Just on the train now coming home, not a bad performance but as others have said, lacks a cutting edge, Joe Aribo played well and Dillon was superb, kept us in it towards the end. Good day all in all with @Bedsaddick
Good noise for both the team on the field and the problems off it, Doncaster very quiet, on to Bristol Rovers next, play offs seem inevitable now
Up the Addicks....attached an actual view from today, reminded me of an 80s terrace classic from Northern away days
At the game. Thought we controlled things pretty well, playing a high line and pressing really well. We were on top for most of the first 45 but didn’t take our chances. The service to Igor was not good, although he was off the pace too often and couldn’t hold the ball up at all. Aribo and Williams were pulling the strings but it’s that final ball where we’re found wanting. 2nd half we had a purple patch five minutes up to when we scored. Lyle hit the post and I thought it was going to be usual scenario. We got the reward though and at that point I thought we’d see it out as I don’t reckon they’d had a shot on target up to then. So we decide to sit back and give them a chance to shoot on the edge of our area. Purrington was at fault but I felt he’d had a good game till that moment. Then of course Doncaster go for the win for the first time in the whole match. We got lucky with the disallowed goal, though the match should already have finished. The draw wasn’t the fair result. We played like we were the home team. Could have been 0-2 or 1-3 but as everyone’s going to say we have eff all up front. Not surprised the only way we were going to score was with an o.g. Players who stood out today: Dillon made a couple of great stops 2nd half. Naby looks an absolute colossus. Tariqe was brilliant when he came on. Lastly, the support. When it’s like that it must feel like our players are at home. Top class.
As far as I understand, it makes no difference if he attempts to head the ball or not. If he was stood in an off side position and it impeded Dillon then the flag goes up. Well played the lino.
Purrington I like but he suffered against their right winger. In truth he was at fault for the goal. Pleased for Dillion, some excellent saves but kicking a weakness that needs working on. Ref was excellent and for me the best we have had in last couple of years.
Great trip up north. Deserved point. Could have won. Dillon immense at the end. Taylor a bit out of sorts in the last 20 mins - wondered if he was under the weather? Their goal was quality. Aribo was sensational/unplayable first 25, but then faded a bit.
I thought the sub immediately after we scored was a terrible call. Too negative. We play some good football when we have the ball but lose out on most 50/50s. Draw was a fair result but thankful that late goal was not allowed although not sure why!
Can only presume Igor was struggling and it made sense to bring on fresh pair of legs?
If Igor was then no problem bringing on a striker to replace him. Oh wait.....we didn't have one as the only other 2 we have BOTH played yesterday for the U23's. Numpty decision.
Just got back! Cracking game of football, Doncaster are a very good side, particularly at home and I thought for the majority of the game we looked like the home side, dictating the run of play!
Bielik gave the ball away far far too often for me in the second half, trying the Hollywood ball every time!
I thought Cullen worked his socks off today, him and Naby stood out for me (who was absolutely fantastic one again) he looks so assured at the back now!
Got away with the disallowed goal right at the death hit in truth it would have been criminal if we had lost that game on the balance of play!
Wouldnt be too disheartened by the teams above and around us winning today, there was a lot of positives to draw from our performance and four points from the last two games, for me, shows we may have turned a corner!
Can we hold to the 5-point lead for the 6th spot with 11 left?
Would be pretty poor if we can't make playoffs from this position.
It's be like we've got a manager in his first full season, a load of players whose contracts are ending, we've sold one of our first choice strike team and our owner hates us.
So long as we avoid all that wellw be absolutely.... Oh fark.....
Was at the game. Excellent entertainment and as usual the Charlton fans were fantastic. I thought we dominated the first half and, as has been mentioned in other posts we played like the home team with Donny catching us on the break several times. Thought that Marquis and Wilks were dangerous although we seem to give the former too much space at times. Second half we seem to lose control of the game a bit and after Donny scored there was only one team in it. Thankfully we had Phillips in goal and a keen eyed linesman to help us out. Stand out performances for me were Aribo, Bielik, Sarr and of course Phillips.
Providing we can sort things out in the final third then we have a chance. Need Taylor and Igor to click into place for that to happen though.
Two subs changed the game. Fosu was much more direct and in general we actually started putting the ball into the box instead of just dribbling practice by the corner flag. Second subone we changed to a shape that has looked poor for us three times recently and allowed Donny straight back into.
Draw a fair result overall and probably better for us than them, but having gone ahead and been totally dominant for a couple of spells in the game, it’s hard not to feel disappointment that we didn’t get the win.
A win today and again next week would have put us back in with an outside shout of the automatics. I think any flickering embers of that ambition have been fully extinguished now, even for an extreme optimist like me.
Not long home after a tiring day with a few highs & one or two lows...
Left home at 7.45am & for once enjoyed a problem free journey north via the A1...until we reached the Doncaster area around 11.15.
Now, 2 things are well known within our "lot" as a result of previous delayed arrivals at our meeting points : Firstly that Mr F does NOT need a satnav ( allegedly) and secondly, that his nearest & dearest (allegedly) has an alarmingly short fuse.
No prizes for guessing where this is going !
As a non driver ( I'd be road rage personified) I dutifully print out the AA route planner directions for our journeys and hand them over to my chauffeur to peruse. He does have an extensive knowledge of main routes but our problems invariably begin as we approach our final destination which is usually an eatery meet up for pre match lunch. Here, with multiple directions following closely one after another, it tends to become tricky...and errors inevitably creep in as stress levels start to soar.
Suffice to say, we drove around the area for approx 1 hour before finally finding La Rustica where our pals were patiently waiting....
Twice we found ourselves at the Keepmoat where we asked directions from car park stewards who seemed confused about their home area, encountering a puzzled @KillersBeard & @Ollywozere unloading their equipment on one occasion. We retraced our steps from the motorway on several occasions, & finally decided that the illusive Trafford Way clearly did not exist away from Manchester! We asked numerous pedestrians for their assistance but once again with limited success. We asked a taxi driver ( surely he could help!) but he directed us to a bus & taxi only road which further complicated our problem. We phoned the restaurant & gained more instructions but were thwarted at every turn we made.
Steam was gushing out of Fanny's ears whilst Mr F was silently making plans to google " Do it yourself divorce" by the time we finally arrived at our destination. What a feckin nightmeire that sadly took 2 large glasses of Zinfandel to recover from !
The game was a breeze after our earlier adventure, except that the one thing we needed to cap a decent performance was as elusive as ever since the departure of our leading striker....Our midfield was looking pretty efficient with Josh & Johnnie combining well, Christian's return was a definite bonus, the Nabster was....well, the reliable defender he has become, whilst young Joe shone and last, but by no means least, Charlton's number 1 was our saviour on more than one occasion.
But sadly, Igor did not impress me and Lyle is clearly pining for his ex strike partner. The prolonged chants reminding us who is responsible for the lack of a 2nd striker rang out to emphasise where our current problems lie.
But take the lead we did, following a great period of play in front of the away end and boy, did we celebrate ! Sadly the excitement didn't last very long and indeed, but for the attentive lino on our right, things could have been a whole lot worse. This was indeed justice for the poor performance of the man in the middle IMO who tried his best to ignore any pleas for free kicks from the away team ...maybe yellow isn't his favourite colour.
And so, another point was gained but with Pompey scoring 5 elsewhere this afternoon, I am fearful for their visit to SE7 next Saturday evening. Forget the defensive work at SL this week, Bow and please concentrate on the shooting.
Ah well, one positive to take from today's trip is that my Xmas present list has started early this year.....
Negatives: Our build up play is quite slow, meaning Donny got plenty of players behind the ball, so when we finally shoot our shots are often blocked. Lots of faffing about on the wing before a cross comes in means we’re unlikely to get a head to the ball. Aribo is great ghosting forward with the ball, but he adds nothing defensively. You couldn’t get away with that at a higher level. Needs to add some physicality to his game.
On the plus side Fosu looks like becoming a threat again, and we at least created chances today. The save from Bielik’s volley was outstanding.
I didn’t like how negative we looked after we scored though.
But four points from the last two games is ok to be honest.
We invited them to come at us after we scored. It's not as if we could not compete in midfield or that our defence is capable of shutting down the game, so why? And the most frustrating thing about it is that with the substitution (Marshall for Igor I think) it looked deliberate.
Just on the train now coming home, not a bad performance but as others have said, lacks a cutting edge, Joe Aribo played well and Dillon was superb, kept us in it towards the end. Good day all in all with @Bedsaddick
Good noise for both the team on the field and the problems off it, Doncaster very quiet, on to Bristol Rovers next, play offs seem inevitable now
Up the Addicks....attached an actual view from today, reminded me of an 80s terrace classic from Northern away days
Nice chippy just around the corner - well that was last year.This yr back to Railway tavern by station-Propper Boozer
That was a good point but a game I believe we would have won with Grant. We do miss his pace and physicality.
We opened the game really brightly without having a real killer instinct in front of goal. And it seemed as the game went on we were becoming more and more pedestrian. And then the goal came from where I thought we'd go on and. However, after the substitution, I think the players were still reorganizing (or lost concentration) because their player who brought it out of defence was allowed so much space through the middle. No one closed him down as we had been doing up to that point. We held the lead for 2 minutes. I can understand Bowyer being pissed off with that because we just switched off. After that I think we were rattled and it showed.
A special mention for Dillon. I think he had a superb game. Made a couple of cracking saves that kept us in it. Mind you, it shouldn't have even got that far as we could easily have been at least 2 up at the half.
So, all in all, a good point. We aren't scoring but we're also not conceding. I do think we'll make the playoffs and then we'll see from there.
We had that game there for the taking and should have gone on to win it after we went in front. But, that's football for you. Portsmouth next week. COYR!!
Parker looked excellent in the reserve game yesterday, as I've said...he surely has to be on the bench at least for the rest of the season!
Which begs the question.....why ??
The obvious answer is that Charlton probably travelled up to Doncaster on the Friday with Parker just about recovering
Having missed over a week of training though his fitness levels would have been effected so was given a run out in the U23s to aid his recovery... Regardless he's not been deliberately left at home by Bowyer until now so there will no doubt have been reasons
I think we are a team that is best suited to an attacking mindset. We are not good at sitting back and allowing teams to come at us. When we have the ball, we are far and away the best team in this league although we tend to freeze a bit at the end of moves. When we don't have the ball, we probably only win 40% of second balls which sort of backs up why we need to impose ourselves on teams.
I am happy for it to be an evolution as we get to the play offs but we need to get to those with Aribo, Fosu, Taylor and WIlliams starting and on good form. If we can do that, I think we have a pretty decent chance.
Comments
Good noise for both the team on the field and the problems off it, Doncaster very quiet, on to Bristol Rovers next, play offs seem inevitable now
Up the Addicks....attached an actual view from today, reminded me of an 80s terrace classic from Northern away days
Thought we controlled things pretty well, playing a high line and pressing really well. We were on top for most of the first 45 but didn’t take our chances. The service to Igor was not good, although he was off the pace too often and couldn’t hold the ball up at all. Aribo and Williams were pulling the strings but it’s that final ball where we’re found wanting.
2nd half we had a purple patch five minutes up to when we scored. Lyle hit the post and I thought it was going to be usual scenario. We got the reward though and at that point I thought we’d see it out as I don’t reckon they’d had a shot on target up to then.
So we decide to sit back and give them a chance to shoot on the edge of our area. Purrington was at fault but I felt he’d had a good game till that moment. Then of course Doncaster go for the win for the first time in the whole match. We got lucky with the disallowed goal, though the match should already have finished.
The draw wasn’t the fair result. We played like we were the home team. Could have been 0-2 or 1-3 but as everyone’s going to say we have eff all up front. Not surprised the only way we were going to score was with an o.g.
Players who stood out today: Dillon made a couple of great stops 2nd half. Naby looks an absolute colossus. Tariqe was brilliant when he came on.
Lastly, the support. When it’s like that it must feel like our players are at home. Top class.
https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/football/doncaster-rovers/doncaster-rovers-tommy-rowe-was-onside-grant-mccann-reacts-to-late-controversy-in-charlton-athletic-draw-1-9626471
Bielik gave the ball away far far too often for me in the second half, trying the Hollywood ball every time!
I thought Cullen worked his socks off today, him and Naby stood out for me (who was absolutely fantastic one again) he looks so assured at the back now!
Got away with the disallowed goal right at the death hit in truth it would have been criminal if we had lost that game on the balance of play!
Wouldnt be too disheartened by the teams above and around us winning today, there was a lot of positives to draw from our performance and four points from
the last two games, for me, shows we may have turned a corner!
So long as we avoid all that wellw be absolutely.... Oh fark.....
Just got home
Pissed as a pudding.
Philips was absolutely tremendous.
That's it
Night Night
Providing we can sort things out in the final third then we have a chance. Need Taylor and Igor to click into place for that to happen though.
Draw a fair result overall and probably better for us than them, but having gone ahead and been totally dominant for a couple of spells in the game, it’s hard not to feel disappointment that we didn’t get the win.
A win today and again next week would have put us back in with an outside shout of the automatics. I think any flickering embers of that ambition have been fully extinguished now, even for an extreme optimist like me.
Left home at 7.45am & for once enjoyed a problem free journey north via the A1...until we reached the Doncaster area around 11.15.
Now, 2 things are well known within our "lot" as a result of previous delayed arrivals at our meeting points : Firstly that Mr F does NOT need a satnav ( allegedly) and secondly, that his nearest & dearest (allegedly) has an alarmingly short fuse.
No prizes for guessing where this is going !
As a non driver ( I'd be road rage personified) I dutifully print out the AA route planner directions for our journeys and hand them over to my chauffeur to peruse. He does have an extensive knowledge of main routes but our problems invariably begin as we approach our final destination which is usually an eatery meet up for pre match lunch. Here, with multiple directions following closely one after another, it tends to become tricky...and errors inevitably creep in as stress levels start to soar.
Suffice to say, we drove around the area for approx 1 hour before finally finding La Rustica where our pals were patiently waiting....
Twice we found ourselves at the Keepmoat where we asked directions from car park stewards who seemed confused about their home area, encountering a puzzled @KillersBeard & @Ollywozere unloading their equipment on one occasion. We retraced our steps from the motorway on several occasions, & finally decided that the illusive Trafford Way clearly did not exist away from Manchester! We asked numerous pedestrians for their assistance but once again with limited success. We asked a taxi driver ( surely he could help!) but he directed us to a bus & taxi only road which further complicated our problem. We phoned the restaurant & gained more instructions but were thwarted at every turn we made.
Steam was gushing out of Fanny's ears whilst Mr F was silently making plans to google " Do it yourself divorce" by the time we finally arrived at our destination. What a feckin nightmeire that sadly took 2 large glasses of Zinfandel to recover from !
The game was a breeze after our earlier adventure, except that the one thing we needed to cap a decent performance was as elusive as ever since the departure of our leading striker....Our midfield was looking pretty efficient with Josh & Johnnie combining well, Christian's return was a definite bonus, the Nabster was....well, the reliable defender he has become, whilst young Joe shone and last, but by no means least, Charlton's number 1 was our saviour on more than one occasion.
But sadly, Igor did not impress me and Lyle is clearly pining for his ex strike partner. The prolonged chants reminding us who is responsible for the lack of a 2nd striker rang out to emphasise where our current problems lie.
But take the lead we did, following a great period of play in front of the away end and boy, did we celebrate ! Sadly the excitement didn't last very long and indeed, but for the attentive lino on our right, things could have been a whole lot worse. This was indeed justice for the poor performance of the man in the middle IMO who tried his best to ignore any pleas for free kicks from the away team ...maybe yellow isn't his favourite colour.
And so, another point was gained but with Pompey scoring 5 elsewhere this afternoon, I am fearful for their visit to SE7 next Saturday evening. Forget the defensive work at SL this week, Bow and please concentrate on the shooting.
Ah well, one positive to take from today's trip is that my Xmas present list has started early this year.....
No guesses what that first item is .
Decent game.
Negatives:
Our build up play is quite slow, meaning Donny got plenty of players behind the ball, so when we finally shoot our shots are often blocked.
Lots of faffing about on the wing before a cross comes in means we’re unlikely to get a head to the ball.
Aribo is great ghosting forward with the ball, but he adds nothing defensively. You couldn’t get away with that at a higher level. Needs to add some physicality to his game.
On the plus side Fosu looks like becoming a threat again, and we at least created chances today. The save from Bielik’s volley was outstanding.
I didn’t like how negative we looked after we scored though.
But four points from the last two games is ok to be honest.
It's not as if we could not compete in midfield or that our defence is capable of shutting down the game, so why?
And the most frustrating thing about it is that with the substitution (Marshall for Igor I think) it looked deliberate.
We opened the game really brightly without having a real killer instinct in front of goal. And it seemed as the game went on we were becoming more and more pedestrian. And then the goal came from where I thought we'd go on and. However, after the substitution, I think the players were still reorganizing (or lost concentration) because their player who brought it out of defence was allowed so much space through the middle. No one closed him down as we had been doing up to that point. We held the lead for 2 minutes. I can understand Bowyer being pissed off with that because we just switched off. After that I think we were rattled and it showed.
A special mention for Dillon. I think he had a superb game. Made a couple of cracking saves that kept us in it. Mind you, it shouldn't have even got that far as we could easily have been at least 2 up at the half.
So, all in all, a good point. We aren't scoring but we're also not conceding. I do think we'll make the playoffs and then we'll see from there.
We had that game there for the taking and should have gone on to win it after we went in front. But, that's football for you. Portsmouth next week. COYR!!
Having missed over a week of training though his fitness levels would have been effected so was given a run out in the U23s to aid his recovery... Regardless he's not been deliberately left at home by Bowyer until now so there will no doubt have been reasons
Part of me thinks we've gotten away with it, part of me thinks its the bloke sticking his leg out that makes him offside and disallows the goal
If that numpty doesnt do that then he's effectively not putting his foot into an offside position and cant be classed as interferring with play
I am happy for it to be an evolution as we get to the play offs but we need to get to those with Aribo, Fosu, Taylor and WIlliams starting and on good form. If we can do that, I think we have a pretty decent chance.