Where did the enthusiasm and recent energy go? When I saw the team sheet I genuinely thought we'd win. Then it kicked-off and we looked flat. I thought there was a strange atmosphere in the ground - both on the pitch and in the stands - bit of a feel of surrender right from the start. Not saying anything about individual errors - but there seemed to be a few disinterested players out there again. On the plus side Cousins ran his heart out (again). Buyens looked steady, and Watt dangerous, but Vetokele really needs to work on his first touch...
One of those days where for some reason it just doesn't seem to work for anyone. Watt and Igor never really seemed to get fired up, the midfield were busy but ineffective and the usually solid defence made some totally uncharacteristic errors that just Rhodes is always going to gobble up cheerfully.
Bad day at the office/valley, but we move swiftly on. Two wins over the next week to keep the form looking decent and stop a stumble and we'll be fine.
I only hope Luzon does not make too many changes for Tuesday, our defence cannot play that badly, as a group, again. We need to forget this game and come out all guns blazing against Blackpool and Reading, who both got a hiding today
Strange game to put into writing , we did we deserve to lose say no was we the better footballing team yes .. There nothing you can do with individual errors and s poor ref .. First Solly who had the worst 45 mins ever the throw in was ours so first why clear IT and second boot the thing into row Z not straight to the player .. Second Johnson just took his eye of the ball and bang 2-0 .... To be honest up to Solly mistake there had not been much in the game . But credit to Charlton even at 2-0 we still played well and on the eve of HT a crucial decision goes against us , keeper could only clear to Vetokeke who shoots towards goal only for the ball to strike the defender clearly on the arm not only a pen but sending off ,, nothing second half keeper takes out Vetokele who was about to score Pen but more amazing the keeper stayed on they should have been playing with nine men ??? After Vetokeke hits the bar/ Post and Watt scraps the post with a shot just wide ... Plus points performance was good , but today just was not our day
You obviously watched a different game to me if you thought we were the better team. Our defending was poor, their's was solid. We gifted them the ball in our half regularly, they took out the threat of Watt with solid defending and passed it out of their half smartly. They took their chances in front of goal, we didn't. They looked sharp in our half, we looked laboured in their's. That makes them the better side in my book.
Other than being slightly annoying and fussy, I didn't think the ref was particularly bad. For the pen, the ball was going away from goal and defenders were getting back. I wasn't at all convinced that Igor would have had a chance to score if he had got past the keeper. I didn't see any hand ball in the first half, but might have missed it. There was no reaction from anyone around me.
I disagree on Fox going forward. I feel he is like a rabbit trapped in the headlights. He looks like he does not want the ball and does not have the ability to do anything with it when he gets it. Ben Heim, Johnson & Solly made terrible mistakes.
Diarra and Gomez at centre back might have done better, with hindsight, obviously. Really odd atmosphere in Floyd Road at five to three. Bloke got a drink thrown over him and looked like there would be a fight. Those Belgians were an odd bunch. Not happy clappy smiley continental types at all.
Probably our worst defensive performance of the season. All of the back 4 had an off day and if you give a decent team like Blackburn a 2 goal start you are asking for trouble. At least with 48 pts already on the board it probably doesn't matter that much and we have very winnable looking games coming up, but we will have to defend a lot better than that or even blackpool might upset us.
On one hand if the the ref sends the keeper off, or the Igor header goes in or Watt puts his chance away we may have got something. But for most parts of the game we were off the pace, conceded poor goals and Henderson made some good saves.
Fox was our best defender which shows how poor the other 3 were. Obvious change for Tuesday is for Gomez to come back in
After such a great run a defeat and flat performance was always due, good to see what reaction we get Tuesday night
A typical Championship result, in which a form team has a dip and is well beaten. Blackburn were just better than us today (and with Gestede on the bench), and with our defence being pretty poor all round, must wish they could play us every week...
Poor defensively and poor finishing - should have done better. Johnson was terrible in the first 45 - reminded me of Llera. Played okay in parts of the game. Rhodes finally impressed me.
I only hope Luzon does not make too many changes for Tuesday, our defence cannot play that badly, as a group, again. We need to forget this game and come out all guns blazing against Blackpool and Reading, who both got a hiding today
The 'tanned Gary Stevens' likes to change things around, do not be surprised.
That performance six weeks ago would have led to suicides and lynchings. Important not to get carried away and hopefully it was just a bad day at the office/a game between two squads who are rapidly approaching "on the beach" mode. But boy it was a bad day. No one except Hendo and Bulot get pass marks from me. Fox was easily the best player in the back four and he was a five out of ten. Watt looked unfit and for some reason we switched off just as we were grabbing the game by the scruff if the neck. Three dreadful goals to give away so we have no excuses. Blackburn were a run of the mill championship side with one lethal finisher. Poor, and a bit of a reality check. But, in the overall run of things, no reason to avoid the knife drawer in the kitchen.
I only hope Luzon does not make too many changes for Tuesday, our defence cannot play that badly, as a group, again. We need to forget this game and come out all guns blazing against Blackpool and Reading, who both got a hiding today
The 'tanned Gary Stevens' likes to change things around, do not be surprised.
That's Guy's song sorted. 'You're just a tanned Gary Stevens'.
But credit to Charlton even at 2-0 we still played well and on the eve of HT a crucial decision goes against us , keeper could only clear to Vetokeke who shoots towards goal only for the ball to strike the defender clearly on the arm not only a pen but sending off
Nothing went right from the start. Flat and uninspiring. Not much to take from the game at all really. However the recent results have helped soften the blow of the result i suppose. the upside was the game was so dull, it enabled me to leave very early and get home at a decent time (:
ROJO had an absolute nightmare, but I think we can forgive him that.
I kept a close eye on Rhodes today. He doesn't particularly do very much, but the positions he takes are the reason he gets so many goals. great knack of being in the right place at the right time - players like that are worth their weight in gold.
3 mistakes gave them 3 goals , 2-1 down igor hits the bar another day that goes in different story 3-1 flatters them but to be fair Blackburn not a bad side and a fair result would av 1-2 or even 2-3 to them , anyway the spanner mugs lost so all ends well , up The addicks.
Pathetic. Sorry but I'm not buying that performance. Defence were abysmal. All it needed was a bit of pressing from Blackburn to panic them. I also thought and think Vetokele has been poor for a while now. Ironic given that he's actually got a decent partner up top in Watt. Sorry Igor, do you want to go back to the glory days of being up top on your own or playing off Harriott or Tucudean?
He needs to shape up and pull his weight. Can't hold the ball up and his finishing has gone astray.
Bulot anonymous as was JBG. Buyens played a killer ball for their 3rd, here was I worrying he could only play it sideways
Very odd and flat performance/atmosphere. I felt flat myself on my way there, which was unusual.
I think I'll put today down to a bad day at the office. Didn't think I'd say that Morgan Fox was our best defender, but he probably was. I feel we are a bit slow and predictable in possession at times and despite having a decent spell at the start of the second half, didn't really cause Blackburn any real problems. Having said that, Watt really should have scored at 1-2 and it could well have been a different game had he taken that chance. Starting to worry that Igor has been "Charltonised". Thought Bulot did well and am continuing to be pleased with the discipline and defensive side to his game which is so much better than it was when he first joined. At times Johann tried to add some urgency and zip to the play but it just wasn't happening. We move on.
His crosses weren't great (over hits too many of them) but he was the only player in the back four today who didn't give the ball away in a dangerous defensive position at least once.
Solly: almost got TBH sent off with a hospital ball TBH: out of position for first goal & panicked in possession straight after third goal which almost gave them a fourth but for Henderson Johnson: solely responsible for second goal Fox: ermm... maybe his crosses could be more accurate?
You forgot to blame Solly for the first when a schoolboy error by him cost us the goal - he should have hoofed it into the top of the stand to allow us to reshape but instead dinked it out allowing Blackburn a quick throw in and bingo, goal number 1.
His crosses weren't great (over hits too many of them) but he was the only player in the back four today who didn't give the ball away in a dangerous defensive position at least once.
Solly: almost got TBH sent off with a hospital ball TBH: out of position for first goal & panicked in possession straight after third goal which almost gave them a fourth but for Henderson Johnson: solely responsible for second goal Fox: ermm... maybe his crosses could be more accurate?
You forgot to blame Solly for the first when a schoolboy error by him cost us the goal - he should have hoofed it into the top of the stand to allow us to reshape but instead dinked it out allowing Blackburn a quick throw in and bingo, goal number 1.
Or left it completely. It was going out for our throw in. I couldn't believe he even touched it
Bit harsh on Solly there Purdis, Blackburn took that throw very well and worked it quickly and accurately - far more often you'd see teams that take throws THAT fast break down pretty quickly as they aren't ready themselves. Hindsight says Solly should have leathered it but Solly doesn't really have sole responsibility for that one.
No-one came out of that covered in glory, especially not from a defensive perspective. You can't give someone like Rhodes the kind of opportunities he got today and not expect him to punish you. That's the difference a player like that can make, Watt CAN be that player for us but he's still got something to prove with consistency opposed to a (VERY impressive) purple patch of form.
A clinical performance from Blackburn - took their chances when they were gifted and knew all the tricks when we were on the up - slow the game down or stop it completely and break up our momentum.
Another day we might have got something out of it - at least we gave it a decent go.
Felt sorry for Bulot as he was the victim of poor support and movement as we were too pedestrian for much of the first half.
I commented this morning that today would be a good test to compare this team with that of 11 months ago when we lost by the same scoreline but it could have ended up at 8-1 - such was Blackburn's superiority this time last year.
Today that was not the case and with a bit of luck with Igor's header and Watt's run and near miss, we could well have taken or, at least, shared the points.
Not a good performance - too many players in holiday mode from the kick off but we gave it a go and just one of those games.
The referee spent an awful long time looking to the linesman after Rhodes nodded in goal 3 - sure he thought it was offside. Don't think it was, though'
Started slowly and then started giving them goals, lots of easy passes going astray. Yet even though we were terrible we still created chances, which is a positive at least.
Ironically, ask supporters to pick the team for today, before 3pm and I guarantee most would have picked this team
The good news is that this team probably could beat Blackburn had they come out of the starting blocks properly whereas last year's team had no chance.
Suddenly we have started all that passing back, across, into the centre circle, back to the keeper - boot up field and give them the ball, stuff again.
Crap to watch and not very effective.
You can thank Blackburn for that along with our pedestrian start with poor movement and support - at one point I thought we had come to the game afraid of them.
The saying that it's much easier to pass backwards than forwards certainly applied today - first half, anyway and it was this problem that cost us the first two goals.
Buyens was often isolated in midfield and he wasn't at his best which exacerbated the lack of support.
Basically, we didn"t work hard enough - we should be coming to the ball, wanting the ball, dropping into holes to receive and invite the pass - but we were simply too pedestrian.
I was a little surprised at the distance between our back four, particularly Ben Haim & Johnson in the first half and Johnson's mistake may have been recoverable, had we been supporting better defensively. Blackburn were much tighter and quite often had 3-4 defenders closing down and pressing Igor or Tony on most occasions.
Second half we were much better - need to play for 90 minutes and today was a chance for the lads to attract season ticket sales so a little surprised at our poor work rate from the off.
Couldn't see how RoJo would cope with Rhodes or Gestade today? Gestade didn't have to get off the bench.
So much for them being tired after the mid week game. so much for us being fresh after a clear week.
4 straight wins against us now and they looked like scoring with every attack.
If a guy is rated at 12 million, you don't need to give him gifts, Plus the bouncing ball today gave as so many problems at the back ?
Thought they were very good today and forced us into mistakes. The fact that Hendo was our best player today said it all. should have been 4-3 to them but don't feel down because i couldn't see how we could beat them unless they turned up knackered from the last 8 days. We were rightly punished for 3 bad goals.
Onto the beach and the Blackpool donkeys on Tuesday, or if you don't fancy that, go to the seaside !
Most have called the game as it was on the thread. Charlton outclassed by Blackburn for most of the game. Good finish from Rhodes from mistake from Solly and TBH for the first. Terrible mistake by Johnson for the second. Not sure if TBH and Johnson had played together before, if not looked like it, the partnership did not work well at all.
Buyens misplaced a ton of passes particularly in the final third. Great at penalties, but Blackburn really had his number. Charlton need a forward playing creative midfielder. Buyens is not it.
Football is a strange game that Charlton could have got back 2-2 and potentially gone onto win it. Blackburn fell over, broke up play, controlled the ball and the momentum was lost. Then the good finish but mistake for the third that killed the game off.
Mid table beckons. After the bad mid season run, I guess Charlton supporters would take that. That and Millwall being relegated.
Comments
Bad day at the office/valley, but we move swiftly on. Two wins over the next week to keep the form looking decent and stop a stumble and we'll be fine.
Other than being slightly annoying and fussy, I didn't think the ref was particularly bad. For the pen, the ball was going away from goal and defenders were getting back. I wasn't at all convinced that Igor would have had a chance to score if he had got past the keeper. I didn't see any hand ball in the first half, but might have missed it. There was no reaction from anyone around me.
Really odd atmosphere in Floyd Road at five to three. Bloke got a drink thrown over him and looked like there would be a fight. Those Belgians were an odd bunch. Not happy clappy smiley continental types at all.
Fox was our best defender which shows how poor the other 3 were. Obvious change for Tuesday is for Gomez to come back in
After such a great run a defeat and flat performance was always due, good to see what reaction we get Tuesday night
Played okay in parts of the game.
Rhodes finally impressed me.
You answered your own question.
Ball to hand.
The laws clearly state no offence has occurred.
ROJO had an absolute nightmare, but I think we can forgive him that.
I kept a close eye on Rhodes today. He doesn't particularly do very much, but the positions he takes are the reason he gets so many goals. great knack of being in the right place at the right time - players like that are worth their weight in gold.
The addicks.
He needs to shape up and pull his weight. Can't hold the ball up and his finishing has gone astray.
Bulot anonymous as was JBG. Buyens played a killer ball for their 3rd, here was I worrying he could only play it sideways
That result has put me on a downer.
I think I'll put today down to a bad day at the office. Didn't think I'd say that Morgan Fox was our best defender, but he probably was.
I feel we are a bit slow and predictable in possession at times and despite having a decent spell at the start of the second half, didn't really cause Blackburn any real problems. Having said that, Watt really should have scored at 1-2 and it could well have been a different game had he taken that chance. Starting to worry that Igor has been "Charltonised". Thought Bulot did well and am continuing to be pleased with the discipline and defensive side to his game which is so much better than it was when he first joined. At times Johann tried to add some urgency and zip to the play but it just wasn't happening. We move on.
No-one came out of that covered in glory, especially not from a defensive perspective. You can't give someone like Rhodes the kind of opportunities he got today and not expect him to punish you. That's the difference a player like that can make, Watt CAN be that player for us but he's still got something to prove with consistency opposed to a (VERY impressive) purple patch of form.
Another day we might have got something out of it - at least we gave it a decent go.
Felt sorry for Bulot as he was the victim of poor support and movement as we were too pedestrian for much of the first half.
I commented this morning that today would be a good test to compare this team with that of 11 months ago when we lost by the same scoreline but it could have ended up at 8-1 - such was Blackburn's superiority this time last year.
Today that was not the case and with a bit of luck with Igor's header and Watt's run and near miss, we could well have taken or, at least, shared the points.
Not a good performance - too many players in holiday mode from the kick off but we gave it a go and just one of those games.
The referee spent an awful long time looking to the linesman after Rhodes nodded in goal 3 - sure he thought it was offside. Don't think it was, though'
Was disappointed not to have seen Gomez start.
The saying that it's much easier to pass backwards than forwards certainly applied today - first half, anyway and it was this problem that cost us the first two goals.
Buyens was often isolated in midfield and he wasn't at his best which exacerbated the lack of support.
Basically, we didn"t work hard enough - we should be coming to the ball, wanting the ball, dropping into holes to receive and invite the pass - but we were simply too pedestrian.
I was a little surprised at the distance between our back four, particularly Ben Haim & Johnson in the first half and Johnson's mistake may have been recoverable, had we been supporting better defensively.
Blackburn were much tighter and quite often had 3-4 defenders closing down and pressing Igor or Tony on most occasions.
Second half we were much better - need to play for 90 minutes and today was a chance for the lads to attract season ticket sales so a little surprised at our poor work rate from the off.
Gestade didn't have to get off the bench.
So much for them being tired after the mid week game.
so much for us being fresh after a clear week.
4 straight wins against us now and they looked like scoring with every attack.
If a guy is rated at 12 million, you don't need to give him gifts,
Plus the bouncing ball today gave as so many problems at the back ?
Thought they were very good today and forced us into mistakes.
The fact that Hendo was our best player today said it all.
should have been 4-3 to them but don't feel down because i couldn't see how we could beat them unless they turned up knackered from the last 8 days.
We were rightly punished for 3 bad goals.
Onto the beach and the Blackpool donkeys on Tuesday, or if you don't fancy that, go to the seaside !
Cheerio Millwall
Buyens misplaced a ton of passes particularly in the final third. Great at penalties, but Blackburn really had his number. Charlton need a forward playing creative midfielder. Buyens is not it.
Football is a strange game that Charlton could have got back 2-2 and potentially gone onto win it. Blackburn fell over, broke up play, controlled the ball and the momentum was lost. Then the good finish but mistake for the third that killed the game off.
Mid table beckons. After the bad mid season run, I guess Charlton supporters would take that. That and Millwall being relegated.