By no means a classic but we got the job done with 3 points.
I could stop here really. If we'd failed to score this game would be a contender for most boring home game of the season. @Len\'s_little_girl , who has had a busy week, actually dropped off for a few minutes in the second half which says it all.
Hard to select individuals good or bad really today from a performance where we did enough without really getting out of second or third gear. However Cullen caught my eye with a busy performance, making himself available and tidying up where needed. We will miss him when he returns to West Ham and maybe succeeds Noble. Taylor worked hard as ever and took his goal well. Not sure how he put that ball over an open goal from 6 yards though! My 4 year old grandson and the bloke who did the cross bar challenge at half time would have put that one away.
Nice to see a decent reception for Billy Clarke. Injury is what did for him at Charlton. I liked him and feel he would have been 'a better Ben Reeves' had he stayed fit.
Not much else to say really. Just glad we got the points.
We are joint top of the form table so pretty good last six games, sign of a good team 14 points out of a possible 18. Not sure I would fancy playing us in a two leg play off.
A wins a win......and that's all we need at the moment. Nailed on for a play-off place (4th or 5th) but there's more chance of leaving with no deal in 2 weeks time than us getting 2nd place.
As for the game.......
Should have been 3 up by half time but we never, and I repeat, never hammer teams. Cullen ran the show but the rest of the midfield were happy just to pass backwards & sideways. Need Beliek back in there as well as Fosu. Don't know if LB had asked for the pitch to be watered as much as it was but players were slipping all over the place. Dijikstel had a good game but only started putting in decent crosses with 20 mins to go & his best attribute is his pace. Purrington is an average L1 defender & never takes his man on. Poor. The rest of the team done just enough to win. Taylor MOTM for his tenacity after that appalling miss. Only player to shoot all game.
Play offs will be completely different as I'm not expecting Pompey or Donny to park the bus.
It reminded me of the pre season friendly against West Ham @1982, when Terry Naylor broke his leg, except no one broke a leg. Boring, boring, boring, but we won, so all's good. PS Bradford gave up before they started and definitely looked booked for relegation.
PS Williams & Reeves didn't last 90 mins as usual, plus someone tackled Williams and he stayed down like he was dying for 5 mins, then jumped up and played on. Lightweights is an understatement.
Certainly won't go down as one of our best wins of the season at all but looking back on it we were relatively comfortable and didn't let them have too many chances after they hit the post. It's another win and another step closer to securing the playoffs and getting the second leg at home.
There were so many games last season we were leading in the final few minutes at home and ended up blowing it. Blackpool, MK and most notably Oxford as well as a lot of other games away. We're not doing that this season, we're digging in and getting over the line with the win which will be so important come the playoffs if we need to do the same. Feels like we've just got that bit more grit about us now. We probably would have drawn 2 of those last 3 home games that we've won last season.
Cullen top class again today and may get my POTS vote at the moment, very underrated I feel.
The right result, but a poor game and mediocre performance really, the lack of intensity was a bit concerning
Not convinced our team balance is right, as we were desperately slow and it's while it's good for Lyle to drag defenders out wide, in the second half he was almost playing like a left wing back. Surely it can't be right that when the opposition have a break, your main striker and goal threat is the one chasing back and indeed getting back well before the midfield lumbered back? No wonder he looked shattered by the end.
Cullen impressed with his effort AND creativity, he might be the holding player but he also has the ability to make really clever passes. As for the rest of the midfield, I'm not sure Williams, Aribo and Reeves is the right combination, a fit JFC would be a real asset to this team as he is more of a box to box player, and our other "energetic" midfielders like Pratley and Lapslie are perhaps not at the required level at the moment.
Surprised Chicksen was on the Bradford bench, as their LB had a mare in the first half.
I can’t remember a game where we played so badly yet won so comfortably. Just goes to show how bad Bradford were. too many players strolling around like it was a friendly. Dijksteel was awful . Williams no better . I forgot Reeves was playing until he came off and Aribo was far too casual. Igor isn’t the same player of two years ago but I think we all knew that. Taylor should have has a Hatrick . All that and we won ! Cullen ran the midfield as he has done nearly every time he’s played . Awful game but hey ho . Three points in the bag .
Play like that against Luton and we’ll get mullered.
What did dijksteel do that made him awful? In the second half he was pushing up and beat the full back time and again and won a few corners although the final ball could be better. He kept the ball and used it well. He made one mistake in the second half but recovered to win back possession. It was his best performance in a charlton shirt and If that was solly pushing on like that, there would be lots of praise and man love.......unless I missed something?
In the first half he had so many opportunities to put the ball into the box but could get it past the first man . Second half he was marginally better but he still struggled . Give me Solly over him all day long . As for it being his best game in a Charlton shirt - I have no idea what game you was watching. Just have a look at the players ratings.
I can’t remember a game where we played so badly yet won so comfortably. Just goes to show how bad Bradford were. too many players strolling around like it was a friendly. Dijksteel was awful . Williams no better . I forgot Reeves was playing until he came off and Aribo was far too casual. Igor isn’t the same player of two years ago but I think we all knew that. Taylor should have has a Hatrick . All that and we won ! Cullen ran the midfield as he has done nearly every time he’s played . Awful game but hey ho . Three points in the bag .
Play like that against Luton and we’ll get mullered.
What did dijksteel do that made him awful? In the second half he was pushing up and beat the full back time and again and won a few corners although the final ball could be better. He kept the ball and used it well. He made one mistake in the second half but recovered to win back possession. It was his best performance in a charlton shirt and If that was solly pushing on like that, there would be lots of praise and man love.......unless I missed something?
In the first half he had so many opportunities to put the ball into the box but could get it past the first man . Second half he was marginally better but he still struggled . Give me Solly over him all day long . As for it being his best game in a Charlton shirt - I have no idea what game you was watching. Just have a look at the players ratings.
Dijksteel is playing a lot better than Solly . He’s more solid defensively , much quicker and gets into much better attacking positions. Sure, he gave the ball away a couple of times today and his delivery was poor . I don’t think it was his best game but it wasn’t that bad.
I can’t remember a game where we played so badly yet won so comfortably. Just goes to show how bad Bradford were. too many players strolling around like it was a friendly. Dijksteel was awful . Williams no better . I forgot Reeves was playing until he came off and Aribo was far too casual. Igor isn’t the same player of two years ago but I think we all knew that. Taylor should have has a Hatrick . All that and we won ! Cullen ran the midfield as he has done nearly every time he’s played . Awful game but hey ho . Three points in the bag .
Play like that against Luton and we’ll get mullered.
What did dijksteel do that made him awful? In the second half he was pushing up and beat the full back time and again and won a few corners although the final ball could be better. He kept the ball and used it well. He made one mistake in the second half but recovered to win back possession. It was his best performance in a charlton shirt and If that was solly pushing on like that, there would be lots of praise and man love.......unless I missed something?
In the first half he had so many opportunities to put the ball into the box but could get it past the first man . Second half he was marginally better but he still struggled . Give me Solly over him all day long . As for it being his best game in a Charlton shirt - I have no idea what game you was watching. Just have a look at the players ratings.
Dijksteel is playing a lot better than Solly . He’s more solid defensively , much quicker and gets into much better attacking positions. Sure, he gave the ball away a couple of times today and his delivery was poor . I don’t think it was his best game but it wasn’t that bad.
and he made an important block in the penalty area near the end of the match.
I can’t remember a game where we played so badly yet won so comfortably. Just goes to show how bad Bradford were. too many players strolling around like it was a friendly. Dijksteel was awful . Williams no better . I forgot Reeves was playing until he came off and Aribo was far too casual. Igor isn’t the same player of two years ago but I think we all knew that. Taylor should have has a Hatrick . All that and we won ! Cullen ran the midfield as he has done nearly every time he’s played . Awful game but hey ho . Three points in the bag .
Play like that against Luton and we’ll get mullered.
What did dijksteel do that made him awful? In the second half he was pushing up and beat the full back time and again and won a few corners although the final ball could be better. He kept the ball and used it well. He made one mistake in the second half but recovered to win back possession. It was his best performance in a charlton shirt and If that was solly pushing on like that, there would be lots of praise and man love.......unless I missed something?
In the first half he had so many opportunities to put the ball into the box but could get it past the first man . Second half he was marginally better but he still struggled . Give me Solly over him all day long . As for it being his best game in a Charlton shirt - I have no idea what game you was watching. Just have a look at the players ratings.
Dijksteel is playing a lot better than Solly . He’s more solid defensively , much quicker and gets into much better attacking positions. Sure, he gave the ball away a couple of times today and his delivery was poor . I don’t think it was his best game but it wasn’t that bad.
Really don't see Dijksteel as a 'lot better' than Solly - he's athletic and is okay on the ball but he wasted numerous attacking opportunities today. His crossing in the first half was shocking.
His positioning also needs work on it - definitely a work in progress. He has more pace than Solly and is able to use it to recover.
I can’t remember a game where we played so badly yet won so comfortably. Just goes to show how bad Bradford were. too many players strolling around like it was a friendly. Dijksteel was awful . Williams no better . I forgot Reeves was playing until he came off and Aribo was far too casual. Igor isn’t the same player of two years ago but I think we all knew that. Taylor should have has a Hatrick . All that and we won ! Cullen ran the midfield as he has done nearly every time he’s played . Awful game but hey ho . Three points in the bag .
Play like that against Luton and we’ll get mullered.
What did dijksteel do that made him awful? In the second half he was pushing up and beat the full back time and again and won a few corners although the final ball could be better. He kept the ball and used it well. He made one mistake in the second half but recovered to win back possession. It was his best performance in a charlton shirt and If that was solly pushing on like that, there would be lots of praise and man love.......unless I missed something?
In the first half he had so many opportunities to put the ball into the box but could get it past the first man . Second half he was marginally better but he still struggled . Give me Solly over him all day long . As for it being his best game in a Charlton shirt - I have no idea what game you was watching. Just have a look at the players ratings.
Dijksteel is playing a lot better than Solly . He’s more solid defensively , much quicker and gets into much better attacking positions. Sure, he gave the ball away a couple of times today and his delivery was poor . I don’t think it was his best game but it wasn’t that bad.
and he made an important block in the penalty area near the end of the match.
A great block, though to be fair it was his mistake which set up the Bradford attack in the first place!
what happens at HT not for the 1st time in recent weeks the players never came back out for the 2nd half, very slow and no effort in the 2nd
Also Igor and Lyle look like strangers, not expecting them to have the understanding that Grant and Taylor had, but they look like they have no cohesion at all
Very weird situation, Play-Offs all but guaranteed with seven games still to go - but no real chance of top two finish.
We have to get the next phase right, last year we had run out of gas by the time we played Shrewsbury, this year we need to hit the Play-Offs full throttle to give ourselves the best chance.
Pompey and Sunderland are both vulnerable, they both could have had automatic promotion but dropped off, that increases the pressure on them.
what happens at HT not for the 1st time in recent weeks the players never came back out for the 2nd half, very slow and no effort in the 2nd
Also Igor and Lyle look like strangers, not expecting them to have the understanding that Grant and Taylor had, but they look like they have no cohesion at all
Paulie, promise me you're going to lose the PWR bug mate. You're better than that! (No one cares!!)
He's lost a yard of pace and looks no threat at all. He missed an easy headed chance when unmarked. At the moment he is showing nothing to suggest he'll ever be decent again. Perhaps, he'll pick up as he's only played half a dozen games.
Comments
By no means a classic but we got the job done with 3 points.
I could stop here really. If we'd failed to score this game would be a contender for most boring home game of the season. @Len\'s_little_girl , who has had a busy week, actually dropped off for a few minutes in the second half which says it all.
Hard to select individuals good or bad really today from a performance where we did enough without really getting out of second or third gear. However Cullen caught my eye with a busy performance, making himself available and tidying up where needed. We will miss him when he returns to West Ham and maybe succeeds Noble. Taylor worked hard as ever and took his goal well. Not sure how he put that ball over an open goal from 6 yards though! My 4 year old grandson and the bloke who did the cross bar challenge at half time would have put that one away.
Nice to see a decent reception for Billy Clarke. Injury is what did for him at Charlton. I liked him and feel he would have been 'a better Ben Reeves' had he stayed fit.
Not much else to say really. Just glad we got the points.
COYR
As for the game.......
Should have been 3 up by half time but we never, and I repeat, never hammer teams. Cullen ran the show but the rest of the midfield were happy just to pass backwards & sideways. Need Beliek back in there as well as Fosu. Don't know if LB had asked for the pitch to be watered as much as it was but players were slipping all over the place. Dijikstel had a good game but only started putting in decent crosses with 20 mins to go & his best attribute is his pace. Purrington is an average L1 defender & never takes his man on. Poor. The rest of the team done just enough to win. Taylor MOTM for his tenacity after that appalling miss. Only player to shoot all game.
Play offs will be completely different as I'm not expecting Pompey or Donny to park the bus.
Boring, boring, boring, but we won, so all's good.
PS Bradford gave up before they started and definitely looked booked for relegation.
PS Williams & Reeves didn't last 90 mins as usual, plus someone tackled Williams and he stayed down like he was dying for 5 mins, then jumped up and played on. Lightweights is an understatement.
There were so many games last season we were leading in the final few minutes at home and ended up blowing it. Blackpool, MK and most notably Oxford as well as a lot of other games away. We're not doing that this season, we're digging in and getting over the line with the win which will be so important come the playoffs if we need to do the same. Feels like we've just got that bit more grit about us now. We probably would have drawn 2 of those last 3 home games that we've won last season.
Cullen top class again today and may get my POTS vote at the moment, very underrated I feel.
Not convinced our team balance is right, as we were desperately slow and it's while it's good for Lyle to drag defenders out wide, in the second half he was almost playing like a left wing back. Surely it can't be right that when the opposition have a break, your main striker and goal threat is the one chasing back and indeed getting back well before the midfield lumbered back? No wonder he looked shattered by the end.
Cullen impressed with his effort AND creativity, he might be the holding player but he also has the ability to make really clever passes. As for the rest of the midfield, I'm not sure Williams, Aribo and Reeves is the right combination, a fit JFC would be a real asset to this team as he is more of a box to box player, and our other "energetic" midfielders like Pratley and Lapslie are perhaps not at the required level at the moment.
Surprised Chicksen was on the Bradford bench, as their LB had a mare in the first half.
I think someone told the team at half time that we were going to win 1-0, so they took their collective foot off the gas.
His positioning also needs work on it - definitely a work in progress. He has more pace than Solly and is able to use it to recover.
Just glad Lee won the Battle of the Bowyers.
what happens at HT not for the 1st time in recent weeks the players never came back out for the 2nd half, very slow and no effort in the 2nd
Also Igor and Lyle look like strangers, not expecting them to have the understanding that Grant and Taylor had, but they look like they have no cohesion at all
We have to get the next phase right, last year we had run out of gas by the time we played Shrewsbury, this year we need to hit the Play-Offs full throttle to give ourselves the best chance.
Pompey and Sunderland are both vulnerable, they both could have had automatic promotion but dropped off, that increases the pressure on them.
Second half a training game for us. Good.
Gotta manage the playoff team chaps. Pity we did not score another 1st half and we could’ve taken off Taylor.
More importantly where was you today noticed you were missing.
Now he is getting into much more advanced positions and starting to take on his marker, ok a lot of his centres were blocked today.
He is learning and continually improving, and strong defensively with a good technical level.
Stick with him i say, especially as - sad to say Solly is not getting any better.
He missed an easy headed chance when unmarked.
At the moment he is showing nothing to suggest he'll ever be decent again.
Perhaps, he'll pick up as he's only played half a dozen games.