Very poor performance again, although we looked like we were trying, unlike Tuesday. I'm afraid to say we are just not good enough. Solly (unusually) & Fox were quite frankly awful & the rest not much better, we even made Mcormack look good. Make Jacko manager & get Curbs in to help him out.
Worse than Preston in the sense that this time we had something approaching our best team out. The last slim hope is that form will return with fitness. That won't help Fox however who, in any other circumstances (i.e. a decent size squad) would be out on loan at a lower division. I still have my season ticket and I'm still along for the ride but there is no pleasure in it unless it is the perverse and morbid fascination of seeing your club disintegrate before your eyes.
I imagine Duchatelet is feeling a bit stuck. His half-baked ideas have come to nought, he appears to have no intention of investing more in the short term and he will never offload without taking a massive haircut. I imagine he will hang around, try to develop the youth set-up and then recoup his money through player sales as and when anyone comes along who looks even half decent.
I thought a decade ago that we had finally put to rest our image as a part-tragic, part-farcical club that nobody could take very seriously. Turned out that was a blip. Natural order has been restored and once again the only way to admit you support Charlton ('Charlton-nil') is with an apologetic shrug and a wry smile.
Anyway, as for the match -my Doctor says I've got a persecution complex because I'm convinced Morgan Fox plays absolute shite every week for 90 minutes just to wind me up personally! Unfortunately today there were at least 10 other contenders for 'Worst Charlton performance of all time'. I mean, Brentford looked like Barca -and McCormack (who struggled for us)- today looked a world beater
Came out fairly lively but with our amateur levels of fitness we couldn't sustain it for more than ten minutes.
How can you make mccormack look like a world beater? He is plod but still managed to look busy against our overweight and unfit players. They really do look like a pub team in terms of fitness against the rest of the Championship.
Shocking that JJ was the most energetic player on the pitch. Played his socks off, well done.
Morgan Fox has the worst right foot I've seen in the modern game. You can't be a professional player if you can't kick or control a ball with your weaker foot. He was absolutely pony today and Solly wasn't much better.
BMIK. Watt showed flashes of brilliance but is no team player.
On today's showing the only player I'd want at championship level is Henderson. Bauer is so slow to track a runner
JJ you sure ,,,,, McCormack run past him time and time again , Jackson showed why he should not be in the starting line , so outpaced for most of the game
Bore off Colin.
Both Cousins and Jackson were embarrassingly abysmal. Jacko is not to blame - the guy shouldn't be starting matches at this level. Fulham showed that he can be effective off the bench which is the best way to use him, but who else do we have?
5 mins after half time I couldn't believe the body language!!! I. Said to a mate " we have thrown the towel in " what the actual fuck did Luzon say ? We weren't good before the break but they looked totally shot after half time ! And the substitution was right up there with the worst ever !!! I could play in our midfield not because I'm any good but because I give a shit!!
We were over-run in the middle yet they had three on ones against our fullbacks time and time again.
Something is seriously wrong with your shape if that is allowed to happen, I mean I didn't even know that both those things happening at once were possible!
Did anyone else witness the prick in the West Upper block M offering out another bloke four seats away during the 2nd half and doing the hold me back bit even though nobody was trying too. The fella who was on the receiving end left soon after. The stupid twat did a similar thing to a different bloke during half-time on Tuesday. Stewards appeared eventually, once the heat had gone out of it. Absolute moron.
Was in my row a few seats away- you know things are bad when it's kicking off in the West Stand Upper.
Oh dear, while the squad size and make up is highly questionable, a dismal performance. Two matches running we've come up against better organised and fitter opposition
It might have been different if one of the 3 decent chances in the first ten minutes had gone in. The best of those was from Moussa and he was only a few yards out and blasted it wide. This could have changed the game. But they didn't go in and Brentford got back into the game. There was a great cross and 1-0. The marking was really poor. Bauer looked impressive and Sarr better than I thought but collectively the defensive looked really vulnerable. The midfield 4 sat back and there was a massive gap between the Jackson and Cousins and the front 2. One of these gaps allowed a Brentford thunderbolt that come back off the bar.
The second half was really poor. Charlton never got going, a second easy Brentford goal. A few subs on with Reza replacing falling down with getting caught offside. Brentford were solid and took Charlton apart with ease. An excellent 3rd Brentford goal in a sweeping move and an exodus from the home crowd. The last time, I have the seen the ground as empty as that was Pardew's last game against Sheff Utd, when Charlton got hammered in the season Charlton got relegated from the Championship last time. I think it was emptier this time.
There is quality in the team but they played like an incoherent bunch of strangers. The midfield was overrun but there was no counter strategy from Luzon (4231 / 4321). The team lacks wingers, creative central midfield and a regular goal scorer. A team may get away with having one of them but all of them ? No chance. Luzon's strategy was poor but what head coach with manager would manage with such a weak squad ? That is down to Roland and the squad built is one that will do well to avoid relegation. It is not just down to injuries, IMO, unless Roland strengthens significantly in January 16 then the team has a real desperate fight on their hands.
My thoughts for what they're worth. Completely overrun. We actually played a far better team than Preston today IMO. Brentford's 2 and 3rd goals were examples of what real football is. Quick, one/two touch, movement and clinical finishing. We were the polar opposite. We are a such a slow, insipid and uninspiring bunch it's laughable. We take 900 passes to skirt the centre circle, whereas Brentford do it the right way.
Cousins and Jackson were awful. Fox shocking. Solly, God knows what's happened to him. Moussa did nothing. Mak isn't confident with the ball at his feet. Why don't we try getting crosses into him. Having said that we'd need wingers that can cross. Watt, again he has talent, but always seems to fail to find the final shot or pass. Sarr about the only one to come out okay I thought.
Given GL's sacking it's hard to know if some of those players had given up on him, seems that way. However I worry about some of those players now.
Before you block/flag me, let me say my piece. Don't care if I'm blocked from using this site, I'm gonna say what I feel, what a forum is for.
I thought Guy was the one, I thought the board were investing in the "club" which they have, stadium, pitch, youth. However, not investing in the squad, has taken its toll. Being naive thinking youth will provide a healthy balance sheet, from day one, is delusional. To receive bums on seats you need a good squad. The improvement of facilities and training ground is great, but only if you back it up with the squad to compete. I thought RD/KM were the right ones to take us forward. Seems to me I was wrong or naive, or maybe both.
Tonight brings a realisation. A realisation of all you involved bringing the club back. A club with pride, tradition , and values. All have been lost recently. I pray I wake up tomorrow, it all being a dream, but I know it won't be a dream.
If anyone else has an incline, no matter how small, of how we can make this club great again, please advise. I for one, will strive to make this club, Charlton Athletic, the respected club it once was. With hard working, passionate (just like you guys and girls during time at selhurst) people, we can make this club great and proud, like we all were.
It does seem like most of watched the same match for a change. 3 golden chances, 2 set up by Watt. Is there someone in the away end with their Arse Showing Because our strikers get put off game after game when it seems easier to score. After we had let Brentford off 3 times in that first 12 minutes, there was only going to be 1 winner, as they got their passing game going and we start running in treacle. Agreed that both full backs got the run around and the only positive was the two CB's were good and young Sarr had his best game and could end up being decent. all 4 of the mid field struggled and the attacks fizzled out after the 1st quarter. The fitness levels of this side is woeful. We don't look like we had pre season training.
The first 5-10 minutes were good and both teams had chances.Then Brentford stepped into second gear and wiped the floor with us. So many things wrong with our players at the moment and........I can't even be bothered to finish this post about how embarrassing we are as a football team right now. Bored shitless today and I was left thinking about the glory days when we had a decent manager and were giving the likes of Chelsea a hammering.
Before you block/flag me, let me say my piece. Don't care if I'm blocked from using this site, I'm gonna say what I feel, what a forum is for.
I thought Guy was the one, I thought the board were investing in the "club" which they have, stadium, pitch, youth. However, not investing in the squad, has taken its toll. Being naive thinking youth will provide a healthy balance sheet, from day one, is delusional. To receive bums on seats you need a good squad. The improvement of facilities and training ground is great, but only if you back it up with the squad to compete. I thought RD/KM were the right ones to take us forward. Seems to me I was wrong or naive, or maybe both.
Tonight brings a realisation. A realisation of all you involved bringing the club back. A club with pride, tradition , and values. All have been lost recently. I pray I wake up tomorrow, it all being a dream, but I know it won't be a dream.
If anyone else has an incline, no matter how small, of how we can make this club great again, please advise. I for one, will strive to make this club, Charlton Athletic, the respected club it once was. With hard working, passionate (just like you guys and girls during time at selhurst) people, we can make this club great and proud, like we all were.
What of Roland, Katrien or Guy's pasts suggested that they were going to be good for this club?
This is not a disagreement - I am genuinely asking.
Every word of caution from the Standard and ST fans who posted on here when Roland pitched up has proved to be spot on, sadly.
Didn't make it today as had tickets for the all blacks South Africa semi final. Internet non existent at twickenham so couldn't follow the game much to my boys disappointment during the game. Two 0-3 defeats at home to bottom table sides isn't acceptable no matter what the injury list. I liked Luzon but he has always seemed to have current favourites and current players he won't play. Losing Bikey because he and Luzon did not get on has cost us a fortune. If we are going to play Fox, he needs to get on properly with Watt. The manager should help this to happen. We need a team builder, I think the individual quality is there but we need a Charlton team. Simple:
It was a bit better than Tuesday I felt but still the confidence factor. If one of those go in for us early on, it's possibly a different game. It ives the crowd a a big lift as well as the team. When your confidence is out your confidence is well and truely out.
Today I made my way to Charlton and parked in the familiar streets of my childhood. Walking to the ground, I noted the fallen autumn leaves clinging to the damp, grimy and uneven pavements; the dirty and cracked masonry of the ageing houses; the dark, huddled groups of fans drifting towards the Valley; the rancid smell of ancient burger grease; the children, the poor children being inducted into football's hall of shame.
I felt that familiar flicker of hope. Yet somehow I also knew that, yet again, a couple of hours later I would be asking myself "why do I bother", echoing the words of my dad on so many saturdays over the years. Back then, with the simplistic attitudes of youth, I saw those words as a minor betrayal of the club we both loved. Now, I realise they were spoken with the same resigned, unreasoning, affection that I feel for this shabby basket-case of a club.
In a way, the result didn't matter today. I feel resigned to life under Roland and Katrien. If we go down, we go down - and at least that might make them go. Please God.
Today felt more than usual like coming home. Shit all-round, yet just what I have become used to.
Most of us knew that Luzon was the wrong man right from the start (as was Peeters before him), and the only surprise is that Duchatelet didn't wait longer before firing the bullet.
The excuses had run out: our first-choice players returned from injury and suspension today. Makienok and Jackson started, Bauer was back, Gudmunsson began - yet after 15 minutes of brightness that included a glorious chance wasted by Moussa, we simply fizzled out.
Our ingrained failings were encapsulated by two passages of play within as many minutes in the second half. We had possession unchallenged on the edge of our box, advanced with caution, played backward triangles on the half-way line, fumbled and fudged, and ran out of hope approaching Brentford's box. Our slow, laborious and incompetent play was seized upon by our opponents - who passed accurately, ran to receive, sliced us apart and rifled hard and low to score. Again.
Luzon has gone, yet we are still encumbered by a wealthy owner who refuses to spend money on players able to compete in the Championship. What a miserable little squad we have: defenders who are absent at crosses, midfielders who are afraid to tackle, and strikers who need directions towards goal.
Our new manager - surely not another inside job from the absurd 'network' - will demand new players of physical strength and mental ability. And so do we, the fast-depleting fans from The Valley.
@Hovi's Biscuit I thought we were in a good place, the promise of the "plan"...at the time it sounded great.
But at this moment, it's not working, the plan is falling on its knees. I pray it works, I really do, but we are Leeds v2 as stands. Please prove me wrong CAFC
Most of us knew that Luzon was the wrong man right from the start (as was Peeters before him), and the only surprise is that Duchatelet didn't wait longer before firing the bullet.
The excuses had run out: our first-choice players returned from injury and suspension today. Makienok and Jackson started, Bauer was back, Gudmunsson began - yet after 15 minutes of brightness that included a glorious chance wasted by Moussa, we simply fizzled out.
Our failings were encapsulated by two passages of play within as many minutes in the second half. We had possession unchallenged on the edge of our box, advanced with caution, played backward triangles on the half-way line, fumbled and fudged, and ran out of hope approaching Brentford's box. Our slow, laborious and incompetent play was seized upon by our opponents - who passed accurately, ran to receive, sliced us apart and rifled hard and low to score. Again.
Luzon has gone, yet we are still encumbered by a wealthy owner who refuses to spend money on players able to compete in the Championship. What a miserable little squad we have: defenders who are absent at crosses, midfielders who are afraid to tackle, and strikers who need directions towards goal.
Our new manager - surely not another inside job from the absurd 'network' - will demand new players of physical strength and mental ability. And so do we, the fast-depleting fans from The Valley.
Every manager is the wrong manager for Charlton. One bad spell and the board sack them. Can't win
Most of us knew that Luzon was the wrong man right from the start (as was Peeters before him), and the only surprise is that Duchatelet didn't wait longer before firing the bullet.
The excuses had run out: our first-choice players returned from injury and suspension today. Makienok and Jackson started, Bauer was back, Gudmunsson began - yet after 15 minutes of brightness that included a glorious chance wasted by Moussa, we simply fizzled out.
Our ingrained failings were encapsulated by two passages of play within as many minutes in the second half. We had possession unchallenged on the edge of our box, advanced with caution, played backward triangles on the half-way line, fumbled and fudged, and ran out of hope approaching Brentford's box. Our slow, laborious and incompetent play was seized upon by our opponents - who passed accurately, ran to receive, sliced us apart and rifled hard and low to score. Again.
Luzon has gone, yet we are still encumbered by a wealthy owner who refuses to spend money on players able to compete in the Championship. What a miserable little squad we have: defenders who are absent at crosses, midfielders who are afraid to tackle, and strikers who need directions towards goal.
Our new manager - surely not another inside job from the absurd 'network' - will demand new players of physical strength and mental ability. And so do we, the fast-depleting fans from The Valley.
Guy Luzon was the first man to be counted when it came to advocating moving the ball quickly and good support play - just watch his post match interview after last season's 3-0 win over Brentford. http://youtu.be/mKc64mW-A1w
The players are the ones you need to be pointing the finger at, plus accepting the man had too thin a squad.
As to the quality of our players - look at those Guy brought in, before they were injured and look at the first six games this season before the injuries.
The two passages of play you so describe are perfect examples of lack of desire and/or confidence by the players.
I can't believe I actually "liked" a VF post.....but today has been a weird one in more than one way.
Davo says it all when he describes our Club as a basket case. My description differs but shambles, basket case-call it what you will-I'm certain there are numerous unsavoury words being uttered tonight in all areas of SE London, Kent, Sussex , Australia etc .
Like me, more & more of the Faithful must be finding it increasingly difficult to find one iota of positivity in our current situation.
We hear those who've supported for years, through thick & thin: The Valley, Selhurst & Upton Park and back again, say "We've been in these kind of situations before ....it's nothing new " but Roland Frankenstein is creating a monster never before dreamt of in SE7. Mary Shelley would have been impressed...
Enough has been said of today's performance & it's best consigned to the furthest reaches of our minds.
A new regime will be guiding our battered ship come Monday and who knows what those of us mad enough to be at The Riverside next weekend will witness. Surely KF will have learned sufficient from his time here with Jose to know that success in the Championship does not come easy. He may not be the experienced British manager we hoped for but he was part of the team that turned around our fortunes at a difficult time, albeit that his hand wasn't on the tiller. I AM trying hard to be positive here, guys.
Whatever has been taking place in the dressing room at SL of late, it clearly wasn't a happy place. Whether players were in conflict with each other or whether they were largely in conflict with the management team , I know not and we can but speculate. But now it has to stop. Karel has a tough job ahead of him - a squad of players totally lacking in confidence in themselves and each other if the last 2 games are analysed. It hurts to see the stalwarts; those we've relied on week after week like Chris Solly and Jordan Cousins , reduced to shadows of their former selves. This hasn't happened overnight and they certainly haven't become bad players. Something toxic has infiltrated our squad and it must be swept away immediately to give us any chance of surviving in this league.
This isn't the time or place to dwell on the situation off the pitch but I fear that toxicity pervades the corridors "of power" too. And that must ultimately be a result of the RD/KM regime. Penny pinching mentioned on another thread yesterday has meant that staffing levels have been reduced , corners cut and the results are clear for all to see. A fellow Addick told me after the game today that the Sheffield Wednesday tickets have even the name of our Club misspelt on them ! How low can we go ?
I've been accused of wearing rose coloured contact lenses in the past.
Sadly, I feel those days are long past & reality with all its starkness is setting in.
Will Henry's Black and White campaign gain momentum & help us to pierce the armour of RD ?
Will further poor results see The Valley a ghost stadium by the end of the season and if so, will anyone in Belgium care ?
Brentford were better than us in every department for 80% of that game, maybe more, and as I said pre match Alan Judge (got from Notts County) basically tore our pathetic attempts to compete to shreds.
Luzon says we have the quality, and when it returns it will prevail, well he is wrong. Luzon, like the previous managers has been given an impossible job, and he probably still thinks he can do it, maybe the regime still think they can do it. The unreality is unreal if you get my drift.
The only card Duchatelet has got to play is sacking Luzon and hoping for new manager bounce, other than that we're relegated.
We're probably relegated whatever happens. We are going to see a lot of players looking after number one this season.
This thread will discuss this move or that event or the other player, but we are out of our depth in every area of this club, with the one saving grace, the one bit of compensation, being the academy set up. However we are now seeing the fruits of our academy being de-skilled, and mis-used week by week by the chite circumstances this ignorant and arrogant regime have created. Cousins and Solly are being contaminated at an accelerating rate by these events, and my advice to those decent Charlton products, who I have a particular fondness for, my advice is to get out of this mess of a club as soon as you can.
Roland is the owner and he can do what he likes, we can only gawp and weep from the sidelines, and yes right now it is that bad.
Please, please will some positive poster construct a story that tells us there is a way out, because I can't see one.
You speak good sense as usual, Seth, except for your over-estimation of our academy. Fox is a graduate and has plenty of first-team experience, yet he was ripped apart today. Again. Even starlets like Poyet are not as good as you imagine: he played 23 games for us, never crossed the half-way line, and a few weeks ago shipped ten goals in a week for MK Dons: six in the Cup and four in the League. What a fantastic defensive midfielder he has turned out to be!
Cousins is certainly not a player able to drive a team to the play-offs. Ahearne-Grant? Like Joe Piggott and Callum Harriott, these players find their level somewhere in the estuarine silts of Colchester, Southend and Gillingham.
All the teams that have beaten us this season - poor Huddersfield, impoverished Preston, lowly Blackburn (3-0), and the rest - have academy players in their first elevens. By their technical skills, they win.
Didn't make it today as had tickets for the all blacks South Africa semi final. Internet non existent at twickenham so couldn't follow the game much to my boys disappointment during the game. Two 0-3 defeats at home to bottom table sides isn't acceptable no matter what the injury list. I liked Luzon but he has always seemed to have current favourites and current players he won't play. Losing Bikey because he and Luzon did not get on has cost us a fortune. If we are going to play Fox, he needs to get on properly with Watt. The manager should help this to happen. We need a team builder, I think the individual quality is there but we need a Charlton team. Simple:
Morgan Fox was unacceptably poor today and Solly was borderline. Solly had JBG supporting him for the whole game. Fox got zero from Moussa. There lies the difference between mediocrity and guaranteed defeat.
Duchatelet should bung Greenwich Council a couple of million to circumvent the planning regulations, demolish The Valley, and build lots of shiny new apartments. That way, he gets his paltry £14 million investment back, and retires to an asylum in Belgium.
The Council is keen to "regenerate" the Greenwich Peninsula - what better than with a new stadium severing all connections with the decades of our abject failings. We will have plenty of dosh left over to start anew: hire an experienced manager and good coaches, and buy talented players.
We were over-run in the middle yet they had three on ones against our fullbacks time and time again.
Something is seriously wrong with your shape if that is allowed to happen, I mean I didn't even know that both those things happening at once were possible!
Again, it must be down to the players. When Luzon took over one of the first things he banged the table about was losing and recovering shape and they really focused on this. Only 2 games ago the Reading Manager, Steve Clarke, commented that he knew how well organised CAFC are and that was not far off the mark - that is what Luzon and his coaching team had instilled in the squad. Tuesday night the players showed no interest. Today they lost interest after they realised they were getting a pasting. A pitiful sight for all to witness and shame on our players.
What a surprise the Belgian freak show has made us as pony an outfit as you could ever imagine , never saw this coming ..... No surprise Luzon going but I truly felt for him as Moussa missed that early chance(hit the target ffffs) and he sank to the ground and thumped the floor in pure frustration , he knew his time was up Not a fan of Luzon but I have a heart and felt for him , I believe he was out of his depth but badly wanted to do well , so good luck to him and co Does fox have a bet every game where he has to hold on to a one pence piece stuck up his arse for the whole 90 minutes , he has a very peculiar running style
13th-21st 35% ....... The inevitable relegation 65%
Comments
I imagine Duchatelet is feeling a bit stuck. His half-baked ideas have come to nought, he appears to have no intention of investing more in the short term and he will never offload without taking a massive haircut. I imagine he will hang around, try to develop the youth set-up and then recoup his money through player sales as and when anyone comes along who looks even half decent.
I thought a decade ago that we had finally put to rest our image as a part-tragic, part-farcical club that nobody could take very seriously. Turned out that was a blip. Natural order has been restored and once again the only way to admit you support Charlton ('Charlton-nil') is with an apologetic shrug and a wry smile.
I could play in our midfield not because I'm any good but because I give a shit!!
Something is seriously wrong with your shape if that is allowed to happen, I mean I didn't even know that both those things happening at once were possible!
The second half was really poor. Charlton never got going, a second easy Brentford goal. A few subs on with Reza replacing falling down with getting caught offside. Brentford were solid and took Charlton apart with ease. An excellent 3rd Brentford goal in a sweeping move and an exodus from the home crowd. The last time, I have the seen the ground as empty as that was Pardew's last game against Sheff Utd, when Charlton got hammered in the season Charlton got relegated from the Championship last time. I think it was emptier this time.
There is quality in the team but they played like an incoherent bunch of strangers. The midfield was overrun but there was no counter strategy from Luzon (4231 / 4321). The team lacks wingers, creative central midfield and a regular goal scorer. A team may get away with having one of them but all of them ? No chance. Luzon's strategy was poor but what head coach with manager would manage with such a weak squad ? That is down to Roland and the squad built is one that will do well to avoid relegation. It is not just down to injuries, IMO, unless Roland strengthens significantly in January 16 then the team has a real desperate fight on their hands.
Cousins and Jackson were awful. Fox shocking. Solly, God knows what's happened to him. Moussa did nothing. Mak isn't confident with the ball at his feet. Why don't we try getting crosses into him. Having said that we'd need wingers that can cross. Watt, again he has talent, but always seems to fail to find the final shot or pass. Sarr about the only one to come out okay I thought.
Given GL's sacking it's hard to know if some of those players had given up on him, seems that way. However I worry about some of those players now.
Before you block/flag me, let me say my piece. Don't care if I'm blocked from using this site, I'm gonna say what I feel, what a forum is for.
I thought Guy was the one, I thought the board were investing in the "club" which they have, stadium, pitch, youth. However, not investing in the squad, has taken its toll. Being naive thinking youth will provide a healthy balance sheet, from day one, is delusional. To receive bums on seats you need a good squad. The improvement of facilities and training ground is great, but only if you back it up with the squad to compete. I thought RD/KM were the right ones to take us forward. Seems to me I was wrong or naive, or maybe both.
Tonight brings a realisation. A realisation of all you involved bringing the club back. A club with pride, tradition , and values. All have been lost recently. I pray I wake up tomorrow, it all being a dream, but I know it won't be a dream.
If anyone else has an incline, no matter how small, of how we can make this club great again, please advise. I for one, will strive to make this club, Charlton Athletic, the respected club it once was. With hard working, passionate (just like you guys and girls during time at selhurst) people, we can make this club great and proud, like we all were.
3 golden chances, 2 set up by Watt.
Is there someone in the away end with their Arse Showing Because our strikers get put off game after game when it seems easier to score.
After we had let Brentford off 3 times in that first 12 minutes, there was only going to be 1 winner, as they got their passing game going and we start running in treacle.
Agreed that both full backs got the run around and the only positive was the two CB's were good and young Sarr had his best game and could end up being decent.
all 4 of the mid field struggled and the attacks fizzled out after the 1st quarter.
The fitness levels of this side is woeful.
We don't look like we had pre season training.
This is not a disagreement - I am genuinely asking.
Every word of caution from the Standard and ST fans who posted on here when Roland pitched up has proved to be spot on, sadly.
I felt that familiar flicker of hope. Yet somehow I also knew that, yet again, a couple of hours later I would be asking myself "why do I bother", echoing the words of my dad on so many saturdays over the years. Back then, with the simplistic attitudes of youth, I saw those words as a minor betrayal of the club we both loved. Now, I realise they were spoken with the same resigned, unreasoning, affection that I feel for this shabby basket-case of a club.
In a way, the result didn't matter today. I feel resigned to life under Roland and Katrien. If we go down, we go down - and at least that might make them go. Please God.
Today felt more than usual like coming home. Shit all-round, yet just what I have become used to.
The excuses had run out: our first-choice players returned from injury and suspension today. Makienok and Jackson started, Bauer was back, Gudmunsson began - yet after 15 minutes of brightness that included a glorious chance wasted by Moussa, we simply fizzled out.
Our ingrained failings were encapsulated by two passages of play within as many minutes in the second half. We had possession unchallenged on the edge of our box, advanced with caution, played backward triangles on the half-way line, fumbled and fudged, and ran out of hope approaching Brentford's box. Our slow, laborious and incompetent play was seized upon by our opponents - who passed accurately, ran to receive, sliced us apart and rifled hard and low to score. Again.
Luzon has gone, yet we are still encumbered by a wealthy owner who refuses to spend money on players able to compete in the Championship. What a miserable little squad we have: defenders who are absent at crosses, midfielders who are afraid to tackle, and strikers who need directions towards goal.
Our new manager - surely not another inside job from the absurd 'network' - will demand new players of physical strength and mental ability. And so do we, the fast-depleting fans from The Valley.
But at this moment, it's not working, the plan is falling on its knees. I pray it works, I really do, but we are Leeds v2 as stands. Please prove me wrong CAFC
The players are the ones you need to be pointing the finger at, plus accepting the man had too thin a squad.
As to the quality of our players - look at those Guy brought in, before they were injured and look at the first six games this season before the injuries.
The two passages of play you so describe are perfect examples of lack of desire and/or confidence by the players.
Completely disagree with you.
Davo says it all when he describes our Club as a basket case. My description differs but shambles, basket case-call it what you will-I'm certain there are numerous unsavoury words being uttered tonight in all areas of SE London, Kent, Sussex , Australia etc .
Like me, more & more of the Faithful must be finding it increasingly difficult to find one iota of positivity in our current situation.
We hear those who've supported for years, through thick & thin: The Valley, Selhurst & Upton Park and back again, say "We've been in these kind of situations before ....it's nothing new " but Roland Frankenstein is creating a monster never before dreamt of in SE7. Mary Shelley would have been impressed...
Enough has been said of today's performance & it's best consigned to the furthest reaches of our minds.
A new regime will be guiding our battered ship come Monday and who knows what those of us mad enough to be at The Riverside next weekend will witness. Surely KF will have learned sufficient from his time here with Jose to know that success in the Championship does not come easy. He may not be the experienced British manager we hoped for but he was part of the team that turned around our fortunes at a difficult time, albeit that his hand wasn't on the tiller. I AM trying hard to be positive here, guys.
Whatever has been taking place in the dressing room at SL of late, it clearly wasn't a happy place. Whether players were in conflict with each other or whether they were largely in conflict with the management team , I know not and we can but speculate. But now it has to stop. Karel has a tough job ahead of him - a squad of players totally lacking in confidence in themselves and each other if the last 2 games are analysed. It hurts to see the stalwarts; those we've relied on week after week like Chris Solly and Jordan Cousins , reduced to shadows of their former selves. This hasn't happened overnight and they certainly haven't become bad players. Something toxic has infiltrated our squad and it must be swept away immediately to give us any chance of surviving in this league.
This isn't the time or place to dwell on the situation off the pitch but I fear that toxicity pervades the corridors "of power" too. And that must ultimately be a result of the RD/KM regime. Penny pinching mentioned on another thread yesterday has meant that staffing levels have been reduced , corners cut and the results are clear for all to see. A fellow Addick told me after the game today that the Sheffield Wednesday tickets have even the name of our Club misspelt on them ! How low can we go ?
I've been accused of wearing rose coloured contact lenses in the past.
Sadly, I feel those days are long past & reality with all its starkness is setting in.
Will Henry's Black and White campaign gain momentum & help us to pierce the armour of RD ?
Will further poor results see The Valley a ghost stadium by the end of the season and if so, will anyone in Belgium care ?
Too many questions and sadly not enough answers.
I'm struggling to keep the faith.
FFS !!!!!
Cousins is certainly not a player able to drive a team to the play-offs. Ahearne-Grant? Like Joe Piggott and Callum Harriott, these players find their level somewhere in the estuarine silts of Colchester, Southend and Gillingham.
All the teams that have beaten us this season - poor Huddersfield, impoverished Preston, lowly Blackburn (3-0), and the rest - have academy players in their first elevens. By their technical skills, they win.
Solly had JBG supporting him for the whole game.
Fox got zero from Moussa.
There lies the difference between mediocrity and guaranteed defeat.
It is that fine a line.
The Council is keen to "regenerate" the Greenwich Peninsula - what better than with a new stadium severing all connections with the decades of our abject failings. We will have plenty of dosh left over to start anew: hire an experienced manager and good coaches, and buy talented players.
When Luzon took over one of the first things he banged the table about was losing and recovering shape and they really focused on this.
Only 2 games ago the Reading Manager, Steve Clarke, commented that he knew how well organised CAFC are and that was not far off the mark - that is what Luzon and his coaching team had instilled in the squad.
Tuesday night the players showed no interest.
Today they lost interest after they realised they were getting a pasting.
A pitiful sight for all to witness and shame on our players.
No surprise Luzon going but I truly felt for him as Moussa missed that early chance(hit the target ffffs) and he sank to the ground and thumped the floor in pure frustration , he knew his time was up
Not a fan of Luzon but I have a heart and felt for him , I believe he was out of his depth but badly wanted to do well , so good luck to him and co
Does fox have a bet every game where he has to hold on to a one pence piece stuck up his arse for the whole 90 minutes , he has a very peculiar running style
13th-21st 35% ....... The inevitable relegation 65%