It felt like we turned up today expecting to roll Walsall over, that goes for both the players and the crowd. It never happened though and Walsall played really well and were tuff to break down. Had a bit of a Stevenage feel to it very scrappy a lot of long balls and a freak goal for them. When we did play on the deck we looked a good team shame we didnt do it more, All in all a good point against a very dogged Walsall team. Bring on Oldham.
Arrived at the ground expecting the team to turn on the style and pick up three points. This didn't happen. I felt we just about edged it, although I would concede there wasn't much in it and Walsall had a few decent chances.
Walsall's performance belied their league position. Whilst they are no Barcelona, they are an adequate 3rd division team and will no doubt climb the table as the season goes on. Notwithstanding this, based on previous performances, Charlton are clearly a better football team and should have won.
I have no complaints in relation to team selection or the commitment of the players. There is however scope for debate in relation to both style of play and tactics. Too often for my liking was the ball in the air or punted aimlessly. I don't wish to convey an impression that this occurred all or indeed most of the time, there was some good passing both long and short. However, the style of play that has become the Charlton way under Chris Powell didn't quite get going. Some credit for this should be given to Walsall, but I'm sure the manager will look to address this issue.
As far as tactics are concerned, I think it was felt that if we kept doing what we were doing, we would get our rewards. If this was the manager's thinking, I'm inclined to agree with that thought process, albeit as it turned out we didn't get the reward of a win. The introduction of Wagstaff was positive and could have brought about a victory. I am not entirely sure what could have been done differently tactically to bring about a win and maybe the only tweak necessary would be in relation to style as mentioned above.
Thought the players all put a decent shift in. Hollands man of the match.
Initially I felt the referee was the the sort that allowed play to flow. Towards the end I started to feel the referee and his assistants simply were not up to the job. Charlton should have had one if not two penalties.
As for our support, reasonable numbers for a non glamorous fixture just before Christmas. The atmosphere in my opinion never really got going, perhaps it was the cold. Hope the Charlton fan who fell was ok in the end.
Listening on player it seemed we were on the front foot and Walsall played on the break. You can't win every game and we didn't lose - probably needed another 5 or 10 mins to win it- win next week and we are sitting pretty with 50 Points -happy days.
They played above themselves and we played below ourselves...............fairly even game though we had ALL the class players on show, sometimes that's not enough unfortunately.
A fair bit of down to earth workman like huff & puff from them got them their point. Was it earned..............well I guess you have to say it was.
We can do much better of course.................though I don't think the same can be said about The Saddlers, I think that's about as good as they get.
Those singing the songs were spotted by club officials today I think, wouldn't surprise me to see some action at the next home game if they've been identified. But let's not go through that again...
Funny at how they knew exactly where to look! Mick couldn't have made himself less obvious.
Only heard one rendition of the incest song early on which was booed at - didn't here, indeed have never heard the other two - and I don't want to either.
A great burst of Chrissy Powells Red Army from the guys in our end of the stand, Shame the jobs worth stewards put an end to it all.
Were you stood at the back at the top of the walkway. If so I saw the stewards come in and everyone was moved off. I don't know if one of your crowd got chucked out as the stewards seemed to come back and take him down one of the exits.
I was a couple of rows down but keeping up the chant as well, at least one lad got ejected by the looks of it, It was a bit crap that a few people didnt simply move across one seat so that they could keep out of the way of the stewards when needed, hardly much effort.
A great burst of Chrissy Powells Red Army from the guys in our end of the stand, Shame the jobs worth stewards put an end to it all.
Were you stood at the back at the top of the walkway. If so I saw the stewards come in and everyone was moved off. I don't know if one of your crowd got chucked out as the stewards seemed to come back and take him down one of the exits.
I was the one who got chucked out. I managed to sneak back in to the home end though at half-time as they allowed smokers outside and I saw my chance!
Got a hoprrible feeling MK Dons may just win this league with Sheff Wed grabbing 2nd spot...
I am not sure that we need to panic about MK Dons yet. They have a tough run of games coming up - Leyton Orient and Brentford away will be no pushovers with Notts County, Hudds and Sheff W in January. Still, a long way to go.
Tight game which could have gone either way. Their best moments (other than their goal) came from two of our throw ins where we pushed up BOTH centre backs into their area. Powell obviously well prepared to gamble one point against three in this fixture against a non-rival. Apart from our goal (which was a Bierhoff-like header) we seemed to lack a bit of sharpness in their penalty area. I guess that's where we missed Jackson who so often finds a way of scoring in a crowded area. Walsall's no.6 was superb and they fully deserved a draw for their commitment and their belief, which grew as the game went on. It should be remembered that we had two very new players playing their first away games for us and that both looked the part. I'm satisfied.
A great burst of Chrissy Powells Red Army from the guys in our end of the stand, Shame the jobs worth stewards put an end to it all.
Were you stood at the back at the top of the walkway. If so I saw the stewards come in and everyone was moved off. I don't know if one of your crowd got chucked out as the stewards seemed to come back and take him down one of the exits.
I was the one who got chucked out. I managed to sneak back in to the home end though at half-time as they allowed smokers outside and I saw my chance!
Good work that's what me and Choice did at Carlisle last season went bloody mental when we scored the winner in the 90th min. so what did you actually get kicked out for?
Our best play was when the ball went down the wings, but in corners the pitch was very slippery which made accurate crossing very difficult, we seemed better going down the left than the right with Ephraim and Wiggins starting to get an understanding. When this type of play didn't work we resorted to lumping down the middle to Big Yann who usually manage to head it no-one, we had a number of goal mouth melees but it was just one of those day when the ball didn't go in the net. WP was well marshalled and seemed to get frustrated and loose interest at times.
Walsall's goal was pure luck with no one to blame, the ball just richocted around the place and ends up at the feet of a Walsall player and in it went.
Our goal was pure class, a beautiful centre by Ephraim and Yann was in the right place and headed well. Hollands had a fee header from a yard out and should have put it either side of the goalie but didn't and on a breakaway Hamer came rushing out but Russell went back onto the line and saved a certain goal by heading clear.
All in all a fair result but Walsall were there for the taking and we didn't rise to the occasion, at least we didn't loose.
A distinctly average performance by our high standards. The usual problem all teams have, trying to motivate yourselves 100% against a lower, small club, in a distinctly souless, mostly empty stadium. There appeared to be only about 1,000 home fans 10 mins before KO & a maximum of 2,500 at KO.
If our stand held 2300, I thought we had 1500 there.
Our best player was Ephraim who had a very good game & linked very well with Wiggins who also played well. Hollands & Russell also had decent games.
The defence played well, whilst not being at their best & Solly had a quiet game.
Green had a poorish game & it was overdue when he was subbed for Waggy. Unfortunately Waggy was even less effective. Neither got in more than 1 decent cross all day, as far as I can recall.
Yann had a good game, but BWP was definitely below par. BWP didn't look totally up for it & did less running than usual.
I should imagine Walsall played better than usual & we played worse than usual.
We started in typical fashion away from home, keeping it tight & letting the home team "blow themselves out". However, in doing so Walsall seemed to take confidence & got better and better. It wasn't a complete surprise when they took the lead.
1 down, we immediately upped our game and equalised quite quickly. i think our fans (me included) expected us to go on & win the game, but it never happened.
The game ebbed and flowed much like some boxing bouts, with both teams taking turns, to be on top.
Our best play was when the ball went down the wings, but in corners the pitch was very slippery which made accurate crossing very difficult, we seemed better going down the left than the right with Ephraim and Wiggins starting to get an understanding. When this type of play didn't work we resorted to lumping down the middle to Big Yann who usually manage to head it no-one, we had a number of goal mouth melees but it was just one of those day when the ball didn't go in the net. WP was well marshalled and seemed to get frustrated and loose interest at times.
Walsall's goal was pure luck with no one to blame, the ball just richocted around the place and ends up at the feet of a Walsall player and in it went.
Our goal was pure class, a beautiful centre by Ephraim and Yann was in the right place and headed well. Hollands had a fee header from a yard out and should have put it either side of the goalie but didn't and on a breakaway Hamer came rushing out but Russell went back onto the line and saved a certain goal by heading clear.
All in all a fair result but Walsall were there for the taking and we didn't rise to the occasion, at least we didn't loose.
Summed it up well, Lancs. Thought the way the pitch cut up and the surface in general had a bit to do with the way we played but we were definitely a different class when passing it around on the ground.
Have to admit I STILL haven't heard the dubious song even though the only away match missed was Halifax. Hoping it stays that way...
A final thought - Waggy is becoming a joke in my opinion. OK, I'm sure he hates warming the bench but when he is on the pitch he doesn't do himself any favours. Constantly waving his arms about, blaming those around him when a move goes wrong and the dive at the end was disappointing to say the least. Someone should have a serious word with the lad.
Nearly forgot . Please don't blame Jimmy Melrose for the loss of 2 points. The real culprit was the bouncer who refused to let us in the Clubhouse saying it was full...even though he was letting loads of fans out . Needless to say, I didn't wish him a Happy Xmas. So, no white wine for Fanny pre match = no win. Hope the marquee is still in place at Yeovil....
In isolation it was a disappointing game and result, but as others have said one draw and eight wins ain't bad. One disappointing aspect was that the Balti pies recommended by Dr Kish has sold out. This was another game where we took more than we did last season,i.e.a point. If i ha had to take four points out of Udders and warsaw this is definitely the way I would have wanted it. BWP did not shine and what worries me is that he looked disinterested against Udders and has now carried this into this game. I am sure it is just one of those blips and I think it is generally accepted that if he does not score it is easy to criticise him. Waggy seems to have gone backwards this season and his dive from a promising position should have got a yellow.
Overall a bad day at the office but we came out with more than we did last year, the only real concern is if people are saying that the pitch was to blame then we are going to face more and worse pitches like that before we leave this league.
Comments
It felt like we turned up today expecting to roll Walsall over, that goes for both the players and the crowd. It never happened though and Walsall played really well and were tuff to break down. Had a bit of a Stevenage feel to it very scrappy a lot of long balls and a freak goal for them. When we did play on the deck we looked a good team shame we didnt do it more, All in all a good point against a very dogged Walsall team. Bring on Oldham.
Blatent as you can get ref was shocking throughout.
We were on a great run of results and as far as I can see we are still on that run in what is turning out to be a very competitive league.
They played above themselves and we played below ourselves...............fairly even game though we had ALL the class players on show, sometimes that's not enough unfortunately.
A fair bit of down to earth workman like huff & puff from them got them their point. Was it earned..............well I guess you have to say it was.
We can do much better of course.................though I don't think the same can be said about The Saddlers, I think that's about as good as they get.
Funny at how they knew exactly where to look! Mick couldn't have made himself less obvious.
Only heard one rendition of the incest song early on which was booed at - didn't here, indeed have never heard the other two - and I don't want to either.
I was on the left of our stand and didn't hear any of the songs listed above. In fact as I said earlier didn't really hear any songs at all.
The atmosphere was very flat.
Good work that's what me and Choice did at Carlisle last season went bloody mental when we scored the winner in the 90th min. so what did you actually get kicked out for?
The draw means from our last nine games we have recorded only 8 wins and one draw.
Powell out.
Just not good enough. Are we safe from relegation yet?
A distinctly average performance by our high standards. The usual problem all teams have, trying to motivate yourselves 100% against a lower, small club, in a distinctly souless, mostly empty stadium. There appeared to be only about 1,000 home fans 10 mins before KO & a maximum of 2,500 at KO.
If our stand held 2300, I thought we had 1500 there.
Our best player was Ephraim who had a very good game & linked very well with Wiggins who also played well. Hollands & Russell also had decent games.
The defence played well, whilst not being at their best & Solly had a quiet game.
Green had a poorish game & it was overdue when he was subbed for Waggy. Unfortunately Waggy was even less effective. Neither got in more than 1 decent cross all day, as far as I can recall.
Yann had a good game, but BWP was definitely below par. BWP didn't look totally up for it & did less running than usual.
I should imagine Walsall played better than usual & we played worse than usual.
We started in typical fashion away from home, keeping it tight & letting the home team "blow themselves out". However, in doing so Walsall seemed to take confidence & got better and better. It wasn't a complete surprise when they took the lead.
1 down, we immediately upped our game and equalised quite quickly. i think our fans (me included) expected us to go on & win the game, but it never happened.
The game ebbed and flowed much like some boxing bouts, with both teams taking turns, to be on top.
A draw was a fair result.
Such is football.
Summed it up well, Lancs. Thought the way the pitch cut up and the surface in general had a bit to do with the way we played but we were definitely a different class when passing it around on the ground.
Have to admit I STILL haven't heard the dubious song even though the only away match missed was Halifax. Hoping it stays that way...
A final thought - Waggy is becoming a joke in my opinion. OK, I'm sure he hates warming the bench but when he is on the pitch he doesn't do himself any favours. Constantly waving his arms about, blaming those around him when a move goes wrong and the dive at the end was disappointing to say the least. Someone should have a serious word with the lad.
Nearly forgot . Please don't blame Jimmy Melrose for the loss of 2 points. The real culprit was the bouncer who refused to let us in the Clubhouse saying it was full...even though he was letting loads of fans out . Needless to say, I didn't wish him a Happy Xmas. So, no white wine for Fanny pre match = no win. Hope the marquee is still in place at Yeovil....