Losing the lead was disappointing but there was a lot of promise and despite Brentford looking a pretty good team, we could have won it comfortably with some better finishing. Johann and Vetoleke seem to be worth their hype and both had some great moments. The ball for Tucudean's chance was incredible. I was impressed with Cousins' shift on the left as well seems to suit him better than on the right as it allows him to get more involved in the centre. Henderson looked strong in the air but his kicking seemed a bit off. Jackson and Buyens seemed to be the main negative from today both sloppy on the ball and the one area we should be looking at before the end of the window.
I was pretty impressed to be honest. Bikey, Henderson, Guds all stood out and we played some nice pass and move stuff. But my mom was Vetokele. Really impressed with him. Held it up, nice touch, good movement and can finish. He even raced back to win the ball in midfield. Could be a steal at £1m (if it was that much).
The first match of a new season is always a lottery particularly against a newly promoted side who are seeking to make an impression and send a message that they can compete at the higher level.
A point away from home is always good so a reasonable start for us overall.
Wasn't there and didn't see a stream so cannot talk other than generally as I have.
Decent away point. Keep in mind that most teams visiting the Valley this season will melt in front of A Block so these away points are all that are required.
Greetings from deepest Moravia. Just catching up. Sounds good to me. I'd certainly have taken 1-1 before the start. Delighted to read the reviews of Vetokele.
Could anyone fill me in on why Morro wasn't playing? Is he injured, if so how long is he out for?
watched on t'internet, optimistic for the season ahead, Bikey looks like he'll boss teams about, perhaps too early to say but would like to see another Igor esque player up front with Igor, that could be deadly. Hoping Moussa starts firing. Solly seems a little exposed.
Greetings from deepest Moravia. Just catching up. Sounds good to me. I'd certainly have taken 1-1 before the start. Delighted to read the reviews of Vetokele.
Could anyone fill me in on why Morro wasn't playing? Is he injured, if so how long is he out for?
I think Bob just likes Bikey and Ben Haim as a partnership more at the moment, which based on today, worked just fine, although some people won't be able to accept Ben Haim ever playing well IMO. ;-)
Disappointed only a point as we have tough games coming up but really liked what I saw today. Do we miss Hamer, Wood and Dervite? I don't think so. But it's going to take a while to get used to a midfield without Poyet. We were lucky to come through the first half in one piece but look at how the lads upped their game second half...pace, precision, moving the ball around - all good stuff. The thing about Harriott is that he had to be there to take the square pass from Vetokele. There will always be luck and referees (and that lino first half!) but I saw enough to support my view that we are mid-table
Greetings from deepest Moravia. Just catching up. Sounds good to me. I'd certainly have taken 1-1 before the start. Delighted to read the reviews of Vetokele.
Could anyone fill me in on why Morro wasn't playing? Is he injured, if so how long is he out for?
Think he's just behind TBH and Bikey in the pecking order at the moment. That seems to have been the theme in pre season.
Harriott was good when he came on, Igor looked decent. I think we need Morro to come back into the middle, probably at the expense of TBH rather than Bike. I hate to be negative but Tucudean didn't impress me at all - hopefully he will grow into this league because on today's showing he's miles off.
Wow, I've only read the first page and the diversity of views shows how we all see things differently!
Posting on the train home to Brighton...
I thought Bikey in the first half was an accident waiting to happen, a number of miss hit passes plus he was caught out for pace a few times. Second half he was a different player, an absolute beast who was the epitome of solid.
TBH was Ok but kept drifting out to the right and doubling up on Solly leaving us exposed in the middle. Solly had a go at him a couple of times. I think as Wiggins and Solly were being asked to push up the two CBs were stretching out to cover but was giving Brentford far too much space. Again though this appeared to be sorted second half.
I thought Wiggins was decent, certainly better than much of last season. Solly was class and a motm contender. Him and Gudmundson looked like they will work well together.
Johann was class and put himself about and did some great balls. Him, Vetokele and Buyens had a certain class of touch I can't recall seeing from a Charlton player for a number of years.
Jj was solid but unspectacular, as was Buyens. Neither were great or poor but quietly got on with their job.
I thought Henderson was immense at crosses and shot stopping, his distribution was terrible though and not a patch on Hamer.
George didn't have much service but the jury is out for me, looked like he has something there but didn't get a chance to show it. Seemed slow.
Igor had one of the best debuts for some time. Put himself about, looked lively and showed good intelligence in his decisions, hit the post, scored the goal and set up Harriots miss. I have a feeling that he is going to be a hero this season.
I felt a bit sorry for Harriot, the chance was more difficult than it looked and apart from that he didn't really get in the game much.
Overall a decent point, we could have definitely got all three but on balance a draw probably just about a fair result given our first half display.
Other thoughts...
Why was Henderson time wasting so much in the first half? Was very odd.
Disappointed in Bob spending much of the game sat in the dug out crossed legs. I thought he was an emotional touchline manager?
Ref was poor. Their goal should have been disallowed for handball for starters. Also the lino at our end didn't seem to be able to see the ball go out for a throw.
I think we'll improve every week and I can't wait to see where this team can go.
Pretty satisfied over all from what I could see on the tele, bit unlucky not to come away with the three points. If we can build on that I am optimistic
Oh yeah and I thought Cousins did a lot better than last season on the wing but still clearly not his best position. The holes that we had in CM today suggests that we'll see Jordan back in there at some point in the near future if things don't change.
Disappointed not to come away with 3 points, we looked in control after we went ahead but as soon as Harriott missed you knew they would score.
Igor looks a huge talent, JBG looks like he can play some football. Bikey strong at the back after a hesitant start. Truchdean was a little disappointing I thought and shows the need for another striker.
Harriott was good when he came on, Igor looked decent. I think we need Morro to come back into the middle, probably at the expense of TBH rather than Bike. I hate to be negative but Tucudean didn't impress me at all - hopefully he will grow into this league because on today's showing he's miles off.
Agree with all this, except I thought Igor looked terrific
Reckon spongefoot offers more than Tucudean tbh
Will watch it later but from where I was sat, just by the halfway line, was a terrible wasted opportunity by Harriot to close the game out.
Cousins needs to be in the middle, as others have said JJ off the pace, giving away free kicks
Whole first half we were lucky to not be behind, midfield was outrun top to bottom and that was not helped by JJ being off the pace, Buyens didn't stand out at all and it left Cousins to cover a fair amount of ground middle and wing. Second half it all changed up, but think we needed a sub or two 10 minutes after taking the lead, JJ was tiring and the momentum changed. Bob just stood there and/or sat in the dugout, game needed a fresh lease of life on our side of things.
Igor MOTM by a long while, not afraid to chase down defenders and has a good footballing brain with the talent to match, hope Bikey and TBH don't start when we're up against raw pace, Bikey was losing ball chases with the opponent 5 yards behind. Onwards and upwards!
Very encouraged by what I saw today. You could see the gap in quality between us and Brentford and some of our ball movement looked very promising. If we add another CM and Delort I think we'll end up in the play offs.
Definitely a better team than last season! Was very happy with the performance. Watched via stream, so bit hard to follow in Serbian lol but worth the watch.
Thought there goal was a handball but quality of stream wasn't great so could be wrong.
Harriet was unlucky. We are still missing striker that can Finnish. Igor was ok though.
Over all happy! Can't wait to get back to the valley on Tuesday!
After a slow start when Brentford stretched us all over the place we eased into it and were unlucky not to win after the break. While they were on top for the first quarter, they never really hurt us, and might find that a problem. Judge & Pritchard found far too many little pockets between our defence and midfield but we nullified the new winger and kept their efforts on goal to a minimum. Bikey was immense in every sense, Solly was Solly after a slow start, Wiggy defended very well but passed not so well, and Ben Haim used his experience to appear unflustered. Henderson's handling was excellent.
After the break we had a much better go at them, pressing much further up, and at last giving Igor a chance to show us what he can do. Sadly no-one really gave him much help up front but at least we were now playing in and around their box. He did very well to jump and head in at the near post but Button should never have allowed him to; thoroughly deserved goal though. Tucudean was rightly replaced not too long after but being not quite match fit, Callum made little impact, until his effort hit the bar after yet more good work from Igor. Annoying to concede a late deflected goal but plenty of positives after HT. Brentford's next few home games will reveal how good a point this was but it's one more than I predicted.
Pluses: Igor, Bikey, good defence all round, and Bob appeared to address the biggest problems at HT.
Minuses: George's lack of comitment, the slow, tentative start, Jordan having to play out of position again, being comfortably out-sung by impressive Brentford support (all three home sides contributing).
Comments
But my mom was Vetokele. Really impressed with him. Held it up, nice touch, good movement and can finish. He even raced back to win the ball in midfield. Could be a steal at £1m (if it was that much).
Looking forward to the season much more now.
A point away from home is always good so a reasonable start for us overall.
Wasn't there and didn't see a stream so cannot talk other than generally as I have.
Could anyone fill me in on why Morro wasn't playing? Is he injured, if so how long is he out for?
Hoping Moussa starts firing.
Solly seems a little exposed.
The thing about Harriott is that he had to be there to take the square pass from Vetokele.
There will always be luck and referees (and that lino first half!) but I saw enough to support my view that we are mid-table
Posting on the train home to Brighton...
I thought Bikey in the first half was an accident waiting to happen, a number of miss hit passes plus he was caught out for pace a few times. Second half he was a different player, an absolute beast who was the epitome of solid.
TBH was Ok but kept drifting out to the right and doubling up on Solly leaving us exposed in the middle. Solly had a go at him a couple of times. I think as Wiggins and Solly were being asked to push up the two CBs were stretching out to cover but was giving Brentford far too much space. Again though this appeared to be sorted second half.
I thought Wiggins was decent, certainly better than much of last season. Solly was class and a motm contender. Him and Gudmundson looked like they will work well together.
Johann was class and put himself about and did some great balls. Him, Vetokele and Buyens had a certain class of touch I can't recall seeing from a Charlton player for a number of years.
Jj was solid but unspectacular, as was Buyens. Neither were great or poor but quietly got on with their job.
I thought Henderson was immense at crosses and shot stopping, his distribution was terrible though and not a patch on Hamer.
George didn't have much service but the jury is out for me, looked like he has something there but didn't get a chance to show it. Seemed slow.
Igor had one of the best debuts for some time. Put himself about, looked lively and showed good intelligence in his decisions, hit the post, scored the goal and set up Harriots miss. I have a feeling that he is going to be a hero this season.
I felt a bit sorry for Harriot, the chance was more difficult than it looked and apart from that he didn't really get in the game much.
Overall a decent point, we could have definitely got all three but on balance a draw probably just about a fair result given our first half display.
Other thoughts...
Why was Henderson time wasting so much in the first half? Was very odd.
Disappointed in Bob spending much of the game sat in the dug out crossed legs. I thought he was an emotional touchline manager?
Ref was poor. Their goal should have been disallowed for handball for starters. Also the lino at our end didn't seem to be able to see the ball go out for a throw.
I think we'll improve every week and I can't wait to see where this team can go.
Igor looks a huge talent, JBG looks like he can play some football. Bikey strong at the back after a hesitant start. Truchdean was a little disappointing I thought and shows the need for another striker.
I'm fairly confident goals aren't gonna be an issue for us this season with IV up front
Well done all those that went sounded like great support again
Reckon spongefoot offers more than Tucudean tbh
Will watch it later but from where I was sat, just by the halfway line, was a terrible wasted opportunity by Harriot to close the game out.
Cousins needs to be in the middle, as others have said JJ off the pace, giving away free kicks
Igor MOTM by a long while, not afraid to chase down defenders and has a good footballing brain with the talent to match, hope Bikey and TBH don't start when we're up against raw pace, Bikey was losing ball chases with the opponent 5 yards behind. Onwards and upwards!
Thought there goal was a handball but quality of stream wasn't great so could be wrong.
Harriet was unlucky. We are still missing striker that can Finnish. Igor was ok though.
Over all happy! Can't wait to get back to the valley on Tuesday!
After a slow start when Brentford stretched us all over the place we eased into it and were unlucky not to win after the break. While they were on top for the first quarter, they never really hurt us, and might find that a problem. Judge & Pritchard found far too many little pockets between our defence and midfield but we nullified the new winger and kept their efforts on goal to a minimum. Bikey was immense in every sense, Solly was Solly after a slow start, Wiggy defended very well but passed not so well, and Ben Haim used his experience to appear unflustered. Henderson's handling was excellent.
After the break we had a much better go at them, pressing much further up, and at last giving Igor a chance to show us what he can do. Sadly no-one really gave him much help up front but at least we were now playing in and around their box. He did very well to jump and head in at the near post but Button should never have allowed him to; thoroughly deserved goal though. Tucudean was rightly replaced not too long after but being not quite match fit, Callum made little impact, until his effort hit the bar after yet more good work from Igor. Annoying to concede a late deflected goal but plenty of positives after HT. Brentford's next few home games will reveal how good a point this was but it's one more than I predicted.
Pluses: Igor, Bikey, good defence all round, and Bob appeared to address the biggest problems at HT.
Minuses: George's lack of comitment, the slow, tentative start, Jordan having to play out of position again, being comfortably out-sung by impressive Brentford support (all three home sides contributing).