I've just got back from Argyle and ..... how the f**** did we not win today....?
WE played them off the park ..... for long periods the Greenies played were forced to play like the away side.
Talking to the oggy munchers after the match, they reckoned they couldn't understand how we were bottom 3 - and couldn't believe they came away with a point.
We should have won today. no doubt, and were robbed by the gods. Another day we'd have won 3-1.
Argyle had 2 chances and scored twice - and that was it.
Credit to Pards. And well played Charlton.
Proud to be an Addick!
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Today .... proud to be an Addick!
I've been waiting to hear from someone who was there. We got a lot of comments on here which were mostly fltered via an obvously pig-ignorant non-Charlton commentator and seemed to suggest until the end it was the same old spineless Charlton of recent weeks.
Thrilled to hear it wasn't like that and we really gave it everything and played with some pride and passon.
It chimes with the manager's post-match press conference which was similarly upbeat. I wanted to believe what he said but I wasn't going to until we got some independent corobaration.
In the light of your supporting evidence, it seems we got a very fair post-match summary by AP, only spoiled by his final line :
"To react like that and not get three points kind of sums up the season we are having."
I hate all this 'the fates conspired against us' stuff. The season we've been having has been atrocious because we've mostly played without any pride or passion. Sounds like today was different and we got a point and probably deserved more. But let's not blame fate and the Gods or even bad luck and poor referees. We are where we are at the moment because that is where we deserve to be...
Conceeding 2 goals from set pieces despite Pards saying they had been working on this aspect all week is still very worrying though....Still, hopefully they can build on this performance.
Now if only Oohaah went to away matches, we could get a second opinion... ;-)
However, I think you are misinformed. You see, although you were at the game you only have to read the match thread on here to know that we were complete rubbish, were outplayed, spineless and lucky. So, you see, although I respect you and your views, on this occassion either you are clearly wrong or else some of the people that posted on that thread were talking complete bollox and were pre-judging the performance based on second or third hand knowledgen- and I just couldn't believe that to be the case. Could you?
;o)
Did it look like we're capable of scoring from open play?
We're only scoring from set pieces at the moment, and we're not particularly good at them most of the time...
But it is odd how different people can watch the same game and see a totally different match. Perhaps in part it depends on what yardstick of judgement one is using. Oggy and the manager were comparing the performance against the one v Barnsley last week. The Plymouth commentator was lucky enough not to have seen that!
My comments are based on watching how my team perform ...... and I guess the Plymouth commentry team are going to play to their Plymouth audience - and tell Plymouth supporting people what they want to hear about their own team.
Reading through 9 pages of the CL match thread, I was reading posts saying it's HT and we've not had a shot at goal, Argyle are all over us, we're total crap........ all based on the other team's biased commentary - they're not going to mention anything good about Charlton, are they?
Facts are, Argyle started both halves with sustained pressure for the first 10 mins or so, as you would expect of any home side, a corner or 2 but we never really looked like conceding.
Once we settled, we took more control of midfield and should have taken the lead on at least a couple of occasions, 2 very good first half saves from both Holland and Bailey, and Holland had a goal bound header cleared for a corner with their keeper beaten, Bouzza put in a good effort just clearing the bar and rolling along the roof of the net, Varney and Semedo both skied decent chances and should at least have hit the target.
Yet apparently, according to the posts on the match thread, we hadn't created a chance before half time ......?
Most of the play was in a congested midfield, more or less controlled by Charlton but of course Argyle had a few breaks but never looked particularly dangerous.
6 mins before halftime, Argyle put in a free kick I think into the box and Youga did the sensible thing and played safe by putting a loose ball behind for a corner. The corner came over and the Argyle player slipped his marker (Varney, maybe?) and had a free header. That was probably the first chance that Argyle had created ..... and they scored from it.
Can you blame Pardew for that? One player lost concentration for a moment, didn't do his job - and it cost us a goal.
2nd half, Argyle came out of the traps fired up, applied some pressure, won a couple of corners and a good save by Weaves - the first he'd had to make all afternoon.
Pards changed things round and Varney was replaced by Sam - who immediately caused Argyle all sorts of problems.
Toddy came on for Holland and we really upped our game, some good passing movement, and stretching the play wide on both wings. We now had most of the game and the keeper made some good saves, especially an incredible one from Hudson - but that equaliser seemed fated not to come.
Then Bailey knocked in a corner and Youga bravely stuck his head in and the ball nestled in the back of the net.
Argyle looked stunned and Charlton went for the kill. Gray was held back and the ref pointed straight to the spot.
People may criticise Gray, but he takes a cool penalty, Mendonca style.
Yes of course we should have held on. Added time was already up and the ref awarded a debateable free kick.
It was headed out but struck a player and very fortunately for Mpenza, deflected into his path.
And that's the kind of break that strikers dream about.
Plusses - The Argyle keeper was by far the busier keeper, bringing off 3 excellent saves added to one stunningly brilliant save from Hudson just before we finally equalized - so we worked the opposing keeper.
Weaves - only really had the one save to make.
Moo2 - got up and down the line well, and generally defended okay - he's improving steadily with a run in the team.
Hudson - immense and good leadership
Primus - cool as a cucumber.
Youga - a little shaky at times - some good stuff but occasionally .... well you know Youga. But he was strong and his attitude good. Brave header for the equaliser.
Semedo .- I thought he made a difference out there, playing the anchor role in midfield. Good tackling, calm tidy distribution - shame he got injured.
Bailey - charged around, great spirit, some good passing, and a cracking shot which pulled an equally cracking save from the keeper. And Youga scored from his corner.
Holland - Good first half especially, good shot which brought a good save from their keeper, and a header that on another day would have gone in. How he keeps working so hard and covering so much ground at his age is testimony to his fitness and attitude.
Bouazza - looked very effective in spells but promises more than he ever seems to achieve.
Varney - was Varney ....tireless, grafting, chaser of lost causes. Put his only shot way over the bar.
May have been the player who lost his man for the 1st Argyle goal.
Gray - neat hold up play, distribution good - but we never seem to provide the type of service he thrives on.
Coolly taken penalty - and remember he won the penalty himself.
Sam - better performance and Argyle never seemed to handle him.
Toddy - nice hold up play, intelligence and vision, if only he could still run.......
Dicko - can't really remember much, but a decent run into the box halted only by a very good tackle and a couple of nice pass and run movements.
Of course, it wasn't the perfect performance but there's enough people who only focus on what's going wrong.
I've definitely looked for the positives here - and there were plenty.
the report has cheered me up
Hi Ali,
Man of the match for me was Hudson, always did the simple thing well and led by example.
Close runner up - Semedo who played that midfield anchor role well enough that generally speaking Argyle couldn't get a foothold controlling midfield, able supported by the tireless Holland and Bailey.
Good performances especially by Sam and Toddy when they came on.
The player that disappointed: poor old Varney. Nothing is going right for him at the moment - I bet he's praying for the kind of break that Mpenza got, for Argyle's equaliser.
Major plus: the team looked much more of a team. You couldn't fault effort or attitude.
All that's lacking is that little bit of self-belief that winning teams have.
Overall a decent enough performance away from home.
At Argyle, we played one of those 'orrible Championship teams, who are well organised, in your face and even at home play on the break.
Some of our passing was good at times, especially when Sam and Toddy came on - with the bonus they brought Gray into the game with good effect.
I thought, despite being 1 behind, that we were a bit better in the first half particularly in the centre of midfield - most passes found their man and we did carve out a few half chances - poor marking for their goal was the only downside.
Second half was scrappier but we competed well, Just wish we could have held out (personally I had £31 riding on 2-1!)
Individual performers that stood out for me - Primus, Semedo (my MOM), Bailey, Moo2, Gray & Sam as sub. Only downsides were Varney (don't think he really knows how to play RM) and Youga (does some things well but his lack of ability with the basics make me think he'll always struggle at this level). I'd urge Pards to play the same team and formation for a while - even at home, yesterday showed it can be used to attack as well as defend.
Oggy, would be interested in your view on Pardew's body language and apparent involvement yesterday?
did he stand there with arms folded or did he participate
One other observation from yesterday that I forgot to mention is that Semedo seems to have added something to his game from last season - last year he was very defensive, yesterday he was the deepest lying midfielder but was also looking more creative in giving balls to Bailey in paricular when he had space rather than plumping for a safer squarer option. (until his injury which looked like near death until he hopped off the stretcher and walked back to the dugout)