So, I've not been to a single game this season - so far.
I am boycotting home games, I will be there to protest against Coventry. And unfortunately I haven't been able to make an away game yet due to various commitments but I'm hoping I can make it to port vale
Despite not going I obviously am still taking a massive interest in charlton as I always would I just don't want to line RDs pockets. I'm reading thread after thread of post match views but I still geninuely don't know what is the reason that we are doing so badly? From what I read initially Holmes seemed really promising and Lookman seemed like he was going to push on and make a proper name for himself, so I'm just really baffled as to what is going so wrong.
Is it down to Slade being tactically inept, the small crowds, the lack of signings? Obviously I haven't been to a game yet so I just am wondering what people actually think is the main reason that we have started, well I think it's at the point of the season we can say now, pretty badly.
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Now our 3 50+ goals last season can't score either.
Surely we must have some U23's that could at least give us some legs.
Players like Makienok, Vetokele, Gudmundson, Diarra, Fanni, even the ghost of Poyet... there was always a hope that if we could just get them fit, firing and playing well together, we would have just too much quality to go down. That didn't happen, of course.
The depressing thing is that this year I don't see any untapped potential in that side. We have some good players at this level, and several passengers that offer nothing.. and that's it. There is no great hope waiting to come back from injury, no players that feel like they could 'click' and start playing amazingly, and no loan market to rely upon. We are stuck with a dreadful midfield has no room to improve - it is what it is.
The only tiny hope is that some youth prospects come through and give the whole thing a jump-start. I have no idea how good players like Aribo are, but they must surely be worth a shot at this point.
For me this is 100% Slade's fault and is baffling. Some of his selections and substitutions have been bizarre.
Our lack of tactical ability and ineffectual formations has to be the fault of the manager. For instance, everyone could see that playing "one up front" wasn't working yesterday, why couldn't Slade?
Quite clearly, the objective this season now has to be avoiding relegation to League Two. Forget any thought of trying to get into the top six!
His constant blaming of players is the work of a shameless arsehole.
Compare when Charlton were in a weak state under Parkinson and it was apparent that Charlton would be relegated, Parkinson got the best set of players & characters he could with the money available. Deon Burton up front, Charlton prepared for League one before the end of the season. Charlton even brought Norwich down with a decent performance on the last day of the season. There was a sense of togetherness at the club for the next season. They was then a whole pre season so that the players could build confidence. There team was limited but there was continuity as much as there could be. Charlton won the first 6 games in a row. The team limitations and how to counter Parkinson's system was found out but it provided a decent foundation for the next season.
Compare that to this relegation, it was clear that the team was going to get relegated months and months before the end of the season but very little was done to prepare. Despite 3 early signings at the end of the season, this was not built on. There was lots of dithering on the manager front, all the best players sold and not adequately replaced. The central midfield was left lacking and the team hastily assembled at the last minute so there was a poor pre season.
There was little time to build the cohesion and spirit needed. Even now, 11 games in, the team is playing like a bunch of strangers. The messages coming out from Meire & the SMT that the squad was sufficient and that everything is rosy, shows how little they know about construction of a football team.
But pinning everything on Slade is not right, as useless as he is turning out. Any manager would struggle under the conditions set up by Duchatelet & Meire. It is how Charlton ended up with such a poor manager in the first place. Changing managers is not going to remove the flaws, ineptness and complete absence of footballing sense with Duchatelet, Drieson and the SMT.
Duchatelet, Drieson & Meire yesterday talk about mistakes. Meire did it again yesterday. We don't know what specific mistakes these are. It is clear that not building a stable squad with time for a pre season or leaving gaping holes in the team - this time the central midfield - was one of them.
The players know the weakness of the squad, limitations of the manager, the ineptness of the SMT & the lack of ambition / interest from Duchatelet . The players don't appear to believe the spin. Neither does a very large number of the support.
@queensland_addick is very likely right about all not being well behind the scenes. How many of the players joined on the promise at a proper shot at the Champtionship but don't see a properly constructed team ? Slade battled for Crofts, but lets face it, he is a squad back up player.
Queensland also correct that the problems will recur whilst Duchaltet & Meire are in charge.
There's no logic or consistency to any of it, and the players must be as confused as we are. We've got no plan for what to do when we're attacking as there's no creative spark in midfield. Both Holmes and Lookman are talented but have a tendency to go alone or overplay and don't really bring players into the game, and our central midfielders just want to get rid of the ball as soon as possible, preferably sideways, backwards or to an opposition player. Forwards isn't on the menu. That isolates the strikers, making Ajose look like a tall, lost mascot, and means that because no-one's actually bothered to map out phases of play, Magennis's big shiny head is the only obvious outlet. We also don't have quick full backs, so there's no option for overloading in wide areas. Back into the middle it goes, and then lumped forward.
I'm also amazed at how bad we are at managing games. Under Peeters and Luzon there was a running joke that it didn't really matter if we went 1-0 up because you just had to wait for the equaliser. That we put down to a young squad with very little experience playing in England and playing together. The introduction of an experienced manager and experienced players like Pearce, Foley and Crofts was supposed to bring that nous in. 1-0 up against Wimbledon and unable to take our additional chances, it was time to either bring on a fresh attacker to stretch a tired defence or kill the game. Ruin it. Make the people watching pray for death but come away with 3 points. But we didn't. Slade didn't make the obvious changes either way and instead we meekly allowed Wimbledon to change their play, move their playmaker, bring on a bunch of giraffes and beat us in 15 minutes. Only when it was too late did Slade change anything, but by then the panic had set in and it was frantic. Players should be coached on how to manage a game, how to deal with the inevitable assault that's coming when you're 1-0 up and the game's nearing the end. It's League One, it's hardly going to be tiki-taka; you're going to get high balls into the box and an overload of players in there. You either trust your defenders to clear their lines and bring on a fresh attacker to take advantage of the gaps the opposition are now leaving or you bring on more bastards to clear the ball away. Everyone in the stadium can feel these equalisers coming and yet the manager and the players seem to have no idea what to do about it. It's killing us. We could have at least 7 additional points if we just spent some time on game management, but it doesn't seem to even come up
The reason Slade wanted Thompson, was because he played with Ajose at Swindon last season.
So now we have an immobile central midfield, including Foley a right back who basically can't pass forwards.
Crofts who is also past his sell by date and rarely passes forwards and also has no pace.
Jackson who lost any pace he had about 5 years ago and also hasn't the pace to get forward.
Ulvestad is ok at best, but can't do the work & running for the others.
Now, despite this we have Ajose who scored about 25 goals last season. Novak about 15. Magennis a good forward at this level.
Holmes who is very good at this level. Lookman who should also be excellent at this level & Botaka who I've seen on clips for Kongo who is capable of some stunning forward play.
So Slade has 6 players of attacking quality as good as anything, possibly better than most in this league, yet we struggle to score a goal.
There are many many options available to Slade, including bringing in some "legs" from the U23's and yet he's sticking with the same players in midfield who are individually well past it and combined are not fit for purpose.
3 points for a win and one for a draw. Just go for it Slade. I'd rather we played like the 70's when we had Hales, Flanagan, Powell and Peacock and were scoring and letting in 4, 5, 6 quite regularly. At least it was entertaining.
Cheltenham who are (were) in the bottom 2 of L2, also ran straight through us at the start of the season.
I thought Slade would be ok, but I have been massively disappointed so far.
The way we are going we could get relegated, but I honestly believe if we get the formation right, we really should be top 6 and still could be, because there really is not one decent team in this league. Scunthorpe look the best, but they couldn't score at home to us last week.
It's very simple. We are very poor as a team because he is very poor as a coach.
Until he departs we will continue to disappoint.
The form in the first quarter of the season if it continues will see us relegated. Our points to games ratio is relegation form.
He has in my estimation half a dozen games to turn it round but he can't. He's not tactically sound enough to do that.
Either the regime get rid or we seriously in danger of finishing in the lowest position in the clubs history.
It's a cluster fuck club from top to bottom.
I personally don't have any faith that the tailspin can be stopped now.
Like I say there are loads of possibilities, just try some, your meant to manage.
His idea of trying something new is playing Foley at right back.
He should have gone with Holmes and Lookman wide yesterday. Novak and Ajose up from and Konsa at RB. We were playing Rochdale not Barcelona.
The goalkeeper, back four, Lookman, Holmes and Magennis are ok to good at this level. The rest are appalling. We effectively play their 11 against our 7 or 8 each week.
1 Slade
2 Slade
3 Slade
He is totally inept he has a decent squad of players for this level even with an aging midfield. Problem is he seems incapable of getting the best out of them