Personally I think its too early to go into panic mood but its clear things have gone noticeably awry in the last month.
Its just 28 days ago following the Luton draw that at the 10 game point, the members poll showed:
Better than expected - 81%
As expected -19%
Worse than expected - 0%
I know if we repeated it now it would be very very different, but its worth reminding of the contented picture just 5 games, 28 days ago.
Since then there has been 1 win, 1 draw, 3 defeats.
So has it been a tactical change? personnel change? inconsistent team selection? further injury impact? attitude & effort shift? underlying squad issues?
or is it just a bad run, it happens and although hard post-defeat, we shouldn't be so short-termist in trying to analyse ??
what's your thoughts?
0
Comments
Inconsistencies ie today was same side that beat Barnsley.
Lack of goals from anyone but Grant and Taylor.
Inexperience. Not just some young players like Aribo being up and down but more importantly Bowyer and Jackson coming up against old heads like Keith Hill.
The core is fine but without financial support to get new players in, we are hitting a bump in the road.
Look at who we beat in our run.
Southend 11th, but not convinced they’ll finish there.
Wycombe 16th and just come up, which we still made hard work of.
Bradford 24th and cleary thee worst team in the league.
Plymouth 22nd and on a dog run when we played them.
And for me we cannot use the injury card, last three games have not been because of a left back. I’ll give you Scunthorpe.
I think the rotation of the starting XI is also an issue.
Am I correct in thinking, that the coaching numbers have been reduced? I remember Russell Slade having Kevin Nugent as assistant manager, Simon Clark as first team coach and Lee Turner as GK coach. Similarily, Karl Robinson had Richie Barker as assistant manager, Chris O'Loughlin/Lee Bowyer as first team coach and Lee Turner as GK coach. Now we just have a manager, assistant manager and GK coach.
Yes, there may be ups and downs with tactics, attitude, the officials, the pitch, the weather, and a hundred and one other excuses, but there is one common factor - an owner who doesn't care for anything which hasn't got a euro sign in front of it.
We have a team, manager and coaches who have the ability and spirit, when all are fit, to beat anyone in this league. At the moment we have key players who are not 100% and we do not have the depth of squad to deal with that. All too often this month we have been forced to play round pegs in square holes.
The one solution is outside of everyone's control except Roland's - we need new owners with ambition, and long arms to match their deep pockets.
Roland OUT.
sufferingsupporting the team. We are far more likely to be relegated than promoted under this disinterested owner, for whom it's only now about cutting his losses. Sadly, he is deluded about the loss of value since he took over and it's hard to see how we get out of it, short of him kicking the bucket.We have no strength in our depth... At least not fit, ready to challenge strength in depth.
Can't score yet scored 22 in 15 league games of which our strike partnership has 15 of those. We've scored 7 in the last 5 of those.
If we include cup games it's 32 in 17.
I think the fact is we can't defend. Probably still Naby's fault.
Only Aribo has two, no one else has more than one. Think i'm right that outside of those three it's only Solly, Bielik, Sarr and Fosu who have scored. After 15 games thats a poor return.
Lack of cover in key positions has also meant a makeshift defence.
If you can't keep a clean sheet and your midfielders aren't helping out the forwards in the goals we'll lose more than we win.
I don't think the diamond is working right now consistently, Bowyer needs to get back to basics defensively, but does he have the personnel to do so, i'm not sure.
The last 5 games has not been a great points return, but it's a little early to panic. We have a game in hand on 8 of the 12 teams above us, we're 5 points away from 6th.
I've said since the start we're a top 12 team, but not a top 4, 5th - 12th I still maintain will be the best we'll do this season,
I like LB but he has a lot to learn.
I didn’t expect us to make the playoffs last season and miraculously, Bowyer rallied the team to get us there, but if was clear we weren’t good enough over the 2 legs against Shrewsbury.
This season with the lack of investment in the summer and RD openly wanting to sell I just thought survival, but then you realise we’ve actually got some decent players and I truly believe we’ve got some real Charlton identity back with Bow and JJ at the helm.
Ultimately the one key theme throughout all of this is our owner. I truly believe that you cannot build a successful operation when the very top of the operation is incompetent, despite my heart wishing it so.
We’ve seen some examples of slight turnarounds under Coventry, Blackburn and Blackpool and let’s be honest, this division isn’t that strong, so we could get out of it (still may do). But I have to keep reminding myself we’re a basket case of a club where the fan base has been alienated, driven away and in some cases turned against one another. It’s just not healthy. We’re actually incredibly lucky we’ve got someone like Bowyer who gets the club and his desire to win is so evident in charge. The likes of JJ and Solly have stuck around when they saw such a unity under Powell evaporate over time and they must be thinking ‘how’? This is Bowyer first proper job in management and this time last year he didn’t even have a role in football, let alone seem like he wanted to come back and be a manager.
Unfortunately for us, we’re in limbo until RD goes and I truly believe we’ve got some decent players and a decent manager, but until that culture and core is similar to what we had under RM and Curbs (I’m not saying have RM back, just mean the stability of the set up), we can’t truly succeed.
I do think there is room for improvement both from Bowyer and the team in terms of how we handle matters on the pitch, but this constant cloud of RD as owner just means we cannot truly succeed
Both Pierce and Solly playing out of position was the reason we looked so bad at the back against Scunny and Coventry in my opinion. We looked good going forward but were woeful in defence whenever they threatened.
Against Bradford we were solid again because we had two CB's in Pierce and Bielik who were comfortable in their positions. Even with Solly on the left we looked solid and Dijksteel had his best game for us on the right. I believe that was because the entire back 4 felt a solid unit.
And then in both the Oxford game and today we started with Pierce and Pratley at CB even though Bielik was available. And Pratley has never played at CB before! Too much tinkering at the back I feel. Trying to be too clever? Who knows.
And, more worrying, is that the tinkering seems to be affecting the rest of the team, because today we were woeful all over.
This strikes me as just inexperience on the part of both LB and Jacko. But, it is also basic football common sense in my opinion, which is a concern. I believe players should always play in their natural positions if at all possible, especially at the back.