Woke up today and oddly still don’t care about the match which isn’t great. I’m frustrated once again at how easily teams find that space between our CB and FB/WB though. It’s epidemic, doesn’t seem to matter which players we have, we can’t defend that corridor. I’m also frustrated that we signed a keeper who had a very good run as first choice for Barnsley and we’re keeping him on the bench for AMB, who I’m just not convinced by. He’s obviously a good shot stopper, but the problem with only being a good shot stopper is you’re not going to be able to save everything, and when that’s not working for you what else have you got? His kicking, decision-making, control of his box and communication don’t seem to be very good. Isted might not have saved us against Newport but it’s bizarre to me off the back of a ropey end to the season it’s still AMB in goal.
I wonder if maybe Holden has a little too much love for pushing academy graduates into the first team. Asiimwe has pushed out Egbo, Chin got in ahead of him the other day, Ness is straight back in, Anderson is already being a bit overplayed, he obviously likes Campbell and is happy to bring on Kanu whenever he can. I like seeing the youth players too but I feel like it’s a thing for Holden and it might start to work against him soon
I don't think it's a thing. It's that he has no good alternatives. If he had had Leaburn, Fraser, Taylor and Hector all available and 100% fit, and not worried about whether Camara and Edun could last 90 minutes, his team would have looked very different and the new youngsters could be on the bench and bring valuable energy while feeling less pressure. (Mind you, Leaburn is himself still a "kid", we forget that)
And that, my Charlton Life friends, is why I haven’t committed to a season ticket this year. I went to the game but on that performance, we’re not good enough to compete. That performance had mid table mediocrity written all over it. If we continue to play like that, I’m bailing out mid season. Poor …
I had the below typed out this morning but didn't post it. But it was still lingering in the "leave comment" box when I cam back to this whilst having a mid morning break.
Now I remember why I didn't buy a season ticket. No joy, just pain after pain.
Woke up today and oddly still don’t care about the match which isn’t great. I’m frustrated once again at how easily teams find that space between our CB and FB/WB though. It’s epidemic, doesn’t seem to matter which players we have, we can’t defend that corridor. I’m also frustrated that we signed a keeper who had a very good run as first choice for Barnsley and we’re keeping him on the bench for AMB, who I’m just not convinced by. He’s obviously a good shot stopper, but the problem with only being a good shot stopper is you’re not going to be able to save everything, and when that’s not working for you what else have you got? His kicking, decision-making, control of his box and communication don’t seem to be very good. Isted might not have saved us against Newport but it’s bizarre to me off the back of a ropey end to the season it’s still AMB in goal.
I wonder if maybe Holden has a little too much love for pushing academy graduates into the first team. Asiimwe has pushed out Egbo, Chin got in ahead of him the other day, Ness is straight back in, Anderson is already being a bit overplayed, he obviously likes Campbell and is happy to bring on Kanu whenever he can. I like seeing the youth players too but I feel like it’s a thing for Holden and it might start to work against him soon
Isted didn't impress me much during pre season, and didn't do anything at Newport to "demand the gloves".
Neither did AMB though, the difference is one looked quality in the second half of last season and one looked increasingly out of his depth. I feel like Ash has picked up where he left off this season
g the team through games like last night especially defensively. Hector has a lot of games under his belt but from the little I've seen doesn't show true leadership.
Not recently he doesn’t. If anything he’ll improve with games. He looks good on the ball, but has been giving the ball away regularly, which is why he isn’t starting.
PWR but from what (admittedly little) I’ve seen we are nowhere near playoff material.
The last time we reached the playoffs we had a spinal core of Pearce, Bauer, Sarr, Beilik, Cullen, Aribo, Taylor and (for part of season) Grant.
This year we have Dobson.
Sure but some of those players came in near the transfer deadline and we haven't got there yet. I think the next lot of recruits need be similar quality to 2019 to give us a decent chance of play-offs.
6 of those were with us for the opening fixture. 5 started and 1 on bench. Bielik Joined us and started the 3rd match of the season but Cullen did join late August before deadline day.
There may be those such as Leaburn, May, Camara, Ness and Anderson that go on to be comparable to those from 2018.
But if we are going for playoffs, they need to all be as effective now as those were then and I don’t see that happening, or as you say, recruitment (loan or permanent) will need to be a stark improvement on what the last few years have been.
Pretty hoarse this morning - gave it everything singing, cheering and ultimately cursing that referee. Bitter pill to not come away with at least a point from that.
In the cold light of day, it is key to remember that between AM-B, Asiimwe, Anderson, Ness and Kanu, there are ~50 L1 games played total (and most of those come from AM-B). They are young, inexperienced and learning their craft under the microscope of a club trying to push for playoffs. They will make mistakes due to that inexperience and they will tire because they are not used to it. The mistakes for the 2nd goal highlighted that and they will learn, but I've got a lot more time for all of them and the effort they put in. In a perfect world, we'd be breaking them in gently or actually letting them go out on loan to make those mistakes in L2 etc., but they are learning in front of expectant supporters. They are going to have to learn fast and this could be the making of them, but I'd rather have them out there than some of the other junk we still have in the squad.
I thought Payne would come in, but giving away that free kick like he did was shocking. A scruffy player that regularly lacks any quality - I don't doubt the effort sometimes, but he's clearly not very clever and bring very little aside from that effort. We cannot bring in another striker to help May soon enough. A fully fit version of this squad (in some kind of parallel universe where Aneke plays every game) could maybe have enough for playoffs, but injuries are a perpetual nuisance in SE7, so I'd say we still need 4-5 after at least 3 go out the door too.
The game itself - I thought it'd be 1-1 before and I was almost right. The way we conceded the first was rough. The reaction to it was dismal - someone needs to get a sports psychologist in or something (or replace the current one), because they just gave up for what felt like a good 15mins. Should have been another couple of goals from the lob and the clearance off the line. Pleased for Kanu to get a goal, as it showed he can step up and show his finishing here - he has to start on Saturday. May was desperate to get his goal and the miss was pressure-based imho. Edun was very good and Camara is improving. The lack of a red card meant they still kept going for their eventual winner. Last two L1 refs have been godawful, but most of them are.
Not ready to give up yet. Will be there Saturday. Need to pull the finger out with signings asap or more results like this will happen.
WHY is Hector not fit though? He was fit enough to play lots at the end of last season for us and we appear to have allowed himself to get unfit in our contract talks stand off!
Ridiculously bad management. We should have insisted he trained and trained HARD whilst negotiating his deal with us.
He was probably everybody's number 1 choice for centre half during pre season and now he appears to be number 3 or 4 at best with our manager!
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I watched on the stream, as usual. At half time Scott Minto asked for questions on Whats App. So I sent in this one:
Re the injuries. It seems like the last 4 years they have been crippling; but we fans dont really know how they compare with other clubs of our size. Do the guys know more about whether we are worse than other bigger L1 clubs? And if so what might be the main reasons?
Never got read out. Yet how many times did Curbs say "because of all the injuries..." ? And how many times have we heard him say that, ever since Charlton TV started up? Talk about the elephant in the effing room.
I get that Curbs in particular has always been a diplomat, but actually I gave them an out ball, we have often asked ourselves on here whether other clubs at this level have the same problems and we just don't know that. But swerving it makes me think they know damn well its bad but feel unable to say so. Bloody stupid PR approach, IMO, not least because Methven has privately acknowledged the problem , and not just to me (I just checked with someone who also has access to him).
The only way to improve on the situation is to invest. In staff, the department(s) and players with a certain resiliance, quality and record. I presume that those "in the know" realise that this is not in the pipeline, so choose not to talk about it and alienate themselves in the process. Shame, big shame.
Curbs was asked about this by Minto. He said that there will be a ceiling for squad cost, wages etc and we may be very close, thus resulting in players needing to be moved on before new faces can come in. He also mentioned at times having to play the poker game with other clubs, having to wheel and deal to get players in or out. He said the issue for people like Kirk is that his wage is way too high for anyone to think of taking a punt on him, so Charlton would need to fund half his salary at least to push that deal through. The though of paying to get rid of players is sickening but a reality of having such poor stock value without the squad.
Can Holden get more out of THIS team available, I think not. Could another manager? Not convinced.
Nothing like a weak (and wrongly positioned) wall and following your runners hey....
Well worked goal off the training ground.
Dobson was the spare man and should’ve gone with the runners. And he should’ve had help from another player because he can’t deal with Collins and Marquis on his own.
Badly prepared (1 player marking 2, coaching) and poor awareness (getting sucked in to the ball & not tracking runners, player quality) does not point to a good formula.
I hope we are doing double sessions on defending set pieces next week because there’s no way this can be allowed to continue. We’ll give away 2-3 clear cut chances per game.
I can forgive the lack of tracking back by Asiimwe and Dobson for the winner as they were our men of the match and had run themselves into the ground by then.
But the defending of the free kick was woeful - poor foul to give away by Payne, terrible wall, terrible / no follow-up.
I sound like a broken record and maybe I am looing at it
through too much rose-tinted glasses, but I think there are promising signs,
but the squad is thread bare and needs at least 4 in ASAP.
Payne is not good enough said it after Posh I would rather
Kanu start with Payne on the bench, Kanu offered more and at least occupied a
defender.
Think Karoy and Nathan are great prospects but can see don’t
want to rely on them as starters all the time just yet. Need another RWB and CM
who are better than what we have and let them come on or start the odd game and
learn. I think they both have big futures though and they are well down the
list of issues we have in the squad to sort.
We also obviously need another forward who can hold the ball
up and link up play. Poor Alfie must be so annoyed he needs help from someone to
do that to allow him to play of the shoulder. He is showing good signs and think
with someone up with him the goals will come.
Would like another CB as well. Been impressed with Jones and
have a fully fit Hector to come back but not a big fan of Thomas and Ness is
still learning.
Egbo going out is good as it is one of the ones I wanted out
if Payne, Kirk, DJ and McGrandels can follow soon that would be best for all.
The next few weeks are massive now for our season – Get it right I can
still see as up there challenge and like the 2018/19 team get better as the season
goes on.
Continual cock ups at the back( though many keep saying they’re only human) that’s been going on under Adkins, Jackson, Garner and now Holden and even though we’re continually told it’s being worked on, there’s little evidence to support that and at present can’t score more than one goal due to injuries and no other strikers available bar Kanu, who might come good.
I do wonder about the quality of our coaching staff at times. No excuse for poorly executed and defended set plays. These can and should be practised. May attempted a Solly March style conversion with his effort from outside the box. What a waste, and they managed to score from theirs 🙄
Can’t knock the effort of the players, they clearly are trying their best and the only luck we seem to get is bad luck. Having said that you can improve your chances of good luck by taking decent corners and free kicks - ours are awful. If we had Rak Saki playing on Saturday and last night we wouldn’t have lost either.
Nah, it's all made up mate. Not like someone bangs on about it week after week 😃.
And you should see the stats pre Feb 2022. About the same I think. Probably now 1 in 80.
Na I know, I'd say your concerns are justified most of the time. Stats like that are concerning,
I know in the Jacko season I left a number of games early when we went down as I knew we weren't coming back. Bit bad by me but just saw it as a nothing season.
It's definitely become club culture now. Need players with backbone and experience. Feel like any team with a bit of physicality and experience will trouble us.
We are risking "ruining" a top centre forward. Humping long balls to May and expecting him to lead the line on his own is farcical. The striker situation should have been addressed the second Leaburn was injured - even if it was a loan.
We also risk having unfair hope and expectation on 19yr old Leaburn once he returns from effectively 4 months with no football
Comments
Now I remember why I didn't buy a season ticket. No joy, just pain after pain.
Not a good sign.
Bielik Joined us and started the 3rd match of the season but Cullen did join late August before deadline day.
There may be those such as Leaburn, May, Camara, Ness and Anderson that go on to be comparable to those from 2018.
In the cold light of day, it is key to remember that between AM-B, Asiimwe, Anderson, Ness and Kanu, there are ~50 L1 games played total (and most of those come from AM-B). They are young, inexperienced and learning their craft under the microscope of a club trying to push for playoffs. They will make mistakes due to that inexperience and they will tire because they are not used to it. The mistakes for the 2nd goal highlighted that and they will learn, but I've got a lot more time for all of them and the effort they put in. In a perfect world, we'd be breaking them in gently or actually letting them go out on loan to make those mistakes in L2 etc., but they are learning in front of expectant supporters. They are going to have to learn fast and this could be the making of them, but I'd rather have them out there than some of the other junk we still have in the squad.
I thought Payne would come in, but giving away that free kick like he did was shocking. A scruffy player that regularly lacks any quality - I don't doubt the effort sometimes, but he's clearly not very clever and bring very little aside from that effort. We cannot bring in another striker to help May soon enough. A fully fit version of this squad (in some kind of parallel universe where Aneke plays every game) could maybe have enough for playoffs, but injuries are a perpetual nuisance in SE7, so I'd say we still need 4-5 after at least 3 go out the door too.
The game itself - I thought it'd be 1-1 before and I was almost right. The way we conceded the first was rough. The reaction to it was dismal - someone needs to get a sports psychologist in or something (or replace the current one), because they just gave up for what felt like a good 15mins. Should have been another couple of goals from the lob and the clearance off the line. Pleased for Kanu to get a goal, as it showed he can step up and show his finishing here - he has to start on Saturday. May was desperate to get his goal and the miss was pressure-based imho. Edun was very good and Camara is improving. The lack of a red card meant they still kept going for their eventual winner. Last two L1 refs have been godawful, but most of them are.
Not ready to give up yet. Will be there Saturday. Need to pull the finger out with signings asap or more results like this will happen.
Ridiculously bad management. We should have insisted he trained and trained HARD whilst negotiating his deal with us.
He was probably everybody's number 1 choice for centre half during pre season and now he appears to be number 3 or 4 at best with our manager!
That is truly woeful, like is that even real?
And you should see the stats pre Feb 2022. About the same I think. Probably now 1 in 80.
Can Holden get more out of THIS team available, I think not. Could another manager? Not convinced.
Dobson was the spare man and should’ve gone with the runners. And he should’ve had help from another player because he can’t deal with Collins and Marquis on his own.
Badly prepared (1 player marking 2, coaching) and poor awareness (getting sucked in to the ball & not tracking runners, player quality) does not point to a good formula.
I hope we are doing double sessions on defending set pieces next week because there’s no way this can be allowed to continue. We’ll give away 2-3 clear cut chances per game.
Now back to the Lionesses!
I know in the Jacko season I left a number of games early when we went down as I knew we weren't coming back. Bit bad by me but just saw it as a nothing season.
It's definitely become club culture now. Need players with backbone and experience. Feel like any team with a bit of physicality and experience will trouble us.
At least we are in the charts for xG though, I'm sure Bolton, Peterborough and Stevenage are gutted