Completely outplayed by a bottom half team just goes to show we aren’t good enough but nor are most of the other play off contenders. Subs made far too late by Adkins, writing was on the wall well before half time.
It’s a performance that epitomises the season. Another game at home we haven’t won, another game at home where we’ve conceded at least 2 goals to a team in mid to lower table.
There’s something about this team that even when they’re winning, it’s not enjoyable. Aside from 30 minutes in the second half against AFC Wimbledon at home, and last Tuesday, I can’t think of any other games where I’ve come away and felt like I’ve enjoyed it. None. That’s 120 minutes of enjoyment spread across 43 games. Of course, there’s been some decent wins, in terms of getting a result, but that squad just aren’t a squad I can give my heart to.
I am happy with Adkins and I think if he gets the summer he can do the business. We were all over the shop today, but at least he recognized that with his subs and changing the shape. Crewe deserved the draw as they were the more progressive of the two sides, and ultimately, highlighted our limitations.
We still have a chance, which is quite depressing because part of me just wants this season to be done with. I’m not sure I can take another 3 games of this tepid dying patient, prolonged by the life extending medication of Portsmouth and Oxford’s inability to kill us off.
The worry for me is which players I’m still going to have to put up with next season. Am I doomed to see Watson and Pratley rotating, as we must anchor our midfield with a player that can only pass sideways or backwards? Will Pearce still be grappling with Cheltenham’s number 10, conceding penalties and needless yellow cards, whilst turning in one solid performance in every 10, to which my Twitter feed will be full of ‘great game today skipper’ etc etc? Will Forster Caskey be being lauded as our heartbeat, when in reality I think he’s just the best of an average bunch?
These are the questions that now play it out in my head as I go to bed, fearful of how many of the current squad will be still around next season to haunt me.
The worst thing is the misery can't even be over inside the next week. At least this time next week we will probably know.
Not sure how I feel about that it would have been robbery if we had won it, then it felt like we were robbed!
Watson can't play 3 games back to back. JFC was out on his feet for the last ten minutes. Its a massive worry because we don't have anything like a like for like replacement. I thought it was all over when Inniss won that second header.
Gilbey is like a different player these last 5 or 6 games. The balance DJ gives us was missing tonight. Pearce had his worst game for 2 months.
I understand why people want 2 up top but it's difficult if you want a winger or 2 as well. We don't really have a wide midfielder at all.
Onto the negatives. Yes the players are at fault, but I don't think Adkins got it right either.
I've said for a while that we've become quite predictable. When teams know we're going to play 433, they find ways to combat it, in the case of Crewe by dominating our midfield. Adkins needed to change our shape much sooner. Especially when Maatsen isn't fully fit and was struggling to get into the game anyway, why not make the change at half time?
Bowyer became Mr Tinkerman, making far too many changes. Adkins has erred in the other direction, over playing certain players and it showed tonight. We badly lacked energy in midfield, which is silly when we have the likes of Pratley, Morgan, Shinnie and Smith as other options. Stockley was isolated on Saturday, and surprise surprise he was isolated again tonight. Yes he's struggled to settle here, but would Schwartz really have been such a bad option to start with in a 442?
I'm sure Pearce's braindead booking affected his game, as he was then worried to get tight afterwards. As I said at the time, the body language was awful, time wasting after an hour is embarrassing, and sends completely the wrong message.
I wouldn't change things for Accrington too much but we need to be prepared for a formation change if 4-3-3 isn't working. I think at the Valley, we maybe need two up front. If we play Maatson and Matthews as wing backs and give Millar license to swap wings it might make a difference.
The worst thing is the misery can't even be over inside the next week. At least this time next week we will probably know.
Not sure how I feel about that it would have been robbery if we had won it, then it felt like we were robbed!
Watson can't play 3 games back to back. JFC was out on his feet for the last ten minutes. Its a massive worry because we don't have anything like a like for like replacement. I thought it was all over when Inniss won that second header.
Gilbey is like a different player these last 5 or 6 games. The balance DJ gives us was missing tonight. Pearce had his worst game for 2 months.
I understand why people want 2 up top but it's difficult if you want a winger or 2 as well. We don't really have a wide midfielder at all.
We could easily have replaced Watson with Pratley and JFC with Morgan or Shinnie. While neither can do exactly the same role that JFC plays, having fresh legs can make a big difference.
Or 442 with a winger on the left (Millar) and a midfielder like Morgan on the right. Like how Powell used to play with Bradley Pritchard on the right
Or even 352 with Gunter as the right centre back? He can't play as a 2, but can do a job as a right CB, especially as Crewe aren't an aerial side.
Granted he had a quiet game, but Jake Forster-Caskey is likely to win player of the year by a landslide and he's not on your list?
He's always the missing man when we struggle, he shines when we win. I just can't decide on him. Our most successful season in years, he was not in our squad often.
Apologies I said I was switching off and I am now!
Could it be that we win because he shines? JFC looked a bit tired tonight, and like Muttley said, I think he would be better holding, with Shinnie replacing him in CM
I just think that adds about 25% energy into the midfield. Some games work for Watson, but today was a game where he didn't offer us much and I don't think that was his fault.
Thought we were pretty toothless tonight with only a couple of bursts of fighting, attacking play of any note. And they both led to our goals.
Where was our midfield is a question that's nagging at me ? Crewe had far too much space & time on the ball in that area...and that's not the first time it's happened at home recently.
I know that the gaffer doesn't trust Chucks to last more than 45 minutes but WHY not the first 45 ? Time after time he makes a huge difference when he comes on so why not have that advantage at the start of a match when we should be imposing ourselves on the opposition. For me, he, JFC, Gilbey & Washington are the stand out players for us in a mediocre team so would expect those 4 to start at Accrington on Saturday. What do we have to lose ?
Very disappointed with tonight's showing. And for me, that's likely to be IT for this season, sad to say. Can only see more pain & frustration ahead as we stumble through the final 3 games. Maybe the lads , like @blackpool72, want this season to be over & can't face the prospect of prolonging it. It certainly looked that way tonight....
TBH, without the pair of handsome ex players giving us the benefit of their views, tonight would have been even worse.
Roll on the T20s for a bit of excitement .....hopefully !
The worst thing is the misery can't even be over inside the next week. At least this time next week we will probably know.
Not sure how I feel about that it would have been robbery if we had won it, then it felt like we were robbed!
Watson can't play 3 games back to back. JFC was out on his feet for the last ten minutes. Its a massive worry because we don't have anything like a like for like replacement. I thought it was all over when Inniss won that second header.
Gilbey is like a different player these last 5 or 6 games. The balance DJ gives us was missing tonight. Pearce had his worst game for 2 months.
I understand why people want 2 up top but it's difficult if you want a winger or 2 as well. We don't really have a wide midfielder at all.
We could easily have replaced Watson with Pratley and JFC with Morgan or Shinnie. While neither can do exactly the same role that JFC plays, having fresh legs can make a big difference.
Or 442 with a winger on the left (Millar) and a midfielder like Morgan on the right. Like how Powell used to play with Bradley Pritchard on the right
Or even 352 with Gunter as the right centre back? He can't play as a 2, but can do a job as a right CB, especially as Crewe aren't an aerial side.
When we replace JFC with Morgan or Shinnie we always concede 2 goals.........JFC is irreplaceable within this current squad.
The 442 with 1 winger is an option and we did do it under Bowyer but I don't think either Morgan or Shinnie are that good at it. Maybe Gilbey could play there but he was awful there earlier in the season, I have no idea if his massive improvement is down to position, fitness or other issues.
We were toothless but scored two goals. I think this provides a clue about Crewe. They can't defend under pressure but have good footballing players. I think getting the first meant that the issue that needing addressing was put off. Adkins was about to try to address it by bringing Aneke on to pressure their defence more, but they equalised before he made the change.
One thing I have noticed in all my years watching the game is that when something isn't working, it is very rare to fix itself without a tactical or personnel change or both. I think one reason why managers wait is they are not sure what is the best thing to do to affect the game, but I think even if you are not sure what to do, do something. Don't allow that to delay intervention. With their first equaliser, it was definitely in the air.
Could actually be interesting come Lincoln next Tuesday.
Win at Accrington, combined with defeats for Portsmouth and Oxford means we just need a win against Lincoln to secure a spot in the Play-Offs, ironically with them in third they'd effectively be playing the team in sixth - If so do they go into the game next Tuesday thinking that they can beat us over two legs, or would they prefer Portsmouth / Oxford?
All IFS and BUTS though until it becomes reality.
Lincoln are far too good to lose to this team. So are Accrington.
Could actually be interesting come Lincoln next Tuesday.
Win at Accrington, combined with defeats for Portsmouth and Oxford means we just need a win against Lincoln to secure a spot in the Play-Offs, ironically with them in third they'd effectively be playing the team in sixth - If so do they go into the game next Tuesday thinking that they can beat us over two legs, or would they prefer Portsmouth / Oxford?
All IFS and BUTS though until it becomes reality.
Lincoln are far too good to lose to this team. So are Accrington.
Feel for Adkins must be hard to build up a team that has been mentally torn down so much by the season up til he took over.
What a load of hog wash. We were on a winning run, players were protected by not playing unless they were 100% fit, we had a long injury list and didn’t have Famewo or Inness available. Did you see the interview with Mathews? Seemed confused that things were different now. Under pressure said it was positive that he likes him! To me we are becoming a soft touch again. We would never had started a game at home with one up front with Bowyer. Ever. Let alone in a must win game.
Fine having a preferred line up - when you have the players that can do that.
Playing a left back up front! Really! I think that is b****cks!
We got away with it and he scored in one game. Were you impressed? Great finish, but did you think he would do it regularly? I said in the preview that I would have played Stockley and Washington up front and Chucks in the hole. Not rocket science- play your best strikers in a need to win game. We should play our strongest players and the system works it own way out.
Might be a blessing in disguise. We look a far better attacking threat with Washington in the team. We need to change our style of play as we have been far too reliant on Stockley recently. Watson has been decent but offers nothing going forward. Shinnie is far better at linking midfield to attack and needs to come back for the last 3 games
It really feels like the last breaths of the Roland era still haunting us. Regardless of how this season ends, Im really looking forward to next season when we finally have a clean break from the RD years and get to see our team in The Valley again.
Feel for Adkins must be hard to build up a team that has been mentally torn down so much by the season up til he took over.
What a load of hog wash. We were on a winning run, players were protected by not playing unless they were 100% fit, we had a long injury list and didn’t have Famewo or Inness available. Did you see the interview with Mathews? Seemed confused that things were different now. Under pressure said it was positive that he likes him! To me we are becoming a soft touch again. We would never had started a game at home with one up front with Bowyer. Ever. Let alone in a must win game.
Fine having a preferred line up - when you have the players that can do that.
Playing a left back up front! Really! I think that is b****cks!
We got away with it and he scored in one game. Were you impressed? Great finish, but did you think he would do it regularly? I said in the preview that I would have played Stockley and Washington up front and Chucks in the hole. Not rocket science- play your best strikers in a need to win game. We should play our strongest players and the system works it own way out.
Lets not rewrite history, Rochdale at home under Bowyer we played one up front and Paul Smyth at right back.
Obviously Adkins likes to play with Wingers and we don't have many of them, Maatsen is a good fit there as he's been showing recently. Team will play very differently when he picks his squad over the summer, I'm confident of that.
Feel for Adkins must be hard to build up a team that has been mentally torn down so much by the season up til he took over.
What a load of hog wash. We were on a winning run, players were protected by not playing unless they were 100% fit, we had a long injury list and didn’t have Famewo or Inness available. Did you see the interview with Mathews? Seemed confused that things were different now. Under pressure said it was positive that he likes him! To me we are becoming a soft touch again. We would never had started a game at home with one up front with Bowyer. Ever. Let alone in a must win game.
Fine having a preferred line up - when you have the players that can do that.
Playing a left back up front! Really! I think that is b****cks!
We got away with it and he scored in one game. Were you impressed? Great finish, but did you think he would do it regularly? I said in the preview that I would have played Stockley and Washington up front and Chucks in the hole. Not rocket science- play your best strikers in a need to win game. We should play our strongest players and the system works it own way out.
Is that the left back Bowyer played on the right wing at Hull or a different left back?
Your argument is nonsense firstly Bowyer did play one up front at home, more than once. Secondly if he protected the players so they didn't play unless they were 100% fit Aneke and Washington couldn't/wouldn't have played. You can't argue it both ways.
terrible performance - the 433 experiment has run its course - not playing chucks is criminal - watson is criminal - this season's home form has been criminal - shinnie must be as confused as chucks as to why he's not playing - overall we just ain't good enough and its the midfield for me which has been the weakness all year - watson and pratley need to be first out the door, followed by pearce and gunter - get some legs in the team - half of crewe's team would do
I don't think I've been less interested in a Charlton side for a long time. Having no fans hasn't helped but the whole team is just a bit boring, which is what the football has been like all season.
We've got some good players but as a team and squad we're just very workmanlike and I never feel confident we can get a good result. Home form is shocking.
Bet we can't give up. If we can find a 6 game winning streak again we'll be promoted at Wembley. I do think we need to have Washington and Aneke on the pitch longer. Stockley just doesn't do enough for me.
This. I'd love us to have some new hero's to idolise, but none of these guys do it for me. If every player in the squad left in the summer, only to be replaced with like for like, I'd take that.
Maybe Bowyer was right in his assessment that these players are 'over' performing. They aren't good enough to get the club promotion and he looked into their eyes every training session and before every game and knew it. Hence his decision to jump ship, to avoid the disappointing end of season feeling of failure (with a small f).
I wouldn't change things for Accrington too much but we need to be prepared for a formation change if 4-3-3 isn't working. I think at the Valley, we maybe need two up front. If we play Maatson and Matthews as wing backs and give Millar license to swap wings it might make a difference.
Not a great fan of the 4-3-3. Personally prefer Chuks to Stockley too, but also think they could be a handful together. Millar was our best player so slightly strange to sub him off
Should be used to disappointment but never do. Crewe deserved to win. We made them look so good. Just see the game out. 3 very tough games now. Not convinced we will do it but this is Charlton. 50 years of supporting them
Why not play Washington up front with Stockley as he knows how to play off the shoulder and stay close,to his partner, and Aneke in his best no 10 position? Millar would be attacking tired players if he comes on as a sub.
Comments
We still have a chance, which is quite depressing because part of me just wants this season to be done with. I’m not sure I can take another 3 games of this tepid dying patient, prolonged by the life extending medication of Portsmouth and Oxford’s inability to kill us off.
Not sure how I feel about that it would have been robbery if we had won it, then it felt like we were robbed!
Watson can't play 3 games back to back. JFC was out on his feet for the last ten minutes. Its a massive worry because we don't have anything like a like for like replacement. I thought it was all over when Inniss won that second header.
Gilbey is like a different player these last 5 or 6 games. The balance DJ gives us was missing tonight. Pearce had his worst game for 2 months.
I understand why people want 2 up top but it's difficult if you want a winger or 2 as well. We don't really have a wide midfielder at all.
I've said for a while that we've become quite predictable. When teams know we're going to play 433, they find ways to combat it, in the case of Crewe by dominating our midfield. Adkins needed to change our shape much sooner. Especially when Maatsen isn't fully fit and was struggling to get into the game anyway, why not make the change at half time?
Bowyer became Mr Tinkerman, making far too many changes. Adkins has erred in the other direction, over playing certain players and it showed tonight. We badly lacked energy in midfield, which is silly when we have the likes of Pratley, Morgan, Shinnie and Smith as other options. Stockley was isolated on Saturday, and surprise surprise he was isolated again tonight. Yes he's struggled to settle here, but would Schwartz really have been such a bad option to start with in a 442?
I'm sure Pearce's braindead booking affected his game, as he was then worried to get tight afterwards. As I said at the time, the body language was awful, time wasting after an hour is embarrassing, and sends completely the wrong message.
Amos
Matthews Famewo Inniss Maatson
Shinney JFC Gilbey
Aneke Millar
Stockley
Our MOTM today was Matt Holland. For a nice guy he is very honest and candid.
I will be happy for us to wave goodbye to a bunch of old and uninspiring Captains....Pearce, Watson, Pratley and Gunter.
Or 442 with a winger on the left (Millar) and a midfielder like Morgan on the right. Like how Powell used to play with Bradley Pritchard on the right
Or even 352 with Gunter as the right centre back? He can't play as a 2, but can do a job as a right CB, especially as Crewe aren't an aerial side.
So sick of it
JFC looked a bit tired tonight, and like Muttley said, I think he would be better holding, with Shinnie replacing him in CM
Thought we were pretty toothless tonight with only a couple of bursts of fighting, attacking play of any note. And they both led to our goals.
Where was our midfield is a question that's nagging at me ? Crewe had far too much space & time on the ball in that area...and that's not the first time it's happened at home recently.
I know that the gaffer doesn't trust Chucks to last more than 45 minutes but WHY not the first 45 ? Time after time he makes a huge difference when he comes on so why not have that advantage at the start of a match when we should be imposing ourselves on the opposition. For me, he, JFC, Gilbey & Washington are the stand out players for us in a mediocre team so would expect those 4 to start at Accrington on Saturday. What do we have to lose ?
Very disappointed with tonight's showing. And for me, that's likely to be IT for this season, sad to say. Can only see more pain & frustration ahead as we stumble through the final 3 games. Maybe the lads , like @blackpool72, want this season to be over & can't face the prospect of prolonging it. It certainly looked that way tonight....
TBH, without the pair of handsome ex players giving us the benefit of their views, tonight would have been even worse.
Roll on the T20s for a bit of excitement .....hopefully !
The 442 with 1 winger is an option and we did do it under Bowyer but I don't think either Morgan or Shinnie are that good at it. Maybe Gilbey could play there but he was awful there earlier in the season, I have no idea if his massive improvement is down to position, fitness or other issues.
One thing I have noticed in all my years watching the game is that when something isn't working, it is very rare to fix itself without a tactical or personnel change or both. I think one reason why managers wait is they are not sure what is the best thing to do to affect the game, but I think even if you are not sure what to do, do something. Don't allow that to delay intervention. With their first equaliser, it was definitely in the air.
Did you see the interview with Mathews? Seemed confused that things were different now. Under pressure said it was positive that he likes him!
To me we are becoming a soft touch again. We would never had started a game at home with one up front with Bowyer. Ever. Let alone in a must win game.
I said in the preview that I would have played Stockley and Washington up front and Chucks in the hole. Not rocket science- play your best strikers in a need to win game.
We should play our strongest players and the system works it own way out.
Watson has been decent but offers nothing going forward. Shinnie is far better at linking midfield to attack and needs to come back for the last 3 games
Obviously Adkins likes to play with Wingers and we don't have many of them, Maatsen is a good fit there as he's been showing recently. Team will play very differently when he picks his squad over the summer, I'm confident of that.
Your argument is nonsense firstly Bowyer did play one up front at home, more than once. Secondly if he protected the players so they didn't play unless they were 100% fit Aneke and Washington couldn't/wouldn't have played. You can't argue it both ways.
Maybe Bowyer was right in his assessment that these players are 'over' performing. They aren't good enough to get the club promotion and he looked into their eyes every training session and before every game and knew it. Hence his decision to jump ship, to avoid the disappointing end of season feeling of failure (with a small f).
Incredible.
What did you think of the Crewe No10? Think it would have made a difference if we signed him in January?
Millar would be attacking tired players if he comes on as a sub.