Cant stand the man. Got the job through default as he was FIFTH choice. Plays people out of position, tactically inept, no motivation, and has no connection with the fans,
I also find the whole Holden should’ve been given a chance stuff odd. Can you just imagine how equally bad it would’ve been had he stayed, plus not getting the new bounce results Appleton got. Holden and Garner should never have got near this job
OK I understand that he is an unlikeable guy, do you know that all of us have between 3-7% neanderthal DNA in us, and I think Appleton is towards the upper end of that scale, but being unlikeable or likeable doesn't define you as a coach. Fans complain about him being indifferent on the the sideline during games, I've watched loads of games on the TV and I can tell you that being animated or silent on the touchline does not define a good coach. The problem all along has been our squad and poor recruitment over several seasons, under various poor owners, lacking ambition, or just trying to balance the books. Of our recent signings, so many have worked under Appleton at previous clubs, and apart from them saying that Charlton is a big club, they always quote the they enjoyed working under Appleton. Why would they sign, apart from the obvious reason, money, if they thought the guy was a poor coach and wasn't going to develop them to the next level in their career, because most of them are in the earlier years of their football development . I also understand the criticism of his tactics, Alfie playing as a lone striker, trying a 3-5-2-1 against Posh, in a way I thought that was a bold decision, but it didn't work, only because the two Campbell's couldn't cope with the new system, I assume they were mean't to be closer to Alfie, but it didn't happen, because the players weren't up to it. When Appleton was appointed it was a bit Meh, from me , but looking at the others on the shortlist it was also a Meh. So, do we sack another manager, or do we stick with Appleton? My gut feeling he is about as good as we can get at the moment, and I am encouraged by the responses of players that he has worked with, usually as lone players, in the past. I do feel that he deserves this transfer window, to correct the sins of the past, and to work and mould the team into what he sees as his perferred formation, tactics, etc. Will it work, who knows, but I have been encouraged by the transfer window so far, so I want to give Appleton the time to prove the , probably the majority of fans, wrong. I wasn't going to go to Burton, but now I'm interested to see how Coventry, Bakinson and Fiorini deveop!!
OK I understand that he is an unlikeable guy, do you know that all of us have between 3-7% neanderthal DNA in us, and I think Appleton is towards the upper end of that scale, but being unlikeable or likeable doesn't define you as a coach. Fans complain about him being indifferent on the the sideline during games, I've watched loads of games on the TV and I can tell you that being animated or silent on the touchline does not define a good coach. The problem all along has been our squad and poor recruitment over several seasons, under various poor owners, lacking ambition, or just trying to balance the books. Of our recent signings, so many have worked under Appleton at previous clubs, and apart from them saying that Charlton is a big club, they always quote the they enjoyed working under Appleton. Why would they sign, apart from the obvious reason, money, if they thought the guy was a poor coach and wasn't going to develop them to the next level in their career, because most of them are in the earlier years of their football development . I also understand the criticism of his tactics, Alfie playing as a lone striker, trying a 3-5-2-1 against Posh, in a way I thought that was a bold decision, but it didn't work, only because the two Campbell's couldn't cope with the new system, I assume they were mean't to be closer to Alfie, but it didn't happen, because the players weren't up to it. When Appleton was appointed it was a bit Meh, from me , but looking at the others on the shortlist it was also a Meh. So, do we sack another manager, or do we stick with Appleton? My gut feeling he is about as good as we can get at the moment, and I am encouraged by the responses of players that he has worked with, usually as lone players, in the past. I do feel that he deserves this transfer window, to correct the sins of the past, and to work and mould the team into what he sees as his perferred formation, tactics, etc. Will it work, who knows, but I have been encouraged by the transfer window so far, so I want to give Appleton the time to prove the , probably the majority of fans, wrong. I wasn't going to go to Burton, but now I'm interested to see how Coventry, Bakinson and Fiorini deveop!!
in what universe would starting may up top with kanu not have been the obvious thing to do ?
I'm not Appleton, but I guess he was hoping that one of them would provide the width, while the other would be closer to May, I agree with your point however.
I'm not Appleton, but I guess he was hoping that one of them would provide the width, while the other would be closer to May, I agree with your point however.
thankyou and this is the problem - apples can't see what we all can - he's been compounding the problem ever since chucks and leaburn got injured - he's absolutely clueless in my opinion - even with cbt faking an injury and handing the opportunity to apples on a plate, he still didn't play a strike partner up top with may - its bordering on lunacy.
I'm not Appleton, but I guess he was hoping that one of them would provide the width, while the other would be closer to May, I agree with your point however.
thankyou and this is the problem - apples can't see what we all can - he's been compounding the problem ever since chucks and leaburn got injured - he's absolutely clueless in my opinion - even with cbt faking an injury and handing the opportunity to apples on a plate, he still didn't play a strike partner up top with may - its bordering on lunacy.
But ex players say he's the best coach they've ever met, in a coach.
May refused to come over to the dugout for a second half tactical huddle at Orient.
Appleton is a dud, we will never get promoted with him as head coach unless we literally fund a squad of the best players in the league which will clearly never happen under this lot.
There is a reason why no quality managers or talented rising managers would consider the job after we binned Holden, imagine being told a third of your squad will always be bang average and another third will be from our academy rather then based on ability or merit.
Yeah think that theory is a nice idea in theory, but needs to go in the bin pretty quickly.
I think that he viewed Posh's midfield so much stronger than ours that he wanted to pack this area, to prevent us being overwhelmed. To an extent it worked, with limited chanches by either team, well ours zero, but also theirs very little in the first half, bar a pretty good goal from the best player on the field. I'm not trying to excuse Appleton's tactics, I'm just trying to rationalise what his thinking was. If we had gone more gung ho in the first half would it have worked? Possibly, but we could also have conceded more. It is fine margins.
And Doucher, I don't think he's clueless, he's trying to solve issues with a weak squad. It didn't work, but he did try something different. So you could argue that he is actually trying to solve problems, but again, I agree with you it didn't work.
I was told by a mate who sits behind Appleton, that May ran over to him twice in the first half, shouting the formation wasn't working and to change it.
Apparently Appleton said no and May told him to fuck off. He did the same the second time and Appleton told him to button it.
This tells me that he has lost the players. Watching from the upper covered end, I could see May moaning continually in the first half at Tupac for not initiating the press. Wouldn't surprise me if Alfie led a revolt in the dressing room at ht, hence the much needed changes.
Fellow fans can dress it up all they like but imo, other than Freye he is the worst manager we've ever had. Absolutely sick at how poorly managed we've been since Bowyer left.
Pretty sure us older fans could regularly pick a better team from the players available in the last 4 years. I'll leave the coaches to do the tactics.
What I would say is as a club every promotion has been achieved in my lifetime with two up top. Ffs it's not rocket silence, even if Cowboy Callum thinks it is.
Leaving aside the personal dig (weird), I’d love to hear someone else corroborate your mate’s story.
There are plenty of other fans on this forum who sit near the dugout and the fact it’s not come up until 24 hours after the game is odd.
Doesn’t sound like something Alfie would do.
I’m not surprised he moaned, probably frustrated that week after week Appleton doesn’t play to his strengths. How many times has he played up front on his own or on the right wing and it not work, but Appleton still goes back to it time and time again expecting a different result
Judging by what I have seen of him coming through, i.e. playing down the left in the majority of his development career, I would’ve thought Tyreece Campbell should have taken the CBT position in his absence. I don’t know how appraised Michael ‘he works well with young players’ Appleton is about our younger guys, but I suspect he knows and understands very little about them. I wonder if he will attend U23 and U18 matches in person. I am not aware that he bothers, but maybe I have been unable to pick him out.
Sounds like we are switching our focus towards 3-5-2. If this happens, I’m a lot happier to give Appleton and Scott more time. It’s frustrating as we’ve wasted 6 months on the wrong system but if results pick up a little bit with the new system, then I’m prepared to give Appleton the summer. He desperately needs some wins soon though
Sounds like we are switching our focus towards 3-5-2. If this happens, I’m a lot happier to give Appleton and Scott more time. It’s frustrating as we’ve wasted 6 months on the wrong system but if results pick up a little bit with the new system, then I’m prepared to give Appleton the summer. He desperately needs some wins soon though
Interesting after Holden was sacked for basically doing the same thing.
Sounds like we are switching our focus towards 3-5-2. If this happens, I’m a lot happier to give Appleton and Scott more time. It’s frustrating as we’ve wasted 6 months on the wrong system but if results pick up a little bit with the new system, then I’m prepared to give Appleton the summer. He desperately needs some wins soon though
Interesting after Holden was sacked for basically doing the same thing.
Think they’ve finally(!) realised that once Holden had signed May, that has pretty much locked us into playing a front 2.
There were rumours that Scott didn’t want May and I think it’s possible we wouldn’t have signed him had the takeover gone through earlier or Leaburn hadn’t got injured
And Doucher, I don't think he's clueless, he's trying to solve issues with a weak squad. It didn't work, but he did try something different. So you could argue that he is actually trying to solve problems, but again, I agree with you it didn't work.
ok, going round in circles here but surely if you are going to try solutions, try the one that 99% of the fanbase can see will work - its not the first time Kanu has come on to join may at half time and changed the game but i can guarantee i've never seen us play well with may up top on his own
And Doucher, I don't think he's clueless, he's trying to solve issues with a weak squad. It didn't work, but he did try something different. So you could argue that he is actually trying to solve problems, but again, I agree with you it didn't work.
ok, going round in circles here but surely if you are going to try solutions, try the one that 99% of the fanbase can see will work - its not the first time Kanu has come on to join may at half time and changed the game but i can guarantee i've never seen us play well with may up top on his own
i think he's been under instruction - something linked with the sacking of holden that won't stand up if he plays 2 up front - can't be any other reason for it
I was told by a mate who sits behind Appleton, that May ran over to him twice in the first half, shouting the formation wasn't working and to change it.
Apparently Appleton said no and May told him to fuck off. He did the same the second time and Appleton told him to button it.
This tells me that he has lost the players. Watching from the upper covered end, I could see May moaning continually in the first half at Tupac for not initiating the press. Wouldn't surprise me if Alfie led a revolt in the dressing room at ht, hence the much needed changes .
Fellow fans can dress it up all they like but imo, other than Freye he is the worst manager we've ever had. Absolutely sick at how poorly managed we've been since Bowyer left.
Pretty sure us older fans could regularly pick a better team from the players available in the last 4 years. I'll leave the coaches to do the tactics.
What I would say is as a club every promotion has been achieved in my lifetime with two up top. Ffs it's not rocket silence, even if Cowboy Callum thinks it is.
Leaving aside the personal dig (weird), I’d love to hear someone else corroborate your mate’s story.
There are plenty of other fans on this forum who sit near the dugout and the fact it’s not come up until 24 hours after the game is odd.
Doesn’t sound like something Alfie would do.
I sat in the Directors’ box at the Bolton game, he said nothing during the first half to the team, there was a break in the game due to an injury. During that break, May came over and basically said to Appleton, you expect me to play up front on my own. The game restarted and the formation remained the same.
When I saw the line up for Saturday, I thought Apples was after a pay off. Any fool could see it wouldn’t work. He is such an ignorant useless manager that he didn’t change anything until halftime.
Really hope he is sacked soon before it’s too late.
Now we are changing to 3-5-2, Michael Duff is still available and has had success with that formation before, including at Cheltenham where he got the best out of Alfie May
MA has been baffling, frustrating and increasingly unsuccessful in getting any sort of tune out of his, admittedly threadbare, squad and shown no sort of passion or care. Putting my rosiest tinted glasses on: he had some sort of moment of clarity around 4pm on Saturday and came up with something like a Plan B for the 2nd half. That was by degrees less unsuccessful than whatever that was that went before it. The three games next week will tell us for sure whether he's the no hope loser I think he is or if some sort of personal pride or enjoyment of winning will stimulate more of what his Charlton side did for 50 odd minutes on Saturday. My tuppenyworth is that Saturday's 2nd half was a blip, we've seen his true colours so Burton, Northampton and Blackpool are looking forward to easy points. This'll be another season with 3 managers.
There seem to be a lot of fans calling for Appleton to go but I think they should cut him some slack.
He made numerous references early on about us not having the type of players needed to compete in this division & also needing to change the mentality. In fact, I get the feeling he upset a few of the existing squad & had to tone it down more recently, although his comments regards Fraser were telling.
I assume he has had input into the type of players we are now bringing in & if so, he should be given a chance to work with them & hopefully turn things around.
There seem to be a lot of fans calling for Appleton to go but I think they should cut him some slack.
He made numerous references early on about us not having the type of players needed to compete in this division & also needing to change the mentality. In fact, I get the feeling he upset a few of the existing squad & had to tone it down more recently, although his comments regards Fraser were telling.
I assume he has had input into the type of players we are now bringing in & if so, he should be given a chance to work with them & hopefully turn things around.
We should give Appleton a chance because he may be part of the realisation that we had too many soft players (and it has been issue for more than one season). Average teams just have to compete in the tackle and win 2nd balls. That is the formula to trouble us. Change that with better players who have bite and things will have taken a change.
Give him til the end of the season and if there isn't a very clear and obvious improvement in both results and performances, then he has to go in the summer.
He's got the tools now and can have no excuses. Time to prove us wrong.
Comments
The problem all along has been our squad and poor recruitment over several seasons, under various poor owners, lacking ambition, or just trying to balance the books.
Of our recent signings, so many have worked under Appleton at previous clubs, and apart from them saying that Charlton is a big club, they always quote the they enjoyed working under Appleton. Why would they sign, apart from the obvious reason, money, if they thought the guy was a poor coach and wasn't going to develop them to the next level in their career, because most of them are in the earlier years of their football development .
I also understand the criticism of his tactics, Alfie playing as a lone striker, trying a 3-5-2-1 against Posh, in a way I thought that was a bold decision, but it didn't work, only because the two Campbell's couldn't cope with the new system, I assume they were mean't to be closer to Alfie, but it didn't happen, because the players weren't up to it.
When Appleton was appointed it was a bit Meh, from me , but looking at the others on the shortlist it was also a Meh.
So, do we sack another manager, or do we stick with Appleton? My gut feeling he is about as good as we can get at the moment, and I am encouraged by the responses of players that he has worked with, usually as lone players, in the past.
I do feel that he deserves this transfer window, to correct the sins of the past, and to work and mould the team into what he sees as his perferred formation, tactics, etc.
Will it work, who knows, but I have been encouraged by the transfer window so far, so I want to give Appleton the time to prove the , probably the majority of fans, wrong.
I wasn't going to go to Burton, but now I'm interested to see how Coventry, Bakinson and Fiorini deveop!!
I don’t know how appraised Michael ‘he works well with young players’ Appleton is about our younger guys, but I suspect he knows and understands very little about them.
I wonder if he will attend U23 and U18 matches in person. I am not aware that he bothers, but maybe I have been unable to pick him out.
Really hope he is sacked soon before it’s too late.
Putting my rosiest tinted glasses on: he had some sort of moment of clarity around 4pm on Saturday and came up with something like a Plan B for the 2nd half. That was by degrees less unsuccessful than whatever that was that went before it.
The three games next week will tell us for sure whether he's the no hope loser I think he is or if some sort of personal pride or enjoyment of winning will stimulate more of what his Charlton side did for 50 odd minutes on Saturday.
My tuppenyworth is that Saturday's 2nd half was a blip, we've seen his true colours so Burton, Northampton and Blackpool are looking forward to easy points. This'll be another season with 3 managers.
He made numerous references early on about us not having the type of players needed to compete in this division & also needing to change the mentality. In fact, I get the feeling he upset a few of the existing squad & had to tone it down more recently, although his comments regards Fraser were telling.
I assume he has had input into the type of players we are now bringing in & if so, he should be given a chance to work with them & hopefully turn things around.
He's got the tools now and can have no excuses. Time to prove us wrong.