Agreed with some of the comments here about the poor support.
The players are ultimately responsible for getting results, but we as a fanbase cannot give it the big one about how much we hate Millwall and how big a game it is if nobody bloody turns up to watch it. The excuse of it being an early kick off really is laughable.
At the end of the day, if your fanbase has half an ounce of passion in it, games like these would be selling out. But we don't have a passionate support. No oomph or bollocks whatsoever when it comes to these games. We're getting just a ridiculed by neutrals who watched the game on TV just as much as the players are, if not more.
Absolutely useless support. Do not try and make excuses for it, cos it was inexcusably bad. Simple.
Gonna be controversial here. I am by and large a fogey and traditionalist but, whisper it, I don't miss the Red, red robin. It's dated, twee and embarrassing. Sorry Len!
As I said everyone is entitled to an opinion.
What annoys me is firstly that they are obviously marginalising it without consulting the fans by playing it quietly as an afterthought but secondly that they lie about it!
Red, Red Robin will be back loud and clear for the Millwall game was posted on here so who told them not to?
Fair point Len - as you imply a lot of people feel strongly about it and their views should be taken into account before any decision is taken for RRR to be quietly dropped (if that is what is going on). For me, I would prefer to remember the tune with great affection as a soundtrack to my memories of those halcyon days of Firmani, Hewie, Bailey, Glover, Campbell, Treacy, Horsfield, Hales, Flanagan et al. To me it belongs in the past with them.
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.
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
I agree apart from the bit about it being well- written.
Pipe down mate, don't need a West Ham fan telling me how to support my team.
Sorry I didn't realise I was addressing you or that this was your club. This Is a Charlton football forum and i'm giving my views on a game I was at, just like everyone else on here is. So "mate" I wont pipe down I will have my say. Sorry if that upsets you.
Sorry but a LOT of blame lays with SCP on this one. Fine that he picked Pigott but the lad was having a mare and nothing he did was good enough. Won't be surprised if his confidence is shattered for months. Sordell is experienced and has "an issue" with Millwall. I think he would have put in a shift. He was ok when he did get on. Actually that's a side issue for me. The players were flat and without purpose. SCP should have had them bouncing off the walls for this match. We played hoofball and it was dire. That's down to the manager. We need to turn it around very quickly and I can start to smell something rotten.
I'm not apologising for the mess that was our performance today, but let's not overlook how Millwall played as a factor in how we did. They let us play in our own third but stuck 10 men behind the ball and were tenacious in closing us down as soon as we started to move the ball forward. Pritchard in particular and Stephens didn't seem able to find a decent forward ball, we had one striker who had his boots on the wrong way round and if our wing backs got to the by-line once I missed it. Eventually the centre halves are going to start playing percentage balls if only to move the play up the pitch.
If it wasn't Millwall we might be less emotional about it. In the last 4 games we've beaten Leicester, got a point from two tough away games that we might have expected to get a point from, and done what we always do by losing to Millwall. Maybe things aren't quite so bad as it feels right now.
The biggest factor in that game was tactics not the support. The team has to give the fans something to get the support going sometimes - the supporters were up for it but the display was too turgid and frustrating.
Millwall set out to stop us and you have to approach these games differently to when you play against a team that tries to beat you. It was a game where the extra centre half was redundant and where one of our strikers may as well have been one of us. Effectively it was like playing with a man down.
Yes the midfield and Pritchard in particular gave the ball away, but ours and Millwall's tactics deprived them of options! It is much easier to play bad balls when the options for simple effective balls are not there.
The observant will have seen that Millwall didn't put much cohersive football together either. But they were not trying too. As the away side Lomas had done his homework on our formation. Chrissy did change it early in the second half (which was too late) and took much too long to replace Piggot. I thought the crowd were generally supportive of him and it was nice that they clapped him. He is young and not ready. They appreciated that fact.
I am supportive of the job Chrissy is doing but as somebody who has studied football - not just watched it - for 40 odd years - I believe he does have a problem reading games. It may be he reads them but something stops him acting on what he sees - maybe an innate caution (the let's get them in and sort it out at half time syndrome) - but yesterday was a great example where warning signs were ignored for about 20 minutes before their goal. Yes - Millwall didn't look much more like scoring than us - but how many teams do score in these situations - enough to know we had to do something! I think there was lots we could have done - the first subs for me would have been Sordell for Piggot and Cousins for Wood. They would have happened on the 25 minute mark!
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
I agree apart from the bit about it being well- written.
Pipe down mate, don't need a West Ham fan telling me how to support my team.
Sorry I didn't realise I was addressing you or that this was your club. This Is a Charlton football forum and i'm giving my views on a game I was at, just like everyone else on here is. So "mate" I wont pipe down I will have my say. Sorry if that upsets you.
You really don't get it do you? Even your pal Goonerhater told you it was none of your business, but still you blether on.
If you're such an authority on how to support a team - Yer, need a few more fat lumps having a go - why weren't you blowing bubbles for your lot today? They could have done with it.
Anyway, comment away, ultimately I don't care: it doesn't upset me, it's simply dull.
We stick with 3-5-2 and we are doomed. We play Piggott and church up front and expect them to perform miracles with no service. We have two out and out wingers on the bench but persist with trying to shut up shop ab and counter with wing backs because it sort of worked once. Its a joke. Positives today for me were church who I thought worked hard everywhere though should have made better contact with his effort, Pritchard I thought played well as did morrison. We were just too defensive. You don't win games unless you score goals. You don't score goals if you don't create chances. Harriott and Stewart I think will create chances for any of our strikers. I don't think Piggott had an awful game at all I just think powell asked too much of him. Play him with proper service and I think he will score as will church and sordell. No powell out yet from me but he needs to grow a pair and get his players attacking more. The defence is good enough to defend. With a dm in front of them let them do their job and give our more attacking players the roles they crave to go out and win games.
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
I agree apart from the bit about it being well- written.
Pipe down mate, don't need a West Ham fan telling me how to support my team.
Sorry I didn't realise I was addressing you or that this was your club. This Is a Charlton football forum and i'm giving my views on a game I was at, just like everyone else on here is. So "mate" I wont pipe down I will have my say. Sorry if that upsets you.
You really don't get it do you? Even your pal Goonerhater told you it was none of your business, but still you blether on.
If you're such an authority on how to support a team - Yer, need a few more fat lumps having a go - why weren't you blowing bubbles for your lot today? They could have done with it.
Anyway, comment away, ultimately I don't care: it doesn't upset me, it's simply dull.
You still don't get it do you! I don't give a fuck what you think. Don't lecture me over a keyboard you mug. I wasn't at west ham today because I thought it would be more entertaining at charlton and thought if it went tits up a few of my friends their could use a hand. You probably wouldn't understand what that means and I really can't be arsed to explain.
Should have been a 0-0 and we lost to a bit of a lucky deflection.
However, I got the impression that Millwall had the stronger set of players, with Morrison, Dunne and Forde all looking a cut above. Only Dervite for me, really caught the eye, although I was encouraged by Stewart's efforts. Of course, it was poor to watch but both teams seemed cautious and cancelled each other out.
In the absence of Yann, 4-5-1 is the way to go, with both Stewart and Harriott in the starting line-up to at least stretch the opposition....but whatever way you set this group of players up, there aren't going to be many goals, unless Sordell & Jackson can fire a few.
It is probable that many of the missing fans tuned in to Sky, swiftly realised that their instincts had been right and had the opportunity to switch off after 20 minutes and head for the pub with the 30 quid they had saved. Those people will not be returning to the Valley any time soon. No neutral would have bothered sitting through 90 minutes of such dull cack. No wonder Sky don't come to the Valley very often.
This is a slippery slope to a downward spiral in attendances. Soon we are going to need Target 10000 again.
What can be done? Quite a bit. First step is that in derby games the players have to play as though their childrens lives depend on the result. If they ever did that we would probably not lose but if we did we would quickly forgive and move on. It is Chris Powell's job to get that from them. I don't know why but he failed miserably yesterday.
This is the entertainment business. At home you have to provide customers with excitement, ambition and style. It is not just about not losing.
Next up, Harriott, Stewart and Cousins must all start.
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
I agree apart from the bit about it being well- written.
Pipe down mate, don't need a West Ham fan telling me how to support my team.
Sorry I didn't realise I was addressing you or that this was your club. This Is a Charlton football forum and i'm giving my views on a game I was at, just like everyone else on here is. So "mate" I wont pipe down I will have my say. Sorry if that upsets you.
You really don't get it do you? Even your pal Goonerhater told you it was none of your business, but still you blether on.
If you're such an authority on how to support a team - Yer, need a few more fat lumps having a go - why weren't you blowing bubbles for your lot today? They could have done with it.
Anyway, comment away, ultimately I don't care: it doesn't upset me, it's simply dull.
You still don't get it do you! I don't give a fuck what you think. Don't lecture me over a keyboard you mug. I wasn't at west ham today because I thought it would be more entertaining at charlton and thought if it went tits up a few of my friends their could use a hand. You probably wouldn't understand what that means and I really can't be arsed to explain.
Oh go on, do explain. Do you mean, gulp...fighting?
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
I agree apart from the bit about it being well- written.
Pipe down mate, don't need a West Ham fan telling me how to support my team.
Sorry I didn't realise I was addressing you or that this was your club. This Is a Charlton football forum and i'm giving my views on a game I was at, just like everyone else on here is. So "mate" I wont pipe down I will have my say. Sorry if that upsets you.
You really don't get it do you? Even your pal Goonerhater told you it was none of your business, but still you blether on.
If you're such an authority on how to support a team - Yer, need a few more fat lumps having a go - why weren't you blowing bubbles for your lot today? They could have done with it.
Anyway, comment away, ultimately I don't care: it doesn't upset me, it's simply dull.
You still don't get it do you! I don't give a fuck what you think. Don't lecture me over a keyboard you mug. I wasn't at west ham today because I thought it would be more entertaining at charlton and thought if it went tits up a few of my friends their could use a hand. You probably wouldn't understand what that means and I really can't be arsed to explain.
Oh go on, do explain. Do you mean, gulp...fighting?
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.
left it today to comment......watched the game on Sky and all I can add is that it was embarrassing. The team was embarrassing and the game was embarrassing. Millwall were poor, we were crap!! No fight, no tenacity or intensity and turning to hoof-ball when it clearly wasn't going to work. A neutral who was watching the game with me summed it quite succinctly .... outside of the deflected goal, both teams could have been on the pitch all-day and not scored....quickly followed by that's the worse and most boring game I've seen on TV for many a season!! Summed it up for me as well.......hope they have been called in today to work on tactics if nothing else.
left it today to comment......watched the game on Sky and all I can add is that it was embarrassing. The team was embarrassing and the game was embarrassing. Millwall were poor, we were crap!! No fight, no tenacity or intensity and turning to hoof-ball when it clearly wasn't going to work. A neutral who was watching the game with me summed it quite succinctly .... outside of the deflected goal, both teams could have been on the pitch all-day and not scored....quickly followed by that's the worse and most boring game I've seen on TV for many a season!! Summed it up for me as well.......hope they have been called in today to work on tactics if nothing else.
I agree with most of that...... But Southampton V West Ham last week was so much more boring.
left it today to comment......watched the game on Sky and all I can add is that it was embarrassing. The team was embarrassing and the game was embarrassing. Millwall were poor, we were crap!! No fight, no tenacity or intensity and turning to hoof-ball when it clearly wasn't going to work. A neutral who was watching the game with me summed it quite succinctly .... outside of the deflected goal, both teams could have been on the pitch all-day and not scored....quickly followed by that's the worse and most boring game I've seen on TV for many a season!! Summed it up for me as well.......hope they have been called in today to work on tactics if nothing else.
I agree with most of that...... But Southampton V West Ham last week was so much more boring.
Hi @uncle.....didn't see that game so cant comment.....but if that one was more boring than yesterday it must have been a really good game for insomniacs!! LOL
I will try and be positive here, as difficult as it might be. We lost a terrible game during which the team played as if they had all met for the first time in the pub 10 minutes before kick off, BUT we lost to a scrappy goal. We COULD have scraped a point, we didn't .. at Huddersfield, we COULD have come back to get a point, we didn't, we came close. We have beaten and got a point against two of the top rated teams in Leicester and Watford, we are a schizophrenic side at the moment and the valley more often than not is a vale of despair rather than a green green valley of dreams and hopes.
What's gone wrong?
Powell needs to drop the 3 5 2 once and for all, settle on a regular side (we have suffered badly with the injuries to Solly and Kermorgant) and play 4 4 2 ... That's the managerial side. The players need to start hot and willing from the first minute and stop fucking about like lost sheep for the first half hour of games. Perhaps this is a result of them playing a dodgy and unfamiliar 3 5 2 formation. The 'fans' and 'addick addicts' need to take on some patience and understanding. Our squad is strong on numbers, weak on class and, at the moment, it lacks genuine endeavour. Howling and wailing at the team will not cure these faults overnight. And people, get off Piggott's back. Some of the marks he was given yesterday were a disgrace.
I expect to see a much better performance at Burnley, away from the valley of despondency. Like last season, home sweet home is not so sweet. Away, where the pressure is off, may bring out better performances from a both management and players.
What a way to start the day, a complete & utter useless performance by us (and they were little better).
We once again curl up and die, the players have no backbone. I truly believe Stephens & Jackson in the middle is simply not a "tough" enough option.
When we put the 2 wide men on we looked better going forward, but far worse at the back.
Surely we have to more positive at home & take the game to the opposition, can not stand our negative stance, it certainly will not bring the fans back.
So much more I could say but like most of the players just can't be bothered.
Good post Lincs, but yesterdays display was worse than awful. Players confidence is rock bottom at the moment and I genuinely fear we'll be on the receiving end of a good hiding at Burnley next week. Hope and pray I'm wrong.
I may have to eat my words at some future date, but nevertheless I want to go on record as saying this:
Having watched Church for several games now - he isn't going to do anything special for us. He spent the Watford game running away from the ball. He spent the Millwall game pretending that he was frustrated by lack of service.
He has all signs of a passenger, in a poor side that resembles the Pardew relegation side.
When he did eventually get clean through on goal, 1 on 1 with the keeper, his final effort was poor.
I may have to eat my words at some future date, but nevertheless I want to go on record as saying this:
Having watched Church for several games now - he isn't going to do anything special for us. He spent the Watford game running away from the ball. He spent the Millwall game pretending that he was frustrated by lack of service.
He has all signs of a passenger, in a poor side that resembles the Pardew relegation side.
When he did eventually get clean through on goal, 1 on 1 with the keeper, his final effort was poor.
The possession yesterday was split 60-40 in our favour (stats from the BBC website), an unusual imbalance. And yet most of our possession was utterly ineffective: a continuous stream of sideways passes along the half-way life, an occasional glance at the static strikers, then the ball back to the defence and ultimately Hamer, whose kicking was verging on the suicidal.
During home games recently I've watched a lot of this lateral movement, sure in my mind that no advantage will be gained. Eventually one of the ten-yard midfield passes will go astray (Pritchard yesterday, the cause of Millwall's swift break and goal); or the ball will be hoofed long upfield, either wildly misdirected or to a player who lacks the technical skill to control it with his first touch. We regularly concede possession as a result of each of these failings.
Both Stephens and Pritchard are physically weak. In our pre-season friendly at AFC Wimbledon, I watched aghast as four times in the first 20 minutes Stephens was knocked off the ball in vital areas by players in a team two divisions below us. When Pritchard charges around confronting opponents, he is usually trying and failing to retrieve the possession that he himself lost. Our midfield lacks the mental sharpness to thread incisive balls to the strikers, and even without Danny Green our crosses regularly go astray.
This fundamentally poor approach-play is the reason why we create such woefully few goal-scoring chances. At Huddersfield last week we managed just a single accurate attempt in the first 70 minutes. I have watched Pigott closely this season - and pre-season - and am sorry to say he is clumsy, deficient in close control, lacking in mobility, and for a man of his height surprisingly ineffectual in the air. A mediocre Millwall side proved yesterday that a shot from 25 yards is often worth a go - you might get lucky with a deflection.
I don't believe our players lack effort or conviction; what they lack is technical ability, physical strength, and spatial awareness. With the exceptions of Solly, Kermorgant and Church, we are a team not nearly good enough for any hope of a play-off place in the Championship. I am suspicious of our training regime at Sparrows Lane, have been banging on about this for months and have to say it again - we simply do not know how to take an attacking throw-in. Look again at how Doncaster took a quick throw-in, sliced us apart and scored in the second minute a few weeks ago.
Two examples of our slowness of mind and body at throw-ins during the second half yesterday: on the right wing we dithered until the opposing defenders had comfortably matched up, no-one made space and we promptly conceded possession; later, on the left wing Stewart stood gawping at the man with the ball instead of running down the line to the corner, willing to receive. Simple, incisive moves should be rehearsed on the training pitch time and again until they become instinctive.
I have been watching Charlton for almost 50 years. I don't care two hoots about the colour of our bootlaces, the sponsor's logo on the shirts, the design of our kit, or whether The Red Red Robin is played before the match. What I do care about is the way we play and the results we achieve. Our performances this season indicate that we are heading for relegation.
Viewfinder, agree 100%. Personally I didn't think we lacked effort or team spirit. Nor was it in any way the fans' fault as others suggest.
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.
Like many whatever happens I'll carry on supporting the club that I love. Things will get better I'm certain, but they may get a lot worse first.
All I know is these performances at home have to improve, for my sake as much as theirs, when we play as badly as that I get covered in raging spit and foam from the moron behind me.
This is not a doom and gloom post - but let's not be complacent, almost the entire squad has less than 11 months on their contract. In November, their agents will be asking the club for its contract intentions - with a view to moving in Jan or waiting for a Bosman in June.
Comments
The players are ultimately responsible for getting results, but we as a fanbase cannot give it the big one about how much we hate Millwall and how big a game it is if nobody bloody turns up to watch it. The excuse of it being an early kick off really is laughable.
At the end of the day, if your fanbase has half an ounce of passion in it, games like these would be selling out. But we don't have a passionate support. No oomph or bollocks whatsoever when it comes to these games. We're getting just a ridiculed by neutrals who watched the game on TV just as much as the players are, if not more.
Absolutely useless support. Do not try and make excuses for it, cos it was inexcusably bad. Simple.
For me, I would prefer to remember the tune with great affection as a soundtrack to my memories of those halcyon days of Firmani, Hewie, Bailey, Glover, Campbell, Treacy, Horsfield, Hales, Flanagan et al.
To me it belongs in the past with them.
If it wasn't Millwall we might be less emotional about it. In the last 4 games we've beaten Leicester, got a point from two tough away games that we might have expected to get a point from, and done what we always do by losing to Millwall. Maybe things aren't quite so bad as it feels right now.
Millwall set out to stop us and you have to approach these games differently to when you play against a team that tries to beat you. It was a game where the extra centre half was redundant and where one of our strikers may as well have been one of us. Effectively it was like playing with a man down.
Yes the midfield and Pritchard in particular gave the ball away, but ours and Millwall's tactics deprived them of options! It is much easier to play bad balls when the options for simple effective balls are not there.
The observant will have seen that Millwall didn't put much cohersive football together either. But they were not trying too. As the away side Lomas had done his homework on our formation. Chrissy did change it early in the second half (which was too late) and took much too long to replace Piggot. I thought the crowd were generally supportive of him and it was nice that they clapped him. He is young and not ready. They appreciated that fact.
I am supportive of the job Chrissy is doing but as somebody who has studied football - not just watched it - for 40 odd years - I believe he does have a problem reading games. It may be he reads them but something stops him acting on what he sees - maybe an innate caution (the let's get them in and sort it out at half time syndrome) - but yesterday was a great example where warning signs were ignored for about 20 minutes before their goal. Yes - Millwall didn't look much more like scoring than us - but how many teams do score in these situations - enough to know we had to do something! I think there was lots we could have done - the first subs for me would have been Sordell for Piggot and Cousins for Wood. They would have happened on the 25 minute mark!
If you're such an authority on how to support a team - Yer, need a few more fat lumps having a go - why weren't you blowing bubbles for your lot today? They could have done with it.
Anyway, comment away, ultimately I don't care: it doesn't upset me, it's simply dull.
Said it all.
However, I got the impression that Millwall had the stronger set of players, with Morrison, Dunne and Forde all looking a cut above. Only Dervite for me, really caught the eye, although I was encouraged by Stewart's efforts. Of course, it was poor to watch but both teams seemed cautious and cancelled each other out.
In the absence of Yann, 4-5-1 is the way to go, with both Stewart and Harriott in the starting line-up to at least stretch the opposition....but whatever way you set this group of players up, there aren't going to be many goals, unless Sordell & Jackson can fire a few.
This is a slippery slope to a downward spiral in attendances. Soon we are going to need Target 10000 again.
What can be done? Quite a bit. First step is that in derby games the players have to play as though their childrens lives depend on the result. If they ever did that we would probably not lose but if we did we would quickly forgive and move on. It is Chris Powell's job to get that from them. I don't know why but he failed miserably yesterday.
This is the entertainment business. At home you have to provide customers with excitement, ambition and style. It is not just about not losing.
Next up, Harriott, Stewart and Cousins must all start.
A neutral who was watching the game with me summed it quite succinctly .... outside of the deflected goal, both teams could have been on the pitch all-day and not scored....quickly followed by that's the worse and most boring game I've seen on TV for many a season!! Summed it up for me as well.......hope they have been called in today to work on tactics if nothing else.
We lost a terrible game during which the team played as if they had all met for the first time in the pub 10 minutes before kick off, BUT we lost to a scrappy goal. We COULD have scraped a point, we didn't .. at Huddersfield, we COULD have come back to get a point, we didn't, we came close.
We have beaten and got a point against two of the top rated teams in Leicester and Watford, we are a schizophrenic side at the moment and the valley more often than not is a vale of despair rather than a green green valley of dreams and hopes.
What's gone wrong?
Powell needs to drop the 3 5 2 once and for all, settle on a regular side (we have suffered badly with the injuries to Solly and Kermorgant) and play 4 4 2 ...
That's the managerial side. The players need to start hot and willing from the first minute and stop fucking about like lost sheep for the first half hour of games. Perhaps this is a result of them playing a dodgy and unfamiliar 3 5 2 formation.
The 'fans' and 'addick addicts' need to take on some patience and understanding. Our squad is strong on numbers, weak on class and, at the moment, it lacks genuine endeavour. Howling and wailing at the team will not cure these faults overnight. And people, get off Piggott's back. Some of the marks he was given yesterday were a disgrace.
I expect to see a much better performance at Burnley, away from the valley of despondency. Like last season, home sweet home is not so sweet. Away, where the pressure is off, may bring out better performances from a both management and players.
We once again curl up and die, the players have no backbone. I truly believe Stephens & Jackson in the middle is simply not a "tough" enough option.
When we put the 2 wide men on we looked better going forward, but far worse at the back.
Surely we have to more positive at home & take the game to the opposition, can not stand our negative stance, it certainly will not bring the fans back.
So much more I could say but like most of the players just can't be bothered.
Good luck Chris in trying to sort it out.
Having watched Church for several games now - he isn't going to do anything special for us.
He spent the Watford game running away from the ball.
He spent the Millwall game pretending that he was frustrated by lack of service.
He has all signs of a passenger, in a poor side that resembles the Pardew relegation side.
When he did eventually get clean through on goal, 1 on 1 with the keeper, his final effort was poor.
During home games recently I've watched a lot of this lateral movement, sure in my mind that no advantage will be gained. Eventually one of the ten-yard midfield passes will go astray (Pritchard yesterday, the cause of Millwall's swift break and goal); or the ball will be hoofed long upfield, either wildly misdirected or to a player who lacks the technical skill to control it with his first touch. We regularly concede possession as a result of each of these failings.
Both Stephens and Pritchard are physically weak. In our pre-season friendly at AFC Wimbledon, I watched aghast as four times in the first 20 minutes Stephens was knocked off the ball in vital areas by players in a team two divisions below us. When Pritchard charges around confronting opponents, he is usually trying and failing to retrieve the possession that he himself lost. Our midfield lacks the mental sharpness to thread incisive balls to the strikers, and even without Danny Green our crosses regularly go astray.
This fundamentally poor approach-play is the reason why we create such woefully few goal-scoring chances. At Huddersfield last week we managed just a single accurate attempt in the first 70 minutes. I have watched Pigott closely this season - and pre-season - and am sorry to say he is clumsy, deficient in close control, lacking in mobility, and for a man of his height surprisingly ineffectual in the air. A mediocre Millwall side proved yesterday that a shot from 25 yards is often worth a go - you might get lucky with a deflection.
I don't believe our players lack effort or conviction; what they lack is technical ability, physical strength, and spatial awareness. With the exceptions of Solly, Kermorgant and Church, we are a team not nearly good enough for any hope of a play-off place in the Championship. I am suspicious of our training regime at Sparrows Lane, have been banging on about this for months and have to say it again - we simply do not know how to take an attacking throw-in. Look again at how Doncaster took a quick throw-in, sliced us apart and scored in the second minute a few weeks ago.
Two examples of our slowness of mind and body at throw-ins during the second half yesterday: on the right wing we dithered until the opposing defenders had comfortably matched up, no-one made space and we promptly conceded possession; later, on the left wing Stewart stood gawping at the man with the ball instead of running down the line to the corner, willing to receive. Simple, incisive moves should be rehearsed on the training pitch time and again until they become instinctive.
I have been watching Charlton for almost 50 years. I don't care two hoots about the colour of our bootlaces, the sponsor's logo on the shirts, the design of our kit, or whether The Red Red Robin is played before the match. What I do care about is the way we play and the results we achieve. Our performances this season indicate that we are heading for relegation.
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.
Like many whatever happens I'll carry on supporting the club that I love. Things will get better I'm certain, but they may get a lot worse first.
This is not a doom and gloom post - but let's not be complacent, almost the entire squad has less than 11 months on their contract. In November, their agents will be asking the club for its contract intentions - with a view to moving in Jan or waiting for a Bosman in June.
Imagine if we are in the bottom 6 in November ?
Given our next 2 games, this looks very likely.