in Upper West I also suffered from a small bloke that constantly shouted and swore in anger at the team. He still attends but now doesn't shout or swear. What's the point in stating the bloody obvious (Charlton you're crap, Powell sort it out) most home matches?
Your foaming moron will probably be dragged into the same stupor as small swearing man- and the rest of us!
in Upper West I also suffered from a small bloke that constantly shouted and swore in anger at the team. He still attends but now doesn't shout or swear. What's the point in stating the bloody obvious (Charlton you're crap, Powell sort it out) most home matches?
Your foaming moron will probably be dragged into the same stupor as small swearing man- and the rest of us!
Haha, exactly, maybe the shouty sweary ones are just the ones who are still surprised!
We currently have a League 1 squad that is playing more or less at its level of ability. Our lack of quality is particularly visible in CM and up front.
Yes, Powell is making mistakes but trying to get a League 1 squad to compete at Championship level with most player contracts up in the Summer and being denied player investment would test even a seasoned manager.
But it wasn't a League One squad, it was a Championship quality squad playing in League One.. How else to explain how we accumulated a record- breaking 101 points?
I don't agree with everything you've said (For example, I woudn't give up on Pigott just yet. I think he was as much victim as villain yesterday), but I do believe that your key point is on the money. Our problem is the football we are playing (or the lack of it more precisely), not a lack of commitment from the players.
I'm no expert, but it does seem to me that whilst Chris Powell has done a wonderful job developing and maintaining a fantastic esprit de corps within his squad, he has singularly failed to coach an improvement in the technical performance of those players, either individually or collectively.
As a result, we now find ourselves hugely dependent on Yann Kermorgant, not just because he is a decent player (though not outstanding by Championship standards), but simply as a result of the fact that his extraordinary power in the air means that our endless and aimless punts forward, so mercilessly dealt with by Millwall's dominant central defenders yesterday, have the potential to create openings in the top third. It is no exaggeration to say that this can then change the entire pattern of the game.
Joe Pigott was disappointing yesterday, but he was doomed the moment it became clear that his afternoon would be spent facing long balls whilst wrestling with a very powerful Mark Beevers. I don't think Andy D'Urso helped him early on either.
Once Millwall's very simple, but effective game plan was revealed I'm afraid to say that a more astute Manager might have quickly made adjustments. Hindsight is, of course, a wonderful thing, but whilst making substitutions early on is risky, small adjustments can make a difference. It would have been easy to push Dervite forward into midfield, for example, in order to relieve the press on Morrison and Wood and, perhaps, to give Bailey something else to think about, but instead we waited until 10-15 minutes into the second half, at which point, of course, Lomas immediately countered. It was as if he knew Powell would make an adjustment at some stage and had already figured what he'd do when, eventually, the change came.
Fingers crossed Kermorgant isn't out for long. It will be a battle to compete with him. Without him we could be in big trouble.
On reflection, 442 with Cousins and Jackson in Midfield. 442 against good teams no, but against mediocre teams yes. The 352 put in place sent the wrong message to the players and was a capitulation before the start of the game. The more I think about it, the worse the team set up feels. Chris Powell definitely got this wrong.
Stewart with a bit of zip and Sordell starting alongside Church or Piggott was the way to go. Against a weak looking Millwall (but with more individual quality players) the 442 may have set them on the back foot.
The 352 needed intelligent, well timed runs and quick passess into space on the left and right wing areas. Millwall did look vulnerable early on in the left wing area in particular. The passing early on was promising. Millwall worked out that there was nothing to fear from Piggott and Church. The formation was done for in this game after 30 mins.
After the deflected goal that wrong footed Hamer it was clear that 352 was not going to work. The formation should have changed then, but I understand why the manager may want to wait until half time. The 352 after 30 minutes with the players on the field against a poor Millwall side was like watching slow death, worse after we went 1 down.
Cousins should have come on for Stephens (too light weight for 442, no protection for back 4 with him and Jackson), Stewart on for Wood. After 10 to 15 mins, Sordell coming on probably for Piggott / Church.
The change after 55 minutes improved things but Sordell did not come on until 70 mins and did not have time to affect the game. All the changes disrupted the flow of the game.
It may be that 442 would not have worked as Sordell, Piggott and Church do not have enough desire, experience or quality to score against Championship level defences. It is a shame that we will never know from this fixture.
A totally dispiriting performance from management, players, owners (lack of investment), and crowd attendance with a L1 level of quality, squad and performance if we lose any of our main players for any length of time, relegation is a high probability.
Millwall crowd were relatively quiet though out the match. Charlton North upper were loud in places. Crowd response during the match was relatively good considering the abject performance and nearly total lack of quality, fight and composure displayed by the team.
Getting in and out of the ground was trouble free to the station. The real test of any arrangements would be if Charlton hammered Millwall by 3 or 4 goals but how likely is that in this fixture ?
Millwall crowd were relatively quiet though out the match. Charlton North upper were loud in places. Crowd response during the match was relatively good considering the abject performance and nearly total lack of quality, fight and composure displayed by the team.
Getting in and out of the ground was trouble free to the station. The real test of any arrangements would be if Charlton hammered Millwall by 3 or 4 goals but how likely is that in this fixture ?
sorry Uncle its a well written bit but at the mo dont need a west ham fan telling me whats wrong with my team or support---raw nerves etc
It's not written by a west ham fan... It's written by someone who's got a love for Charlton... I don't go to Charlton as an observer for West Ham . I go because I have a strange love for Charlton.
That certainly is a strange love. You say we have a shit support but you were there supporting. Does this mean that your support is shit? I suppose it does seeing that your heart is really across the river.
Yeah I guess my support was shit but not as shit as the many that didn't turn up..... The ones that shout whats right and wrong but do nothing to help the club. Don't matter where my heart lies I was there to support Charlton. I hope you was.
Feel I should apologise for a few of my fellow Lifers, uncle. Your support for our Club is appreciated by the majority and I trust that you won't let the comments stop you coming to The Valley.
sorry Uncle its a well written bit but at the mo dont need a west ham fan telling me whats wrong with my team or support---raw nerves etc
It's not written by a west ham fan... It's written by someone who's got a love for Charlton... I don't go to Charlton as an observer for West Ham . I go because I have a strange love for Charlton.
That certainly is a strange love. You say we have a shit support but you were there supporting. Does this mean that your support is shit? I suppose it does seeing that your heart is really across the river.
Yeah I guess my support was shit but not as shit as the many that didn't turn up..... The ones that shout whats right and wrong but do nothing to help the club. Don't matter where my heart lies I was there to support Charlton. I hope you was.
Feel I should apologise for a few of my fellow Lifers, uncle. Your support for our Club is appreciated by the majority and I trust that you won't let the comments stop you coming to The Valley.
Thank you and no i certainly wont let them stop me..... I'm a glutton for punishment ;-)
sorry Uncle its a well written bit but at the mo dont need a west ham fan telling me whats wrong with my team or support---raw nerves etc
It's not written by a west ham fan... It's written by someone who's got a love for Charlton... I don't go to Charlton as an observer for West Ham . I go because I have a strange love for Charlton.
That certainly is a strange love. You say we have a shit support but you were there supporting. Does this mean that your support is shit? I suppose it does seeing that your heart is really across the river.
Yeah I guess my support was shit but not as shit as the many that didn't turn up..... The ones that shout whats right and wrong but do nothing to help the club. Don't matter where my heart lies I was there to support Charlton. I hope you was.
Feel I should apologise for a few of my fellow Lifers, uncle. Your support for our Club is appreciated by the majority and I trust that you won't let the comments stop you coming to The Valley.
Thank you and no i certainly wont let them stop me..... I'm a glutton for punishment ;-)
We currently have a League 1 squad that is playing more or less at its level of ability. Our lack of quality is particularly visible in CM and up front.
Yes, Powell is making mistakes but trying to get a League 1 squad to compete at Championship level with most player contracts up in the Summer and being denied player investment would test even a seasoned manager.
But it wasn't a League One squad, it was a Championship quality squad playing in League One.. How else to explain how we accumulated a record- breaking 101 points?
When all the main players are fit and not suspended, there is a championship level team. It is not a championship level squad.
Players get injured / suspended or go off form. There is not the quality to replace them. When Jackson / KMG were injured, Charlton have looked mediocre.
When KMG is not fit there is currently no strikers within the team to score goals due to lack of experience, quality or desire.
It may be possible to get away with losing your main players in League One but not in the Championships. IMHO.
I suspect that I wasn't alone in thinking that we needed to strengthen after winning the L1 title in order to be competitive in the Championship, particularly in CM and up front. It didn't happen for 2 years running and some of our older players are now more injury prone and arguably slower. We've also lost the bounce that a newly formed team, with a newish manager and owners have.
And so yes for me it's a L1 level squad and I'm not surprised at the evident lack of quality on the field. If you recall a lot of the football last season at home was similarly poor.
Arguably a strong team spirit (and away form) kept us up last year and given the contract situation is no surprise that this element of the team has been weakened.
The management and team can do better but we need to be realistic about our situation. If Powell can keep us up without any extra investment in the squad then that will be a fantastic achievement.
Will this happen? Not sure. Has Powell got the appetite and guile needed? Also not sure. Could another manager do better without extra investment? Possibly, but why would any decent manager want to risk their reputation with us as things stand?
But the beauty of the game is that it's all about opinions and we get to pontificate about how other people should do their jobs and how other people should spend their money!
Of the 11 players who made more than 20 starts in the L1 title season, I think most fans would agree that 7 were/are Championship quality (even if we didn't know it at the time) ie. Solly, Wiggins, Morrison, Hamer, Kermorgant, Jackson and Stephens. The others for completeness were Green, Wright-Philips, Taylor and Hollands (all of whom are firmly L1 quality players only).
In addition when required, this core group were supplemented by loan players or mid-season signings, usually from higher divisions (eg. N'Guessan, Ephraim, Cort, Haynes...), each of which made important and timely contributions.
Admittedly only Fuller, Wilson, Kerkar and Dervite were additional permanent signings of note the following summer, but again Powell benefited from several loans from a higher division (Hulse, Seabourne, Obika, Frimpong....).
It is far from a perfect state of affairs but I don't think our situation is materially different from 12 or so other teams in the division. Last season we overperformed thanks to a great finish, so perhaps this season is just a reversion to the mean (so far).
In order to give your proposition more validity through a benchmark you need to look at Charlton's L1 rivals that season. Why don't you start with Sheffield United?
I'll give you another one since I have it available.
Charlton's League 1 Champ winning wage bill :£4.6m Huddersfield's scraping up through the play-offs wage bill: £6.8m
Let's be honest - although I rarely miss a home match I had another option yesterday and with the game being live on TV, and all the nonsense of last season, I decided to do something else and record the game to watch today.
Settling down to watch it, having read all the above comments, I thought I was in for a horror show - something akin to the home games against Walsall and Swindon in the closing days of Phil Parkinson's reign. But I'm going to be controversial here - I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as some are making out and I can only assume - quite understandably - that the disappointment for those who were there is maybe clouding their post-match views. (I'd certainly be interested to see if they watched the game again if they would be so critical).
A few random thoughts-
1) IMO, Charlton were the better team. Had more of the game and were at least trying to play. Millwall were rubbish and apart from their goal - a hugely deflected shot - only had 2 other chances in the whole game. For most of the second half, Millwall just sat deep and soaked up the pressure. So let's not beat ourselves up about Millwall being better than us.
2) For the first 25 minutes, I saw nothing wrong with the performance at all. It was a good start to the game. Shame they couldn't play like that throughout.
3) Having said that Charlton were trying to play, it has to be said that their final ball was abysmal all afternoon.
4) Young Joe Pigott looked out of his depth from the word go. How on earth did Chris Powell let him stay on the field for 70 mins? He should have been taken off at half-time. Sorry, Chris, but you really have got to your head round using substitutes, or changing things around, more quickly. It was obvious that the 3-5-2 just wasn't working - why not switch to a more attacking 4-4-2 and bring on Stewart/Harriott earlier to give a change in formation more time to work?
5) Cameron Stewart looks useful. But clearly he is not going to fit easily into a 3-5-2. So how is he going to be fitted in?
6) The atmosphere sounded good on the TV for about the first hour. Particularly early on, those there certainly seemed to be doing their part in getting the team going. And certainly the "famed" Millwall roar was hardly to be heard, except maybe near the end.
A desperately disappointing afternoon no doubt. But let's not get too carried away. With a bit more quality on the final ball and a quicker move to a 4-4-2 formation and we could easily have got something out of that game. Or were the TV cameras lying?
In order to give your proposition more validity through a benchmark you need to look at Charlton's L1 rivals that season. Why don't you start with Sheffield United?
I'll give you another one since I have it available.
Charlton's League 1 Champ winning wage bill :£4.6m Huddersfield's scraping up through the play-offs wage bill: £6.8m
(source: someone ITK :-))
But the accounts show our wage bill was £8m+? Admittedly this includes non playing staff but they don't account for much (certainly not nearly £4m).
In order to give your proposition more validity through a benchmark you need to look at Charlton's L1 rivals that season. Why don't you start with Sheffield United?
I'll give you another one since I have it available.
Charlton's League 1 Champ winning wage bill :£4.6m Huddersfield's scraping up through the play-offs wage bill: £6.8m
(source: someone ITK :-))
But the accounts show our wage bill was £8m+? Admittedly this includes non playing staff but they don't account for much (certainly not nearly £4m).
Well I'll check it with the person who told me, NYA. You are 100% certain the accounts are covering that season? (i'm not familiar with the accounts and their relationship to the football calendar). If your figure is correct then another element in there may be post-promotion bonus.
In order to give your proposition more validity through a benchmark you need to look at Charlton's L1 rivals that season. Why don't you start with Sheffield United?
I'll give you another one since I have it available.
Charlton's League 1 Champ winning wage bill :£4.6m Huddersfield's scraping up through the play-offs wage bill: £6.8m
(source: someone ITK :-))
But the accounts show our wage bill was £8m+? Admittedly this includes non playing staff but they don't account for much (certainly not nearly £4m).
Well I'll check it with the person who told me, NYA. You are 100% certain the accounts are covering that season? (i'm not familiar with the accounts and their relationship to the football calendar). If your figure is correct then another element in there may be post-promotion bonus.
Is it possible that Jimenez & Slater are paid a "wage" ?
Woeful, I've seen better Sunday league sides. We couldn't even do the simple things right. How many throw ins did we have and not one player make a run to give the thrower an option despite jeering from crowd.
In order to give your proposition more validity through a benchmark you need to look at Charlton's L1 rivals that season. Why don't you start with Sheffield United?
I'll give you another one since I have it available.
Charlton's League 1 Champ winning wage bill :£4.6m Huddersfield's scraping up through the play-offs wage bill: £6.8m
(source: someone ITK :-))
But the accounts show our wage bill was £8m+? Admittedly this includes non playing staff but they don't account for much (certainly not nearly £4m).
Well I'll check it with the person who told me, NYA. You are 100% certain the accounts are covering that season? (i'm not familiar with the accounts and their relationship to the football calendar). If your figure is correct then another element in there may be post-promotion bonus.
Is it possible that Jimenez & Slater are paid a "wage" ?
Yes but would appear as directors emoluments which were in turn only £294k
In order to give your proposition more validity through a benchmark you need to look at Charlton's L1 rivals that season. Why don't you start with Sheffield United?
I'll give you another one since I have it available.
Charlton's League 1 Champ winning wage bill :£4.6m Huddersfield's scraping up through the play-offs wage bill: £6.8m
(source: someone ITK :-))
But the accounts show our wage bill was £8m+? Admittedly this includes non playing staff but they don't account for much (certainly not nearly £4m).
Well I'll check it with the person who told me, NYA. You are 100% certain the accounts are covering that season? (i'm not familiar with the accounts and their relationship to the football calendar). If your figure is correct then another element in there may be post-promotion bonus.
In order to give your proposition more validity through a benchmark you need to look at Charlton's L1 rivals that season. Why don't you start with Sheffield United?
I'll give you another one since I have it available.
Charlton's League 1 Champ winning wage bill :£4.6m Huddersfield's scraping up through the play-offs wage bill: £6.8m
(source: someone ITK :-))
But the accounts show our wage bill was £8m+? Admittedly this includes non playing staff but they don't account for much (certainly not nearly £4m).
Well I'll check it with the person who told me, NYA. You are 100% certain the accounts are covering that season? (i'm not familiar with the accounts and their relationship to the football calendar). If your figure is correct then another element in there may be post-promotion bonus.
The accounts are for the 2011/12 season. Total staff costs was just under £9m. Also stated that the average number of employees (including directors) per month was 128, 73 of them being "full time playing, training and football management staff". In addition there were also" approximately 367 temporary staff on match days".
Loan players will presumably be included in the total cost as well.
In order to give your proposition more validity through a benchmark you need to look at Charlton's L1 rivals that season. Why don't you start with Sheffield United?
I'll give you another one since I have it available.
Charlton's League 1 Champ winning wage bill :£4.6m Huddersfield's scraping up through the play-offs wage bill: £6.8m
(source: someone ITK :-))
But the accounts show our wage bill was £8m+? Admittedly this includes non playing staff but they don't account for much (certainly not nearly £4m).
Well I'll check it with the person who told me, NYA. You are 100% certain the accounts are covering that season? (i'm not familiar with the accounts and their relationship to the football calendar). If your figure is correct then another element in there may be post-promotion bonus.
The accounts are for the 2011/12 season. Total staff costs was just under £9m. Also stated that the average number of employees (including directors) per month was 128, 73 of them being "full time playing, training and football management staff". In addition there were also" approximately 367 temporary staff on match days".
Loan players will presumably be included in the total cost as well.
Matchday staff will come under matchday costs. Apart from signing on fees and promotion bonuses, you've also got to consider the academy costs and first team staff under the wage bill in the accounts.
Well, I will make sure I get the figure clarified. The argument was that we were getting better results, for less, than Huddersfield. I am guessing that the explanation may lie with post-promotion bonus, because another person told me that CP's arrangement in that season was low basic plus big promotion bonus, and this was a Slater approach to playing staff costs. And not one I have a big problem with. Compare that with Prem clubs who sign players up for four years and dont have a relegation clause built in.
Only flicked through the first 10 comments, but glad to see that the majority of supporters were disgusted at the disrespect the players showed the fans yesterday. I'm all for backing the team when they bust a gut and don't get a win, but when they perform as limply as that, coupled with the fact it's our closest rivals, no one should be defending them. I couldn't believe someone thought Stephens was the only one to come out of it with any credit!!!! He was his usual ineffectual self. Dropping deep only to either give it away or play a return backward pass to Dervite. In my opinion the team have to carry him, Jackson and Wilson. Massive mistake making Jackson captain again this season by Powell. It means he's likely to be first name on the team sheet every week, regardless of how poor he performs. He has to be one of the slowest players I think I've ever seen. The team just about got away with carrying him last season, and his only use was the late runs into the box for the goals, but his legs can't get him there anymore, so we have no use for him. What Lawrie Wilson adds I will never know. He manages to look very busy, but if he's playing at wing back and is our only threat down one wing, then we've basically got no threat whatsoever coming from one side. Stephens, Jackson and Wilson's involvement needs to be kept at a minimum for the rest of the season and at most I want to see them on the bench. I think the players must understand that the reaction at the final whistle was because not only was the performance was diabolical, but because we are fed up at losing to Millwall. The worst thing is, they were a poor team as well, and worryingly, without wanting to sound too negative, I am already looking at the likes of Barnsley, Yeovil and Sheffield Wednesday in the hope they are worst than us.
Well, I will make sure I get the figure clarified. The argument was that we were getting better results, for less, than Huddersfield. I am guessing that the explanation may lie with post-promotion bonus, because another person told me that CP's arrangement in that season was low basic plus big promotion bonus, and this was a Slater approach to playing staff costs. And not one I have a big problem with. Compare that with Prem clubs who sign players up for four years and dont have a relegation clause built in.
PA, you may well be right re: Huddersfield but it struck me as very high especially as they had been in L1 for several seasons (implying it wasn't explained by natural post-relegation overhang).
Either way, even if true it is hard to know if it provides evidence that Huddersfield grossly underperformed, Charlton grossly overperformed or perhaps neither (it is possible/probable that Charlton simply did excellent business in the summer 2011 window, using the Jenkinson money to buy some well-scouted players at cost-effective prices and wages).
As far as Ím concerned, uncle is is more than welcome here. Thanks to him I know a lot more about the best player we've ever produced. Having a pathetic dig at him isn't going to change what happened yesterday, which is what this thread is about. We were shit, we had no bottle, and 30% less Charlton turned up than for the same fixture four years ago when we were a division lower.
No way is Shelvey the best player we've ever produced.
As far as Ím concerned, uncle is is more than welcome here. Thanks to him I know a lot more about the best player we've ever produced. Having a pathetic dig at him isn't going to change what happened yesterday, which is what this thread is about. We were shit, we had no bottle, and 30% less Charlton turned up than for the same fixture four years ago when we were a division lower.
No way is Shelvey the best player we've ever produced.
As far as Ím concerned, uncle is is more than welcome here. Thanks to him I know a lot more about the best player we've ever produced. Having a pathetic dig at him isn't going to change what happened yesterday, which is what this thread is about. We were shit, we had no bottle, and 30% less Charlton turned up than for the same fixture four years ago when we were a division lower.
No way is Shelvey the best player we've ever produced.
Comments
in Upper West I also suffered from a small bloke that constantly shouted and swore in anger at the team. He still attends but now doesn't shout or swear. What's the point in stating the bloody obvious (Charlton you're crap, Powell sort it out) most home matches?
Your foaming moron will probably be dragged into the same stupor as small swearing man- and the rest of us!
I don't agree with everything you've said (For example, I woudn't give up on Pigott just yet. I think he was as much victim as villain yesterday), but I do believe that your key point is on the money. Our problem is the football we are playing (or the lack of it more precisely), not a lack of commitment from the players.
I'm no expert, but it does seem to me that whilst Chris Powell has done a wonderful job developing and maintaining a fantastic esprit de corps within his squad, he has singularly failed to coach an improvement in the technical performance of those players, either individually or collectively.
As a result, we now find ourselves hugely dependent on Yann Kermorgant, not just because he is a decent player (though not outstanding by Championship standards), but simply as a result of the fact that his extraordinary power in the air means that our endless and aimless punts forward, so mercilessly dealt with by Millwall's dominant central defenders yesterday, have the potential to create openings in the top third. It is no exaggeration to say that this can then change the entire pattern of the game.
Joe Pigott was disappointing yesterday, but he was doomed the moment it became clear that his afternoon would be spent facing long balls whilst wrestling with a very powerful Mark Beevers. I don't think Andy D'Urso helped him early on either.
Once Millwall's very simple, but effective game plan was revealed I'm afraid to say that a more astute Manager might have quickly made adjustments. Hindsight is, of course, a wonderful thing, but whilst making substitutions early on is risky, small adjustments can make a difference. It would have been easy to push Dervite forward into midfield, for example, in order to relieve the press on Morrison and Wood and, perhaps, to give Bailey something else to think about, but instead we waited until 10-15 minutes into the second half, at which point, of course, Lomas immediately countered. It was as if he knew Powell would make an adjustment at some stage and had already figured what he'd do when, eventually, the change came.
Fingers crossed Kermorgant isn't out for long. It will be a battle to compete with him. Without him we could be in big trouble.
Stewart with a bit of zip and Sordell starting alongside Church or Piggott was the way to go. Against a weak looking Millwall (but with more individual quality players) the 442 may have set them on the back foot.
The 352 needed intelligent, well timed runs and quick passess into space on the left and right wing areas. Millwall did look vulnerable early on in the left wing area in particular. The passing early on was promising. Millwall worked out that there was nothing to fear from Piggott and Church. The formation was done for in this game after 30 mins.
After the deflected goal that wrong footed Hamer it was clear that 352 was not going to work. The formation should have changed then, but I understand why the manager may want to wait until half time. The 352 after 30 minutes with the players on the field against a poor Millwall side was like watching slow death, worse after we went 1 down.
Cousins should have come on for Stephens (too light weight for 442, no protection for back 4 with him and Jackson), Stewart on for Wood. After 10 to 15 mins, Sordell coming on probably for Piggott / Church.
The change after 55 minutes improved things but Sordell did not come on until 70 mins and did not have time to affect the game. All the changes disrupted the flow of the game.
It may be that 442 would not have worked as Sordell, Piggott and Church do not have enough desire, experience or quality to score against Championship level defences. It is a shame that we will never know from this fixture.
A totally dispiriting performance from management, players, owners (lack of investment), and crowd attendance with a L1 level of quality, squad and performance if we lose any of our main players for any length of time, relegation is a high probability.
Getting in and out of the ground was trouble free to the station. The real test of any arrangements would be if Charlton hammered Millwall by 3 or 4 goals but how likely is that in this fixture ?
You even talk like a Charlton fan ;-)
Players get injured / suspended or go off form. There is not the quality to replace them. When Jackson / KMG were injured, Charlton have looked mediocre.
When KMG is not fit there is currently no strikers within the team to score goals due to lack of experience, quality or desire.
It may be possible to get away with losing your main players in League One but not in the Championships. IMHO.
I suspect that I wasn't alone in thinking that we needed to strengthen after winning the L1 title in order to be competitive in the Championship, particularly in CM and up front. It didn't happen for 2 years running and some of our older players are now more injury prone and arguably slower. We've also lost the bounce that a newly formed team, with a newish manager and owners have.
And so yes for me it's a L1 level squad and I'm not surprised at the evident lack of quality on the field. If you recall a lot of the football last season at home was similarly poor.
Arguably a strong team spirit (and away form) kept us up last year and given the contract situation is no surprise that this element of the team has been weakened.
The management and team can do better but we need to be realistic about our situation. If Powell can keep us up without any extra investment in the squad then that will be a fantastic achievement.
Will this happen? Not sure. Has Powell got the appetite and guile needed? Also not sure. Could another manager do better without extra investment? Possibly, but why would any decent manager want to risk their reputation with us as things stand?
But the beauty of the game is that it's all about opinions and we get to pontificate about how other people should do their jobs and how other people should spend their money!
I base my conclusion on the following:
Of the 11 players who made more than 20 starts in the L1 title season, I think most fans would agree that 7 were/are Championship quality (even if we didn't know it at the time) ie. Solly, Wiggins, Morrison, Hamer, Kermorgant, Jackson and Stephens. The others for completeness were Green, Wright-Philips, Taylor and Hollands (all of whom are firmly L1 quality players only).
In addition when required, this core group were supplemented by loan players or mid-season signings, usually from higher divisions (eg. N'Guessan, Ephraim, Cort, Haynes...), each of which made important and timely contributions.
Admittedly only Fuller, Wilson, Kerkar and Dervite were additional permanent signings of note the following summer, but again Powell benefited from several loans from a higher division (Hulse, Seabourne, Obika, Frimpong....).
It is far from a perfect state of affairs but I don't think our situation is materially different from 12 or so other teams in the division. Last season we overperformed thanks to a great finish, so perhaps this season is just a reversion to the mean (so far).
In order to give your proposition more validity through a benchmark you need to look at Charlton's L1 rivals that season. Why don't you start with Sheffield United?
I'll give you another one since I have it available.
Charlton's League 1 Champ winning wage bill :£4.6m
Huddersfield's scraping up through the play-offs wage bill: £6.8m
(source: someone ITK :-))
Settling down to watch it, having read all the above comments, I thought I was in for a horror show - something akin to the home games against Walsall and Swindon in the closing days of Phil Parkinson's reign. But I'm going to be controversial here - I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as some are making out and I can only assume - quite understandably - that the disappointment for those who were there is maybe clouding their post-match views. (I'd certainly be interested to see if they watched the game again if they would be so critical).
A few random thoughts-
1) IMO, Charlton were the better team. Had more of the game and were at least trying to play. Millwall were rubbish and apart from their goal - a hugely deflected shot - only had 2 other chances in the whole game. For most of the second half, Millwall just sat deep and soaked up the pressure. So let's not beat ourselves up about Millwall being better than us.
2) For the first 25 minutes, I saw nothing wrong with the performance at all. It was a good start to the game. Shame they couldn't play like that throughout.
3) Having said that Charlton were trying to play, it has to be said that their final ball was abysmal all afternoon.
4) Young Joe Pigott looked out of his depth from the word go. How on earth did Chris Powell let him stay on the field for 70 mins? He should have been taken off at half-time. Sorry, Chris, but you really have got to your head round using substitutes, or changing things around, more quickly. It was obvious that the 3-5-2 just wasn't working - why not switch to a more attacking 4-4-2 and bring on Stewart/Harriott earlier to give a change in formation more time to work?
5) Cameron Stewart looks useful. But clearly he is not going to fit easily into a 3-5-2. So how is he going to be fitted in?
6) The atmosphere sounded good on the TV for about the first hour. Particularly early on, those there certainly seemed to be doing their part in getting the team going. And certainly the "famed" Millwall roar was hardly to be heard, except maybe near the end.
A desperately disappointing afternoon no doubt. But let's not get too carried away. With a bit more quality on the final ball and a quicker move to a 4-4-2 formation and we could easily have got something out of that game. Or were the TV cameras lying?
We couldn't even do the simple things right. How many throw ins did we have and not one player make a run to give the thrower an option despite jeering from crowd.
God help us
Loan players will presumably be included in the total cost as well.
Either way, even if true it is hard to know if it provides evidence that Huddersfield grossly underperformed, Charlton grossly overperformed or perhaps neither (it is possible/probable that Charlton simply did excellent business in the summer 2011 window, using the Jenkinson money to buy some well-scouted players at cost-effective prices and wages).
Wink wink