If you look at the make up of the starting eleven yesterday, 4 were recruited by Dowie (Carson, Diawarra, Reid & JFH), 1 was down to Pardew (Thatcher) and 6 were a legacy from the Curbs era (ElK, HH,Romm, Holland, Ambrose & M.Bent). When Pardew speaks of needing to find extra quality from within the team, or he will have to bring it in from outside, then it is obvious which group of players he is talking about. We were second best all over the pitch yesterday but I thought Thatcher, Diawarra & Reid were excellent while HH, Romm & Ambrose were woeful. Holland, to give him credit, played his heart out yesterday but is just no longer good enough to compete with most Premiership central midfielders. We just have to be honest and say that we are nowhere near good enough to be a Premiership football team.
I think that Diawarra will eventually be an excellent Premiership central defender, given time to acclimatise. He is new to the country, new to the Premiership, new to the english style of football and barely speaks a word of the language. In addition he has played under 3 managers in 5 months, played in an ever changing defensive line up and has had a couple of nasty injuries. He does however have a prodigious leap, good pace and is strong in the tackle. In other words, he has all the right ingredients to become a very good defender. If he is still with us next season then I think we will see the best of him.
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Diawara was better but partly at fault for the first goal having lost Yakuba allowing him to pass to Viduka and forcing the back four to move across to cover. That left Catermole free to score. He let Yakuba free again in the second half more than once and on one occasion gave him ten yards to turn and play in Viduka. Diawara than made an very good recovery and tackle but he was at fault then and again late on when he got skinned by Viduka in the last minute. Not blaming him for the defeat and he did a lot right. His heading was much better, he was aggressive and looked more comfortable on the ball but was still far from "excellent". Let's hope he continues to improve.
BTW shout for TEK. Maybe gave Yaguba too much room for the third but did well considering was playing out of position. When Sankofa returns maybe midfield beckons. Thought Thatcher was good, unspectacular but solid and no GBH assaults.
Not much to say about anyone else really.
Diawara was a collosus! Reid wasn't the only one trying creative thing.... Ambrose tried loads of things. None worked though! Reid belongs in the centre of midfield, he hasn't the pace to play wide. I also think he's also probably the most one-footed player I've ever seen at Charlton
Not sure why people keep criticising Romm since his crossing was much better - force of habit perhaps!
Totally agree that Diawara and ElK were much improved and Thatcher was a massive step up from Traore - we just need ZZ or Walton in the middle to stick the boot in - almost talked myself into a trip down to Pompey !!! lol