Strangely I felt disappointed with the result but happy with the scoreline, because they could have put four or five past us. We put in a lot of effort, but football wise we were a long way short of Bolton. Our passing isn't always what it should be, our decision making often poor, we struggled to get into good scoring positions and our defenders don't always recover quickly enough. Despite all those things, the number one training session for next week has to be to teach Macauley Bonne about the off side law. Next up, explain to Blackett-Taylor that he is allowed to pass. I thought Maynard-Brewer was our man of the match, that's rarely a good sign. Of the outfield players, I thought Rak Sakyi was the cream of the crop though I wish he'd give Simon Church those sponge-foot boots back. For all your skills Jesurun, sometimes you just have to put your foot through the ball.
Hell I am not a Bonne fan, its meh signing. But got to say 1 of those offsides 2nd half near Curbishley stand was down to the player with the ball not playing it straight away -one touch. Instead 2 touches but Bonne has already gone and is offside. For that he has to break his run ,losing the pace and surprise element.
Agreed, it's too simplistic to just blame the player caught offside, as the striker HAS to go early to get clear of the defenders. But you need the other players to be on the same wavelength, and pass forward quickly.
Just watched their second goal back a few times. Where is Innis heading the ball?
Even if AMB stays back on his line there's a high likelihood of a goal from that.
I think Innis got a push in the back, which made his attempt at a header difficult, as for AMB in hindsight, yes stay on the line and all is fine, i'm afraid AMB and Clare were both guilty of ball watching, as usual, all is better in hindsight, wonderful thing...🙄
Watched it back again, can't see any push, Bolton player has his hands by his side. Just awful defending.
Typical 'caught in two minds' defending which means you don't make any real decision. Didn't think he played bad apart from that though, might have helped if he had experience around him giving him a shout, no criticism of Ness though, he will learn.
After Leaburn came on AMB put a high ball down the middle,, Leaburn and a Bolton player battled for it and Bonne joined in, Leaburn gave the ball a glancing header towards goal and if Bonne had not tried to head it he would have been in the right place to take the knock down - simple!
It’s quite amazing how many people this forum think Bolton where a good team 🤣🤣🤣 where you at the Game today ???
Their free Kick was excellent and a good set piece goal. their second Goal was a gifted mistake by Big Ryan and overall apart from being one of the dirtiest bunch of bashers in the league, like Charlton were poor at finishing. not a lot between both teams in the first half at all. we started the second half well and scored an excellent Goal, but sadly we’re not able to create better chances in front of Goal. the referee as on so many occasions was fucking inept. and clueless.
unfortunately unless our “ Rock n Rock owner who has recently lost our Groundsman to Gillingham, invests in the required team improvements our potentially good young manager will eventually walk.
Charlton and Bolton on todays evidence will not be leaving League one this season.👎
I'm not a Bonne fan but thought he was working harder than anyone else out there yesterday. He also held the ball up better than I expected at times. He just has lacks quality outside the box. When we went to 1-1 Bolton pushed absolutely everyone up and left Santos 1v1 with him, they were that confident he had Macauley in his pocket. There were a few counter-attacking balls into Mac where, if he had a bit more quality, we might have been away.
Just watched their second goal back a few times. Where is Innis heading the ball?
Even if AMB stays back on his line there's a high likelihood of a goal from that.
That's how I see it. Inniss had to head it out. A bit harsh blaming AMB at all. I think we do need to tweak things to find a way to get our wide players more in the game.
I thought we played okay, but the better team won. We never looked like winning that - maybe could have snatched a draw, but Bolton deserved to win. I agree with those that say Bolton were possibly the best League 1 team we have seen at the Valley this season. They are very well organised and have some good players. I think we are a long way off their level.
It was a shame that Sessegnon wasn't fit enough to play. I think he would have made a difference. Clare and Penney both had poor games I thought, but the formation we played does not give them much support. The midfield three play too narrow which gave Bolton too much time and space out wide. CBT and JRS offer no cover at all. I am not sure CBT defends at all! It was a tough day at the office for Bonne, up against probably the best centre-back in the league. I thought he battled away well though.Another bad mistake by Innis, but there was a catalogue of errors leading to the goal, so I am not wholly blaming him.
I agree about Bonne battling well. I though the ref was a bit harsh when both he and Santos were fouling each over. It probably looked worse on Bonne because Santos is so much stronger but the ref ought to realise that. Mind you, I though the ref was a typical poor League One ref bit I won't moan about it because it is our fault as a club we are in this division.
I thought the game demonstrated well the difference between our squad and one that is a class above ours. We made a fight of it but could never gain parity of control. Best illustrated by the quality of their passing ,compared to our hit and hope passes that were more often than not intercepted putting us in trouble.
After Leaburn came on AMB put a high ball down the middle,, Leaburn and a Bolton player battled for it and Bonne joined in, Leaburn gave the ball a glancing header towards goal and if Bonne had not tried to head it he would have been in the right place to take the knock down - simple!
Yes I remember that - I immediately shouted ‘don’t both go for the header’ and Holden heard me and nodded his head (I sit not far from home dugout)
After Leaburn came on AMB put a high ball down the middle,, Leaburn and a Bolton player battled for it and Bonne joined in, Leaburn gave the ball a glancing header towards goal and if Bonne had not tried to head it he would have been in the right place to take the knock down - simple!
Yes I remember that - I immediately shouted ‘don’t both go for the header’ and Holden heard me and nodded his head (I sit not far from home dugout)
Lord Flash Heart- unmasked- are you Anthony Hayes?!!! Come clean
Thought the games versus Barnsley and Bolton were very similar in many ways but with very different outcomes. Barnsley had 23 shots and Bolton 24, you can't hope to win too many games with stats like that and relying on teams not to take at least a couple of the chances they create. At home we seem to struggle to go forward without leaving space for the better sides to exploit.
It’s quite amazing how many people this forum think Bolton where a good team 🤣🤣🤣 where you at the Game today ???
Their free Kick was excellent and a good set piece goal. their second Goal was a gifted mistake by Big Ryan and overall apart from being one of the dirtiest bunch of bashers in the league, like Charlton were poor at finishing. not a lot between both teams in the first half at all. we started the second half well and scored an excellent Goal, but sadly we’re not able to create better chances in front of Goal. the referee as on so many occasions was fucking inept. and clueless.
unfortunately unless our “ Rock n Rock owner who has recently lost our Groundsman to Gillingham, invests in the required team improvements our potentially good young manager will eventually walk.
Charlton and Bolton on todays evidence will not be leaving League one this season.👎
Absolute bollocks. And we didn’t lose our groundsman to Gillingham. He left months ago after being bullied and had subsequently got employed elsewhere.
Ok so i've taken a different approach and not posted on here so I can have a bit of a reflection period and not post with too much emotion and I may be setting myself up for a few 'lol's' here, but I can honestly say, I think we are giving Bolton far too much credit.
They scored a wonder free kick and capitalised on a proper calamity at the back (at least 3 players at fault, AMB included) and other than that I think we were quite quick to block shots and had some good last ditch tackles, a lot of shots doesn't necessarily tell the whole tale and I would say AMB had a fairly comfortable afternoon.
I also do want to say despite them having some obviously talented players like the ManU loan and Charles with his incredible work rates, they are also quite a dirty side and the ref was falling for it. A clearly better side (as mentioned a lot of times) do not time waste. Their players were throwing the ball away when we had set pieces, goalie taking his time, cynical shirt pulls. For example Santos is getting a lot of plaudits, I see a bang average brick sh*thouse centre-back who was effectively fouling Bonne at every opportunity. A more savvy ref would have had him on the books after he fouled us on the counter and threw the ball away. Apparently the ref thought a more appropriate yellow would be given to Bonne, for going for a ball in open play when their goalkeeper was time wasting (again).
Like I said will be lol central but I'll firmly plant my view on this hill and say that result was far more of us being absolutely terrible than them being some great league 1 outfit. Derby, Wednesday, Plymouth and Ipswich are all far better sides from what I've seen.
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As for us, oh my oh my. First of all I called Holden a no mark when he joined and I'll be honest, that was pretty harsh, but he is nowhere near of deserving of a long term contract as I have seen implied by some fellow fans. It was glaringly obvious yesterday that we couldn't win the midfield fight, Albie is pants, Dobbo had an off game (I'll touch on that) and Fraser despite his quality, needs more quality around him to really flourish, but make no mistake, he is comfortably our best midfielder and I feel bad for him at times seeing the lack of quality around him. Holden should have recognised our midfield qualities, and utilised the wings more, their fullbacks were having such a bad time against CBT and JRS respectively, that was our only real threats the whole afternoon and the game plan should have solely been, give it to one of them, give them the license to roam and cut in until they send numbers to defend for more space. Instead we as per, like the last 8 or so (mostly crap) managers, knocked it around, switching the play, boring slow tempo football and when out of ideas pumped it to Bonne where he was greeted everytime by a bloke with about a third of his body weight on him. I will say on that note, Bonne gets away with one from me, he was a lone striker essentially, no one to feed off, he was given complete scraps and still managed to show some composure at times and keep the ball in the game for us, he was also unlucky not to reach the ball from a bog standard cross, he was quite low on the list of concerns yesterday.
it concerns me that a manager has looked at these players and thought Albie starts, I really do hope we just put this to bed at some point, that lad is not cut out for it, has some of the worst body language I've ever seen from a player, he gets the 'I tried' shirt but it's minimal. He certainly doesn't go hiding, but he certainly walks about like he doesn't give a sh*t. Tracking back, woeful, composure on the ball, woeful, passing, woeful (great in warm-ups). I really wanted it to work for him but if we get anywhere as a football club again, players like Albie can't be in our match day squad.
Dobbo as much as I love him, cause he is 'proper Charlton' does go missing in these types of games. I don't mean on an effort level, but more so a quality level, he was chasing shadows a lot, never really had a hold on the game and doesn't keep the game ticking for us like previous midfielders have in the past (more so championship days). Again I am setting myself up for some boo's, but I think the only time he really excels is when it's backs against the wall and he gets stuck in with great tackles OR we are on top of a team and when we lose out the ball, his energy gets us it back. When we match up against some solid competition I do think he goes missing a bit, again he is still one of the first names on the sheet but I do worry about his progression as I haven't seen much since last season and he isn't a youth.
and on to Fraser, can't really say much bad, if his pace was there and had a better engine, he would be upper championship minimum, luckily for us the Scottish Pirlo fades after about the 75 min mark and his gifted technique carries him through the game, by far and away the most composed player at Charlton, (maybe with JRS) his footwork in the second half near the corner flag is an example of that. If he was surrounded by more quality he would have very high attacking returns I imagine.
As for the rest, same old. JRS is quality, will go on to have a great career I expect, CBT is majestic and unplayable one moment, next you don't notice him. Clare is a complete enigma, certainly not consistent enough to be a right back, doesn't have the quality to be a midfielder imo, I think the best we saw of him was in that centre back role in the back 5/3. Innis had his usual blunder and it cost us a goal this time, that will never change, Ness had one of his worst games for us, but again I won't be harsh cause it was just one of them games.
I think I'll stop my ramble there and just leave it with this, it's quite depressing seeing how crap we actually are, when not long ago we were fielding the likes of Cullen, Aribo, Taylor, Bauer etc. Not one player and I mean not one makes the match day starting XI of any of the top 6 other than maybe JRS, Fraser and Dobbo, arguably all as bench options as well, AMB also in with a shout as he is a very decent shot stopper.
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TLDR;
- Bolton weren't all that - we are pants, very pants - Early doors to say Holden is the right man - We need at least 10 players to contest play offs.
They were physical but I wouldn't say they were dirty. It is one of the areas we could improve a bit on. Not being dirty but more physical than our opponents. Overall, I do think we are, for now, making progress and that is good enough for me at the moment.
They were physical but I wouldn't say they were dirty. It is one of the areas we could improve a bit on. Not being dirty but more physical than our opponents. Overall, I do think we are, for now, making progress and that is good enough for me at the moment.
Agree. Not dirty, just physical. Players like Bremner and Harris were dirty.
After Leaburn came on AMB put a high ball down the middle,, Leaburn and a Bolton player battled for it and Bonne joined in, Leaburn gave the ball a glancing header towards goal and if Bonne had not tried to head it he would have been in the right place to take the knock down - simple!
Yes I remember that - I immediately shouted ‘don’t both go for the header’ and Holden heard me and nodded his head (I sit not far from home dugout)
Lord Flash Heart- unmasked- are you Anthony Hayes?!!! Come clean
Nah, he's Martin Sandgaard, the real tactical maestro
taking his time, cynical shirt pulls. For example Santos is getting a lot of plaudits, I see a bang average brick sh*thouse centre-back who was effectively fouling Bonne at every opportunity. A more savvy ref would have had him on the books after he fouled us on the counter and threw the ball away. Apparently the ref thought a more appropriate yellow would be given to Bonne, for going for a ball in open play when their goalkeeper was time wasting (again).
and on to Fraser, can't really say much bad, if his pace was there and had a better engine, he would be upper championship minimum, luckily for us the Scottish Pirlo fades after about the 75 min mark and his gifted technique carries him through the game, by far and away the most composed player at Charlton, (maybe with JRS) his footwork in the second half near the corner flag is an example of that. If he was surrounded by more quality he would have very high attacking returns I imagine.
As for the rest, same old. JRS is quality, will go on to have a great career I expect, CBT is majestic and unplayable one moment, next you don't notice him. Clare is a complete enigma, certainly not consistent enough to be a right back, doesn't have the quality to be a midfielder imo, I think the best we saw of him was in that centre back role in the back 5/3. Innis had his usual blunder and it cost us a goal this time, that will never change, Ness had one of his worst games for us, but again I won't be harsh cause it was just one of them games.
TLDR;
- Bolton weren't all that - we are pants, very pants - Early doors to say Holden is the right man - We need at least 10 players to contest play offs.
‘Santos is getting a lot of plaudits, I see a bang average brick sh*thouse centre-back who was effectively fouling Bonne at every opportunity.’
Definitely not having that. Not even sure he was fouling Bonne - certainly not more than the usual CB/CF tussling. He can also pass the ball and is quick.
‘Ness had one of his worst games for us’ makes it sounds like he’s had other bad games for us. Must have missed those.
When I read in the programme that Holden had watched Bolton twice, was suprised that he didn't play Leaburn and Bonne up against that big lump Santos, would certainly have given him a tougher time. Then could have brought CBT on later to run at their possibly tiring defence. Santos given an easy ride on Saturday, needed someone to put themselves about on him!
Santos wasn't just a lump. At one point Bonne fouled HIM and the ref didn't give it (the bit when he outpaced Bonne). He was like Danny Shittu, as I said at the time. Big, yes, but also unbelievably fast and authoritative
taking his time, cynical shirt pulls. For example Santos is getting a lot of plaudits, I see a bang average brick sh*thouse centre-back who was effectively fouling Bonne at every opportunity. A more savvy ref would have had him on the books after he fouled us on the counter and threw the ball away. Apparently the ref thought a more appropriate yellow would be given to Bonne, for going for a ball in open play when their goalkeeper was time wasting (again).
and on to Fraser, can't really say much bad, if his pace was there and had a better engine, he would be upper championship minimum, luckily for us the Scottish Pirlo fades after about the 75 min mark and his gifted technique carries him through the game, by far and away the most composed player at Charlton, (maybe with JRS) his footwork in the second half near the corner flag is an example of that. If he was surrounded by more quality he would have very high attacking returns I imagine.
As for the rest, same old. JRS is quality, will go on to have a great career I expect, CBT is majestic and unplayable one moment, next you don't notice him. Clare is a complete enigma, certainly not consistent enough to be a right back, doesn't have the quality to be a midfielder imo, I think the best we saw of him was in that centre back role in the back 5/3. Innis had his usual blunder and it cost us a goal this time, that will never change, Ness had one of his worst games for us, but again I won't be harsh cause it was just one of them games.
TLDR;
- Bolton weren't all that - we are pants, very pants - Early doors to say Holden is the right man - We need at least 10 players to contest play offs.
‘Santos is getting a lot of plaudits, I see a bang average brick sh*thouse centre-back who was effectively fouling Bonne at every opportunity.’
Definitely not having that. Not even sure he was fouling Bonne - certainly not more than the usual CB/CF tussling. He can also pass the ball and is quick.
‘Ness had one of his worst games for us’ makes it sounds like he’s had other bad games for us. Must have missed those.
All perspective, if he was given a yellow (like he should have been given during the second half) his playstyle goes out of the window. Quick based on what? a footrace where he was ahead and up against Bonne. Bonne is slow and isn't particularly strong.
he's better than our centre backs but that isn't hard, if he ends up any higher in his career than a lower end championship player then fair enough, I just don't see it.
I wouldn't say he's had bad games and I didn't really intend it to sound that way, but equally I am now not gonna make out he has been some colossal force for us, he looks a decent player for his age, done well against ManU and played his part. Again if I am wrong then so be it, I don't believe Ness should be starting for a Charlton side looking to get promoted, that's about it really.
Bonne showed why he couldn’t make it in the champiosship….shouldn’t start…..Leaburn would have been better
I thought Bonne did well. Didn’t get much service today but chased everything and worked hard
Same rubbish from some of our fans you stick Stockley, Bonne, Leaburn up there and leave the nearest bloke 30 yards away you get the same result. Some have rose tinted glasses for Leaburn he had very little impact other than throwing his weight around.
Ok so i've taken a different approach and not posted on here so I can have a bit of a reflection period and not post with too much emotion and I may be setting myself up for a few 'lol's' here, but I can honestly say, I think we are giving Bolton far too much credit.
They scored a wonder free kick and capitalised on a proper calamity at the back (at least 3 players at fault, AMB included) and other than that I think we were quite quick to block shots and had some good last ditch tackles, a lot of shots doesn't necessarily tell the whole tale and I would say AMB had a fairly comfortable afternoon.
I also do want to say despite them having some obviously talented players like the ManU loan and Charles with his incredible work rates, they are also quite a dirty side and the ref was falling for it. A clearly better side (as mentioned a lot of times) do not time waste. Their players were throwing the ball away when we had set pieces, goalie taking his time, cynical shirt pulls. For example Santos is getting a lot of plaudits, I see a bang average brick sh*thouse centre-back who was effectively fouling Bonne at every opportunity. A more savvy ref would have had him on the books after he fouled us on the counter and threw the ball away. Apparently the ref thought a more appropriate yellow would be given to Bonne, for going for a ball in open play when their goalkeeper was time wasting (again).
Like I said will be lol central but I'll firmly plant my view on this hill and say that result was far more of us being absolutely terrible than them being some great league 1 outfit. Derby, Wednesday, Plymouth and Ipswich are all far better sides from what I've seen.
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As for us, oh my oh my. First of all I called Holden a no mark when he joined and I'll be honest, that was pretty harsh, but he is nowhere near of deserving of a long term contract as I have seen implied by some fellow fans. It was glaringly obvious yesterday that we couldn't win the midfield fight, Albie is pants, Dobbo had an off game (I'll touch on that) and Fraser despite his quality, needs more quality around him to really flourish, but make no mistake, he is comfortably our best midfielder and I feel bad for him at times seeing the lack of quality around him. Holden should have recognised our midfield qualities, and utilised the wings more, their fullbacks were having such a bad time against CBT and JRS respectively, that was our only real threats the whole afternoon and the game plan should have solely been, give it to one of them, give them the license to roam and cut in until they send numbers to defend for more space. Instead we as per, like the last 8 or so (mostly crap) managers, knocked it around, switching the play, boring slow tempo football and when out of ideas pumped it to Bonne where he was greeted everytime by a bloke with about a third of his body weight on him. I will say on that note, Bonne gets away with one from me, he was a lone striker essentially, no one to feed off, he was given complete scraps and still managed to show some composure at times and keep the ball in the game for us, he was also unlucky not to reach the ball from a bog standard cross, he was quite low on the list of concerns yesterday.
it concerns me that a manager has looked at these players and thought Albie starts, I really do hope we just put this to bed at some point, that lad is not cut out for it, has some of the worst body language I've ever seen from a player, he gets the 'I tried' shirt but it's minimal. He certainly doesn't go hiding, but he certainly walks about like he doesn't give a sh*t. Tracking back, woeful, composure on the ball, woeful, passing, woeful (great in warm-ups). I really wanted it to work for him but if we get anywhere as a football club again, players like Albie can't be in our match day squad.
Dobbo as much as I love him, cause he is 'proper Charlton' does go missing in these types of games. I don't mean on an effort level, but more so a quality level, he was chasing shadows a lot, never really had a hold on the game and doesn't keep the game ticking for us like previous midfielders have in the past (more so championship days). Again I am setting myself up for some boo's, but I think the only time he really excels is when it's backs against the wall and he gets stuck in with great tackles OR we are on top of a team and when we lose out the ball, his energy gets us it back. When we match up against some solid competition I do think he goes missing a bit, again he is still one of the first names on the sheet but I do worry about his progression as I haven't seen much since last season and he isn't a youth.
and on to Fraser, can't really say much bad, if his pace was there and had a better engine, he would be upper championship minimum, luckily for us the Scottish Pirlo fades after about the 75 min mark and his gifted technique carries him through the game, by far and away the most composed player at Charlton, (maybe with JRS) his footwork in the second half near the corner flag is an example of that. If he was surrounded by more quality he would have very high attacking returns I imagine.
As for the rest, same old. JRS is quality, will go on to have a great career I expect, CBT is majestic and unplayable one moment, next you don't notice him. Clare is a complete enigma, certainly not consistent enough to be a right back, doesn't have the quality to be a midfielder imo, I think the best we saw of him was in that centre back role in the back 5/3. Innis had his usual blunder and it cost us a goal this time, that will never change, Ness had one of his worst games for us, but again I won't be harsh cause it was just one of them games.
I think I'll stop my ramble there and just leave it with this, it's quite depressing seeing how crap we actually are, when not long ago we were fielding the likes of Cullen, Aribo, Taylor, Bauer etc. Not one player and I mean not one makes the match day starting XI of any of the top 6 other than maybe JRS, Fraser and Dobbo, arguably all as bench options as well, AMB also in with a shout as he is a very decent shot stopper.
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TLDR;
- Bolton weren't all that - we are pants, very pants - Early doors to say Holden is the right man - We need at least 10 players to contest play offs.
I think you should go back to posting straight after the game and not mulling it over for 24 hours as your summary is tosh.
Yes, Bolton may have scored from a wonder goal & from a cock-up between our defence & keeper but AMB was the far busier keeper having to make a number of blocks & saves.....especially tipping one over the bar from the player who had scored from the free kick. They also hit the bar. Like Derby & a fair few teams since they could have scored 4 or 5 and no one would have said the scoreline was underserved.
Comments
It was a shame that Sessegnon wasn't fit enough to play. I think he would have made a difference. Clare and Penney both had poor games I thought, but the formation we played does not give them much support. The midfield three play too narrow which gave Bolton too much time and space out wide. CBT and JRS offer no cover at all. I am not sure CBT defends at all! It was a tough day at the office for Bonne, up against probably the best centre-back in the league. I thought he battled away well though.Another bad mistake by Innis, but there was a catalogue of errors leading to the goal, so I am not wholly blaming him.
We made a fight of it but could never gain parity of control. Best illustrated by the quality of their passing ,compared to our hit and hope passes that were more often than not intercepted putting us in trouble.
also my son had it on LiveScore and it notified him before it happened .
so fucking spooky
They scored a wonder free kick and capitalised on a proper calamity at the back (at least 3 players at fault, AMB included) and other than that I think we were quite quick to block shots and had some good last ditch tackles, a lot of shots doesn't necessarily tell the whole tale and I would say AMB had a fairly comfortable afternoon.
I also do want to say despite them having some obviously talented players like the ManU loan and Charles with his incredible work rates, they are also quite a dirty side and the ref was falling for it. A clearly better side (as mentioned a lot of times) do not time waste. Their players were throwing the ball away when we had set pieces, goalie taking his time, cynical shirt pulls. For example Santos is getting a lot of plaudits, I see a bang average brick sh*thouse centre-back who was effectively fouling Bonne at every opportunity. A more savvy ref would have had him on the books after he fouled us on the counter and threw the ball away. Apparently the ref thought a more appropriate yellow would be given to Bonne, for going for a ball in open play when their goalkeeper was time wasting (again).
Like I said will be lol central but I'll firmly plant my view on this hill and say that result was far more of us being absolutely terrible than them being some great league 1 outfit. Derby, Wednesday, Plymouth and Ipswich are all far better sides from what I've seen.
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As for us, oh my oh my. First of all I called Holden a no mark when he joined and I'll be honest, that was pretty harsh, but he is nowhere near of deserving of a long term contract as I have seen implied by some fellow fans. It was glaringly obvious yesterday that we couldn't win the midfield fight, Albie is pants, Dobbo had an off game (I'll touch on that) and Fraser despite his quality, needs more quality around him to really flourish, but make no mistake, he is comfortably our best midfielder and I feel bad for him at times seeing the lack of quality around him. Holden should have recognised our midfield qualities, and utilised the wings more, their fullbacks were having such a bad time against CBT and JRS respectively, that was our only real threats the whole afternoon and the game plan should have solely been, give it to one of them, give them the license to roam and cut in until they send numbers to defend for more space. Instead we as per, like the last 8 or so (mostly crap) managers, knocked it around, switching the play, boring slow tempo football and when out of ideas pumped it to Bonne where he was greeted everytime by a bloke with about a third of his body weight on him. I will say on that note, Bonne gets away with one from me, he was a lone striker essentially, no one to feed off, he was given complete scraps and still managed to show some composure at times and keep the ball in the game for us, he was also unlucky not to reach the ball from a bog standard cross, he was quite low on the list of concerns yesterday.
it concerns me that a manager has looked at these players and thought Albie starts, I really do hope we just put this to bed at some point, that lad is not cut out for it, has some of the worst body language I've ever seen from a player, he gets the 'I tried' shirt but it's minimal. He certainly doesn't go hiding, but he certainly walks about like he doesn't give a sh*t. Tracking back, woeful, composure on the ball, woeful, passing, woeful (great in warm-ups). I really wanted it to work for him but if we get anywhere as a football club again, players like Albie can't be in our match day squad.
Dobbo as much as I love him, cause he is 'proper Charlton' does go missing in these types of games. I don't mean on an effort level, but more so a quality level, he was chasing shadows a lot, never really had a hold on the game and doesn't keep the game ticking for us like previous midfielders have in the past (more so championship days). Again I am setting myself up for some boo's, but I think the only time he really excels is when it's backs against the wall and he gets stuck in with great tackles OR we are on top of a team and when we lose out the ball, his energy gets us it back. When we match up against some solid competition I do think he goes missing a bit, again he is still one of the first names on the sheet but I do worry about his progression as I haven't seen much since last season and he isn't a youth.
and on to Fraser, can't really say much bad, if his pace was there and had a better engine, he would be upper championship minimum, luckily for us the Scottish Pirlo fades after about the 75 min mark and his gifted technique carries him through the game, by far and away the most composed player at Charlton, (maybe with JRS) his footwork in the second half near the corner flag is an example of that. If he was surrounded by more quality he would have very high attacking returns I imagine.
As for the rest, same old. JRS is quality, will go on to have a great career I expect, CBT is majestic and unplayable one moment, next you don't notice him. Clare is a complete enigma, certainly not consistent enough to be a right back, doesn't have the quality to be a midfielder imo, I think the best we saw of him was in that centre back role in the back 5/3. Innis had his usual blunder and it cost us a goal this time, that will never change, Ness had one of his worst games for us, but again I won't be harsh cause it was just one of them games.
I think I'll stop my ramble there and just leave it with this, it's quite depressing seeing how crap we actually are, when not long ago we were fielding the likes of Cullen, Aribo, Taylor, Bauer etc. Not one player and I mean not one makes the match day starting XI of any of the top 6 other than maybe JRS, Fraser and Dobbo, arguably all as bench options as well, AMB also in with a shout as he is a very decent shot stopper.
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TLDR;
- Bolton weren't all that
- we are pants, very pants
- Early doors to say Holden is the right man
- We need at least 10 players to contest play offs.
he's better than our centre backs but that isn't hard, if he ends up any higher in his career than a lower end championship player then fair enough, I just don't see it.
I wouldn't say he's had bad games and I didn't really intend it to sound that way, but equally I am now not gonna make out he has been some colossal force for us, he looks a decent player for his age, done well against ManU and played his part. Again if I am wrong then so be it, I don't believe Ness should be starting for a Charlton side looking to get promoted, that's about it really.
Yes, Bolton may have scored from a wonder goal & from a cock-up between our defence & keeper but AMB was the far busier keeper having to make a number of blocks & saves.....especially tipping one over the bar from the player who had scored from the free kick. They also hit the bar. Like Derby & a fair few teams since they could have scored 4 or 5 and no one would have said the scoreline was underserved.