It is an overreaction. But I also get it. Our record at home in recent years has been abysmal. The number of times lower half League One teams have strolled in and rolled us over at The Valley has been humbling and depressing. I think the summer signings, the takeover and pre season performances have injected some hope. It all set up nicely for a return to The Valley. And as per usual we’re 3-0 at half time.
But as others have said; it’s pre season. There are still more signings to come in key areas - a big forward must surely be a priority to help May - and Aberdeen are a very decent side.
I seem to remember Curbs used to have very patchy pre season results before a cracking season. Keep the faith.
In fairness I don’t think it is particularly “usual” for us to be 3-0 down at half time. We did look awful defensively in that first half though.
Under Dean Holden last season he took the players for a bit of work with the military in Woolwich. I wonder if he has done or will do it again, because Aberdeen especially in the first half we’re thunderous and wielding bazookas whilst we only seemed to have pea shooters. I was taken aback at how easily they won the ball due to essentially being a lot tougher than us.
Last season I think some of our players would have been better playing with the salvation army
Got to love the overreaction to a pre season defeat, good to see nothing has changed
I don’t think it was an overreaction to a defeat, but to a half where we were quickly 3-0 down, could easily have been 6-0 and defensively we were all at sea.
Exactly. Seems like loads who didn't go have just looked at the scoreline and therefore can't understand why so many people were worried about the first half performance.
Didn't see yesterday's game but it did strike me, in previous friendlies, how spread out the 3 central defenders were with the RCB and LCB playing almost as RB & LB and the 'wing backs' playing as out and out wingers. Great going forward but it leaves us highly vulnerable on the counter with gaps all over the place, especially with the like of CBT as 'wing back'. Good teams will destroy us.
If we're serious about 3-5-2 the two wing backs need to be great athletes, disciplined and good on the ball.
Aberdeen fans who watched the game on Charlton TV were very complimentary about the quality of Charlton TV and our commentary team (assume Terry and Ollie).
The overreacting on here is really depressing and just plain bizarre. We made a few good signings and people were going on about how good our season would be. One match - without our new first choice LWB - and people are already turning on the formation and crying about how we're going to fail. It's weird to be honest. It will take time for the system to bed in and we'll have bad games. We also still have signings to make. Chill.
Stop talking sense ! We are behind schedule for the first match of the season because Taylor, Edun, Jones out of the new Players aren't match fit and Ness is not quite where he was when he received his injury last season. Camará is a fit lad but he played one league match last season. Leaburn is hopefully back in September.
I don't believe we will be up to speed until late September so hopefully not too low down the table by then.
Aberdeen, Celtic and Rangers have their European football experience which is why they are a class above most teams other than the Jam tarts, Hearts in SPL.
Dithered about going to the game because of train strike but glad I made the effort, taking away more positives than negatives. On the minus side, it’s clear that the left side of defence needs sorting out.. as good as he is going forward, CBT is not very good when it comes to his defensive duties. Hopefully, Edun can help solve the problem on the left. On the positive side there were some decent performances from AMB with some superb saves, May and Camara. After a terrible opening 25 minutes, by the end of the match I felt Holden had got it right and there is plenty to be optimistic going into the season proper. Also bumped into Charlie Methven as he was leaving the club store about an hour before kick off. Sure he had plenty on his plate and I would not have been offended if he rushed off. But, no, he was happy to stand and chat for a couple of minutes and I could not fault his enthusiasm for the task ahead. Came across as a nice bloke.
Listening to Dean Holden's post-match interview he was his usual upbeat but candid self. Yes, there some positives but he's aware of where we need to improve; sadly some of the players brought in to do that job are not fit and may not be for a little while. Putting things into perspective Aberdeen are a quality Scottish Premier League side and at times it really showed. I believe we can beat Orient next week but a little patience will be required until Dean can field his strongest side.
Taylor not fit to take part yet, Edun likewise, 1 fit striker. Still think we are a way off even a top six spot at the moment.
So I have been quite positive about the signings and I still am, but one view you could understand someone to have is that most of the signings we have made are injured/returning to fitness.
one week out and Edun & Taylor aren't fit, Jones hasn't played a full 90 since the 10th of April and Camara is also fresh off an injury. Only one who seems match fit and ready to go is Alfie May
Hector still doesn't look fit, six months after signing for us. Perhaps that's why he hadn't played for two years prior?
For a chunk of that 2 years he took time out to look after his sick father and spend time with his young family.
Taylor not fit to take part yet, Edun likewise, 1 fit striker. Still think we are a way off even a top six spot at the moment.
So I have been quite positive about the signings and I still am, but one view you could understand someone to have is that most of the signings we have made are injured/returning to fitness.
one week out and Edun & Taylor aren't fit, Jones hasn't played a full 90 since the 10th of April and Camara is also fresh off an injury. Only one who seems match fit and ready to go is Alfie May
Hector still doesn't look fit, six months after signing for us. Perhaps that's why he hadn't played for two years prior?
For a chunk of that 2 years he took time out to look after his sick father and spend time with his young family.
Agreed it was his decision to take a break not that no one wanted him
Was at the game as home from the States….Dean please don’t play 3 at the back against a team with fast wide players. Ness roasted.
If you play 3-5-2 which can change to *5-3-2 in a few seconds then you need a lively Left wing back who is blessed with a left foot and some pace to be a defender when needed and an attack minded player when going forward down the flank. CBT can't do the defensive part of this job. Ness isn't back to his form pre injury so Thomas is the obvious LCB.
Our big problem is we have no obvious LB until Edun is match fit. Whether you play a back 3,4 or 5 when under the cosh.
* Have used this at youth level but only when I had the players to dove tail into the formation with no defender on the wrong side. Thank goodness for those Left footers. Bless nature's minorities 👍
Rude awakening, an alarm every 5 minutes when you're drifting off again rude awakening.
We don't have the personnel for 5 at the back or wing backs. We don't have a single wing back at the club (can't assess Edun yet) closest player is Asiimwe (I'll get to him). I keep hammering on about centre backs, we don't need one anymore, two at least! Especially if we insist on 5 at the back. Hector looked knackered and lazy, Jones no different from Innis for me, a bit sharper but probably a worse passer of the ball and less physical. Ness can't be a Charlton Athletic starter, we have to do better, he's a pizza cup centre back all day.
AMB how is he nailed on number 1? They should have been 5 or 6 up at the break. Second half a bit better, a few good saves, but he isn't assured enough, he doesn't distribute that well (in his defense we have 0 target men) and he just doesn't fill me with confidence to be honest. I'd rather see Isted given a go, seems the more confident goalkeeper to me.
Midfielders Christ, Fraser non existent first half, way better second, Dobbo, credit where credit is due looked like the only midfielder who was up for a fast paced game, looked relax and up to playing a good footballing team, faded later. Camara looks like he isn't ready to start yet, fitness issues, I would start Karoy ahead of him who so far, looks like our most dangerous midfielder. When Karoy came on, Asiimwe remembered how to play football again, he gave the whole team a new wave of energy it seemed.
Alfie May NEEDS a strike partner, that lad can run for days and is very clever but he needs someone to reward his hard work, can't have him feeding off scraps, some of the runs he made were brilliant (Payne found one of them) I reckon if Terry Taylor is the player Burton fans are claiming Alfie could thrive with his passing.
Charlie Kirk, just get rid, I would actually pay a club to get him off the books, woeful. Slow, predictable, uninterested. He's taking the piss, cost a lot of money for the club to bring him in and I imagine his wages aren't cheap, plays like he's doing us a favour. Needs to be shown the door, Campbell is 5x the player he is.
CBT is CBT, can't defend to save his life but the most gifted footballer we have in terms of dribbling, cause them a lot of bother when he put the burners on.
All in all I thought Aberdeen were decent, I'd have them down as championship bottom half side, some very decent players in their team. They looked like they were ahead of us fitness wise and showed that once you put the high press on us, too many of our players lose their composure.
Holden has a real problem at the moment, it's very clear 5 at the back isn't for us but he's played it all pre-season. CBT and Campbell are our best attacking outlets but he doesn't play a formation to suit them, we don't have a centre back that is promotion quality imo, compare Hector to Santos from Bolton as an example, night and day.
I don't know what he's gonna do for opening day but he needs to go with a midfield heavy formation imo, that's where our depth and best players are, need to exploit that.
CBT is a real issue. It’s obvious that on his day he can be a real asset, but he’s not a wing-back. I find some of the criticism slightly odd because expecting him to be able to defend isn’t going to happen. If he does improve, it will come at the cost of his threat going forwards.
I actually think he might end up playing RWB with Edun down the left. Either way, I think we’ll look so much better with a proper LCB and CBT wouldn’t be as exposed. That together with a striker alongside May would make us look so different.
The formation can be a success, it’s just slightly unbalanced at the moment. Personally I would have been looking for a diamond because I like 2 up top and unless you’ve got an JRS the wingers can be too inconsistent, but 352 is here to stay so hopefully we can get the last few pieces of the jigsaw.
Aberdeen are miles behind Celtic and Rangers - most of their players would probably be lucky to sign for Championship clubs.
Firat half display is worrying.
Had 2 Aberdeen fans sitting next to me. Yes they are behind those too but that’s irrelevant. Almost every player they told me they had paid a fee for. Also wages are on average 20k a week and also used to playing European football. Personally think you’re being too harsh.
Just for the absolute sake of completeness, there was no whiff of the "addicks to victory" song yesterday at the valley? This really has now gone away?
I made a recording of it so that I can play it before every game.
I struggle to understand why we keep signing players who aren’t fit enough to start.
As they are professional footballers, even if they haven't played many games in pre season for their clubs (Edun for example) - you'd still hope they were fit enough to run around a bit and say, have 30 minutes....
Unlike at the Spanner’s workshop where every day is Halloween, there wasn’t any reason to boo on Saturday. It was a preseason friendly, the object of the match is to give more match time to the players and ahead of the season start to see what does work and what doesn’t. An unlikely 3-0 deficit at HT next week and I suspect some displeasure might be communicated
Comments
If we're serious about 3-5-2 the two wing backs need to be great athletes, disciplined and good on the ball.
Stop talking sense !
We are behind schedule for the first match of the season because Taylor, Edun, Jones out of the new Players aren't match fit and Ness is not quite where he was when he received his injury last season.
Camará is a fit lad but he played one league match last season.
Leaburn is hopefully back in September.
I don't believe we will be up to speed until late September so hopefully not too low down the table by then.
Aberdeen, Celtic and Rangers have their European football experience which is why they are a class above most teams other than the Jam tarts, Hearts in SPL.
On the minus side, it’s clear that the left side of defence needs sorting out.. as good as he is going forward, CBT is not very good when it comes to his defensive duties. Hopefully, Edun can help solve the problem on the left.
On the positive side there were some decent performances from AMB with some superb saves, May and Camara. After a terrible opening 25 minutes, by the end of the match I felt Holden had got it right and there is plenty to be optimistic going into the season proper.
Also bumped into Charlie Methven as he was leaving the club store about an hour before kick off. Sure he had plenty on his plate and I would not have been offended if he rushed off. But, no, he was happy to stand and chat for a couple of minutes and I could not fault his enthusiasm for the task ahead. Came across as a nice bloke.
If you play 3-5-2 which can change to *5-3-2 in a few seconds then you need a lively Left wing back who is blessed with a left foot and some pace to be a defender when needed and an attack minded player when going forward down the flank. CBT can't do the defensive part of this job.
Ness isn't back to his form pre injury so Thomas is the obvious LCB.
Our big problem is we have no obvious LB until Edun is match fit. Whether you play a back 3,4 or 5 when under the cosh.
* Have used this at youth level but only when I had the players to dove tail into the formation with no defender on the wrong side. Thank goodness for those Left footers.
Bless nature's minorities 👍
What's so funny
Part of me wasn't sure if he was genuinely happy about it or encouraging that we should boo our players at half time.
Time will tell I'm sure
Sadly not.