we all acknowledged we had 2 play 2 up front - stockley is not a lone striker - we nearly all wanted to see dobson back in as the holding midfielder - i certainly did - we all wanted watson out of the team as his lack of mobility is shocking, we nearly all recognised that albie isn't good enough and that him taking all the set pieces was ridiculous - we all wanted a change of formation and recognised the wide men were not working for the team, we could all see that not marking up when we didn't have the ball was killing us - lets stop with the excuses cafc43v3r - adkins was a dreadful manager for us this season full stop - the players were so disillusioned with it and were being hamstrung by an appalling system of play - Jackson has clearly been having to follow the adkins / roddy way but has now been given the opportunity to apply common sense and the players are rejuvenated - the transition from bowyer to adkins may well have been necessary but i think we have now landed upon a true star in jackson and i can only see good things ahead with him in charge
It's not making excuses for Adkins, I haven't got a dog that fight.
It's the questioning the players, I named 3, I could have named 5 or 6. How/why have they gone from being good to awful to good again, twice. The last cycle took less than six months.
we all acknowledged we had 2 play 2 up front - stockley is not a lone striker - we nearly all wanted to see dobson back in as the holding midfielder - i certainly did - we all wanted watson out of the team as his lack of mobility is shocking, we nearly all recognised that albie isn't good enough and that him taking all the set pieces was ridiculous - we all wanted a change of formation and recognised the wide men were not working for the team, we could all see that not marking up when we didn't have the ball was killing us - lets stop with the excuses cafc43v3r - adkins was a dreadful manager for us this season full stop - the players were so disillusioned with it and were being hamstrung by an appalling system of play - Jackson has clearly been having to follow the adkins / roddy way but has now been given the opportunity to apply common sense and the players are rejuvenated - the transition from bowyer to adkins may well have been necessary but i think we have now landed upon a true star in jackson and i can only see good things ahead with him in charge
It's not making excuses for Adkins, I haven't got a dog that fight.
It's the questioning the players, I named 3, I could have named 5 or 6. How/why have they gone from being good to awful to good again, twice. The last cycle took less than six months.
I would guess the answer may lie in the midfield. At least a big part of it. We now have a midfield that supports the defence and attack. Has tackles in it, has energy in it and has goals and goal creation in it.
What we seemed to have stopped is the passing for passing's sake which when you are a team that can't string more than 5 passes together in a move is a no no. Going more direct is a positive as every move seems to have a purpose. What we were seeing is players passing up on anything incisive and playing a simple sidewards pass, even when the receiver of the pass was in a no better position, and often a worse one when closed down effectively.
If you replaced Dobson in our current midfield with Watson then we'd look a whole lot worse as no way (and no disrespect to Watson) would he be able to cover the ground Dobson has done.
I think 1 man and a slight formation tweak (getting Stockley some proper support) has made all the difference
Last 2 games unrecognisable from whoever it was wearing that shirt before If he had a left foot… Industrious, switched on and can see a pass Maybe that’s what Gallen/Roddy/whoever bought Jacko needs him to avoid injury and suspension cos we ain’t got another one for this role Roll on Tuesday
He really wasn’t unrecognisable… he played well in several early game that either fans didn’t look past result or his performance was impacted by the likes of Morgan being dreadful (I.e. Oxford)
He didn't though. Hence he was dropped for the Crewe game, which we won. I don't recall many complaints about that decision at the time
Last 2 games unrecognisable from whoever it was wearing that shirt before If he had a left foot… Industrious, switched on and can see a pass Maybe that’s what Gallen/Roddy/whoever bought Jacko needs him to avoid injury and suspension cos we ain’t got another one for this role Roll on Tuesday
He really wasn’t unrecognisable… he played well in several early game that either fans didn’t look past result or his performance was impacted by the likes of Morgan being dreadful (I.e. Oxford)
He didn't though. Hence he was dropped for the Crewe game, which we won. I don't recall many complaints about that decision at the time
According to the Statbank the only game he was below average, which granted was never a high bar, in his five starts before eventually being frozen out was Wigan (game 4) 😯. So relatively speaking he did ok early on and was unfairly treated IMO.
You can speculate all you want on where we were weak but under Adkins this season we weren't a team, No link up play, No relationships, No idea from Nigel how he wanted to play as he set the team up in the first game against Sheffield Wednesday at home very defensively and we had No shots on Target. By his last games he had 3 wingers on the pitch and we were poor up front, poor in midfield and the defence was all at sea !
I was embarrassed to be a Cafc fan. (Not for the first time)
George Dobson looked a decent League 1 player to me and yet he was jettisoned after 1 poor game. How can a walking footballer get in the team ahead of him ?
Gave up my season ticket this year as I was not prepared to watch Stockley as a lone striker, Washington on the wing, Watson walking, and Nigel Adkins past his sell by date despite his success in the past with two promotions from League 1. Plus TBF I wanted to watch young top coaches lower down the pyramid perform as my son now works for a youth academy full time and a team in step 5 part time.
Gilbey everywhere, Lee attacking midfield and Dobson protecting defence, linking the wing backs and good passing to the forwards. The flexible 3-5-2 has worked a treat; At certain times for game management you get the wing backs to hold their defensive positions against top opposition and you weather the storm with 5-3-2. (I would imagine this happened against Sunderland ?) It dovetails so well when players link up with each other and are well drilled.
I'm a massive fan of JJ so still hope to see a dozen live games at the Valley or on Charlton TV.
we all acknowledged we had 2 play 2 up front - stockley is not a lone striker - we nearly all wanted to see dobson back in as the holding midfielder - i certainly did - we all wanted watson out of the team as his lack of mobility is shocking, we nearly all recognised that albie isn't good enough and that him taking all the set pieces was ridiculous - we all wanted a change of formation and recognised the wide men were not working for the team, we could all see that not marking up when we didn't have the ball was killing us - lets stop with the excuses cafc43v3r - adkins was a dreadful manager for us this season full stop - the players were so disillusioned with it and were being hamstrung by an appalling system of play - Jackson has clearly been having to follow the adkins / roddy way but has now been given the opportunity to apply common sense and the players are rejuvenated - the transition from bowyer to adkins may well have been necessary but i think we have now landed upon a true star in jackson and i can only see good things ahead with him in charge
It's not making excuses for Adkins, I haven't got a dog that fight.
It's the questioning the players, I named 3, I could have named 5 or 6. How/why have they gone from being good to awful to good again, twice. The last cycle took less than six months.
I would guess the answer may lie in the midfield. At least a big part of it. We now have a midfield that supports the defence and attack. Has tackles in it, has energy in it and has goals and goal creation in it.
What we seemed to have stopped is the passing for passing's sake which when you are a team that can't string more than 5 passes together in a move is a no no. Going more direct is a positive as every move seems to have a purpose. What we were seeing is players passing up on anything incisive and playing a simple sidewards pass, even when the receiver of the pass was in a no better position, and often a worse one when closed down effectively.
I agree that the problem has been the midfield, even Curbs said he thought the solution was having 2 sitting.
The passing, the same thing happened last season. All the problems this season have been exactly the same as last season, despite Adkins and Bowyer getting to the destination via completely different routes.
I don't, for one minute, believe Bowyer or Adkins coached or instructed it. I also don't believe either told the players to lump it in the general direction of Bogle, Aneke or Stockley and stand and watch, but that's what ended up happening.
but half of the players are new - leko, cbt, lee, arter, lavelle, soare, keeper, clare, dobson - sorry cafc43v3r but you're doing a good impersonation of what roddy might be saying to TS - bowyer had lost the plot and adkins never had one - we will see in the coming months but i'm copnvinced that if you give players a chance by not setting the team up incorrectly, you will get the performances - nothing to do with personalities in my opinion - the players were putting in the effort - look at chelsea and the change of manager when lampard was released - don't think it was a 'i.m not tryinmg for him thing', it would have been a 'this just isn't working' thing - same when robbo, bowyer and adkins all got into a rut that wasn't working
Loved him today... Had to be a bit more clever after his deserved booking in the first half - Didnt bother him though and didn't look like committing another foul.
Loved him today... Had to be a bit more clever after his deserved booking in the first half - Didnt bother him though and didn't look like committing another foul.
Was a bit unlucky with the booking in a way, it was a booking but he was only a split second late, made it look worse than if he missed by a mile.
Loved him today... Had to be a bit more clever after his deserved booking in the first half - Didnt bother him though and didn't look like committing another foul.
Was a bit unlucky with the booking in a way, it was a booking but he was only a split second late, made it look worse than if he missed by a mile.
Yeah was right in front of me... Wasnt nasty in the slightest
Another one who looks like he knows what he’s going to do with the ball before he receives it, and has more to his game than just tackle and pass sideways - he can drive forwards with the ball or find the odd penetrating pass. People have been comparing him to Cullen but I’d say he’s more fulfilling the role that Bielik used to. Very impressive since Jacko took over.
Loved him today... Had to be a bit more clever after his deserved booking in the first half - Didnt bother him though and didn't look like committing another foul.
Was a bit unlucky with the booking in a way, it was a booking but he was only a split second late, made it look worse than if he missed by a mile.
Yeah was right in front of me... Wasnt nasty in the slightest
Loved him today... Had to be a bit more clever after his deserved booking in the first half - Didnt bother him though and didn't look like committing another foul.
Was a bit unlucky with the booking in a way, it was a booking but he was only a split second late, made it look worse than if he missed by a mile.
Yeah was right in front of me... Wasnt nasty in the slightest
A lot of people looking slightly silly, remembering Dobson and Clare were getting pelters and were apparently sub standard second choice signings. The pair of them are proving doubters wrong, gladly.
Dobson was absolutely outstanding today. Could see there was a player in there but it wasn’t working under Adkins. Today he was everywhere. Fast becoming my favourite player. Just wish the Covered End could come up with a song for him.
great performance from George. He is young too so has a great opportunity to become a firm favourite here. How didn't Adkins see this?Incredible.
Common discourse this now, ignoring the fact that after the first set of games a large majority of the fan base were bemoaning our ‘poor’ recruitment and arguing that Dobson and Clare were not of ‘required standard’.
He is a very good player and makes us tick. I actually didn’t think yesterday was one of better games, gave the ball away in a few dangerous position, another day they may have gone on to score. But work rate, commitment was outstanding.
Comments
It's the questioning the players, I named 3, I could have named 5 or 6. How/why have they gone from being good to awful to good again, twice. The last cycle took less than six months.
What we seemed to have stopped is the passing for passing's sake which when you are a team that can't string more than 5 passes together in a move is a no no. Going more direct is a positive as every move seems to have a purpose. What we were seeing is players passing up on anything incisive and playing a simple sidewards pass, even when the receiver of the pass was in a no better position, and often a worse one when closed down effectively.
I think 1 man and a slight formation tweak (getting Stockley some proper support) has made all the difference
I was embarrassed to be a Cafc fan. (Not for the first time)
George Dobson looked a decent League 1 player to me and yet he was jettisoned after 1 poor game. How can a walking footballer get in the team ahead of him ?
Gave up my season ticket this year as I was not prepared to watch Stockley as a lone striker, Washington on the wing, Watson walking, and Nigel Adkins past his sell by date despite his success in the past with two promotions from League 1. Plus TBF I wanted to watch young top coaches lower down the pyramid perform as my son now works for a youth academy full time and a team in step 5 part time.
Gilbey everywhere, Lee attacking midfield and Dobson protecting defence, linking the wing backs and good passing to the forwards. The flexible 3-5-2 has worked a treat; At certain times for game management you get the wing backs to hold their defensive positions against top opposition and you weather the storm with 5-3-2. (I would imagine this happened against Sunderland ?)
It dovetails so well when players link up with each other and are well drilled.
I'm a massive fan of JJ so still hope to see a dozen live games at the Valley or on Charlton TV.
The passing, the same thing happened last season. All the problems this season have been exactly the same as last season, despite Adkins and Bowyer getting to the destination via completely different routes.
I don't, for one minute, believe Bowyer or Adkins coached or instructed it. I also don't believe either told the players to lump it in the general direction of Bogle, Aneke or Stockley and stand and watch, but that's what ended up happening.
I feel like Adkins' reign can be defined by the fact he didn't even deem him worthy of a place on the bench most weeks.
A lot of people looking slightly silly, remembering Dobson and Clare were getting pelters and were apparently sub standard second choice signings. The pair of them are proving doubters wrong, gladly.