6 games in a row now that we haven't scored against them...
cant be down to the managers as 3 different ones have tried cant be down to the players as we must have used 3 dozen over that time must be down to us fans.............
Very frustrating match. i thought the formation was negative considering the opposition. Igor was crying out for someone alongside him. The team played well without creating too much. ( Bikey had his poorest game to date ) . I was impressed with Coquelin and Gudmundsson looked very dangerous. Draw was the right result.
From the clip of GTs chance it was a poor first touch by GT and Forde, who is a good goalkeeper, was very quick of the line. If GT had chipped the ball into the goal, rather than just over the goal keeper, the Millwall defender would have not caught up.
Congratulations to George and his missus for the birth of his child, and he may be a decent guy, but basically he is not that good a striker, he has a slow football brain. The goal goes in, George is a hero at Charlton for the rest of his time here. Charlton have a decent second striker and are pushing top 6. Without that, Charlton are mid table.
The game was a lot better today than last season. Shame Vetekele didn't look fit. Coquelin was excellent and moved the ball with pace, and tackled well. Solly was close to his best. Gudmundsson was great in the middle of the pitch but useless at taking corners and crossing. Pope, apart from a mistake with a cross in the first half, handled everything well. Excellent performance from the young goalkeeper. Fox did well apart from a couple of mistakes near the end of the game, when he seemed to lose concentration.
Pedantic and nit picking referee broke up the flow of the game and made some questionable decisions.
Millwall brought some quality off the the bench and looked more likely to score in the later stages. Difficult to complain about the draw. It feels a little that way after the GT missed chance. Oh well, at least Charlton didn't lose and the fixture is out of the way.
watched second half on stream (missed the first half due to work). 0-0 was what i predicted, dammit, will we ever score against them again let alone win,
agree that the ref didn't seem to know what playing the advantage meant, there was a good breakaway chance in the second half for us, but instead decided to blow his whistle for the free kick back in the centre circle
I'm not sure what happened at the end there with tucudean, I cant work out if he was unlucky trying to get the ball under control or if he just completely f*cked it up...didn't get the opportunity of a replay....
Think I'd give him the benefit of the doubt on this one, SaySomething.
After all he had a baby only this morning ....
Seriously, there's a fine line between zero & hero and I hope Bob continues to give George some game time. IMO we've not seen the best of him yet by a long chalk.
The game as a whole ? Well, I can't believe anyone could describe it as boring - would have been a decent match for Sky coverage for the neutrals out there. And a fair result ? Probably although I felt we made more of the chances we had albeit without scoring.
For those who say we never turn up at these derbies, I think we've finally put that one to bed.... players & fans alike played their part this afternoon. And what a lovely surprise to exit the ground to find the police holding back the Millwall scamps !
Really looking forward to another home game next Saturday - one I believe we can win - before the trip to Sherwood. Let's hope we can perform for the entire match for the cameras this time with a fitter Igor up front plus the supporting roles of Le Coq, Guddy, young Jordan et al. Really impressed with those 3 today & echo others' views on extending the loan of the Arsene's lad.
This team is definitely not the finished article but the signs are encouraging indeed as we approach the halfway point of the season. And I am yet to see us lose.....
From the clip it was a poor first touch by GT and Forde, who is a good goalkeeper, was very quick of the line. If GT had chipped the ball into the goal, rather than just over the goal keeper, the Millwall defender would have not caught up.
I think this is a good point. Forde is always very quick and decisive when he comes off his line, you have to give him some credit here. A really good keeper Forde - God knows what he's doing wasting his career at Millwall.
Some good individual performances but overall two toothless teams. Seemed very subdued for a Charlton - Millwall game but as Tutt-Tutt points out 5 v 5 in midfield doesn't make for much excitement.
Despite stand out performances from JBG and Coq, who were both superb, that was a pretty lacklustre performance. It seemed to me we were happy to settle for the draw when a win was very get-able. And that's two games running where George has had just the keeper to beat and managed to fluff it. Just not good enough.
There's only one way to describe this afternoon: dreary. Millwall aren't much cop and are in the nether regions of the division, yet we couldn't muster the zip or force to bother their keeper: not until the very last minute.
The set-up was wrong from the start: just the one striker, at home. Powell played a similar defensive formation at The Valley for a while, and look where it got us. Vetokele is never going to win long balls in the air. Solly, Bikey and Ben Haim are efficient defenders at this level, yet we still lack a midfielder capable of getting forward to press and outwit defences.
There was nothing on show today to quicken the pulse of us, the fans. As the second half developed, Millwall looked the likelier to score - until Tucadean was set through at the death, one-on-one with the keeper. Didn't he fluff a similar chance at Reading two weeks ago?
Duchatelet is a fabulously wealthy man, yet he is apparently unwilling to spend money on a proven creative midfielder and a lethal striker. It's a pity, because we started this season so brightly. But our performances over the last couple of months have fallen far short of the quality required for a serious tilt at the play-offs. Against inferior local rivals we should kick up a storm and win. I can't accuse the players themselves of any lack of effort - What we lack is talent.
Frustrating. We were clearly the better team, played the better football and had the clearest chance at the end but they had more chances overall and we couldn't have moaned a lot if they'd nicked it.
Sorry but starting with effectively one up front at home against a very poor team like Millwall is pathetic. If certain recent managers had done that there'd be huge moans from certain people about how defensive and negative they are but for some reason at the moment they accept it without question.
I was at Man City v Swansea today so highly off topic. What I gleaned from the local fans was: 1) Too defensive - 4321 (or similar) is ridiculous at home against a crap side (5th before kick off!!) 2) Aguerro was isolated 3) Kompany had a rare bad game 4) Nasri is crap (heck, I thought he would be out of this world playing for us) 5) Swansea came to draw 6) City should have won more comfortably (I'd disagree with that) 7) The ref was dire
Besides 7) which wasn't true, it's not too far off the game at The Valley, it would seem.
I should add that the football at times was quality but pass of the day came from sub Shelvey
Overall, a draw was probably fair although I'd say Millwall had more of the better chances. We all know Tuc should have scored but that save from Pope about 5 minutes before stopped us losing, outstanding save. Lacking creativity although I thought Harriot was decent when he came on.
Gud was mom, by a distance as well. Don't quite get the Coq love in, thought he was decent and the best out of the central midfielders but think a few are going a bit overboard.
Just don't understand all these comments saying the game was boring, crap, dreary etc. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was pretty much end to end, particularly the last 20 minutes or so when the game could have gone either way.
And how nice to see that for the first time for a long time, both the team and the fans turned-up. Some crunching tackles early on showed Millwall that, for once, they weren't going to be able to walk over a Charlton team whilst I thought there was a pretty good atmosphere from the home stands.
Must agree with others that the 4-1-4-1 formation seemed overly defensive. Sure it meant we weren't going to concede many but playing Igor up-front by himself meant we were never going to score many either. (Shame he never put that header away in the opening minutes - that would have set things up really nicely). Blatantly obvious we need someone up front to play with Igor. But not Tucudean - that's 3 one-on-one chances that I can remember he has missed (Brentford, Reading and today).
Great performances from Solly, Gudmundsson and Coqudean. Honorable mention to young Nick Pope for a very good display of catching and shot-stopping.
Surely a goal against this lot, and a win, can't be far away?
George's idea was a very good one, he completely took the goalkeeper out of the picture. There's no guarantee that he'd have scored had he smacked it.
It's unfortunate that he hooked his foot around it, allowing Beevers to get back and make that challenge. Had he lifted it straight rather than on a slight left into the defender's path, he could've got his body between him and the ball to stroke it into an empty net.
JBG and Solly fashioned some very good moves in both halves on the right. Coquelin was up for it and added steel as well as some flair. But both sides were light up front and can't see George giving us much more than the odd good touch. Need something more to help Igor. Good support from the home fans...thought away end was a bit muted. Full marks to club and police after the match after last year's debacle. Home fans given priority at station. Shame South Eastern screwed it up with crap service. The one game they needed to get right and they fluffed it.
sorry bob but 1 up front against these ponys spotting dregs isnt good enough. Shit game. Vetokele dont look fit. when the f--k are are we gona score against them ?
Draw was probably a fair result but we really should have won it at the end, firstly when the ref criminally failed to play advantage with Wilson through on goal with support from Tucs and then when Tucs over complicated his one on one and lost the advantage. Against Reading his miss was due to an overly casual first time poke goal wards, this time he showed great composure to lift the ball over the keeper, but should have lifted a shot over him rather than try to run around and meet his own pass. Say what you like about Church, I reckon he'd have taken both those chances. Tucs did make an impact though and I still suspect he will hit a purple patch at some point, the problem is we need somone more reliable to support Igor. Not that Igor carried much threat today but he didn't look fully fit, was a bit isolated from a starting midfield that included 3 defensive midfielders, and what service there was into him was largely poor.
I thought we looked pretty good until we got 40 yards from goal at which point every midfielder was guilty of over hit or generally inaccurate passes towards Igor. No one really got up alongside Igor until Tucs came on at which point we created 2 or 3 openings, albeit at a time when the game had become stretched. We lost a little bit of control when Buyens went off and I didn't think Cousins had a particularly good game. Offensively I thought Harriott offered the most of the midfield and swung in 3 or 4 dangerous crosses as well as setting Tucs away with a nicely weighted first time through ball. He did run down a couple of blind alleys and I accept criticism that he can do more defensively, but first and foremost you want your wingers to affect the game in the final third and I thought he did today. Jo-Berg showed some nice touches but all too far from goal and his set piece delivery was pretty insipid, JJ should have pulled rank and taken that responsibility off him imo.
Defence maybe not quite as solid looking as in other games this season, but hardly surprising with Henderson and Wiggins both missing. I thought both deputies did okay. Fox was a little wasteful in possession and maybe could have got forward a bit more but from where I was watchng he didn't do a great deal wrong defensively and saw off his winger who was eventually subbed. Popey done okay, flapped a little bit at a couple of crosses but he's kept a clean sheet which he can be proud of and showed some promising distribution from his hands.
I've been saying it for a bloody long time now, but we still don't have that player in midfield who will work hard to get on the ball, and when he has it be capable of spotting runs early and then delivering accurate, well weighted passes. Coquelin impressed today, although even he was guilty of some poor longer passes, but his talents lie in screening the back four and then starting attacks, not in attacking flair. In Igor we have a player who will finish attacks. What we lack is the middle-man who receives the ball from Coquelin and then lays it on a plate for Igor, or at least gives it to the likes of Harriott and Jo-Berg in areas where they can do some proper damage.
Players like that are hard to come by, to be fair, but even cautious Curbs made room for players like Jensen and Murphy, he lucked out with Kins because he could do both jobs on his own. We haven't had anyone remotely like it since Reid was sold, but finding that player, in my mind, is what separates us from being solid nearly men and being the real deal.
It's all been said but George missing his Martine Mccutcheon moment hurt and you could see the scum fans celebrating as if they'd scored - hate em filth Still George will score in 3 games time and everyone can say I knew there was a player in there aaaaaaah Special mention for Solly today thought he was as good as I've seen him today Scum were there for the taking and I can see them being involved in a relegation battle as long as they stay patient with Holloway , perleeeeease
0.1 % top two ......... 3.9 % 3rd-6th .........54% 7th-12th ......42% 13th-21st...... 0% Relegation
Has there ever been a more unflappable player than Chris Solly? Never, ever, ever panics. No matter how hard fought the game is, his shorts stay clean, his shirt stays tucked in, and his parting remains straight and neat. If it wasn't for his tats he'd fit right in in the 1930s.
Magic player, I'm almost glad his knees are shot as it means we'll probably be able to keep him.
Gutted to come so close to a last minute winner. Still think it's too early to write off George but he may need to step up soon with January not too far away.
We were ok. Much better than the home game last season but that's not saying much.
Coquelin did quite well and looks like he should be a good player for us. Given his age and the players ahead of him he could be available permanently whether that's in January or the summer. Could see why he's been used out wide as well as centrally.
We played Igor up front on his own because none of the alternatives really offer what we need. Feels a bit like the first League 1 season under Parky, we have the choice of playing our better players (meaning five midfielder and one striker) or play two strikers even though one doesn't look quite good enough.
As for Roland not spending money how many proven strikers and midfielders are available on loan or a free? Either way the loan window is now closed and you won't find a Kermorgant on a free every season. Let's see what happens in January, Vetokele wasn't cheap and while Gudmundsson, Bikey etc were frees I expect they'll be on decent wages. He also spent money on Parzyszek and we were looking to pay fees for players right up until the transfer window closed. To say he won't spend money isn't really true.
Well gutted. The spanners were there for the taking. But a lack of fire and energy resulted in a draw. Ambling around to take goal kicks / throw-ins. No commitment on corners and especially 2nd half free kick where we only sent 3 forward to face 11 spanners in the box was indicative of the lack of passion. Watched Brentford beat Fulham with nonstop forward momentum last night. Thats how to win a derby match.
Thought it was more frustrating than boring (as some have said). I was moaning before we even kicked off that we were only playing 1 up top. Poor Igor was isolated against 2 CB's that swallowed him up. I also had the refs card marked, when in the first 5 mins, he made Fox re-take a throw for being 3 inches in front of where the ball went out "oh god, it's one of those refs". The most stand out points of his were the blatant handball in the 2nd half (probably wasn't deliberate, but his arm was raised, which stopped a goal bound shot) and not playing advantage when Wilson was put clean through towards the end. Is it really that hard to look where the ball is before blowing a fucking whistle??
As much as I commend Roland for wanting to abide by FFP, now the league have moved the goal-posts on that, Please Rolly, dust off the cheque book in January, as 2 key players would make a huge difference to this team.
And don't worry about our bolshy neighbours, we're saving our long awaited victory for the away fixture, which will be so much sweeter..............
Draw was probably a fair result but we really should have won it at the end, firstly when the ref criminally failed to play advantage with Wilson through on goal with support from Tucs and then when Tucs over complicated his one on one and lost the advantage. Against Reading his miss was due to an overly casual first time poke goal wards, this time he showed great composure to lift the ball over the keeper, but should have lifted a shot over him rather than try to run around and meet his own pass. Say what you like about Church, I reckon he'd have taken both those chances. Tucs did make an impact though and I still suspect he will hit a purple patch at some point, the problem is we need somone more reliable to support Igor. Not that Igor carried much threat today but he didn't look fully fit, was a bit isolated from a starting midfield that included 3 defensive midfielders, and what service there was into him was largely poor.
I thought we looked pretty good until we got 40 yards from goal at which point every midfielder was guilty of over hit or generally inaccurate passes towards Igor. No one really got up alongside Igor until Tucs came on at which point we created 2 or 3 openings, albeit at a time when the game had become stretched. We lost a little bit of control when Buyens went off and I didn't think Cousins had a particularly good game. Offensively I thought Harriott offered the most of the midfield and swung in 3 or 4 dangerous crosses as well as setting Tucs away with a nicely weighted first time through ball. He did run down a couple of blind alleys and I accept criticism that he can do more defensively, but first and foremost you want your wingers to affect the game in the final third and I thought he did today. Jo-Berg showed some nice touches but all too far from goal and his set piece delivery was pretty insipid, JJ should have pulled rank and taken that responsibility off him imo.
Defence maybe not quite as solid looking as in other games this season, but hardly surprising with Henderson and Wiggins both missing. I thought both deputies did okay. Fox was a little wasteful in possession and maybe could have got forward a bit more but from where I was watchng he didn't do a great deal wrong defensively and saw off his winger who was eventually subbed. Popey done okay, flapped a little bit at a couple of crosses but he's kept a clean sheet which he can be proud of and showed some promising distribution from his hands.
I've been saying it for a bloody long time now, but we still don't have that player in midfield who will work hard to get on the ball, and when he has it be capable of spotting runs early and then delivering accurate, well weighted passes. Coquelin impressed today, although even he was guilty of some poor longer passes, but his talents lie in screening the back four and then starting attacks, not in attacking flair. In Igor we have a player who will finish attacks. What we lack is the middle-man who receives the ball from Coquelin and then lays it on a plate for Igor, or at least gives it to the likes of Harriott and Jo-Berg in areas where they can do some proper damage.
Players like that are hard to come by, to be fair, but even cautious Curbs made room for players like Jensen and Murphy, he lucked out with Kins because he could do both jobs on his own. We haven't had anyone remotely like it since Reid was sold, but finding that player, in my mind, is what separates us from being solid nearly men and being the real deal.
Yours is a superb analysis, Exiled - even more so for having watched the game on the box; this is my 50th season of watching Charlton in the flesh, home and away. You have nailed it precisely about our weak midfield of the last two-and-a-half years.
This season with Bikey and Ben Haim we have a tough back line; Solly today was quite magnificent. Yet the balls they defend and pass to our midfield are lost in the tackle; when we do win possession our passes thence are wayward if not sideways. As someone said earlier on this thread: Andy Reid was able to receive the ball and move forward thirty yards from defence to attack - to which I would add Lee Bowyer and Scott Parker.
For our present and recent midfielders, that short gap is a no-man's-land, a demilitarised zone. No Entry. At first, Ajdarevic looked the part with his imposing stature and forward ambition - but turned out to be another dud off-loaded from Liege. We have a squadron of midfielders - Cousins, Jackson, Bulot, Harriott, Buyens, Moussa, et al - who experientially ought to play better. Thousands of fans revered Diego Poyet - yet he never crossed the half-way line, let alone made a killer pass.
Two other important aspects that were beyond the TV screen today, Exiled. We had a corner in the first half, and our man walked - yes walked - thirty yards to take it. Good if we were 2-0 up with 15 minutes to go. And playing only one up front at home is inexcusable at any level, but watch Vetokele even with a partner: he doesn't move to make space or a target for those ultimately futile long balls from defence - and neither does he close down defenders. As you quite rightly say, Simon Church is alert off the blocks, sprinting twenty yards to hassle the right-back.
Good football is heroic and exhilarating: 15,000 of us demand toughness, skill, speed and intelligence. We didn't throw the kitchen sink at Millwall today: we offered them a pink plastic washing-up bowl, half-price from Poundland.
Comments
cant be down to the players as we must have used 3 dozen over that time
must be down to us fans.............
The team played well without creating too much. ( Bikey had his poorest game to date ) . I was impressed with Coquelin and Gudmundsson looked very dangerous.
Draw was the right result.
From the clip of GTs chance it was a poor first touch by GT and Forde, who is a good goalkeeper, was very quick of the line. If GT had chipped the ball into the goal, rather than just over the goal keeper, the Millwall defender would have not caught up.
Congratulations to George and his missus for the birth of his child, and he may be a decent guy, but basically he is not that good a striker, he has a slow football brain. The goal goes in, George is a hero at Charlton for the rest of his time here. Charlton have a decent second striker and are pushing top 6. Without that, Charlton are mid table.
The game was a lot better today than last season. Shame Vetekele didn't look fit. Coquelin was excellent and moved the ball with pace, and tackled well. Solly was close to his best. Gudmundsson was great in the middle of the pitch but useless at taking corners and crossing. Pope, apart from a mistake with a cross in the first half, handled everything well. Excellent performance from the young goalkeeper. Fox did well apart from a couple of mistakes near the end of the game, when he seemed to lose concentration.
Pedantic and nit picking referee broke up the flow of the game and made some questionable decisions.
Millwall brought some quality off the the bench and looked more likely to score in the later stages. Difficult to complain about the draw. It feels a little that way after the GT missed chance. Oh well, at least Charlton didn't lose and the fixture is out of the way.
After all he had a baby only this morning ....
Seriously, there's a fine line between zero & hero and I hope Bob continues to give George some game time. IMO we've not seen the best of him yet by a long chalk.
The game as a whole ? Well, I can't believe anyone could describe it as boring - would have been a decent match for Sky coverage for the neutrals out there. And a fair result ? Probably although I felt we made more of the chances we had albeit without scoring.
For those who say we never turn up at these derbies, I think we've finally put that one to bed.... players & fans alike played their part this afternoon. And what a lovely surprise to exit the ground to find the police holding back the Millwall scamps !
Really looking forward to another home game next Saturday - one I believe we can win - before the trip to Sherwood. Let's hope we can perform for the entire match for the cameras this time with a fitter Igor up front plus the supporting roles of Le Coq, Guddy, young Jordan et al. Really impressed with those 3 today & echo others' views on extending the loan of the Arsene's lad.
This team is definitely not the finished article but the signs are encouraging indeed as we approach the halfway point of the season. And I am yet to see us lose.....
In Big Bob we trust !
A really good keeper Forde - God knows what he's doing wasting his career at Millwall.
The set-up was wrong from the start: just the one striker, at home. Powell played a similar defensive formation at The Valley for a while, and look where it got us. Vetokele is never going to win long balls in the air. Solly, Bikey and Ben Haim are efficient defenders at this level, yet we still lack a midfielder capable of getting forward to press and outwit defences.
There was nothing on show today to quicken the pulse of us, the fans. As the second half developed, Millwall looked the likelier to score - until Tucadean was set through at the death, one-on-one with the keeper. Didn't he fluff a similar chance at Reading two weeks ago?
Duchatelet is a fabulously wealthy man, yet he is apparently unwilling to spend money on a proven creative midfielder and a lethal striker. It's a pity, because we started this season so brightly. But our performances over the last couple of months have fallen far short of the quality required for a serious tilt at the play-offs. Against inferior local rivals we should kick up a storm and win. I can't accuse the players themselves of any lack of effort - What we lack is talent.
Sorry but starting with effectively one up front at home against a very poor team like Millwall is pathetic. If certain recent managers had done that there'd be huge moans from certain people about how defensive and negative they are but for some reason at the moment they accept it without question.
1) Too defensive - 4321 (or similar) is ridiculous at home against a crap side (5th before kick off!!)
2) Aguerro was isolated
3) Kompany had a rare bad game
4) Nasri is crap (heck, I thought he would be out of this world playing for us)
5) Swansea came to draw
6) City should have won more comfortably (I'd disagree with that)
7) The ref was dire
Besides 7) which wasn't true, it's not too far off the game at The Valley, it would seem.
I should add that the football at times was quality but pass of the day came from sub Shelvey
Gud was mom, by a distance as well. Don't quite get the Coq love in, thought he was decent and the best out of the central midfielders but think a few are going a bit overboard.
And how nice to see that for the first time for a long time, both the team and the fans turned-up. Some crunching tackles early on showed Millwall that, for once, they weren't going to be able to walk over a Charlton team whilst I thought there was a pretty good atmosphere from the home stands.
Must agree with others that the 4-1-4-1 formation seemed overly defensive. Sure it meant we weren't going to concede many but playing Igor up-front by himself meant we were never going to score many either. (Shame he never put that header away in the opening minutes - that would have set things up really nicely). Blatantly obvious we need someone up front to play with Igor. But not Tucudean - that's 3 one-on-one chances that I can remember he has missed (Brentford, Reading and today).
Great performances from Solly, Gudmundsson and Coqudean. Honorable mention to young Nick Pope for a very good display of catching and shot-stopping.
Surely a goal against this lot, and a win, can't be far away?
George's idea was a very good one, he completely took the goalkeeper out of the picture. There's no guarantee that he'd have scored had he smacked it.
It's unfortunate that he hooked his foot around it, allowing Beevers to get back and make that challenge. Had he lifted it straight rather than on a slight left into the defender's path, he could've got his body between him and the ball to stroke it into an empty net.
Small margins.
If we lose, we've played terribly (even though we might have played well).
If we win and we're lucky as F*, it's a great ground-out performance.
Reminds me of Barnsley at home at the end of last season. We absolutely battered them yet people on CL claimed we were dreadful, which we weren't.
Shit game.
Vetokele dont look fit.
when the f--k are are we gona score against them ?
impressed with the gooner kid.
Draw was probably a fair result but we really should have won it at the end, firstly when the ref criminally failed to play advantage with Wilson through on goal with support from Tucs and then when Tucs over complicated his one on one and lost the advantage. Against Reading his miss was due to an overly casual first time poke goal wards, this time he showed great composure to lift the ball over the keeper, but should have lifted a shot over him rather than try to run around and meet his own pass. Say what you like about Church, I reckon he'd have taken both those chances. Tucs did make an impact though and I still suspect he will hit a purple patch at some point, the problem is we need somone more reliable to support Igor. Not that Igor carried much threat today but he didn't look fully fit, was a bit isolated from a starting midfield that included 3 defensive midfielders, and what service there was into him was largely poor.
I thought we looked pretty good until we got 40 yards from goal at which point every midfielder was guilty of over hit or generally inaccurate passes towards Igor. No one really got up alongside Igor until Tucs came on at which point we created 2 or 3 openings, albeit at a time when the game had become stretched. We lost a little bit of control when Buyens went off and I didn't think Cousins had a particularly good game. Offensively I thought Harriott offered the most of the midfield and swung in 3 or 4 dangerous crosses as well as setting Tucs away with a nicely weighted first time through ball. He did run down a couple of blind alleys and I accept criticism that he can do more defensively, but first and foremost you want your wingers to affect the game in the final third and I thought he did today. Jo-Berg showed some nice touches but all too far from goal and his set piece delivery was pretty insipid, JJ should have pulled rank and taken that responsibility off him imo.
Defence maybe not quite as solid looking as in other games this season, but hardly surprising with Henderson and Wiggins both missing. I thought both deputies did okay. Fox was a little wasteful in possession and maybe could have got forward a bit more but from where I was watchng he didn't do a great deal wrong defensively and saw off his winger who was eventually subbed. Popey done okay, flapped a little bit at a couple of crosses but he's kept a clean sheet which he can be proud of and showed some promising distribution from his hands.
I've been saying it for a bloody long time now, but we still don't have that player in midfield who will work hard to get on the ball, and when he has it be capable of spotting runs early and then delivering accurate, well weighted passes. Coquelin impressed today, although even he was guilty of some poor longer passes, but his talents lie in screening the back four and then starting attacks, not in attacking flair. In Igor we have a player who will finish attacks. What we lack is the middle-man who receives the ball from Coquelin and then lays it on a plate for Igor, or at least gives it to the likes of Harriott and Jo-Berg in areas where they can do some proper damage.
Players like that are hard to come by, to be fair, but even cautious Curbs made room for players like Jensen and Murphy, he lucked out with Kins because he could do both jobs on his own. We haven't had anyone remotely like it since Reid was sold, but finding that player, in my mind, is what separates us from being solid nearly men and being the real deal.
Still George will score in 3 games time and everyone can say I knew there was a player in there aaaaaaah
Special mention for Solly today thought he was as good as I've seen him today
Scum were there for the taking and I can see them being involved in a relegation battle as long as they stay patient with Holloway , perleeeeease
0.1 % top two ......... 3.9 % 3rd-6th .........54% 7th-12th ......42% 13th-21st...... 0% Relegation
Has there ever been a more unflappable player than Chris Solly? Never, ever, ever panics. No matter how hard fought the game is, his shorts stay clean, his shirt stays tucked in, and his parting remains straight and neat. If it wasn't for his tats he'd fit right in in the 1930s.
Magic player, I'm almost glad his knees are shot as it means we'll probably be able to keep him.
We were ok. Much better than the home game last season but that's not saying much.
Coquelin did quite well and looks like he should be a good player for us. Given his age and the players ahead of him he could be available permanently whether that's in January or the summer. Could see why he's been used out wide as well as centrally.
We played Igor up front on his own because none of the alternatives really offer what we need. Feels a bit like the first League 1 season under Parky, we have the choice of playing our better players (meaning five midfielder and one striker) or play two strikers even though one doesn't look quite good enough.
As for Roland not spending money how many proven strikers and midfielders are available on loan or a free? Either way the loan window is now closed and you won't find a Kermorgant on a free every season. Let's see what happens in January, Vetokele wasn't cheap and while Gudmundsson, Bikey etc were frees I expect they'll be on decent wages. He also spent money on Parzyszek and we were looking to pay fees for players right up until the transfer window closed. To say he won't spend money isn't really true.
Ambling around to take goal kicks / throw-ins. No commitment on corners and especially 2nd half free kick where we only sent 3 forward to face 11 spanners in the box was indicative of the lack of passion.
Watched Brentford beat Fulham with nonstop forward momentum last night. Thats how to win a derby match.
Thought it was more frustrating than boring (as some have said). I was moaning before we even kicked off that we were only playing 1 up top. Poor Igor was isolated against 2 CB's that swallowed him up. I also had the refs card marked, when in the first 5 mins, he made Fox re-take a throw for being 3 inches in front of where the ball went out "oh god, it's one of those refs". The most stand out points of his were the blatant handball in the 2nd half (probably wasn't deliberate, but his arm was raised, which stopped a goal bound shot) and not playing advantage when Wilson was put clean through towards the end. Is it really that hard to look where the ball is before blowing a fucking whistle??
As much as I commend Roland for wanting to abide by FFP, now the league have moved the goal-posts on that, Please Rolly, dust off the cheque book in January, as 2 key players would make a huge difference to this team.
And don't worry about our bolshy neighbours, we're saving our long awaited victory for the away fixture, which will be so much sweeter..............
This season with Bikey and Ben Haim we have a tough back line; Solly today was quite magnificent. Yet the balls they defend and pass to our midfield are lost in the tackle; when we do win possession our passes thence are wayward if not sideways. As someone said earlier on this thread: Andy Reid was able to receive the ball and move forward thirty yards from defence to attack - to which I would add Lee Bowyer and Scott Parker.
For our present and recent midfielders, that short gap is a no-man's-land, a demilitarised zone. No Entry. At first, Ajdarevic looked the part with his imposing stature and forward ambition - but turned out to be another dud off-loaded from Liege. We have a squadron of midfielders - Cousins, Jackson, Bulot, Harriott, Buyens, Moussa, et al - who experientially ought to play better. Thousands of fans revered Diego Poyet - yet he never crossed the half-way line, let alone made a killer pass.
Two other important aspects that were beyond the TV screen today, Exiled. We had a corner in the first half, and our man walked - yes walked - thirty yards to take it. Good if we were 2-0 up with 15 minutes to go. And playing only one up front at home is inexcusable at any level, but watch Vetokele even with a partner: he doesn't move to make space or a target for those ultimately futile long balls from defence - and neither does he close down defenders. As you quite rightly say, Simon Church is alert off the blocks, sprinting twenty yards to hassle the right-back.
Good football is heroic and exhilarating: 15,000 of us demand toughness, skill, speed and intelligence. We didn't throw the kitchen sink at Millwall today: we offered them a pink plastic washing-up bowl, half-price from Poundland.