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POST-MATCH THREAD: Cardiff City v Charlton Athletic: Saturday 19th September 2026: KO 12:30
Comments
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Playing a low block was an issueSantaClaus said:It's clear the league has sussed our flaws. We have a lack of ability on the ball which means we cough up possession in dangerous areas when put under pressure and our own ineffective press constantly leaves our midfield and defence dangerously exposed. Jones has 3 weeks to figure out solutions, if he doesn't we're in big trouble this season.
it just invited pressure onto us as we were way too deep….they pinned us in the last third and with quick passes into the channels caused all sorts of issues…1 -
What has happened to Mwamba. He would definitely given us more energy off the bench.6
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The fans who are truly panicking must be the ones that hand out player ratings in pre-season friendlies, and/or name their player of the season after just three games!3
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I can't see much difference from last season where we flirted with relegation - possibly we look worse in defence. We create next to nothing and our only attacking outlet is TC.mendonca said:The fans who are truly panicking must be the ones that hand out player ratings in pre-season friendlies, and/or name their player of the season after just three games!
Saturday was utterly dreadful - just looked totally disorganised. Okonkwo and some poor finishing from Cardiff kept the score down.
The majority of our loan signings don't seem to be adding much and I'm struggling to see three worse teams in this division.
Hopefully things pick up....12 -
We also played a different system. We have switched to four at the back in order to play a more attacking game. However, as you point out, we did not bring in the necessary 10 , or as it turns out the 7, we would need to make that work. As a result our defence is not as good and our attack has not improved. The only real advantage has been seeing TC so effective in his proper position.Crispywood said:
Last year the responsibility of our 10 was to gather the 2nd balls from strikers or opposition CB’s in the final 3rd after a long ball, run with the ball and shoot.PeaksAndValleys said:
Our formation last year also had a 10. And the guy in it was our top scorer and one of our best playersDDOUBLEE said:
Unacceptable. We've moved to a formation with a 10, and yet failed to sign a 10 and completely alienated the two we already have. Jones, Chapple, Rodwell, What on earth were you doing?Macronate said:Against a team that hadn’t won in the league this season:
This year the responsibility of our 10 is to drop deeper receive the ball supply quality passes out to the wing and play off the striker who aims to retain possession holding up the ball opposed to flicking the ball on.The same position but the jobs are completely different and every single fan knew Carey and Knibbs aren’t the type of CAM’s who can play with the ball in possession
I suspect we may shift back to a 5 at the back in order to survive.
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It’s going to be a long season, as it was last time round. Regardless of what formation we play or how we try to change things the fact will remain that we are one of the poorer teams in this division. We create and score so little that we are utterly dependent on keeping things tight but that means, when things go wrong defensively, pretty much any match can turn into a tonking.hoof_it_up_to_benty said:
I can't see much difference from last season where we flirted with relegation - possibly we look worse in defence. We create next to nothing and our only attacking outlet is TC.mendonca said:The fans who are truly panicking must be the ones that hand out player ratings in pre-season friendlies, and/or name their player of the season after just three games!
Saturday was utterly dreadful - just looked totally disorganised. Okonkwo and some poor finishing from Cardiff kept the score down.
The majority of our loan signings don't seem to be adding much and I'm struggling to see three worse teams in this division.
Hopefully things pick up....I would expect that Jones may use this break to shift us back to a back 3, especially if Edwards and Ramsay are going to be available. That might make us a little more solid, but I doubt it will significantly change the outcome of the season. We’ll still do well to avoid relegation.4 -
Point number 2. Karlan Grant at the Valley about a month ago?golfaddick said:Looking back at their first 2 goals. When was the last time we.........
1) managed to drag the defender out, let the ball run through to a team mare, who then lays it off to the the player running onto with yards of space to to stick it in the corner of the net.
2) have a striker 6 yards out with his back to goal and a defender behind him - then spin him so that he has a yard of space to thump the ball into the net.
So simple yet we don't get the chance to do any of this. Leaburn had not had anything like the chance Salech had yesterday. 8 games in & we hardly create a chance for our strikers to convert.
We rely on half chances and snatched shots. No wonder we are joint bottom for goals scored. I believe Cardiff had more shots at goal yesterday than we have had all season.
Until this changes we are going to continue to struggle to score and over time will fall down the table.1 -
Saturday was a hard watch and a comprehensive defeat. Jones’ mantra up to now has been to keep a clean sheet and steal a goal. ( See his team talk after the Wembley win. )This has served us well in the last couple of seasons, but three goals at Cardiff, despite Okonkwo having decent game, and four at Stoke, suggests we are being found out. Jones has worked wonders over the last two and a half years but he has a conundrum to sort out now.0
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Crispywood said:
Last year the responsibility of our 10 was to gather the 2nd balls from strikers or opposition CB’s in the final 3rd after a long ball, run with the ball and shoot.PeaksAndValleys said:
Our formation last year also had a 10. And the guy in it was our top scorer and one of our best playersDDOUBLEE said:
Unacceptable. We've moved to a formation with a 10, and yet failed to sign a 10 and completely alienated the two we already have. Jones, Chapple, Rodwell, What on earth were you doing?Macronate said:Against a team that hadn’t won in the league this season:This year the responsibility of our 10 is to drop deeper receive the ball supply quality passes out to the wing and play off the striker who aims to retain possession holding up the ball opposed to flicking the ball on.The same position but the jobs are completely different and every single fan knew Carey and Knibbs aren’t the type of CAM’s who can play with the ball in possession
Carey got the ball on the half way line last season against Ipswich (or was it Leicester ?) away and ran in possession of the ball with players around him and scored by changing feet and doing his trademark power shot from the edge of the box.
So Sonny can do it but unfortunately this season when he plays he's getting caught in possession and has lost some confidence not helped by the crowds groans just like TC endured last season before taking over as top scorer this season.
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The goal you are describing is exactly what Crispywood is saying Carey is good at. It was a long ball forward, he got on the second ball, drove forward and shot. He’s very good at these thingssoapboxsam said:Crispywood said:
Last year the responsibility of our 10 was to gather the 2nd balls from strikers or opposition CB’s in the final 3rd after a long ball, run with the ball and shoot.PeaksAndValleys said:
Our formation last year also had a 10. And the guy in it was our top scorer and one of our best playersDDOUBLEE said:
Unacceptable. We've moved to a formation with a 10, and yet failed to sign a 10 and completely alienated the two we already have. Jones, Chapple, Rodwell, What on earth were you doing?Macronate said:Against a team that hadn’t won in the league this season:This year the responsibility of our 10 is to drop deeper receive the ball supply quality passes out to the wing and play off the striker who aims to retain possession holding up the ball opposed to flicking the ball on.The same position but the jobs are completely different and every single fan knew Carey and Knibbs aren’t the type of CAM’s who can play with the ball in possession
Carey got the ball on the half way line last season against Ipswich (or was it Leicester ?) away and ran in possession of the ball with players around him and scored by changing feet and doing his trademark power shot from the edge of the box.
So Sonny can do it but unfortunately this season when he plays he's getting caught in possession and has lost some confidence not helped by the crowds groans just like TC endured last season before taking over as top scorer this season.
This season though, we are trying to play long balls less. And the 10 position needs to be able to get on the ball deeper, on the half turn and then pick out the front 3 ahead of him. That’s what Carey isn’t so good at and why he’s struggling. It’s why Costello has looked better there but unfortunately he’s poor without the ball so it’s a risk starting him0 -
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I get NJ 'taking the responsibility'........ in public at least........ but I hope/expect he's not doing that in the dressing room......... this was our first away game since we folded at Stoke........ and tbh I expected better, I expected every one of them to compete and make it hard for our opponents.
I'm not picking on Danny Mac as he got the media short straw for the post-match player interview........ but where were the 'senior players' who should be leading, encouraging, telling everyone to flipping well up their game. Please don't trot out the same old player platitudes for the 2nd away game in a row....... when you 'come across the white line' make sure you lead as well as play........ and if that means calling out other 'senior' players then flipping well do it! If you all give it your all and get well beaten then so be it, you can hold your hands up and (most of) the fans will be good with that.
NJ has to take responsibility for the players he picks and for his subs and the timing of his subs...... and he's right in his post-game comments, he does need to be more 'ruthless'.1 -
When the team isn’t playing well the reputation of the players who aren’t getting game time grows. Carey being the latest example seemingly.6
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We’re all concerned with a 10 and a 7, yet game after game, the “evolution” struggles to beat any first line of press, collect in midfield and progress forward. It doesn’t even get to the area of a 10 & 7 with enough body’s around to make a difference anyway!There are intricacies required to play in possession, when oppositions adapt it requires counter adaptation, little tactcial tweaks which BB Murphy & Julien Stephan showed against us. NJ completely changes formations, it doesn’t work so he changes again! That concerns me!We’ve witnessed how well he can set up a team defensively, completely nullify a game and nick points from set prices, restarts and opposition errors. I have no doubt he’d keep us up again doing that, however unenjoyable the 90 mins weekly would be to watch.
He is not an in possession or attacking manager at this level. Stick to your strengths comes to minds1 -
NabySarr said:
The goal you are describing is exactly what Crispywood is saying Carey is good at. It was a long ball forward, he got on the second ball, drove forward and shot. He’s very good at these thingssoapboxsam said:Crispywood said:
Last year the responsibility of our 10 was to gather the 2nd balls from strikers or opposition CB’s in the final 3rd after a long ball, run with the ball and shoot.PeaksAndValleys said:
Our formation last year also had a 10. And the guy in it was our top scorer and one of our best playersDDOUBLEE said:
Unacceptable. We've moved to a formation with a 10, and yet failed to sign a 10 and completely alienated the two we already have. Jones, Chapple, Rodwell, What on earth were you doing?Macronate said:Against a team that hadn’t won in the league this season:This year the responsibility of our 10 is to drop deeper receive the ball supply quality passes out to the wing and play off the striker who aims to retain possession holding up the ball opposed to flicking the ball on.The same position but the jobs are completely different and every single fan knew Carey and Knibbs aren’t the type of CAM’s who can play with the ball in possession
Carey got the ball on the half way line last season against Ipswich (or was it Leicester ?) away and ran in possession of the ball with players around him and scored by changing feet and doing his trademark power shot from the edge of the box.
So Sonny can do it but unfortunately this season when he plays he's getting caught in possession and has lost some confidence not helped by the crowds groans just like TC endured last season before taking over as top scorer this season.
This season though, we are trying to play long balls less. And the 10 position needs to be able to get on the ball deeper, on the half turn and then pick out the front 3 ahead of him. That’s what Carey isn’t so good at and why he’s struggling. It’s why Costello has looked better there but unfortunately he’s poor without the ball so it’s a risk starting him
Sonny got the ball on the half way line from a ball in the air that was headed down by the Ipswich* CB. This wasn't hoof ball that's goes over everyone's head and reaches the opposition keeper; the type that wound up Stockley and shortened his career at CAFC under Garner.
There are only good passes whether they are long or short.
We are still doing the same to Leaburn despite Miles being capable on the ground.
I had the two fastest players in the league and we played long diagonally balls for my speedy strikers to lose their markers at the low level I tried out all my ideas. The basics are the same but the execution has to be more accurate at Championship level obviously.
Both Skipp and Coventry are 6's and Carey is a shadow striker 10 and we need that number 8 which so far only the injury proned Chalobah looks capable of achieving.
* Definitely Ipswich not Leicester after watching the magnificent 8 goals from Carey last season again this morning and I would insist Sonny spend some afternoons to recreate that sharp player who can either have a pop at goal or pass wide to TC or other wide player probably Grant.
He doesn't look as fit or sharp so far and needs to show it in training and replicate on match days when chosen to start.
That applies to every player as this is the Championship where you are only as good as your last match by the masses.
I listened to the praise that knibbs received on CL before he joined by the experts on Reading but so far I don't recognise that player and NJ just doesn't give Harvey minutes so far in 26/27 🤷🏻♂️0 -
I don't think we've been found out, that's a nonsense.
If we defend in numbers and everyone does their job it's hard to score against us.
The issue is we've not being doing that.
Why haven't we been doing that?
We need (pretty much) all 11 to be at it.
Currently in different measures we've got Bindon, Alii and Ouma not "at it".
We can't keep clean sheets with only 8 effective players.
Plus the "10" issue/Carey and possibly Skipp.
Answer - leave out the 3 main problems and go from there.
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We stayed up last season without ever being in the relegation zone. It's not like we've lost key players since then. Arguably we've added a few and some of our young players have stepped up a level. We'll be fine.
Some of the performances have been hard to watch but we have to be mentally prepared to lose a lot of games this season. We're a bottom third side and we will lose and get outclassed pretty often. That's just the reality.
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Are we / NJ overlooking something very obvious here and that is that we are (once you strip / de cloud yourself from the 4231 stuff) basically playing 424 away from home. 2 wingers and 2 strikers? Isn't that going to make it very difficult to be 'compact' / compete / gain possession of the ball? Its okay for NJ to call out the players for effort but is he asking them to do the impossible? It worked at West Ham but have other teams now cottoned on to it whilst the effort being asked of our players is maybe not sustainable in this formation long term? Trying it at home to be more 'expansive' is one thing but do we need to get back to the 532 thing away from home? Maybe not as we have no proper wing backs but??? - 3 weeks to have a re think3
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If we had lost our first two games drew next 3 then won last three people would be saying much different .. but guys it’s the same so it’s still an excellent start and let’s not forget we had two points robbed at home to QPR and a blatent pen not given v Pompey …. Really should be 16 points ..4
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I think you have a point but pressing in a 442 shape when out of possession is the in thing. 7/8 teams did it in the WC, Liverpool do it as do some other PL clubs. It can be really effective but it requires discipline and buy in from everyone, that was lacking on SaturdayDOUCHER said:Are we / NJ overlooking something very obvious here and that is that we are (once you strip / de cloud yourself from the 4231 stuff) basically playing 424 away from home. 2 wingers and 2 strikers? Isn't that going to make it very difficult to be 'compact' / compete / gain possession of the ball? Its okay for NJ to call out the players for effort but is he asking them to do the impossible? It worked at West Ham but have other teams now cottoned on to it whilst the effort being asked of our players is maybe not sustainable in this formation long term? Trying it at home to be more 'expansive' is one thing but do we need to get back to the 532 thing away from home? Maybe not as we have no proper wing backs but??? - 3 weeks to have a re think1 -
100%. Some people just like to have a meltdown every time we lose, it’s going to happen plenty and we will have plenty more runs of games without wins. I’d have thought as Charlton fans we’d be used to losing by now but obviously not.Chunes said:We stayed up last season without ever being in the relegation zone. It's not like we've lost key players since then. Arguably we've added a few and some of our young players have stepped up a level. We'll be fine.
Some of the performances have been hard to watch but we have to be mentally prepared to lose a lot of games this season. We're a bottom third side and we will lose and get outclassed pretty often. That's just the reality.As long as we are still a good distance from the drop I’ll be pretty happy5 -
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Who will be the wing backs if we go 3 at the back ? The summer window was set up for 4 at the back so we brought in wingers & defenders. We have no natural wing backs. If we go back to putting TC back there then we will be worse than we are now as he is the only attacking threat we have......and he is NOT a defender.se9addick said:
It’s going to be a long season, as it was last time round. Regardless of what formation we play or how we try to change things the fact will remain that we are one of the poorer teams in this division. We create and score so little that we are utterly dependent on keeping things tight but that means, when things go wrong defensively, pretty much any match can turn into a tonking.hoof_it_up_to_benty said:
I can't see much difference from last season where we flirted with relegation - possibly we look worse in defence. We create next to nothing and our only attacking outlet is TC.mendonca said:The fans who are truly panicking must be the ones that hand out player ratings in pre-season friendlies, and/or name their player of the season after just three games!
Saturday was utterly dreadful - just looked totally disorganised. Okonkwo and some poor finishing from Cardiff kept the score down.
The majority of our loan signings don't seem to be adding much and I'm struggling to see three worse teams in this division.
Hopefully things pick up....I would expect that Jones may use this break to shift us back to a back 3, especially if Edwards and Ramsay are going to be available. That might make us a little more solid, but I doubt it will significantly change the outcome of the season. We’ll still do well to avoid relegation.2 -
I don't want to do it but we do have WB options on both sidesgolfaddick said:
Who will be the wing backs if we go 3 at the back ? The summer window was set up for 4 at the back so we brought in wingers & defenders. We have no natural wing backs. If we go back to putting TC back there then we will be worse than we are now as he is the only attacking threat we have......and he is NOT a defender.se9addick said:
It’s going to be a long season, as it was last time round. Regardless of what formation we play or how we try to change things the fact will remain that we are one of the poorer teams in this division. We create and score so little that we are utterly dependent on keeping things tight but that means, when things go wrong defensively, pretty much any match can turn into a tonking.hoof_it_up_to_benty said:
I can't see much difference from last season where we flirted with relegation - possibly we look worse in defence. We create next to nothing and our only attacking outlet is TC.mendonca said:The fans who are truly panicking must be the ones that hand out player ratings in pre-season friendlies, and/or name their player of the season after just three games!
Saturday was utterly dreadful - just looked totally disorganised. Okonkwo and some poor finishing from Cardiff kept the score down.
The majority of our loan signings don't seem to be adding much and I'm struggling to see three worse teams in this division.
Hopefully things pick up....I would expect that Jones may use this break to shift us back to a back 3, especially if Edwards and Ramsay are going to be available. That might make us a little more solid, but I doubt it will significantly change the outcome of the season. We’ll still do well to avoid relegation.
For traditional WB's we have Edwards & Mesík (left) and Ramsay and McNamara (right). The two RWB's are very defensive though.
What we could do is a repeat of the L1 formation with a defensive LWB and an attacking RWB like Alli or Nkeng who have both played that role before0 -
Slightly pedantic so apologies, but i seem to remember us being in the bottom three once, but only for about 20 minutes, can't remember the game, but it was mid match...🤔Chunes said:We stayed up last season without ever being in the relegation zone. It's not like we've lost key players since then. Arguably we've added a few and some of our young players have stepped up a level. We'll be fine.
Some of the performances have been hard to watch but we have to be mentally prepared to lose a lot of games this season. We're a bottom third side and we will lose and get outclassed pretty often. That's just the reality.3 -
It’s direction though rather than the result that day. 5 without a win and looking generally unimpressive in most areas of the pitch will cause people to be critical and rightly so.NabySarr said:
100%. Some people just like to have a meltdown every time we lose, it’s going to happen plenty and we will have plenty more runs of games without wins. I’d have thought as Charlton fans we’d be used to losing by now but obviously not.Chunes said:We stayed up last season without ever being in the relegation zone. It's not like we've lost key players since then. Arguably we've added a few and some of our young players have stepped up a level. We'll be fine.
Some of the performances have been hard to watch but we have to be mentally prepared to lose a lot of games this season. We're a bottom third side and we will lose and get outclassed pretty often. That's just the reality.As long as we are still a good distance from the drop I’ll be pretty happy7 goals conceded over 2 away games is not a good look1 -
Yes and those kind of runs happened last season too. I’m not sure why people are losing their heads about it? Did they not expect this to happen again at times this season?AberystwythAddick said:
It’s direction though rather than the result that day. 5 without a win and looking generally unimpressive in most areas of the pitch will cause people to be critical and rightly so.NabySarr said:
100%. Some people just like to have a meltdown every time we lose, it’s going to happen plenty and we will have plenty more runs of games without wins. I’d have thought as Charlton fans we’d be used to losing by now but obviously not.Chunes said:We stayed up last season without ever being in the relegation zone. It's not like we've lost key players since then. Arguably we've added a few and some of our young players have stepped up a level. We'll be fine.
Some of the performances have been hard to watch but we have to be mentally prepared to lose a lot of games this season. We're a bottom third side and we will lose and get outclassed pretty often. That's just the reality.As long as we are still a good distance from the drop I’ll be pretty happy7 goals conceded over 2 away games is not a good look4 -
And the general standard has gone up in the Championship this season. Many good players imported in the 5m to 8m bracket. We have to run harder to stay in the same place. I have been impressed by many of the teams I have seen in highlights. Fast, slick passing and thunderous shooting. Most of them seem to give up chances in defence though, so I think we will claw enough points to stay up. Just.0
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We did that against West Ham but we also broke quickly and dangerously which I think took pressure off the defence. We need to sort that out. One thing we absolutely can't afford to do is to carry players as we did with Alli on Saturday. He needs to do better as does Grant. I mean he had lots of negative impacts (losing the ball, not marking properly) but was there one positive impact Alli had on the game? I'd drop the both of them. Also that was the worst I have seen Coventry play for a while. Skipp was average but that was a lot better than Coventry on Saturday.Covered End said:I don't think we've been found out, that's a nonsense.
If we defend in numbers and everyone does their job it's hard to score against us.
The issue is we've not being doing that.
Why haven't we been doing that?
We need (pretty much) all 11 to be at it.
Currently in different measures we've got Bindon, Alii and Ouma not "at it".
We can't keep clean sheets with only 8 effective players.
Plus the "10" issue/Carey and possibly Skipp.
Answer - leave out the 3 main problems and go from there.2 -
Still think the 4231 can work, we’ve ballsed up a couple results, but still just the start of the season and we got 3 weeks to get back together.Few games were a hard watch but I want NJ to stick to the “new” formation and crack on again come Bristol3
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532 requires good proper wing-backs and 442 requires a decent proper 10 and 7.DOUCHER said:Are we / NJ overlooking something very obvious here and that is that we are (once you strip / de cloud yourself from the 4231 stuff) basically playing 424 away from home. 2 wingers and 2 strikers? Isn't that going to make it very difficult to be 'compact' / compete / gain possession of the ball? Its okay for NJ to call out the players for effort but is he asking them to do the impossible? It worked at West Ham but have other teams now cottoned on to it whilst the effort being asked of our players is maybe not sustainable in this formation long term? Trying it at home to be more 'expansive' is one thing but do we need to get back to the 532 thing away from home? Maybe not as we have no proper wing backs but??? - 3 weeks to have a re think
We have neither.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Also - What do we do with the in form TC if we go back to 532? He cannot be a wingback and he is our only out ball......4
