Really poor game I thought, the draw was a fair result and you couldn't argue if either side snatched it at the end.
Just some observations, Fosu no longer looks irreplaceable, not sure whether he is struggling cause of the injury or a lack of confidence but he looks a shadow of the player we had last season, poor runs, poor decision making and not gliding past people like I have seen him do. Taylor going out wide is getting a bit annoying, I know he is creating but ideally you want Taylor on the end of the chances he is creating, surely someone else should be dragging players out wide to create space for Taylor? Reeves is getting better and better, surprised he was taken off again as I thought if anyone was setting up the winner it was him and lastly Aribo, I wish this lad would just pull the trigger more often, he gets in really good shooting opportunities and either decides to take another needless touch or pass it, I would like to see Joe just have a shot more often, I think if he does he will get 10 goals or more easily this season.
just score more fecking goals !! 2 teams tonight scored 4 & 3 scored 3. Only once have we scored more than 2 goals in a game.....and we fecking lost that one because the opposition scored 5 !! 2-0 up at half time & I guarantee we would have won - I bet the top 6 would have done. Said it last week... we ain't going up & top 6 is a pipe dream too. Can't keep throwing away 1-0 leads. Its not as if we are only ahead for 5 or 10 mins......tonight it was 50 & against Coventry about the same. Got to kill teams off.
As for the team.....
Fosu is half the player he was last season. If Ward was fully fit I'd have him starting instead. Reeves is pants. As soon as Clarke is fit then he should come in for the blonde haired numpty. Grant didn't get any service & Aribo needs to fecking shoot !
Their no.4 should have got a 2nd yellow - such a poor rer AGAIN !! Effectively man marked Solly in the 2nd half so that Fosu couldn't pass to him. Another numpty.
The teams appeared evenly matched until our penalty. We had a subsequent 15 minute period where they were on the ropes and we could’ve put the match to bed but again, we failed to capitalise on a one nil lead. Do we lack a killer instinct?
Said in the match thread that the longer the second half dragged without us creating anything, the more nervous I felt and what do you know... less than five minutes after posting it’s 1-1. Think we all saw it coming a mile off.
Can’t fault any of the back five on that performance, thought everyone was excellent despite being played out of position especially Pratley.
Midfield lacked invention with the exception of Reeves. We need to figure out how we get the best out of Fosu because it isn’t working for him as of right now - perfect timing for Billy Clarke to come back in and take that no.10 role at the tip of the diamond.
Grant fairly anonymous but had a good game against Barnsley so would be unfair to drop him based on one quiet game. I hope Igor is watching closely and raring to get his chance however.
Special mention for Lyle Taylor who gave one of his better performances, I thought. Until now I had him down as a bit of a big lump with a decent shot on him. Tonight he showed me that he had intelligence that we haven’t seen since Yann - making little runs through and behind their back four all evening.
Shame the midfield couldn’t make anything happen with the space he created.
No doubt Robinson is delighted with that result. As for us, the only verdict I can offer is an obvious one: must do better.
I’m still confident we will finish in the top 6 at the end of the season.
Out of 14 matches, we’ve led in 12 of these matches. Sunderland, Accrington, Luton, Coventry and Oxford we’ve led for almost 45 minutes and haven’t killed the game off.
Without knowing how physically fit Beleik was, I would have liked to see us move to a 3-5-2 with half an hour on the clock. We needed to try something to get us back on the front foot.
Oxford tried to make it a niggly battle and fair play to them, they succeeded. I can't say either team deserved to win it. Boring game for the neutral with virtually no decent chances. We are ok when a team like Barnsley come to beat us and are very open, but when a team has bodies behind the ball when defending and when there are invariably bodies in the box we need a different approach.
I thought Bowyer should have brought on Sarr instead of Bielik when he did. Needed to try to pose them different problems and have some more height for set pieces. Generally though, I think in games like that, we need to drive into the box more - like Reeves did. We have the players to do that and things can open up. I'd say crossing/passing and driving in and see what opens up should be 50/50 in these sort of games! It gives defenders more of a headache. Plus yesterday, look how many bookings they had. You have to tactically react to that at least!
Another thing I notice in these sort of games is when the ball is loose away from the penalty areas, how few 50/50s we win. We don't seem to have players in positions to take the ball or compete for it. A great example was when Oxford cocked it up strangely enough, when four of their players attacked the ball with no Charlton players anywhere near it. The fact they headed it to grant is irrelevant. But more widely, look at speculative defensive clearances. Look how many times we make them and they go to opponents, and look how many times opponents make them and they go to us. There is something wrong with the statistics there.
Oxford were much better than Coventry, but we struggled to create chances against them too. Bowyer has to tweak his formation a bit. It is worrying how few goals we score from other areas than our main forwards. Annoyed with fans booing Holmes as he might be somebody we should try to get back in January. He is capable of that special shot out of the blue when other things aren't working - who does that currently in our side?
Finally, when Aribo broke into the side, his set piece delivery was fantastic. Has he forgotten how to do this? Reeves has one of the poorest deliveries I have seen. Not slagging him off - he had a decent game - but is he our best in that respect?
After Barnsley we seemed all ready to kick on but that was a flat performance.
Not sure the flat 442 worked. The diamond suits Grant a lot better but he was fairly anonymous tonight but not for lack of effort.
Aribo wasted some decent chances and we couldn't find our players with the balls across the box that have yielded so many goals this year.
Dijksteel was good, I said after the Barnsley game that Sarr was fourth choice centre half but Pratley tonight showed that I was wrong. Naby is 5th choice.
Still not convinced by Steer.
Yes, the ref was poor and could have booked twice as many of the Oxford players as he did but he gave us a penalty and we didn't build on it.
Hope the cancer research bucket collection went well. Good to see @T.C.E and Vallie
Flat 4-4-2? I thought we continued with the diamond, Cullen at the base, Aribo to the left, Reeves right, Fosu at the tip?
Sometimes it isn't the formation but the way you play within it. Barnsley were a bit arrogant, Oxford were respectful. I prefer playing arrogant teams.
It was a crap game but if it's the worst game this season, then I'll be ok with it (if it's not....we'll have a problem!)
On the plus side; Aribo is showing class, Reeves continues to do well, Cullen is settling in really well, Dijksteel ventured forward 1st half, Steer looked sound again, Pearce was dominant.
Crap game,Robbo done his job better than Bowyer on the night.Agree about the booing of Holmes. 1)he did not ask to go,we took a bid,what was he supposed to do. 2)When Cullen got hurt,Holmes went straight to him rather than than join in their attack,I know they still scored but he showed great class in trying to get the referees attention. 3)Actually thought he was the best player on the pitch,and he still applauded our fans in spite of the abuse.
After Barnsley we seemed all ready to kick on but that was a flat performance.
Not sure the flat 442 worked. The diamond suits Grant a lot better but he was fairly anonymous tonight but not for lack of effort.
Aribo wasted some decent chances and we couldn't find our players with the balls across the box that have yielded so many goals this year.
Dijksteel was good, I said after the Barnsley game that Sarr was fourth choice centre half but Pratley tonight showed that I was wrong. Naby is 5th choice.
Still not convinced by Steer.
Yes, the ref was poor and could have booked twice as many of the Oxford players as he did but he gave us a penalty and we didn't build on it.
Hope the cancer research bucket collection went well. Good to see @T.C.E and Vallie
Flat 4-4-2? I thought we continued with the diamond, Cullen at the base, Aribo to the left, Reeves right, Fosu at the tip?
We played a diamond apart from a 5 min spell late in the 1st half when we pushed Grant back on the right in 4-5-1. It fouled us up so Bowyer quickly waved Grant back up front. It looked more of a 4-4-2 late on when Ward was on.
Pretty sure Sarr would've played if it had been Pearce who had been missing. Bowyer said that Pearce looked uncomfortable on the right as did Sarr on Saturday. It's worth keeping Pearce in his best position because he's looked very good last two games.
Tired performance. Saturday seemed to take a lot out of them which probably accounted for the number of misplaced passes. Easy to say in retrospect but feel Bowyer should have more faith in his squad and make more changes for the midweek games.
Fosu is a problem. I understand that he had to play last night because Ward can't play back to back matches. But somehow he's got to find a way of influencing home games. He's excellent away when there is more space and less cover. I think it's 1 home goal (Donny) and 9 away!
For the time being, play Ward at the tip as much as possible and Fosu to come on as sub. It's a long season and I think he'll come good.
Crap game,Robbo done his job better than Bowyer on the night.Agree about the booing of Holmes. 1)he did not ask to go,we took a bid,what was he supposed to do. 2)When Cullen got hurt,Holmes went straight to him rather than than join in their attack,I know they still scored but he showed great class in trying to get the referees attention. 3)Actually thought he was the best player on the pitch,and he still applauded our fans in spite of the abuse.
I was embarrassed at the way Holmes was booed and abused - he was a decent player for us and I'm not sure what warranted this.
Watching the highlights on Sky it was a great finish by Whyte for their goal but I remain unclear why the game wasn't stopped as Cullen had been flattened in full view of the ref. I think it is an appalling piece of refereeing as he could have been seriously injured.
Poor, wasn’t it. Watched on ifollow and thought we always need a second goal to finish it but couldn’t see where it was going to come from. We didn’t really trouble the Oxford Keeper. Think Bow got his tictacks wrong and the players didn’t have the right mentality to push on and win it.
My daughter's first game since this time last year after I'd been raving about how well we played against Barnsley. Things were bound to go wrong and they did. Have to say KR got the better of Bowyer tonight - his sub scored and they niggled all game and got a point, which may come to be crucial for them at the end of the season. They were poor though, but unfortunately so were we. Should have killed the game off (going to keep that and cut and paste it as it's been true so many times this season). Thought the booing of Holmes was classless and his actions when he clattered Cullen showed he isn't. We looked tired, and I think it showed in the number of misplaced passes. Fosu wasn't great and we were relying on him. Should have had subs sooner.
Have to say was the ref was pretty hopeless when dealing with all the shirt tugging and grabbing by the Oxford players. How he didn’t send Dickie off was astounding and the player then had the temerity to defend how thick he was by having a pop at his team mates as he got subbed off for being so shit. If you are the losing team you don’t take as much time a possible to run off. Ward should have started and we once again fluffed decent positions for creating chances. Glad to see the back of that useless gobshite Robinson. In Bowyer we trust.
Think a bit of credit has to go to Oxford in the way they were set up and hassled us high up the pitch, rarely giving us any time on the ball.
Robinson’s sides always play good football but I thought it was going to be another typical result for him.
They deserved a draw, the goal shouldn’t have allowed to happen with the head injury but they definitely deserved a draw.
Quite a few off days last night and only Pearce, Reeves and Taylor really shone for me. Need to see the goal again, was it a worldy or should Steer have got something on that?
I think we will win on Saturday and be back in the mix but this inconsistency is annoying.
just score more fecking goals !! 2 teams tonight scored 4 & 3 scored 3. Only once have we scored more than 2 goals in a game.....and we fecking lost that one because the opposition scored 5 !! 2-0 up at half time & I guarantee we would have won - I bet the top 6 would have done. Said it last week... we ain't going up & top 6 is a pipe dream too. Can't keep throwing away 1-0 leads. Its not as if we are only ahead for 5 or 10 mins......tonight it was 50 & against Coventry about the same. Got to kill teams off.
As for the team.....
Fosu is half the player he was last season. If Ward was fully fit I'd have him starting instead. Reeves is pants. As soon as Clarke is fit then he should come in for the blonde haired numpty. Grant didn't get any service & Aribo needs to fecking shoot !
Their no.4 should have got a 2nd yellow - such a poor rer AGAIN !! Effectively man marked Solly in the 2nd half so that Fosu couldn't pass to him. Another numpty.
Why does Bow keep taking off Reeves when hes providing a lot of our attacking threat? Cov game all over again.
Because his stamina is not there.
He didnt look or play tired.
After the hour mark he seemed to be chasing shadows a lot.
I appreciate that overall he had a very good game for Reeves. I called for the Reeves Sub and agree that Ward was the right replacement, we also needed to Swap Fosu for an attacking player around the same time, but Bowyer bottled it and held on for a point.
Seemed like a somewhat bottled performance by most of the team bar Reeves and Taylor once we conceded.
wasn't there .. it seems that Robinson got his team really fired up for a 'revenge' game at the Valley .. took a great goal for them to get a point .. inconsistency up front is a worry .. teams have sussed out Fosu, Grant is inconsistent, substitutions seem to be late and/or bizarre/inappropriate .. why did Bielik not start ? .. I am still concerned with Solly playing on the left .. am I wrong ? .. Barnsley lost again last night, have we read too much into a win over a 'fading' team .. this division this year is another example of the fact that any team can beat any other anytime .. roll on to Rochdale and we'll see what transpires
Comments
Just some observations, Fosu no longer looks irreplaceable, not sure whether he is struggling cause of the injury or a lack of confidence but he looks a shadow of the player we had last season, poor runs, poor decision making and not gliding past people like I have seen him do. Taylor going out wide is getting a bit annoying, I know he is creating but ideally you want Taylor on the end of the chances he is creating, surely someone else should be dragging players out wide to create space for Taylor? Reeves is getting better and better, surprised he was taken off again as I thought if anyone was setting up the winner it was him and lastly Aribo, I wish this lad would just pull the trigger more often, he gets in really good shooting opportunities and either decides to take another needless touch or pass it, I would like to see Joe just have a shot more often, I think if he does he will get 10 goals or more easily this season.
On to the next one
just score more fecking goals !! 2 teams tonight scored 4 & 3 scored 3. Only once have we scored more than 2 goals in a game.....and we fecking lost that one because the opposition scored 5 !! 2-0 up at half time & I guarantee we would have won - I bet the top 6 would have done. Said it last week... we ain't going up & top 6 is a pipe dream too. Can't keep throwing away 1-0 leads. Its not as if we are only ahead for 5 or 10 mins......tonight it was 50 & against Coventry about the same. Got to kill teams off.
As for the team.....
Fosu is half the player he was last season. If Ward was fully fit I'd have him starting instead. Reeves is pants. As soon as Clarke is fit then he should come in for the blonde haired numpty. Grant didn't get any service & Aribo needs to fecking shoot !
Their no.4 should have got a 2nd yellow - such a poor rer AGAIN !! Effectively man marked Solly in the 2nd half so that Fosu couldn't pass to him. Another numpty.
Said in the match thread that the longer the second half dragged without us creating anything, the more nervous I felt and what do you know... less than five minutes after posting it’s 1-1. Think we all saw it coming a mile off.
Can’t fault any of the back five on that performance, thought everyone was excellent despite being played out of position especially Pratley.
Midfield lacked invention with the exception of Reeves. We need to figure out how we get the best out of Fosu because it isn’t working for him as of right now - perfect timing for Billy Clarke to come back in and take that no.10 role at the tip of the diamond.
Grant fairly anonymous but had a good game against Barnsley so would be unfair to drop him based on one quiet game. I hope Igor is watching closely and raring to get his chance however.
Special mention for Lyle Taylor who gave one of his better performances, I thought. Until now I had him down as a bit of a big lump with a decent shot on him. Tonight he showed me that he had intelligence that we haven’t seen since Yann - making little runs through and behind their back four all evening.
Shame the midfield couldn’t make anything happen with the space he created.
No doubt Robinson is delighted with that result. As for us, the only verdict I can offer is an obvious one: must do better.
Out of 14 matches, we’ve led in 12 of these matches. Sunderland, Accrington, Luton, Coventry and Oxford we’ve led for almost 45 minutes and haven’t killed the game off.
Without knowing how physically fit Beleik was, I would have liked to see us move to a 3-5-2 with half an hour on the clock. We needed to try something to get us back on the front foot.
In Bows we trust
Would have taken that on Saturday morning
I thought Bowyer should have brought on Sarr instead of Bielik when he did. Needed to try to pose them different problems and have some more height for set pieces. Generally though, I think in games like that, we need to drive into the box more - like Reeves did. We have the players to do that and things can open up. I'd say crossing/passing and driving in and see what opens up should be 50/50 in these sort of games! It gives defenders more of a headache. Plus yesterday, look how many bookings they had. You have to tactically react to that at least!
Another thing I notice in these sort of games is when the ball is loose away from the penalty areas, how few 50/50s we win. We don't seem to have players in positions to take the ball or compete for it. A great example was when Oxford cocked it up strangely enough, when four of their players attacked the ball with no Charlton players anywhere near it. The fact they headed it to grant is irrelevant. But more widely, look at speculative defensive clearances. Look how many times we make them and they go to opponents, and look how many times opponents make them and they go to us. There is something wrong with the statistics there.
Oxford were much better than Coventry, but we struggled to create chances against them too. Bowyer has to tweak his formation a bit. It is worrying how few goals we score from other areas than our main forwards. Annoyed with fans booing Holmes as he might be somebody we should try to get back in January. He is capable of that special shot out of the blue when other things aren't working - who does that currently in our side?
Finally, when Aribo broke into the side, his set piece delivery was fantastic. Has he forgotten how to do this? Reeves has one of the poorest deliveries I have seen. Not slagging him off - he had a decent game - but is he our best in that respect?
It was a crap game but if it's the worst game this season, then I'll be ok with it (if it's not....we'll have a problem!)
On the plus side; Aribo is showing class, Reeves continues to do well, Cullen is settling in really well, Dijksteel ventured forward 1st half, Steer looked sound again, Pearce was dominant.
1)he did not ask to go,we took a bid,what was he supposed to do.
2)When Cullen got hurt,Holmes went straight to him rather than than join in their attack,I know they still scored but he showed great class in trying to get the referees attention.
3)Actually thought he was the best player on the pitch,and he still applauded our fans in spite of the abuse.
Pretty sure Sarr would've played if it had been Pearce who had been missing. Bowyer said that Pearce looked uncomfortable on the right as did Sarr on Saturday. It's worth keeping Pearce in his best position because he's looked very good last two games.
For the time being, play Ward at the tip as much as possible and Fosu to come on as sub. It's a long season and I think he'll come good.
Watching the highlights on Sky it was a great finish by Whyte for their goal but I remain unclear why the game wasn't stopped as Cullen had been flattened in full view of the ref. I think it is an appalling piece of refereeing as he could have been seriously injured.
Thought the booing of Holmes was classless and his actions when he clattered Cullen showed he isn't. We looked tired, and I think it showed in the number of misplaced passes. Fosu wasn't great and we were relying on him. Should have had subs sooner.
Robinson’s sides always play good football but I thought it was going to be another typical result for him.
They deserved a draw, the goal shouldn’t have allowed to happen with the head injury but they definitely deserved a draw.
Quite a few off days last night and only Pearce, Reeves and Taylor really shone for me. Need to see the goal again, was it a worldy or should Steer have got something on that?
I think we will win on Saturday and be back in the mix but this inconsistency is annoying.
I appreciate that overall he had a very good game for Reeves. I called for the Reeves Sub and agree that Ward was the right replacement, we also needed to Swap Fosu for an attacking player around the same time, but Bowyer bottled it and held on for a point.
Seemed like a somewhat bottled performance by most of the team bar Reeves and Taylor once we conceded.
couple of observations for their goal.
1) Ref is 2 yards away from Cullen,Holmes collision (not a foul though just a coming together).
2) Solly out of position doesn't need to close player down Pearce is there.
3) Steer should not get beaten from there