We were always going to struggle this season and losing to huddersfield away is no disaster. I expect them, southampton and Wednesday to be up there all season.
Id like us to do what millwall did last season and be a team of battlers nicking results here and there and not being one of the teams to beat as we have been past few seasons.
Wasnt at the game today but there seemed a real team spirit and unity amongst the team, manager and supporters at orient the other week and if we can replicate that consistently throughout the season we will be in a good position when the favourites battling at the top go through their blips and lose their bottle.
For now am happy to be below the radar and just concentrate on our games and no one see us as a major threat which will be a luxury we havent had since the premiership.
Really feel behind the team and manager EVEN MORE this season than i have done since curbishley left for some reason even though we are probably are on paper less promising than previous years.
Thought before the start of the season we'd start slowly and get better later in the year. 2 wins, a draw and a defeat isn't too bad for a new team. Just hope Parky can sort out a few signings before Tuesday.
I left 10 mins before the end as I had a disabled person with me and wanted to get her out before the rush, so missed our goal.
We played the best football early on but with no punch up front, plenty of possession but little action in the penalty area. Their 1st goal was a mix up between Dailey, Doc and goalie, but not so much the goalie's fault, 2nd goal one of their players was completely unmarked in the box and headed home.
No-one played that well, they all tried hard, our goalie did well, but the rest of them just didn't gel together, gave the ball away a lot of the time, Pav was slow, Waggy didn't really achieve much, Reid's crosses didn't reach targets, Mac missed an easy header and Martin was just too light weight.
[cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]405 well done to them but pitiful numbers , hope all those who struggled to get a ticket for exeter last year can make it next week .... oh no the daytrippers have done it once so its not a new ground for most .........
After todays results I now see us 0% automatic promotion 40% play offs and 60% outside the play offs
Early days yet but fingers crossed for a big improvement in the league next saturday, hopefully put another stiffs eleven out and lose against daggers in that pathetic shameful tournament and we can get our nuts down to concentrate on getting out of this chuff league
Oohaah I agree with your views on our terrible away support, having sold only 250 for exeter the other day is a joke.... just out of interest though how many away games do you go to yourself? Not having a dig just wondering whether you are bitter cos youre always there on your own or just embarressed of our away support?! (I am about half in between - go to 10 - 15 away games and am bitter that there aren't more when I am there, and embarressed when I'm not and I try and justify to non-cafc mates that we are a reasonably big club)
[cite]Posted By: WestStandCookie[/cite]Can't wait to read some of the overreactions on here....
Parky out, Murray out, bring back Curbs - all the players that were decent after beating Orient are now useless etc....
I've read very little over-reaction, and certainly none of the brainless sloganising which you apparently crave! But I've read quite a few reasoned comments that I think offer a pretty fair summation of our current strengths and weaknesses.
Wasn't there, but I confess I thought we would do better. Indeed, I backed us to win. Probably shows that the return of the old Charlton spirit (which is the strongest for some time, from what I can see) won't be enough to see us through. A little more quality needed.
Sorry if that doesn't quite meet the ''overreaction'' you were so gleefully looking forward to...and sorry to spoil your fun and games, but the biggest ''overreaction'' I've read so far this season was in response to our win v Orient. I was guilty myself of getting swept along with it. Not that I feel any reason to apologise for it !
To be honest, I don't think your clumsy irony really helps take the debate forward, does it?
Just home from the game. I thought we started well and then conceded 2 really poor goals just before HT. The lack of pace in our central defence was badly exposed by the breakaway that led to their 1st goal and the 2nd was just down to shocking marking at a corner. Reid beat his man time & time again down the left but consistently failed to put in a good cross or final pass. Abbott was in the pocket of the 2 giant centre-halves throughout the game and Martin did very little. There was a marked lack of understanding up front as Martin fed through 3 or 4 balls to absolutely nobody as Abbott had always gone the other way.
To be honest there wasn't much quality on display today & I thought that we were well beaten. Absolutely superb goal from Fry who ran from his own half with the ball, battled through 4 or 5 attempted tackles and then fired it into the bottom corner via a big deflection off a defender's foot.
It is obvious that lack of pace in central defence is going to be a problem this year but our biggest problem is going to be scoring goals. We offer so little up front.
I'm not going to write us off after one pretty average performance, but we are going to have to improve a lot if we hope to make the top 6. Time will tell.
On match days when I don't go I either stay close or avoid altogether ,today I choose the latter option.
I predicted a win , but had I known Worner was playing I would have revised that . I was disappointed we did not sign Andy Marshall and feel this was too big a game to put Worner in for . It seems he cost us a Goal . Having said that , I hope he is between the posts in the JPT and I'm not writing him off long term.
Is Elliot fit ? If not we need a loanee in urgenly or an experienced Andy Marshall / Tony Warner type back up.
I want to see more opinions from those there but it seems we need to beef ythe squad up.
[cite]Posted By: Richard J[/cite]I predicted a win , but had I known Worner was playing I would have revised that
I'll get the rest of my thoughts on the game down in the morning, as I'm desperate need of abeer right now but one thing I will say is that the result would have been no different had elliot been playing, I don't think worner had a bad game at all! The one thing that did really grate me was how worner kicked the ball incredably high, yet there was never a red shirt where it landed! Surely the players can judge where the balls going to land!?!?!?
In answer to paul sturgess I went to 8 away games last year but with 3 young children I find it hard to justify disappearing from my family for the best part of a day for away trips
In years gone by I went to 90% of away games for about 10 seasons but obviously everyones personal circumstances change
I just can't see how our away numbers are so numerically different to other similar sized clubs
Anyway our home numbers are fairly decent and let's hope we can hold on to them.....
Best keep this about after match views tho, so come on those that went fill us with some hope but don't lie !!
Why the doom and gloom?........ Thought you bossed the first 20-25 mins today and we were lucky to survive. I sit behind the goal at the opposite end to what you lot did so I might have had a better view. Your lad (Reed(?)) put some dangerous crosses in (although his second half showing was a bit poor) and Pav nearly got on one which had me holding my breath also docherty should should should have scored!!!! I think you will be in the mix this season (you better be got us, you and southampton for promotion in my accy!) I like the look of you midfield Mcormack is reet and was lucky to stay on the pitch today but he is one of them that the home fans love and the away fans hate! The black lad in the middle, sorry dont know his name :/, looked decent but a bit quiet for me. I think your stron point thought (like ours) is your wingers. Tore us to shreds at times today and on another day with a bit of composure with the final delivary the result could well have been very different! Anyway all in all I genuinly hope to see both teams batteling it out in the Champ next season (no i dont say it to every team we face just that I always have a good day out in charlton in the Angelican(?) a lot of banter with a set of good humored fans. Good look for the rest of the season and expect to see you there or there abouts. Keep the faith you pessimistic bastards haha!
Not trying to be ironic in the slightest, just commenting on the fact that with one win 95% of people proclaim Parky as the new messiah and then with one defeat (our first league defeat might I add) the majority of people reckon we'll end up mid table or relegated.
Ok, by all accounts we were poor today but if we win next week, then the mood and opinion will change again as it always seems to do on here - it's like most of the posters on here have split personalties!
Today was evidence that we still need new faces..a striker, creative midfielder maybe..and Jon Fortune/defender...the squad still needs time to gel..so do we play our best team on Tuesday or give the youngsters a chance?
I agree with Addick Addict who suggested a 451 formation--our strength at the moment is in our wingers and central midfield players. Our obvious weakness is up front so why doesn't Parky play to our strengths with a 451 formation? It seems so obvious to me but hardly anyone on CL criticises our very predictable and rigid 442 system. In Martin, Reid and Waggy we have three talented wide players and surely in central midfield Semedo McCormack and Racon are a match for most teams in this league--play Abbott up front to run the channels with Racon, and the two wingers to join him from deep. It also allows us to compete more in central midfield and encourages players to keep the ball on the deck and play through midfield. If I remember rightly we won the first 6/7 games at the start of last season playing a 451 formation but since then Parky appears to have ignored the obvious benefits of a more flexible way of playing to our strengths.
Just got back and have to agree with Red_Pete & lancashire lad,it was dissapointing but it's out the way and let's hope we can pick ourselfs up and now move on.
[cite]Posted By: dwb[/cite]I agree with Addick Addict who suggested a 451 formation--our strength at the moment is in our wingers and central midfield players. Our obvious weakness is up front so why doesn't Parky play to our strengths with a 451 formation? It seems so obvious to me but hardly anyone on CL criticises our very predictable and rigid 442 system.
In Martin, Reid and Waggy we have three talented wide players and surely in central midfield Semedo McCormack and Racon are a match for most teams in this league--play Abbott up front to run the channels with Racon, and the two wingers to join him from deep. It also allows us to compete more in central midfield and encourages players to keep the ball on the deck and play through midfield. If I remember rightly we won the first 6/7 games at the start of last season playing a 451 formation but since then Parky appears to have ignored the obvious benefits of a more flexible way of playing to our strengths.
I really don't understand your point. We DID play 4-5-1 today, which just resulted too often in Abbott being isolated up front on his own. Martin played behind him but struggled to do anything effective all game. We went back to 4-4-2 late on when Akpo came on to replace Waggy and Martin moved out to the wing. We were equally average in both formations imho.
Just got back from the game and have to agree with the two comments of the posters who were at the game.
For the first 40 minutes we were the better side without neither side creating a chance. The first goal was an error between the 2 centre halfs, and the keeper, not sure which one was exactly to blame. The second gaol was a very good header but Worner should have been penalised for a penalty a minute earlier.
Once we were behind it was very difficult to come back from. Not going to get to down about this, very early days in this teams development (what happens when you changed a large percentage of the playing staff from one side to the next)
The keeper made his best save from a Francis own goal effort. Very strange to see a keeper at this level under 6ft. I thought we bought him to sit on the bench and we would have a loan keeper in if Rob was not playing. At the end of August he has played 2 games.
Francis was poor again today but no worse than Jackson.
Comments
True of course - putting it off till we get a decent striker is what we're mostly trying to do.
I suppose he will start in the JPT , score, then go out on loan again......
Why not bring him on when we are 2-0 down, how is he going to improve by sitting on the bench!
I do not think we should worry about goal difference at the moment,...... go for it and lose 6-0 seems to be the case in the prem!
Fat Rob at half time said we were the better team until they scored although created little and that is concerning
We think we need a striker but it seems more than that
He also said the keeper made a huge error but tbh he is young so I don't think he should get ruined shows we should have kept randy though
He also said Francis and Jackson were poor.
If youga ain't coming back then full back is needed
solly must be given a chance now if his observations on Francis are correct
But also it was away to huddersfield who I have tipped for2nd
So I ain't that bothered
Chill and enjoy your Saturday folks
Coyr
Id like us to do what millwall did last season and be a team of battlers nicking results here and there and not being one of the teams to beat as we have been past few seasons.
Wasnt at the game today but there seemed a real team spirit and unity amongst the team, manager and supporters at orient the other week and if we can replicate that consistently throughout the season we will be in a good position when the favourites battling at the top go through their blips and lose their bottle.
For now am happy to be below the radar and just concentrate on our games and no one see us as a major threat which will be a luxury we havent had since the premiership.
Really feel behind the team and manager EVEN MORE this season than i have done since curbishley left for some reason even though we are probably are on paper less promising than previous years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8922364.stm
I left 10 mins before the end as I had a disabled person with me and wanted to get her out before the rush, so missed our goal.
We played the best football early on but with no punch up front, plenty of possession but little action in the penalty area. Their 1st goal was a mix up between Dailey, Doc and goalie, but not so much the goalie's fault, 2nd goal one of their players was completely unmarked in the box and headed home.
No-one played that well, they all tried hard, our goalie did well, but the rest of them just didn't gel together, gave the ball away a lot of the time, Pav was slow, Waggy didn't really achieve much, Reid's crosses didn't reach targets, Mac missed an easy header and Martin was just too light weight.
Time for dinner
Oohaah I agree with your views on our terrible away support, having sold only 250 for exeter the other day is a joke.... just out of interest though how many away games do you go to yourself? Not having a dig just wondering whether you are bitter cos youre always there on your own or just embarressed of our away support?! (I am about half in between - go to 10 - 15 away games and am bitter that there aren't more when I am there, and embarressed when I'm not and I try and justify to non-cafc mates that we are a reasonably big club)
I've read very little over-reaction, and certainly none of the brainless sloganising which you apparently crave! But I've read quite a few reasoned comments that I think offer a pretty fair summation of our current strengths and weaknesses.
Wasn't there, but I confess I thought we would do better. Indeed, I backed us to win. Probably shows that the return of the old Charlton spirit (which is the strongest for some time, from what I can see) won't be enough to see us through. A little more quality needed.
Sorry if that doesn't quite meet the ''overreaction'' you were so gleefully looking forward to...and sorry to spoil your fun and games, but the biggest ''overreaction'' I've read so far this season was in response to our win v Orient. I was guilty myself of getting swept along with it. Not that I feel any reason to apologise for it !
To be honest, I don't think your clumsy irony really helps take the debate forward, does it?
I cant lambast the forwards, we dont create enough chances, simple as that.
I'd get Fry in at Left Back and Jackson alongside Semedo. McCormack and Jose wont pick a pass, Jackson might.
Quite like that idea but would keep Mac and use the oft used modern formation, something like this:
.......................................Elliot...................................
Francis/Solly...............Dailly..............Doc......................Fry
.............................Semedo...........Mac..........................
......................................Jackson................................
...........Waggy/Martin.................................Reid..............
........................................Pav...................................
To what possible purpose? Perhaps you are the ''overreaction'' friend Cooke said he was looking forward to !!!
But thanks for that considered and thoughtful contribution, Off-it. One to cherish...
To be honest there wasn't much quality on display today & I thought that we were well beaten. Absolutely superb goal from Fry who ran from his own half with the ball, battled through 4 or 5 attempted tackles and then fired it into the bottom corner via a big deflection off a defender's foot.
It is obvious that lack of pace in central defence is going to be a problem this year but our biggest problem is going to be scoring goals. We offer so little up front.
I'm not going to write us off after one pretty average performance, but we are going to have to improve a lot if we hope to make the top 6. Time will tell.
I predicted a win , but had I known Worner was playing I would have revised that . I was disappointed we did not sign Andy Marshall and feel this was too big a game to put Worner in for . It seems he cost us a Goal . Having said that , I hope he is between the posts in the JPT and I'm not writing him off long term.
Is Elliot fit ? If not we need a loanee in urgenly or an experienced Andy Marshall / Tony Warner type back up.
I want to see more opinions from those there but it seems we need to beef ythe squad up.
I'll get the rest of my thoughts on the game down in the morning, as I'm desperate need of abeer right now but one thing I will say is that the result would have been no different had elliot been playing, I don't think worner had a bad game at all! The one thing that did really grate me was how worner kicked the ball incredably high, yet there was never a red shirt where it landed! Surely the players can judge where the balls going to land!?!?!?
Huddersfield will be top six even top 2. We will perhaps be top half if lucky and if very lucky 6th place might be there.
We are a third division club and I think we need to get used to it.
Strikers need a service unless they are like Kevin Lisbie and can create for themselves.
The result today is no surprise.
In years gone by I went to 90% of away games for about 10 seasons but obviously everyones personal circumstances change
I just can't see how our away numbers are so numerically different to other similar sized clubs
Anyway our home numbers are fairly decent and let's hope we can hold on to them.....
Best keep this about after match views tho, so come on those that went fill us with some hope but don't lie !!
Ok, by all accounts we were poor today but if we win next week, then the mood and opinion will change again as it always seems to do on here - it's like most of the posters on here have split personalties!
In Martin, Reid and Waggy we have three talented wide players and surely in central midfield Semedo McCormack and Racon are a match for most teams in this league--play Abbott up front to run the channels with Racon, and the two wingers to join him from deep. It also allows us to compete more in central midfield and encourages players to keep the ball on the deck and play through midfield. If I remember rightly we won the first 6/7 games at the start of last season playing a 451 formation but since then Parky appears to have ignored the obvious benefits of a more flexible way of playing to our strengths.
It's what we do best.
Fry's goal was a brilliant effort.
For the first 40 minutes we were the better side without neither side creating a chance. The first goal was an error between the 2 centre halfs, and the keeper, not sure which one was exactly to blame. The second gaol was a very good header but Worner should have been penalised for a penalty a minute earlier.
Once we were behind it was very difficult to come back from. Not going to get to down about this, very early days in this teams development (what happens when you changed a large percentage of the playing staff from one side to the next)
The keeper made his best save from a Francis own goal effort. Very strange to see a keeper at this level under 6ft. I thought we bought him to sit on the bench and we would have a loan keeper in if Rob was not playing. At the end of August he has played 2 games.
Francis was poor again today but no worse than Jackson.