Starting to see why it’s has taken three years to come out of division the last couple of times. We have an arrogance that as we’ve played in championship we deserve to pick the win against these small clubs. Need to get back to what works in league 1.
Movement up top by Bonne & Washington was terrible and gave Lincoln an easy 90 mins.
Two weeks in a row we’ve conceded and we haven’t offered anything after the goal. This is a concern Bowyer. Unless we score first we are always going to get beat.
Lost 2-0 to Bury our first game back in 2016-17. Can't underestimate any opponent in this league
4-4-2 looked a bit dirge, Levitt and Pratley doesn't really work and limits Doughty a bit, commentators were kind of Oztumer I didn't really think he did much at all?
Don't really get why it's Oshilaja at CB and Barket at RB both seem like they would be better in the others spot, but hopefully Matthews gets sorted soon.
Pratley has a role to play still and I kind of still love him, but then games like today you've gotta think you can do better than him, but don't think the 4-4-2 suits him at all, think both him and Levitt would be far better in a 3 as neither really get forward.
Doughty looked a bit hesitant first half, then livened up 2nd half but as said on the comms were overfeeding him a bit. Again feel like a 4-3-3 suits him far better, and if he's our best player at the moment then might as well build around him.
Not brilliant from Bonne again, but had some decent flick ons and wasn't really given much again.
I guess not going to overreact too much now 3rd game of the season, considering we literally signed some first teamers yesterday but not a great set up by Bowyer really
Was pleased with Famewo's performance, he was impressive for the 60 mins he was on. Levitt certainly has an eye for a pass (sometimes to a player not even in the camera shot) but he played much deeper than I expected.
Our final ball is absolutely dreadful, Purrington seemed to be the only player capable of putting in any sort of half decent cross. Williams tried hard to turn it around when he came on but it was too little too late. Forster-Caskeys cameo reminded me of Barnsley at home last year where we immediately conceded from him losing the ball, very ineffective.
Need some more players in and fast. Dread to think what Sunderland will do to that time if its still the same next week.
Second half just wasn't good enough . There is no passion no fight in this team . What has happened to Forster - Caskey ? Even his new haircut is shit . Bonne has gone backwards , not sure what has happened to Davidson .
How many seasons since this team has had proper investment? Can't be many teams in league one that have had less invested in them and have had the BS and uncertainty behind the scenes that we have had.
I think the team gets a pass this season to reset and re-build and come back next year - hopefully in front of a packed Valley. If we get anywhere near promotion this year, it'll be seriously impressive.
We need investment, time and positivity. I'm disappointed at the result but ecstatic that we are hopefully at the beginning of a fantastic adventure.
In 2011/12 when we won League 2 we had Wright-Phillips and Kermorgant up front.
In 2018/19, we had (until the end of January) Taylor and Grant up front.
This year we have got Bonne and Washington up front.
And that's why we are going nowhere this year.
Washington who has so far scored 2 in 3 championship games? He looked a hell of a lot more lively then Bonne today for sure.
Maybe if we bring some new players Bowyer will change the formation and the way we play - but currently you could have David Silva in the centre of the park but he won't do anything if he's sitting that deep all the time.
Also don't want to hear anything about how this result doesn't matter because we had the takeover go through. We had that back on Jan 2nd when we sent the kids to Swansea, and we all know how that turned out
We've lost 10 or so players from what was an already poor squad. It's not surprising we're struggling so far this season, hopefully we can get at least 5 good quality signings before the window shuts.
In 2011/12 when we won League 2 we had Wright-Phillips and Kermorgant up front.
In 2018/19, we had (until the end of January) Taylor and Grant up front.
This year we have got Bonne and Washington up front.
And that's why we are going nowhere this year.
Washington who has so far scored 2 in 3 championship games? He looked a hell of a lot more lively then Bonne today for sure.
Maybe if we bring some new players Bowyer will change the formation and the way we play - but currently you could have David Silva in the centre of the park but he won't do anything if he's sitting that deep all the time.
To be honest I thought Washington and Bonne's communication was one of the highlights of the first half
Both worked really well together and could be a decent partnership there
Needs to be consistent though!! - Second Half neither were on the same wave length which made the Midfield's job just as hard trying to pick them out
The likes of Bonne and Oshilaja look worse in this league than they did in the Championship. I guess that’s partly due to us being the team who expects to dominate and win games, not keep it tight and play on the counter.
Bowyer’s right, we clearly need 7/8 signings (is that now 5/6? Can’t remember if the interview was before Watson and Famewo came in). He needs time to rebuild, we didn’t have enough players out there that would get in to a promotion winning side.
At least we have a decent amount of time - just under 3 weeks as the domestic window closes on the 16th, 5th is for international moves.
Would have been very different had Washington not put that good chance wide and another day Lincoln wouldn’t get that penalty, never mind score from a rebound that could have been given as offside (need to see that again).
Shame there will be some overreactions and calls for Bowyer to go, but that’s social media and modern football for you.
Not great . The game should have been put to bet in the first half Hour. Our marking was awful at set pieces. Lincoln were nothing special either but when you can't finish you will never win games. Bonne was anonymous all game. There is no competition for his place and it shows.
I'm not panicking. Some new bodies will change things. - Two or three defenders and two strikers are what we need.
Frustrating in the extreme. Not too hard to analyse though, Game started ok, Wahington should have scored, a bit of luck and we could have had another couple. Ridiculous officiating for their opener, but we know there are going to be poor officials and you overcome that.
I thought the major change Lincoln made for the second half was to play with a few more behind the ball and we absolutely allowed that to succeed. Part of the problem as was noted in the commentary was the willingness to stop and play backwards too often. Purrington was a major culprit. The two strikers were too isolated.
The two mid-second half substitutions were a major error by Bowyer IMO. What he should have done was to take off Purrington for Williams and play Doughty as a left wing back. He should have then brought on Davison to push his weight around for Bonne who hasn't got going yet for whatever reason.
Oztumer and Levitt should have both stayed on the pitch. They were our most likely productive outlet up to going off. Oshilaja is frustrating as I have said before, he looks decent then sub Sunday League at times. Least said about their second the better. He needs to focus and not make errors like that. Watson let their man go too.
Anyway, if anything served to show we need players in desperately, today did. Let's hope we get some business done sooner rather than later.
Unless we get some quality players in pronto, we'll have to write the season off.
However, given what we've had to suffer for the last seven odd years, I suppose that we need to manage expectations and be grateful that we still have a club to support!
As Isaw says; if we achieve anything this season it will be a bonus; we have a lot of rebuilding to do on and off the pitch.
Decent first half, like last week though we looked lost after we conceded.
Amos, saved a pen but looked a bit flat footed for their second. Barker did okay but he doesn’t offer the attacking support a natural right back would. Purrington was decent on the other side. Akin looks very decent, no idea why he was taken off. Deji - doji, again. Pratley was tenacious as ever and played fairly well overall but he’s not the man you need when you’re trying to unlock a team. Levitt, I thought he played well but faded - some lovely passes although they didn’t all come off. Otzumer, I’m still not sold. Doughty runs a lot, tackles back well, fluffed his lines too often with a poor touch, cross or pass at the key moment in the final third - lots of development still to do. Bonne I think he worked reasonably hard and he won a lot of flick ons, but his first touch has always been below standard and it’s still letting him down at key moments. Washington runs around a lot but another one who can’t trap a bag of cement when it counts.
I’m sure it’s going to get better but need fairly large improvements from almost all our players at the moment - we won’t be signing an entire new XI so some of this lot are going to have to up their game.
As I said to my mates, you need big horrible physical forwards in this division, Chucks might be ok if he wasn’t injured all the time, too many powderpuff forwards.
We are short of personnel who have the required quality, intelligence and athleticism to mount any sort of promotion push, we are bereft of attacking ideas/shape, and we lack someone who'll take the few chances we do create.
Messrs Gallen, Bowyer and Jackson have work to do, and for the first time in ages they might just get the resources to do it. Good luck to them.
I think we know Bowyer is going to be backed. He has to do a bit better than he has for the last few months for me. I think the changes he made were clearly the wrong ones and whilst no alarm bells yet, he does need to get us going when we have the better players that have been promised.
I don't have a problem with him, but he isn't as good as Dillon and doesn't fill me with the same level of confidence. If, however, Dillon won't sign a contract then we need to try to sell him.
No need to panic yet, we know we need signings and 2 being thrown straight in isn’t going to change everything. Not a great start to the season but plenty of time left in the window to strengthen and change things up.
As I said to my mates, you need big horrible physical forwards in this division, Chucks might be ok if he wasn’t injured all the time, too many powderpuff forwards.
You realise he's had one minor knock in pre-season, but fit since January otherwise
Comments
Don't really get why it's Oshilaja at CB and Barket at RB both seem like they would be better in the others spot, but hopefully Matthews gets sorted soon.
Pratley has a role to play still and I kind of still love him, but then games like today you've gotta think you can do better than him, but don't think the 4-4-2 suits him at all, think both him and Levitt would be far better in a 3 as neither really get forward.
Doughty looked a bit hesitant first half, then livened up 2nd half but as said on the comms were overfeeding him a bit. Again feel like a 4-3-3 suits him far better, and if he's our best player at the moment then might as well build around him.
Not brilliant from Bonne again, but had some decent flick ons and wasn't really given much again.
I guess not going to overreact too much now 3rd game of the season, considering we literally signed some first teamers yesterday but not a great set up by Bowyer really
Our final ball is absolutely dreadful, Purrington seemed to be the only player capable of putting in any sort of half decent cross. Williams tried hard to turn it around when he came on but it was too little too late. Forster-Caskeys cameo reminded me of Barnsley at home last year where we immediately conceded from him losing the ball, very ineffective.
Need some more players in and fast. Dread to think what Sunderland will do to that time if its still the same next week.
Had an extremely quiet afternoon otherwise
Its a bit of carbon weekend to last, feels every effort the opposition has seems to be going in
I think the team gets a pass this season to reset and re-build and come back next year - hopefully in front of a packed Valley. If we get anywhere near promotion this year, it'll be seriously impressive.
We need investment, time and positivity. I'm disappointed at the result but ecstatic that we are hopefully at the beginning of a fantastic adventure.
Come on you Addicks!
Maybe if we bring some new players Bowyer will change the formation and the way we play - but currently you could have David Silva in the centre of the park but he won't do anything if he's sitting that deep all the time.
Both worked really well together and could be a decent partnership there
Needs to be consistent though!! - Second Half neither were on the same wave length which made the Midfield's job just as hard trying to pick them out
Bowyer’s right, we clearly need 7/8 signings (is that now 5/6? Can’t remember if the interview was before Watson and Famewo came in). He needs time to rebuild, we didn’t have enough players out there that would get in to a promotion winning side.
At least we have a decent amount of time - just under 3 weeks as the domestic window closes on the 16th, 5th is for international moves.
Would have been very different had Washington not put that good chance wide and another day Lincoln wouldn’t get that penalty, never mind score from a rebound that could have been given as offside (need to see that again).
Shame there will be some overreactions and calls for Bowyer to go, but that’s social media and modern football for you.
They might well be this seasons Wycombe W, clubs shouldn't be rubbished because they are not fashionable.
The game should have been put to bet in the first half Hour.
Our marking was awful at set pieces.
Lincoln were nothing special either but when you can't finish you will never win games.
Bonne was anonymous all game. There is no competition for his place and it shows.
I'm not panicking. Some new bodies will change things. - Two or three defenders and two strikers are what we need.
I thought the major change Lincoln made for the second half was to play with a few more behind the ball and we absolutely allowed that to succeed. Part of the problem as was noted in the commentary was the willingness to stop and play backwards too often. Purrington was a major culprit. The two strikers were too isolated.
The two mid-second half substitutions were a major error by Bowyer IMO. What he should have done was to take off Purrington for Williams and play Doughty as a left wing back. He should have then brought on Davison to push his weight around for Bonne who hasn't got going yet for whatever reason.
Oztumer and Levitt should have both stayed on the pitch. They were our most likely productive outlet up to going off. Oshilaja is frustrating as I have said before, he looks decent then sub Sunday League at times. Least said about their second the better. He needs to focus and not make errors like that. Watson let their man go too.
Anyway, if anything served to show we need players in desperately, today did. Let's hope we get some business done sooner rather than later.
However, given what we've had to suffer for the last seven odd years, I suppose that we need to manage expectations and be grateful that we still have a club to support!
As Isaw says; if we achieve anything this season it will be a bonus; we have a lot of rebuilding to do on and off the pitch.
Thats the goalkeeper who saved a penalty!
We are short of personnel who have the required quality, intelligence and athleticism to mount any sort of promotion push, we are bereft of attacking ideas/shape, and we lack someone who'll take the few chances we do create.
Messrs Gallen, Bowyer and Jackson have work to do, and for the first time in ages they might just get the resources to do it. Good luck to them.
Onwards and upwards.
If, however, Dillon won't sign a contract then we need to try to sell him.