Stratford to watch a new team.
I dont like sacking managers & we've had far too many over the past 3 years but Slade is not the answer. He makes Curbs seem like Pep, Jose & Sir Alex all rolled into one & has no idea how to use his best players. Last sat he left our best players on the bench and although he started Holmes tonight he once again left Lookman & Ajose on the bench. He may not have been given funds to buy the best players going, or been given a squad thin on quality - but the quality players he does have he refuses to start with them.
The sad thing about it is that we are not far off a decent team that could make the play-offs if only they played the right formation, by the right manager & with the right tactics.
A brief but to the point view from Fanny ....
At best we have a mediocre squad, largely due to the financial restraints imposed on Brussell by You Know Who but compounded by a manager who hasn't set the world alight thus far.
We have to challenge the game plan of the gaffer from minute 1 to minutes 90+. We have to believe that his aim is to gain 3 points from every home game but his substitutions regularly mean that we question his "goal".
Teaching my grandmother to suck eggs wasn't something I planned to do but FFS, our midfield is sorely lacking in skill, pace, character & just about everything else you can think of. Sadly, even I have to believe that JJ's legs are best kept "on ice" in readiness for a last throw of the dice from the bench.
Why have a player on the bench & not bring him on who, basically is unknown to other L1 teams & who has given glimpses of what he COULD do to change a game ...and I don't mean Rojo.
I wonder what the team spirit is like behind the scenes - have the members bonded? Are they " a unit" ? Does the gaffer inspire confidence ? Is he inspirational ? SO many questions.
Finally, how many of us could have written the script tonight ?
If we can't beat teams like Oldham ( no offence meant) at The Valley then I see little hope for this season. We know as far as the squad is concerned, we have what we have until January. And as I'm sure others have pointed out before my post, if we sacked RS, who the hell would want to join our version of Ringling Brothers ? So, where do we go from here ?
More than ever, at this moment in time, I am numb. I didn't enjoy one minute of tonight's game...I was bored / disinterested/ distracted/ angry throughout the 90 minutes - something I don't believe I have ever felt at a Charlton match before & it breaks my heart to admit this.
Whatever it takes, WE HAVE TO GET OUR CLUB BACK before the disease that threatens its very existence becomes terminal. We are not yet at rock bottom but the speed & manner of our decline is frightening. Sadly, until we are rid of this toxic regime, I see no future.
" Just sell our club, our famous football club " !
Foley is on a 5 month temp contract. It should be zero hours though as he makes zero contribution.
I don't know exactly what it was in a previous life that I did, but after sitting through tonight's match it must have been really bad ....
Here is a common fault, witnessed not just this year but seasons before: our defenders punt the ball to the half-way line in the centre of the pitch – and there is no-one there. No-one. This vacant space is immediately seized upon by our opponents, to launch yet another attack. Where, in God's name, are our midfielders? On the very rare occasions this evening when one of our players might have actually been close enough to the ball to jump for a header, he couldn't get off the ground.
Jackson stood five yards from his Oldham counterpart, watching him win possession, unchallenged. Even Magennis, usually willing to leap, was rooted: immobile. Ulvestad is entirely anonymous, devoid of any authority or influence. We did the usual Charlton thing – tip-tapped nervously on the periphery, lost the ball, then retreated like cowards.
We started again from the keeper: doing the crab-like shuffle across the back. Note how often those easy sideways balls arrived slightly behind the runner, so he had to check and backtrack to retrieve - that is sheer technical incompetence - which gave Oldham the essential fraction of a second to press. And so, it's back to the keeper once more.
Every single team from the Kent League to the Prem plays with guts, fire and spirit on their home turf – for their own professional pride and for the fans. We are so hopeless that our strikers don't rush the defender in possession to make a block; even good old Churchy managed that. The defender strolls forward into our vacant midfield, and sets up another assault...
It's ghastly. Oldham imposed themselves on the game, got forward on the flanks and hammered crosses fast and low. Another ten minutes, and we would have lost exactly as we did against Wimbledon last week, committing suicide in The Valley of Death.
In the last minute tonight we had a rare corner. All three subs were on; the whole team ran forward in anticipation. Lookman took the corner – and sent the ball sailing over the box to the opposite touchline, where it bounced out of play.
This is brainless and incompetent. Physically weak and mentally dim. Utter, utter dross.
Looking forward to seeing a crowd even if they don't get behind the team for 95 mins.
The big question must be, even if RD and his circus did throw in the towel, who, in their right minds is going to buy this sinking ship?
So many folk feel the same as you and tonight I cannot express my frustration and anger in words but, for myself, I cannot see investors queuing up to take up the poisoned chalice. The fans should have or need to come up with something better than, 'Sell the Club and do one' - they need to attract a buyer and the way things are going, that will not be easy.
If you were a potential investor and you saw the way the Club has been brought to its knees by fans voting with their feet and killing revenue/income streams so aggressively and so early in the tenure of the owners, would you not be deeply concerned that the same might happen to you as the new owner?
Surely no addick seriously thought we were going to finish top 2 in view of L1 track record. There's not really much hope for those that put any hard earnt on that scenario.
I can' hardly believe I've gone so quickly from someone who missed only about half a dozen home games in 30 years or so to someone who doesn't even know we are playing.
If that's happened to me then it will have happened to others. And that's got to be a concern for the future of the club.
How bloody tragic.
Did we have decent chances to win it? No. It's the same old problem: midfield is simply incapable of carving openings for the strikers.
Does he [Slade] not trust Botaka to give him a start? No. Yet Botaka looked fiery in brief cameos as sub in previous games. Given the somnolent torpor of our regular midfield, Botaka should be playing from the kick-off. Similarly, Slade should drop Ulvestad and play Ollie Muldoon, who has come through the ranks and will at least have the urgency to impress his family and friends in the stands.
How did Novak and Magennis look as a partnership? Non-existent. In fact, none of our players form partnerships. These days, three accurate forward passes anywhere on the pitch in the entire 90 minutes are a cause for celebration.
We all despise Duchatelet & Co., we all know Slade isn't good enough - but what really appals me are the failings of the players themselves. They have the whole week at Sparrows Lane - experienced pros, academy graduates and fresh blood with Novak and Ajose - yet straight from the kick-off they play like shadows of men, frozen in fear.
This lack of cohesion, absence of mutual understanding, failure of bravery or ambition, is unacceptable anywhere and on any terms. Against Oldham last night our players didn't even try.
Should we all turn up and fill the stadium and watch that shit or will it suddenly all turn good (ask Newcastle fans if that works)
It's these wanky owners who have turned us in to this shit house , not the fans ffs You just have to be kidding me !
Peter Varney had punters interested in buying this poisoned chalice , the clown that owns us didn't bother for a meet up
Any potential new owner who does their due diligence will know that fans are staying away due to the inept ownership and club we currently have .
Apologies if you've had your head stuck in the sand for the last two years .
Unbelievable Jeff
Lucky break for me.
We are as bad as we've ever been as a team.
I seem to recall SCP commenting in an interview that Varney promised him money which never came. The grass is always greener.
The ultimate cause of our demise is the players themselves but one thing is for sure, the current squad reflects the much reduced level of income the club has received over what is now a long period of time.
I don't blame the fans for staying away - it's not my position to tell you whether you should come or to judge you for not coming - freedom of choice and I spent nearly a grand on showing my misguided loyalty.
The West Ham debacle highlights how it could be (and I'd swap their problems with ours any day) and Newcastle is a good example of how fans loyalty can still fail miserably, I agree.
I just cannot believe what I saw last night and how bad we are compared to the euphoria of 12 months ago when JBG's 98th minute header hit the back of the net to beat Hull (now a Premiership team and JBG now a Premiership player).
The arrival of West Ham at Stratford and the draw on local support caused by it may prevent CAFC from ever becoming a great club again - the problem is we sit in a 27,000 seater stadium with its inherent costs and overheads, drawing crowds of under 9,000 - something's got to give.
embarrassing performance last night, shocking all over the pitch, the only one(s) with any credit for me were Rudd and BFG....how on earth did Konsa get MOM (rabbit in headlights springs to mind) he needs to be taken out of the team now.
BFG and Pearce to build a central defensive partnership please.
CM is our biggest worry...no idea who can play in there, preferably someone with plenty of energy alongside Jacko.
Novak shouldn't be starting, he's a sub (no pace), Josh and Ajose up top with Lookman out wide.
depressed of Welling
We are where we are though and as many have said its time for Botaka to come into the team and for Lookman to play up front.
Until Jan we simply need to play our best players so if Holmes and Lookman are not injured (Tex to when he's fit as I rate him more than Pearce / konss) they play the full 90 mins every game. If we do that then we may still be in with a chance when the much needed Kashi hopefully comes back into the frame in Jan and we have a chance to bring in reinforcements.