I think there's far too much emphasis generally in reaching the play offs, which are a one in four chance at best of promotion. We need to aim for and hit top two.
A month ago I would have said play offs based on our transfers. But since we've come back from the week away there has been no more transfers & things have stalled.
I'm concerned we still haven't got a play maker in midfield - no one to run at players or to play a forward in. It seems our strategy is for the wingbacks to create things & I'm not sure their crossing is good enough.
Up top we should be ok but will definitely miss Alfie May. Just seen Sky's EFL preview & 2 of the pundits named May as their player to watch out for - says it all. Cant see any of our 6 forwards getting more than 12-15 and although people keep saying that 6 players getting 12 each is better than 1 player getting 23 and others only getting 5 or 6 I would like to point out that the 6 players wont be playing enough games to get 12 each.
May and Dobson will be a really big miss. Dobson under Jones looked better than ever in the final few games too.
But I don't think the loss of May will necessarily stop a promotion push.
In 2011-12 BWP got 22 and JJ and Kermo each got 12. The rest of the goals were spread across the squad.
Even without CBT and with Alfie May scoring far fewer post Christmas, we still didn't struggle to score goals last season. It's our defence that needs to get off to a strong start. I think we have the goals across the squad.
I went for 7th-12th as I think we will improve and go close but still not convinced we will win enough matches over the 46 game season and we could still be the draw specialist. I really don't think we will lose many games.
Voted playoffs and nice to see the majority of fans believe the same, that’s without the knowledge yet of anymore signings or loans. Must admit to harbouring thoughts of the top two when the news of the Arsenal loanee keeper was making news. Playoffs would be an amazing ride and absolutely believe we have the best manager in charge COYR
I went 7-12 as well. NJ will no doubt continue to make us difficult to beat but will we get enough goals with May now gone. Hopefully so but I fancy we may just miss the Play-Offs.
I think play offs are achievable, but it would need NJ to get the keeper he wants and an experienced goal scoring AM. If we're in with a good shout come January the board need to support even more for a final push.
Think people are reading too much into the goals scored / conceded thing.
For one we were much much leakier before Jones came in - our immediate improvements there put us top half in various form tables. He’s adding to that with his own signings which hopefully results in further improvement.
Secondly, it’s about the distribution of the goals conceded across the season. We only conceded one more than Barnsley but they had double the amount of clean sheets. That’s double the amount of opportunities to win a game scoring only one goal.
Lastly, on the goalscoring front - we all know that football isn’t played on paper. We won’t be 23 goals poorer this season. Alfie’s goals were great moments but people also forget that we were so reliant on him that our winless run coincided with him scoring 1 in 16. If Alfie stopped scoring, we stopped winning.
We are going to have to find a different way to score goals and I think it will be a net positive for our season. Sneaky feeling we might actually score more as a team without him.
With the current squad I would say 15-17, so went with 13-20. But of course there is still time to add to the squad which could change prospects.
Interesting call @msomerton. Is your perspective that the squad is changed, but essentially on par with last season?
That’s my take on it, player’s out, player’s in, but essentially squad depth and strength very similar to last season. And of course if the new forwards don’t deliver like AM and midfield don’t contribute with goals we will in fact be weaker.
Hope I am wrong and NJ’s style of play suits what we have but I am still sticking with a mid table finish
I think play offs are achievable, but it would need NJ to get the keeper he wants and an experienced goal scoring AM. If we're in with a good shout come January the board need to support even more for a final push.
We had “an experienced goal scoring AM” and sold him to Birmingham!
On the points some have made about comparing the squad, with all the movement in January we had a very different squad in February compared to September. It’s part of the reason we’ve only made 7 first team signings so far this summer.
When comparing it depends which one you’re looking at. The September squad went on that terrible winless run, the February one was hard to beat but we lacked the quality to get clean sheets and turn those many draws into wins. Obviously Appleton vs Jones made a big difference too.
As a long range supporter I voted play offs with my heart not head. Others nearer the action will have better idea of chances this season. Gut feel says not enough strike power to get the goals. Might be wrong - I can remember when Eddie Firmani was knocking in the goals.
I've seen enough in pre-season to suggest we're a top 6 side, as I think we'll grind out more wins than last year. The style of play versus Pompey will be effective in this division.
With the current squad I would say 15-17, so went with 13-20. But of course there is still time to add to the squad which could change prospects.
Interesting call @msomerton. Is your perspective that the squad is changed, but essentially on par with last season?
my perspective is that the squad is slightly better than last year, but the league is a lot stronger. Also the midfield still looks to easy to run through, no mid field defender. We still do not know who is first choice keeper. Up front to many are banking on the return of Leaburn to turn us into world beaters before we know will he be the same player as before the serious injury and op, TC has his moments but can be muscled out of games, Ahamade looks light weight and has looked slow to get into the box, Chucks will do what he does well but for how long. Some of the concerns.
7th-12th. I have absolutely no doubts we’ll be significantly better than last year, but the quality at the top will be too much for us. We needed more turnover but some of the players we’ve lost are the wrong ones. Sincerely hope I’m wrong but think it looks like a 10th place finish right now.
chat on 5Live today .. consensus is that the Championship is fairly weak other than a very few outstanding main contenders, same for L2 .. L1 however is all to play for, lots of very strong clubs going for it
Play-offs. Can't see us finishing above Birmingham or Rotherham, unlikely to be above Huddersfield. Otherwise I think we're as strong as any, like what I've seen pre-season, and think that going 7-12 I'd be basing that on last year, which I felt was a dramatic under-performance... even if the squad wasn't the strongest. Plus points: can see goals coming from all over the park, midfield looks to have a bit of class, defence seems stronger, and we have options up front. Also the football looks faster and the team fitter than before. Even if we just stick with Mannion, already have more faith in him than either keeper last year. Negatives: playing against Wimbledon we kept knocking it up to an outmatched and unsupported striker and didn't fight, defence is going to take some gelling, not yet convinced we've replaced the drive of Dobson or the goals of May Final plus point: I think we'll have a lot more opportunities to score this year than last.
Theres a lot of glass half full on here. I understand that feeling but we haven't kicked off the season yet, at least wait until 7.30 Saturday evening before writing another season off.
I genuinely haven’t a clue. I’ve gone 7th to 12th but it wouldn’t surprise me if we are much better. Equally it wouldn’t surprise me if we’ve crashed and burned by Christmas and Jones (N) has become a laughing stock. I’m hoping for the former obviously!!
Comments
We need to aim for and hit top two.
5th.
A month ago I would have said play offs based on our transfers. But since we've come back from the week away there has been no more transfers & things have stalled.
I'm concerned we still haven't got a play maker in midfield - no one to run at players or to play a forward in. It seems our strategy is for the wingbacks to create things & I'm not sure their crossing is good enough.
Up top we should be ok but will definitely miss Alfie May. Just seen Sky's EFL preview & 2 of the pundits named May as their player to watch out for - says it all. Cant see any of our 6 forwards getting more than 12-15 and although people keep saying that 6 players getting 12 each is better than 1 player getting 23 and others only getting 5 or 6 I would like to point out that the 6 players wont be playing enough games to get 12 each.
But I'm Mr pessimist.
which could change prospects.
But I don't think the loss of May will necessarily stop a promotion push.
In 2011-12 BWP got 22 and JJ and Kermo each got 12. The rest of the goals were spread across the squad.
Even without CBT and with Alfie May scoring far fewer post Christmas, we still didn't struggle to score goals last season. It's our defence that needs to get off to a strong start. I think we have the goals across the squad.
I really don't think we will lose many games.
Must admit to harbouring thoughts of the top two when the news of the Arsenal loanee keeper was making news.
Playoffs would be an amazing ride and absolutely believe we have the best manager in charge COYR
We're still short a couple but think we'll see some "effective" football that'll get us to 6th.
The good ship sets sail this Saturday.
If we're in with a good shout come January the board need to support even more for a final push.
Think people are reading too much into the goals scored / conceded thing.
Secondly, it’s about the distribution of the goals conceded across the season. We only conceded one more than Barnsley but they had double the amount of clean sheets. That’s double the amount of opportunities to win a game scoring only one goal.
Lastly, on the goalscoring front - we all know that football isn’t played on paper. We won’t be 23 goals poorer this season. Alfie’s goals were great moments but people also forget that we were so reliant on him that our winless run coincided with him scoring 1 in 16. If Alfie stopped scoring, we stopped winning.
When comparing it depends which one you’re looking at. The September squad went on that terrible winless run, the February one was hard to beat but we lacked the quality to get clean sheets and turn those many draws into wins. Obviously Appleton vs Jones made a big difference too.
For comparison:
https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/96658/updated-squad-list-3-september-2023
https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/97573/updated-squad-list-17-february-2024
would appear that everyone believes Charlton will get something from Wigan game.
Also the midfield still looks to easy to run through, no mid field defender.
We still do not know who is first choice keeper.
Up front to many are banking on the return of Leaburn to turn us into world beaters before we know will he be the same player as before the serious injury and op, TC has his moments but can be muscled out of games, Ahamade
looks light weight and has looked slow to get into the box, Chucks will do what he does well but for how long.
Some of the concerns.
Plus points: can see goals coming from all over the park, midfield looks to have a bit of class, defence seems stronger, and we have options up front. Also the football looks faster and the team fitter than before. Even if we just stick with Mannion, already have more faith in him than either keeper last year.
Negatives: playing against Wimbledon we kept knocking it up to an outmatched and unsupported striker and didn't fight, defence is going to take some gelling, not yet convinced we've replaced the drive of Dobson or the goals of May
Final plus point: I think we'll have a lot more opportunities to score this year than last.