MATCH THREAD [+POST p11]: Reading vs Charlton Athletic: B.S.M Trophy: Wed 6th Dec 2023 | KO 19.00

Braziliance

Bostonaddick said:

It is pretty clear that our youth just aren’t ready for professional football yet.  Asiimwe isn’t good in defense (which is a problem when you are a defender),  Anderson is horrible on the ball, rylah is lightweight and worst of all Campbell gives no effort unless he is in the final third.  Maybe they will develop and get there eventually but right now we can’t count on any of them.

Find myself agreeing with this as the season has gone on, for all the talk of how Appleton has done well with youth, none of them have improved and Campbell in particular looks to have regressed. 

In January we need at least 6 to 7 players 

JamesSeed

Elthamaddick said:

another route to Wembley gone - oh well

not sure I get the Hector love in - yes he had a better game but still made some very questionable passes across our own back 4. He can go from 'Beckenbauer to Berry' in seconds

Legacy of playing at a higher level. The top clubs’s CBs play those passes all the time. But the players receiving them are better equipped to deal with them than they are at our level. 

JamesSeed

Leuth said:

Braziliance said:

Leuth said:

Braziliance said:

I didn't attend or watch so I can't judge the team. I just wanted to comment on our own fans having a pop at our own fans. 

I don't see a positive outcome from it. The fan who was yelling at the end, has forked out cash, travelled and is fed up of watching bad football (from how it sounds). I am not saying he is right for going a bit mental, but I have no issue with fans who go to games and actually care about the team. That particular fan will be here long after any of those players or manager will be, so jumping on him isn't going to do any good.

I've seen comments online (not here) such as 'I hate our toxic fan base' 'he should never be allowed back to the valley' Jesus wept mate, do you think we are the only club that has fans like that? 

I am not endorsing players abuse, but the more these players put in terrible performances and are not criticised for it, the more they'll feel comfortable doing it.

I am not saying start calling players shit and booing, but if they keep no showing, they're hardly worth staying behind for and clapping. 

Yeah, you didn't watch, clearly. They played pretty well and tried hard. They could easily have won. To be abused by some coked-up twat afterwards is absurd. I don't give a shit if that fan is one of ours and he forked out cash and travelled, he's completely out of order

Are you ok mate? My opening line covered that I didnt watch the game. I've not even had a pop at Hector this time. 

Football fan abuses players on pitch, what's new? Happens at every level and every club. I am far more concerned about a club that's evidently falling away, than a singular fan who's got wound up. 

Trying hard is the minimum and I've seen these lot enough times to know playing well is a bit of a myth, teams who play well don't fail to win so consistently. 

The stats from the team that could have 'easily' won.

The stats do not reveal the quality of chances, the balance of play before and after Dobson went off, the number of times Campbell lost the ball in the last third, or that their goal was a 30 yard hit without which they'd have lost 

I’ve watched just about every game this season in one way or another, but missed the Sutton match. Didn't comment on that one, other than possibly to say the highlights looked ok. 

aliwibble

oohaahmortimer said:

aliwibble said:

@Foxycafc we can do without the c-bombs, ta.

agreed i have ©️ over the c-bomb 

I just thought that you were inordinately fond of name-dropping a certain Anglo-Danish king

BigRedEvil

I had no idea we played on Wednesday until I saw this. Crap competition don't understand why it's still going 

thecat

Thought Kanu did well in his cameo. Held the ball up well showing good strength. Also shows good energy and has a great attitude. I hope he starts on Saturday.

killerandflash

Having watched the last 3 games, 2 at the game, and one on the stream

Carlisle - thought we played adequately. Without that one but of careless/unlucky defending, we would have left with the classic scruffy 1-0 away win
Gillingham - completely unacceptable performance
Reading - thought we played ok. If Jones and Dobson hadn't picked up knocks, I think we would have won.

Yes I'm disappointed that we didn't win all 3, but only one was the sort of  performance that "deserved" an angry reaction from the away fans.

supaclive

killerandflash said:

Having watched the last 3 games, 2 at the game, and one on the stream

Carlisle - thought we played adequately. Without that one but of careless/unlucky defending, we would have left with the classic scruffy 1-0 away win
Gillingham - completely unacceptable performance
Reading - thought we played ok. If Jones and Dobson hadn't picked up knocks, I think we would have won.

Yes I'm disappointed that we didn't win all 3, but only one was the sort of  performance that "deserved" an angry reaction from the away fans.

You forgot Cheltenham at home where we were poor and got a lucky penalty for the winner. 

If you think the last six games have been acceptable that's your lookout.

I prefer to think we should be doing better.

Chunes

supaclive said:

killerandflash said:

Having watched the last 3 games, 2 at the game, and one on the stream

Carlisle - thought we played adequately. Without that one but of careless/unlucky defending, we would have left with the classic scruffy 1-0 away win
Gillingham - completely unacceptable performance
Reading - thought we played ok. If Jones and Dobson hadn't picked up knocks, I think we would have won.

Yes I'm disappointed that we didn't win all 3, but only one was the sort of  performance that "deserved" an angry reaction from the away fans.

You forgot Cheltenham at home where we were poor and got a lucky penalty for the winner. 

If you think the last six games have been acceptable that's your lookout.

I prefer to think we should be doing better.

I'm stuck in that strange place where I think we should be doing better but also think the squad isn't good enough. 

killerandflash

Chunes said:

supaclive said:

killerandflash said:

Having watched the last 3 games, 2 at the game, and one on the stream

Carlisle - thought we played adequately. Without that one but of careless/unlucky defending, we would have left with the classic scruffy 1-0 away win
Gillingham - completely unacceptable performance
Reading - thought we played ok. If Jones and Dobson hadn't picked up knocks, I think we would have won.

Yes I'm disappointed that we didn't win all 3, but only one was the sort of  performance that "deserved" an angry reaction from the away fans.

You forgot Cheltenham at home where we were poor and got a lucky penalty for the winner. 

If you think the last six games have been acceptable that's your lookout.

I prefer to think we should be doing better.

I'm stuck in that strange place where I think we should be doing better but also think the squad isn't good enough. 

The squad isn't good enough, and there are injuries to key players.

Not the fault of Appleton, and not the fault of those players out there, especially the kids who finished the game on Wednesday.

eastterrace6168

Lot's of "Could/Should be doing a lot better" comments, reminds me of my school reports...🙄

SDAddick

Bostonaddick said:

It is pretty clear that our youth just aren’t ready for professional football yet.  Asiimwe isn’t good in defense (which is a problem when you are a defender),  Anderson is horrible on the ball, rylah is lightweight and worst of all Campbell gives no effort unless he is in the final third.  Maybe they will develop and get there eventually but right now we can’t count on any of them.

I think it's worth noting that Rylah was making his debut, Anderson has been nowhere near the match day squads for league games, and when everyone is fit Assimwe doesn't start. I think all three are excellent candidates to go out on loan on January.

I think the approach with Anderson and Asiimwe in the summer was basically "show us you're ready." Neither are, but I think both have shown enough this season that I understand why we didn't immediately loan them out, even if I feel like both were exposed too much early on. I think Anderson is better on the ball than you give him credit for, I think he just looks rusty. Absolutely agree about Asiimwe, but I'm hoping his positioning will improve with regular minutes and coaching. Both should be able to play regularly in League Two.

As for Campbell, I think that's harsh because I think he is in a bad run of form. I think starting him on the right hasn't done him any favors, and again it's more him looking overexposed than anything. I don't think he was supposed to be first choice this season, but we don't have any RW at the moment. Assuming we get one in in January, he should have enough that he can come off the bench and impact games. He did assist the goal last night after all. With him it's more inconsistency (he is a young winger after all) than lack of quality. In form, he's absolutely good enough. 

I know not everyone agrees with this but I think these cup games are to give these types of players a run out (TC is more established obviously). They were up against a pretty strong Reading side and while none of them shone, I think they have shone enough (maybe except for Rylah) to prove they're not that far away. We played what, five teenagers last night? TC is 20. We finished with four on the pitch, and Reading finished with a lot of first teamers on the pitch, and that's a big part of what got them their equalizer.

Also, Hector is absolute class. He makes the game look so easy, too easy sometimes. Reminds me of Rio Ferdinand, he's going to make a mistake or two, but he's going to be brilliant for much of the game. 

SDAddick

killerandflash said:

Having watched the last 3 games, 2 at the game, and one on the stream

Carlisle - thought we played adequately. Without that one but of careless/unlucky defending, we would have left with the classic scruffy 1-0 away win
Gillingham - completely unacceptable performance
Reading - thought we played ok. If Jones and Dobson hadn't picked up knocks, I think we would have won.

Yes I'm disappointed that we didn't win all 3, but only one was the sort of  performance that "deserved" an angry reaction from the away fans.

And in between that we beat Cheltenham. 

Yeah Gillingham was bad but we were good against Carlisle for huge stretches and just couldn't find a second. Thought we were largely good last night. I keep saying it but the league is what matters and only one of those was a league game, and it was far and away the best performance of the three. 

Blucher

Oggy Red said:

Elthamaddick said:

another route to Wembley gone - oh well

not sure I get the Hector love in - yes he had a better game but still made some very questionable passes across our own back 4. He can go from 'Beckenbauer to Berry' in seconds

Also thought AMB's positioning for their goal was pretty poor, it was a screamer that hit the top corner that's for sure

"Beckenbauer to Berry"

Dear old Les Berry. The epitome of the loyal club servant and defender with occasionally unreliable tendencies.   
 

To be fair to Les, whilst I and other East Terrace stalwarts were often the recipients of his long balls down the channels, he and Peter Shaw were a thoroughly reliable and very solid central defensive partnership in Mike Bailey’s 1980/81 promotion winning team. He also played practically all his games in the second tier.

Not to the mention the fact that he was from Plumstead, where I grew up.

SDAddick

Chunes said:

supaclive said:

killerandflash said:

Having watched the last 3 games, 2 at the game, and one on the stream

Carlisle - thought we played adequately. Without that one but of careless/unlucky defending, we would have left with the classic scruffy 1-0 away win
Gillingham - completely unacceptable performance
Reading - thought we played ok. If Jones and Dobson hadn't picked up knocks, I think we would have won.

Yes I'm disappointed that we didn't win all 3, but only one was the sort of  performance that "deserved" an angry reaction from the away fans.

You forgot Cheltenham at home where we were poor and got a lucky penalty for the winner. 

If you think the last six games have been acceptable that's your lookout.

I prefer to think we should be doing better.

I'm stuck in that strange place where I think we should be doing better but also think the squad isn't good enough. 

I actually thing that's very reasonable. For example, a natural RW would make it so TC didn't have to play as much and could focus on being a supersub. More fullback cover would allow for more competition for Edun and Watson, which would either get more out of them, or replace them with a better player. 

More dynamism in midfield would help Fraser and LWatson immensely, as both could be given a freer role (one at a time most likely) and neither would be asked to sit deep quite as much. They're effective in different parts of the pitch, but I do think it would make them both better. I think the player for that is Camara, he could be excellent at it, but he needs to be fit and he isn't and hasn't been so far. Taylor might also be an option there, not quite as dynamic but very tidy, but it's the same problem as Camara obviously.

And then up front obviously we need more. A fit Miles and Chuks both would make a huge difference in this team, but that probably won't happen again this season. As such we need to get a forward in in January, maybe two.

The above should also allow Anderson, Asiimwe, and Kanu to go out on loan, which would improve their development and in the case of Asiimwe especially, take him out of the firing line. 

Also, I think getting three quality players (CF, RW, FB) in in January is achievable. It's possible to get more, but for a club at our level you always risk making sideways (at best) moves and getting in the likes of Penney and Kilkenney where on paper they look like an upgrade, but in actuality, for whatever reason, they end up worse than what you had already.

It sounds obvious, but the players you bring in should be done with an eye on getting the most out of the ones you already have. And that has not been a consistent part of our recruitment strategy for a while now, it's been a lot of getting in the best players available to us (which is a whole other problem), and not focusing on how they fit into a system.