Brilliant moment in the second half when Lee Martin went to take a corner by East Stand A block. Martin asking the Steward to move so that he could get a better run up, steward refuses and gives him a dirty look. Martin therefore tries to move advertising board (had done so earlier in half) but steward has his foot on it... Martin gives up and takes the corner anyway, doesn't clear near post. Martin moves away and steward shuffles advertising board even closer to pitch to make it even harder for him next time. #stewardbanter
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.
I think Gudmundsson could be that player but we need him out wide. Some of his passing was superb yesterday.
Draw was fair. Oddly neither side seemed very committed in the final third. Presumably them because they came for the point and for us because we don't have any options up front. Pope did ok and I'm really surprised that Holloway didn't instruct his players to rough him up a bit more. Cocquelin is real quality and I hope he's here longer than until January. We are desperate for a partner for Igor. George doesn't look first eleven material and Fox is without doubt the weak link. Until we get in a striker that can complement Vetokele we will continue to draw when all the points were a good possibility like yesterday. With only a couple of exceptions I thought our players looked better than theirs so a point is disappointing even if in the weighing it was fair.
I think this is going to be a season that we all thought of what might have been.
All felt a bit 'meh' as someone else said. Most if it has been said already by others. Reluctance to really attack at home is becoming depressing albeit we are very solid and reliable. Dearth of creativity and failure to put away piss poor teams is getting wearing. Don't get me wrong, it's better than getting mullered every week but it's a hard watch. The good news is that we are only a couple of players away from being a very good team but I do wonder how close we really are to getting them. The interview with Katrien on FLS was the first time I have listened and sucked my teeth a little. No particular reason but I'm just feeling a tiny bit uneasy.
Thought we were noisy and constant in support yesterday despite it feeling a bit dead for a derby game. Millwall were terrible and there for the taking. Frustrating.
Good points were impressive performances for Pope, Solly, JJ, Coquelin and, to a lesser extent from JBG.
We didn't lose. Onwards and upwards. But we could do with a bit of excitement as the cold weather comes in.
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.
I think Gudmundsson could be that player but we need him out wide. Some of his passing was superb yesterday.
Have said all season to put Gudmundsson on the left flank, put Cousins right midfield with Harriott on the right flank, am certain we would be more dangerous with this combination.
Under Staprix, M.Duchatelet and Meire we remain undefeated vs Millwall with no goals conceded! Then again no goals scored. Our new squad is clearly struggling to beat lower half teams and another quality striker in January should put that right. Sat next to an Italian friend today whose son is a season ticket holder - it was his first game this season and his questions and observations told the whole story of the last six months: Who are all these players and who's left from last season?! Decent football... New pitch... Lack of movement upfront...generally looking so much better... What do you mean CAFC have never beaten Millwall in the kids' lifetime...are they any good?!
Millwall were there for the taking - their fans were subdued because we were so much better to start...and also the first 15 of the second half. Some of the passing on the deck was excellent but too often we played it backwards again after good patient build up.
Roll on Ipswich and another chance to close the gap on the top six. Thing is we are running out of time and if we can't secure back to back wins then the leading pack will carry on without us. Like the Peleton, we need to put in that extra effort to stry in touch so that we can draft off the main body. Slip further behind and this season will become hard work.
I'd say that your comment is harsh, but it isn't wrong. The real question is why? Is there scope for improvement? What were the positives yesterday?
The Championship is a very tough, competitive league and, almost certainly, the football being played in it is now at a higher standard than ever for the second tier of English football. Moreover, the evidence clearly suggests that we are operating with one of the lowest budgets in the competition and are likely to continue to do so. Reid, Bowyer and Parker were exceptional players, by any standards, and it's simply not reasonable to use them as a "benchmark" for the current crop.
If we are going to compete in this league, let alone prosper and compete for a play-off place, we are going to need to excel in two areas. The first is in the way we spend the limited wage bill available, i.e. outperforming that wage bill. And the second is in the quality of coaching and game management so that the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts.
That's tough, not least since everybody else is seeking to do the same thing, but my take is that we are succeeding at both, at least for now, and there was even evidence of that yesterday.
A draw was a fair result, as everybody has already said, but I felt we looked to have the better players. Gudmundsson and Coquelin showed flashes of real quality at times and there weren't many of their players who would improve our squad. That's despite the fact, notwithstanding Ian Holloway's ramblings to the contrary, that they've spend more money and have significantly bigger losses than us. We shouldn't underestimate the achievement here.
Having the better players wasn't enough yesterday though and nowhere was that better illustrated than at centre back. I don't think anybody would suggest, even Millwall fans, that Beevers and Webster are in the same class as Ben Haim and Bikey-Amougou, but the Millwall pairing looked very solid and, if anything, more so than their classier opponents. Indeed, Millwall's robustness and, at times, their neatness in midfield showed just how strong this division is, since despite their resilience our not so friendly neighbours are clearly relegation candidates.
It's fair to say that there was no obvious intensity to our play yesterday and we clearly didn't throw the kitchen sink at our opponents. However, that doesn't mean the players weren't committed. It simply reflected the way Bob Peeters set them up. I'm enjoying the way we are playing this season, but I accept that it's not always been very exciting.
Peeters clearly wants his team to play with purpose and discipline, to play controlled football and, ideally, to control the game. That's most obvious when the other side are in possession, but even when we have the ball the players are keeping their heads. They don't over commit.
Yesterday we set up with a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Buyens holding and with Cousins and Gudmundsson in the wide positions, but inverted as usual. When Buyens was replaced, that system stayed rock solid with Coquelin dropping, Cousins moving inside and Harriott offering an orthodox option on the left. The fact that Peeters stuck with that formation until five minutes from time, despite Ian Holloway having sought to open the game up with around twenty five minutes to go, tells us a lot about Peeters' style. He wants to play controlled football throughout the ninety minutes.
The result was disappointing yesterday, as was the lack of typically British blood and thunder, but there were some encouraging signs. I liked the look of Lee Gregory and Bikey-Amougou had a bit of a mare, I thought, but once again we didn't look like conceding. We have seventeen home points, remaining unbeaten, and that's largely because we aren't shipping those stupid goals which were a depressing feature of the previous two campaigns.
More importantly, I do believe that our passing and movement is slowly improving. While we ultimately lacked the quality to convert yesterday, I felt some aspects of our play were very encouraging. On a number of occasions players made runs behind their markers, i.e. between the lines, and the ball was arrowed through on cue, at times creating significant space and opportunity. We simply weren't making those thoughtful runs last season.
Some posters have debated Harriott's contribution. He too, I felt, looked better. There were signs that he is beginning to play with his head, which is not natural for him, and respecting his instructions. Bob Peeters might just make a player of him yet.
If you're looking for pulsating, attacking football and moments of sublime brilliance from the best players in the league, I don't think you're going to find it at the Valley, at least not with Duchatelet approving the budget and with Peeters the manager. We are competing and improving though.
The fat lady hasn't sung yet, but we also appear to have avoided what is going to be a real battle for survival at the bottom end of the table. Whether we can push on is a more difficult question. It's not obvious to me we can without a willingness to spend a lot more money, but so far so good I'd say. I'm not sure what more we can reasonably expect.
I thought it was a fairly event game. An early goal would have really changed the dynamics both on and off the pitch.
Shame that George just couldn't have put that one away, having chipped the keeper. Perhaps he should have tried to lob it in or blast it?
I thought we played the better football but not by big margin and Millwall had some good moments of their own. Neither had much of a cutting edge.
Solly was excellent. Coquelin looked decent. TBH had a good game and defensively we stood up to everything that they threw at us. Pope was my MOM especially given that when I heard he was in the team, I was a little concerned. That was his best performance that I have seen in a Charlton shirt.
A very fair result despite the fact we could have nicked it at the end. Based on our previous record against them we did put in a decent shift against them and that is something I never take for granted in this fixture.
Deliberately found something else to do and even resisted the match thread on my phone. This fixture has been such a disappointment over the years, I do it for self preservation. From a few comments on here and elsewhere it seems we did show up this time, which is really all us old timers have been asking for. Two poor teams and performances apart, the Tuc chance at the end proves to me it ain't in the stars. What are the chances that your bogey team just happen to be the shit cnuts from a couple of miles down the road? Typical Charlton.
As usual a good summary of both the game and where we are as a club both on and off the pitch.
To build on your comments about the way Peeters sets up the side I would like to add that I think Bob is very much playing to the strengths of the squad he has available to him. We are very solid defensively and are sound if a little lacking in creativity in midfield and by focussing on those strengths he has made us hard to beat but somewhat light in attacking. It's obvious that there is only Vetokele with the required class up front although I like others am not giving up on Geroge just yet. As the balance of the side changes which it surely must by the addition of a couple of front men then I am confident that Peeters has the nous and will to adapt to those shifting strengths and will be more attack minded when the squad allows.
I am more than happy with the progress in every aspect of the club and I don't see that progression ending any time soon.
Wasn't at the game but from reading on here it appears the players turned up and put in a shift which is a definite improvement on some games against them in the past and sounds like our support got behind them so a decent effort all round.
At least we didn't lose to them - big game at home to Ipseich on Sat.
They'll come looking for three points which should play into our hands tactically.
Win that and we go level with them on points which would set us up very nicely for December
That was the most nervous i'd felt before a match since we played......Millwall at home,last season.
Our play was 50% better that the 0-1 and 0-2 of the last two years. Yet still we didn't beat them. I said 2 weeks ago no more excuses......i lied.
George has to play in home matches until we get another striker because Igor is double marked. wilson was in on goal if ref had played advantage. We have lost less games than any other champ side. We are much higher up the table than last season.
Was that too much to ask to beat the spanners in the last minute in front of the covered end and make every CAFC fans,christmas, birthday, and VE day rolled into one.... Yes it was.
When i said i'm Charlton till i die.....has anyone seen the small print!
How the ref did not give us a pen in the last min who knows ... The reason George went down was because the defender brought him down .. Right in front of me clear pen and red card
Couldn't agree more - I'm in the North East and it was clear that the defender was only playing one thing and it wasn't the ball - A more experienced pro would have stayed down and not tried to get up as George did. But then the ref also missed them taking out Igor and gave them the benefit of the doubt on a handball.
Not sure why BP waited so long before switching to 2 up front - 10 more minutes and I'm sure we would have won.
We were totally unwilling to gamble and get bodies forward. I'm all for being hard to beat, but this is Millwall at home we're talking about. Really disappointing choice of tactics from BP. We should be trying our best to win it.
I think we look toothless up front not because we don't have quality attacking players, but because they're not getting forward or getting any support. We are extremely conservative with our shape and I don't see how we can't afford to be more aggressive, especially with TBH and Bikey at the back.
That being said, still over the moon about how this season is going.
I think some people are deluding themselves about how good we are........or not. Yes, we have a number of decent players (Igor, Gudmonsson, Bikey, Solly & Ben Haim) but not enough to make a top 10 side. Notice that 3 out of the 5 named players are defenders & it is down to them that we have only lost twice this season. But that's the problem. We may have only lost twice but we have only won 6, with 10 being draws. We've drawn too many games because we are just not good enough going forward - 20 goals scored is the lowest in the top half. If it wasn't for the defence we would be in the bottom 6 - just pray that the Bikey & Ben Haim don't get suspended or injured as we would then be in real trouble.
I think some people are deluding themselves about how good we are........or not. Yes, we have a number of decent players (Igor, Gudmonsson, Bikey, Solly & Ben Haim) but not enough to make a top 10 side. Notice that 3 out of the 5 named players are defenders & it is down to them that we have only lost twice this season. But that's the problem. We may have only lost twice but we have only won 6, with 10 being draws. We've drawn too many games because we are just not good enough going forward - 20 goals scored is the lowest in the top half. If it wasn't for the defence we would be in the bottom 6 - just pray that the Bikey & Ben Haim don't get suspended or injured as we would then be in real trouble.
I think the team is a work in progress which will improve with time and tinkering. The frustrating thing for me is that the missing ingredient is probably Kermongant. Bob is setting it up right and as a result the team is probably overachieving. If we are in touch come January then every chance if we can bring in a couple of players.
I think the team is a work in progress which will improve with time and tinkering. The frustrating thing for me is that the missing ingredient is probably Kermongant. Bob is setting it up right and as a result the team is probably overachieving. If we are in touch come January then every chance if we can bring in a couple of players.
Ha, I was just wondering when someone would mention the K word. You're right of course. Him and Igor would have been absolute dynamite together. We'd have been a genuine top 6 contenders. Sigh.
I think some people are deluding themselves about how good we are........or not. Yes, we have a number of decent players (Igor, Gudmonsson, Bikey, Solly & Ben Haim) but not enough to make a top 10 side. Notice that 3 out of the 5 named players are defenders & it is down to them that we have only lost twice this season. But that's the problem. We may have only lost twice but we have only won 6, with 10 being draws. We've drawn too many games because we are just not good enough going forward - 20 goals scored is the lowest in the top half. If it wasn't for the defence we would be in the bottom 6 - just pray that the Bikey & Ben Haim don't get suspended or injured as we would then be in real trouble.
Make you wrong! We are top ten and have been all season. We are most definitely in a new place and results like a win at Reading away were never going to happen last season. Instead of scraping a 0-0 draw vs Millwall last March, we are now creating real chances. We are certainly not top six yet and the open question is what does it take to get there and will M.Duchatelet fund that in six weeks time. My suggested answer is two players at €3-5m each! That's £5-7m total which might push us onto a 30-40% chance of making the play-offs.
Mundell has explained it all very eloquently - I will simply state we should be good for a win vs Blackpool but it is the other games which will determine our league position at the halfway mark. In previous seasons 36/37 points has been good for sixth. So now we need just eight or nine points from five games. Yep three wins - I wish yesterday had been one of those but we move on to the next game.
I think some people are deluding themselves about how good we are........or not. Yes, we have a number of decent players (Igor, Gudmonsson, Bikey, Solly & Ben Haim) but not enough to make a top 10 side. Notice that 3 out of the 5 named players are defenders & it is down to them that we have only lost twice this season. But that's the problem. We may have only lost twice but we have only won 6, with 10 being draws. We've drawn too many games because we are just not good enough going forward - 20 goals scored is the lowest in the top half. If it wasn't for the defence we would be in the bottom 6 - just pray that the Bikey & Ben Haim don't get suspended or injured as we would then be in real trouble.
Interesting points. Read a book on stats in football recently, I won't bore everyone with the finer points but they showed how a team is only as good as their weakest player(s). We are definitely lacking in some areas but that said I don't think we are in a false position, the team as a whole is fairly solid and let's be fair it's a lot better than the team over the past couple of seasons and with the amount of departures and additions in the summer it is still slightly surprising how well things are going.
If we can keep Coquelin and add another decent striker I really believe we can make the top six. As many on here have said this division is wide open Look at the weekends fixtures, apart from Wolves v Forest every game was either a draw or won by a one goal margin.
If we can keep Coquelin and add another decent striker I really believe we can make the top six. As many on here have said this division is wide open Look at the weekends fixtures, apart from Wolves v Forest every game was either a draw or won by a one goal margin.
Think you will find that every team in the Championship is only two players short of a top six finish,that is what makes this league the best league for excitement
I'd say that your comment is harsh, but it isn't wrong. The real question is why? Is there scope for improvement? What were the positives yesterday?
The Championship is a very tough, competitive league and, almost certainly, the football being played in it is now at a higher standard than ever for the second tier of English football. Moreover, the evidence clearly suggests that we are operating with one of the lowest budgets in the competition and are likely to continue to do so. Reid, Bowyer and Parker were exceptional players, by any standards, and it's simply not reasonable to use them as a "benchmark" for the current crop.
If we are going to compete in this league, let alone prosper and compete for a play-off place, we are going to need to excel in two areas. The first is in the way we spend the limited wage bill available, i.e. outperforming that wage bill. And the second is in the quality of coaching and game management so that the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts.
That's tough, not least since everybody else is seeking to do the same thing, but my take is that we are succeeding at both, at least for now, and there was even evidence of that yesterday.
A draw was a fair result, as everybody has already said, but I felt we looked to have the better players. Gudmundsson and Coquelin showed flashes of real quality at times and there weren't many of their players who would improve our squad. That's despite the fact, notwithstanding Ian Holloway's ramblings to the contrary, that they've spend more money and have significantly bigger losses than us. We shouldn't underestimate the achievement here.
Having the better players wasn't enough yesterday though and nowhere was that better illustrated than at centre back. I don't think anybody would suggest, even Millwall fans, that Beevers and Webster are in the same class as Ben Haim and Bikey-Amougou, but the Millwall pairing looked very solid and, if anything, more so than their classier opponents. Indeed, Millwall's robustness and, at times, their neatness in midfield showed just how strong this division is, since despite their resilience our not so friendly neighbours are clearly relegation candidates.
It's fair to say that there was no obvious intensity to our play yesterday and we clearly didn't throw the kitchen sink at our opponents. However, that doesn't mean the players weren't committed. It simply reflected the way Bob Peeters set them up. I'm enjoying the way we are playing this season, but I accept that it's not always been very exciting.
Peeters clearly wants his team to play with purpose and discipline, to play controlled football and, ideally, to control the game. That's most obvious when the other side are in possession, but even when we have the ball the players are keeping their heads. They don't over commit.
Yesterday we set up with a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Buyens holding and with Cousins and Gudmundsson in the wide positions, but inverted as usual. When Buyens was replaced, that system stayed rock solid with Coquelin dropping, Cousins moving inside and Harriott offering an orthodox option on the left. The fact that Peeters stuck with that formation until five minutes from time, despite Ian Holloway having sought to open the game up with around twenty five minutes to go, tells us a lot about Peeters' style. He wants to play controlled football throughout the ninety minutes.
The result was disappointing yesterday, as was the lack of typically British blood and thunder, but there were some encouraging signs. I liked the look of Lee Gregory and Bikey-Amougou had a bit of a mare, I thought, but once again we didn't look like conceding. We have seventeen home points, remaining unbeaten, and that's largely because we aren't shipping those stupid goals which were a depressing feature of the previous two campaigns.
More importantly, I do believe that our passing and movement is slowly improving. While we ultimately lacked the quality to convert yesterday, I felt some aspects of our play were very encouraging. On a number of occasions players made runs behind their markers, i.e. between the lines, and the ball was arrowed through on cue, at times creating significant space and opportunity. We simply weren't making those thoughtful runs last season.
Some posters have debated Harriott's contribution. He too, I felt, looked better. There were signs that he is beginning to play with his head, which is not natural for him, and respecting his instructions. Bob Peeters might just make a player of him yet.
If you're looking for pulsating, attacking football and moments of sublime brilliance from the best players in the league, I don't think you're going to find it at the Valley, at least not with Duchatelet approving the budget and with Peeters the manager. We are competing and improving though.
The fat lady hasn't sung yet, but we also appear to have avoided what is going to be a real battle for survival at the bottom end of the table. Whether we can push on is a more difficult question. It's not obvious to me we can without a willingness to spend a lot more money, but so far so good I'd say. I'm not sure what more we can reasonably expect.
You write beautifully, Mundell, and I trust you implicitly with the finances. Yet, we don't need perfectly formed balance sheets - What we need is fire, and danger.
May I give you an example? Home to Derby three months ago: we were aggressive from the start, fluent and quick, got round their defence, hammered it low and hard - and as the ball was spinning out for a corner, their defender turned and flashed the most delicious look of hate to his mate: 'Don't ever leave me exposed like that again.'
We did a quick corner, were in the box and in with a chance. Look at us now: Our keeper places the ball precisely, waves the squad from left to right - the whole stadium yawns - then he kicks his heels and hoofs it in a curving arc to Row Z.
It is a conceit to think that our academy players are anything special. How do you know that Jordan Cousins is better than this counterpart at Millwall? We almost lost. What we need is talent - talent that scoots in to the box and takes the corner while the defender flashes his mate: "How the fuck did this happen?"
I felt less positive about Coquelin once Buyens went off. He didn't offer as much when he dropped deeper. He was the best player on the pitch for the first 30 minutes though.
Comments
Content.
I think this is going to be a season that we all thought of what might have been.
Thought we were noisy and constant in support yesterday despite it feeling a bit dead for a derby game. Millwall were terrible and there for the taking. Frustrating.
Good points were impressive performances for Pope, Solly, JJ, Coquelin and, to a lesser extent from JBG.
We didn't lose. Onwards and upwards. But we could do with a bit of excitement as the cold weather comes in.
Our new squad is clearly struggling to beat lower half teams and another quality striker in January should put that right.
Sat next to an Italian friend today whose son is a season ticket holder - it was his first game this season and his questions and observations told the whole story of the last six months: Who are all these players and who's left from last season?! Decent football... New pitch... Lack of movement upfront...generally looking so much better...
What do you mean CAFC have never beaten Millwall in the kids' lifetime...are they any good?!
Millwall were there for the taking - their fans were subdued because we were so much better to start...and also the first 15 of the second half. Some of the passing on the deck was excellent but too often we played it backwards again after good patient build up.
Roll on Ipswich and another chance to close the gap on the top six. Thing is we are running out of time and if we can't secure back to back wins then the leading pack will carry on without us. Like the Peleton, we need to put in that extra effort to stry in touch so that we can draft off the main body. Slip further behind and this season will become hard work.
I'd say that your comment is harsh, but it isn't wrong. The real question is why? Is there scope for improvement? What were the positives yesterday?
The Championship is a very tough, competitive league and, almost certainly, the football being played in it is now at a higher standard than ever for the second tier of English football. Moreover, the evidence clearly suggests that we are operating with one of the lowest budgets in the competition and are likely to continue to do so. Reid, Bowyer and Parker were exceptional players, by any standards, and it's simply not reasonable to use them as a "benchmark" for the current crop.
If we are going to compete in this league, let alone prosper and compete for a play-off place, we are going to need to excel in two areas. The first is in the way we spend the limited wage bill available, i.e. outperforming that wage bill. And the second is in the quality of coaching and game management so that the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts.
That's tough, not least since everybody else is seeking to do the same thing, but my take is that we are succeeding at both, at least for now, and there was even evidence of that yesterday.
A draw was a fair result, as everybody has already said, but I felt we looked to have the better players. Gudmundsson and Coquelin showed flashes of real quality at times and there weren't many of their players who would improve our squad. That's despite the fact, notwithstanding Ian Holloway's ramblings to the contrary, that they've spend more money and have significantly bigger losses than us. We shouldn't underestimate the achievement here.
Having the better players wasn't enough yesterday though and nowhere was that better illustrated than at centre back. I don't think anybody would suggest, even Millwall fans, that Beevers and Webster are in the same class as Ben Haim and Bikey-Amougou, but the Millwall pairing looked very solid and, if anything, more so than their classier opponents. Indeed, Millwall's robustness and, at times, their neatness in midfield showed just how strong this division is, since despite their resilience our not so friendly neighbours are clearly relegation candidates.
It's fair to say that there was no obvious intensity to our play yesterday and we clearly didn't throw the kitchen sink at our opponents. However, that doesn't mean the players weren't committed. It simply reflected the way Bob Peeters set them up. I'm enjoying the way we are playing this season, but I accept that it's not always been very exciting.
Peeters clearly wants his team to play with purpose and discipline, to play controlled football and, ideally, to control the game. That's most obvious when the other side are in possession, but even when we have the ball the players are keeping their heads. They don't over commit.
Yesterday we set up with a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Buyens holding and with Cousins and Gudmundsson in the wide positions, but inverted as usual. When Buyens was replaced, that system stayed rock solid with Coquelin dropping, Cousins moving inside and Harriott offering an orthodox option on the left. The fact that Peeters stuck with that formation until five minutes from time, despite Ian Holloway having sought to open the game up with around twenty five minutes to go, tells us a lot about Peeters' style. He wants to play controlled football throughout the ninety minutes.
The result was disappointing yesterday, as was the lack of typically British blood and thunder, but there were some encouraging signs. I liked the look of Lee Gregory and Bikey-Amougou had a bit of a mare, I thought, but once again we didn't look like conceding. We have seventeen home points, remaining unbeaten, and that's largely because we aren't shipping those stupid goals which were a depressing feature of the previous two campaigns.
More importantly, I do believe that our passing and movement is slowly improving. While we ultimately lacked the quality to convert yesterday, I felt some aspects of our play were very encouraging. On a number of occasions players made runs behind their markers, i.e. between the lines, and the ball was arrowed through on cue, at times creating significant space and opportunity. We simply weren't making those thoughtful runs last season.
Some posters have debated Harriott's contribution. He too, I felt, looked better. There were signs that he is beginning to play with his head, which is not natural for him, and respecting his instructions. Bob Peeters might just make a player of him yet.
If you're looking for pulsating, attacking football and moments of sublime brilliance from the best players in the league, I don't think you're going to find it at the Valley, at least not with Duchatelet approving the budget and with Peeters the manager. We are competing and improving though.
The fat lady hasn't sung yet, but we also appear to have avoided what is going to be a real battle for survival at the bottom end of the table. Whether we can push on is a more difficult question. It's not obvious to me we can without a willingness to spend a lot more money, but so far so good I'd say. I'm not sure what more we can reasonably expect.
Shame that George just couldn't have put that one away, having chipped the keeper. Perhaps he should have tried to lob it in or blast it?
I thought we played the better football but not by big margin and Millwall had some good moments of their own. Neither had much of a cutting edge.
Solly was excellent. Coquelin looked decent. TBH had a good game and defensively we stood up to everything that they threw at us. Pope was my MOM especially given that when I heard he was in the team, I was a little concerned. That was his best performance that I have seen in a Charlton shirt.
0-0 was probably the right result.
Solly was outstanding
As usual a good summary of both the game and where we are as a club both on and off the pitch.
To build on your comments about the way Peeters sets up the side I would like to add that I think Bob is very much playing to the strengths of the squad he has available to him. We are very solid defensively and are sound if a little lacking in creativity in midfield and by focussing on those strengths he has made us hard to beat but somewhat light in attacking. It's obvious that there is only Vetokele with the required class up front although I like others am not giving up on Geroge just yet. As the balance of the side changes which it surely must by the addition of a couple of front men then I am confident that Peeters has the nous and will to adapt to those shifting strengths and will be more attack minded when the squad allows.
I am more than happy with the progress in every aspect of the club and I don't see that progression ending any time soon.
Wasn't at the game but from reading on here it appears the players turned up and put in a shift which is a definite improvement on some games against them in the past and sounds like our support got behind them so a decent effort all round.
At least we didn't lose to them - big game at home to Ipseich on Sat.
They'll come looking for three points which should play into our hands tactically.
Win that and we go level with them on points which would set us up very nicely for December
Our play was 50% better that the 0-1 and 0-2 of the last two years.
Yet still we didn't beat them.
I said 2 weeks ago no more excuses......i lied.
George has to play in home matches until we get another striker because Igor is double marked.
wilson was in on goal if ref had played advantage.
We have lost less games than any other champ side.
We are much higher up the table than last season.
Was that too much to ask to beat the spanners in the last minute in front of the covered end and make every CAFC
fans,christmas, birthday, and VE day rolled into one.... Yes it was.
When i said i'm Charlton till i die.....has anyone seen the small print!
Not sure why BP waited so long before switching to 2 up front - 10 more minutes and I'm sure we would have won.
I think we look toothless up front not because we don't have quality attacking players, but because they're not getting forward or getting any support. We are extremely conservative with our shape and I don't see how we can't afford to be more aggressive, especially with TBH and Bikey at the back.
That being said, still over the moon about how this season is going.
You're right of course. Him and Igor would have been absolute dynamite together. We'd have been a genuine top 6 contenders.
Sigh.
We are top ten and have been all season. We are most definitely in a new place and results like a win at Reading away were never going to happen last season. Instead of scraping a 0-0 draw vs Millwall last March, we are now creating real chances.
We are certainly not top six yet and the open question is what does it take to get there and will M.Duchatelet fund that in six weeks time.
My suggested answer is two players at €3-5m each! That's £5-7m total which might push us onto a 30-40% chance of making the play-offs.
Mundell has explained it all very eloquently - I will simply state we should be good for a win vs Blackpool but it is the other games which will determine our league position at the halfway mark. In previous seasons 36/37 points has been good for sixth. So now we need just eight or nine points from five games. Yep three wins - I wish yesterday had been one of those but we move on to the next game.
May I give you an example? Home to Derby three months ago: we were aggressive from the start, fluent and quick, got round their defence, hammered it low and hard - and as the ball was spinning out for a corner, their defender turned and flashed the most delicious look of hate to his mate: 'Don't ever leave me exposed like that again.'
We did a quick corner, were in the box and in with a chance. Look at us now: Our keeper places the ball precisely, waves the squad from left to right - the whole stadium yawns - then he kicks his heels and hoofs it in a curving arc to Row Z.
It is a conceit to think that our academy players are anything special. How do you know that Jordan Cousins is better than this counterpart at Millwall? We almost lost. What we need is talent - talent that scoots in to the box and takes the corner while the defender flashes his mate: "How the fuck did this happen?"