Why put cousins back on the left after we score. Fucking shocking decision. His persistent on playing cousins there has cost us. We could be pissing this league if it wasn't for that.
Could not agree more, Cousins is not a winger!
Besides, why change it just after we scored and we was brilliant as well?
Sometimes you have to give credit to the tactics of the other manager .... Today for the first 20 mins we were outstanding some of the best football seen for many a year, Buyons was the man pulling our strings but then Lee Clark changed the system and man marked Buyons and we struggled ..... Henderson was left to kick long .... We then tired 442 problem if that is Jackson who can't play in this system anymore and we started to get overrun ..... We changed it with Cousins moving inside and again we looked a better team .
In the end we looked a tired team and it was a good point in the end ..... The two week break will do us good .
utter nonsense. we had a short time in the first half which led to our goal where we played ok. the rest was poor. buyens was not pulling any strings unless those strings included giving the ball away, failing to tackle and a general lack of awareness around him. i missed the first two home games of the season so did not see buyens playing well. so all i know is a player that looks like a liability. i know you have this weird obsession with hating jackson but he was not to blame for the rubbish buyens served up today. if we had delivered that sort of display last season you would have been calling for the manager to be sacked.
the real problem was that having gone 1-0 we fell back and defended far too deep. i'm yet to be convinced what bulot brings to the party. he looks lightweight with not enough skill other than a couple of pointless step overs. george was hopeless when he came on and fox's only contribution in the few minutes he had was to give away the ball three times in a dangerous place. the rest were all a bit hit and miss.
Result was fair, if anything Birmingham were better for a lot of the game. A lot of precision passes from our midfield, unfortunately usually to someone in a blue shirt. First 15 minutes good, last 16 good. In between, pretty awful.
Yep played 28... lost 14! If people wish to complain so soon after we stared relegation in the face then that is up to them but I would suggest it fails to recognise that this is a work in progress... and that we are not at the finished article yet.
As I have stated before the players need to play together another 10-15 games and the younger players need to age another 6-12 months and then, with a couple of new arrivals we will have something a bit special. Unbeaten at this stage after 13 consecutive league games is good enough for me.
Today we were missing Gomez, Ben Haim and Gudmundson, so a two week break is more than welcome. The opening twenty minutes was great yet again and then we ended the first half hanging on. This is not an isolated occurance. We looked sharp the first couple of minutes after the break but after that Bikey had little movement in front of him and, as many have observed, cheap surrendering of possession did not help.
I'm not going to pretend to know exactly how to put this new challenge right and I certainly won't look for scapegoats in this new look midfield. But I am confident we can get through to the end of December when there will surely be additions to the squad. More bottom half teams to come this month and more chances to find out natural level... keep drawing and we will be tenth at Christmas... win some, lose some and we will stay put... move up to four points every two games and we become a real contender in time for the window.
Once again we were awful to watch and most of our possession seems to be in our own half. Our results are good but we're not enjoyable to watch and our football is very negative.
Not much to add to what's already been written but suffice to say I left the Valley today feeling so frustrated. We could/should've been 2 goals to the good in the first 10-15 minutes,Birmingham were there for the taking and then we just stood off them,sacrificing possession and letting them back into the game. Thought we had some very tired looking players out there today. Solly,Henderson,Cousins and Igor the only players to come away from that game with any credit imo. Got to be pleased with a point after the way we played.
Wasn't there. The draws are always disappointing though. On the plus side we're still on the right end of the table and teams with much higher and more realistic expectations than us also 'dropped' points. Really is just a tricky league and we shouldn't get too disheartened.
I think the break will really do us some good, especially as our best player should be back for the next game. It would be nice to see a good loan signing, could make a huge difference in turning the stalemates into wins, look at Huddersfield.
Gonna go Bolton and Fulham, hopefully we get max points from those (y)
Wilson is a complete waste of a position plays right mid but is never on the touch line always inside, spends too much time fiddling with his basterd hair cut, can't head a ball or manage to control it and when he gets a free chance to cross he gives it to the keeper, needs to get out the team n fast
In the light of that below par and listless performance, I am happy to have taken something out of the game. We started very well, took the lead and then completely surrendered the initiative. Birmingham took the game to us and, but for Donaldson's idiotic decision to flick on a ball on the line which was going in anyway, they'd have been on level terms at half time.
A great place of play by Igor nearly put Lawrie Wilson in at the beginning of the second half but, thereafter, normal service was resumed and their equaliser was no surprise. We picked up the pace after that but never did enough to suggest that we'd win the game.
As usual, Henderson, Solly and the centre backs were very solid and Cousins impressed with his energy and desire. Igor ended his mini-drought and had some good moments but, as ever, lacked support. Sadly, I don't think that George is going to cut it at this level.
The break is probably coming at a good time for us, especially for the lads who are not used to the brutality of the Championship. Next time out, we'll also have Gudmundsson and Tal Ben Haim back against a Yann-less Bournemouth.
Seeing some opinions on this forum is baffling, but that's what Charlton life was created for.
I thought started well, bossed the game, and when Igor went through and put it just wide, I thought we would win 3-0 comfortably. We scored, which was inevitable. Buyens sat, Cousins & JJ were advanced in a 451/433 formation with bulot and Wilson on the flanks.
For some reason Bulot & cousins swapped. JJ say deeper and we seemed to invite pressure instead of capitalising on a defence fearful of Igors pace and movement.
A lacklustre second half, but a point better than none I suppose. In previous years, I would've expected to come on here, bemoaning how we surrendered a lead, eventually losing.
Nice time to regroup, let the lads recover fully. And go onto Bournemouth.
Infinity better situation all round at the club than last year but I should be feeling more elated about being unbeaten after 11 games than I am. We are a hard watch at the moment. We can clearly play as 20 minute spells in a few games have shown. Today I thought we should have gone for the jugular after we went one up. Instead we just decided to sit back and play a (very unconvincing) keep ball game across the back line.
Work in progress and baby steps for now. But two points lost today even after allowing for tiredness after midweek heroics. Brum were tidy but nothing more. We should have seen them off. Worrying that yoni has gone from brilliant to crap over the last three games. George looks more and more like a circus act and I have to say that I am very disappointed with Wilson who looks off the standard required at this level. Igor is a great asset but spends most if his time trying to win the sorts of knock downs that he should actually be on the end of. Positives from today were Morro fitting in well, further confirmation that we have an excellent keeper and Moussa who impresses me more each game.
Fifteen minutes of cracking football against a very average side (Vetokele should have had 2 while Brum looked completely out of their depth) and then we just switched off and waited for them to rally and score. In the end fortunate to gain a point against a team with no real threat but I did like the look of their 24 Koby Arthur.
Similar to the Wolves game when we played well for 30 minutes but this time we only managed 15.
On the more critical catering front, I shunned the continental temptations of organic pulled pork, salad, chili sauce and vegetarian focaccia and stuck to a traditional large one with extra onions.
Sometimes you have to give credit to the tactics of the other manager .... Today for the first 20 mins we were outstanding some of the best football seen for many a year, Buyons was the man pulling our strings but then Lee Clark changed the system and man marked Buyons and we struggled ..... Henderson was left to kick long .... We then tired 442 problem if that is Jackson who can't play in this system anymore and we started to get overrun ..... We changed it with Cousins moving inside and again we looked a better team .
In the end we looked a tired team and it was a good point in the end ..... The two week break will do us good .
utter nonsense. we had a short time in the first half which led to our goal where we played ok. the rest was poor. buyens was not pulling any strings unless those strings included giving the ball away, failing to tackle and a general lack of awareness around him. i missed the first two home games of the season so did not see buyens playing well. so all i know is a player that looks like a liability. i know you have this weird obsession with hating jackson but he was not to blame for the rubbish buyens served up today. if we had delivered that sort of display last season you would have been calling for the manager to be sacked.
the real problem was that having gone 1-0 we fell back and defended far too deep. i'm yet to be convinced what bulot brings to the party. he looks lightweight with not enough skill other than a couple of pointless step overs. george was hopeless when he came on and fox's only contribution in the few minutes he had was to give away the ball three times in a dangerous place. the rest were all a bit hit and miss.
This is spot on and reflects exactly what I watched today. However, I'm still very happy with the progress and not downbeat. I called both changes today, but Buyens only stayed on for tactical reasons, he was playing very poorly.
I really cannot see how anyone can defend Lawrie Wilson after another truly awful display,
His first touch is awful, he hides at every opportunity, never shows out wide, runs into positions where he can never realistically receive the ball, struggled to pass a ball 5 yards in the second half. Lovely guy maybe, but for the love of god he should be nowhere near a mid table championship side. We looked 10000000% better with Bulot out there. Tucudean is running him close for awfulness but not quite at lozza's level just yet
I just wish we would push harder for a 2nd goal when we go 1 up. I am sure our defence could hold out then. Thought Buyens was poor today he gave the ball away far too often for my liking. Having said that I am more than happy with our start to the season.
From my view, the only players to come out of today with any real credit were Henderson, Bikey and Vetokele. I thought the atmosphere was flat all game today despite a great start. The Wilson miss at start of second half was massive land had it gone in Birmingham were dead and buried. We made them look better than they were today
As others have said, the change in formation early on - from the 4-1-4-1 to 4-4-2 with Bulot and Cousins swoping positions in midfield - had me scratching my head. The opening formation had worked really well early on and changing it gave the impetus to Birmingham.
But that was only the first of the positional and tactical changes made that left the team, dare I say, looking as disorganised and disjointed as one of Chris Powell's teams when he had a very bad day. Not sure if some of the players were really sure where they were supposed to be playing in the final minutes.
Still, unbeaten after 11. Let's keep things in perspective. But equally you have to say we do look to be in a false position on today's performance.
Not sure what to make of the result or some of the comments on here. I didn't watch the game so won't directly comment on the performance but we're still undefeated so that's something to be happy about, as long as we're notching up wins here & there and not doing a Huddersfield. I don't like scoring an early goal and then waiting for the inevitable equaliser but that's better than last season where we were conceding and our equaliser was anything but inevitable.
Looking at the broader picture, we're in a fantastic position where teams are under pressure to get points against us, not the other way round. Out of the teams currently above us, we've beaten 3 of them, drawn against 1 and yet to played undefeated Forest, who will likely lose a game before we play them in December. Suffice to say, we've gone from being relegation favourites to being the team to beat this year. Say what you want about us playing negative football, and believe me I know it's hard to swallow if you're the fan who is going to the games and having to watch us play, but not a single team has figured out how to beat us yet.
I'm not sure what people are expecting to be honest. 3 weeks before the season began we didn't have a squad. 1 week before the season started we were either odds-on for relegation or finishing in the bottom 12. We have a new manager and a squad made up of new signings, loans, youngsters and few veterans - we're not exactly going to be Barcelona out of the gates are we? If our squad needs time to work, and they do, then let them. It sounds like we're playing back-to-basics football but I'd rather that than playing a riskier game which the squad is in no way ready for.
The way we're carrying on, we'll not only finish in a better position than we did two years ago, we'll have more points than Palace did and even be in a play-off spot. Not bad for a team a lot of people thought was mainly built up of players not good enough to play in the Belgian league.
Once we lose 3 games in a row, we'll all be pining for the first 2-3 months we went unbeaten.
My only worry is teams will start taking notice of us, if they haven't already, and actually figure out how to draw blood from us. I will admit we have been riding a lot of luck this season which will inevitably end, but it is reassuring to see the BBC to describe Birmingham as snatching a point, rather than the usual 'Charlton lucky to scrape a point against much superior opposition', which judging from the comments here was the actual scenario anyway.
Once Jacko went off, no leadership, no players talking to each other, nothing from the manager.
Once Jacko went off we had a 2-minute spell of fluent possession that ended in a corner, and we largely dominated the game thereafter. While Jacko was on the field, we looked absolutely desperate. After the substitution, Buyens suddenly had a football transplant and went from a bumbling sack of uselessness to a midfield dominator. I'm not saying, but I'm saying.
Agree 100% - Buyens was a different player after that - coincidence?
Was a shocking game and we really let them off the hook after our goal. Birmingham were kak for the first fifteen and I said to my mate 5 minutes after our goal - we'd better get back at them or they'll ease into the game and, sure enough....
Not enough movement and way too much long ball, especially from Henderson. Vetokele does climb high for a little fella but the long balls were picked off by their 6'4" central defender almost without exception.
I drive to and from Ipswich to watch CAFC and it does leave me a little p*ssed off driving home and wondering why the players didn't perform on the back of an excellent away victory on Tuesday night.
Comments
Besides, why change it just after we scored and we was brilliant as well?
the real problem was that having gone 1-0 we fell back and defended far too deep. i'm yet to be convinced what bulot brings to the party. he looks lightweight with not enough skill other than a couple of pointless step overs. george was hopeless when he came on and fox's only contribution in the few minutes he had was to give away the ball three times in a dangerous place. the rest were all a bit hit and miss.
statto.com/football/stats/england/league-championship/2013-2014/table/2014-02-08
Yep played 28... lost 14! If people wish to complain so soon after we stared relegation in the face then that is up to them but I would suggest it fails to recognise that this is a work in progress... and that we are not at the finished article yet.
As I have stated before the players need to play together another 10-15 games and the younger players need to age another 6-12 months and then, with a couple of new arrivals we will have something a bit special. Unbeaten at this stage after 13 consecutive league games is good enough for me.
Today we were missing Gomez, Ben Haim and Gudmundson, so a two week break is more than welcome. The opening twenty minutes was great yet again and then we ended the first half hanging on. This is not an isolated occurance. We looked sharp the first couple of minutes after the break but after that Bikey had little movement in front of him and, as many have observed, cheap surrendering of possession did not help.
I'm not going to pretend to know exactly how to put this new challenge right and I certainly won't look for scapegoats in this new look midfield. But I am confident we can get through to the end of December when there will surely be additions to the squad. More bottom half teams to come this month and more chances to find out natural level... keep drawing and we will be tenth at Christmas... win some, lose some and we will stay put... move up to four points every two games and we become a real contender in time for the window.
So all to play for!
Have no idea how we remain unbeaten...
This season not beaten.
Bah humbug!
I think the break will really do us some good, especially as our best player should be back for the next game. It would be nice to see a good loan signing, could make a huge difference in turning the stalemates into wins, look at Huddersfield.
Gonna go Bolton and Fulham, hopefully we get max points from those (y)
A great place of play by Igor nearly put Lawrie Wilson in at the beginning of the second half but, thereafter, normal service was resumed and their equaliser was no surprise. We picked up the pace after that but never did enough to suggest that we'd win the game.
As usual, Henderson, Solly and the centre backs were very solid and Cousins impressed with his energy and desire. Igor ended his mini-drought and had some good moments but, as ever, lacked support. Sadly, I don't think that George is going to cut it at this level.
The break is probably coming at a good time for us, especially for the lads who are not used to the brutality of the Championship. Next time out, we'll also have Gudmundsson and Tal Ben Haim back against a Yann-less Bournemouth.
Great news that Jordan's injury is not serious
Thanks N
I thought started well, bossed the game, and when Igor went through and put it just wide, I thought we would win 3-0 comfortably. We scored, which was inevitable. Buyens sat, Cousins & JJ were advanced in a 451/433 formation with bulot and Wilson on the flanks.
For some reason Bulot & cousins swapped. JJ say deeper and we seemed to invite pressure instead of capitalising on a defence fearful of Igors pace and movement.
A lacklustre second half, but a point better than none I suppose. In previous years, I would've expected to come on here, bemoaning how we surrendered a lead, eventually losing.
Nice time to regroup, let the lads recover fully. And go onto Bournemouth.
Work in progress and baby steps for now. But two points lost today even after allowing for tiredness after midweek heroics. Brum were tidy but nothing more. We should have seen them off. Worrying that yoni has gone from brilliant to crap over the last three games. George looks more and more like a circus act and I have to say that I am very disappointed with Wilson who looks off the standard required at this level. Igor is a great asset but spends most if his time trying to win the sorts of knock downs that he should actually be on the end of. Positives from today were Morro fitting in well, further confirmation that we have an excellent keeper and Moussa who impresses me more each game.
Fifteen minutes of cracking football against a very average side (Vetokele should have had 2 while Brum looked completely out of their depth) and then we just switched off and waited for them to rally and score. In the end fortunate to gain a point against a team with no real threat but I did like the look of their 24 Koby Arthur.
Similar to the Wolves game when we played well for 30 minutes but this time we only managed 15.
On the more critical catering front, I shunned the continental temptations of organic pulled pork, salad, chili sauce and vegetarian focaccia and stuck to a traditional large one with extra onions.
Think the team should have done the same.
This is spot on and reflects exactly what I watched today. However, I'm still very happy with the progress and not downbeat. I called both changes today, but Buyens only stayed on for tactical reasons, he was playing very poorly.
Wasn't great today but still unbeaten and it's 100 times better than last season
His first touch is awful, he hides at every opportunity, never shows out wide, runs into positions where he can never realistically receive the ball, struggled to pass a ball 5 yards in the second half. Lovely guy maybe, but for the love of god he should be nowhere near a mid table championship side. We looked 10000000% better with Bulot out there. Tucudean is running him close for awfulness but not quite at lozza's level just yet
But that was only the first of the positional and tactical changes made that left the team, dare I say, looking as disorganised and disjointed as one of Chris Powell's teams when he had a very bad day. Not sure if some of the players were really sure where they were supposed to be playing in the final minutes.
Still, unbeaten after 11. Let's keep things in perspective. But equally you have to say we do look to be in a false position on today's performance.
still unbeaten.
Looking at the broader picture, we're in a fantastic position where teams are under pressure to get points against us, not the other way round. Out of the teams currently above us, we've beaten 3 of them, drawn against 1 and yet to played undefeated Forest, who will likely lose a game before we play them in December. Suffice to say, we've gone from being relegation favourites to being the team to beat this year. Say what you want about us playing negative football, and believe me I know it's hard to swallow if you're the fan who is going to the games and having to watch us play, but not a single team has figured out how to beat us yet.
I'm not sure what people are expecting to be honest. 3 weeks before the season began we didn't have a squad. 1 week before the season started we were either odds-on for relegation or finishing in the bottom 12. We have a new manager and a squad made up of new signings, loans, youngsters and few veterans - we're not exactly going to be Barcelona out of the gates are we? If our squad needs time to work, and they do, then let them. It sounds like we're playing back-to-basics football but I'd rather that than playing a riskier game which the squad is in no way ready for.
The way we're carrying on, we'll not only finish in a better position than we did two years ago, we'll have more points than Palace did and even be in a play-off spot. Not bad for a team a lot of people thought was mainly built up of players not good enough to play in the Belgian league.
Once we lose 3 games in a row, we'll all be pining for the first 2-3 months we went unbeaten.
My only worry is teams will start taking notice of us, if they haven't already, and actually figure out how to draw blood from us. I will admit we have been riding a lot of luck this season which will inevitably end, but it is reassuring to see the BBC to describe Birmingham as snatching a point, rather than the usual 'Charlton lucky to scrape a point against much superior opposition', which judging from the comments here was the actual scenario anyway.
We are (hopefully) in for a better future this time around though!
Was a shocking game and we really let them off the hook after our goal.
Birmingham were kak for the first fifteen and I said to my mate 5 minutes after our goal - we'd better get back at them or they'll ease into the game and, sure enough....
Not enough movement and way too much long ball, especially from Henderson.
Vetokele does climb high for a little fella but the long balls were picked off by their 6'4" central defender almost without exception.
I drive to and from Ipswich to watch CAFC and it does leave me a little p*ssed off driving home and wondering why the players didn't perform on the back of an excellent away victory on Tuesday night.
Didn't lose, though, so, onwards & upwards!