First thing to say - Lyle Taylor was magnificent for the whole 90 minutes. He was everywhere, beating players and carrying our major goal threat. He did not deserve to be on the losing side.
Secondly - it feels like a smash and grab but we only have ourselves to blame.For about 70 minutes we were far superior to Coventry but without creating enough chances and being clinical enough when they did come along. Even near the end Jamie Ward had a golden chance to ut us 2-1 up but headed wide in front of a gaping goal. As soon as Coventry realised they were in with a shout and started applying some pressure, we just folded. Djiksteel just isn't good enough at RB. It is absolutely no surprise that both Coventry goals came from breaks down his flank. He is too slow, gets turned too easily and just doesn't add anything to attacking moves. A modern full back makes as much of a contribution going forwards as in defence. We desperately need to strengthen in both full back positions if we really want to challenge for promotion.
Other than that - Steer looks dodgy. He just lets in too many goals, especially from close in. Cullen, Reeves and Fosu looked classy in midfield but we have to create more.
That's drawn one and lost two in the last three games. Not good enough.
I feel we were mugged and played well first half but were punished with the misses from Taylor and Fosu 1st half. Thought the makeshift defence did well for 80 minutes. Reeves coming off when we were 1 nil up now looks poor.
First thing to say - Lyle Taylor was magnificent for the whole 90 minutes. He was everywhere, beating players and carrying our major goal threat. He did not deserve to be on the losing side.
Secondly - it feels like a smash and grab but we only have ourselves to blame.For about 70 minutes we were far superior to Coventry but without creating enough chances and being clinical enough when they did come along. Even near the end Jamie Ward had a golden chance to ut us 2-1 up but headed wide in front of a gaping goal. As soon as Coventry realised they were in with a shout and started applying some pressure, we just folded. Djiksteel just isn't good enough at RB. It is absolutely no surprise that both Coventry goals came from breaks down his flank. He is too slow, gets turned too easily and just doesn't add anything to attacking moves. A modern full back makes as much of a contribution going forwards as in defence. We desperately need to strengthen in both full back positions if we really want to challenge for promotion.
Other than that - Steer looks dodgy. He just lets in too many goals, especially from close in. Cullen, Reeves and Fosu looked classy in midfield but we have to create more.
That's drawn one and lost two in the last three games. Not good enough.
Great summary Davo. Agree 100% re Taylor, didn’t deserve to be on the losing team
Pretty furious to be honest. If we play a worse side than Coventry this season I will be shocked, first half we should have gone in at about 4 nil, first 25 of the second coulda scored a few more. Then a bunch of grown men on thousands of pounds a week start shitting the bed and panicking for whatever reason.
Send Steer back, his presence annoys me, Pearce replaceable surely, Naby grew into the game a bit but still a bit shaky at times, Solly very decent on the left side, Afernee poor game. I hate our defense, we have got without a doubt in my mind three of the most exciting players in the league in Aribo, Fosu and Taylor and every week it just gets ruined by a crap defense.
Grant needs dropping, he is a billy big bollocks and offered nothing today. Greedy, brain dead in the danger areas and looked to have negative body language. Cullen was pretty good, Reeves was fantastic imo, I don't know Bowyers thought process to take off our best passer of the ball for a kid and not take off the useless Grant instead but hey ho.
Top2 isn't happening, we would need a full strength squad every match day and even then that might not be enough, we could make play offs but will we win them with a shaky defense like this?
Just want that posisonous tosser Roland gone so I can start enjoying my Saturdays properly again and we can build a team around some of the fantastic players we have
Well we really did through it away with both the top to teams losing it was in our hands to only be a couple of points off 2nd But once again our arse went And the rest is history
Poor subs didnt help, Reeves was having a great game and didnt look tired. Fosu was holding up the ball well and key to a lot of our attacking moves. Taking both off in a matter of minutes killed our attacking threat.
Huge disappointment after a recent, very decent run. Three games without a win now and dropping down the table. The defence is now making too many mistakes and the forwards have to score more than one goal if we are to be in with a chance of collecting some points. Injuries to key defenders has been our downfall. A question mark also hangs over our current choice of keeper. If we can keep a clean sheet then we have a guaranteed point and a better chance of all three if our forwards do a job. Don't understand why Reeves was pulled off - maybe still not 100% fit? Hoping this is a blip and we can get back to that earlier form after the International break when others are back fit.
poor selection .. our defence is useless at Scunny and is retained en masse a few days later .. I assume Solly was a fish out of water at left back .. Bielek was on the bench, why didn't he start ? .. at least we are not alone .. Posh thumped at home as were Donny, who'd'a thought the Gills would win at Pompey .. still all to play for
You assume wrong. He was fine, did a decent job as he usually has done at left back.
However neither Dijksteel, a defensive midfielder, or Solly, on his wrong side, offered much as an attacking threat. Solly used his left foot at times but mainly came back on his right which sometimes slowed the attacking down. That’s where we missed Page.
It was obvious we needed a second goal and didn’t get it. Nearly won at the end through Ward, instead we missed and straight after that Coventry scored.
Got to be better at both ends. First half we had a great chance blocked/cleared (Grant and Fosu?) and another, a Taylor header he didn’t get enough power or direction on which was saved on the line by their keeper.
Taylor had a good game, both creating chances for other and looking to score himself.
Aribo seemed to disappear as the game went on, almost forgot he was playing.
We looked good on the ball, tried get in behind and put in different types of crosses but we didn’t do enough to win the game. Being only 1-0 up meant the game could go either way. Had we got that second goal I think we’d have been fairly comfortable, well as much as a Charlton team can with that score line anyway.
Coventry were poor but you could see in the first half how many gaps they were finding in our back four. The game should have been put to bed but we didn't take our chances.
I love bowyer but he waits too long to make a sub. Should have brought on Bielik in the 65th min
Think Bielek was there for absolute emergencies only today. Listening to bowyer midweek, I don't think Bielek was really fit today.
You're probably right. So it begs the question why was he on the sub's bench?
In case one of Pearce or Sarr had to come off and because all our other senior defenders were all playing already. As usual under Roland’s ownership, while when everyone is fit we have a good team and decent cover, we’re 2 or 3 players short of having genuine squad depth so if we have more than a couple of injuries, particularly in the wrong areas of the pitch, we end up having to constantly patch players up and just get them out there, leaving us chasing our tail all the time trying to get everyone fit.
poor selection .. our defence is useless at Scunny and is retained en masse a few days later .. I assume Solly was a fish out of water at left back .. Bielek was on the bench, why didn't he start ? .. at least we are not alone .. Posh thumped at home as were Donny, who'd'a thought the Gills would win at Pompey .. still all to play for
I don't know if Reeves and Fosu were tiring but they seem odd choices as they were both playing well, whereas Grant was fairly anonymous. Dijksteel is a skilful player but not a right back, though we're stuck for options at the back right now. I thought Solly had a good game and despite the odd error I like Naby Sarr, who saw a lot of the ball today. Coventry defended well today; no nonsense blocks, last ditch tackles and the keeper was solid.
Taylor is a class player and, as a couple of people have said, deserved a better result today. Good time for a week off, I think, though Bowyer's results do seem to come in blocks of good and bad. Last season it was four at a time. Let's hope it's not nine at a time this season!
mentioned before on the match thread but I do think we could of used Marshall on the right hand side today defensively. not a popular choice especially as we know his limitations but it sounded as if extra support was needed for Dijksteel.
Wheels have come off a bit. Defence is going to be our problem all season. I’d take sixth now.
It’s an over reaction to say the wheels have come off. We still look as dangerous in attack as we have done for at least 5 years, and both the last two defeats would probably end up in a Charlton win more often than not.
The defensive injuries are hurting us for sure, but let’s not act like we’ve been comprehensively out played in recent games.
With some good coaching and some tactical tweaks this makeshift defence can be made better. Maybe not watertight, but certainly less porous.
As usual, people were getting too carried away after a few decent wins. Every season has a sticky patch, this well could be ours but it’s driven by injury problems, not a lack of commitment or ability. The play offs are still very achievable, but top two is, and always was, a stretch.
Criminal , we're missing Bauer , in hindsight we gambled on spending our remaining budget on midfielders and forward players when we really need cover for our full backs and for all the praise gallen and bowyer has had surely they must take responsibility for that
Nothing to do with the owner not providing the necessary budget of course.
Criminal , we're missing Bauer , in hindsight we gambled on spending our remaining budget on midfielders and forward players when we really need cover for our full backs and for all the praise gallen and bowyer has had surely they must take responsibility for that
Imagine if it was Solly, Sarr and Phillips trying to stop that goal...
People have got it in for Steer for sure. I don’t really get the staunch support for Phillips anyway, I just haven’t seen enough of him to be convinced he’s good or bad, but when your defence allows two clear sites of goal, less than 5 yards out from the middle of the goal, it seems incredibly harsh to me to try and blame the keeper.
It is certainly harder to do these after a defeat when I feel as pissed off as I do right now. It doesn't matter how well we played, or that we should have been two up before Coventry scored, Coventry deserved that win because in my view Mark Robbins out managed Lee Bowyer, experience verses optimism, and experience won. With Coventry under the cosh Robbins felt he had to do something to change the nature of the game and he did a double substitution and it worked. By then our areas of vulnerability, and out threats had been worked out, and still in the game Coventry worked and worked some more and rewarded their faithful who had travelled in numbers. Bowyer didn't read the runes well enough, and maybe he felt he didn't have the right cards to play. Coventry weren't cynical, or negative, but as so many teams in this league are, they were honest and not without enough ability to do damage. Praising Coventry still doesn't eradicate the feeling of pissed offness. It's not that we did a lot wrong, Solly and Djiksteel having to be shuffled was an issue, as was the ever present worry about Sarr. Sarr may be a lot of things, but dependable would not be the first descriptor for him. Incidentally I agree that Steer kicks the ball well, but is he that much better than Phillips? Aribo and Taylor and Cullen were our best players, the others weren't awful, although we certainly need Belick back as a choice in defence, and I believe we can do better than Reeves for all the qualities he possesses. Not a great feeling tonight, we have to win three away games, and win at home of course, to get things back on track, and that is starting to look too much to ask. If we lose one or two key players sold in January then Bowyer will need to work miracles. Enjoy the win Coventry, see you on Boxing Day.
Comments
Secondly - it feels like a smash and grab but we only have ourselves to blame.For about 70 minutes we were far superior to Coventry but without creating enough chances and being clinical enough when they did come along. Even near the end Jamie Ward had a golden chance to ut us 2-1 up but headed wide in front of a gaping goal. As soon as Coventry realised they were in with a shout and started applying some pressure, we just folded. Djiksteel just isn't good enough at RB. It is absolutely no surprise that both Coventry goals came from breaks down his flank. He is too slow, gets turned too easily and just doesn't add anything to attacking moves. A modern full back makes as much of a contribution going forwards as in defence. We desperately need to strengthen in both full back positions if we really want to challenge for promotion.
Other than that - Steer looks dodgy. He just lets in too many goals, especially from close in. Cullen, Reeves and Fosu looked classy in midfield but we have to create more.
That's drawn one and lost two in the last three games. Not good enough.
Thought the makeshift defence did well for 80 minutes.
Reeves coming off when we were 1 nil up now looks poor.
I’m fuming. Not acceptable
Send Steer back, his presence annoys me, Pearce replaceable surely, Naby grew into the game a bit but still a bit shaky at times, Solly very decent on the left side, Afernee poor game. I hate our defense, we have got without a doubt in my mind three of the most exciting players in the league in Aribo, Fosu and Taylor and every week it just gets ruined by a crap defense.
Grant needs dropping, he is a billy big bollocks and offered nothing today. Greedy, brain dead in the danger areas and looked to have negative body language. Cullen was pretty good, Reeves was fantastic imo, I don't know Bowyers thought process to take off our best passer of the ball for a kid and not take off the useless Grant instead but hey ho.
Top2 isn't happening, we would need a full strength squad every match day and even then that might not be enough, we could make play offs but will we win them with a shaky defense like this?
Just want that posisonous tosser Roland gone so I can start enjoying my Saturdays properly again and we can build a team around some of the fantastic players we have
But once again our arse went
And the rest is history
Don't understand why Reeves was pulled off - maybe still not 100% fit?
Hoping this is a blip and we can get back to that earlier form after the International break when others are back fit.
However neither Dijksteel, a defensive midfielder, or Solly, on his wrong side, offered much as an attacking threat. Solly used his left foot at times but mainly came back on his right which sometimes slowed the attacking down. That’s where we missed Page.
It was obvious we needed a second goal and didn’t get it. Nearly won at the end through Ward, instead we missed and straight after that Coventry scored.
Got to be better at both ends. First half we had a great chance blocked/cleared (Grant and Fosu?) and another, a Taylor header he didn’t get enough power or direction on which was saved on the line by their keeper.
Taylor had a good game, both creating chances for other and looking to score himself.
Aribo seemed to disappear as the game went on, almost forgot he was playing.
We looked good on the ball, tried get in behind and put in different types of crosses but we didn’t do enough to win the game. Being only 1-0 up meant the game could go either way. Had we got that second goal I think we’d have been fairly comfortable, well as much as a Charlton team can with that score line anyway.
Poor really to not be able to see it out with 10 minutes to go, not for the first time.
Always was and always will be
Taylor is a class player and, as a couple of people have said, deserved a better result today. Good time for a week off, I think, though Bowyer's results do seem to come in blocks of good and bad. Last season it was four at a time. Let's hope it's not nine at a time this season!
The defensive injuries are hurting us for sure, but let’s not act like we’ve been comprehensively out played in recent games.
With some good coaching and some tactical tweaks this makeshift defence can be made better. Maybe not watertight, but certainly less porous.
As usual, people were getting too carried away after a few decent wins. Every season has a sticky patch, this well could be ours but it’s driven by injury problems, not a lack of commitment or ability. The play offs are still very achievable, but top two is, and always was, a stretch.
Imagine if it was Solly, Sarr and Phillips trying to stop that goal...
It is certainly harder to do these after a defeat when I feel as pissed off as I do right now.
It doesn't matter how well we played, or that we should have been two up before Coventry scored, Coventry deserved that win because in my view Mark Robbins out managed Lee Bowyer, experience verses optimism, and experience won.
With Coventry under the cosh Robbins felt he had to do something to change the nature of the game and he did a double substitution and it worked. By then our areas of vulnerability, and out threats had been worked out, and still in the game Coventry worked and worked some more and rewarded their faithful who had travelled in numbers. Bowyer didn't read the runes well enough, and maybe he felt he didn't have the right cards to play. Coventry weren't cynical, or negative, but as so many teams in this league are, they were honest and not without enough ability to do damage.
Praising Coventry still doesn't eradicate the feeling of pissed offness. It's not that we did a lot wrong, Solly and Djiksteel having to be shuffled was an issue, as was the ever present worry about Sarr. Sarr may be a lot of things, but dependable would not be the first descriptor for him. Incidentally I agree that Steer kicks the ball well, but is he that much better than Phillips?
Aribo and Taylor and Cullen were our best players, the others weren't awful, although we certainly need Belick back as a choice in defence, and I believe we can do better than Reeves for all the qualities he possesses.
Not a great feeling tonight, we have to win three away games, and win at home of course, to get things back on track, and that is starting to look too much to ask. If we lose one or two key players sold in January then Bowyer will need to work miracles.
Enjoy the win Coventry, see you on Boxing Day.