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.
To be fair the annual Charlton Athletic Calendar has managerial sacking pre printed for end of September early October so apples cant be sacked till then!
Interesting comment from Conor Coventry on his interview when he was talking about Appleton was 'He always wants to have control of the ball in the middle of the pitch'. Maybe sheds a bit of light on why we've been so terrible as we have not had the midfielders for that at all. We've played with two and a 10 or three in the middle and we really haven't had the profile of player that would work that way; for all his talents Dobson does not control play or the ball, Fraser hasn't done anything all season and Chem/Tyreece won't give you control. You can see that Appleton likes McGrandles and a lot of that will be his ability to play a simple pass that keeps things ticking over and putting himself about a bit defensively. We never dictate play and when we don't have the ball we rarely win the midfield battle to get it back so you can see why he'd want to completely change the midfield. It doesn't excuse anything, we still shouldn't have been as bad as we have been, but it's interesting that that appears to be a fundamental part of the plan and the players we have for it haven't been up to the standard.
Interesting comment from Conor Coventry on his interview when he was talking about Appleton was 'He always wants to have control of the ball in the middle of the pitch'. Maybe sheds a bit of light on why we've been so terrible as we have not had the midfielders for that at all. We've played with two and a 10 or three in the middle and we really haven't had the profile of player that would work that way; for all his talents Dobson does not control play or the ball, Fraser hasn't done anything all season and Chem/Tyreece won't give you control. You can see that Appleton likes McGrandles and a lot of that will be his ability to play a simple pass that keeps things ticking over and putting himself about a bit defensively. We never dictate play and when we don't have the ball we rarely win the midfield battle to get it back so you can see why he'd want to completely change the midfield. It doesn't excuse anything, we still shouldn't have been as bad as we have been, but it's interesting that that appears to be a fundamental part of the plan and the players we have for it haven't been up to the standard.
I can certainly see that we would be struggling to play the "Appleton way" with our previous players and what he (apparently) wants to implement does make sense. On the other hand you'd like to think that an experienced manager would choose a formation that suits what he's got, not force those players into an unsuitable shape and somehow just expect that to work.
Either way, after this window he's out of excuses and he's going to have to turn it around if he's going to keep the job.
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.
Completely- he can’t hide behind the squad he inherited from Holden now. I’m not convinced he’s the right man, and as frustrating as it is to say it, he’s had his reset and he can argue judge him from now.
I appreciate it will take time to work out his best XI and they will all need to bed in, but by the end of the season he needs to
- Have a better defensive set up and ensure teams can’t play through us as easily as they do
- Get our midfield to get in and dictate the game. We haven’t had that since the promotion season in 18/19
- Turn in consistent good performances. I don’t want the odd one or two, we’ve had that under Jackson, Garner and Holden. I want performances where we actually look like we know what we’re doing, and go on a run of 6/7 unbeaten, but largely made up of wins
- no more late goals. If he can’t address this then there’s something fundamentally wrong with him
- Stop making hard work of the Fleetwood’s, the Cheltenham’s etc. we’ve spluttered against these sides for so long. There’s a reason they’re below us, and if these players that we’ve bought in are as good as he says they are, let’s start beating these teams instead nicking wins and getting a point and seemingly going away pleased
Dread to think who we can go for after he goes though. Why would you want to manage this team?
1. Great strikers in the squad for this level 2. Good foundation for a very decent competitive midfield...need some creativity. 3. Appalling defence and inadquate keeper but that can be addressed in summer.
A board who are looking to spend money and move the club forward.
Lots to still appeal about Charlton.
There's only 92 jobs in the league and not many vacancies.
You're only gonna ever get a club like Burton or Fleetwood so far. Clubs like Charlton, Portsmouth, Derby etc have potential to regularly compete at a higher level than bottom of league one with the infrastructure and expenditure available if led by the right man.
Dread to think who we can go for after he goes though. Why would you want to manage this team?
We've got the players in, proven we're still a big draw at this level. Plenty of good managers would jump at the chance
Makes you wonder how we ended up with Appleton in the first place then?
We either need to hope that someone like Duff has amnesia and doesnt bother to look at where we are in the table, and only remembers: "Charlton / Premier League"
Or we need to go for someone with potential from League Two, or even the Conference, even then they'll probably think: "Fuck that, I'll get to League One quicker if I stay where I am, and still have a job at the end of it".
The reality is, we've changed Managers so often in the past few years, its career suicide to come here.
Unfortunately thats either been as the result of wrong choices, or owner ego
Dread to think who we can go for after he goes though. Why would you want to manage this team?
1. Great strikers in the squad for this level 2. Good foundation for a very decent competitive midfield...need some creativity. 3. Appalling defence and inadquate keeper but that can be addressed in summer.
A board who are looking to spend money and move the club forward.
Lots to still appeal about Charlton.
There's only 92 jobs in the league and not many vacancies.
You're only gonna ever get a club like Burton or Fleetwood so far. Clubs like Charlton, Portsmouth, Derby etc have potential to regularly compete at a higher level than bottom of league one with the infrastructure and expenditure available if led by the right man.
I hope you’re right. Maybe those names weren’t available before because it was so early in the season. That wasn’t me saying keep him by the way, it’s clear he has to go.
No wins in 11 in all comps is bad enough but to pick up just 3 points from 18 against the likes of Burton (twice), Cambridge, Orient, Bristol Rovers and Port Vale really is shocking. To put things into perspective, if it wasn't for Reading's points deduction, we would be currently just three points above the relegation zone. And 8 of our next 9 matches are against sides in the top half of the table.
One of the biggest issues with runs like this is that players who might have been previously doing well, like May, CBT or Jones to give just three examples, either lose the desire to stay or their form drops as a result of getting dragged into the malaise. You have to find a spark to change that and whilst a new manager can create that, it has to be the right new manager. One with proven experience of consistently motivating a side. I'm not advocating him because he is a "stop gap" appointment but it is exactly what someone like Neil Warnock does and one of the reason it works is that he usually brings with him proven back up staff who know his ways but also have the specialist knowledge and ability to convey what how to defend as a unit for example. What I would have done for a Mark Robbins or Nigel Clough appointment instead of Appleton - still young enough, played at the top level, have the experience of managing for years and an ability to make the most of the players at their disposal.
Let the charge for safety begin. With or without Appleton.
Comments
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.
Either way, after this window he's out of excuses and he's going to have to turn it around if he's going to keep the job.
- Have a better defensive set up and ensure teams can’t play through us as easily as they do
- Get our midfield to get in and dictate the game. We haven’t had that since the promotion season in 18/19
- Turn in consistent good performances. I don’t want the odd one or two, we’ve had that under Jackson, Garner and Holden. I want performances where we actually look like we know what we’re doing, and go on a run of 6/7 unbeaten, but largely made up of wins
- no more late goals. If he can’t address this then there’s something fundamentally wrong with him
- Stop making hard work of the Fleetwood’s, the Cheltenham’s etc. we’ve spluttered against these sides for so long. There’s a reason they’re below us, and if these players that we’ve bought in are as good as he says they are, let’s start beating these teams instead nicking wins and getting a point and seemingly going away pleased
1. Great strikers in the squad for this level
2. Good foundation for a very decent competitive midfield...need some creativity.
3. Appalling defence and inadquate keeper but that can be addressed in summer.
A board who are looking to spend money and move the club forward.
Lots to still appeal about Charlton.
There's only 92 jobs in the league and not many vacancies.
You're only gonna ever get a club like Burton or Fleetwood so far. Clubs like Charlton, Portsmouth, Derby etc have potential to regularly compete at a higher level than bottom of league one with the infrastructure and expenditure available if led by the right man.
We either need to hope that someone like Duff has amnesia and doesnt bother to look at where we are in the table, and only remembers: "Charlton / Premier League"
Or we need to go for someone with potential from League Two, or even the Conference, even then they'll probably think: "Fuck that, I'll get to League One quicker if I stay where I am, and still have a job at the end of it".
The reality is, we've changed Managers so often in the past few years, its career suicide to come here.
Unfortunately thats either been as the result of wrong choices, or owner ego
One of the biggest issues with runs like this is that players who might have been previously doing well, like May, CBT or Jones to give just three examples, either lose the desire to stay or their form drops as a result of getting dragged into the malaise. You have to find a spark to change that and whilst a new manager can create that, it has to be the right new manager. One with proven experience of consistently motivating a side. I'm not advocating him because he is a "stop gap" appointment but it is exactly what someone like Neil Warnock does and one of the reason it works is that he usually brings with him proven back up staff who know his ways but also have the specialist knowledge and ability to convey what how to defend as a unit for example. What I would have done for a Mark Robbins or Nigel Clough appointment instead of Appleton - still young enough, played at the top level, have the experience of managing for years and an ability to make the most of the players at their disposal.
Let the charge for safety begin. With or without Appleton.
Posted before (by me) but.... seriously. What the actual fuck.