Post Match: Cheltenham 1-0 Charlton

seth plum said:

Listened to the Slade interview and it was poor from him.

There I am praising the pre Bury press conference now here I am less than a week later and huge doubts creep back in.

God knows what would have happened had Louis asked about Johnson, but in its own way Slade came across as from the same place as Katrien saying fans have to accept the owner does it his way, and Johnson telling fans what to do if they don't like it, and now Slade wagging the finger at Louis for being 'pessimistic', and not recognising the clubs brilliant use of patience.

They all seem to hate us, tetchy ticket office staff, football and non football staff criticising us, cameras, banning orders, blue jacket stewards taking out kids at the match, simply chite after chite piled up on more chite.

Right now I see the 'team' and the 'regime' as welded together. The only redeeming feature the football staff could show is winning matches and that has been well out of reach so far.

Anyway piss poor interview from Slade but not from Louis who was respectful and restrained.

Did ask about RoJo - BBC cut it off. Was rather uncomfortable but the quotes will be released in the SLP tomorrow.

I honestly feel that the end game has started. Bring it on.

This cannot and must not go on for much longer. The time for playing by the book is over, this club is rotten to the core, we know it, the players know it and the football world know it. Time for drastic action now.

Got back a while ago after a long day in the Cotswolds. A disappointing performance and result but hardly surprising, given the shambolic way in which this club has been run and the skeletal playing resources at Russell Slade's disposal. Maybe Roland's "refusal to plan for League 1" last Spring wasn't such a smart play after all.

There was certainly no injustice tonight and Cheltenham fully deserved their victory. They started on the front foot, caused us a number of problems, got their noses in front and could easily have had one or two more. By the same measure, Holmes and Lookman were both dangerous in the first half and Ajose could have had a brace - the second chance, in particular, was a bad miss, following an excellent low cross from Holmes. Aside from that and a decent save by the keeper from Johnson, I felt that Cheltenham defended well and dealt with us reasonably comfortably.

Our level of performance dipped in the second half, Pell and Whitehead bossed the midfield and I think we could have played until midnight without scoring. Holmes went off midway through the second half and I felt that any chance we might have had of getting back into the game went with him. Lookman tried to do too much on his own after half time and the only real sniff we had was a chance for Ahearne-Grant (I think), which he screwed wide. Holmes-Dennis came on near the end for Hanlan and the poor lad couldn't do a thing right. With Ahearne-Grant ineffective on the right wing, we ended up a bit of a rag, tag and bobtail outfit.

As others have emphasised, the core problem with the team is in central midfield, where we are one-paced, unable to run with the ball and completely lacking in any creativity. To compound matters, Jacko and Crofts were not even effective in closing down the opposition, with a number of Cheltenham players running straight through us and directly at our back four with impunity. Crofts had a better second half but his distribution in the early part of the game was bloody awful. This key area of the team needs to be addressed as an absolute priority or we are very soon going to find ourselves in the lower reaches of League 1, looking over our shoulders.

It's difficult to take any real positives from tonight, save for a very composed and classy debut from Ezri Konsa. Brandon Hanlan worked very hard and did well but I don't think he's ready for the first team at this stage. The defence overall was ok, save for leaving Pell unmarked for the goal (or so it seemed from the other end). Curious, as the bloke's about 6ft 4" at least and pretty difficult to miss. Our midfield was completely bovine (with the exception of Holmes and, in the first half, Lookman) and, up front, we lacked composure in the final third and were unable to mount any sustained threat (recognising that the service was poor).

It is sobering to think that, last season, Cheltenham were three divisions below us; tonight, they outplayed us and won with something to spare. Good luck to them - I think they will be very competitive in League 2.

For all that, a thoroughly enjoyable day (for the most part), although that may have more to do with an excellent lunch and walk en route at Burford and a pre-match beer in the Kemble Brewery pub near the ground. In these troubled times, I think it's always important not to let the crap on the field - and off it - spoil a good day out.