I'm still 100% behind Powell but ...

queensland_addick

Something he said at the meeting with fans a few weeks ago really concerned me.
Someone asked why we didn't have a man on the line when we defended set pieces, to which he responded that it was up to Robbie Elliot whether he wanted this or not.
No Chrissy, your'e the boss, it's your decision. With respect to Robbie Elliot he is a young keeper with a lot to learn, he is not Gordon Banks.
The very next game we lost at Hartlepool, the winning goal being headed in from a corner with half the goal vacant, it has been downhill ever since.

dabos

Curran, who scored Carlisle's second, was penalised for almost every one of their corners for fouling Elliott. He stood a yard in front of him and refused to move. The one time he seemed to get away with it, he scored.

I'm equally concerned about how Elliott copes with shots from distance. I wasn't behind the ball so couldn't tell if it moved or not, but I couldn't understand why he didn't push the shot out for a corner for Carlisle's 3rd goal. Parrying it to the feet of the onrushing striker certainly wasn't the place to put it!

Macronate

I was concerned every time they had a corner last night.

Doesn't say much for the GK or defence.

Chirpy Red

From a purely footballing point of view I'm concerned at the general level of corners taken by all teams at this level. Ours were crap last night but their's were hardly a million times better.

Exiled_Addick

Follwing a question regading BWP's penalty taking style, after the Notts C game, he said something along the lines of "it's not for me to tell Bradley if that's the right way to take a penalty or not".

He seems to be trying to encourage the players to express themselves and, I guess, take responsibility for their actions. Little snippets we heard from before suggest Parky was more of a micro manager. The general disarray that has be-set our recent performances would suggest that the players are either struggling to make a transistion between the two styles or aren't bright enough (football wise) to be given such a free reign and would perhaps benefit from knowing they have clearly defined roles. It's probably a bit of both.

Perhaps Powelly's style will work better in a higher division with better players, but he needs to get us into that higher division before we'll find out and I think generally the players need much better organising. Our set-pieces at both ends are pretty poor and I think that is often a sign of side that isn't being prepared properly for games.

golfaddick

[quote][cite]Posted By: Chirpy Red[/cite]From a purely footballing point of view I'm concerned at the general level of corners taken by all teams at this level. Ours were crap last night but their's were hardly a million times better.[/quote]

Its not often we agree, Chirpy old mate, but this time..........Spot on !!!!

Last night, every time they had a corner (and they had loads) it looked dangerous............they scored from one and had a few that we just about managed to turn away for yet another corner - yet when we get a corner (apart from putting out the flags and having a street party as they're so rare) we end up not beating the first defender or aiming it straight at their keeper.

What do they do in training !!!!!!!!!!

Bexley Dan

i was concerned that he hasn't got the confidence to leave his coat on a peg or put it on. I think he may be taking this Sven cool approach a bit too far.

razil

here's my view from post carlisle thread..

I think there are a number of questions unanswered

should more money have been put in to give Powell a serious chance of solving the problems, does this board want a lot for return for too little investment?

did he correctly identify those problems? (no CM or CB brought in, we already had a goal scorer)

not sure why you would boot out a centre forward after the window had closed either considering how injury prone the alternative is and how many games we have to play at the moment.

was it right to step up training at this stage of the season, and particularly with this fixture bunching - we look last to the
ball on so many ocassions

was Powell the right man for the job experience wise, or was it too much about his connection with the club? There do seem to be some tactical problems appearing - our team changes on a daily basis and formation seems all over the place and confused

It's all quite puzzling considering the run that he started on should now come to this. I guess one answer is he is learning the team, but he really needs to get that done quickly now

Exiled_Addick

I tell you what we look like at the moment - and it's very worrying that we do - an Alan Pardew side. No clear game plan, lots of chopping and changing, disorganised at the back and from set-pieces, signing strikers when the problems clearly mainly lie elsewhere. All bad signs.

Very early days in both CP's career and time at Charlton, though, so plenty of time to turn it around. We just need to get back to basics for now though - as far as possible play round pegs in round holes and use tried and trusted approaches (e.g. the big man/little man combo up front) and work hard in training to make sure each indvidual player knows his jobs and stays switched on to do them. If we get those things right again we should stop the rot and we can then start trying to fit the other pieces into the picture.

I think that has to be the target for this season, get the team looking like a proper solid team again and hopefully get into the play-offs, then who knows. Then spend some money in the summer and try to turn a solid side into a good one. All easier said than done of course.

queensland_addick

To me things looked well organised under Keithie and Damien and in CP's first game. I can't remember the exact timing of Alex Dyer's appointment but it does seem that we have gone off track in recent games and I wonder whether the change in the backroom set up might be partly responsible. Does Keith still have the same level of influence or has he been pushed too far into the background? We need to get back to basics and start doing the simple things well.

Scoham

[cite]Posted By: Exiled_Addick[/cite]I tell you what we look like at the moment - and it's very worrying that we do - an Alan Pardew side. No clear game plan, lots of chopping and changing, disorganised at the back and from set-pieces, signing strikers when the problems clearly mainly lie elsewhere. All bad signs.

[cite]Posted By: queensland_addick[/cite]To me things looked well organised under Keithie and Damien and in CP's first game. I can't remember the exact timing of Alex Dyer's appointment but it does seem that we have gone off track in recent games and I wonder whether the change in the backroom set up might be partly responsible. Does Keith still have the same level of influence or has he been pushed too far into the background? We need to get back to basics and start doing the simple things well.

Powell started by using Keith Peacock's team, which was pretty similar to Parky's line ups, except with Waggy off the striker and McCormack at RM.

Since then he's slowly tweaked things. Probably too much though, we don't really have the players for 4-3-3 (well some, but not enough) and we're now left without anything like a targetman.

As I said elsewhere if we want to win promotion this season, I think we need to go back to something like Parky/Peacock's simple 4-4-2. Pass the ball when we can, but with these players it's going to be direct at times.

The other option is to keep trying to play good football, get the players used to the 4-3-3 or something similar. Doing that Powell, the board, the fans etc would have accept with these players it's not always going to get results. It took time and some good signings before Brighton played passing football and consistently got results.

A few good loans could improve things of course and help change the way we play.

DRF

I kind of agree but I can see where CP is coming from. Maybe a man on the back post puts Robbie off? After al CP said he suggested it and Robbie tried it, but then stopped. So it's obviously not a case of not understanding why, there is a clear decision that has been made.

I'm more concerned about the goalkeeping coach. Robbie has said before that he used to get a lot of support from the coach and when taking penalties he would look at Woody who would tell him which way to dive as he had analysed each of the players in advance to save Rob having to think about every possibility. Lately Robbie has looked very nervous, especially before penalties and I wonder if he is getting the support he used to get?

Oggy Red

What Powell says to the press - and what he says to players individually and collectively, are no doubt two different things.

I wouldn't analyse his each and every word too literally.

Stig

One of the FA's main themes in their coaching recently has been around player decision making, they are concerned that one of the reasons England underachieves is because our players get out-thought. To this end they are encouraging coaches to encourage their players to think things through more, to consider the consequences of different actions and work out for themselves what is the best way to deal with situations. Perhaps Powell's seemingly laissez-faire attitude to defending corners or taking penalty taking stems from this. Then again, perhaps Oggy is right and we shouldn't read too much into what is said in post match interviews.

addick16

i think SCP needs to have a really hard week on the team. lots of running, discipline drills, and extra hours on the training pitch!

whoever is still left standing in good shape would get the next start for me. we are slow, lazy, and boring right now. SCP needs to get some energetic fresh blood on the pitch to turn this terrible form around. this might be the worst charlton has played in over 10 years....

Exiled_Addick

[cite]Posted By: Scoham[/cite]get the players used to the 4-3-3 or something similar. Doing that Powell, the board, the fans etc would have accept with these players it's not always going to get results. It took time and some good signings before Brighton played passing football andconsistentlygot results.

A few good loans could improve things of course and help change the way we play.

This would be my prefered path forwards, tbh. I can stomach the odd bad performance and result if I feel like they're blips as we build something. I'm not getting that feeling that there is a clear plan right now though - we seem causght between changing our style and building for next season and sticking braodly to Parky's plans in the hope we can get up that way this year.

I know you can never say never, but I don't really believe the curent squad will get us up - it's good enough to qualfy for the play-offs but I think there are at least 3 or 4 sides who are clearly better than us. I think we'd be better off settling on how we want to play next season are start insigating that plan now - then by the summer we'll know exactly which players we have suit that which don't and will have had good time to identify transfer targets that will fill the holes.

Scoham

[cite]Posted By: Stig[/cite]One of the FA's main themes in their coaching recently has been around player decision making, they are concerned that one of the reasons England underachieves is because our players get out-thought. To this end they are encouraging coaches to encourage their players to think things through more, to consider the consequences of different actions and work out for themselves what is the best way to deal with situations. Perhaps Powell's seemingly laissez-faire attitude to defending corners or taking penalty taking stems from this. Then again, perhaps Oggy is right and we shouldn't read too much into what is said in post match interviews.

That's good to know. It seems to be a problem at all levels, right up to the England team in the World Cup.

MuttleyCAFC

Far too early, is facing his first crisis far earlier than anybody would have predicted but will show us hwat he is made of. Bringing in 2 of the right type asap will tell us some more.

Covered End

[cite]Posted By: queensland_addick[/cite]Something he said at the meeting with fans a few weeks ago really concerned me.
Someone asked why we didn't have a man on the line when we defended set pieces, to which he responded that it was up to Robbie Elliot whether he wanted this or not.
No Chrissy, your'e the boss, it's your decision. With respect to Robbie Elliot he is a young keeper with a lot to learn, he is not Gordon Banks.
The very next game we lost at Hartlepool, the winning goal being headed in from a corner with half the goal vacant, it has been downhill ever since.

Quite. It was me that asked Powell and as you said the very next game we let in another goal by not having a bloke on each post. I also told Parky, but he didn't listen either :-)

I reckon we "give away" about 15 goals a season because of this, which possibly amounts to 10 lost points. It's not hard to rectify.

I reckon that was one of the tacticts that helped Curbs to keep us punching above our weight.

There's only so much you can do to try and help :-)