Charlton headed up to battle a Shrewsbury Town team in poor form and just one place behind Charlton in the table. But Shrewsbury have been solid at home. And so it proved. Shrewsbury never dominated, but did control large parts of the game and probably should have made much more from their chances. In fact, you could argue that, in Charlton terms, this was Isted’s day. He made a couple of spectacular saves, although that was perhaps tempered by at least two debacles of his own making. First, he was almost caught off his line from about sixty yards. He tracked the ball high over his shoulder and managed, somewhat miraculously, to bat the ball down on the bounce and up over the crossbar. Second, he got caught with the ball at his feet outside his box and had to clumsily give away a free kick in a dangerous area; for which he received a yellow card. But on balance, he was solid and certainly helped keep a clean sheet; particularly with a great save in added time after the ninety.
Charlton had a much improved second half and created a number of solid chances that, on another day, could have been the decider. Changes came in time, with Louie Watson looking more mobile in the middle, on for Terry Taylor, and Chucks Aneke imposing himself instantly. Our danger man Corey Blackett-Taylor was effectively marshaled out of the game and replaced with Scott Fraser returning after a long injury. With all the changes we looked much more dangerous but were unable to break the deadlock.
Perhaps we’ll rue the chance to pick up all three points—and obviously we have a lot of ground to make up—but we were solid in ways we haven’t been and kept Shrewsbury from scoring. That’s a plus given our start to the season.
Shrewbury 0 Charlton 0
Over to you.
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Comments
That is all…
Ok...second half
Least we didn't loose...
Clean sheet
Now 4 games undefeated.
Sounds pretty good to me.
First 5: 0.6 points per game - relegation form.
No one will remember today if we win the 2 home games coming up
Appleton needs to move his half-time rollockings forward to pre-match. Yet again we were very poor in the first half but picked it up in the second and created enough good chances to win.
Isted finally showed what a good keeper he can be, with some important saves. Tennai Watson impressed again and the Hector:Jones double act is starting to look much more solid. Terell Thomas looks steady enough in defence now but offers nothing going forward and i remain of the opinion that Tayo Edun is a better all round option for us in the left back position.
Of all the midfield and attacking players on the pitch in the first half, only Dobbo acquitted himself well The rest were simply poor, with Alfie May and Tyreece Campbell looking particularly jaded and CBT having a rare ineffective game. Louie Watson, despite a couple of bad errors near the end of the game, gave us a composure and mobility in midfield that had previously been lacking. Then Chuks and Tedic added a more potent threat and we dominated much of the last half hour.
Overall, the game was a pretty accurate representation of third division football. Determination, strength and energy largely outweighed the skill factor.
Another game unbeaten and an away point looks ok on paper, but Appleton will know that was nowhere near good enough. We’ve got to do much better if we want to rise above mid-table obscurity.
Sort of why I’m feeling more forgiving for the performance overall. When even he’s having to struggle, you know it’s a horrible match to play in.
Millwall lost 3-0 at home
Europe thrashing the US in the Ryder Cup
We didnt lose.
Not much else.
Isted with four quality saves that earned us the point. Watching the Winchester shot again and it really is an incredible strike. He's off balance and hits it with pace and accuracy, and whatever you think of Isted's positioning (and it didn't look too bad on replays), he makes an excellent save.
We need to be better from the start, and that means at some point Appleton needs to either choose between Leaburn and May, or go two up front and sacrifice either a midfielder or CBT.
Again, been saying it since preseason, this squad had a lot of talent in it, and there is no clear way to set up a team that gets the best out of the best players. We don't have a RW. May can't play as a lone striker. We lack depth at LB.
Tuesday should be interesting. First Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday in the league this season.
having said that, we’d have lost that a few weeks ago - things are turning, just have to be patient I guess
Not a vintage performance and Appleton can't keep pulling the "slow start, impact subs" shtick, we need to start playing well from the beginning of games AND finish strongly too instead of one or the other.
But 8 points from 12 possible is better than I expected honestly. Hopefully we can start turning good patches into good games and progress from there...
In the first half, May was completely isolated and didn't get a look in. He couldn't hold the ball up and it just kept coming back, putting us under constant pressure. Throw in that Campbell, playing the 10 role, and Leaburn, out on the wing, both looked completely lost and that first half was shambolic and Appleton should take much of the blame for that.
At least when we had Tedic and Aneke up front in the second half we looked as if we might score.
I can't make my mind up about Isted. A number of really good saves but he nearly gets beaten from inside the Shrewsbury half (he was so lucky the ball bounced over after he had got his hands to it), he tries to dribble past a Shrewsbury and loses the ball and has to bring him down and his good save in the last minute was from a kick out he put straight to a Shrewsbury player. Its not going to be boring with him in goal, that's for sure.
Appleton has been working them hard for the weeks he's been here if you believe what you read. This will take its toll and you'll get lulls whilst their bodies take time to recover and you'll initially get jaded performances every few games. Hopefully consistent performances will come in time
Well that's what I'm telling myself!
We didn't lose, and that's important.
If the starting lineup had been Miles up front, May in the attacking No 10 role and TC right wing, it would surely have been more effective?
I mean if we're going to start May we need someone else up front with him. I think the Miles RW and TC 10 experiment isn't worth how it leaves us short elsewhere.
I expect 3-5-2 on Tuesday, Edun and Assimwe WBs, Leaburn and May up front. CBT and Campbell off the bench.
Lloyd Jones put in his most impressive performance so far, Isted did his job, plus Louie W, Chuks and Tenic gave us impetus and at times, a degree of control.
You know, 'if only' we'd been a bit sharper in front of goal .....like Chuks had put away one of his chances, we'd have won.