On way back now. Great performance. Two outstanding Hamer saves and super efforts from Dervite and Hughes.
Harriot looked a threat for a lot of the game and Kermo battled and got battered all game. Wilson was probably the only one off colour.
Make no mistake, we are 2/3 players from a play off flirting side. An extra bit of last third quality and composure would see us at least 10-12 points better off.
Just got home. Let's be honest, they played us off the pitch, with some periods of total dominance in the second half. Nevertheless, the boys defended tirelessly and showed great heart. If Stephens' shot had gone in on 90 minutes it would have been the ultimate smash and grab. Despite always trying to be a role model to my daughter and doing my best to bring her up well, I did unfortunately shout 'SH**TING F**K!!' When they hit the woodwork in injury time. Thought their fans would make more noise. Jobsworth stewarding.
Stuck on Brighton station station at the moment but very happy with our efforts tonight.
A very fine defensive performance, with a particular shout to Hamer, who was excellent. Lua Lua was a tricky customer down the left and troubled Chris Solly in the first half, but we have all lost count of how many times we have seen Chris ultimately subdue his man.
We worked tremendously hard as a team and got men behind the ball but still carried a threat going forward, principally through the electric talents of Callum Harriot.
There was probably more pressure on us than them tonight ( especially with their having won their last three home games ), so it was a very satisfactory night's work.
Looking at the table (top of page), with their -16 GD Bristol City need to win 3 successive games to realistically get out of the relegation places. And pray that all the other teams lose each of their 3 successive games.
Looking at the table (top of page), with their -16 GD Bristol City need to win 3 successive games to realistically get out of the relegation places. And pray that all the other teams lose each of their 3 successive games.
That's a big ask.
Simply wont happen as the teams at the bottom are due to play eachother
I was with the Brighton fans and they were commenting positively on us. We went for a draw and bar a couple of decent Hamer saves and a shot that went wide we certainly frustrated them and defended well. The second half was open for 20 minutes when we looked like we might get one but with 20 to go we decided to sit back and to be fair, we did defend with discipline. Brighton looked a good side and attacked with pace and purpose but didn't create much which refelcts well on us.
Pretty much agree with most of the comments, we did defend well. Both Solly and Harriot were excellent tonight.
I thought Wilson was slow tonight and won't one of his best performances. 4-5-1 worked well for us but I really do think Yann needed more support tonight.
last 20 when they started playing high up the pitch and we kept giving it back - I thought we were crying out for Fuller. Chrissy probably didn't want to upset the rhythm of the team, but somebody with strength who could run at them would have pushed them back a bit. Good point against a good and in form side though.
Well happy with that point! Which is good cz trains from brighton are on their arse tonight and its bloody annoying... Harriott our best player, dangerous every time he had the ball. But the game was crying out for haynes' pace when we broke out in the second half, especially as kermo looked knackered by the end. And how did they name buckley MOTM, wiggins had him in his back pocket all game! Two brilliant saves at the end tho, hamer quality but kuszczaks save from stephens was unbelievable, was right in line with it. On to leeds. COYA
Great fighting point. Hughes outstanding could hear his voice from the halfway line, great save from Hamer at the end, Yann massive and if that Stephens shot had of gone in. Mill Hill Park and ride worked like a charm. Got a lot of time for Brighton hope they go up but would miss the away day.
Got the local bus back as stopping in Brighton with relatives. Great performance, the Brighton fans were saying that they are draw specialists - there were no complaints from any of them on the bus. The stadium is very impressive, not even a queue when I went to the loo, which was easily accessible, they had real ale and the queues for the refreshments weren't bad either. Only downside was getting away, 20 minute wait in the cold as the bus inched along in traffic towards the stop. As for the game, I thought Hamer was excellent, Jackson and Hughes both lead by example, Solly had to work hard to stop LuaLua, but managed it in the end. Hardest I've seen him have to work all season. Wilson was off colour and I felt Wiggins wasn't up to his best. Harriott caused them no end of problems, he's shaping up to be a good one. Stephens came on for Wilson late on and had our best effort which produced a great save. Yann was solid and got battered and clattered a lot, Pritch was energetic and I'm always impressed by him being able to outjump players who are a good foot or more taller than him. Dervite was shaky at first but grew into it and got in some crucial blocks. Top game, my youngest's first away game and he enjoyed it, which is good as getting him along recently to The Valley has been difficult.
Good defensive display. Relatively little going forward. Harriott impressed again. Thought Wilson and Pritchard were poor, Wiggins had a stinker too. Great save from Hamer at the end but their guy should have buried it. They missed a few very good chances, we escaped with a point that for grit and determination we deserved.
Still think the squad needs an overhaul if we have serious ambitions of promotion next season. Of today's starting 11 only five or six are good enough.
Just got home. An incredibly hard won point, but we came for a draw it seemed. Hard to pick out a MOM because there were no slackers out there tonight, all the lads have put in a full shift.
Great defensive perfomance Wilson aside tonight, Brighton fans very friendly on the train back into town and complimentary on our team and support. Staying over tonight and plenty of Addicks in the hotel so looking forward to chilled out start to the day and full English, we should have more than enough in the locker to avert any relegation fears, every point dropped from a team below us is a point gained, a win on Saturday and were there I reckon. Great facilities inside the ground tonight but more trains needed to get people away afterwards. Why cant we have beer/food like that?
Hats off to them, they did a fantastic job on us. Their scout needs a raise because they played an almost perfect game. Tactically, that was the best I have seen a side defend against us. It wasn't just as simple as kicking us off the park or sitting deep and trying to hit us on the break or score from a set piece, it was thought-out from front to back.
1. Their 14 was all over Bridcutt like a rash. Did not give him a minute's peace, snapping at his heels for 90 minutes and refusing to allow him the time on the ball when he drops in to receive it from the centre backs. Still amazes me so few teams have worked out how key he is to us.
2. Their back four actually played quite deep, with their centre backs taking it in turns to bump and jostle Ulloa, nothing blatant enough to be called a foul, but rarely did he get more than a yard or two of space as they were usually touch (shirt-pulling) tight.
3. Meanwhile, whilst the defence was deep, their wingers and striker pressed very high and with good intensity all game, as some opposing sides have tried, but vitally their whole team's shape was also very narrow. There was room in wide positions if we had time to pick out a switch ball or diagonal, but all the passes were being so rushed by the forward pressure we couldn't move it laterally with pace and accuracy. This meant it was just front to back, and they had Jackson and their other centre mid sitting in the hole between defence and midfield, blocking the route on the deck and crowding the space if Lopez or Vicente tried to drop deeper to pick it up.
4. The two centre mids also shifted across the pitch as a unit to help out their full-back whenever we got it wide to Buckley or Kaz, and much like we did to Zaha, they were happy to funnel them into blind alleys and towards the corner flag without really ever committing to the tackle and getting isolated one-on-one. It was so tight that we had to try impossible little one-touch triangles to get through, and inevitably they had enough numbers for someone to make an interception.
5. Their keeper had a worldie. I can't help thinking if we kept playing until Saturday we wouldn't have scored. Fair play to him.
All this leads me to wonder why Gus didn't want to make a change. With 25 minutes to go Orlandi & Hammond went out to warm up. Bridcutt was walking a bit of a tightrope on a yellow and with a couple of other fouls to his name, and LuaLua, whilst beating his man over and over, had his head permanently down and was just brainlessly smacking it fifteen yards over the bar or lashing missile-like crosses the same distance over Ulloa's head. It was more or less like-for-like, but would have given 'that something different' that Gus always wants. Orlandi, whilst not as quick or skilful as Kaz, is ten times more intelligent as a footballer and has an absolute wand of a left foot to whip some meaningful crosses in. Hammond is not as good at the role LB plays, but would perhaps have coped a little better with their 14 as he's bigger and stronger, and would also have added more height for the 1,286 corners we won. The time ticked away...game over. Job done for Charlton, and for once not a cynical hatchet job; or a sit back and time-waste from minute one, nick a mouldy deflected goal for a 1-0 type job, but a disciplined and tactically superb job. On that evidence I wouldn't mind having at least a look at Powell when Poyet eventually goes. Not as first choice, but perhaps put him on a shortlist.
Hats off to them, they did a fantastic job on us. Their scout needs a raise because they played an almost perfect game. Tactically, that was the best I have seen a side defend against us. It wasn't just as simple as kicking us off the park or sitting deep and trying to hit us on the break or score from a set piece, it was thought-out from front to back.
1. Their 14 was all over Bridcutt like a rash. Did not give him a minute's peace, snapping at his heels for 90 minutes and refusing to allow him the time on the ball when he drops in to receive it from the centre backs. Still amazes me so few teams have worked out how key he is to us.
2. Their back four actually played quite deep, with their centre backs taking it in turns to bump and jostle Ulloa, nothing blatant enough to be called a foul, but rarely did he get more than a yard or two of space as they were usually touch (shirt-pulling) tight.
3. Meanwhile, whilst the defence was deep, their wingers and striker pressed very high and with good intensity all game, as some opposing sides have tried, but vitally their whole team's shape was also very narrow. There was room in wide positions if we had time to pick out a switch ball or diagonal, but all the passes were being so rushed by the forward pressure we couldn't move it laterally with pace and accuracy. This meant it was just front to back, and they had Jackson and their other centre mid sitting in the hole between defence and midfield, blocking the route on the deck and crowding the space if Lopez or Vicente tried to drop deeper to pick it up.
4. The two centre mids also shifted across the pitch as a unit to help out their full-back whenever we got it wide to Buckley or Kaz, and much like we did to Zaha, they were happy to funnel them into blind alleys and towards the corner flag without really ever committing to the tackle and getting isolated one-on-one. It was so tight that we had to try impossible little one-touch triangles to get through, and inevitably they had enough numbers for someone to make an interception.
5. Their keeper had a worldie. I can't help thinking if we kept playing until Saturday we wouldn't have scored. Fair play to him.
All this leads me to wonder why Gus didn't want to make a change. With 25 minutes to go Orlandi & Hammond went out to warm up. Bridcutt was walking a bit of a tightrope on a yellow and with a couple of other fouls to his name, and LuaLua, whilst beating his man over and over, had his head permanently down and was just brainlessly smacking it fifteen yards over the bar or lashing missile-like crosses the same distance over Ulloa's head. It was more or less like-for-like, but would have given 'that something different' that Gus always wants. Orlandi, whilst not as quick or skilful as Kaz, is ten times more intelligent as a footballer and has an absolute wand of a left foot to whip some meaningful crosses in. Hammond is not as good at the role LB plays, but would perhaps have coped a little better with their 14 as he's bigger and stronger, and would also have added more height for the 1,286 corners we won. The time ticked away...game over. Job done for Charlton, and for once not a cynical hatchet job; or a sit back and time-waste from minute one, nick a mouldy deflected goal for a 1-0 type job, but a disciplined and tactically superb job. On that evidence I wouldn't mind having at least a look at Powell when Poyet eventually goes. Not as first choice, but perhaps put him on a shortlist.
Excellent battling performance. I thought Harriot did well on Saturday but was critical of his decision making. Today he was brilliant and my motm. Hamer pulled off slme great saves ans kept us in the game. All round good performance by the team. As an aside. Really like the Amex stadium with the exception that access to vehicles is awful and I'm in the club coach
What are you doing in the club coach? Have you been appointed in a Shebby Singh role?
Lol supporters coach, wrong choice of words! Shebby Singh .. hmm thanks for that
Enjoyed tonight, Hamer got us a point, no doubt. Decent numbers, decent atmosphere.
One moan though. Not sure if anyone saw the three muskateers in row C tonight? I was a few rows behind them. Three 16-year-olds (I'd guess), one wearing a Burger King crown? Absolute bellends the three of them. Irritating, swearing every second word, homophobic chanting followed by intolerable giggles. I wouldn't mind so much if it was either a) funny or b) clever. Saw some shouting them down. It was embarrassing.
As mentioned, a proper away point. Hamer was my man of the match, impressive and assured. Brighton are a very good football side, a bit like Forest.
The Amex was alright and had decent food, but as warned it was a nightmare getting away. We had a drink, went to the station, saw it was Thorpe Park style and stayed til 11.
Posting without reading. Just got back. The only moment where you could fault Hamer tonight was when a ball went to the far post in the second half, but it was headed wide, he didn't seem to be anywhere on that one BUT. It was the best game I've ever seen Hamer play for us, in every aspect of his game. Crosses, positioning, distribution, catches...and the saves, what saves, he was absolutely excellent. A save with about two or three minutes to go, where he twisted in the air it seemed, and clawed away a certain goal from under the crossbar was one of the very best I've ever seen a Charlton keeper make. A performance to match Ilic at Birmingham I thought. My goodness didn't the lads work hard, every man jack of them put in a shift against a very dangerous Brighton side. Eventually our effort succeeded, but we could easily have lost. Then again, in a much improved second half they had a block with a players body, and a great save from Dale Stephens. Might even have been a smash and grab, but it was a great result, and a great point. The AMEX is excellent, not like all the other new ones like Boro, and Southampton, good home support, easily the best seat I have ever sat on, and a good vegetarian home made pie too. I was in a home area, but our support was pretty good and sustained, but the lip biting tension of the match kept us a bit quiet. If anybody doubts Powell and this team, and his ethic and approach, well i disagree. Yeah we could do with a few more quality players, but what we have is pretty cool believe me, and what we are building is good stuff. Hamer won us a point tonight, but everybody else played their part.
Comments
Harriot looked a threat for a lot of the game and Kermo battled and got battered all game. Wilson was probably the only one off colour.
Make no mistake, we are 2/3 players from a play off flirting side. An extra bit of last third quality and composure would see us at least 10-12 points better off.
Great result and an outstanding ground.
Despite always trying to be a role model to my daughter and doing my best to bring her up well, I did unfortunately shout 'SH**TING F**K!!' When they hit the woodwork in injury time.
Thought their fans would make more noise. Jobsworth stewarding.
The other fixtures are Hudds-Peterboro & Sheff Weds - Blackburn. Relegation 6 pointers if ever there was one...
Barnsley are @ Palace & you just know those spineless Nigels will roll over for the Tykes...
A very fine defensive performance, with a particular shout to Hamer, who was excellent. Lua Lua was a tricky customer down the left and troubled Chris Solly in the first half, but we have all lost count of how many times we have seen Chris ultimately subdue his man.
We worked tremendously hard as a team and got men behind the ball but still carried a threat going forward, principally through the electric talents of Callum Harriot.
There was probably more pressure on us than them tonight ( especially with their having won their last three home games ), so it was a very satisfactory night's work.
Agree with WSS. Wilson was the only downer. Looked lost and at times the game passed him by.
That's a big ask.
I thought Wilson was slow tonight and won't one of his best performances. 4-5-1 worked well for us but I really do think Yann needed more support tonight.
Happy with a point tbh.
Harriott our best player, dangerous every time he had the ball. But the game was crying out for haynes' pace when we broke out in the second half, especially as kermo looked knackered by the end. And how did they name buckley MOTM, wiggins had him in his back pocket all game!
Two brilliant saves at the end tho, hamer quality but kuszczaks save from stephens was unbelievable, was right in line with it.
On to leeds. COYA
Great point against a good side.
Hamer was outstanding.
Harriott is gonna be a very good player.
The cushion from the bottom 3 is now effectively 2 wins with 6 to go which will hopefully be too much to make up.
I reckon 4 more ponts will be enough.
As for the game, I thought Hamer was excellent, Jackson and Hughes both lead by example, Solly had to work hard to stop LuaLua, but managed it in the end. Hardest I've seen him have to work all season. Wilson was off colour and I felt Wiggins wasn't up to his best. Harriott caused them no end of problems, he's shaping up to be a good one. Stephens came on for Wilson late on and had our best effort which produced a great save. Yann was solid and got battered and clattered a lot, Pritch was energetic and I'm always impressed by him being able to outjump players who are a good foot or more taller than him. Dervite was shaky at first but grew into it and got in some crucial blocks. Top game, my youngest's first away game and he enjoyed it, which is good as getting him along recently to The Valley has been difficult.
Still think the squad needs an overhaul if we have serious ambitions of promotion next season. Of today's starting 11 only five or six are good enough.
An incredibly hard won point, but we came for a draw it seemed.
Hard to pick out a MOM because there were no slackers out there tonight, all the lads have put
in a full shift.
Saw the gaffer afterwards and he was delighted.
A Brighton fans view for those interested: http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?275356-Thoughts-on-Charlton-tonight
1. Their 14 was all over Bridcutt like a rash. Did not give him a minute's peace, snapping at his heels for 90 minutes and refusing to allow him the time on the ball when he drops in to receive it from the centre backs. Still amazes me so few teams have worked out how key he is to us.
2. Their back four actually played quite deep, with their centre backs taking it in turns to bump and jostle Ulloa, nothing blatant enough to be called a foul, but rarely did he get more than a yard or two of space as they were usually touch (shirt-pulling) tight.
3. Meanwhile, whilst the defence was deep, their wingers and striker pressed very high and with good intensity all game, as some opposing sides have tried, but vitally their whole team's shape was also very narrow. There was room in wide positions if we had time to pick out a switch ball or diagonal, but all the passes were being so rushed by the forward pressure we couldn't move it laterally with pace and accuracy. This meant it was just front to back, and they had Jackson and their other centre mid sitting in the hole between defence and midfield, blocking the route on the deck and crowding the space if Lopez or Vicente tried to drop deeper to pick it up.
4. The two centre mids also shifted across the pitch as a unit to help out their full-back whenever we got it wide to Buckley or Kaz, and much like we did to Zaha, they were happy to funnel them into blind alleys and towards the corner flag without really ever committing to the tackle and getting isolated one-on-one. It was so tight that we had to try impossible little one-touch triangles to get through, and inevitably they had enough numbers for someone to make an interception.
5. Their keeper had a worldie. I can't help thinking if we kept playing until Saturday we wouldn't have scored. Fair play to him.
All this leads me to wonder why Gus didn't want to make a change. With 25 minutes to go Orlandi & Hammond went out to warm up. Bridcutt was walking a bit of a tightrope on a yellow and with a couple of other fouls to his name, and LuaLua, whilst beating his man over and over, had his head permanently down and was just brainlessly smacking it fifteen yards over the bar or lashing missile-like crosses the same distance over Ulloa's head. It was more or less like-for-like, but would have given 'that something different' that Gus always wants. Orlandi, whilst not as quick or skilful as Kaz, is ten times more intelligent as a footballer and has an absolute wand of a left foot to whip some meaningful crosses in. Hammond is not as good at the role LB plays, but would perhaps have coped a little better with their 14 as he's bigger and stronger, and would also have added more height for the 1,286 corners we won. The time ticked away...game over. Job done for Charlton, and for once not a cynical hatchet job; or a sit back and time-waste from minute one, nick a mouldy deflected goal for a 1-0 type job, but a disciplined and tactically superb job. On that evidence I wouldn't mind having at least a look at Powell when Poyet eventually goes. Not as first choice, but perhaps put him on a shortlist.
Powell out!!
One moan though. Not sure if anyone saw the three muskateers in row C tonight? I was a few rows behind them. Three 16-year-olds (I'd guess), one wearing a Burger King crown? Absolute bellends the three of them. Irritating, swearing every second word, homophobic chanting followed by intolerable giggles. I wouldn't mind so much if it was either a) funny or b) clever. Saw some shouting them down. It was embarrassing.
The Amex was alright and had decent food, but as warned it was a nightmare getting away. We had a drink, went to the station, saw it was Thorpe Park style and stayed til 11.
The only moment where you could fault Hamer tonight was when a ball went to the far post in the second half, but it was headed wide, he didn't seem to be anywhere on that one BUT. It was the best game I've ever seen Hamer play for us, in every aspect of his game. Crosses, positioning, distribution, catches...and the saves, what saves, he was absolutely excellent. A save with about two or three minutes to go, where he twisted in the air it seemed, and clawed away a certain goal from under the crossbar was one of the very best I've ever seen a Charlton keeper make. A performance to match Ilic at Birmingham I thought.
My goodness didn't the lads work hard, every man jack of them put in a shift against a very dangerous Brighton side. Eventually our effort succeeded, but we could easily have lost. Then again, in a much improved second half they had a block with a players body, and a great save from Dale Stephens. Might even have been a smash and grab, but it was a great result, and a great point.
The AMEX is excellent, not like all the other new ones like Boro, and Southampton, good home support, easily the best seat I have ever sat on, and a good vegetarian home made pie too. I was in a home area, but our support was pretty good and sustained, but the lip biting tension of the match kept us a bit quiet.
If anybody doubts Powell and this team, and his ethic and approach, well i disagree. Yeah we could do with a few more quality players, but what we have is pretty cool believe me, and what we are building is good stuff.
Hamer won us a point tonight, but everybody else played their part.