Went just because of the banner protest so my son could show his protest flag. Even with our poor play still should have won by three to four goals.Worst atmosphere ever experienced at the Valley. I wish to continue boycotting home games, but it must be said the protest movement is losing a voice with such low crowds- not sure what the answer is, as understand the aim is to deprive regime of income To cap a quite depressing experience got a load of abuse from a Charlton fan for our protest flag. Same guy then thought it was hard to swear at my son. Losing that Charlton feeling very quickly
Fans moaning about lack of central midfield creativity need to recognise we can't have a midfield of Lookman, Holmes and two playmakers - we'd be run ragged through the centre.
Except nobody is asking for that. We have a series of defensive-minded central midfielders in Jackson, Crofts, Foley and Kashi. We also have a very strong defence. However, our slow, ponderous central midfield means that the ball comes out from the back, gets as far as centre mid and then gets pushed out wide to the wingers who have no out ball, or gets lumped up to Magennis via the stratosphere. With one creative central mid alongside the holding mid we could vary the way we play which would create space and a certain unpredictability, which would help the wingers be under less pressure, stop the ball coming back to the defence all the time and give Ajose some actual room to play off the shoulder
What ought to worry us all is that in 18 months we might be looking back on now as something of a high, and this side as a decent one, and longing for League 1 football again as we go down 1-0 at home to Hartlepool in front of a crowd of 4000 to go into the bottom two of League 2
Rung my son as final whistle went and he said Holmes and Lookman were shit.By all accounts the boys at the bottom of the F Block gave Holmes the kick up the arse he needed, maybe our Manager should be doing that, and before all the retorts, stop being precious, look where we are with this squad, they all need a feckin good rocket up their arses.
One thing I've picked up on with the last two home games I've been to is the lads don't communicate with each other...no one calls a ball, or reads where a pass is going to go, it just seems there's a lack of unity within the squad right now
Please don't call out people in bottom of F Block all good mates, and love the club to death, we are all entitled to our opinions whether you agree or not.
Very dull. Why does Roland want the club? Does KM feel ashamed of what she has created? No atmosphere at all. Sad but I say after 55 years of solid support I see no point in traveling from Hertfordshire to watch my team.
Hopefully Slade learned something today: With Magennis, Novak, Botaka and Holmes on the pitch we still didn't look very vulnerable at the back. Play two up front and two wingers: this is the third division. We shouldn't be setting up defensive formations at this level. And having a go at Holmes is pathetic. He's by some margin our best midfielder. And gives 100% even if his passes don't always hit the mark.
What a cheerful place to visit on a Saturday night - Charlton Life Post Match Views.
Yes, it was a dull game.
Yes, we did deserve to win.
Second half we were much better and Botaka was a breath of fresh air and made the difference. To say he must start is a fair comment but how many players fail to do the business when they're in the comfort zone of First Team selection - Botaka has shown today what he actually has in his locker but we need that consistently from him.
Thought our two centre backs were immense today with Pearce being excellent.
Crofts was really good second half, Holmes upped his game and made a difference.
Ajose needs our backing until he gets his scoring boots back and it was really nice to hear the crowd applaud him after he hit the post - that sort of solidarity really will help him.
Botaka's sublime cross to Ajose, beating the first defender beautifully, was almost too perfect and I wonder if Ajose was unsighted as the big defender was directly in between him and Botaka.
We looked nervous and were too safe and far too often our midfield, who by their very nature look for the back pass, had no forward options as the front men didn't look to drop into holes as they should have.
A much nicer feeling to get the win than to have conceded late as we nearly did. It ceases to amaze me how a defence and midfield, when trying to hold on to a slender lead, give their front man so much space, allow him to run at them and then fail to close him down to prevent him getting the shot away. His shot took a deflection and could easily have gone in - CAFC players switched off at a time when they needed to have been at maximum alert - all very odd.
Still feeling good about the win - we were a lot better than them imho.
Spoke to Theo Foley b4 game and yes I spent money in Xbars.Oh for the days of Flanagan Hales and Powell - all his signings.For what it's worth I think we have a squad good enough to get us out of this lg if Slade would play to his strengths.Another 3 pts but please let's get behind the team.RD ain't going nowhere so let's try another tact.Support the team cos all this division among the fans is taking us nowhere
Rung my son as final whistle went and he said Holmes and Lookman were shit.By all accounts the boys at the bottom of the F Block gave Holmes the kick up the arse he needed, maybe our Manager should be doing that, and before all the retorts, stop being precious, look where we are with this squad, they all need a fuckin good rocket up their arses.
Holmes had a couple of bad passes as you would expect from a League 1 player but other than that he was the main reason we got 3 points today.
Holmes shit ! look at the scores on the players mark. It will inform you that you have been given duff information.
Jurgen Klopp once talked about "heavy metal football". That was anything but.
In some ways an improvement over past performances. We generally kept the ball on the floor and passed it around with only the occasional long ball.
Other than the move when Chesterfield hit the post I didn't feel we were ever in danger of conceding. We have a good defensive record, so credit to Slade for that.
The rest of our play is not where it should be for a club they should be challenging for automatic promotion.
I know the common view is that it's down to our central midfield, but I think it's partly tactical. As was the case v Coventry when the opposition have the ball around the halfway line we back off and look to get back into position. Why can't we press the opposition more? Force mistakes higher up the pitch rather than trying to play our way up the from deeper positions. Magennis and Holmes are two that could suit playing that way.
It's our poor, slow midfield you might say. But is it? Or are they being told to focus on shape over winning the ball back? When we won the league the lack of pace and energy in the midfield was probably our biggest weakness. Any combination of Stephens, Hollands or Hughes wasn't quick and we had Jackson on the left for most of the season.
I also don't think it helps that neither of our full backs are adding a great deal going forward. They can put the odd decent cross in but I think that's also a weakness in this team.
Has anyone ever seen a mobile, tough tackling and creative CM at this level? We could do with another CM but playing at a higher tempo and with more energy comes partly comes from the way the manager sets up the team. Powell was cautious as well but we'd press teams more than we do under Slade. Today we looked more like a Bob Peeters team. Sit back, hold position, pass it around and hopefully we'll break down the opposition.
It was boring unwatchable dross. Then some fat bloke scored for us and started cupping his ear at the covered end.
3 points is 3 points I suppose.
A packed Valley next Saturday no doubt.
Agree about Novak's goal celebration. Him cupping his ear to us pissed me off and reminded me of when Makienok played one good game all season at Rotherham last year and did the same.
Do the players really think we should be happy with watching the most dull football imaginable & being 4 points above relegation to league 2 without even having played the majority of better sides in this league yet (Millwall, Bradford, Sheff Utd, MK Dons etc).
As for the game, we deserved the win but were largely uninspiring. All very flat on and off the pitch
Holmes was easily man of the match, several decent crosses and plenty of pace and effort
Please take Lookman off corner taking duty, it's getting embarrassing
The Centre Backs were very solid today. For a team which doesn't concede many goals, we don't get enough clean sheets
Botaka definitely improved things when he came on. He's got the ability to cause L1 full backs nightmares. Lookman isn't a winger, he wants to play through the middle.
My day was made worse by the sight of my son doing the crossbar challenge and his effort bouncing along the floor.
He was still closer than most of our team today!
No he wasn't ..
He did rather slink off like a salted snail didnt he! I believe the trick is to get into the mindset of Carl Leaburn and then nearly EVERY shot hits a post or crossbar.
First half was marginally more entertaining than the equivalent at Gillingham away last week but that really doesn't say a lot!
We kicked off in front of a sparse crowd, home and away, and nothing worthy of mention really happened for around half an hour. In fact the action, such as it was, seemed half paced and a muted torpor affected the sparse crowd too. The bloke along from me enlivened things a little by expressing his views as to the morality of Ched Evans but a word from the stewards put a stop to that on Free Speech day at The Valley.
Anyway after half an hour Chesterfield, who had been coming into the game increasingly, broke into our box and their number 7, Gardiner, curled an effort that eluded the stretching Rudd and hit the post luckily bouncing out rather than in. I dread to think what the consequences of conceding then would have been. The scales metaphorically fell from Charlton eyes after that let off and Crofts played a lovely ball into Ajose's path giving him a one on one with the keeper. He struck it well enough to beat the keeper but also hit the woodwork and the ball bounced back to dear old Chris Solly who proceeded to blast it into row Z of the Jimmy Seed rather than the net. I would have loved him to have scored at The Valley. Magennis later had a good header well palmed away from Fulton and that was the first half done.
Second half for 15 minutes or so Charlton showed more intent. Ajose missed a golden opprtunity and Magennis headed narrowly wide and we generally exerted a lot of pressure without getting the breakthrough. The Statler and Waldorfs amongst us around me, including me, shifted in our seats, turned and looked at each other and the words 'this has got 1-0 to Chesterfield written all over it' really didn't need to be said although they were!
Brussell must have sensed the same because he replaced a jaded looking Lookman with Botaka and Ajose with Garland Novak. The changes encouraged another few flurries of attacking activity Botaka making two spectacular and effective runs. With the clock running down to the end of the 90 Novak got on the end of a cross to nod the ball beyond Fulton and then greeted the Covered End with a cupped ear as his celebration. We then contrived to nearly concede an equaliser in time added on but fortunately the ball went wide.
One shouldn't knock three points but other than their number 28 Ariybi (?spelling) Chesterfield had little to offer. We made hard work of it but it was a strange atmosphere and the players may have picked up on that.
The Tunnel Jump has been well and truly consigned to the history Meire detests so much.
It was boring unwatchable dross. Then some fat bloke scored for us and started cupping his ear at the covered end.
3 points is 3 points I suppose.
A packed Valley next Saturday no doubt.
Agree about Novak's goal celebration. Him cupping his ear to us pissed me off and reminded me of when Makienok played one good game all season at Rotherham last year and did the same.
Do the players really think we should be happy with watching the most dull football imaginable & being 4 points above relegation to league 2 without even having played the majority of better sides in this league yet (Millwall, Bradford, Sheff Utd, MK Dons etc).
That did make me laugh with Novak. Having given it the cupped ear, two minutes later he missed an absolute sitter. For those not there, he ran onto a low cross from Botaka, and from the penalty spot position, with no defender near him, completely scuffed it. He tried to sweep it in with the inside of his foot, instead of hitting it. No technique whatsoever.
Comments
Even with our poor play still should have won by three to four goals.Worst atmosphere ever experienced at the Valley. I wish to continue boycotting home games, but it must be said the protest movement is losing a voice with such low crowds- not sure what the answer is, as understand the aim is to deprive regime of income
To cap a quite depressing experience got a load of abuse from a Charlton fan for our protest flag. Same guy then thought it was hard to swear at my son.
Losing that Charlton feeling very quickly
Small Minded TossersSeriously Malevolent TransientsSeptic Mismanagement TheoristsSearched My TrousersSorry, I can't say
Hartlepool will get promoted this season.
It'll be Grimsby.
Play two up front and two wingers: this is the third division. We shouldn't be setting up defensive formations at this level.
And having a go at Holmes is pathetic. He's by some margin our best midfielder. And gives 100% even if his passes don't always hit the mark.
Yes, it was a dull game.
Yes, we did deserve to win.
Second half we were much better and Botaka was a breath of fresh air and made the difference. To say he must start is a fair comment but how many players fail to do the business when they're in the comfort zone of First Team selection - Botaka has shown today what he actually has in his locker but we need that consistently from him.
Thought our two centre backs were immense today with Pearce being excellent.
Crofts was really good second half, Holmes upped his game and made a difference.
Ajose needs our backing until he gets his scoring boots back and it was really nice to hear the crowd applaud him after he hit the post - that sort of solidarity really will help him.
Botaka's sublime cross to Ajose, beating the first defender beautifully, was almost too perfect and I wonder if Ajose was unsighted as the big defender was directly in between him and
Botaka.
We looked nervous and were too safe and far too often our midfield, who by their very nature look for the back pass, had no forward options as the front men didn't look to drop into holes as they should have.
A much nicer feeling to get the win than to have conceded late as we nearly did.
It ceases to amaze me how a defence and midfield, when trying to hold on to a slender lead, give their front man so much space, allow him to run at them and then fail to close him down to prevent him getting the shot away.
His shot took a deflection and could easily have gone in - CAFC players switched off at a time when they needed to have been at maximum alert - all very odd.
Still feeling good about the win - we were a lot better than them imho.
Holmes shit ! look at the scores on the players mark.
It will inform you that you have been given duff information.
In some ways an improvement over past performances. We generally kept the ball on the floor and passed it around with only the occasional long ball.
Other than the move when Chesterfield hit the post I didn't feel we were ever in danger of conceding. We have a good defensive record, so credit to Slade for that.
The rest of our play is not where it should be for a club they should be challenging for automatic promotion.
I know the common view is that it's down to our central midfield, but I think it's partly tactical. As was the case v Coventry when the opposition have the ball around the halfway line we back off and look to get back into position. Why can't we press the opposition more? Force mistakes higher up the pitch rather than trying to play our way up the from deeper positions. Magennis and Holmes are two that could suit playing that way.
It's our poor, slow midfield you might say. But is it? Or are they being told to focus on shape over winning the ball back? When we won the league the lack of pace and energy in the midfield was probably our biggest weakness. Any combination of Stephens, Hollands or Hughes wasn't quick and we had Jackson on the left for most of the season.
I also don't think it helps that neither of our full backs are adding a great deal going forward. They can put the odd decent cross in but I think that's also a weakness in this team.
Has anyone ever seen a mobile, tough tackling and creative CM at this level? We could do with another CM but playing at a higher tempo and with more energy comes partly comes from the way the manager sets up the team. Powell was cautious as well but we'd press teams more than we do under Slade. Today we looked more like a Bob Peeters team. Sit back, hold position, pass it around and hopefully we'll break down the opposition.
Do the players really think we should be happy with watching the most dull football imaginable & being 4 points above relegation to league 2 without even having played the majority of better sides in this league yet (Millwall, Bradford, Sheff Utd, MK Dons etc).
Holmes was easily man of the match, several decent crosses and plenty of pace and effort
Please take Lookman off corner taking duty, it's getting embarrassing
The Centre Backs were very solid today. For a team which doesn't concede many goals, we don't get enough clean sheets
Botaka definitely improved things when he came on. He's got the ability to cause L1 full backs nightmares. Lookman isn't a winger, he wants to play through the middle.
He did have a good chuckle at the effort today.
First half was marginally more entertaining than the equivalent at Gillingham away last week but that really doesn't say a lot!
We kicked off in front of a sparse crowd, home and away, and nothing worthy of mention really happened for around half an hour. In fact the action, such as it was, seemed half paced and a muted torpor affected the sparse crowd too. The bloke along from me enlivened things a little by expressing his views as to the morality of Ched Evans but a word from the stewards put a stop to that on Free Speech day at The Valley.
Anyway after half an hour Chesterfield, who had been coming into the game increasingly, broke into our box and their number 7, Gardiner, curled an effort that eluded the stretching Rudd and hit the post luckily bouncing out rather than in. I dread to think what the consequences of conceding then would have been. The scales metaphorically fell from Charlton eyes after that let off and Crofts played a lovely ball into Ajose's path giving him a one on one with the keeper. He struck it well enough to beat the keeper but also hit the woodwork and the ball bounced back to dear old Chris Solly who proceeded to blast it into row Z of the Jimmy Seed rather than the net. I would have loved him to have scored at The Valley. Magennis later had a good header well palmed away from Fulton and that was the first half done.
Second half for 15 minutes or so Charlton showed more intent. Ajose missed a golden opprtunity and Magennis headed narrowly wide and we generally exerted a lot of pressure without getting the breakthrough. The Statler and Waldorfs amongst us around me, including me, shifted in our seats, turned and looked at each other and the words 'this has got 1-0 to Chesterfield written all over it' really didn't need to be said although they were!
Brussell must have sensed the same because he replaced a jaded looking Lookman with Botaka and Ajose with
GarlandNovak. The changes encouraged another few flurries of attacking activity Botaka making two spectacular and effective runs. With the clock running down to the end of the 90 Novak got on the end of a cross to nod the ball beyond Fulton and then greeted the Covered End with a cupped ear as his celebration. We then contrived to nearly concede an equaliser in time added on but fortunately the ball went wide.One shouldn't knock three points but other than their number 28 Ariybi (?spelling) Chesterfield had little to offer. We made hard work of it but it was a strange atmosphere and the players may have picked up on that.
The Tunnel Jump has been well and truly consigned to the history Meire detests so much.