We’re always waiting for Chuks to come on and then things change. We need something better in the first half especially upfront. It’s becoming a pattern of play that we are pretty awful in front of the goal in the first half and then Chuks comes on.
I actually thought we were better going forward and better at controlling the ball than the 2-0 win over Bolton. We had some great chances, particularly in the first half, and I think starting with the front two we did, and then bringing Aneke and TC on in the 2nd half was a much more effective use of our forwards.
Rotherham are a good team. We need to beat the good teams at home more often than not, but a point is just fine.
If you keep conceding ‘worldies’ then there is something wrong with how you’re defending.
I think Mannion should have got to it. He seemed to dive past it rather than it going past him. He has yet to make a good save in 5 games.
Did you not see the save he made with his legs, that was excellent, and regarding the goal, that was down to the so called defence going AWOL, backing off and giving the guy all the room he needed, and nothing Mannion could have done, easy option to blame the keeper again...
If you keep conceding ‘worldies’ then there is something wrong with how you’re defending.
I think Mannion should have got to it. He seemed to dive past it rather than it going past him. He has yet to make a good save in 5 games.
Got to disagree Southbank, watched it again and it's a pearler, three players try, too late, to close it down so he would have seen it late, but I still don't think he would have got to it. As for not making a good save in five, that's because we are not giving the opposition chances unlike previous seasons.
What are people's thoughts on Thierry Small at the moment. For me he seems to be really off of his game and not at the levels he was producing last season. Thought he was poor today.
Industrious. But his distribution is poor more often than not. To be expected at this level though. CBT was woeful in his distribution much of the time as was Leko.
Bit baffled by reading all the “boring” comments and claims by some that they left/turned off early.
I actually enjoyed the game. Rotherham are a good side at this level and it was on a knife edge for the full 90+ minutes. The effort was there for all to see. Our defensive play/shape is chalk & cheese compared to last season. We won so many midfield battles I lost count and it wasn't all hoofball as I saw plenty of inter passing through the midfield. Admittedly our attacking threat lacks a killer blow and clearly something to work on but there were improvements on our crosses.
A draw was a fair result so no complaints!
Personally I really wonder what people expect in league one. Maybe watching too much PL and trying to compare. For me after years of shitty owners, crap managers and players who weren’t up for it, I’m only to happy to get behind our passionate manager and his hard working team! Also happy not to get too hung up on individuals deemed inadequacies and focus on what they can bring to the side. Ahadme is a case in point. Looks lacking in confidence rather than technique but wins a lots of flick ons /knock downs which we need to make better use of. Feel he needs a goal to settle down. Another is Tyreece who definitely scares the opposition with his pace and you can see the improvement in his strength.
Onwards and upwards. Played some of the stronger sides already and 10pts is a very decent return
Exactly the sort of game I was expecting, 1-1 probably fair given the lack of quality on show, but have to be fuming at how we conceded.
First half approach, said in the match thread..was far too central, Ahadme did well to win a few battles and flick ons but was up against two CB's most of the time, Small put a few good balls in for BOTH Ahadme and Godden to challenge and that's where our best chances came from - more balls in from wide, less long punts up from the back please Jones.
Ahadme had a very good game miss aside, but plenty will refuse to accept it and say stuff like "didn't win anything" (he did) and "just kept falling over" (he did under pressure a few times) is he a league one Drogba or something? no. Is he showing signs of improvement? yes, but, meh why bother analysing his play to fall on deaf ears.
Chuks, misses a sitter then smashes one in.
Ahadme and Godden in the first half with TC and Aneke in the second seems like the obvious combo and way to go going forward, Anele to continue roughing up and TC stretching those tired defenders.
Docherty....seems to have faded last couple of games and not really bringing much right now.
Hats off to the 3 kinda closing down the Rotherham player and then turning their backs as he pinged it off into the net....
I think this is probably the most predictable draw of the season 😂 2 points a game so far is good enough and I’m sure we will get better as the season progresses
Not a surprising result, we’ve become harder to beat under Jones and Rotherham especially with Evans as manager were always going to be an opponent like that too.
We’ve improved defensively under Jones this season but that’s a third goal from outside the box which is a bit concerning.
Ramsay was very good as said, if there’s something for him to improve on it’s creating chances and scoring the odd goal - in this formation we need the wing backs to play a big part in our attacking play. He has some decent moments but I’m more confident in his defending than his attacking play at the moment.
I don’t think Small is that different to last season - we just have expectations for a promotion challenge, last season was about grinding out enough results to stay up and being better than Edun. His crossing has never been consistently good game after game.
Lloyd Jones had a few good moments on the ball - some nice passes into midfield and one moment where he ended up dribbling down the left wing. He’s not shown loads of that so far in his time here but it’s one of a few things we can look at to improve our attacking play. Of course any CB playing out comes with the risk of losing the ball, so it’s about finding the right balance.
Good to see Allan Campbell make his debut, it’ll be interesting who goes on to be our first choice midfield three. We’ll get a few goals out of them as in these five games they’ve got in decent attacking positions, but the big question is will they score and create enough. Are we still yet to find the right combination?
Up front Ahadme had some better moments but the miss of course stands out. I can see him improving during his career but it’s another big question - will he improve enough and quick enough to make an impact with us.
Godden didn’t really get in the game, so we’re back to the issue of whether Campbell’s pace and skill gives us more threat, or do we stick with Godden from the start to give us a natural goalscorer.
Same story with our attacking play as we saw in other games. Our crossing and set piece delivery needs to improve especially if we’re continuing with always having a target man up front. There’s also still room to find the right balance when we have the ball to pass short rather than go long, but without completely opening up defensively.
We’re not great to watch but I think it’s easy to forget how far being tough to beat and strong defensively gets you at this level. We went on that long run without a win last season and despite threat of relegation we finished safely in lower mid table.
Looking forward to having Leaburn available to start fairly soon. Jones wants a target man up there but with Aneke’s fitness Ahadme currently doesn’t have any real competition for his place. With so many options up there it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out over the season and who ends up being our first choice front two.
I’d have taken 10 points from 5 games in the summer, but it would probably feel more positive if we were better going forward at the expense of not being quite as solid defensively. No doubt Jones will be working on our attacking play but I get the concerns that the types of players we have are the issue and coaching will only go so far.
Bit baffled by reading all the “boring” comments and claims by some that they left/turned off early.
I actually enjoyed the game. Rotherham are a good side at this level and it was on a knife edge for the full 90+ minutes. The effort was there for all to see. Our defensive play/shape is chalk & cheese compared to last season. We won so many midfield battles I lost count and it wasn't all hoofball as I saw plenty of inter passing through the midfield. Admittedly our attacking threat lacks a killer blow and clearly something to work on but there were improvements on our crosses.
A draw was a fair result so no complaints!
Personally I really wonder what people expect in league one. Maybe watching too much PL and trying to compare. For me after years of shitty owners, crap managers and players who weren’t up for it, I’m only to happy to get behind our passionate manager and his hard working team! Also happy not to get too hung up on individuals deemed inadequacies and focus on what they can bring to the side. Ahadme is a case in point. Looks lacking in confidence rather than technique but wins a lots of flick ons /knock downs which we need to make better use of. Feel he needs a goal to settle down. Another is Tyreece who definitely scares the opposition with his pace and you can see the improvement in his strength.
Onwards and upwards. Played some of the stronger sides already and 10pts is a very decent return
Apart from Reading in 8th who beat us our other four opponents are 15th and below, Leyton Orient are bottom on zero points
I am struggling to understand your “played some of the stronger sides” comment
Some people seem to forget where we were last year.
Baffles me how many are saying we’re shit, when in fact we’re tough to beat and funding our feet going forwards which will take time. We also have leaburn to come back. some have short memories
Bit baffled by reading all the “boring” comments and claims by some that they left/turned off early.
I actually enjoyed the game. Rotherham are a good side at this level and it was on a knife edge for the full 90+ minutes. The effort was there for all to see. Our defensive play/shape is chalk & cheese compared to last season. We won so many midfield battles I lost count and it wasn't all hoofball as I saw plenty of inter passing through the midfield. Admittedly our attacking threat lacks a killer blow and clearly something to work on but there were improvements on our crosses.
A draw was a fair result so no complaints!
Personally I really wonder what people expect in league one. Maybe watching too much PL and trying to compare. For me after years of shitty owners, crap managers and players who weren’t up for it, I’m only to happy to get behind our passionate manager and his hard working team! Also happy not to get too hung up on individuals deemed inadequacies and focus on what they can bring to the side. Ahadme is a case in point. Looks lacking in confidence rather than technique but wins a lots of flick ons /knock downs which we need to make better use of. Feel he needs a goal to settle down. Another is Tyreece who definitely scares the opposition with his pace and you can see the improvement in his strength.
Onwards and upwards. Played some of the stronger sides already and 10pts is a very decent return
Agreed. Quite enjoyed the game and real shame ahadme missed that early chance.
Bit baffled by reading all the “boring” comments and claims by some that they left/turned off early.
I actually enjoyed the game. Rotherham are a good side at this level and it was on a knife edge for the full 90+ minutes. The effort was there for all to see. Our defensive play/shape is chalk & cheese compared to last season. We won so many midfield battles I lost count and it wasn't all hoofball as I saw plenty of inter passing through the midfield. Admittedly our attacking threat lacks a killer blow and clearly something to work on but there were improvements on our crosses.
A draw was a fair result so no complaints!
Personally I really wonder what people expect in league one. Maybe watching too much PL and trying to compare. For me after years of shitty owners, crap managers and players who weren’t up for it, I’m only to happy to get behind our passionate manager and his hard working team! Also happy not to get too hung up on individuals deemed inadequacies and focus on what they can bring to the side. Ahadme is a case in point. Looks lacking in confidence rather than technique but wins a lots of flick ons /knock downs which we need to make better use of. Feel he needs a goal to settle down. Another is Tyreece who definitely scares the opposition with his pace and you can see the improvement in his strength.
Onwards and upwards. Played some of the stronger sides already and 10pts is a very decent return
Apart from Reading in 8th who beat us our other four opponents are 15th and below, Leyton Orient are bottom on zero points
I am struggling to understand your “played some of the stronger sides” comment
This early in the season it’s kind of silly to judge how good opponents are based on where they are in the table.
If we beat Reading they’d be 15th or below. If Bolton beat us they’d be 8th or 9th.
Some people seem to forget where we were last year.
Baffles me how many are saying we’re shit, when in fact we’re tough to beat and funding our feet going forwards which will take time. We also have leaburn to come back. some have short memories
We may be tough to beat but we are also tough to watch. Slow, predictable midfield. Passing around at the back with no obvious outlet (which led to their goal when we gave it away which players of our calibre usually do). No creative spark and worst of all, no or few goals, 5 in 5 games. It is dull, dull dull. As a long term supporter (60 years) I have seen some very good and some very poor teams, but dull teams make it very hard to enjoy at any level.
Ahadme wins some decent aerial battles but i think we've had our pants pulled down im afraid.
If he's a million pound league one footballer I'm the 3rd Earl of Wimborne.
Won a couple of headers but for a supposed target man is lightweight and spent half the first half on the deck.
We've got him so I'll back him of course but needs a goal off his backside or something to give him a bit of confidence.
Campbell (T) came off the bench and was aggressive and hungry....completely different from the pacy but timid player we had last year and Jones has improved him tenfold.
Sit right in the front row behind the goal, Dillon Phillips was a good bloke with the chat today. Would take him back in a heart beat in our squad.
Supported the club through thick and thin and thin and thin for 40 years, and did something today I've never done. I left at half time because I was just bored. Don't know whether it's me or the team, but I felt no entertainment at all in that 45 minutes. Seemed like there was no attacking plan whatsoever, with no midfield support pushing up to form any sort of sustained attack. If that's what it takes to get promoted, I despair.
.
I said on the match thread at half time, reading the comments from those watching online there feels such a disparity of what’s being observed watching online to being in the stadium.
I don’t know if it’s the lack of movement or the amount of time the ball is bouncing around in the air etc not being so noticeable online, or you’re able to not emotionally invest yourself so much, I don’t know. I’m not criticising those not there so please don’t take it that way, it’s just an observation. The different view to what people were seeing in Ahadme online compared to everyone around me in the stand was palpable.
Things picked up 2nd half and it was a fantastic goal by Chucks. But with us now having a good feel of what a good League One team looks like, I was expecting us to be better than this so far.
I know we’ve only lost once, and I can’t fault the effort in any way. I’m just desperate to now get out of this league but I just can’t see how we are going to get our attacking play and midfield working in the first 2/3rds of a game.
I admit it’s easier to accept disjointed attacking play and focus on the effort and discipline when I don’t have to plan my entire Saturday around the game.
It’s only just gone lunch time here and I still have the rest of the day ahead to focus on other things. Most at the Valley will have planned their day or weekend around the 90 minutes.
With that said, I also think people would be more accepting of the style of play if we hadn’t just gone through three years of utter depressing shite.
I think if we get to March, still playing the way we are, but with 70 points from 35, everyone will be feeling a lot more mellow about the style of football.
Some people seem to forget where we were last year.
Baffles me how many are saying we’re shit, when in fact we’re tough to beat and funding our feet going forwards which will take time. We also have leaburn to come back. some have short memories
We may be tough to beat but we are also tough to watch. Slow, predictable midfield. Passing around at the back with no obvious outlet (which led to their goal when we gave it away which players of our calibre usually do). No creative spark and worst of all, no or few goals, 5 in 5 games. It is dull, dull dull. As a long term supporter (60 years) I have seen some very good and some very poor teams, but dull teams make it very hard to enjoy at any level.
Yes, we're a dull watch. Of the "promotion contenders" the lowest scorers, and also with a very low xG as well, as we've created so few chances.
We will always be competitive as we're solid defensively, but as we create so little going forward, I can see us struggling to beat equally defensive sides, as everyone now knows how we play, and the subs NJ makes.
Supported the club through thick and thin and thin and thin for 40 years, and did something today I've never done. I left at half time because I was just bored. Don't know whether it's me or the team, but I felt no entertainment at all in that 45 minutes. Seemed like there was no attacking plan whatsoever, with no midfield support pushing up to form any sort of sustained attack. If that's what it takes to get promoted, I despair.
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I said on the match thread at half time, reading the comments from those watching online there feels such a disparity of what’s being observed watching online to being in the stadium.
I don’t know if it’s the lack of movement or the amount of time the ball is bouncing around in the air etc not being so noticeable online, or you’re able to not emotionally invest yourself so much, I don’t know. I’m not criticising those not there so please don’t take it that way, it’s just an observation. The different view to what people were seeing in Ahadme online compared to everyone around me in the stand was palpable.
Things picked up 2nd half and it was a fantastic goal by Chucks. But with us now having a good feel of what a good League One team looks like, I was expecting us to be better than this so far.
I know we’ve only lost once, and I can’t fault the effort in any way. I’m just desperate to now get out of this league but I just can’t see how we are going to get our attacking play and midfield working in the first 2/3rds of a game.
I admit it’s easier to accept disjointed attacking play and focus on the effort and discipline when I don’t have to plan my entire Saturday around the game.
It’s only just gone lunch time here and I still have the rest of the day ahead to focus on other things. Most at the Valley will have planned their day or weekend around the 90 minutes.
With that said, I also think people would be more accepting of the style of play if we hadn’t just gone through three years of utter depressing shite.
I think if we get to March, still playing the way we are, but with 70 points from 35, everyone will be feeling a lot more mellow about the style of football.
Maybe, but the crowd was very quiet today for most of the game, which reflected the entertainment level. There is very little obvious empathy with the players, nobody stands out except Ramsey (and the subs). All around me people were complaining about the passing back, the lack of pace and grace. There is little to grab anybody and get them to back the team. As I said above, it is just dull, a dull way to spend an afternoon, even as a committed Charlton fan.
Pretty painful watch tbh the football is dreadful and plan A does look to be a long diagonal ball, I suppose if we get promoted it will all be worth it but by god it’s full, the ball wasn’t on the floor for the first 3 minutes
Ahadme is absolutely shite, fingers crossed Leaburn is still the man, oh to have seen him up front with Alfie…
Terrible result. 5 goals from 5 games is nowhere near promotion. We now need 75 goals from remaining games to get into play offs as 80 are needed. Our useless strike pair have zero from 5. Then we bring on a player who is only ever half fit - yes he scores but really is that the answer. I doubt our front 2 will score 20 between them. Supporter since 1958 - we had Treacy and Tees in late sixties then Flanagan and Hales in seventies. All proper strikers. I see anothet halfway finish if we are lucky. Selling May totally ridiculous.
Sat very close to our bench today and a few observations:
- Jones very frustrated with Ahadme constantly slipping over. Told him to change his boots on more than one occasion - He has plasters on the tips of each index finger. Have noticed this before and I think it’s because if he isn’t ranting and raving he’s biting his nails and the skin around them - He micro manages. Constantly talking and sometimes berating. He doesn’t give the players much of a rest from his voice - He could sense the urgency which led to some carelessness. Told the players to relax and calm. Quite tough to do when your manager is like a coiled spring on the touchline.
Pretty painful watch tbh the football is dreadful and plan A does look to be a long diagonal ball, I suppose if we get promoted it will all be worth it but by god it’s full, the ball wasn’t on the floor for the first 3 minutes
Ahadme is absolutely shite, fingers crossed Leaburn is still the man, oh to have seen him up front with Alfie…
Don't speak too loud, Birmingham may be listening...🙄
Terrible result. 5 goals from 5 games is nowhere near promotion. We now need 75 goals from remaining games to get into play offs as 80 are needed. Our useless strike pair have zero from 5. Then we bring on a player who is only ever half fit - yes he scores but really is that the answer. I doubt our front 2 will score 20 between them. Supporter since 1958 - we had Treacy and Tees in late sixties then Flanagan and Hales in seventies. All proper strikers. I see anothet halfway finish if we are lucky. Selling May totally ridiculous.
Congratulations to last season’s top three goalscoring teams on their promotion last season (and the only three teams to reach the magic 80): Bolton, Peterborough and Barnsley.
Wonder who the six potential starters were? A Campbell is the only one I can think
Struggling to get to 6 also. A certain amount of exaggeration to make the result and performance look better.
Leaburn, Edwards, A Campbell, Potts
REG?
Unless Anderson and Kanu are included in the six, maybe Hylton as well, if he means "couldn't play" in the sense that he wasn't signed in time to be involved.
Comments
TC and Chuks livened things up.
CBT was woeful in his distribution much of the time as was Leko.
Personally I really wonder what people expect in league one. Maybe watching too much PL and trying to compare. For me after years of shitty owners, crap managers and players who weren’t up for it, I’m only to happy to get behind our passionate manager and his hard working team! Also happy not to get too hung up on individuals deemed inadequacies and focus on what they can bring to the side. Ahadme is a case in point. Looks lacking in confidence rather than technique but wins a lots of flick ons /knock downs which we need to make better use of. Feel he needs a goal to settle down. Another is Tyreece who definitely scares the opposition with his pace and you can see the improvement in his strength.
First half approach, said in the match thread..was far too central, Ahadme did well to win a few battles and flick ons but was up against two CB's most of the time, Small put a few good balls in for BOTH Ahadme and Godden to challenge and that's where our best chances came from - more balls in from wide, less long punts up from the back please Jones.
Ahadme had a very good game miss aside, but plenty will refuse to accept it and say stuff like "didn't win anything" (he did) and "just kept falling over" (he did under pressure a few times) is he a league one Drogba or something? no. Is he showing signs of improvement? yes, but, meh why bother analysing his play to fall on deaf ears.
Chuks, misses a sitter then smashes one in.
Ahadme and Godden in the first half with TC and Aneke in the second seems like the obvious combo and way to go going forward, Anele to continue roughing up and TC stretching those tired defenders.
Docherty....seems to have faded last couple of games and not really bringing much right now.
Hats off to the 3 kinda closing down the Rotherham player and then turning their backs as he pinged it off into the net....
Meh, points a point.
We’ve improved defensively under Jones this season but that’s a third goal from outside the box which is a bit concerning.
Ramsay was very good as said, if there’s something for him to improve on it’s creating chances and scoring the odd goal - in this formation we need the wing backs to play a big part in our attacking play. He has some decent moments but I’m more confident in his defending than his attacking play at the moment.
I don’t think Small is that different to last season - we just have expectations for a promotion challenge, last season was about grinding out enough results to stay up and being better than Edun. His crossing has never been consistently good game after game.
Lloyd Jones had a few good moments on the ball - some nice passes into midfield and one moment where he ended up dribbling down the left wing. He’s not shown loads of that so far in his time here but it’s one of a few things we can look at to improve our attacking play. Of course any CB playing out comes with the risk of losing the ball, so it’s about finding the right balance.
Good to see Allan Campbell make his debut, it’ll be interesting who goes on to be our first choice midfield three. We’ll get a few goals out of them as in these five games they’ve got in decent attacking positions, but the big question is will they score and create enough. Are we still yet to find the right combination?
Up front Ahadme had some better moments but the miss of course stands out. I can see him improving during his career but it’s another big question - will he improve enough and quick enough to make an impact with us.
Godden didn’t really get in the game, so we’re back to the issue of whether Campbell’s pace and skill gives us more threat, or do we stick with Godden from the start to give us a natural goalscorer.
Same story with our attacking play as we saw in other games. Our crossing and set piece delivery needs to improve especially if we’re continuing with always having a target man up front. There’s also still room to find the right balance when we have the ball to pass short rather than go long, but without completely opening up defensively.
We’re not great to watch but I think it’s easy to forget how far being tough to beat and strong defensively gets you at this level. We went on that long run without a win last season and despite threat of relegation we finished safely in lower mid table.
Looking forward to having Leaburn available to start fairly soon. Jones wants a target man up there but with Aneke’s fitness Ahadme currently doesn’t have any real competition for his place. With so many options up there it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out over the season and who ends up being our first choice front two.
I’d have taken 10 points from 5 games in the summer, but it would probably feel more positive if we were better going forward at the expense of not being quite as solid defensively. No doubt Jones will be working on our attacking play but I get the concerns that the types of players we have are the issue and coaching will only go so far.
I am struggling to understand your “played some of the stronger sides” comment
some have short memories
Agreed. Quite enjoyed the game and real shame ahadme missed that early chance.
No creative spark and worst of all, no or few goals, 5 in 5 games.
It is dull, dull dull.
As a long term supporter (60 years) I have seen some very good and some very poor teams, but dull teams make it very hard to enjoy at any level.
If he's a million pound league one footballer I'm the 3rd Earl of Wimborne.
Won a couple of headers but for a supposed target man is lightweight and spent half the first half on the deck.
We've got him so I'll back him of course but needs a goal off his backside or something to give him a bit of confidence.
Campbell (T) came off the bench and was aggressive and hungry....completely different from the pacy but timid player we had last year and Jones has improved him tenfold.
Sit right in the front row behind the goal, Dillon Phillips was a good bloke with the chat today. Would take him back in a heart beat in our squad.
It’s only just gone lunch time here and I still have the rest of the day ahead to focus on other things. Most at the Valley will have planned their day or weekend around the 90 minutes.
With that said, I also think people would be more accepting of the style of play if we hadn’t just gone through three years of utter depressing shite.
I think if we get to March, still playing the way we are, but with 70 points from 35, everyone will be feeling a lot more mellow about the style of football.
We will always be competitive as we're solid defensively, but as we create so little going forward, I can see us struggling to beat equally defensive sides, as everyone now knows how we play, and the subs NJ makes.
Ahadme is absolutely shite, fingers crossed Leaburn is still the man, oh to have seen him up front with Alfie…
- Jones very frustrated with Ahadme constantly slipping over. Told him to change his boots on more than one occasion
- He has plasters on the tips of each index finger. Have noticed this before and I think it’s because if he isn’t ranting and raving he’s biting his nails and the skin around them
- He micro manages. Constantly talking and sometimes berating. He doesn’t give the players much of a rest from his voice
- He could sense the urgency which led to some carelessness. Told the players to relax and calm. Quite tough to do when your manager is like a coiled spring on the touchline.
Leaburn, Edwards, A Campbell, Potts
REG?
Oh wait…
I suspect you can include Berry in that who might not have had a proper week’s training after illness.