Got to agree with Clem_Snide i thought our continual playing out from the back would be our undoing - it felt like watching my boy play for the under 9's - the opposition's best chance to score was our Goal Kick ! Stoke had 5 men pressing us in the first half and as much as I like playing out from the back, we just needed to get it away from our penalty area once or twice...At half time, I thought that we were very lucky to be even, but the 2nd half we turned it on and in the end really deserved the win. It's great to be back at The Valley - I've been an abstainer but the playoffs changed all that - First season ticket for years and now in the Covered End so can actually stand up now and again... Great Day - and yes Our Charlton are coming back (in spite of the Rat)
Going to be tough to pick out a man of the match because there are so many contenders. Gallagher full of energy and scoring on his debut, Cullen back and as brilliant as ever, Williams like a Duracell bunny with a ball stuck to its feet and Taylor being his usual pain in the backside for defenders and scoring a thunderbolt to name a few. Stoke were no mugs either hitting the bar, post and missing gilt edged chances including a sitter for Gregory. Even Inces goal was a cracker. Let’s hope we can keep this up as recently we always have decent starts and then tail off.
I know it's the most important part of the pitch, but having 10 players who Bowyer would consider midfielders, does seem a bit excessive. Especially when we currently only have one out and out striker, hopefully that's resolved on Monday, and if we are being honest question marks about all our defenders.
If we had signed a center back on loan of the quality of the midfielders we have, I would back us for the top half.
Obviously Lapslie and/or Morgan can now go out on loan. Even then how many games will JFC play between now and Xmas?
Rode our luck but we took our chances and they didn't.
At the end Bowyer changed it and we finished stronger and deserved the win.
Solly, the supposed weak link was very good, Pearce strong, Lockyer maybe lost out in the air too often and played one terrible ball but was otherwise good.
Cullen just pips Williams for MOTM for me.
Thought Gallagher was good, seemed to be a little lost but when we switched formation looked more comfortable and scored a good goal. A real prospect.
Leko has something special and if Bowyer can focus it will be a star.
Liked Aneke, took his goal like the experienced striker he is.
Taylor shoved some humble pie down the throats of his pathetic critics.
It's two games against the bottom two (because we beat them) but we won them, we're scoring goals and we have more players to come in.
If we can learn to cope better with the high press, that panicked us, we'll stay up and more.
Unbelievable stuff. A bit of a slow start for the first 20 minutes or so where Stoke had a lot of possession without really troubling us. We then grew into the game well and looked the better side. Every single one of of them gave it everything out there and battled until the last minute. We’re certainly going to surprise a few this year if teams expect to roll us over.
Gallagher motm, brilliant work rate, composed on the ball and a quality finish.
Watched the live feed. What a performance!! I’m still buzzing! Even the dog vomiting all over the sofa and the missus getting home from her mates birthday absolutely lagging and chatting total bollocks can’t dampen my mood! Can’t wait to get home and watch a few games this season. The valley was rocking from what I saw on the telly. Let’s just saviour these wins! COYR’s!
Deeper thoughts later, but loads of positives today, we carry a real attacking threat and will cause teams lots of problems. Massive bonus for 2 players to score so early in their Charlton careers too.
We will go on bad runs in this division, so 6 out 6 points at this stage is a great start. 50 points and survival has to be our main target, and every win is priceless
Had the luxury of watching the stream from my parents in Spain with only a few signal drops! The first 5-10 minutes we looked like we were out of our depth, but we soon settled.
One of the things that makes us so unpredictable and difficult is our midfield 4. They drift all over the place, dragging their markers out of position and being a huge nuisance out of possession with their pressing. That’s a definite hallmark of Bowyer and exactly how he used to play. That said, it could well be our undoing against stronger teams and we need to be careful, it can make us vulnerable and expose our defence which is definitely our weakest area. Solly and Pearce fought bloody well today but both are limited and will be found out against better quality players. The same can be said with Pratley and I think long term kayal will take that position (I thought he was brilliant today though).
Performance wise, I thought Taylor took an hour to get going (despite his goal) but something then seemed to click and he was back to his old self. Williams and Cullen, absolutely bloody brilliant. They are absolute class and not out of place in this league at all. Leko has a lot of talent and hopefully bowyer and Jacko will exploit that and build on it. His performance today was certainly encouraging. Big Chuks had a good cameo with the goal too. Purrington just seems so solid and reliable. One of my favourite signings.
My main praise has to go to Gallagher though. With the loans we brought in I expected him to fall to the bottom of the pile and struggle for game time. How wrong I was. For a teenager with no senior footballing experience I thought he was unbelievable. Battled, snapping tackles, quick turns, and an eye for goal. He has everything and could turn out to be our star this year.
This season could definitely be interesting. We have the right mix of youth, experience, energy and quality to really fight in this league. I don’t want to speak too soon but I really believe we might be pushing top half this year and will surprise a lot of people. And I for one am looking forward to it greatly.
I quite like the bloke tbh. Gave an honest opinion of how he saw the game. The mad thing about football nowadays is that if stoke lose their next match he will be under pressure.
Wonderful job by the management team,the departed players,good as they were ,not missed in the slightest.Whole team put in a shift,what a prospect gallagher is,This could be some season.Fantastic support all through the game,how anyone can stay away from this is beyond me.RD has made many mistakes in his time as owner,the biggest being not being aware of what a great asset he owns.
Just saw the highlights... We got let off the hook a few times, and their goalie was pony... But seems we played well, and two from two, can't ask for more than that!
The best collective midfield performance I have seen by us for a long time. I cannot fault any one of them for their effort or skill.
Pratley was immense in the first half. Breaking up play, making runs forward and being a nuisance.
Williams played wide left first half and was effective without being amazing. However, second half he was fantastic. Such skill, control and vision. His work rate is superb.
Cullen. MOM for me. Pretty much a 10/10 performance. Great on the ball and great without it. A class above any other player out there.
Gallacher. What a debut. Brings bite and guile to the midfield. Has a great engine and work ethic. Thought he may have been subbed after 70 or so as looked like he was out on his legs. Then found a new lease of life and what a great finish. Nice to see him have a cuddle with his mum and dad who were sat in the front row after the game.
Taylor was Taylor. No need to worry on that front.
On paper Stoke should be beating us fairly easily and although we rode our luck a bit we have a fantastic team ethic and attitude. Bowyer has built that and he has to be commended on what he has done and how he keeps improving us.
We we will have tricky times of course but I think that we will not be able to doubt the effort this group of players will give us this season.
Comments
Stoke had 5 men pressing us in the first half and as much as I like playing out from the back, we just needed to get it away from our penalty area once or twice...At half time, I thought that we were very lucky to be even, but the 2nd half we turned it on and in the end really deserved the win.
It's great to be back at The Valley - I've been an abstainer but the playoffs changed all that - First season ticket for years and now in the Covered End so can actually stand up now and again...
Great Day - and yes Our Charlton are coming back (in spite of the Rat)
If we had signed a center back on loan of the quality of the midfielders we have, I would back us for the top half.
Obviously Lapslie and/or Morgan can now go out on loan. Even then how many games will JFC play between now and Xmas?
Shows her influence lives on.
Rode our luck but we took our chances and they didn't.
At the end Bowyer changed it and we finished stronger and deserved the win.
Solly, the supposed weak link was very good, Pearce strong, Lockyer maybe lost out in the air too often and played one terrible ball but was otherwise good.
Cullen just pips Williams for MOTM for me.
Thought Gallagher was good, seemed to be a little lost but when we switched formation looked more comfortable and scored a good goal. A real prospect.
Leko has something special and if Bowyer can focus it will be a star.
Liked Aneke, took his goal like the experienced striker he is.
Taylor shoved some humble pie down the throats of his pathetic critics.
It's two games against the bottom two (because we beat them) but we won them, we're scoring goals and we have more players to come in.
If we can learn to cope better with the high press, that panicked us, we'll stay up and more.
Decent crowd too.
Gallagher motm, brilliant work rate, composed on the ball and a quality finish.
They missed 2 easy chances and we missed 1.
Quality goals too.
Bit disappointed Dylan got nowhere near their goal.
BABY BECKHAM ON THE SCORESHEET !!!!
Deeper thoughts later, but loads of positives today, we carry a real attacking threat and will cause teams lots of problems. Massive bonus for 2 players to score so early in their Charlton careers too.
We will go on bad runs in this division, so 6 out 6 points at this stage is a great start. 50 points and survival has to be our main target, and every win is priceless
One of the things that makes us so unpredictable and difficult is our midfield 4. They drift all over the place, dragging their markers out of position and being a huge nuisance out of possession with their pressing. That’s a definite hallmark of Bowyer and exactly how he used to play. That said, it could well be our undoing against stronger teams and we need to be careful, it can make us vulnerable and expose our defence which is definitely our weakest area. Solly and Pearce fought bloody well today but both are limited and will be found out against better quality players. The same can be said with Pratley and I think long term kayal will take that position (I thought he was brilliant today though).
Performance wise, I thought Taylor took an hour to get going (despite his goal) but something then seemed to click and he was back to his old self. Williams and Cullen, absolutely bloody brilliant. They are absolute class and not out of place in this league at all. Leko has a lot of talent and hopefully bowyer and Jacko will exploit that and build on it. His performance today was certainly encouraging. Big Chuks had a good cameo with the goal too. Purrington just seems so solid and reliable. One of my favourite signings.
My main praise has to go to Gallagher though. With the loans we brought in I expected him to fall to the bottom of the pile and struggle for game time. How wrong I was. For a teenager with no senior footballing experience I thought he was unbelievable. Battled, snapping tackles, quick turns, and an eye for goal. He has everything and could turn out to be our star this year.
This season could definitely be interesting. We have the right mix of youth, experience, energy and quality to really fight in this league. I don’t want to speak too soon but I really believe we might be pushing top half this year and will surprise a lot of people. And I for one am looking forward to it greatly.
Gave an honest opinion of how he saw the game.
The mad thing about football nowadays is that if stoke lose their next match he will be under pressure.
I wouldn't mind betting Bowyer insisted on that as part of the terms of renewing his contract.
Pratley was immense in the first half. Breaking up play, making runs forward and being a nuisance.
Williams played wide left first half and was effective without being amazing. However, second half he was fantastic. Such skill, control and vision. His work rate is superb.
Cullen. MOM for me. Pretty much a 10/10 performance. Great on the ball and great without it. A class above any other player out there.
Gallacher. What a debut. Brings bite and guile to the midfield. Has a great engine and work ethic. Thought he may have been subbed after 70 or so as looked like he was out on his legs. Then found a new lease of life and what a great finish. Nice to see him have a cuddle with his mum and dad who were sat in the front row after the game.
Taylor was Taylor. No need to worry on that front.
On paper Stoke should be beating us fairly easily and although we rode our luck a bit we have a fantastic team ethic and attitude. Bowyer has built that and he has to be commended on what he has done and how he keeps improving us.
We we will have tricky times of course but I think that we will not be able to doubt the effort this group of players will give us this season.