Gutted as everyone else, not sure why we are so negative at times, especially when we are at home against teams struggling down the bottom of the league.
Plenty of early optimism for this season but despite spending all of it so far in the right half of the table its just not been an especially enjoyable season to be a Charlton fan.
Come on Bob, lets get our season going again, please.
Despite the negative comments on here I felt that we played alright overall & should have had the 3 points which would have been deserved.
The back 4 were solid with special mention to Gomez & Fox. For Gomez to come into the side & play like that was very encouraging. Fox defensively coped OK & passed the ball intelligently. A couple of his through balls second half to Harriott & JBG were exceptional & opened up Blackpool but weren't capitalised on.
Pope was at fault for the opener & arguably for the equaliser. Shame as he has good games against Millwall, Ipswich & Forest.
MOM was Buyens though, confident in possesion & great distribution which was good to see with Jacko being out & Coquelin off.
Still think we'll have a good x-mas period, poor displays from Hariott & JBG. Good hold-up play from Igor but Davies gave him a tough afternoon.
All young keepers make mistakes. That is why the big clubs ship someone in who has practised at another club’s expense. Curb’s purchase of Dean Kylie at the time was a stroke of genius - remember he was an awful lot of money at the time, but how many points did he save us in the course of his career?
Our club is a smaller entity now (despite the obvious wealth of the owner). We accept or not the policy of using and developing the young talent available. My impression is that RD is steadying the ship and looking for a safe (mid table) finish this season. He is on course and will probably achieve target.
However, the next couple of seasons will be crucial. Supporters will want to kick on - or there will be a danger that the ‘floating vote’ will be taking up those (taxpayer subsidised) West Ham tickets.
For those with issues about Pope and Fox, Henderson and Wiggins are back soon...but I've never had a problem with our back five - not this season, nor with the squad of the last three years. Gomez is a star and should be played. Simples! As for our front six? No place for Solly! We missed Coquelin badly - I hope we see him again. Absolutely nothing happening on the left. It needs hard cash applied in January to deliver the results we need to push on. For sure we can appreciate the academy players but we are watching a slide into the wrong half of the table - a slow motion car crash which needs to be addressed.
The championship is not that good and the opponents I've seen lately are poor - Reading, Ipswich, Millwall and Blackpool all poor.
For sure we have decent players coming back soon but the whole club needs to be more aggressive about staking a claim in the top ten and then the top six.
Abject 1st half , I thought before today Pope was really good at crosses, but today he looked like a league 2 keeper, and out of his depth at this level.To be fair he made a good save in the 1st half, but he did end up costing us points , and will probably end up as this weeks whipping boy, his confidence and belief in himself looks shot to pieces , but then again to me Bikey doesn't look as good as he did at the start of the season , i hope the wheels are not coming off on our season already , we need to bounce back quickly from this , over to you Bob.
Pissed off with the goal, the defending, keeping, las minute capitulation etc. Everyone else seems to be as well so nothing more I can add.
What I will say - Chris Solly is an exceptional footballer. There are very few players who can switch from right back to center midfield and play some of the balls around that he was. Absolutely fantastic.
IF IF IF IF Bikey had not missed that open goal the mood on here would have been so different. Yes i know we would still of had the fox baiting and Pope is the anti christ.(ian paisley quote)
managers/coaches should dictate the tactics, For a man who is the total antithesis of Passive, i'm confused how we set up at home. I would keep playing Tucadean at home until we sign the number 9 of our dreams. (don't hold your breath)
Bob, do you want as to go for the 3rd goal or do you want us just to defend our lead ? when it went 2-2 ,we then create 2 chances in 4 mins thanks to George, if some of you didn't notice it was george who layed it on a plate for Bikey. The sad thing is we did pass well for a period of time then the mistakes crept in and we become timid with too many backward passes. Igor showed some glimpses, but has lost the sparkle of earlier in the season.
Both Millwall and Blackpool are teams you need to attack at home, but we were too negative in both matches.
Bournemouth fans you don't know how lucky you are, to have a team that just tries to outscore the oppos. You let in 3 and still win!
After winning our 1st 3 matches at home, the bar was raised too high with the players we have at the moment, 12 points clear of Brighton in 21st place is decent, even if we're all feeling rather flat.
I have read criticism of goalkeeper Pope for both of their goals and to be honest I thought that he was answerable myself. But although he was culpable, with a weak punch/flap for the first, after seeing their equaliser on the TV, I view that he was totally exposed by the "missing" defenders in the "dying" minutes, no pun relating to Bikey-Amougou intended.
Shocking first half. The worst 45 mins we've played since Sheffield Utd. No cohesion, no desire. We played reasonably well for 20 minutes after the break, though that's in comparison to a very poor Blackpool side. The real problem is that we never had the guile to make the most of our lead. The only players to really come out of it with much credit were Gomez who played very well, Solly who did his best in a foreign position and Ben Haim. Worst performances I've seen from Pope, Bikey and Vetokele.
We have dropped points that we shouldn't in the last 3 games at home now. That is simply not good enough. On the face of it it looks like we just aren't concentrating enough at the end and we've paid the price for two late misses and two softly conceded goals. But the truth is that we could have killed off all three of those games before it came around to those game changing moments. We are not attacking enough, not confident enough when we do attack and are therefore always in danger of being caught out by a sucker punch. Things have got to change. January is just around the corner and we need a decent striker and a decent attacking midfielder. More than that though we need to go out on the pitch with an ethos that says we can win - not just cling on for a point.
P.S. I'm relieved that we didn't let David Perkins or Ishmail Miller dominate us for once, but I think that probably says more about their performances and the team they are in than it does about us today.
I haven't seen the replay of the goal but in real time he looked flailing and completely at fault for both goals. If I can bring myself to watch it will tune in to the football league show to see the replay. Some that are on here read my earlier post and just assumed what was written there without digesting it fully and then wrote utter fucking dross. It was just so gutting to concede so late and in that manner. Anyone who thinks people should not be able to vent their frustrations at what was a terrible performance should maybe go and live in North Korea and get matey with the Dear Leader.
Didn't think it was a bad as many on here are saying. Pope made some bad errors. Gomez looked very good and Solly acquitted himself well out of position. Buyens spraying some nice balls around. Vetokele out of sorts again though! Biggest issue for me was that at 2-1 up we had some great chances to push forward and we didn't....we sat back and tried to retain possession and run the clock down when we should have tried for 3-1.
Suprised solly is getting pelters. Our midfield played very well I thought. Our problems were clearly in attack and in goal.
The most frustrating thing today was how beaten blackpool looked when we went ahead. Pope had nothing to do all game but still managed two disastrous error's.
Vetokele was a pile of wank. He didn't really look that up for it. Harriot was frustrating but at least he got on the ball.
I really liked seeing solly in that midfield role. He linked with gomez very well and provided additional cover at the back and forced their midfield in to countless mistakes. He is so good on the ball it makes sense to play him where he gets plenty of it.
A tedious 0-0 stalemate masquerading as a 2-2 thriller. Charlton are bottom of the Championship table for shots per game and Blackpool twenty second. You could see why this afternoon. The most remarkable thing about today's game was that two sides which carry no goal threat managed to score four goals between them.
It's no surprise that Bob Peeters wants to play Joe Gomez. Other players in the squad must look at him and think life simply isn't fair. I didn't think he played that well today, but at seventeen it simply shouldn't be possible to have his athleticism, pace, power, technical ability, time on the ball and football brain. He has the potential to be a truly exceptional player.
On the other hand, it was a surprise to see Chris Solly line up in central midfield. Some full backs can make that transition, but Solly has never struck me as likely to be one of them. Based on this afternoon's performance, I haven't revised my opinion. Not his fault. Strange selection.
Peeters can't think much of Bulot.
Solly lined up on the right side of a 4-4-2 Midfield diamond, with Buyens at the base, Cousins on the left and Gudmundsson at the tip, behind Vetokele and Harriott.
Really gutted at the result. How did Bikey miss that sitter? Pope gave away two goals needs to be dropped. Fox not good enough at this level. (Stuck up for him in the Ipswich game). Gomez a great prospect, why not play him instead of Bikey who is clearly not fit enough for the Championship. Bring back Morro, Play Chris Solly at LB Chris a superb player but not in midfield. Totally overshadowed by their Perkins. Is Peeters just a yes man for Roland, hope we get a decent striker and attacking midfield player in January sales. For me only Gomez, Cousins, Ben Haim and Buyens had a decent game. We can't blame Arsenal for wanting Coquein back after Ramsey's injury! How many goals have we conceded in the last 10 minutes? Preferred the football with Chris Powell!
Hope no-one is trying to take any positives out of this match that was absolute dross....as others have said i am looking over my shoulder rather than the other way....we still have to play most of the top teams away....
Just read the first page of posts and feeling more depressed than when their equaliser went in.
So, a few thoughts off the top of this old head before I move on.
Positives : I thought Gomez and Cousins were magnificent. Jordan thoroughly deserved to have his name on the score sheet today. And young Joe must have had the inevitable scouts from the Prem dribbling in the Directors' Box. Two absolute gems from the treasure chest of our much admired Academy. Yoni & JBG impressed on the whole with their endeavour and our centre backs do what they do best...and have done all season for me.
Of course, NO player is beyond criticism but my opinions are based on what I see on the pitch and I didn't see anyone hiding or not giving their all. Disagree if you wish, it matters not to me. Those who sit around me in the East are only too aware that I'll shout my support & encouragement until the cows come home but I'll also criticise when I feel it's called for. This afternoon, Callum probably bore the brunt of my frustration ( careful! ) with one of his poorer outings. Maybe my expectations were heightened following his hatrick at Bloomfield Rd last May and his goal last Saturday but he rarely got into 2nd gear today, I'm afraid. Maybe James May & Jeremy Clarkson should have a word in his ear.
So, where did it all go wrong ?
Well, it was another point gained....again, although we managed to throw them all away at the previous home game- albeit the opposition then was probably of a higher calibre. I'm remembering the lack of quality crosses into the box today and the hesitancy in getting a shot away rather than pass to A N Other who MIGHT be in a better position. Whether the latter is due to lack of confidence or on Bob's orders, remains to be seen but I seem to recall Curbs telling his players to shoot on sight....surely this is where a lucky deflection or simply the law of averages comes into play ? We know that Igor will always be a marked man so goals have to come from other players and Jordan's strike was a prime example of that this afternoon. I also note that a fair amount of criticism has been doled out in Popey's direction but for me, the free kick which led to their 2nd goal was iffy at the very least. I couldn't believe it when the ref signalled for our penalty...up to that point he seemed hellbent on favouring the Seasiders and it continued into the 2nd half. And finally, THE miss at the death. Haven't we watched numerous Premiership players & world class strikers miss sitters ? It obviously mattered to Andre as much as it did to us.
If this sounds as though I'm purely making excuses, you may be right. Maybe the fickle finger of fate should be pointed in the direction of the manager. But losing the influential Le Coq a mere 24 hours or so before the match must have disrupted Bob's plans yesterday and this must surely have had some bearing on the way his team was set up. Most have worried about the lack of depth in our squad for some weeks; JJ picks up an injury 7 days ago, Arsene recalls his man to sit knitting on the bench at The Emirates and voila, Bob has 2 fewer players in his petit squad. I'm not suggesting that Lee Clark's task is any easier but he has little to lose & everything to gain with the "strongest" team in the Championship...and they are fighting hard to get away from that unenviable position with seasoned pros like Eagles, Nosworthy, Miller & O'Hara. They were never going to be a pushover.
We ARE a work in progress. Bob is still learning as far as managing in the 2nd tier of English football goes. We have more young Academy graduates in the team, still learning their trade, than ever before. We have an unenviably small squad of fit players. And we have some "supporters" who feel that booing the team off the pitch is justified......Those are the facts in the gospel according to Fanny. I'm not brim full of festive cheer tonight but then, I'm guessing neither are our players & their management team. Whatever your feelings, they are an honest bunch and want success as much as we do. Be fair weather supporters if you must and withdraw to the warmth & comfort of your lounge, vowing to return when "things" get better. Fortunately, many of us don't subscribe to that definition of "supporter" and will be in our seats through thick & thin, health & wealth permitting. We're not wearing rose tinted specs - we're realists & as such, take the knocks when they inevitably come but always hope for improvement. And it has and will continue to come ...maybe not as quickly as some demand.
In the season of giving and goodwill to all men, please try to remember that a Club is for life, not just for the good times. And continue to give your support.
We struggled at home against the worst team in the division. What's worse is that they had a better squad last season, we had a worse squad and we still beat them 3-nil away.
Someone really needs to take our players to one side and remind them that the game doesn't end after 80 minutes and the season doesn't end after September. We are going to be in a relegation battle by the end of January and we fully deserve to be there when we piss away leads as pathetically as we do. The only things we have left to look forward to for the rest of the season are another cup run and Millwall away. Clearly if the players don't care about the other league games we still have left to play then why the hell should I?
Can't help but feel that if Chris Powell had put that team out, many on here would have been giving him merry hell tonight. And I can't for the life of me see why Bob Peters shouldn't get the same treatment tonight.
What on earth is it that makes sane, rational managers make these ridiculous team selections and play formations that the players at his disposal just aren't comfortable with? Sending the midfield out to play in a diamond formation, with Solly on the tip on the right, Cousins on the left and Gudmundsson behind the front 2 was bad enough; but to then switch Solly and Cousins, so that Solly played most of the first half wide left was just madness. And Gudmundsson looked the proverbial fish out of water playing behind the front 2.
Playing Solly in midfield completely negated one of our best attacking threats. Gomez is clearly a top prospect. (Let's hope Arsenal don't decide to have a pop at him in January). But today proved he is a centre half rather than a full back because every time he burst forward, he was struggling to cross the ball.
And I must admit I'm beginning to tire of this pit-pat football. Passing the ball like we are doing is great to watch but ultimately completely pointless if the ball just ends up going backwards- like it was going much of the day.
BP needs to be careful. I can see things going awry very quickly if he carries on with strange formations and players playing out of position.
@cafc-west I agree, but this is classic charlton..we've seen this from way-back-when. We cant kill a game off! We actively encourage the late equaliser. We are comfortable in possession, but lack ideas when it comes to the final third - yes we are a project in its infancy, but we seem to be a million miles from the team we were at the start of the season
As im sure many people have said; we were playing the team at the bottom of the league and yet, as a team we seemed perplexed that they may be full of running, and closing us down. We lack self belief, this is nothing new.
We need to re-group, find some slick passing, and some sort of cutting edge...we seem to be going through the motions and need to dig ourselves out of this self created rut
Could have won; should have won; ultimately didn't deserve the 3 points.
Disappointed in the way the team was set up from the outset. Solly is a great player at right back but never really looked the part in midfield and Bob missed a big opportunity to play an attacking 4-4-2 game against the weakest opposition I have seen for a long while.
Pope was at fault for both goals but not alone, the defence in front of him were weak on both goals too.
Terrible miss by Bikey, one of the worst I've ever seen.
People will say we need another striker and of course we do - but the 3 points were there for the taking today and ultimately it was Bob's tactics that are to blame for the fact we had to settle for a draw YET AGAIN.
Cant say it was mate but the officials today were piss poor, the referee and the linesman on the east stand side were diablical and even on the half hour mark when pope claimed a ball clearly a yard over the touchline just summed them up today...shambles
Poor performance, brings back memories when we lost to Swindon in 2000...
Nick Pope was at fault for the goals (Although marking was terrible) yet he's a young lad... He'll learn and he'll become a great goalkeeper one day.
Andre Bikey was unfortunate to be the player in that position at the end because he's a Defender for a reason, had that been Vetokele Im sure a lot of comments would be different.
Chris Solly... Lad definitely had a free role as he was all over the Midfield today and I thought he was quite good there (future possibility maybe as played a gorgeous through ball to Buyens at 2-1), early days as a captain yet we seriously seemed to miss Jackson's leadership today.
For those who claim that we refused to shoot I have to applaud Blackpool for that, they're in deep trouble and are going to throw bodies in the way, i.e. whats the point of shooting only for it to be easily blocked.. might as well just give them the ball.
Overall today though I think the biggest issue was Coquelin... Not blaming him in the slightest but with him only being recalled by Arsenal yesterday that would have thrown a huge spanner in the works, Peeters will have worked all week on a style to beat Blackpool that would have included Coquelin... for him to be recalled at such short notice would have been a huge blow and for me is why we looked so poor to begin with as the players got used to the change
All this lateral passing came back to haunt us today. We were 2-1 up soon after half-time and got forward well on the flanks for the next 30 minutes - yet as soon as Solly & Co caught sight of the box they played sideways and backwards, as if running down the clock.
The whole stadium was imploring them to advance: be merciless or take a gamble, finish off a team five points adrift at the bottom of the table. But no, we reverted to a crab-like caution with not a single man having the guts or ability to muscle forward or carve an opening.
We were flaky throughout: Pope flapped at the corner for Blackpool's first and missed his punch for their second; Fox repeatedly misplaced the shortest of passes; Vetokele is unable to control balls to his feet in the box. Our penalty arrived only after an accurate cross was missed by two consecutive air-shots; at the third attempt our man was bundled over. Can anyone excuse Bikey's appalling miss, unchallenged, six yards out, at the death?
We have an owner with fabulous wealth who sees great virtue in a pitifully thin squad based on an unhealthy mix of ordinary academy youngsters and failures from Standard Liege. Fifteen thousand Charlton fans demand far better than that.
I think Peeters got this one wrong unfortunately. I personally feel that his line-up and formation was slightly ambitious today.
He'll learn from that game though.
Gomez did well today, but we missed attacking flair down that side. I'm sure that if Solly was at right-back, Gudmundsson right-wing, Cousins in the middle with Bulot/Wilson outwide, we would have looked more comfortable.
Thankfully, we are still not too far adrift from the play-offs. We may have some tough run of fixtures coming up, but, we can then hopefully purchase some new and much-needed reinforcements come January.
Oh, and I hate to say it, but I felt we missed Coquelin as much as Jackson if I'm honest. Coquelin's urgency and tempo in midfield in the past few weeks was quite refreshing and it was obvious that our midfield lacked that today.
To use a CharltonLife cliche, i'm sure we'll 'move on' from this game.
Comments
Plenty of early optimism for this season but despite spending all of it so far in the right half of the table its just not been an especially enjoyable season to be a Charlton fan.
Come on Bob, lets get our season going again, please.
The back 4 were solid with special mention to Gomez & Fox. For Gomez to come into the side & play like that was very encouraging. Fox defensively coped OK & passed the ball intelligently. A couple of his through balls second half to Harriott & JBG were exceptional & opened up Blackpool but weren't capitalised on.
Pope was at fault for the opener & arguably for the equaliser. Shame as he has good games against Millwall, Ipswich & Forest.
MOM was Buyens though, confident in possesion & great distribution which was good to see with Jacko being out & Coquelin off.
Still think we'll have a good x-mas period, poor displays from Hariott & JBG. Good hold-up play from Igor but Davies gave him a tough afternoon.
We've lost our way.
Our club is a smaller entity now (despite the obvious wealth of the owner). We accept or not the policy of using and developing the young talent available. My impression is that RD is steadying the ship and looking for a safe (mid table) finish this season. He is on course and will probably achieve target.
However, the next couple of seasons will be crucial. Supporters will want to kick on - or there will be a danger that the ‘floating vote’ will be taking up those (taxpayer subsidised) West Ham tickets.
Gomez is a star and should be played. Simples!
As for our front six? No place for Solly! We missed Coquelin badly - I hope we see him again. Absolutely nothing happening on the left. It needs hard cash applied in January to deliver the results we need to push on.
For sure we can appreciate the academy players but we are watching a slide into the wrong half of the table - a slow motion car crash which needs to be addressed.
The championship is not that good and the opponents I've seen lately are poor - Reading, Ipswich, Millwall and Blackpool all poor.
For sure we have decent players coming back soon but the whole club needs to be more aggressive about staking a claim in the top ten and then the top six.
What I will say - Chris Solly is an exceptional footballer. There are very few players who can switch from right back to center midfield and play some of the balls around that he was. Absolutely fantastic.
Yes i know we would still of had the fox baiting and Pope is the anti christ.(ian paisley quote)
managers/coaches should dictate the tactics,
For a man who is the total antithesis of Passive, i'm confused how we set up at home.
I would keep playing Tucadean at home until we sign the number 9 of our dreams. (don't hold your breath)
Bob, do you want as to go for the 3rd goal or do you want us just to defend our lead ?
when it went 2-2 ,we then create 2 chances in 4 mins thanks to George, if some of you didn't notice
it was george who layed it on a plate for Bikey.
The sad thing is we did pass well for a period of time then the mistakes crept in and we become timid with too many backward passes.
Igor showed some glimpses, but has lost the sparkle of earlier in the season.
Both Millwall and Blackpool are teams you need to attack at home,
but we were too negative in both matches.
Bournemouth fans you don't know how lucky you are, to have a team that just tries to outscore the oppos.
You let in 3 and still win!
After winning our 1st 3 matches at home, the bar was raised too high with the players we have at the moment,
12 points clear of Brighton in 21st place is decent, even if we're all feeling rather flat.
Over to you Big Bob.
We have dropped points that we shouldn't in the last 3 games at home now. That is simply not good enough. On the face of it it looks like we just aren't concentrating enough at the end and we've paid the price for two late misses and two softly conceded goals. But the truth is that we could have killed off all three of those games before it came around to those game changing moments. We are not attacking enough, not confident enough when we do attack and are therefore always in danger of being caught out by a sucker punch. Things have got to change. January is just around the corner and we need a decent striker and a decent attacking midfielder. More than that though we need to go out on the pitch with an ethos that says we can win - not just cling on for a point.
P.S. I'm relieved that we didn't let David Perkins or Ishmail Miller dominate us for once, but I think that probably says more about their performances and the team they are in than it does about us today.
The most frustrating thing today was how beaten blackpool looked when we went ahead. Pope had nothing to do all game but still managed two disastrous error's.
Vetokele was a pile of wank. He didn't really look that up for it. Harriot was frustrating but at least he got on the ball.
I really liked seeing solly in that midfield role. He linked with gomez very well and provided additional cover at the back and forced their midfield in to countless mistakes. He is so good on the ball it makes sense to play him where he gets plenty of it.
Pope gave away two goals needs to be dropped.
Fox not good enough at this level. (Stuck up for him in the Ipswich game).
Gomez a great prospect, why not play him instead of Bikey
who is clearly not fit enough for the Championship.
Bring back Morro, Play Chris Solly at LB
Chris a superb player but not in midfield.
Totally overshadowed by their Perkins.
Is Peeters just a yes man for Roland, hope we get a decent striker
and attacking midfield player in January sales.
For me only Gomez, Cousins, Ben Haim and Buyens had a decent game.
We can't blame Arsenal for wanting Coquein back after Ramsey's injury!
How many goals have we conceded in the last 10 minutes?
Preferred the football with Chris Powell!
We've got more bleeding draws than Ikea.
So, a few thoughts off the top of this old head before I move on.
Positives : I thought Gomez and Cousins were magnificent. Jordan thoroughly deserved to have his name on the score sheet today. And young Joe must have had the inevitable scouts from the Prem dribbling in the Directors' Box. Two absolute gems from the treasure chest of our much admired Academy. Yoni & JBG impressed on the whole with their endeavour and our centre backs do what they do best...and have done all season for me.
Of course, NO player is beyond criticism but my opinions are based on what I see on the pitch and I didn't see anyone hiding or not giving their all. Disagree if you wish, it matters not to me. Those who sit around me in the East are only too aware that I'll shout my support & encouragement until the cows come home but I'll also criticise when I feel it's called for. This afternoon, Callum probably bore the brunt of my frustration ( careful! ) with one of his poorer outings. Maybe my expectations were heightened following his hatrick at Bloomfield Rd last May and his goal last Saturday but he rarely got into 2nd gear today, I'm afraid. Maybe James May & Jeremy Clarkson should have a word in his ear.
So, where did it all go wrong ?
Well, it was another point gained....again, although we managed to throw them all away at the previous home game- albeit the opposition then was probably of a higher calibre. I'm remembering the lack of quality crosses into the box today and the hesitancy in getting a shot away rather than pass to A N Other who MIGHT be in a better position. Whether the latter is due to lack of confidence or on Bob's orders, remains to be seen but I seem to recall Curbs telling his players to shoot on sight....surely this is where a lucky deflection or simply the law of averages comes into play ? We know that Igor will always be a marked man so goals have to come from other players and Jordan's strike was a prime example of that this afternoon. I also note that a fair amount of criticism has been doled out in Popey's direction but for me, the free kick which led to their 2nd goal was iffy at the very least. I couldn't believe it when the ref signalled for our penalty...up to that point he seemed hellbent on favouring the Seasiders and it continued into the 2nd half. And finally, THE miss at the death. Haven't we watched numerous Premiership players & world class strikers miss sitters ? It obviously mattered to Andre as much as it did to us.
If this sounds as though I'm purely making excuses, you may be right. Maybe the fickle finger of fate should be pointed in the direction of the manager. But losing the influential Le Coq a mere 24 hours or so before the match must have disrupted Bob's plans yesterday and this must surely have had some bearing on the way his team was set up. Most have worried about the lack of depth in our squad for some weeks; JJ picks up an injury 7 days ago, Arsene recalls his man to sit knitting on the bench at The Emirates and voila, Bob has 2 fewer players in his petit squad. I'm not suggesting that Lee Clark's task is any easier but he has little to lose & everything to gain with the "strongest" team in the Championship...and they are fighting hard to get away from that unenviable position with seasoned pros like Eagles, Nosworthy, Miller & O'Hara. They were never going to be a pushover.
We ARE a work in progress. Bob is still learning as far as managing in the 2nd tier of English football goes. We have more young Academy graduates in the team, still learning their trade, than ever before. We have an unenviably small squad of fit players. And we have some "supporters" who feel that booing the team off the pitch is justified......Those are the facts in the gospel according to Fanny. I'm not brim full of festive cheer tonight but then, I'm guessing neither are our players & their management team. Whatever your feelings, they are an honest bunch and want success as much as we do. Be fair weather supporters if you must and withdraw to the warmth & comfort of your lounge, vowing to return when "things" get better. Fortunately, many of us don't subscribe to that definition of "supporter" and will be in our seats through thick & thin, health & wealth permitting. We're not wearing rose tinted specs - we're realists & as such, take the knocks when they inevitably come but always hope for improvement. And it has and will continue to come ...maybe not as quickly as some demand.
In the season of giving and goodwill to all men, please try to remember that a Club is for life, not just for the good times. And continue to give your support.
Keep the faith.
Someone really needs to take our players to one side and remind them that the game doesn't end after 80 minutes and the season doesn't end after September. We are going to be in a relegation battle by the end of January and we fully deserve to be there when we piss away leads as pathetically as we do. The only things we have left to look forward to for the rest of the season are another cup run and Millwall away. Clearly if the players don't care about the other league games we still have left to play then why the hell should I?
What on earth is it that makes sane, rational managers make these ridiculous team selections and play formations that the players at his disposal just aren't comfortable with? Sending the midfield out to play in a diamond formation, with Solly on the tip on the right, Cousins on the left and Gudmundsson behind the front 2 was bad enough; but to then switch Solly and Cousins, so that Solly played most of the first half wide left was just madness. And Gudmundsson looked the proverbial fish out of water playing behind the front 2.
Playing Solly in midfield completely negated one of our best attacking threats. Gomez is clearly a top prospect. (Let's hope Arsenal don't decide to have a pop at him in January). But today proved he is a centre half rather than a full back because every time he burst forward, he was struggling to cross the ball.
And I must admit I'm beginning to tire of this pit-pat football. Passing the ball like we are doing is great to watch but ultimately completely pointless if the ball just ends up going backwards- like it was going much of the day.
BP needs to be careful. I can see things going awry very quickly if he carries on with strange formations and players playing out of position.
As im sure many people have said; we were playing the team at the bottom of the league and yet, as a team we seemed perplexed that they may be full of running, and closing us down. We lack self belief, this is nothing new.
We need to re-group, find some slick passing, and some sort of cutting edge...we seem to be going through the motions and need to dig ourselves out of this self created rut
Disappointed in the way the team was set up from the outset. Solly is a great player at right back but never really looked the part in midfield and Bob missed a big opportunity to play an attacking 4-4-2 game against the weakest opposition I have seen for a long while.
Pope was at fault for both goals but not alone, the defence in front of him were weak on both goals too.
Terrible miss by Bikey, one of the worst I've ever seen.
People will say we need another striker and of course we do - but the 3 points were there for the taking today and ultimately it was Bob's tactics that are to blame for the fact we had to settle for a draw YET AGAIN.
The whole stadium was imploring them to advance: be merciless or take a gamble, finish off a team five points adrift at the bottom of the table. But no, we reverted to a crab-like caution with not a single man having the guts or ability to muscle forward or carve an opening.
We were flaky throughout: Pope flapped at the corner for Blackpool's first and missed his punch for their second; Fox repeatedly misplaced the shortest of passes; Vetokele is unable to control balls to his feet in the box. Our penalty arrived only after an accurate cross was missed by two consecutive air-shots; at the third attempt our man was bundled over. Can anyone excuse Bikey's appalling miss, unchallenged, six yards out, at the death?
We have an owner with fabulous wealth who sees great virtue in a pitifully thin squad based on an unhealthy mix of ordinary academy youngsters and failures from Standard Liege. Fifteen thousand Charlton fans demand far better than that.
He'll learn from that game though.
Gomez did well today, but we missed attacking flair down that side. I'm sure that if Solly was at right-back, Gudmundsson right-wing, Cousins in the middle with Bulot/Wilson outwide, we would have looked more comfortable.
Thankfully, we are still not too far adrift from the play-offs. We may have some tough run of fixtures coming up, but, we can then hopefully purchase some new and much-needed reinforcements come January.
Oh, and I hate to say it, but I felt we missed Coquelin as much as Jackson if I'm honest. Coquelin's urgency and tempo in midfield in the past few weeks was quite refreshing and it was obvious that our midfield lacked that today.
To use a CharltonLife cliche, i'm sure we'll 'move on' from this game.