I agree with Steer almost gifting them a goal yesterday. I don't think Steer has impressed. But neither did Phillips.
I cannot blame Steer 100% for any of the goals he's conceded, but Phillips was definitely at fault for the Sunderland goal. I'm more than happy for LB to bring back Phillips, on the basis that Steer hasn't shown he's better. But not because he's let in more goals, when none are definitely down to him, whilst having Bauer, Bielik and Page out injured.
First game of the season, having broken my boycott. For the first hour we were the better team, played nice football from the back, couldn't put more than one chance away, they made a couple of subs, got stuck in about us and we crumbled. Deja vu.
I agree with Steer almost gifting them a goal yesterday. I don't think Steer has impressed. But neither did Phillips.
I cannot blame Steer 100% for any of the goals he's conceded, but Phillips was definitely at fault for the Sunderland goal. I'm more than happy for LB to bring back Phillips, on the basis that Steer hasn't shown he's better. But not because he's let in more goals, when none are definitely down to him, whilst having Bauer, Bielik and Page out injured.
If Steer's positioning was better he'd have saved some of them and he was definitely at fault for the second Luton goal and the first against Scunthorpe. He doesn't seem confident to me.
I agree with Steer almost gifting them a goal yesterday. I don't think Steer has impressed. But neither did Phillips.
I cannot blame Steer 100% for any of the goals he's conceded, but Phillips was definitely at fault for the Sunderland goal. I'm more than happy for LB to bring back Phillips, on the basis that Steer hasn't shown he's better. But not because he's let in more goals, when none are definitely down to him, whilst having Bauer, Bielik and Page out injured.
If Steer's positioning was better he'd have saved some of them and he was definitely at fault for the second Luton goal and the first against Scunthorpe. He doesn't seem confident to me.
I'd say definitely maybe, along with Pearce & Sarr at Luton & Solly at Scunny.
What happens with us is we get a goal, lose a little intensity and if we don't get a second - we lose even more. You then get a side like Coventry, who I thought were abject for most of the game posing a threat as we haven't capitalised and our priority becomes seeing out the one nil. We are not good enough defensively to sit back and so even a crap side can get a goal against us. The answer is we treat being one nil up the same as being level, because that is effectively what we are as any team will score against us when we sit back.
When we have the ball we look decent but we are probably missing a striker and a goalscoring midfielder at the moment. I think we have players who could start doing it, but as of yet they haven't. We then rely too heavily on our front two.
What happens with us is we get a goal, lose a little intensity and if we don't get a second - we lose even more. You then get a side like Coventry, who I thought were abject for most of the game posing a threat as we haven't capitalised and our priority becomes seeing out the one nil. We are not good enough defensively to sit back and so even a crap side can get a goal against us. The answer is we treat being one nil up the same as being level, because that is effectively what we are as any team will score against us when we sit back.
When we have the ball we look decent but we are probably missing a striker and a goalscoring midfielder at the moment. I think we have players who could start doing it, but as of yet they haven't. We then rely too heavily on our front two.
Defence is more of an issue - I think we're scoring enough.
I totally disagree - we may be scoring the same as some other teams but we are not scoring enough in terms of what our play warrants. We should have scored at least three yesterday based on the play. The defence is certainly an issue, but our failure to put teams to bed makes the issue worse!
they are in our league btw.....if they win more games than us then they will. Millwall are above us too, in case you didn't notice.
I hate all the billy big bollox " so & so tin pit club are above us". Get used to it. we are in this league for a reason.....we havent been good enough for the past 3 seasons to get out of it. So what if Accrington, Barnsley or Wallsall are above us. There are 24 teams in this league....some will get more points than us. Doesn't matter if its Accrington or Arsenal. get over it.
Being below Accy is pretty sad given they're operating on a shoestring budget. How low does our aspiration need to be? Luton, Barnsley, Walsall etc have a completely different history to Accy.
Coleman has done an amazing job to get Stanley to L1.
Football games arent won based on the size of a club or their budgets though!!
Of course they are, because the bigger clubs have far more opportunity to recruit and retain the best players and managers. That’s why Charlton’s current status is pitiful and reflects Duchatelet’s incompetence as an owner entirely.
We are still suffering from the legacy of the early days of his regime
Not knocking them as players or individuals (as it's not their fault), but Bauer, Sarr and Igor must be on massive salaries for this division. Without them we would be able to have a much larger squad for the same wage bill
Larger squad maybe, but the same quality of players?
We have better players than most of the teams but are lacking a certain type of player in a few positions. With what we have at present we have to attack teams but when we do we need to do it with a little more quality at times and we need to sustain it over the 90 minutes as we are terrible at sitting on a lead.
I forgive Taylor because he was excellent but he needs to put that first half header away. Ward needs to score the late header to win the game. When the keeper stops and it rebounds, the strike needed to be raised a little. Too many shots are poor quality. I expect more from the quality of player we have. These are the areas we are losing goals.
Fosu and Aribo amd Reeves have to score goals to take pressure off the forwards. I know Aribo go two in the week but he should score more. Since we lost Holmes we lack that outside the box goalscorer which removes an area goals can come from!
Luton away - should of been put to bed by ht end up scoring a late equaliser Cov home - should of been 3 points in the bag play them off the park then let them back into it.
Not promotion form I’m afraid, can make whatever excuses we want about Roland and the team but we have one of the better squads and we’re now sitting 9th I would struggle to pick 8 other squads better than ours.
At least a break coming up bar that charade if a comp midweek which we hopefully lose so that we’re no longer in it.
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.
so .. Solly couldn't get forward, couldn't use his left foot, slowed the attack down and wasn't a 'fish out of water' .. he's playing out of position what did you expect .. a terrific player for us BUT he's NOT a left back ..i.e. a fish out of water .. what about the rest of my post ? .. why no Bielek ? ..
He did get forward, but not in the way that a natural left footed left back would. I said it sometimes slowed down the attack, not every time. It was his excellent cross that Taylor should have scored from.
He had a decent game, describing him as a "fish out of water" suggests he struggled and shouldn't play there again.
Scoring 1 goal and conceding 2 wasn't down to Solly. Others missed chances, made the wrong decisions, had crosses blocked, made mistakes defensively etc.
With Bielik back Bowyer has the option of a back four of Solly Bielik Pearce Sarr, which would be more balanced.
I wasn't 'picking on' Solly or blaming him for the loss .. On Tuesday it was obvious to me that the makeshift defence that finished the game just would not do for the following Saturday .. Solly at l/back .. no, Dijksteel at r/back ..no .. Sarr and Pearce (on the right and not his favoured left side) in the middle .. no .. a totally unbalanced defence that can't be shored up by a decent attacking midfield and forward line, especially with Grant looking out of sorts .. the first few words of my post 'blame' the selection of the team .. Bowyer is a novice and will learn .. however to have seen the Tuesday shambles and to select the defence that finished the game was a bad decision .. we have a lot of injuries and an unbalanced squad, too many midfielders and not enough defenders after the sale of Lennon and McCartney Konsa .. still there should have been a better starting selection .. Bielik & Pearce in the middle and Sarr on the left (as a temporary measure) with Solly ON THE RIGHT where he belongs and not on the left .. If you were at Scunthorpe on Tuesday I can't see how you could disagree. Solly is NOT a left back as hard as he tries and however good a fist he makes of the job
I wasn’t at Scunthorpe but watched it on iFollow. I agree that’s our best back four available at the moment, though I don’t feel it was really an option on Saturday. I doubt Bielik was quite ready to play a full 90 minutes.
I’d say we’re missing a second choice LB more than another CB such as Lennon. That would give us two players for each position in the back four.
We really needed to kill the game off and make it 2 or 3-0. Would have been a different game had we taken some of our chances.
Are midfielders should learn to win tackles in midfield and stop attacks, instead of allowing the opponents to run 20yds unchallenged thus exposing the weakend defence to players at full tilt.
keep saying we could of put games to bed is wearing thin all be it true but we are 12 in 34 games to play and winter on the horizon fatigue and injuries are going to happen over the course of a season but dominating games and not taking 3 points is also going to stop. from what i have seen/heard
luton, scunnie and cov should of been 2 wins and a draw/loss instead we got 1 point instead of 7 come the end of the season those 6 points could be the difference, hopefully a break is what is needed after the international we have 2 home games which would be nice to get maximum points.
First game of the season, having broken my boycott. For the first hour we were the better team, played nice football from the back, couldn't put more than one chance away, they made a couple of subs, got stuck in about us and we crumbled. Deja vu.
First game of the season, having broken my boycott. For the first hour we were the better team, played nice football from the back, couldn't put more than one chance away, they made a couple of subs, got stuck in about us and we crumbled. Deja vu.
Has been happening for quite a long time - we tend to capitulate when put under pressure. Team is still a bit lightweight in terms of nasty/physical players.
they are in our league btw.....if they win more games than us then they will. Millwall are above us too, in case you didn't notice.
I hate all the billy big bollox " so & so tin pit club are above us". Get used to it. we are in this league for a reason.....we havent been good enough for the past 3 seasons to get out of it. So what if Accrington, Barnsley or Wallsall are above us. There are 24 teams in this league....some will get more points than us. Doesn't matter if its Accrington or Arsenal. get over it.
Thanks for the lesson on how a league works, but my point was that after 25% of the season we are below 2 newly promoted sides. If a Prem team had Cardiff and Fulham above them at this stage, they would not be patting themselves on the back. Size of club is irrelevant, if Acc and Luton are doing better than us, then how are things looking for us to get promotion ?
they are in our league btw.....if they win more games than us then they will. Millwall are above us too, in case you didn't notice.
I hate all the billy big bollox " so & so tin pit club are above us". Get used to it. we are in this league for a reason.....we havent been good enough for the past 3 seasons to get out of it. So what if Accrington, Barnsley or Wallsall are above us. There are 24 teams in this league....some will get more points than us. Doesn't matter if its Accrington or Arsenal. get over it.
Thanks for the lesson on how a league works, but my point was that after 25% of the season we are below 2 newly promoted sides. If a Prem team had Cardiff and Fulham above them at this stage, they would not be patting themselves on the back. Size of club is irrelevant, if Acc and Luton are doing better than us, then how are things looking for us to get promotion ?
In terms of results we are underperforming up to now - we're in L1 and many of the teams have limited resources. Our squad could be better but I imagine most teams in this division can make the same claim.
I hope we make the playoffs as I certainly feel in terms of midfield and attack we have some decent players. I'm still not clear how much of our defensive weakness is down to the players and how much to the formation - a couple of injuries shouldn't have detailed us like this?
they are in our league btw.....if they win more games than us then they will. Millwall are above us too, in case you didn't notice.
I hate all the billy big bollox " so & so tin pit club are above us". Get used to it. we are in this league for a reason.....we havent been good enough for the past 3 seasons to get out of it. So what if Accrington, Barnsley or Wallsall are above us. There are 24 teams in this league....some will get more points than us. Doesn't matter if its Accrington or Arsenal. get over it.
Thanks for the lesson on how a league works, but my point was that after 25% of the season we are below 2 newly promoted sides. If a Prem team had Cardiff and Fulham above them at this stage, they would not be patting themselves on the back. Size of club is irrelevant, if Acc and Luton are doing better than us, then how are things looking for us to get promotion ?
Accrington yes, Luton no. Luton aren't some lower division minnow, they're a comparable club to ourselves that's gone through some terrible times and are recovering.
they are in our league btw.....if they win more games than us then they will. Millwall are above us too, in case you didn't notice.
I hate all the billy big bollox " so & so tin pit club are above us". Get used to it. we are in this league for a reason.....we havent been good enough for the past 3 seasons to get out of it. So what if Accrington, Barnsley or Wallsall are above us. There are 24 teams in this league....some will get more points than us. Doesn't matter if its Accrington or Arsenal. get over it.
Being below Accy is pretty sad given they're operating on a shoestring budget. How low does our aspiration need to be? Luton, Barnsley, Walsall etc have a completely different history to Accy.
Coleman has done an amazing job to get Stanley to L1.
Football games arent won based on the size of a club or their budgets though!!
Of course they are, because the bigger clubs have far more opportunity to recruit and retain the best players and managers. That’s why Charlton’s current status is pitiful and reflects Duchatelet’s incompetence as an owner entirely.
We are still suffering from the legacy of the early days of his regime
Not knocking them as players or individuals (as it's not their fault), but Bauer, Sarr and Igor must be on massive salaries for this division. Without them we would be able to have a much larger squad for the same wage bill
Larger squad maybe, but the same quality of players?
Easily, especially for this league which may require different qualities - Sarr and Vetokele are both squad players for us, so not even first choice. With Sarr's wages for example, we could afford a solid CB AND a LB to cover Page.
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.
so .. Solly couldn't get forward, couldn't use his left foot, slowed the attack down and wasn't a 'fish out of water' .. he's playing out of position what did you expect .. a terrific player for us BUT he's NOT a left back ..i.e. a fish out of water .. what about the rest of my post ? .. why no Bielek ? ..
He did get forward, but not in the way that a natural left footed left back would. I said it sometimes slowed down the attack, not every time. It was his excellent cross that Taylor should have scored from.
He had a decent game, describing him as a "fish out of water" suggests he struggled and shouldn't play there again.
Scoring 1 goal and conceding 2 wasn't down to Solly. Others missed chances, made the wrong decisions, had crosses blocked, made mistakes defensively etc.
With Bielik back Bowyer has the option of a back four of Solly Bielik Pearce Sarr, which would be more balanced.
I wasn't 'picking on' Solly or blaming him for the loss .. On Tuesday it was obvious to me that the makeshift defence that finished the game just would not do for the following Saturday .. Solly at l/back .. no, Dijksteel at r/back ..no .. Sarr and Pearce (on the right and not his favoured left side) in the middle .. no .. a totally unbalanced defence that can't be shored up by a decent attacking midfield and forward line, especially with Grant looking out of sorts .. the first few words of my post 'blame' the selection of the team .. Bowyer is a novice and will learn .. however to have seen the Tuesday shambles and to select the defence that finished the game was a bad decision .. we have a lot of injuries and an unbalanced squad, too many midfielders and not enough defenders after the sale of Lennon and McCartney Konsa .. still there should have been a better starting selection .. Bielik & Pearce in the middle and Sarr on the left (as a temporary measure) with Solly ON THE RIGHT where he belongs and not on the left .. If you were at Scunthorpe on Tuesday I can't see how you could disagree. Solly is NOT a left back as hard as he tries and however good a fist he makes of the job
I wasn’t at Scunthorpe but watched it on iFollow. I agree that’s our best back four available at the moment, though I don’t feel it was really an option on Saturday. I doubt Bielik was quite ready to play a full 90 minutes.
I’d say we’re missing a second choice LB more than another CB such as Lennon. That would give us two players for each position in the back four.
We really needed to kill the game off and make it 2 or 3-0. Would have been a different game had we taken some of our chances.
I saw Lennon's debut or perhaps it was one of his very early games .. he had a very decent game at left back where he was originally selected .. anyway, he's gone
they are in our league btw.....if they win more games than us then they will. Millwall are above us too, in case you didn't notice.
I hate all the billy big bollox " so & so tin pit club are above us". Get used to it. we are in this league for a reason.....we havent been good enough for the past 3 seasons to get out of it. So what if Accrington, Barnsley or Wallsall are above us. There are 24 teams in this league....some will get more points than us. Doesn't matter if its Accrington or Arsenal. get over it.
Thanks for the lesson on how a league works, but my point was that after 25% of the season we are below 2 newly promoted sides. If a Prem team had Cardiff and Fulham above them at this stage, they would not be patting themselves on the back. Size of club is irrelevant, if Acc and Luton are doing better than us, then how are things looking for us to get promotion ?
Nil. But that's to be expected when we started the season with such a thin squad. I applaud LB for bringing in the players he did post Sunderland (Cullen, Ward & Beliek) but don't kid ourselves, they just papered over the cracks. We started the season with just one recognised left back (who is now injured) one right back (with dodgy knees) and a just one striker with any decent scoring record in this league (Taylor).
I was expecting a relegation fight -maybe not bottom 4, but certainly bottom 8. I am more than happy with where we are at the moment but do I expect to be top 6...........not a snowballs chance in hell. As someone above has just said, we are paying for past sins (high wages) & an owner that just doesn't care.
I do feel that LB is a great coach & obviously has built great togetherness within the squad & is well respected. However, I'm not sure if he is a good manager. The back for on Saturday was a shambles because he changed 2 personnel (Solly & Dijikstel) to accommodate 1 missing player. IMO he should have either played Mascoll there or, worst case, played Sarr at LB and then put Dijikstil at centre half. Bowyer is also not proactive & is very much reactive - at too late to boot. Their sub scored their 2 goals.........when did one of our subs do that ??
BTW - have a look at the Premiership table. I think you'll find Newcastle are in the bottom 3.
I realise football is always about 'if' but as LB said on Saturday evening, he told the players after the game that if they had won at Scunny and beaten Coventry they would have been second in the league.
they are in our league btw.....if they win more games than us then they will. Millwall are above us too, in case you didn't notice.
I hate all the billy big bollox " so & so tin pit club are above us". Get used to it. we are in this league for a reason.....we havent been good enough for the past 3 seasons to get out of it. So what if Accrington, Barnsley or Wallsall are above us. There are 24 teams in this league....some will get more points than us. Doesn't matter if its Accrington or Arsenal. get over it.
Thanks for the lesson on how a league works, but my point was that after 25% of the season we are below 2 newly promoted sides. If a Prem team had Cardiff and Fulham above them at this stage, they would not be patting themselves on the back. Size of club is irrelevant, if Acc and Luton are doing better than us, then how are things looking for us to get promotion ?
Nil. But that's to be expected when we started the season with such a thin squad. I applaud LB for bringing in the players he did post Sunderland (Cullen, Ward & Beliek) but don't kid ourselves, they just papered over the cracks. We started the season with just one recognised left back (who is now injured) one right back (with dodgy knees) and a just one striker with any decent scoring record in this league (Taylor).
I was expecting a relegation fight -maybe not bottom 4, but certainly bottom 8. I am more than happy with where we are at the moment but do I expect to be top 6...........not a snowballs chance in hell. As someone above has just said, we are paying for past sins (high wages) & an owner that just doesn't care.
I do feel that LB is a great coach & obviously has built great togetherness within the squad & is well respected. However, I'm not sure if he is a good manager. The back for on Saturday was a shambles because he changed 2 personnel (Solly & Dijikstel) to accommodate 1 missing player. IMO he should have either played Mascoll there or, worst case, played Sarr at LB and then put Dijikstil at centre half. Bowyer is also not proactive & is very much reactive - at too late to boot. Their sub scored their 2 goals.........when did one of our subs do that ??
BTW - have a look at the Premiership table. I think you'll find Newcastle are in the bottom 3.
I believe Mascoll is injured. If he had played Djiksteel at CH and Sarr at LB he would have still changed 2 personnel !
Biggest problem Saturday was the lack of fit and capable defenders, which is roly's fault and roly's fault alone. For 70 minutes the back line was barely troubled as Coventry offered almost no adventure and their one "striker" was an immobile inept lump. The fact that 2 quick goals from simplistic wing play + cross into box was sufficient for Coventry to burgle all 3 points owes most to a mixture of profligate finishing, good goal-keeping and a number of half-wit, half-powered piss poor performances from 3 attacking midfield types. Charlton should have been comfortably out of sight by half time. None on my row could fathom why Reeves reappeared for the 2nd half, apart from find Solly with a couple of long passes he'd ponsed about contributing eff all, Fosu opted out of the 2nd half despite clearly troubling the sky blue defenders with his pace in the first half and Grant was back to his ludicrous decision making, self-obsessed familiar self, wasting every opportunity that came his way. Cullen looked good in the unglamorous role, Aribo was industrious but unlucky, Fosu was alright for 45 minutes, Taylor was exemplary throughout a 9/10 performance and MoM by a country mile.
I agree with most of that - Taylor had an excellent game but missed a sitter. He won a penalty out of nothing to compensate though.
I am a great fan of Fosu, but he is not on the pitch to look good, but to create and score utilising his talents. Hopefully we are going to start seeing that soon given he has only just come back.
Why we even consider going more cautious if we only have a 1 goal lead is beyond me given our inability to defend under any sort of pressure. You have to question the collective intelligence of the team sometimes.
My views after having a few hours to calm down............
I don't blame the defence - If we had got a 2nd goal we wouldn't have lost. End of. Probably wouldn't have conceded at all. A 2nd goal is vital when 1-0 up. Looking at the highlights on Sky we had plenty of chances to get that 2nd. Taylor, for all the great work he done (and my MOTM) should have buried that header in the first half. Aribo was unlucky in the 1st half - great save by their keeper. Ward should have got his header on target.
said it last week & will say it again, just in case LB reads this. DO NOT PLAY A RIGHT FOOTED RB AT LB. Solly hardly went past his man as he has no left foot (certainly not good enough to beat a player with) and 90% of the time either cut back onto his right & went square or played it back to Sarr. Dijkstel is not a RB. Sarr is left footed. He should play LB, or if you want him in the centre then play Mascoll - A FECKING LEFT BACK. We didn't lose the match because Solly was at LB, but because they were all playing out of position. Square pegs in round holes. Thankfully we have a 2 week break & so by the time we play Barnsley Beliek will be fit enough to play & Pratley will be available too-just in case.
Reeves had a great 1st half - best I've seen him play. Aribo gets better & better. Taylor was immense. Fosu is not 100% - or his injury has had an effect on him as he is not the player he was last season. Hopefully (again) the 2 week break will give his time to get up to full speed.
How many games have we not won from being ahead ?? I count at least 5 - more if you count tues night, but we were initially behind so could have gone either way. I reckon that's at least 10 points thrown away - maybe 12 or 13. I know you cant win all of those & all teams lose from winning positions (Newcastle today) - but we have to learn to get a 2nd or 3rd goal - get in a comfortable position - and not getting pegged back all the time.
I said at the start of the season that we would struggle. I don't think that will now be the case but I don't think that the play-offs are reachable. It seems a couple of injuries & we are fecked. blame RD as much as you want but once the transfer windows shuts you have to play the cards you have. Just don't think LB plays his hand that well. Mark Robins changed things up early on in the 2nd half but LB waits & waits & only reacts when he has to. Needs to learn to be proactive.
I don't think Steer was at fault for either goal - its not as if he has let in a howler or beaten at his near post. Phillips may have been unlucky to be dropped - but neither are that good imo. swings & roundabouts. Score 3 today & the GK position isn't an issue.
I'll say it now. If Robinson is still in charge come tues 23rd then Oxford will win. Lump your life savings on it.
Even if he ain't there will probably be a new manager bounce syndrome.
Comments
I don't think Steer has impressed.
But neither did Phillips.
I cannot blame Steer 100% for any of the goals he's conceded, but Phillips was definitely at fault for the Sunderland goal.
I'm more than happy for LB to bring back Phillips, on the basis that Steer hasn't shown he's better.
But not because he's let in more goals, when none are definitely down to him, whilst having Bauer, Bielik and Page out injured.
When we have the ball we look decent but we are probably missing a striker and a goalscoring midfielder at the moment. I think we have players who could start doing it, but as of yet they haven't. We then rely too heavily on our front two.
I forgive Taylor because he was excellent but he needs to put that first half header away. Ward needs to score the late header to win the game. When the keeper stops and it rebounds, the strike needed to be raised a little. Too many shots are poor quality. I expect more from the quality of player we have. These are the areas we are losing goals.
Fosu and Aribo amd Reeves have to score goals to take pressure off the forwards. I know Aribo go two in the week but he should score more. Since we lost Holmes we lack that outside the box goalscorer which removes an area goals can come from!
Cov home - should of been 3 points in the bag play them off the park then let them back into it.
Not promotion form I’m afraid, can make whatever excuses we want about Roland and the team but we have one of the better squads and we’re now sitting 9th I would struggle to pick 8 other squads better than ours.
At least a break coming up bar that charade if a comp midweek which we hopefully lose so that we’re no longer in it.
I’d say we’re missing a second choice LB more than another CB such as Lennon. That would give us two players for each position in the back four.
We really needed to kill the game off and make it 2 or 3-0. Would have been a different game had we taken some of our chances.
luton, scunnie and cov should of been 2 wins and a draw/loss instead we got 1 point instead of 7 come the end of the season those 6 points could be the difference, hopefully a break is what is needed after the international we have 2 home games which would be nice to get maximum points.
Thanks for the lesson on how a league works, but my point was that after 25% of the season we are below 2 newly promoted sides. If a Prem team had Cardiff and Fulham above them at this stage, they would not be patting themselves on the back. Size of club is irrelevant, if Acc and Luton are doing better than us, then how are things looking for us to get promotion ?
I hope we make the playoffs as I certainly feel in terms of midfield and attack we have some decent players. I'm still not clear how much of our defensive weakness is down to the players and how much to the formation - a couple of injuries shouldn't have detailed us like this?
I was expecting a relegation fight -maybe not bottom 4, but certainly bottom 8. I am more than happy with where we are at the moment but do I expect to be top 6...........not a snowballs chance in hell. As someone above has just said, we are paying for past sins (high wages) & an owner that just doesn't care.
I do feel that LB is a great coach & obviously has built great togetherness within the squad & is well respected. However, I'm not sure if he is a good manager. The back for on Saturday was a shambles because he changed 2 personnel (Solly & Dijikstel) to accommodate 1 missing player. IMO he should have either played Mascoll there or, worst case, played Sarr at LB and then put Dijikstil at centre half. Bowyer is also not proactive & is very much reactive - at too late to boot. Their sub scored their 2 goals.........when did one of our subs do that ??
BTW - have a look at the Premiership table. I think you'll find Newcastle are in the bottom 3.
If he had played Djiksteel at CH and Sarr at LB he would have still changed 2 personnel !
The fact that 2 quick goals from simplistic wing play + cross into box was sufficient for Coventry to burgle all 3 points owes most to a mixture of profligate finishing, good goal-keeping and a number of half-wit, half-powered piss poor performances from 3 attacking midfield types. Charlton should have been comfortably out of sight by half time. None on my row could fathom why Reeves reappeared for the 2nd half, apart from find Solly with a couple of long passes he'd ponsed about contributing eff all, Fosu opted out of the 2nd half despite clearly troubling the sky blue defenders with his pace in the first half and Grant was back to his ludicrous decision making, self-obsessed familiar self, wasting every opportunity that came his way. Cullen looked good in the unglamorous role, Aribo was industrious but unlucky, Fosu was alright for 45 minutes, Taylor was exemplary throughout a 9/10 performance and MoM by a country mile.
I am a great fan of Fosu, but he is not on the pitch to look good, but to create and score utilising his talents. Hopefully we are going to start seeing that soon given he has only just come back.
Why we even consider going more cautious if we only have a 1 goal lead is beyond me given our inability to defend under any sort of pressure. You have to question the collective intelligence of the team sometimes.
Even if he ain't there will probably be a new manager bounce syndrome.