Been confident throughout we’re going to be top 6. Been playing well, and given the horrific injuries and suspensions we’ve sustained, I wouldn’t argue with those saying better than expected.
Be interesting if those at the start of the season had us finishing top 2 believe at present we are doing worse than they expected?
Been confident throughout we’re going to be top 6. Been playing well, and given the horrific injuries and suspensions we’ve sustained, I wouldn’t argue with those saying better than expected.
Be interesting if those at the start of the season had us finishing top 2 believe at present we are doing worse than they expected?
Despite your constant personal attacks I will answer.
I went for runners up at the beginning of the season and as expected now. It's a rebuilt squad and the four loanees came in late on so didn't expect us to run away with it so early. I think there is a lot more to come and 2nd is still very achievable.
Been confident throughout we’re going to be top 6. Been playing well, and given the horrific injuries and suspensions we’ve sustained, I wouldn’t argue with those saying better than expected.
Be interesting if those at the start of the season had us finishing top 2 believe at present we are doing worse than they expected?
I said top 2 and I have said as expected, we are doing as I expected at this stage of the season,I expected us to be around 6th whilst we got our injured players back then come october start pushing up, so right now we are doing as I expected
Better than expected. I thought that Duchâtelet’s incompetence would further weaken the chances of getting out the division, and I wasn’t filled with confidence re: the players we bought in at the start (more so the lack of, not the individuals themselves). Bowyer and JJ have done a great job and providing Roland doesn’t sell Taylor, KAG, Aribo, Fosu or anyone else he can to minimise his losses, out from under him in Jan, we will be in the mix at the end of the season
At the time when my lower half prediction was made this was due to a number of factors which have changed since then.
RD didn't sell of Aribo and Bauer as was widely speculated to happen.
The emergence of Grant as a valuable first team player rather than someone who would score 2 or 3 goals a season.
The emergence of Lapslie, Maloney and Morgan as capable squad players.
Vetokele being retained.
All 4 loan players brought in being players who have made a positive impact on the team not carrying any Dodoo's or Kaikai's wasting valuable loan places. None of the 4 loan players brought in were available when the original prediction poll was made.
All of these 5 factors have happened since the original poll was made along with all of Bowyer's permanent signings looking good so I will now happily adjust my prediction to a top six finish maybe even automatic with a bit of luck. There's still a need for another LB and/or a CB but I'm sure all clubs in the league will say the same about a position or two in there squad and we do still have room for one more loan signing in January potentially to address this.
So let me get this right There are some on CL who at the start of the season without adding steer ward Cullen and belik , injuries to fosu and Clarke and you thought we'd finish in the top 2.
As expected but, to be honest, we are looking better than I thought.
This is my thoughts.
As expected, as I was thinking at about this stage of the season, we would be m around play-offs, maybe not so close to say 3rd as we currently are, but a decent start I was expecting, even with the injuries and small squad, I knew it wouldn’t last and we would still manage to pick up points.
What has been better than expected is a couple of results and performances, Bradford away is a great result, even with their poor form and start, it is a tough place to win so comfortably as we did. Last weekend against Plymouth, I thought we played very well at times. As people have said, Grant doing the business so far has been fantastic, carrying on his form from the end of the last season. Lapslie in particular too being able to show he can be amongst the first team. I do think Morgan will stay in the U23s now, he is good but not good enough yet as things stand in my opinion.
Worse than expected, probably the defence, which surprises me. I thought we would’ve kept at least 4 clean sheets by now, we should’ve done against teams like Accrington Stanley, Wycombe, Plymouth, but the good thing is we still got 7 points from those, probably should’ve been all 9 too. The other factor being, long term injuries, the loss of Forster-Caskey is huge but we have been lucky to get in Cullen and Ward, which will go some way of making up for that loss. The same for the loss of Bauer, I really like Sarr but a centre back pairing that is the standard of Bauer and Pearce, it’s so important for success in this division.
I think we will only get better, the fitter players like Fosu, Vetokele, Ward get the better as they will only improve that way. Then you add in Bielik, Bauer and the long awaited return of Billy Clarke, and suddenly, we have options that mean some very good players may not even make the squad.
I expected top 6 at the beginning, and we are on course as things stand, but with a bit of luck, and keeping everyone together throughout the season, automatic promotion is definitely a possibility. That’s the credit of the job Bowyer, Jackson and Gallen have done to assemble and create this squad and fighting character and spirit that will most certainly win us a good amount of points this season, as we saw yesterday.
As expected, went for us finishing 2nd at the start of the season and still think that’s on
He has the squad now, no excuses
Loving the football we are playing and the fight in the side
This. I've always felt this is going to be a promotion season.
Bowyer always said pre-season that any players he brought in to the club must bring something to the team that was missing or be better than we already had. He may only have been 'caretaker' at the time, but he was planning like a permanent manager.
This is Bowyer's team. And he's building it in his own image.
That 1st match v Sunderland we were, as Bowyer said at the time, down to 'bare bones' - and even with such a depleted team, we gave favourites Sunderland a big scare - and it took a 95th minute goal to beat us. If Pearce had been able to stay on the pitch, I doubt they would have got that winner.
Since then, with the quality loan signings added and despite injury to key players, we're looking like one of the very best teams in the division. As Southend has said above, there's quality football and fight in the side.
You can't help get the feeling there's something building here - momentum, team spirit and fight. It's all taking shape, even though we've not quite found top gear yet. The best is yet to come.
Better than expected but our problem in past few seasons hasn't been the start, it's when we've tailed off after 10-15 games in. Hopefully LB won't let that happen again.
I went "as expected" as I thought we'd be a top 6 side.
For all our issues off the pitch, and certain inadequacies in elements of the squad, we still have some very good (and well paid) players for this division.
Our league position reflects a good team, but not a dominant one. Our GD is already a lot poorer than all the teams above us, and we've not been brilliant at either end of the pitch really.
I think the first time we did this we were without Bielik, Steer, Cullen, and Ward and missing Fosu, Igor, and Reeves through injury. Those are seven players (with Clarke still to return) who will all be important squad players, with arguably five first choice.
I was truly worried we wouldn't get anyone in on loan. The ones we have are all excellent additions.
I had us for mid table, 12th to be exact. I now think we'll be in or around the playoffs.
Nothing is make or break at this stage of the season but I do think Tuesday night is going to be very important. We've scraped together a good run of form, but we're yet to really dominate an entire match. The last couple weeks we've had performances where we went flat for decent stretches. Playing Saturday-Tuesday is always hard, but we could do with a real strong performance. I think this team has at least another gear, maybe two to go up. And we're now at a stage having gotten players back from injury and with the lads having had a month to gel, you'd expect to see that soon.
That is a very good point @SDAddick I also had us firmly mid table before Bielik Cullen Ward all arrived on loan. We have performed above my expectations but there’s no doubt the loanees have been a huge help.
I’ve also been surprised by how well Lyle and Karla have worked together up front.
Things were seriously dire looking back only six weeks ago when we put out a team of kids in the cup...
Thought we were going to be bottom half at the minute and we aren’t. Yet
Before the loanees came in, I though the same, except for the "Yet". With the loans sorted, I expected mid-table given our usual "luck" with injuries so it's better than expected.
I thought we'd flirt around midtable, never thought we'd have gone on such a good run etc.
Although at the same time I'm not surprised - League One only has a few good teams, I knew we'd be able to compete against the majority (its why Relegation doesnt worry me) I just felt that consistency would be missing
Amazed anyone could have predicted the players we'd bring in at the start of the season, had faith in Bowyer but not in the squad resourcing, still might prove an issue, we'll see I guess
Better than expected. When we didn't have enough players to have a full bench, how could we be higher than mid table when we've had so many injured players over the last two seasons. I always felt that Karlan Grant should do well at League 1 but I felt his time may of run out at Charlton. So pleased he has hit the ground running this season. Cullen, Bielik, Lapslie and hopefully Ward will continue to carry on their good play plus Aribo and Fosu can be match winners. Reeves, Page and Solly have shown decent form and Pearce is a good captain. Clarke and Bauer to return to the squad. Taylor, a goal scorer and is developing a partnership with Grant. Pratley and Ajosie are struggling but we live in hope. Both keepers, Steer and Phillips are ok at League 1 level but we were spoilt having Amos last campaign. Morgan, Maloney, Mascoll and Dijksteel could get game time depending on injuries. Naby Sarr: sublime, good, bad, ugly, all before half time ! Vetokele to return to his early promise ?
The curse of Duchatelet hangs over our club so I can't be too optimistic as Solly scoring and Halley's comet returning was my win double before we see the back of the Douchebag.
I said top six and I stand by that . Top two is a possibility if we strengthen in January .
From last season's squad .
Quality has remained the same broadly for the first eleven . The back is a problem in my view . Most of the youth players breaking through seem to be in midfield which has given the squad some depth there and up front we have four good strikers for this league .
Amos / Steer . Not as bad a downgrade as I had feared .
Konsa / Bielik . Would be neutral if the Pole wasn't so injury prone although he can't cover right back in the way Ezri could .
Lennon / ? . Maybe we signed the wrong Ward . Elliott Ward would have been a good cover centre back . I feel we are not short of options going forward but are short of options at the back .
De Silva / ? . We could do with a backup left back / left sider .
Kashi / Pratley . Upgrade for this league . He has a presence which we missed on Saturday . I do not feel Kashi was suited for L1 .
Cullen / JFC . I know JFC is still with us but his injury meant we were short for the first few games . Josh is a similar standard . Maybe that is why we didn't get another defender .
Kaikai / Ward . Upgrade . Like the look of him against Plymouth and as a player against us for Derby .
Zyro / Vetekele . Upgrade . Especially if he can get fitter .
Magennis / Taylor . An upgrade with the exception of defending corners .
Mavididi / Grant . Grant has come back from Crawley a better player
The emergence of Lapslie and Morgan also need to be factored into this as positives .
I said top six and I stand by that . Top two is a possibility if we strengthen in January .
From last season's squad .
Quality has remained the same broadly for the first eleven . The back is a problem in my view . Most of the youth players breaking through seem to be in midfield which has given the squad some depth there and up front we have four good strikers for this league .
Amos / Steer . Not as bad a downgrade as I had feared .
Konsa / Bielik . Would be neutral if the Pole wasn't so injury prone although he can't cover right back in the way Ezri could .
Lennon / ? . Maybe we signed the wrong Ward . Elliott Ward would have been a good cover centre back . I feel we are not short of options going forward but are short of options at the back .
De Silva / ? . We could do with a backup left back / left sider .
Kashi / Pratley . Upgrade for this league . He has a presence which we missed on Saturday . I do not feel Kashi was suited for L1 .
Cullen / JFC . I know JFC is still with us but his injury meant we were short for the first few games . Josh is a similar standard . Maybe that is why we didn't get another defender .
Kaikai / Ward . Upgrade . Like the look of him against Plymouth and as a player against us for Derby .
Zyro / Vetekele . Upgrade . Especially if he can get fitter .
Bartlett / Taylor . An upgrade with the exception of defending corners .
Mavididi / Grant . Grant has come back from Crawley a better player
The emergence of Lapslie and Morgan also need to be factored into this as positives .
I agree with this analysis, though you might want to replace Bartlett with Magennis!
4 CBs isn't enough if one (Sarr) is LB cover and another (Bielik) is also expected to play sometimes as a defensive midfielder. Or if we want to play 3 at the back.
Once Clarke returns, to me we'll have too many players in that area, I'm not sure we'll need Clarke, Reeves and Ward
So let me get this right There are some on CL who at the start of the season without adding steer ward Cullen and belik , injuries to fosu and Clarke and you thought we'd finish in the top 2.
Only LB did.
The rest of us were shitting ourselves. I honestly thought we would be bottom 6/8.
I said top six and I stand by that . Top two is a possibility if we strengthen in January .
From last season's squad .
Quality has remained the same broadly for the first eleven . The back is a problem in my view . Most of the youth players breaking through seem to be in midfield which has given the squad some depth there and up front we have four good strikers for this league .
Amos / Steer . Not as bad a downgrade as I had feared .
Konsa / Bielik . Would be neutral if the Pole wasn't so injury prone although he can't cover right back in the way Ezri could .
Lennon / ? . Maybe we signed the wrong Ward . Elliott Ward would have been a good cover centre back . I feel we are not short of options going forward but are short of options at the back .
De Silva / ? . We could do with a backup left back / left sider .
Kashi / Pratley . Upgrade for this league . He has a presence which we missed on Saturday . I do not feel Kashi was suited for L1 .
Cullen / JFC . I know JFC is still with us but his injury meant we were short for the first few games . Josh is a similar standard . Maybe that is why we didn't get another defender .
Kaikai / Ward . Upgrade . Like the look of him against Plymouth and as a player against us for Derby .
Zyro / Vetekele . Upgrade . Especially if he can get fitter .
Bartlett / Taylor . An upgrade with the exception of defending corners .
Mavididi / Grant . Grant has come back from Crawley a better player
The emergence of Lapslie and Morgan also need to be factored into this as positives .
I agree with this analysis, though you might want to replace Bartlett with Magennis!
4 CBs isn't enough if one (Sarr) is LB cover and another (Bielik) is also expected to play sometimes as a defensive midfielder. Or if we want to play 3 at the back.
Once Clarke returns, to me we'll have too many players in that area, I'm not sure we'll need Clarke, Reeves and Ward
I thought we were doomed and it is little short of miraculous what Bowyer has achieved given the demoralised shambles that Roland has created and the epic uncertainty about future ownership.
I have no idea how he persuaded decent players like Taylor, Ward and Cullen to join, even on loan and it says a lot about the respect he must command in the game.
Regardless of our final position, LB anf JJ have them scrapping and fighting like a proper Charlton team and trying to play some decent football too.
Given the circumstances, that's way more than anyone could have expected.
Comments
Been confident throughout we’re going to be top 6. Been playing well, and given the horrific injuries and suspensions we’ve sustained, I wouldn’t argue with those saying better than expected.
Be interesting if those at the start of the season had us finishing top 2 believe at present we are doing worse than they expected?
I went for runners up at the beginning of the season and as expected now. It's a rebuilt squad and the four loanees came in late on so didn't expect us to run away with it so early. I think there is a lot more to come and 2nd is still very achievable.
He has the squad now, no excuses
Loving the football we are playing and the fight in the side
At the time when my lower half prediction was made this was due to a number of factors which have changed since then.
RD didn't sell of Aribo and Bauer as was widely speculated to happen.
The emergence of Grant as a valuable first team player rather than someone who would score 2 or 3 goals a season.
The emergence of Lapslie, Maloney and Morgan as capable squad players.
Vetokele being retained.
All 4 loan players brought in being players who have made a positive impact on the team not carrying any Dodoo's or Kaikai's wasting valuable loan places. None of the 4 loan players brought in were available when the original prediction poll was made.
All of these 5 factors have happened since the original poll was made along with all of Bowyer's permanent signings looking good so I will now happily adjust my prediction to a top six finish maybe even automatic with a bit of luck. There's still a need for another LB and/or a CB but I'm sure all clubs in the league will say the same about a position or two in there squad and we do still have room for one more loan signing in January potentially to address this.
There are some on CL who at the start of the season without adding steer ward Cullen and belik , injuries to fosu and Clarke and you thought we'd finish in the top 2.
As expected, as I was thinking at about this stage of the season, we would be m around play-offs, maybe not so close to say 3rd as we currently are, but a decent start I was expecting, even with the injuries and small squad, I knew it wouldn’t last and we would still manage to pick up points.
What has been better than expected is a couple of results and performances, Bradford away is a great result, even with their poor form and start, it is a tough place to win so comfortably as we did. Last weekend against Plymouth, I thought we played very well at times. As people have said, Grant doing the business so far has been fantastic, carrying on his form from the end of the last season. Lapslie in particular too being able to show he can be amongst the first team. I do think Morgan will stay in the U23s now, he is good but not good enough yet as things stand in my opinion.
Worse than expected, probably the defence, which surprises me. I thought we would’ve kept at least 4 clean sheets by now, we should’ve done against teams like Accrington Stanley, Wycombe, Plymouth, but the good thing is we still got 7 points from those, probably should’ve been all 9 too. The other factor being, long term injuries, the loss of Forster-Caskey is huge but we have been lucky to get in Cullen and Ward, which will go some way of making up for that loss. The same for the loss of Bauer, I really like Sarr but a centre back pairing that is the standard of Bauer and Pearce, it’s so important for success in this division.
I think we will only get better, the fitter players like Fosu, Vetokele, Ward get the better as they will only improve that way. Then you add in Bielik, Bauer and the long awaited return of Billy Clarke, and suddenly, we have options that mean some very good players may not even make the squad.
I expected top 6 at the beginning, and we are on course as things stand, but with a bit of luck, and keeping everyone together throughout the season, automatic promotion is definitely a possibility. That’s the credit of the job Bowyer, Jackson and Gallen have done to assemble and create this squad and fighting character and spirit that will most certainly win us a good amount of points this season, as we saw yesterday.
Bowyer always said pre-season that any players he brought in to the club must bring something to the team that was missing or be better than we already had. He may only have been 'caretaker' at the time, but he was planning like a permanent manager.
This is Bowyer's team. And he's building it in his own image.
That 1st match v Sunderland we were, as Bowyer said at the time, down to 'bare bones' - and even with such a depleted team, we gave favourites Sunderland a big scare - and it took a 95th minute goal to beat us. If Pearce had been able to stay on the pitch, I doubt they would have got that winner.
Since then, with the quality loan signings added and despite injury to key players, we're looking like one of the very best teams in the division. As Southend has said above, there's quality football and fight in the side.
You can't help get the feeling there's something building here - momentum, team spirit and fight.
It's all taking shape, even though we've not quite found top gear yet. The best is yet to come.
For all our issues off the pitch, and certain inadequacies in elements of the squad, we still have some very good (and well paid) players for this division.
Our league position reflects a good team, but not a dominant one. Our GD is already a lot poorer than all the teams above us, and we've not been brilliant at either end of the pitch really.
I was truly worried we wouldn't get anyone in on loan. The ones we have are all excellent additions.
I had us for mid table, 12th to be exact. I now think we'll be in or around the playoffs.
Nothing is make or break at this stage of the season but I do think Tuesday night is going to be very important. We've scraped together a good run of form, but we're yet to really dominate an entire match. The last couple weeks we've had performances where we went flat for decent stretches. Playing Saturday-Tuesday is always hard, but we could do with a real strong performance. I think this team has at least another gear, maybe two to go up. And we're now at a stage having gotten players back from injury and with the lads having had a month to gel, you'd expect to see that soon.
I’ve also been surprised by how well Lyle and Karla have worked together up front.
Things were seriously dire looking back only six weeks ago when we put out a team of kids in the cup...
Although at the same time I'm not surprised - League One only has a few good teams, I knew we'd be able to compete against the majority (its why Relegation doesnt worry me) I just felt that consistency would be missing
When we didn't have enough players to have a full bench, how could we be higher than mid table when we've had so many injured players over the last two seasons.
I always felt that Karlan Grant should do well at League 1 but I felt his time may of run out at Charlton. So pleased he has hit the ground running this season.
Cullen, Bielik, Lapslie and hopefully Ward will continue to carry on their good play plus Aribo and Fosu can be match winners.
Reeves, Page and Solly have shown decent form and Pearce is a good captain.
Clarke and Bauer to return to the squad.
Taylor, a goal scorer and is developing a partnership with Grant.
Pratley and Ajosie are struggling but we live in hope.
Both keepers, Steer and Phillips are ok at League 1 level but we were spoilt having Amos last campaign.
Morgan, Maloney, Mascoll and Dijksteel could get game time depending on injuries.
Naby Sarr: sublime, good, bad, ugly, all before half time !
Vetokele to return to his early promise ?
The curse of Duchatelet hangs over our club so I can't be too optimistic as Solly scoring and Halley's comet returning was my win double before we see the back of the Douchebag.
I said top six and I stand by that . Top two is a possibility if we strengthen in January .
From last season's squad .
Quality has remained the same broadly for the first eleven . The back is a problem in my view . Most of the youth players breaking through seem to be in midfield which has given the squad some depth there and up front we have four good strikers for this league .
Amos / Steer . Not as bad a downgrade as I had feared .
Konsa / Bielik . Would be neutral if the Pole wasn't so injury prone although he can't cover right back in the way Ezri could .
Lennon / ? . Maybe we signed the wrong Ward . Elliott Ward would have been a good cover centre back . I feel we are not short of options going forward but are short of options at the back .
De Silva / ? . We could do with a backup left back / left sider .
Kashi / Pratley . Upgrade for this league . He has a presence which we missed on Saturday . I do not feel Kashi was suited for L1 .
Cullen / JFC . I know JFC is still with us but his injury meant we were short for the first few games . Josh is a similar standard . Maybe that is why we didn't get another defender .
Kaikai / Ward . Upgrade . Like the look of him against Plymouth and as a player against us for Derby .
Zyro / Vetekele . Upgrade . Especially if he can get fitter .
Magennis / Taylor . An upgrade with the exception of defending corners .
Mavididi / Grant . Grant has come back from Crawley a better player
The emergence of Lapslie and Morgan also need to be factored into this as positives .
4 CBs isn't enough if one (Sarr) is LB cover and another (Bielik) is also expected to play sometimes as a defensive midfielder. Or if we want to play 3 at the back.
Once Clarke returns, to me we'll have too many players in that area, I'm not sure we'll need Clarke, Reeves and Ward
The rest of us were shitting ourselves. I honestly thought we would be bottom 6/8.
I have no idea how he persuaded decent players like Taylor, Ward and Cullen to join, even on loan and it says a lot about the respect he must command in the game.
Regardless of our final position, LB anf JJ have them scrapping and fighting like a proper Charlton team and trying to play some decent football too.
Given the circumstances, that's way more than anyone could have expected.