Even game first half and with Dervitte and pritchard and Wilson in midfield we at least had physicality to compete. Wilson's injury and somehow we ended up with the paceless and undynamic duo of Stephens and Jackson in the middle. Add to that BWP being a complete liability (and has been for a year now) and it was game, set and match. I like CP and have sympathy that his plans in the summer seem to have been scuppered by financial problems but more often than not i'm finding his 'in game' tactics/changes aren't helping. Why not just switch Cook or Haynes for Wilson and keep everything else the same? CP still has my full backing but we need to settle the team down and get some consistency in selection. Hulse is a bonus and their clinical finishing punished some uncharacteristic defensive mistakes but i felt our half time changes did for us really.
reading some of the posts makes me feel a little more optimistic re our chances but i said to a mate two weeks back if it wasnt for the central defence we would be in even worse trouble as they are solid where as our midfield were not in the same league ! the CBs have an off day we get beaten 4 v 1 at home -lets hope they dont have to many off days or from somewhere CP gets in two good midfield players AND whatever is happening in the background they realise its damaging THEIR investment.
Let's have a bit of perspective here. We have a rather weak and injury riddled squad right now. Middlesborough this season are proving to be one of the top teams in the division. They combine a LOT of flair and skill with a LOT of aggression and ruthlessness. Mowbray said on the FL show last night that it was an even game for an hour and then they started to overpower us. If we had lost 4-1 to an Ipswich or a Birmingham I would be VERY worried. Against Middlesborough, while not easy to take, it is understandable. Boro are a good side
Think we need to park the bus on Tuesday and get a result. Winnable games are coming up, but we have to restore some confidence. Don't care if we play with 10 defenders ( have we got 10 fit)? on Tuesday. One point will do !
I remember on a previous thread, a 'guest' from another club (Watford or palace?) saying that our tactics going forward were 3rd division hoofball, and that the better quality of defenders in this league would nulify our goal threat, and that does seem to be the case. From dead ball situations (corners, free kicks into box) we have far less threat than last season because the defenders are far better.
You can see the difference Fuller makes, as he has the class and vision to do something different and we miss him badly.
In the first half, we looked dangerous through the middle - that's where our goal came from. In the 1st half against Barnsley, we had some threat through the middle, even if Razak didn't always make the right decisions. Yet, in the second half we always revert to aimless humps into the box from the flanks, and hence have little goal threat, Haynes' cross was the only decent delivery, Kerkar's were hopeless. We missed Wilson, as has the energy to drive forward with the ball. Should we bring Wagstaff back?
Kerkar thinks we are playing against league 2 opposition. His stepovers might work in a park on a sunday afternoon but they will not fool the kind of opposition we are against. He seems to run with the ball until he loses it or puts in a terrible cross.
I will reserve criticism about him at LB because that isn't his fault to be fair he was out of position Watching him in left mid was so frustrating. I liked him when I first saw him too but I just think he tries to do far far too much when there is a much easier pass available. There were plenty of times where he nearly lost the ball in a situation which would have led to a very simple counter attack.
Also Dervite... I don't understand what he was doing half the time... :-S He just seemed like he wasn't at the game yesterday...
One of the key things we should take from this is what some people were saying late last season "the key is to take the chances you get in the Championship because they are few and far between." Middlesbrough were just far better at taking those chances.
Half hearted performance lacked commitment. Although missing some of our best players I thought we lacked pace and ideas. When the substitutions were made no-one seem to know where they were playing. Leon Court substitution was a terrible decision leaving us exposed at the back at one time we had Solly & Morrison in a 4 on 2 situation, no wonder they went onto score at every opportunity. Stephens is playing so poorly giving the ball away, Pritchard much better choice on form. Unfortunately I think Jackson is so off the pace and cannot compete in the championship. Kerkar was ok in the first half but is not a defender ( due to injury needed to play there) second half he reverted to school ball football and was crossing the ball from the same angle very predictable with no end product. The changes CP made did not improve a very bad performance and sad as it may be his days with CAFC will now be numbered giving MS & TJ the excuse they need to get rid of another person who wants Charlton to succeed. I don't believe there will be money made available to strengthen the team and a losing team won't allow them to make the sale they need.
Half hearted performance lacked commitment. Although missing some of our best players I thought we lacked pace and ideas.
Shouldnt that be " because missing some of our best players....?" Isn't that why everyone else is struggling. Mediocre players play better when they are sharing the pitch with good players, good players play occasional blinders and very good players perform well with others of the same standard.
Half hearted performance lacked commitment. Although missing some of our best players I thought we lacked pace and ideas.
Shouldnt that be " because missing some of our best players....?" Isn't that why everyone else is struggling. Mediocre players play better when they are sharing the pitch with good players, good players play occasional blinders and very good players perform well with others of the same standard.
Any team would miss players of Fuller/Kermorgant/Wiggins quality but we can't rely on those three for every single game as have been proved. We need other players (such as the Greens, Stephens, BWPs) to step up to the plate and make things happen in the absence of the 'stars.'
Half hearted performance lacked commitment. Although missing some of our best players I thought we lacked pace and ideas.
Shouldnt that be " because missing some of our best players....?" Isn't that why everyone else is struggling. Mediocre players play better when they are sharing the pitch with good players, good players play occasional blinders and very good players perform well with others of the same standard.
I agree but the replacements are clearly not up to the job
How many of us sighed when we heard Stephens was replacing Wilson? Not cos of Stephens coming on, but the fact that Pritch would be moved to the right wing AGAIN and we'd be effectively playing with ten men. The definition of insanity and all that...
We need an lb on loan...an out and out left winger and prob another right winger or get waggy back....what I saw yesterday was jusr bad defensive errors which have been rare...
Our squad is weak because CP refuses to use some of our best youth squad ever and prefers to play guys out of position. The last two youth players introduced went to play Prem football after a handfull of games. Fox should start Tuesday.
Thought the first half we done well. Had good chances and looked more threatening than them. Let in a sloppy goal and the heads went down.
Second half was so hard to watch. They had better quality in their squad no doubt, but we made it easy for them. Why move Pritch out from the centre where ,in my opinion, he was one of our best performers. Moved out wide to become a ghost in the second half.
The goals we conceded were very very poor. Morrison made an uncharacteristic mistake. Defensively we are looking there for the taking at times. Kerkar did all he could, he is an attacking player being moved to left back with a slow midfielder infront of him, I think he did alright in that respect.
Hamer did all he could and rightfully showed his frustration at the fourth. Some of the communication in the team is just not there.
I am worried. Worried from the other games because of luck and decisions not going our way and generally that means you will be at the bottom for most the season. Yesterday we were outclassed by a team who we were playing well up until we made one substitution.
Our squad is weak because CP refuses to use some of our best youth squad ever and prefers to play guys out of position. The last two youth players introduced went to play Prem football after a handfull of games. Fox should start Tuesday.
Didn't you say you haven't seen Fox play? How do you know he's ready? We have some good prospects, but they aren't all going to be the next Shelvey or Jenkinson.
I just wish SCP would stop tinkering with the midfield - he should decide what his best combination and formation is and then stick to it. Sure they will make mistakes (who doesn't at this level!) but if there is some consistency they will be chance to deal with them and a lot less confusion for the rest of the team. It was not surprising the defence starts to make mistakes given the utter confusion in fron of them yesterday. And if someone gets injured then the replacement at least has a clue what they need to fit in with.
At the end of the day we have no one that can actually run with the ball in their feet and take a man on. This is one of many reasons why we are struggling.
Bring in harriot on tuesday, what's the worst that can happen? Knowing powell he will stay loyal to the players who are obviously not good enough for this level
I can see why people think Dale is a good footballer. He is technically good and looks comfortable on the ball. There is a but coming though. He sits far too deep and never ever runs forward with the ball. Often far easier to sit deep and spray balls sideways than it is to take command and hurt the opposition. I think Dale needs to grow some and start using his talent. At present he is a wasted talent for us and if we can still get anywhere near that reported £2 million then we need to grab it and invest it into the team. He's a luxury we can't afford.
That's how I see him too. He's not hurting the opposition when he is sitting so deep. I watched him for a while yesterday, and He offered nothing attacking wise.
Thought the first half we done well. Had good chances and looked more threatening than them. Let in a sloppy goal and the heads went down.
Second half was so hard to watch. They had better quality in their squad no doubt, but we made it easy for them. Why move Pritch out from the centre where ,in my opinion, he was one of our best performers. Moved out wide to become a ghost in the second half.
The goals we conceded were very very poor. Morrison made an uncharacteristic mistake. Defensively we are looking there for the taking at times. Kerkar did all he could, he is an attacking player being moved to left back with a slow midfielder infront of him, I think he did alright in that respect.
Hamer did all he could and rightfully showed his frustration at the fourth. Some of the communication in the team is just not there.
I am worried. Worried from the other games because of luck and decisions not going our way and generally that means you will be at the bottom for most the season. Yesterday we were outclassed by a team who we were playing well up until we made one substitution.
Hamer was lobbed from 20yds that's not doing all he could.
Our squad is weak because CP refuses to use some of our best youth squad ever and prefers to play guys out of position. The last two youth players introduced went to play Prem football after a handfull of games. Fox should start Tuesday.
Didn't you say you haven't seen Fox play? How do you know he's ready? We have some good prospects, but they aren't all going to be the next Shelvey or Jenkinson.
I don't care if he's ready. He's likely to be better at the job than a winger (on who the jury is still out) who may not understand the nuances of the role. When to tuck in, when to go wide. Stop crosses coming over. When to overlap. Kerkar is OK but not shown more than Harriott did 2 years ago.
BWP a liability you are having a laugh, he worked his nuts off yesterday
No, i'm not - he shirks every challenge, needs a hatful of chances to score one and couldn't trap a bag of cement half the time. There, i've said the unsayable. He just isn't a threat and hasn't been for a year. There's a reason why him and Jackson had slipped down to third tier football and this season you can see why i'm afraid.
hamer should have stopped the third? lob and solly wasn't alert for the 4th as it came across ... just what i gleaned from seeing sky briefly never mind the fook ups that led to them getting in to that position ...
Comments
Think Hamer should have punched the cross for their first goal but just stayed on line. He does not seem to have his early season confidence.
You can see the difference Fuller makes, as he has the class and vision to do something different and we miss him badly.
In the first half, we looked dangerous through the middle - that's where our goal came from. In the 1st half against Barnsley, we had some threat through the middle, even if Razak didn't always make the right decisions. Yet, in the second half we always revert to aimless humps into the box from the flanks, and hence have little goal threat, Haynes' cross was the only decent delivery, Kerkar's were hopeless. We missed Wilson, as has the energy to drive forward with the ball. Should we bring Wagstaff back?
He seems to run with the ball until he loses it or puts in a terrible cross.
I will reserve criticism about him at LB because that isn't his fault to be fair he was out of position
Watching him in left mid was so frustrating. I liked him when I first saw him too but I just think he tries to do far far too much when there is a much easier pass available. There were plenty of times where he nearly lost the ball in a situation which would have led to a very simple counter attack.
Also Dervite... I don't understand what he was doing half the time... :-S He just seemed like he wasn't at the game yesterday...
One of the key things we should take from this is what some people were saying late last season "the key is to take the chances you get in the Championship because they are few and far between." Middlesbrough were just far better at taking those chances.
Thought the first half we done well. Had good chances and looked more threatening than them. Let in a sloppy goal and the heads went down.
Second half was so hard to watch. They had better quality in their squad no doubt, but we made it easy for them. Why move Pritch out from the centre where ,in my opinion, he was one of our best performers. Moved out wide to become a ghost in the second half.
The goals we conceded were very very poor. Morrison made an uncharacteristic mistake. Defensively we are looking there for the taking at times. Kerkar did all he could, he is an attacking player being moved to left back with a slow midfielder infront of him, I think he did alright in that respect.
Hamer did all he could and rightfully showed his frustration at the fourth. Some of the communication in the team is just not there.
I am worried. Worried from the other games because of luck and decisions not going our way and generally that means you will be at the bottom for most the season. Yesterday we were outclassed by a team who we were playing well up until we made one substitution.
Bring in harriot on tuesday, what's the worst that can happen? Knowing powell he will stay loyal to the players who are obviously not good enough for this level