After tuesday night & playing the table toppers you'd think we'd be on a hiding to nothing. But this is Charlton & we do like to lose to the worst & then beat the best.
But to do that we need our best players on the pitch from the start. That means CBT, Sess and Aneke. Not leaving them on the bench until we are 2 goals down. Start them & then withdraw them if necessary.
Garner must know his best team by now, and resting Sess was a mistake.
4-4-2 at home with our tricky wingers should create loads of chances.
If anyone need “resting” it’s Stockley - despite not touching the ball for 3 games.
A couple of things Garner has yet to learn (but the fans have known for ages):
1. if Chucks has only 30 minutes in him, then let’s use it at the start and try and go in front, rather than using him to try and salvage a point.
2. No point in having Rak back for opposition corners / attacking free kicks. Leave him in the centre circle (the oppo have to leave 2 men back), and try for a quick counter-attack if their attack fails.
3. Stop passing it around in our half. Play attacking football at home, with just 1 or 2 passes to get the ball out to the wings., then midfielders move up in support.
COYR.
Not sure what else they can do. It’s something almost all sides do. But I agree they need to vary it a bit. Free kicks we almost always play short, but I wouldn’t mind them pumping half of them into their opponent penalty box hoping for a knock down.
My other bugbear is that we have no one who can do a half decent long throw into the opposition penalty box. That makes our throw ins very easy to defend. Grr.
Not sure about starting Aneke. If Garner did that and subbed him at half time without having gained the lead, he’d be slaughtered for leaving himself nothing on the bench to change the game.
There’s rarely more than a single goal in closely contested games by the 60-70 minute mark. I’d far rather have the boost of bringing him on knowing he can grab an equaliser or better, a winner.
Leaving aside today's opponents, there's been a weird lack of home Saturday matches this season, meaning I've not really got into the every other week "Saturday routine".
August was normal, with 2 games September had none, Exeter being postponed because of the Queen's death and an imbalance between home and away Saturday fixtures October has only had 1 up to now, with Pompey being shifted to Monday by Sky, and even that one was a train strike affected game
So we've had 5 home midweek home matches (including Pompey), and NO away midweek matches. Even without changed games, there's still 3 home midweek games to 0 away ones.
Not sure about starting Aneke. If Garner did that and subbed him at half time without having gained the lead, he’d be slaughtered for leaving himself nothing on the bench to change the game.
There’s rarely more than a single goal in closely contested games by the 60-70 minute mark. I’d far rather have the boost of bringing him on knowing he can grab an equaliser or better, a winner.
People like to talk about what Curbs did / says...
Always remember him saying something along the lines about John Robinson (might have been ahead of the '98 Play-Off Final), that its better for the squad to have players that can come on to change a game, rather than have them start and not have a way to change it.
On one side we seem to play well against teams who try and be more open and expansive, and I can’t see Ipswich sitting back and defending.
On the other side Ipswich are very good at being more open and expansive, and that lose against MK Dons, and the lose of Inniss, might have caused a big dent to our confidence.
Even after our little winning streak I had no confidence going into MK Dons, and I don’t again for this game.
I would be happy with a draw, and then a big reset to try and pick up some wins against ‘lesser’ opposition in our next set of games.
I would be happy with a draw, and then a big reset to try and pick up some wins against ‘lesser’ opposition in our next set of games.
I agree, but results this season seem to suggest that our upcoming games against lesser opposition could well yield less points than what we'd like / expect
I would be happy with a draw, and then a big reset to try and pick up some wins against ‘lesser’ opposition in our next set of games.
I agree, but results this season seem to suggest that our upcoming games against lesser opposition could well yield less points than what we'd like / expect
Last season showed that while money by itself along can't buy promotion, much of the failure on the pitch was surprisingly down to Cook, rather than the transfer dealings, as if McKenna had been in charge all season, they might well have gone up. The turnaround was instant, and unlike typical "managerial bounce" situations, the good form has continued.
A tough afternoon ahead, though it still surprises me that Ipswich didn't break the bank to bring in a top centre forward, as that was their slight weakness last season
I'm hoping that Ipswich play a bit more free flowing football than MKD did and that gives us the space to play our passing game with more success than on Tuesday. I think scoring is likely to be our problem. I reckon we can get one, but ultimately the game will probably be determined by how many Ipswich get. Let's hope we can shut them out.
I'm hoping that Ipswich play a bit more free flowing football than MKD did and that gives us the space to play our passing game with more success than on Tuesday. I think scoring is likely to be our problem. I reckon we can get one, but ultimately the game will probably be determined by how many Ipswich get. Let's hope we can shut them out.
Plymouth, Exeter and, to a lesser extent, Pompey would have been grateful if we only got one.
My first game since mid-September, my Dad will be here for the first time since first Covid lockdown ... and it's our first game since my mum passed away.
Comments
But to do that we need our best players on the pitch from the start. That means CBT, Sess and Aneke. Not leaving them on the bench until we are 2 goals down. Start them & then withdraw them if necessary.
2-1
There’s rarely more than a single goal in closely contested games by the 60-70 minute mark. I’d far rather have the boost of bringing him on knowing he can grab an equaliser or better, a winner.
Clare Dobson and Stockley hat trick. Ahh
Hang on a minute, that's 1 1 and 3... yep all good👍
0-2 Ipswich
August was normal, with 2 games
September had none, Exeter being postponed because of the Queen's death and an imbalance between home and away Saturday fixtures
October has only had 1 up to now, with Pompey being shifted to Monday by Sky, and even that one was a train strike affected game
So we've had 5 home midweek home matches (including Pompey), and NO away midweek matches. Even without changed games, there's still 3 home midweek games to 0 away ones.
Its just a meeting
An mk dons glitch
And then 3 points at home to Ipswich!
Always remember him saying something along the lines about John Robinson (might have been ahead of the '98 Play-Off Final), that its better for the squad to have players that can come on to change a game, rather than have them start and not have a way to change it.
On the other side Ipswich are very good at being more open and expansive, and that lose against MK Dons, and the lose of Inniss, might have caused a big dent to our confidence.
Even after our little winning streak I had no confidence going into MK Dons, and I don’t again for this game.
I would be happy with a draw, and then a big reset to try and pick up some wins against ‘lesser’ opposition in our next set of games.
A tough afternoon ahead, though it still surprises me that Ipswich didn't break the bank to bring in a top centre forward, as that was their slight weakness last season
My first game since mid-September, my Dad will be here for the first time since first Covid lockdown ... and it's our first game since my mum passed away.
It all points to Charlton 2 Suffolk Muppets 0.
Blame Brexit
Unless its a 4-3-3 with Clare in the Midfield
Charlton: Wollacott; Clare, Thomas, O'Connell, Sessegnon; Egbo, Dobson, Fraser, Kirk; Rak-Sakyi, Stockley (c)
Subs (not used): MacGillivray, Lavelle, McGrandles, Morgan, Payne, Blackett-Taylor, Aneke