The worst 42 minutes of football I have witnessed at the Valley for a while and there are plenty of contenders for that accolade over recent seasons. Lethargic, aimless, shapeless, clueless and hopeless. Not one shot on target versus Fleetwood Town at home before May's goal and they could have scored three.
One great goal out of the blue and a much better second half.
Much needed win and deserved by the end but let's not deceive ourselves about where we are as a football team .
The Division 3 table does not lie and there are serious flaws with out defensive set up.
Wasn't sure how fit he would be or if he was up to it.......but then with almost his very first touch he shielded the ball from his marker, turned & left him for dead (on the touchline in front of the AC stand). That is what we had been missing & such a shame that a non-league defender decided to ruin the first month of our season.
Wasn't sure how fit he would be or if he was up to it.......but then with almost his very first touch he shielded the ball from his marker, turned & left him for dead (on the touchline in front of the AC stand). That is what we had been missing & such a shame that a non-league defender decided to ruin the first month of our season.
The lump who injured him can't even get into the Welling team! Look at that for a tale of two stories.
It's cost Miles, the team points and probably a Manager his job! Sounds far fetched but it's probably the reality.
Had my pitchfork sharpener out after 40 minutes. Ended up feeling better about things. IF we get a decent manager in, IF the new signings are any good, IF we get our walking wounded back and avoid further injuries (yes I know…….), IF we can work out our best 11 and a way of playing there is enough evidence to suggest we may be decent at this lamentable level. However that’s a lot of IFs and even if we do manage to get it altogether we’ll have wasted quarter of the season yet again. It’s incredibly frustrating. Nevertheless, a win is a win and the pitchfork was not required.
Fair play to Jason and the gang for producing something amid a pretty awful set of background circumstances. Fleetwood will be relegated this season and I’d put money on them finishing last. But you can only beat what’s in front of you and we found a way. We have the raw materials in Alfy (needs to stop pissing about with the silly bookings), Miles, Camara etc to be a decent side and Chem seems to have something about him that we can build on. The kids need to be rested for a while and nurtured as necessary. The defence is a worry. I’m not convinced by either keeper and we need to hope that our new centre half is up to the standard as in that position we are rich in numbers but poor in quality. Onwards and, hopefully, upwards but why oh why are we always in a mess come September….
A good report. No way there were 119 away supporters though.
I would guess some of them didn’t make it through the tunnel. I reckon there were 6,000-7,000 people in the ground.
You're probably not far wide there; official attendance put at just over 11,00 - but judging by the number of people in the Fans Bar and on the food outlets at half time, we can all take that with a large pinch of salt.
A good report. No way there were 119 away supporters though.
I would guess some of them didn’t make it through the tunnel. I reckon there were 6,000-7,000 people in the ground.
You're probably not far wide there; official attendance put at just over 11,00 - but judging by the number of people in the Fans Bar and on the food outlets at half time, we can all take that with a large pinch of salt.
I watched a CODS vlog. The home stands as seen from the Jimmy Seed were no more than a third full and that’s being generous. That means with an away support of about a hundred there couldn’t have Ben more than 8k in the ground. It also sounded like a practice match on the stream.
The worst 42 minutes of football I have witnessed at the Valley for a while and there are plenty of contenders for that accolade over recent seasons. Lethargic, aimless, shapeless, clueless and hopeless. Not one shot on target versus Fleetwood Town at home before May's goal and they could have scored three.
One great goal out of the blue and a much better second half.
Much needed win and deserved by the end but let's not deceive ourselves about where we are as a football team .
The Division 3 table does not lie and there are serious flaws with out defensive set up.
Another former player returned recently (Mr. Darren Pratley) and was clapped. Stockley is just not popular with the crowd. Sometimes the prevailing opinion on CL doesn't quite align with the one around The Valley. I can understand that in this instance tbh - he was miserable to watch, moaned a lot, and gave up trying in his last season with us. I know many will disagree, but worth remembering just how bad he was before we let him go.
May, unlike Jayden, is a proper Charlton striker. He's got the quality and he works his socks off. You can tell he really wants to win. Loving him at the moment and that partnership with Leaburn looks very exciting. Miles also looks a bit more aggressive and prepared to use his body than last season.
Agree with others about Edun, he had a poor game overall, but his defence-splitting pass to CBT was brilliant, and I can't think of a full-back we've had in recent years who could play that kind of ball. He looks like he's got a lot of upside.
And on CBT - another match-winning moment from him.
It's nice to have the winning feeling back, but I fear that first-half performance isn't going away and we'll see it again.
A good report. No way there were 119 away supporters though.
I would guess some of them didn’t make it through the tunnel. I reckon there were 6,000-7,000 people in the ground.
You're probably not far wide there; official attendance put at just over 11,00 - but judging by the number of people in the Fans Bar and on the food outlets at half time, we can all take that with a large pinch of salt.
11,000 is the number of season tickets plus tickets sold. (As everybody knows of course - sorry).
It’s always a higher number than those attending.
Were it not for the rail strike and the traffic chaos the bums on seats number would have been probably 8 or 9 thousand. I think some wanted to support Pearce, so I thought the crowd wouldn’t be too bad.
But long term it’s wins that you need to rekindle fans interest.
Wasn't sure how fit he would be or if he was up to it.......but then with almost his very first touch he shielded the ball from his marker, turned & left him for dead (on the touchline in front of the AC stand). That is what we had been missing & such a shame that a non-league defender decided to ruin the first month of our season.
I was surprised Holden was not more angry about it at the time. Ultimately, it could have cost him his job. I would certainly consider playing a Charlton team against a Charlton team at this pre-season stage in future rather than expose ourselves to these wallies. I mean we played different teams in each half anyway so no reason they can''t play each other in say 4 x 20 to 25 minute games where different things and combinations could be tried.
Another former player returned recently (Mr. Darren Pratley) and was clapped. Stockley is just not popular with the crowd. Sometimes the prevailing opinion on CL doesn't quite align with the one around The Valley. I can understand that in this instance tbh - he was miserable to watch, moaned a lot, and gave up trying in his last season with us. I know many will disagree, but worth remembering just how bad he was before we let him go.
May, unlike Jayden, is a proper Charlton striker. He's got the quality and he works his socks off. You can tell he really wants to win. Loving him at the moment and that partnership with Leaburn looks very exciting. Miles also looks a bit more aggressive and prepared to use his body than last season.
Agree with others about Edun, he had a poor game overall, but his defence-splitting pass to CBT was brilliant, and I can't think of a full-back we've had in recent years who could play that kind of ball. He looks like he's got a lot of upside.
And on CBT - another match-winning moment from him.
It's nice to have the winning feeling back, but I fear that first-half performance isn't going away and we'll see it again.
I hadn't got to the ground in time to hear the crowd's reaction to Stockers before the game and, to be honest, I didn't even know he was playing on Saturday even though the first bit of action I saw when I'd finally reached my seat was him scoring a free header (I hadn't even seen the teams on the big screen). It wasn't until I caught up with the Match Thread that I realised it was Jayden.
Yes, Jayden may have been a bit of a whinger, waving his arms about like a stroppy 4-year-old when the ball wasn't delivered in the exact spot that he wanted, and may not have been prolific in his final season with us but I felt he'd never fully recovered from his back/hip injury and that was hampering his mobility and ability to jump (not that he really needed to do that on Saturday for his goal).
There are plenty more ex-players that I would have on my "boo list" ahead of Stockers. If I'd been there in time on Saturday I'd have applauded his return as I had Pratters' appearance on the opening day.
Wasn't sure how fit he would be or if he was up to it.......but then with almost his very first touch he shielded the ball from his marker, turned & left him for dead (on the touchline in front of the AC stand). That is what we had been missing & such a shame that a non-league defender decided to ruin the first month of our season.
I was surprised Holden was not more angry about it at the time. Ultimately, it could have cost him his job. I would certainly consider playing a Charlton team against a Charlton team at this pre-season stage in future rather than expose ourselves to these wallies. I mean we played different teams in each half anyway so no reason they can''t play each other in say 4 x 20 to 25 minute games where different things and combinations could be tried.
I was surprised Holden did not highlight the challenge. Just called it 'poor'. As usual, fans thought it was a part of a masterpiece in not alerting the league that you're on the lookout for a forward. It should have been called out properly. The fact that it wasn't, the ref did not give a penalty, or a foul means it has gone completely under everybody's radar. I bet the playing will be referring to it "not even being a foul". Grrrrh, time to move on I suppose.
It is less important the ref didn't give a penalty although a bit worrying that we had a ref of that standard officiating the game. What happened was Leaburn mugged the defender off with a bit of skill and he did him either out of pride induced malice or desperation. It has been very damaging to us this season but we could have done something about it earlier. That wasn't Holden's fault.
I recall saying before we lost these games that we had created a weakness that we may or may not get away with and Fraser and Camara getting injured and a key defender like Hector not being right compounded that. With luck, good officiating etc... we could have got more out of some of those games as indeed with fewer stupid errors if you want to argue the other side of things.
Strongly suspect we would have won that with Dean in charge, or would have been just as likely to. The manager change is needless disruption, we will start winning more now as we settle down and have new players and players back, but we would have done with Dean as well. Completely pointless IMO
It was so good to see Leaburn back. He has more to his game than his Dad except for prowess in the air. Seeing as he’s taller than Carl, that should be easy to rectify.
A good report. No way there were 119 away supporters though.
I would guess some of them didn’t make it through the tunnel. I reckon there were 6,000-7,000 people in the ground.
You're probably not far wide there; official attendance put at just over 11,00 - but judging by the number of people in the Fans Bar and on the food outlets at half time, we can all take that with a large pinch of salt.
11,000 is the number of season tickets plus tickets sold. (As everybody knows of course - sorry).
It’s always a higher number than those attending.
Were it not for the rail strike and the traffic chaos the bums on seats number would have been probably 8 or 9 thousand. I think some wanted to support Pearce, so I thought the crowd wouldn’t be too bad.
But long term it’s wins that you need to rekindle fans interest.
Sold in that number also equals given away, which is a significant difference. I highly doubt the club “sold” 3,000 match tickets for Fleetwood.
I doubt if there were 9,000 home fans for either Brizzle or Port Vale, so after five straight defeats it’s unlikely there would have been more than 7,500 for this fixture even without the transport issues.
It is pretty extraordinary that there were 13,000 home fans for Orient, followed by these three turnouts. And the weather was a positive on Saturday.
Comments
It's cost Miles, the team points and probably a Manager his job! Sounds far fetched but it's probably the reality.
You have reached your nadir if you lose to Charlton and Scott Brown with 6 losses on the bounce paid the price.
May, unlike Jayden, is a proper Charlton striker. He's got the quality and he works his socks off. You can tell he really wants to win. Loving him at the moment and that partnership with Leaburn looks very exciting. Miles also looks a bit more aggressive and prepared to use his body than last season.
Agree with others about Edun, he had a poor game overall, but his defence-splitting pass to CBT was brilliant, and I can't think of a full-back we've had in recent years who could play that kind of ball. He looks like he's got a lot of upside.
And on CBT - another match-winning moment from him.
It's nice to have the winning feeling back, but I fear that first-half performance isn't going away and we'll see it again.
Yes, Jayden may have been a bit of a whinger, waving his arms about like a stroppy 4-year-old when the ball wasn't delivered in the exact spot that he wanted, and may not have been prolific in his final season with us but I felt he'd never fully recovered from his back/hip injury and that was hampering his mobility and ability to jump (not that he really needed to do that on Saturday for his goal).
There are plenty more ex-players that I would have on my "boo list" ahead of Stockers. If I'd been there in time on Saturday I'd have applauded his return as I had Pratters' appearance on the opening day.
I recall saying before we lost these games that we had created a weakness that we may or may not get away with and Fraser and Camara getting injured and a key defender like Hector not being right compounded that. With luck, good officiating etc... we could have got more out of some of those games as indeed with fewer stupid errors if you want to argue the other side of things.
Congrats!