We have the second worst defensive record out of all the teams in the top 14, behind Peterborough. We haven't kept a clean sheet for 9 league games, going back to our 3-0 win away at Swindon. We all know that when you keep a clean sheet you're guranteed at least a point. We've let 35 goals so far this season, where we only let in 48 out of the whole of last season. It's obvious to see what our problem is. In my opinion we can't have Dailly and Doherty as our central defensive partnership, they're just TOO slow. I hope Sir Chris makes it one of his main priorities to sort out the defence and that means going back to basics. I think we need either another centre back, one which has pace or a left back which means we can move Fry into his natural position.
Attacking wise we haven't done badly at all, scoring 39 so far this season where we scored 71 last year. Considering we have had games where we've played extremely poorly and created nothing that's not a bad return. Not to mention that we should be getting more goals from Martin, Reid, Wagstaff, Benson, Anyinsah, Eccleston and our defenders chipping in with goals too, which they haven't done at all so far. I can see Jackson getting over 20 goals this season, 14 already is fantastic and a credit to him. I know many have been from penalties, but he still has to put them away.
We can all debate on different areas of where we need to improve on but one that stands out to me is our home record. Having scored 13 in the 11 games and only winning 5 of them is horrendous, it's imperative that we have a good home record to be in the mix come May. With Chris Powell as the new man in charge and a feel good feeling from supporters, this is our chance to turn the form around and make The Valley a fortress again.
So what am I hoping for come the end of the season? - Firstly to get around 75-80 points so we're in the play offs, I think automatic promotion is out of our reach but saying that, all we need is to go on a good run of wins and we're right up there again. However, I can see Southampton and Brighton fighting it out to become champions. I am hoping for a much better home record; scoring more goals, keeping clean sheets on a regular basis and obviously winning matches. Finally I am hoping a get a bit more from the players like Reid and Martin who just haven't showed those performances we were all expecting to see. Obviously we all want promotion and to do well in the Championship, then go on from there but I think we may have to have another season in League One as it's going to be very difficult now, but hey we're Charlton - do we ever do anything the easy way?
Half time grade of the season: B-
We're still in the mix and there's signs that we will be up there and do well, but there is a big room for improvement as well. We can do it, have faith. Come on you reds!
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Too many soft goals - we need to bring in at least one CB.
0-2 wasn't it ?
Be nice to see lancashire-lad do a half season stats and player marks summary to compare before Chris and with Chris (assuming he lasts the season)
Nooooo ....... too slow these days. Any nippy winger would push the ball past him and leave him for dead.
And yes I did see Dailly put in a good RB performance at Argyle.