I watched the same old problems this afternoon: our defensive clearances, whether by foot or by head, land at an unchallenged opponent. And when we actually do have possession in midfield, we are unable to pass killer balls to the strikers. We managed only two accurate attempts at goal, at home, in the whole 90 minutes.
Compare and contrast with Reading - their midfielder Guthrie collected the ball near the half-way line, advanced rapidly through our central defence, and laid it off for Williams to blast past Hamer. We lack the strength, speed and skill to turn defence into attack.
Cousins is not a winger; why isn't he trusted to play in central midfield and to feed Ajdarevic pushing forward? Poyet has the ball-skills to advance more and to support the strikers: he should be prompting the forwards. We have an aching, yawning gap between the last line of defence and our willing runners up front.
Reza comes on as sub, addresses a rare free-kick five yards outside their box (the whole stadium hankers after Kermorgant) - and hoofs it five yards over the bar. After three substitutions, our paucity of talent is underlined by Church and Harriott still being on the pitch at the final whistle.
And who's brilliant idea was it to soak the pitch before the game and at half time? There was a patch of mud in front of the East Stand with standing water on it when we kicked off. Then in the second half players were slipping all over the place in the half we were attacking because so much water had drenched it.
I think he was picked today to give others a rest - Tuesday is more important and Church will be nowhere near the team - today was about rotation.
Because we can pick and choose when we want to win.
All about the balance of probability I suppose. Of course us armchair coaches never get it wrong. The manager or is it head coach has to make tough decisions made even tougher having lightweight attacking options.
This feels like the game that's finished us off With Millwall, Yeovil and Birmingham winning away I thnk reality has set in and surely made us realise we just ain't good enough to compete with these teams
I, and a few thousand others could have told you that a while ago.
Awful. Plain awful. I don't think ever in my life have I seen a side look so unlikely to score that us.
Said on the 'are you getting confident' thread that it is changing every game, and the lack of goals is a real worry. That feels ultra emphasised right now.
As an attacking force, we are a complete non_entity
That goes with us being the lowest scorers in the bottom three divisions.
I reckon Charlton fans are not aware of this 'small' fact
Oh, forgot, seems today that Hamer had been to the Thuram school of goalkeeping :-(
Hamer made that punch in the first half because the sun looked to have blinded him. His one dodgy miss kick looked to be due to the pitch. He'll get a Champ contract in the summer no problem. Hope it's with CAFC.
Generic home game really - Reading were competent, not much more, but against us one goal is usually enough. We seem to run into an invisible wall 20 yards from goal, Reza livened things up when he came on but seemed to get dragged down to the level of the others later on. AA had some nice touches but was knackered after 30 minutes, Church I'm afraid puts a new slant on the word "ineffective". I even saw Poyet misplace a pass!
We've bounced back from bad results a few times recently, and I still think there are plenty of twists and turns to come. However, the margin for error is decreasing by the week.
That set of results and palace ensuring survival in the prem really is making me puke What a crap footballing day
Exactly, life as a Charlton supporter just gets worse. I still think Millwall will go down (probably with us) but Palace, as long as Pulis stays, will probably become a permanent Premership club. This would not be so sickening if the rewards were not so great as to forever distance their success from our continuing desperate plight.
That set of results and palace ensuring survival in the prem really is making me puke What a crap footballing day
Exactly, life as a Charlton supporter just gets worse. I still think Millwall will go down (probably with us) but Palace, as long as Pulis stays, will probably become a permanent Premership club. This would not be so sickening if the rewards were not so great as to forever distance their success from our continuing desperate plight.
Im posting without reading! So i just went though the players marks and some of the comments seem harsh after a midweek win! Not just the players but the boss too i think a lifer once said that if we lose people start slagging off the players but there are they to give praise when we win!!? players had off day maybe and may well be tired but then again Reading are in play off spot! i didnt go but i will be at the valley tuesday night to see it for myself
If you think getting relegated wouldn't be so bad you've got short memories. There's no guarantee we'd come back up. It's an awful standard of football. Let's concentrate on staying up and regroup as a Championship side instead please.
A disappointing and somewhat sobering afternoon. I arrived at the Ground thinking that a point per game will see us safe and hoping that we might just manage to frustrate a decent Reading side, secure a par result and consolidate our position outside the bottom three.
I was still in a positive frame of mind at half-time. During that first forty five minutes we'd looked measured, composed and patient and whilst we hadn't really looked like scoring neither had Reading. However, during the half-time interval Nigel Adkins clearly told his players to be more positive and aggressive and to press much harder when we were in possession. It worked. Reading dominated and the controlled football we'd played at times during the first half escaped us. Sins of old returned and we began to give the ball away too cheaply.
What was most worrying is that we were easily outmuscled and made to look very lightweight. What was most disappointing was that time and again a lack of quality saw us we give the ball away cheaply in the top third, failing to capitalise on promising situations. One such occasion led to the winning goal. Petrucci dithered, lost possession, Reading broke and the impressive Williams scored the winner.
Talk of Petrucci brings me to Riga's substitutes. I'm not at all clear what Riga's thinking was (perhaps he was trying to rest tired legs), but the changes really did not help. Ajdarevic was the first to leave the fray. He'd lasted less than an hour and was clearly disappointed to come off. The quality we'd shown at times during the first half left the field with him. Ghoochannejhad was always going to find Reading's physicality a real challenge, but it was his decision making and lack of quality that let him down. At times he looked like a kid who isn't equipped to play at this level. When Jackson was replaced by Petrucci in the 66th minute the game was up. The loanee never looked comfortable. Whilst at 0-0 there was hope of another late winner, once his mistake gave Reading their lead defeat was inevitable. We simply never looked remotely like scoring.
Dervite and Morrison were excellent once again, Wilson and Wiggins steady without ever threatening and Poyet confident and assured. Church was completely dominated by Gorks and Pearce, and Harriott, whilst lively at times, was typically frustrating.
The memory of the win at Leeds and the euphoria that went with it has been replaced in my mind by a returning anxiety. In the second half today we did not look equipped for the battle ahead. It is to be hoped that against weaker sides than Reading we are better able to cope when the going gets tough.
I agree, Mundell - Dervite and Morrison have done well enough at clearing their lines this season, but their defensive headers and hoisted kicks that land between our box and the half-way line are gifted straight back to the opposition by our lack of muscle in midfield. We need players who can seize possession in our own half, move forward thirty yards, and then deliver to the strikers.
Cousins and Ajdarevic have the right physique - yet our opponents by-pass them with speed and accuracy. Without a decent winger - a long-standing failing of ours - we desperately need the central penetration exemplified by Reading's goal today. Elsewhere, something, somehow might happen: Church was racing in to the box from the left, we all leapt to our feet - and he slid the ball across to their defender.
Two standout things, Church hanging around offside when half the ground is telling him to sort himself out and three of ours all deciding against shooting from 20 yards out just 20 seconds before the ball in our net.
Having recovered from the shock that the only striker who can score (Reza) was on the bench and the only one who can't was on on the pitch (again) I was quite encouraged by the first half display and while we never looked like scoring, neither did they.
Cousins and Poyet bossed some very high quality Reading midfielders and we looked the slightly better team for 45mins and played some decent stuff.
Second half was disappointing. I like young Harriot but he was useless today on the right wing and lost his nerve. AA is class but very very unfit. Poor Churchy is so inept and impotent that I feel sorry for him. He is static, wins nothing, does not hold it up, and hides behind defenders when we are in possession. My mate (Arsenal) was still laughing about him when we got back to the car.
Probably the 10th game this season when a Fuller or Haynes might have nicked something but Churchy never will bless him.
Can we please stop feckin around with the forwards, For me the attacking line up should be Obika and Reza with AA and JJ in behind.( Church should be nowhere near the 1st eleven.) Obika and Reza both show good movement. Reza not afraid to shoot and can produce subtle touches in the box if played forward enough. He is not a winger/midfielder. Obika has Churches energy but looks far more likely to do something/cause problems. With AA pulling strings behind and JJ arriving late, both could be useful. We have a solid back 4 and with DP and JC holding we can afford to let the others concentrate on actually trying to create and score some goals. We don't have a winger worthy of the title so keep it narrow, Any width can be provided by forays by Wiggins and Wilson
Felt we deserved a point from this but sadly we don't turn chances into goals. We had some good passages of play but with no end result. I too could not believe Church stayed on the pitch, actually, why did he even start the game? I can only think better options were rested. 2nd half our players began to flag and they've got to do it all again Tuesday.
Most people in the preview thread didn't think we'd win today, yet there's a lot of disappointment on this thread. It doesn't help that those below us did well. Must win game on Tuesday - let's hope the players have the balls for the battle.
Pitch looked so much better this week - I don't know how Paddy managed to improve it so much.
We was good but going forward we were very poor. We can pass about and defend well but when we struggle to attack we will not get anywhere and that's been our problem most of the season. Today was a prime example. I felt we were being too cautious with our passing and their was hardly no movement at all.
What frustrated me more than anything else is Riga keeps on talking about the lack of goals but when he plays 4-5-1 at home with Church up front on his own (who can not finish) then it's obvious why we can't score any goal apart from a set piece with that selection. I thought Riga got it very wrong today.
I really do hope we don't play the same formation and tactics against Yeovil, we should go guns blazing attack on Tuesday and this is a MUST win.
At a certain point in the game one of their players burst into the box and launched a fuck off shot into the back of our net. At no point did any of our players look like being able to do this. It was the difference; because basically we more than matched them; and in fact gamely tried to play football, whilst for the most part they were content to chip/hoof/punt it towards Pogrebniak (sp). Share the views about the hapless Simon Church; lovely man and honest tryer I'm sure, but lacking in everything we need from our strikers right now (in fact lacking in everything that defines the term striker). You never know whether John Obika is going to fall over or tread on the ball, but I spent the entire match calling for him to replace Churchy! Thought we deserved a point and thought the first goal would win it. Tuesday is the more important game. Winning that is imperative. Posted after having the good manners to read every other post and still I come out with this shit.
Said all along that they are picking and choosing. Huge gamble but so far it's worked it terms of picking up points when we think we can. Tuesday 3 points and everything is rosy again, massive game,
Comments
Compare and contrast with Reading - their midfielder Guthrie collected the ball near the half-way line, advanced rapidly through our central defence, and laid it off for Williams to blast past Hamer. We lack the strength, speed and skill to turn defence into attack.
Cousins is not a winger; why isn't he trusted to play in central midfield and to feed Ajdarevic pushing forward? Poyet has the ball-skills to advance more and to support the strikers: he should be prompting the forwards. We have an aching, yawning gap between the last line of defence and our willing runners up front.
Reza comes on as sub, addresses a rare free-kick five yards outside their box (the whole stadium hankers after Kermorgant) - and hoofs it five yards over the bar. After three substitutions, our paucity of talent is underlined by Church and Harriott still being on the pitch at the final whistle.
Perhaps it is better we just go down ungracefully this season and regroup.
I reckon Charlton fans are not aware of this 'small' fact
for years players have played on the side of the pitch that suits them, why has this changed?
That was more than enough excitement for one day. No pleasing some.
Riga put out a weakened team & made early subs to keep the better players fresher for the more winnable Tuesday game.
We've bounced back from bad results a few times recently, and I still think there are plenty of twists and turns to come. However, the margin for error is decreasing by the week.
Cousins and Ajdarevic have the right physique - yet our opponents by-pass them with speed and accuracy. Without a decent winger - a long-standing failing of ours - we desperately need the central penetration exemplified by Reading's goal today. Elsewhere, something, somehow might happen: Church was racing in to the box from the left, we all leapt to our feet - and he slid the ball across to their defender.
Cousins and Poyet bossed some very high quality Reading midfielders and we looked the slightly better team for 45mins and played some decent stuff.
Second half was disappointing. I like young Harriot but he was useless today on the right wing and lost his nerve. AA is class but very very unfit. Poor Churchy is so inept and impotent that I feel sorry for him. He is static, wins nothing, does not hold it up, and hides behind defenders when we are in possession. My mate (Arsenal) was still laughing about him when we got back to the car.
Probably the 10th game this season when a Fuller or Haynes might have nicked something but Churchy never will bless him.
Obika and Reza both show good movement. Reza not afraid to shoot and can produce subtle touches in the box if played forward enough. He is not a winger/midfielder. Obika has Churches energy but looks far more likely to do something/cause problems.
With AA pulling strings behind and JJ arriving late, both could be useful. We have a solid back 4 and with DP and JC holding we can afford to let the others concentrate on actually trying to create and score some goals.
We don't have a winger worthy of the title so keep it narrow, Any width can be provided by forays by Wiggins and Wilson
Most people in the preview thread didn't think we'd win today, yet there's a lot of disappointment on this thread. It doesn't help that those below us did well. Must win game on Tuesday - let's hope the players have the balls for the battle.
Pitch looked so much better this week - I don't know how Paddy managed to improve it so much.
What frustrated me more than anything else is Riga keeps on talking about the lack of goals but when he plays 4-5-1 at home with Church up front on his own (who can not finish) then it's obvious why we can't score any goal apart from a set piece with that selection. I thought Riga got it very wrong today.
I really do hope we don't play the same formation and tactics against Yeovil, we should go guns blazing attack on Tuesday and this is a MUST win.
At no point did any of our players look like being able to do this.
It was the difference; because basically we more than matched them; and in fact gamely tried to play football, whilst for the most part they were content to chip/hoof/punt it towards Pogrebniak (sp).
Share the views about the hapless Simon Church; lovely man and honest tryer I'm sure, but lacking in everything we need from our strikers right now (in fact lacking in everything that defines the term striker).
You never know whether John Obika is going to fall over or tread on the ball, but I spent the entire match calling for him to replace Churchy!
Thought we deserved a point and thought the first goal would win it.
Tuesday is the more important game. Winning that is imperative.
Posted after having the good manners to read every other post and still I come out with this shit.