Airman Brown has on more than one occasion pointed out what a needless relegation it would be this season. Tonight just underlined that yet again. Barely any sort of investment in the playing squad was required by either of our respective regimes this season. One or two half decent loan players. Even if we had retained Stewart for the second half of the season I think that might have been enough to have us safe.
Spectacular incompetence. Both sides. That is one if the worst football matches I have ever seen in my life. I sat with a Barnsley fan and we spent most of the match laughing at the total inadequacy of both teams. Unfortunately it wasn't so funny for me at the end. In fact it was so bad I'm not even that bothered if we stay up. That match is the stuff existential crises are made of. Barnsley were utterly awful, and actually worse than us somehow. Every opportunity they contrived to give us back the ball, fail to clear their lines and fall over their own feet when heading for goal and we still lost. They scored off a free header and a fluke, and as bad as we were it's still a travesty we lost, but being g unable to put the ball in the net when the opposition are practically begging you to is a new low. The team selection was horrible; Harriott did literally nothing right all night, Sordell was dreadful and managed to be tackled by the slowest player on the pitch when through on goal, Wood looked like he was auditioning for a role in Barnsley's defence and I have no idea what the plan was with Obika but clearly he hadn't any either.
We actually played some ok stuff sometimes but every time we got near the box we seemed to completely lose confidence. Sordell tried impossible shots from range just to get the ball away from himself. Wiggins and Obika destroyed their markers for pace and then flubbed the ball out of play. Cousins was good and ran at them, but we needed Diego to run at them more as well. Ultimately the running didn't matter though because there was no final ball. There was a black hole in their box tonight and it was incredibly confusing. Dervite was good.
Obligatory ref moan, how the hell did they get away with that challenge on Cousins at the end. I'm so confused. We we're robbed in that match, but we deserved nothing from it because while we were better we failed to meet the minimum requirements for being a football team. Charlton eh?
So toothless in any attacking sense, Poyet Cousins and Jackson all put a shift in and keep possession well but there is little creative movement forward and when there is good grief Obika was awful, cannot get hold of the ball, thought Sordell worked hard but absolutely no quality, Harriott I just don't think is good enough at this level. No idea why Wilson didn't play right midfield with Solly back and why was Morrison dropped, bizarre!
Barnsley did a brilliant job on us, two chances, put them away then time wasted the rest of the time, and why not, it took the ref till about 85 minutes to book one of them, job done on their part.
Posting without reading and will catch up once I have put this down as I need to get this off my chest. If we don't go down it will be a fucking miracle. Put the pressure on in the first half and Wood should have got his header on target. As for Harriotts chance I think this has probably been covered in more detail in other posts. Just one question, WTF are you doing trying to glance it in with your head?????? How many more chances will Harriott get before someone realises he is not good enough? After that chance I knew we weren't going to get anything from this and just as night follows day Barnsley score with their first attack from a corner. Tried to push for an equaliser but we lacked any quality up front. Poyet and Cousins tried but you can't expect youngsters to win it on their own. Not sure how the second went in as I was expecting a cross so will have to wait to see the replays. Anyway Bolton on Friday and if they had any sense they would insist on Sordell playing. Well and truly pissed off.
Callum Hariott is a fat arsed waste of space, and as for his twitter name Callum Messi, the only thing Messi about him is his pants everytime a defender goes near him
Yet another ghastly performance. Just two accurate attempts at goal in the whole game. No strength in midfield, no-one able to fetch the ball and carry it forward. And our "strikers"! Sordell was caught by a defender when clean through, Reza blasted a chance from just outside the box in to Row Z - and Harriott's fluffed header from five yards in the first half was almost comical: he is totally lacking in physical co-ordination or spatial awareness.
Even when we were rock bottom under Powell I thought we had enough to escape the drop, but we gave up in the last few minutes tonight. We looked like dead men walking. Bolton on Friday - they have won their last three and lost only once in ten games...
Apart from shocking attempts on goal and a couple of mad moments at the back I thought we did ok. If we played with that passion and determination back when we weren't playing twice a week we might not be in the shit.
Having said that...without Kermorgant we just never looked like scoring.
The team selection was just plain wrong though. Morrison Solly and Wilson all starting. How you could pick anything else is beyond me
Not trawling through the comments - brain straight to keyboard.
Utter toilet.
Ref was useless - the disallowed foul in the box at 90-something minutes was the glitter on the turd.
How much time did Barnsley waste and get away with doing so? Lots of "injuries" too when it interrupted play.
Sordell - why, oh why, oh why? Seems to have a balance problem the amount of time he spends on the deck and is useless when on his feet.
Poyet put in 150% as usual, but the rest looked tired after the first 15 minutes.
It's hard to be optimistic about our chances of staying up when we seem to piss them up the wall so easily. Sad to say but the way we've played this season we don't deserve to stay in the Championship. Jimenez and Slater screwed us over good and proper last summer with the lack of investment.
Absolutely embarrassing! Can't defend , midfield were shocking and as for our non-existent strikers ....well!
With players like m'voto in our way why do we insist on just smashing it at him .. He's an experienced footballer and we are playing to his strengths! Awful May be seen as an overreaction but I hope I never have to see Harriott in a charlton shirt again; how can a professional footballer not be able to have at least one good touch of the ball , head the ball and dribble with the ball? Bewildering
To people sayin Hariott was playin out of position, it doesn't stop you hittin the target 6 yards out and it don't stop you controlling a football. Shit subs by Riga, Reza is a forward he can only play this position, changing our forward line everygame does,'t give any of our shit forwards a chance to develop a partnership.
For the first time I have felt that we are going down. I felt Riga started with the wrong team and changed it too late. Harriot should not have been on the park by half time let alone in the second half.
Not happy tonight and a returned to form wiggins looks out for the next few weeks.
I am angry, 2-3 hours on about how on earth we managed to concede that first goal. I MEAN M'VOTO HAD ONLY WON EVERY OTHER BLOODY HEADER IN HIS HALF THE WHOLE GAME, SO ITS A GREAT IDEA TO LEAVE THIS HUGE GUY UNMARKED FOR A CORNER IS'NT IT?!?!?!?!??!?!?
Belgian businessman and political ideologist Roland Duchatelet has completed a full takeover of Championship team Charlton Athletic.
Charlton currently sit in 19th in the Championship table, 3 points above the relegation zone.
He came in, sacked the manager, sold Kermorgant, and brought in a load of players that the existing manager would never have chosen (well he might have chosen AA, but AA would never have passed the medical). And what is the result? (because "businessmen" are all about results, aren't they ?)
Charlton currently sit 21st in the Championship table, 1 point above the relegation zone.
Awful. Line up and set up all wrong, subs wrong. Out-thought, out-fought.
Tonight it felt like Riga didn't have a clue what to expect against Barnsley and no idea how to respond in the game. You don't drop one of your few leaders and best and most combative centre half for the most important game of your season. You don't start with a lightweight out of position on the right when you can at last play the energetic Wilson ahead of Solly. You don't leave your only playmaker on the bench until it's too late when you desperately need to score first. You dont play Sordell end of. Dreadful all round.
As for that fecker of a referee, rarely have I seen such a one-sided display. That's all we needed tonight.
Oh, and that looked like the last we'll see of Wiggins so no chance of Wilson-Solly on the same flank this year.
This simple idea that when we win we're excellent and when we lose we're terrible is a very basic and narrow assessment of our performances. Against Brighton we were rubbish but we were not rubbish today.
Is anyone going to tell me Barnsley deserved anything?
When Barnsley passed to one another they generally found their mark, and the player receiving generally held on to it for long enough to control the ball. It was that basic. Our players were consistently muscled off the ball and failed to control passes. They didn't create much, god knows, but they played to their strengths. I'm not sure what ours were.
You joking or what? Barnsley's ball control was shocking and most of their passes were to our players
Given the circumstances, thought the crowd were once again superb and supportive in the main tonight. Sure I'm not the only one with little voice left.
Astonished by the comments on this thread . We played well, we dominated the game we just cannot score. The team played with passion and belief for 75+ mins and were beaten by a poor team who got lucky. I was at Brighton and the step up in performance was remarkable , we deserved more. Not all rosy though, Harriot had a nightmare and worried we will be without wiggins.
I suspect that will be the killer news in all this if it is broke, lost a 6pter and lost one of our most attacking players (runs at players and causes problems - not even our midfield can do that) and will be replaced with someone half the quality at best.
Cometely agree CC watched him come up for the corner Wood wa the designated marker. As for the fans AFKA endless choruses of CAFC and JOSE RIGA whatever it is to the tune of Human League really made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Shit songs to go with Shit performance.
Riga just said that Wiggins is out for the season.
It's all very well blaming our probable relegation on a 20 year old winger for missing a header.
Me, I prefer to blame a 67 year old mathematician who knows less about football than I do, for selling our one decent striker. Oh, and the other jokers for not giving that striker a new contract earlier, so that this joker wouldn't find it so easy to sell him.
If you was the new chairman would you pay the sort of money yann wanted, for a 32 year old out of contract or would you accept the half a mil ? Honest question that's all . Think I'm gonna stay off here for a while , people need to calm down . Its in our hands still , keep the razors away tonight guys .
How much did yann want then mate. What sort of figures are we talking??
Comments
We actually played some ok stuff sometimes but every time we got near the box we seemed to completely lose confidence. Sordell tried impossible shots from range just to get the ball away from himself. Wiggins and Obika destroyed their markers for pace and then flubbed the ball out of play. Cousins was good and ran at them, but we needed Diego to run at them more as well. Ultimately the running didn't matter though because there was no final ball. There was a black hole in their box tonight and it was incredibly confusing. Dervite was good.
Obligatory ref moan, how the hell did they get away with that challenge on Cousins at the end. I'm so confused. We we're robbed in that match, but we deserved nothing from it because while we were better we failed to meet the minimum requirements for being a football team. Charlton eh?
Barnsley did a brilliant job on us, two chances, put them away then time wasted the rest of the time, and why not, it took the ref till about 85 minutes to book one of them, job done on their part.
I am starting to think we are actually the worst team in this league but have managed a few flukey results.
Terrible team.
Even when we were rock bottom under Powell I thought we had enough to escape the drop, but we gave up in the last few minutes tonight. We looked like dead men walking. Bolton on Friday - they have won their last three and lost only once in ten games...
Having said that...without Kermorgant we just never looked like scoring.
The team selection was just plain wrong though. Morrison Solly and Wilson all starting. How you could pick anything else is beyond me
Utter toilet.
Ref was useless - the disallowed foul in the box at 90-something minutes was the glitter on the turd.
How much time did Barnsley waste and get away with doing so? Lots of "injuries" too when it interrupted play.
Sordell - why, oh why, oh why? Seems to have a balance problem the amount of time he spends on the deck and is useless when on his feet.
Poyet put in 150% as usual, but the rest looked tired after the first 15 minutes.
It's hard to be optimistic about our chances of staying up when we seem to piss them up the wall so easily. Sad to say but the way we've played this season we don't deserve to stay in the Championship. Jimenez and Slater screwed us over good and proper last summer with the lack of investment.
Can't defend , midfield were shocking and as for our non-existent strikers ....well!
With players like m'voto in our way why do we insist on just smashing it at him .. He's an experienced footballer and we are playing to his strengths! Awful
May be seen as an overreaction but I hope I never have to see Harriott in a charlton shirt again; how can a professional footballer not be able to have at least one good touch of the ball , head the ball and dribble with the ball? Bewildering
As good as down after that IMO
Harriot should not have been on the park by half time let alone in the second half.
Not happy tonight and a returned to form wiggins looks out for the next few weeks.
Belgian businessman and political ideologist Roland Duchatelet has completed a full takeover of Championship team Charlton Athletic.
Charlton currently sit in 19th in the Championship table, 3 points above the relegation zone.
He came in, sacked the manager, sold Kermorgant, and brought in a load of players that the existing manager would never have chosen (well he might have chosen AA, but AA would never have passed the medical). And what is the result? (because "businessmen" are all about results, aren't they ?)
Charlton currently sit 21st in the Championship table, 1 point above the relegation zone.
I rest my frigging case, NLA
"Livid" of Prague
Tonight it felt like Riga didn't have a clue what to expect against Barnsley and no idea how to respond in the game. You don't drop one of your few leaders and best and most combative centre half for the most important game of your season. You don't start with a lightweight out of position on the right when you can at last play the energetic Wilson ahead of Solly. You don't leave your only playmaker on the bench until it's too late when you desperately need to score first. You dont play Sordell end of. Dreadful all round.
As for that fecker of a referee, rarely have I seen such a one-sided display. That's all we needed tonight.
Oh, and that looked like the last we'll see of Wiggins so no chance of Wilson-Solly on the same flank this year.
'"We have young players so maybe it's the pressure of the situation. But we still have destiny in our hands. They needed to win, we did not."
What?!?!? Of course we needed to win Jose, we're one point above the drop and not safe at all!!!
It's just yet another team of players I *really* don't enjoy watching play.
From tonight take Solly, Poyet and sometimes Cousins (his first touch can be woeful) out, the rest just irritate the life out of me.
Think we've had a nail in our coffin tonight.
Also Hamer wasn't interested in a perfectly saveable chance.