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1. We may be top of the league again, but our place in the top two is by no means assured. This is a tough league, with seven or eight sides capable of outplaying anyone on their day, and a whole host of other clubs who on their day, are capable of stopping a better footballing side from playing. Every week is going to provide a different challenge, we have to prepared on a game by game basis to adapt where necessary. Below par performances will be punished, as the majority of games will be decided in the margins. This can be seen by 32% of League One games ending in draws so far this season, compared to 13% in the Premiership.
2. Phil Parkinson made some big calls on Saturday, and reaped the benefits. With a small squad, a together squad is essential. His decisions ran a huge risk of having a negative impact on Llera, Shelvey and Spring, and also his tactical decision-making. The manager can take confidence he made the right choices, whilst hopefully not alienating players that are going to have important input throughout the season. After a recent wobble, Saturday’s second half performance could prove to be a key moment in our season, and the important anchoring of Jose Semedo should not be ignored.
3. Izale McLeod is a going to be a striker that consistently divides supporters, but there is potential there. The fantastic turnaround in form of Kelly Youga can give a big indicator of how performances can dramatically improve with confidence. Izale appears to be a huge confidence player. He will miss chances but he does give us the vital threat of a striker that can fit into our team style, yet make runs behind and get the opposition defence facing the wrong way. The shirt throwing has to end now however. Three times this season the ball hitting the net has resulted in a yellow card being administered. Ripping your clothes off when something good happens at work is a trait alien to most of us, so we can take some comfort from the fact that McLeod is neither a) prolific, or b) a school teacher.
4. Lloyd Sam appears to have lost his way again. After a strong opening to the season, Lloyd has stopped having an impact in the final third of the pitch, either by end product or creativity. Worryingly, he is providing little defensive cover and leaving Frazer Richardson over-exposed. Many have spoke in the past of apparent fitness issues, but mentally Lloyd appears slow to react to change in game phases. With a number of improving cameos, Scott Wagstaff should have justification to be knocking on the manager’s door some time soon.
5. With performances and results on the pitch providing little comparison to last season, one source of frustration appears to be returning. 16,991 was the announced attendance on Saturday, yet the home sections appeared as sparse as they have been for some time. Since the Southampton fixture, season ticket holders appear to be missing in their thousands again. With a far better than expected start of the season than many anticipated, and five wins and 2 draws from the seven Valley games, it must be slightly concerning with regards to what needs to be done to get more actual bodies through the turnstiles.
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2 - As I said on the post game thread - Parky got it spot on. Swapped the right players and sensible subs at the right time.
3 - Jury is firmly out as far as I am concerned however one thing that is certain is he makes things happen and concerns defenders and this can only be a good thing. Awesome pace but my questions are over the basics of technique. The bit I get confused by is the ability to control a flighted through ball, chesst it down and strike in the blink of an eye and it whistles just over - then a minute later a 5 yard ball rolled to him rolls up his leg, hits the knee and smacks him in the face. Needs to be stronger too.
4 - I'd give Waggy a run if Lloyd doesn't improve in a couple of weeks. Probably best to stick with Lloyd for Gills and Carlisle but if we have a home game against a weaker side then maybe he deserves a shout - or at least an extended run out.
5 - Get promotion and people will return. 16991 in this division is still blooody goodbut it does seem we have a fair few fair weather supporters
2. It worked ok on Saturday it was good to see a change of formation still result in a win. So now we can be confident in either formation and make us less predictable tactically to oppositions.
3. Izale is scoring in games. So at the moment he is doing his job. He is a worry for defences. With a run of games maybe we will find out if he can cut it. I hope he does.
4. Personally no problem with Sam at the moment but maybe he needs to get down the line more I dunno. But we have a good alternative if his form drops so this would not be too much of a worry for me if I was parky.
5. Blanket the schools with free tickets get bums on seats. If we stay top people will filter back
2. He is making the decisions that a good manager must do, choose the right players for the game. If what we hear is true, the dressing room is strong and together so he has leeway to do this at the moment - long may it continue. Semedo is key to our season and the way we play - when he is on the field we invariably see a good passing game which other teams find hard to cope with. Without him, the ball seems to be in the air a lot more which is not to our benefit.
3. Izzy is definitely a confidence player and will give us chances - let's hope he puts a few more away. My problem with him is the diving - twice in the first 15 minutes is not a good move especially as they were so bloody obvious. When he actually gets fouled refs will then tend to ignore it. If he had stayed on his feet a little longer the 3rd time it happened in the 2nd half, he may well have got a penalty.
4. Lloyd looked tired after 30 minutes, either it is lack of fitness or injury - either way, Wagstaff shoud be given a start.
5. Crowd is great for our level, biggest in the division again on Saturday by some way and bigger than at least 50% of the Championship ... including Palaaaarse. Our average is more than 2k above Selhurst and way way above the Toolshed.
I don't think he's fully fit and clearly hasn't recovered from his injury a few weeks ago, which will also affect him mentally. Personally I would have no concerns about giving Wagstaff a go as he seems more than capable in this league - although he is a different type of player. Wagstaff is more direct than Sam, but I think this is what we have needed lately. Too many times recently Sam aimlessly runs into the middle of the pitch and into trouble with the ball.
If you'd told people 3 years ago, we'd have dropped two divisions into League One yet still be getting 16,000 week in, week out, you'd have been laughed out of town.
I'm not complaining about the crowd figure Kinveachy, i think its impressive for us. But i estimate the actual figure was at least 2,000 below that on Saturday, and similar for the Oldham game. I may be completely wrong, but i believe there were more fans in Charlton areas for the opening game against Wycombe, during the so-called 'holiday season' than there has been the last couple of home games. With the strong start to the season, i would have expected a further pick-up, not what appears to be a tailing off of attendees.
As said, i may be wrong. I'm sure Airman would know.
2. Judging by results he is doing well, we have a one point cushion above the rate of winning every home game and drawing every away game, so good so far.
3. If he were a school teacher he might play with a bit more nous.
4. Cuts inside too deep when he is off form.
5. My season ticket holding son was in Spain Saturday accounts for your problem.
Was chatting to someone from the club prior to the game who said that the turnstyle count has been higher this season than for the end of the last. Also that attendance and turnstyle count have been fairly close so far.
Nice feature.
Parky is starting to realise he has to adapt a bit more, and have a plan B, automatic promotion is ours to throw away if he can get that right
2. Phil Parkinson made some big calls on Saturday...His decisions ran a huge risk of having a negative impact
Sodje is looking like an excellent signing, which is great news. There has to be competition for places - any pro that thinks he's a shoein will eventually start to believe his own hype and performances will suffer. Also its still a relatively small squad so I don't think this will be a huge problem. I can see Shelvey being a selection headache however, so perhaps there will need to be some rotation
3. Izale McLeod..
He has done it before so there is no reason why he shouldn't be a 1 in 2 games striker if he gets support and enough starts. Would be happier if Dixon was in there too though or instead.
4. Lloyd Sam appears to have lost his way again
Probably due to recent injury, perhaps a spell on the bench will get him firing again
5. With performances and results on the pitch providing little comparison to last season, one source of frustration appears to be returning. 16,991 was the announced attendance on Saturday, yet the home sections appeared as sparse as they have been for some time. Since the Southampton fixture, season ticket holders appear to be missing in their thousands again.
Well I am one who chose to opt out of this fixture , I simply have other things to do sometimes. It wasn't any sort of glamour tie and that will be the case this year I think for many people/games, although not sure its necessarily a problem. This will probably worsen as we near Christmas.
1. Certainly its a concern to see how close some of tha chasing pack are, but that's after a minor wobble, and we're still in the top 2, as we've been from the start. I don't expect the likes of Colchester, MK Dons, or Norwich simply to fade away, but hopefully we can out-last them, even when we can't always out-score them. One defeat in 13 is excellent, and 2 points a game should do it. We are after all still learning too, and may have a significantly different "first 11" and even formation, come May.
2. I think the Oldham game confirmed it was time for a little tinker, without throwing the baby out with the bath water. Success so far has been built on a sound base, but it was clearly time to be a little more positive at home. At 17, Jonjo being left out for a game or two shouldn't be seen as at all negative - hopefully he'll come from the bench to do what we all know he can with better focus on what he really brings us, rather than getting drawn far too deep by his enthusiasm.
3. Great that Izzy's finally finding the net (is that 3 in 4 home games now?). I doubt he'll ever look too polished, regardless of how high his confidence hopefully soars, but he offers us an obvious threat that few in this division will feel comfortable with.
4. Lloyd's certainly not looking the match-winner he did for the first 6 games, but teams have done their homework, he's not quite 100%, and how many wingers do that week in, week out over 46 games? Good to see Waggy appears a lot more ready than a season ago; he worked really hard when he came on and offers a genuine option now, at least from the bench.
5. I'm quite impressed by our crowds this season, though it'd be nice to see them creep up further with our league position. Might we just be judging the gaps against expectation after the pleasant surprise v Wycombe? I thought the home areas looked a little fuller than v Oldham, but its hard to tell. Interesting that the average turnout of CHARLTON fans at home games so far - about 15,000 - isn't far from the figure for a certain vote in a local election.
ps. For a town so close to Leeds, and in rugby league territory, Huddersfield have always had a good, vociferous support, as they proved again at The Valley.
1. We may be top of the league again, but our place in the top two is by no means assured. This is a tough league, with seven or eight sides capable of outplaying anyone on their day, and a whole host of other clubs who on their day, are capable of stopping a better footballing side from playing. Every week is going to provide a different challenge, we have to prepared on a game by game basis to adapt where necessary. Below par performances will be punished, as the majority of games will be decided in the margins. This can be seen by 32% of League One games ending in draws so far this season, compared to 13% in the Premiership.
Agreed. The key to gaining automatic promotion will be finding a way to score and win against spoilers like Oldham. Hopefully we have learned from that experience and will overcome similar tactics in future.
2. Phil Parkinson made some big calls on Saturday, and reaped the benefits. With a small squad, a together squad is essential. His decisions ran a huge risk of having a negative impact on Llera, Shelvey and Spring, and also his tactical decision-making. The manager can take confidence he made the right choices, whilst hopefully not alienating players that are going to have important input throughout the season. After a recent wobble, Saturday’s second half performance could prove to be a key moment in our season, and the important anchoring of Jose Semedo should not be ignored.
Parky would have got a 10 from me if he'd been included in the ratings.
3. Izale McLeod is a going to be a striker that consistently divides supporters, but there is potential there. The fantastic turnaround in form of Kelly Youga can give a big indicator of how performances can dramatically improve with confidence. Izale appears to be a huge confidence player. He will miss chances but he does give us the vital threat of a striker that can fit into our team style, yet make runs behind and get the opposition defence facing the wrong way. The shirt throwing has to end now however. Three times this season the ball hitting the net has resulted in a yellow card being administered. Ripping your clothes off when something good happens at work is a trait alien to most of us, so we can take some comfort from the fact that McLeod is neither a) prolific, or b) a school teacher.
The boy has pace and that makes up for a lot of shortcomings and gives us another option.
4. Lloyd Sam appears to have lost his way again. After a strong opening to the season, Lloyd has stopped having an impact in the final third of the pitch, either by end product or creativity. Worryingly, he is providing little defensive cover and leaving Frazer Richardson over-exposed. Many have spoke in the past of apparent fitness issues, but mentally Lloyd appears slow to react to change in game phases. With a number of improving cameos, Scott Wagstaff should have justification to be knocking on the manager’s door some time soon.
Lloyd is not as good as he was but he is apparently carrying an injury don't forget! Waggy has done well off the bench but I still feel it is too soon to start him unless we absolutely have to. He is very lightweight. Off the bench we see his pace troubling tiring defenders and the fact that he can finish is another plus point in his favour. At the moment he is most use to us as an impact sub.
5. With performances and results on the pitch providing little comparison to last season, one source of frustration appears to be returning. 16,991 was the announced attendance on Saturday, yet the home sections appeared as sparse as they have been for some time. Since the Southampton fixture, season ticket holders appear to be missing in their thousands again. With a far better than expected start of the season than many anticipated, and five wins and 2 draws from the seven Valley games, it must be slightly concerning with regards to what needs to be done to get more actual bodies through the turnstiles.
Maybe the Oldham game put a few off. It is also difficult coming to two successive Saturday home games for some people when they have other commitments. Other people turn their nose up at third division football. I know at least one person who came to Wycombe but hasn't been since!
ha, you can say as much or as little as you like !
The idea was for me to pick five points, and for people to pick out any of those points they particularly agreed or disagreed with. Its up to anyone how they reply, i'm just glad someone read it !
Unless fitness is an issue from what I've seen I don't think he should be dropped, he still offers a threat. All too often before when he has been average and the team poor he is dropped. One thing I will agree with is he has no game intelligence, if thing's don't happen crisply for him he doesn't adjust his game. Sometimes when he has space on the outside all match he'll maintain his channel running. Unfortunately this is not going to change for him. Richardson carrying an injury is also affecting his game, without others making space Sam's excellent qualities become hidden. All plaudits go to Parky but this team still lacks an offensive character who makes things happen with energy and combativity, it still holds the same weaknesses we had last season.
He didn't get many crosses in Saturday, but he didn't get given the ball as much as he has in other games either.
Some of the weaknesses are no longer there though. The team are much more likely to keep going and believe in themselves when they concede. They're working better as a team. We have more good characters.
You say the team lacks an offensive character to make things happen, has the same weaknesses as last season, not saying it's not true, but we're in League One and our midfield in particular is one of the best in League One.
There aren't many players we could sign to come in and take us up a level. We need a bigger squad and more options, the players are far from perfect, but we have a good team for the league we're in and if we go up we'd no doubt look to strengthen pretty much every area. Are there a few specific players you think would do that job or is it more of a general idea? I just feel although the midfield is far from perfect, it has a decent balance and a bit of everything, at least at League One/lower Championship level.
Harsh assessment imo. Bailey, Racon and Shelvey can all do this when palying well, and you could argue Mcleod was doing a similar thing on Saturday. Likewise Burton's work rate a hold up play (against much bigger centre halves) was pivotal in our flowing football in the first half a dozen games.
If we lack anything in the final third (apart from an ultra reliable finisher), it's a 'something out of nothing' player to cunjure the moment of brilliance that might have won a game like the Oldham match but, to be fair, the last one we had of them was Reidy and going back further Murphy, Jensen and Morts, all premiership class on their day so well out of range of us and most other League 1 clubs.
If anything I think the fact we don't play through one man all the time is an advantage, makes us harder to stop as you can't just stick two men on the one key player.