Just read this thread and am truly gobsmacked. ONE DEFEAT, that is all. Champions of this league will lose at least 6 games, probably more. It was a crappy game in a crappy league, it happens. An away record of w5 d1 l1 is not too bad, move on. We werent outplayed like in a lot of games last year, the reaction to this result is what matters.
No need to panic just yet.............i'm waiting until early Nov when we've lost to Carlisle, Wycombe & Hartlepool and then I'm going to panic.
CP has just made his first big mistake...........so long as he realises this and re-instates Solly, Waggy & Hayes to the starting 11 asap then do real damage done.
Knew nothing about the game other than the score until i logged on here just now. Relieved to see we had played basically the same line up as last week because it makes it simple to rectify - play the 'winning team' next week. Had we played that tried and tested formula and lost i'd be more concerned.
Just read this thread and am truly gobsmacked. ONE DEFEAT, that is all. Champions of this league will lose at least 6 games, probably more. It was a crappy game in a crappy league, it happens. An away record of w5 d1 l1 is not too bad, move on. We werent outplayed like in a lot of games last year, the reaction to this result is what matters.
This. This. And this.
I think the record is a little bit misleading. We had a good win up at Sheffield, but anyone who sees the team week in week out can tell you that that result was really papering over the cracks. We haven’t been playing the football we were back at the start of the season for some time now, Hollands and Stephens aren’t dominating the game anymore. Powell had an absolute nightmare, dropping Solly was a terrible idea, but we knew Powell arrived that he was inexperienced and we just have to hope that he will learn from his mistakes – but he wont get away with many mare and still have us top of the league. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Positives, the little pub inside the ground was quite nice, not sure we can’t have Bartrams like that (TV’s everywhere), is they can do it I’m sure we should be able to. Only other positive I can think of is that I’ve got another town to add to the list of “places I’m glad I don’t live” !
As a lot of people have said, we made unnecessary changes. I thought our first eleven was excellent earlier on in the season.
I thought our weakness was our bench. Early on, Euell was our only attacking player on the bench. Then Green came back and Powell signed Kermorgant, so that problem was solved. A bench of Sullivan, Cort, Evina/Pritchard (when he's back), Green and Kermorgant is very strong.
Powell needs to go back to our best eleven, the one that got us to the top of the league. Our bench is now strong too, so all is good.
I'm very confident when we play our first eleven, the understanding there already is so impressive. We just need to play it as often as we can. If there's no injuries or suspensions, we HAVE to play that 11 players.
We'd only just returned from Israel and Palestine and hadn't seen this squad play. It seemed pretty dysfunctional to me, Morrison out of position with Green staying back in an attempt to alleviate the problems caused by Morrison didn't work. I don't know what Powelly was intending, maybe he wasn't prepared to risk Solly being injured by the hulks, I am only sure that he would have had some pretty good reasons. But most of the squad either didn't seem 'up for it' or were having a bad day. A truly crap day all round, but keep calm and carry on remain my guiding words.
Didn't go but have read the thread with interest. Seems CP's tinkering with the starting eleven has disturbed some of us but bear in mind that CP has a big and by league one standards talented squad which needs to be used because I would expect that CP expects that he has players that are good enough to come in and do a job. If they don't then that is part of the learning curve that CP will take on board and be wiser. He's a new manager who is bound to make errors of judgement. We are top and still a very good team. I don't doubt there will be more losses to come but I expect there to be more wins. Not worried by this result one little bit.
Huddersfield apart, most other results went our way at the weekend, so I'm delighted that we're still top. But the last three games have confirmed that we are flattering to deceive to some extent. This is not a team that has the feel of champions.
When the starting line-up was announced on Saturday, I confess to having been slightly pleased. I like Solly and, like many others, feel that he has played very well this season ... but I have been concerned about his lack of physical presence, so I thought that Powell had done well to anticipate the onslaught that Stevenage would provide .... but ....
... it was clear after 10 minutes that Morrison is not a full back. He's OK when coming to meet the ball, but poor when it is played behind him.
Also, he was up against Stacey Long. Hardly the giant that Powell may have expected, so any fears about Solly's ability to cope physically were groundless.
Morrison was also 'suckered' by Long for the goal. Long is all right foot. Although playing on the left, he was only ever going to go right, yet Morrison fell for the dummy, allowing Long to get the shot in. It's basic defensive play .. work out early which foot your opponent prefers, then 'encourage' him to use the wrong one.
The weakness of Morrison lead to other areas of the pitch being ineffective. It's House of Cards stuff. Green was never going to be much of an outlet when there is no defensive solidity behind him, and you saw other examples of nervousness from the central defenders and Hamer. Powell should have admitted his mistake by half-time at the latest and brought Solly on.
On the positive side, I thought Wiggins had a very good attacking game. He showed the way with one long mazy run at the Stevenage defence which ended up with him putting the ball out for a goal kick (because he is all left foot and the opposition sent him into the wrong areas), but his team-mates should have learned the lesson and done a lot more running at defenders.
Finally, Powell needs to work out how to get Stephens into the game more. Whole passages of play seem to pass him by. Stephens is our 'main man' and Powell needs to ensure that someone (Jackson or Hollands?) is constantly on his case so that he doesn't go missing.
it wasnt the greatest performance but lets be honest we would have settled for the start to the season that we have had ,stevenage spoiled the game with their tactics but thats gonna happen in this division and its something we are gonna have to get used to, powellys team selection was baffling though, saying that though we should have got something out of the game and im sure we will bounce back with a convincing win over carlisle on saturday.
We have a charity auction on here ending in just 30 minutes for CHARLTON champagne reception, meal for 4 at the Cenre Circle restaurant, premium match day seats & post match buffet! Do not miss out!
Comments
Crisis, what crisis ??
No need to panic just yet.............i'm waiting until early Nov when we've lost to Carlisle, Wycombe & Hartlepool and then I'm going to panic.
CP has just made his first big mistake...........so long as he realises this and re-instates Solly, Waggy & Hayes to the starting 11 asap then do real damage done.
Just read this thread and am truly gobsmacked. ONE DEFEAT, that is all. Champions of this league will lose at least 6 games, probably more. It was a crappy game in a crappy league, it happens. An away record of w5 d1 l1 is not too bad, move on. We werent outplayed like in a lot of games last year, the reaction to this result is what matters.
I think the record is a little bit misleading. We had a good win up at Sheffield, but anyone who sees the team week in week out can tell you that that result was really papering over the cracks. We haven’t been playing the football we were back at the start of the season for some time now, Hollands and Stephens aren’t dominating the game anymore. Powell had an absolute nightmare, dropping Solly was a terrible idea, but we knew Powell arrived that he was inexperienced and we just have to hope that he will learn from his mistakes – but he wont get away with many mare and still have us top of the league. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Positives, the little pub inside the ground was quite nice, not sure we can’t have Bartrams like that (TV’s everywhere), is they can do it I’m sure we should be able to. Only other positive I can think of is that I’ve got another town to add to the list of “places I’m glad I don’t live” !
Apparently Powell went mental in the dressing room after the game.
As a lot of people have said, we made unnecessary changes. I thought our first eleven was excellent earlier on in the season.
I thought our weakness was our bench. Early on, Euell was our only attacking player on the bench. Then Green came back and Powell signed Kermorgant, so that problem was solved. A bench of Sullivan, Cort, Evina/Pritchard (when he's back), Green and Kermorgant is very strong.
Powell needs to go back to our best eleven, the one that got us to the top of the league. Our bench is now strong too, so all is good.
I'm very confident when we play our first eleven, the understanding there already is so impressive. We just need to play it as often as we can. If there's no injuries or suspensions, we HAVE to play that 11 players.
When the starting line-up was announced on Saturday, I confess to having been slightly pleased. I like Solly and, like many others, feel that he has played very well this season ... but I have been concerned about his lack of physical presence, so I thought that Powell had done well to anticipate the onslaught that Stevenage would provide .... but ....
... it was clear after 10 minutes that Morrison is not a full back. He's OK when coming to meet the ball, but poor when it is played behind him.
Also, he was up against Stacey Long. Hardly the giant that Powell may have expected, so any fears about Solly's ability to cope physically were groundless.
Morrison was also 'suckered' by Long for the goal. Long is all right foot. Although playing on the left, he was only ever going to go right, yet Morrison fell for the dummy, allowing Long to get the shot in. It's basic defensive play .. work out early which foot your opponent prefers, then 'encourage' him to use the wrong one.
The weakness of Morrison lead to other areas of the pitch being ineffective. It's House of Cards stuff. Green was never going to be much of an outlet when there is no defensive solidity behind him, and you saw other examples of nervousness from the central defenders and Hamer. Powell should have admitted his mistake by half-time at the latest and brought Solly on.
On the positive side, I thought Wiggins had a very good attacking game. He showed the way with one long mazy run at the Stevenage defence which ended up with him putting the ball out for a goal kick (because he is all left foot and the opposition sent him into the wrong areas), but his team-mates should have learned the lesson and done a lot more running at defenders.
Finally, Powell needs to work out how to get Stephens into the game more. Whole passages of play seem to pass him by. Stephens is our 'main man' and Powell needs to ensure that someone (Jackson or Hollands?) is constantly on his case so that he doesn't go missing.