We have an experienced championship manager in Lennon, and the players of Bolton Wanderers, they're away from home, have no money, players who haven't been paid, and are 2-0 down after 25 minutes. So what they did was roll their sleeves up, press us, not give up, get back to 2-2 by half time and despite us hitting the woodwork Bolton could easily have won that.
What do you reckon Karel, Katrien and Roland? Losing a two goal lead is the new 0-3 is it?
No.
You have a club in dire straits, but with people who know the merciless grinding nature of this league who were basically better than us. Better than us for all our bits of flash and moments of decorative play. They were better than us viscerally.
So Karels response is to take off Ademola 'hmm he is on a hat trick but he doesn't look interested and he is small, we will be much better with Simon' Lookman. Jacko, the one player with the kind of experience to make some kind of intelligent on field assessment of the situation 'ah Jacko I will hook him, he looks old, and has very little resale value anyway'. Then JBG a player with a bit of trickery, and some nous the way he was cutting in and searching for something second half, Karel takes him off. KAG comes on too late to affect things, but the biggest crime of management of the night was to INSTRUCT BA TO GO ON AND PLAY FOR BOLTON!!!
The above is true. Seriously.
So? Regime? You can handle all this English football lark can you? If you're not measuring it in results then maybe in attendances?
Oh hang on.
Of course with two weeks to the transfer window we can assume Karel 'mastermind' Fraeye will stay until our relegation at the end of this season.
Positives? Fastest goal I can remember seeing at the Valley for us. Lookman. Diarra.
I feel angrier than usual tonight.
What the fuck were you watching JBG was shit Saturday and even worse tonite he ain't interested, so can go fuck himsel Lookman was injured like it or not, he was struggling in the first half constantly stretching out, Jacko, well puts it in, which is more than a lot others but looked off the pace first half.Where you are right is the shit that came on for them with the exception of KAG,
We look totally dis jointed it appears we are playing four up top as Lookman and JBG, give no protection to the full backs, we are losing the midfield and Jacko and Cousins are getting overrun.However Cousins confidence is shot to pieces.I thought THD, got found out tonite by a experienced winger, and Fox would have been a better option.Personally I thought the manager let us down tonight by not reacting quick enough to what was happening, not always having to make a sub but to change the shape.
We are a very, very poor team, being ran by an owner who doesn't have a clue. We have somehow pieced together a squad that has a few individuals who look like they might be able to play football, as our front 3 of Reza, Lookman and Vaz Te did tonight, but that is more luck than skill and tactical nous.
To be fair that front 3 did look dangerous, and KF and/or JE deserve some credit for that. Both goals were well worked, as were the 2 early goals at Brighton.
The problems are in midfield and central defence, and at the moment we could have Curbs and Lennie Lawrence in charge and they'd struggle to be competitive with the options we have in those areas, largely down to our transer policy.
I'd rather have Harriott over JBG at the moment, and that's saying something, God awful tonight! If I see ba in a Charlton shirt ever again it will be too soon! He's worse than Cory Gibbs!
We are down, let's face it! We are a league one team in all but name
We are a very, very poor team, being ran by an owner who doesn't have a clue. We have somehow pieced together a squad that has a few individuals who look like they might be able to play football, as our front 3 of Reza, Lookman and Vaz Te did tonight, but that is more luck than skill and tactical nous.
To be fair that front 3 did look dangerous, and KF and/or JE deserve some credit for that. Both goals were well worked, as were the 2 early goals at Brighton.
The problems are in midfield and central defence, and at the moment we could have Curbs and Lennie Lawrence in charge and they'd struggle to be competitive with the options we have in those areas, largely down to our transer policy.
I know but that was my point Killer
They looked good, but how the hell have we arrived at them when we started the season with Watt, Mak, KAG and Vetokele as our likely front 4 for the season. I agree with you that credit should be given for deploying it, but I also think that your second point just sums up how much of a circus everything is. Two great managers you've mentioned there would probably rather go and bang their heads against a brick wall than work under this lemon. We're a shambles, what good play we do see or relatively good player we witness is just some random anamoly in an ever increasing sea of shit ownership
Have to say Watt was the most exciting player I have seen down our place for many a year - and of course he scored again for Cardiff tonight; however (and this is from someone inside the club, and no I am not going to name them) that his attitude was poor and disruptive - this is not a one-off; it's no coincidence that Celtic and Standard Liege let him go. The last thing you need in a team already fragile in body and spirit is a disruptive individual in the dressing room and training pitch. I would love to see him come back but can't see it, think he is another one of those sad players who have all the talent but let's it all go to waste.
i guess it's easy to get away with being disruptive when your boss is either an ex-Israel U21 coach or some bloke from a pub team - like to see him trying it on with the like of Nigel Pearson....
We are doomed unless we find a midfielder who is comfortable on the ball. Cousins, JJ and Ba are workmanlike at best, we need to replace kashi. With JBG clearly unfit the midfield was totally overrun. People are criticising diarra but without him we would have definitely lost. Lennon and THD show good promise but their positional play in the first half was naive and diarra was pulled all over the place to make up for them. Ref was poor, did nothing about Bolton persistent fouling.
Roland needs to go. No more dialogue, or him communicating what his intentions are. I think it's obvious he's completely clueless as to what his intentions are, or they're not working but he doesn't want to admit it, so he hides away. If he stays he will drag this club into the lower reaches of League 2, of that I have no doubt.
The two years have been pathetic. Tonight was pathetic. I want him out the club, his model (whatever it is) will NOT lead to success.
This, this and even more of this.
As many have mentioned, tonight was the first game I've thought we really looked like a team destined for league one. That's not because it was our worst performance, it's because the whipping boys of the league who aren't being paid and haven't won since September, arguably looked better than us. Our team consists of too many inexperienced (but talented) youngsters and new signings who haven't really had the chance to show that they are good enough because the Championship is unforgiving and the Valley isn't a great place to start badly. That isn't the players fault, it's that of Roland and his puppets and, as far as I'm concerned, Fraeye is the front man whilst RD is holed up in Belgium. From what we hear and what he says he's the biggest yes man we have had and he represents everything that is wrong with the network-sorry mate but you need to go.
On another note, did anyone buy a programme tonight? If so, please take a look at page 34 which shows a game against Bolton in 1999 and observe the players we all believed in bar none, the packed stands and most of all, the happiness on people's faces. They were truly amazing times compared to now-I look around tonight and, at 2-0 there was barely a flicker, at 2-2 very little, it was only the realisation that we might not win in the last 15 minutes when any noise was made and that was all negative. Christ knows how bad it will be in League One. I'll still be here though.....
Not good at all if we don't strengthen in January, Central Defence, Centre Midfield we are doomed. The big Dane up front is rubbish, Ba is rubbish, Diarra is not a centre back 1st goal was a Sunday morning moment from him don't care if he is played out of position you never leave a ball in the 6 yard box. Diarra is a defensive midfielder, play him in his correct position. Feel sorry for the manager not his fault he is out of his depth, it was so obvious at half time changes had to be made but the options we/he have/has are limited although he should have made changes. He should have shored up the midfield as it was totally being overrun, Lookman was class but obvious from 30 minutes his legs were gone and was a mere passenger, not surprised he is a kid doing a mans job. I have heard from a reliable source Mr KF is on £32K, that's what Belgian 3rd tier clubs pay managers and has no chance of a pay rise unless he turns this around, I suspect he will be gone shortly and another unknown faceless European will be appointed.
There's more negativity about the whole place than I can remember. And I've only been going, week in, week out, since the 60's.
Let's protest against the owner, the CEO, the manager... Oh here's a good idea, lets mock the Charlton player who comes off the bench and gives it his best. Yeah, that's a great idea. That's really going to get us out of the crap that is.
We are in big, big trouble. I don't blame the players. OK, they appear to be crap but the problem lies with the Management. End of story. And, I can't see it changing because the whole club is now run/managed by inept people.
Twice in the last 3 games we've scored goals early and then capitulated easily. That is a really worrying sign as it shows there is no tactical nous behind what is happening on the field. And that's up to the sideline to sort out which is just not happening. If KF is learning on the job then he needs to get his act together quick otherwise we are down.
Not good at all if we don't strengthen in January, Central Defence, Centre Midfield we are doomed. The big Dane up front is rubbish, Ba is rubbish, Diarra is not a centre back 1st goal was a Sunday morning moment from him don't care if he is played out of position you never leave a ball in the 6 yard box. Diarra is a defensive midfielder, play him in his correct position. Feel sorry for the manager not his fault he is out of his depth, it was so obvious at half time changes had to be made but the options we/he have/has are limited although he should have made changes. He should have shored up the midfield as it was totally being overrun, Lookman was class but obvious from 30 minutes his legs were gone and was a mere passenger, not surprised he is a kid doing a mans job. I have heard from a reliable source Mr KF is on £32K, that's what Belgian 3rd tier clubs pay managers and has no chance of a pay rise unless he turns this around, I suspect he will be gone shortly and another unknown faceless European will be appointed.
Who with though? The hopeless Ba? Bergdych, Sarr, Morgan Fox? There was nobody on the bench to do that job
Have to say Watt was the most exciting player I have seen down our place for many a year - and of course he scored again for Cardiff tonight; however (and this is from someone inside the club, and no I am not going to name them) that his attitude was poor and disruptive - this is not a one-off; it's no coincidence that Celtic and Standard Liege let him go. The last thing you need in a team already fragile in body and spirit is a disruptive individual in the dressing room and training pitch. I would love to see him come back but can't see it, think he is another one of those sad players who have all the talent but let's it all go to waste.
Funny that some of us were wary of his possible disruptive behaviour but were shouted down as being negative, anti RD and told that he's just young and was homesick. Personally I'd have him back and deal with him. The owners brought him here knowing his reputation (first hand) and have now washed their hands of it and shipped him out. They chose to bring him here, they should accept their decision,put up with him and deal with it (or at least admit they made a mistake, but we all know they don't do that).
The defence played wellish, although Hendo should have saved the 2nd.
The midfield is non existant. JBG doesn't appear to give a flying fuck.
Cousins is poor & flagging, but then he has been the only midfielder all season & it's got too much I think.
Jackson seems incapable of playing for 90 mins, other than on a few occasions.
Lookman scored 2 goals & I'm really pleased with him, but he added little therafter.
And as for Ba. What an absolute joke he is. He's not even professional footballer standard. He's definitely in the running for the top 50 worst Charlton players of all time.
Reza tried hard and achieved nothing again & Vaz Te did bugger all.
Makienok, I think I was wrong about him & he's just not good enough. Looks clueless at the moment.
I don't know where everyone sits in the ground and the view from different angles does make a difference, but I thought the defence was shocking as they were on Saturday . Agree with most of the other comments.
Have to say Watt was the most exciting player I have seen down our place for many a year - and of course he scored again for Cardiff tonight; however (and this is from someone inside the club, and no I am not going to name them) that his attitude was poor and disruptive - this is not a one-off; it's no coincidence that Celtic and Standard Liege let him go. The last thing you need in a team already fragile in body and spirit is a disruptive individual in the dressing room and training pitch. I would love to see him come back but can't see it, think he is another one of those sad players who have all the talent but let's it all go to waste.
i guess it's easy to get away with being disruptive when your boss is either an ex-Israel U21 coach or some bloke from a pub team - like to see him trying it on with the like of Nigel Pearson....
Easy to blame the manager when they have no track record, but I suspect someone like Nigel Pearson would do exactly the same thing as Watt's previous managers and ship him out. Even Alex Ferguson did it with some players.
Watt isn't the single answer to our problems. Lots of talent but outside the first couple of games he wasn't able to positively influence the way our season was heading. That said, with is head in the right place he could definitely help, but he does have a lot of the hallmarks of a player who will end up changing clubs more often than he changes his football boots.
There is definitely more in this team than it is currently showing though. Henderson, Bauer, Diarra, Solly, Cousins, Jackson, JBG, Vaz Te at the very least are good enough to ply their trade in at least mid table in the Championship. Makienok, Ba, Fox all showed some ability at the start of the season which seems to have totally deserted them at the moment. Lookman, THD and Lennon are good enough to have an impact from time to time but youth nearly always goes hand in hand with inconsistency.
The club needs a lift. We desperately need some experience on the bench, in terms of players who can impact the game and who aren't jaded by the malaise at the club - Vaz Te has made an impact but how long before he gets dragged down with the rest?
More than anything though, we desperately need a proper bloody manager.
Almost too depressed to post tonight which is a first for me .
Cabbles' post earlier said it all.
Tonight is why I wear a black & white scarf to games . It's my way of protesting against this abhorrent regime that's squeezing the life out of our Club and its supporters. It's not much, I agree but it doesn't seem right to wear my old red scarf as a mark of the pride I have in my Club because at this moment in time, that pride is, sadly fast diminishing.
It hurts to admit that & is something I never thought would cross my mind. I love this Club, its history, its ups & its downs, its players past & present...but the latter has a different feel this season. And for that, I blame one person and one person only ..... there are NO prizes for guessing his name.
This man is destroying our Club - end of. And I don't see him changing his modus operandi any time soon.
We have been sold more than one "pup" ...well, more like a whole litter since he came on board. Managers have been forced to give more game time than is ideal to our young guns because of the paucity of the squad as a whole. Tonight, Lookie may be a casualty of that enforced policy but I'm sure RD will have his eye firmly fixed on the next Academy lad to come off the "conveyer belt". All in all, the balance of the squad is wrong and tonight confirmed even more that it is paper thin - and that as much as the inadequacies of managers appointed, will be our downfall.
I shall still be at Turf Moor on Saturday and in Bristol on Boxing Day, wearing my black & white scarf.
But what other fans will see on the outside is in total contrast to what I shall be feeling inside. As I've said before, it breaks my heart to acknowledge that the passion I have for our Club is starting to fade.
Whatever it takes, we must NOT let one man destroy Charlton Athletic.
This is OUR football club & we must fight to keep it that way.
Put it this way - today we could have been bringing on someone like Tony Watt who can frighten a defence. Instead we brought on KAG who rarely even touches the ball.
We started the game with a beautiful, fast, attacking move which sliced open the Bolton defence like a tin of Heinz soup (other brands available) and Lookman scored (the keeper might be disappointed but they all count).
The physically bigger Bolton players began to impose themselves yet there was a glorious moment when little Solly out muscled big Heskey over by the tunnel in the first half. However despite that I felt an impending sense that the next goal would come from Bolton. Then another incisive attacking move and Lookman scored again. 2-0 to Charlton and all was well with the world. Yet those unpaid paupers weren't going anywhere and gradually their superior physical strength told firstly with a goal from that old fox Heskey and then another from a shot which took a deflection shortly before half time. In typical Charlton fashion a collapse from the giddy heights of 2-0 to 2-2 or, to quote one or two around me, "2-0 and we fucked it up."
Now we come to the frustrating bit. I was disappointed that we'd thrown away a 2-0 lead but thought that attacking the Covered End we'd batter them with more of that fast, incisive, attacking football and eventually big lumps like Wheater's lack of mobility would be exposed.
So what does the Belgian Neil Sedaka Oh Carol do? He takes Lookman off that's what. Then what? He takes JBG off that's what. Then what? He takes Jacko off that's what.
When drawing at home in a six pointer against the bottom side in the division our manager takes off arguably our three most potent attacking threats and hopes and prays we can hang on to the draw a la Leeds which we did just about.
That's why I use the word frustration! Two points lost tonight and I pray that we won't rue them in May.
Oh and one more thing. BDL in his Santa outfit looked uncannily like Makienok and, in my opinion, would have had more impact had he come on as sub instead.
Are we the only team in england who can score after 27secs against the bottom club and still fail to win.we had better get used to rd ruining our club because he will not listen to anyone.I think tonight's attendance was the least I have ever seen for a league match for many a year.how many fans are saying that they are not coming till the Belgians go in times of trouble we all need to band together and support the club or it will die.fuck the Belgians we are Charlton athletic lets save the club ourselves owners come and go Charlton are forever.
At 2-0 we were cruising, in fact I was fairly convinced we would win until Lookman was taken off. Lennon had a poor game as did Cousins and Jackson. I don't think Makienok doesn't deserve to be jeered for every touch, if he does then surely Cousins should also be jeered for all his misplaced passes.
Funny how used I am to failure, I keep forgetting we let a 2-0 lead slip and don't really care.
Fiercely fought physical game. Had we won this and Leeds we could have moved on and would have felt a bit comfortable. We're still in the fight but: this is now going to be a long hard slog. We may survive, but its 50-50 at best. Could go down like Leicester in 2007-2008 (IE play quite well in most games and have some individually skillful players but never quite click). Bauer coming back and Diarra moving to midfield are both essential. Maybe even play a back 5 to grind out results. Most of all we need several good defenders in January.
We did - for the first time that I recollect - an elaborate move from a corner on 36 minutes, and, hit the post on 75 minutes. So was luck a factor?
Killer & Flash - Who with though? The hopeless Ba? Bergdych, Sarr, Morgan Fox? There was nobody on the bench to do that job
Simple solution Killer & Flash, Sarr on, Diarra into Midfield and play a diamond formation, Lookman was spent and as I said he's just a kid with huge potential his 2 goals were his work for the night, wrap him up keep him warm and ready for Saturday. Jackson as much as he is adored by all (me included) can't play Saturday Tuesday, Saturday, 45 min's and off he goes & ready for another 60 mins Vs Burnley.
Shocking how quickly we can switch off after being 2 goals to the good. Second half was fairly dull every attack we had never really seemed to materialise. Horrible feeling after the match, felt like we had lost, couldn't see the desire to get a winner and we are playing bottom of the league. Putting four strikers on the field at the end isn't 'going for it', it's just plain stupid. KF's subs were weird at best. Lookman the only shining light and Lennon as well actually I felt he was very composed most of the time and unlucky not to score. Jackson put in a shift as always, JBG and Cousins shadows of their former selves, Solly not much better.
Got fed up of feeling like this after Charlton a long time ago, something has to change.
Almost too depressed to post tonight which is a first for me .
Cabbles' post earlier said it all.
Tonight is why I wear a black & white scarf to games . It's my way of protesting against this abhorrent regime that's squeezing the life out of our Club and its supporters. It's not much, I agree but it doesn't seem right to wear my old red scarf as a mark of the pride I have in my Club because at this moment in time, that pride is, sadly fast diminishing.
It hurts to admit that & is something I never thought would cross my mind. I love this Club, its history, its ups & its downs, its players past & present...but the latter has a different feel this season. And for that, I blame one person and one person only ..... there are NO prizes for guessing his name.
This man is destroying our Club - end of. And I don't see him changing his modus operandi any time soon.
We have been sold more than one "pup" ...well, more like a whole litter since he came on board. Managers have been forced to give more game time than is ideal to our young guns because of the paucity of the squad as a whole. Tonight, Lookie may be a casualty of that enforced policy but I'm sure RD will have his eye firmly fixed on the next Academy lad to come off the "conveyer belt". All in all, the balance of the squad is wrong and tonight confirmed even more that it is paper thin - and that as much as the inadequacies of managers appointed, will be our downfall.
I shall still be at Turf Moor on Saturday and in Bristol on Boxing Day, wearing my black & white scarf.
But what other fans will see on the outside is in total contrast to what I shall be feeling inside. As I've said before, it breaks my heart to acknowledge that the passion I have for our Club is starting to fade.
Whatever it takes, we must NOT let one man destroy Charlton Athletic.
This is OUR football club & we must fight to keep it that way.
The alternative is not an option.
Very well said, Fanny - and Cabbles.
The team and squad is hopelessly unbalanced and under-resourced. How, for example, do we hope to give Cousins and Jacko a rest over the next two and a half weeks in our troubled midfield ? They could clearly use one but, at the risk of understatement, Ba is hardly inspiring confidence.
On a purely personal level, I have a minuscule - and I do mean minuscule - sympathy for Karel Fraeye, much as he seems a thoroughly amiable and decent bloke (which I'm sure he is). I use the word 'minuscule' in the sense of the following: 'tiny, minute, microscopic, nanoscopic, very small, little, micro' (with due acknowledgments to Google). The fundamental problem is that he is not qualified to do this job (other, perversely, than being 'known' to Roland) and, however much revision and studying he has done on the Championship, he has very few meaningful contacts and experience in the English game. One has to ask what respect can he really command in the dressing room, whatever platitudes the players understandably offer following Roland's four-monthly change of 'coach'.
My other personal difficulty with Karel Fraeye is that anyone who asserts - as he has done recently- that our squad is good enough, clearly has his head wedged irretrievably and irrevocably up Roland's arse. I know that journalists pose loaded questions but he looks and feels like a total 'brown nose'.
This club deserves very much better and we must crank the pressure up on this regime - one way or another - to ensure that we get it.
Comments
We look totally dis jointed it appears we are playing four up top as Lookman and JBG, give no protection to the full backs, we are losing the midfield and Jacko and Cousins are getting overrun.However Cousins confidence is shot to pieces.I thought THD, got found out tonite by a experienced winger, and Fox would have been a better option.Personally I thought the manager let us down tonight by not reacting quick enough to what was happening, not always having to make a sub but to change the shape.
The problems are in midfield and central defence, and at the moment we could have Curbs and Lennie Lawrence in charge and they'd struggle to be competitive with the options we have in those areas, largely down to our transer policy.
We did everything we could to lose that game tonight and they still couldn't win.
We are down, let's face it! We are a league one team in all but name
#thanksroland
They looked good, but how the hell have we arrived at them when we started the season with Watt, Mak, KAG and Vetokele as our likely front 4 for the season. I agree with you that credit should be given for deploying it, but I also think that your second point just sums up how much of a circus everything is. Two great managers you've mentioned there would probably rather go and bang their heads against a brick wall than work under this lemon. We're a shambles, what good play we do see or relatively good player we witness is just some random anamoly in an ever increasing sea of shit ownership
Ref was poor, did nothing about Bolton persistent fouling.
As many have mentioned, tonight was the first game I've thought we really looked like a team destined for league one. That's not because it was our worst performance, it's because the whipping boys of the league who aren't being paid and haven't won since September, arguably looked better than us. Our team consists of too many inexperienced (but talented) youngsters and new signings who haven't really had the chance to show that they are good enough because the Championship is unforgiving and the Valley isn't a great place to start badly. That isn't the players fault, it's that of Roland and his puppets and, as far as I'm concerned, Fraeye is the front man whilst RD is holed up in Belgium. From what we hear and what he says he's the biggest yes man we have had and he represents everything that is wrong with the network-sorry mate but you need to go.
On another note, did anyone buy a programme tonight? If so, please take a look at page 34 which shows a game against Bolton in 1999 and observe the players we all believed in bar none, the packed stands and most of all, the happiness on people's faces. They were truly amazing times compared to now-I look around tonight and, at 2-0 there was barely a flicker, at 2-2 very little, it was only the realisation that we might not win in the last 15 minutes when any noise was made and that was all negative. Christ knows how bad it will be in League One. I'll still be here though.....
Let's protest against the owner, the CEO, the manager... Oh here's a good idea, lets mock the Charlton player who comes off the bench and gives it his best. Yeah, that's a great idea. That's really going to get us out of the crap that is.
C.O.Y.R. EVERY GAME. C.O.Y.R.
Twice in the last 3 games we've scored goals early and then capitulated easily. That is a really worrying sign as it shows there is no tactical nous behind what is happening on the field. And that's up to the sideline to sort out which is just not happening. If KF is learning on the job then he needs to get his act together quick otherwise we are down.
Depressing.
The defence played wellish, although Hendo should have saved the 2nd.
The midfield is non existant. JBG doesn't appear to give a flying fuck.
Cousins is poor & flagging, but then he has been the only midfielder all season & it's got too much I think.
Jackson seems incapable of playing for 90 mins, other than on a few occasions.
Lookman scored 2 goals & I'm really pleased with him, but he added little therafter.
And as for Ba. What an absolute joke he is. He's not even professional footballer standard. He's definitely in the running for the top 50 worst Charlton players of all time.
Reza tried hard and achieved nothing again & Vaz Te did bugger all.
Makienok, I think I was wrong about him & he's just not good enough. Looks clueless at the moment.
Wise words Katrin but take a look around and I think you'll see that plenty haven't accepted it and have decided to vote with their feet. You mug.
Watt isn't the single answer to our problems. Lots of talent but outside the first couple of games he wasn't able to positively influence the way our season was heading. That said, with is head in the right place he could definitely help, but he does have a lot of the hallmarks of a player who will end up changing clubs more often than he changes his football boots.
There is definitely more in this team than it is currently showing though. Henderson, Bauer, Diarra, Solly, Cousins, Jackson, JBG, Vaz Te at the very least are good enough to ply their trade in at least mid table in the Championship. Makienok, Ba, Fox all showed some ability at the start of the season which seems to have totally deserted them at the moment. Lookman, THD and Lennon are good enough to have an impact from time to time but youth nearly always goes hand in hand with inconsistency.
The club needs a lift. We desperately need some experience on the bench, in terms of players who can impact the game and who aren't jaded by the malaise at the club - Vaz Te has made an impact but how long before he gets dragged down with the rest?
More than anything though, we desperately need a proper bloody manager.
Cabbles' post earlier said it all.
Tonight is why I wear a black & white scarf to games . It's my way of protesting against this abhorrent regime that's squeezing the life out of our Club and its supporters. It's not much, I agree but it doesn't seem right to wear my old red scarf as a mark of the pride I have in my Club because at this moment in time, that pride is, sadly fast diminishing.
It hurts to admit that & is something I never thought would cross my mind. I love this Club, its history, its ups & its downs, its players past & present...but the latter has a different feel this season. And for that, I blame one person and one person only ..... there are NO prizes for guessing his name.
This man is destroying our Club - end of. And I don't see him changing his modus operandi any time soon.
We have been sold more than one "pup" ...well, more like a whole litter since he came on board. Managers have been forced to give more game time than is ideal to our young guns because of the paucity of the squad as a whole. Tonight, Lookie may be a casualty of that enforced policy but I'm sure RD will have his eye firmly fixed on the next Academy lad to come off the "conveyer belt". All in all, the balance of the squad is wrong and tonight confirmed even more that it is paper thin - and that as much as the inadequacies of managers appointed, will be our downfall.
I shall still be at Turf Moor on Saturday and in Bristol on Boxing Day, wearing my black & white scarf.
But what other fans will see on the outside is in total contrast to what I shall be feeling inside. As I've said before, it breaks my heart to acknowledge that the passion I have for our Club is starting to fade.
Whatever it takes, we must NOT let one man destroy Charlton Athletic.
This is OUR football club & we must fight to keep it that way.
The alternative is not an option.
One word frustration.
We started the game with a beautiful, fast, attacking move which sliced open the Bolton defence like a tin of Heinz soup (other brands available) and Lookman scored (the keeper might be disappointed but they all count).
The physically bigger Bolton players began to impose themselves yet there was a glorious moment when little Solly out muscled big Heskey over by the tunnel in the first half. However despite that I felt an impending sense that the next goal would come from Bolton. Then another incisive attacking move and Lookman scored again. 2-0 to Charlton and all was well with the world. Yet those unpaid paupers weren't going anywhere and gradually their superior physical strength told firstly with a goal from that old fox Heskey and then another from a shot which took a deflection shortly before half time. In typical Charlton fashion a collapse from the giddy heights of 2-0 to 2-2 or, to quote one or two around me, "2-0 and we fucked it up."
Now we come to the frustrating bit. I was disappointed that we'd thrown away a 2-0 lead but thought that attacking the Covered End we'd batter them with more of that fast, incisive, attacking football and eventually big lumps like Wheater's lack of mobility would be exposed.
So what does the Belgian Neil Sedaka Oh Carol do? He takes Lookman off that's what. Then what? He takes JBG off that's what. Then what? He takes Jacko off that's what.
When drawing at home in a six pointer against the bottom side in the division our manager takes off arguably our three most potent attacking threats and hopes and prays we can hang on to the draw a la Leeds which we did just about.
That's why I use the word frustration! Two points lost tonight and I pray that we won't rue them in May.
Oh and one more thing. BDL in his Santa outfit looked uncannily like Makienok and, in my opinion, would have had more impact had he come on as sub instead.
Funny how used I am to failure, I keep forgetting we let a 2-0 lead slip and don't really care.
It would seem that still, people think we should be thankful to him for saving a club, but all it seems is that he was only postponing it's demise.
We did - for the first time that I recollect - an elaborate move from a corner on 36 minutes, and, hit the post on 75 minutes. So was luck a factor?
Simple solution Killer & Flash, Sarr on, Diarra into Midfield and play a diamond formation, Lookman was spent and as I said he's just a kid with huge potential his 2 goals were his work for the night, wrap him up keep him warm and ready for Saturday. Jackson as much as he is adored by all (me included) can't play Saturday Tuesday, Saturday, 45 min's and off he goes & ready for another 60 mins Vs Burnley.
Got fed up of feeling like this after Charlton a long time ago, something has to change.
The team and squad is hopelessly unbalanced and under-resourced. How, for example, do we hope to give Cousins and Jacko a rest over the next two and a half weeks in our troubled midfield ? They could clearly use one but, at the risk of understatement, Ba is hardly inspiring confidence.
On a purely personal level, I have a minuscule - and I do mean minuscule - sympathy for Karel Fraeye, much as he seems a thoroughly amiable and decent bloke (which I'm sure he is). I use the word 'minuscule' in the sense of the following: 'tiny, minute, microscopic, nanoscopic, very small, little, micro' (with due acknowledgments to Google). The fundamental problem is that he is not qualified to do this job (other, perversely, than being 'known' to Roland) and, however much revision and studying he has done on the Championship, he has very few meaningful contacts and experience in the English game. One has to ask what respect can he really command in the dressing room, whatever platitudes the players understandably offer following Roland's four-monthly change of 'coach'.
My other personal difficulty with Karel Fraeye is that anyone who asserts - as he has done recently- that our squad is good enough, clearly has his head wedged irretrievably and irrevocably up Roland's arse. I know that journalists pose loaded questions but he looks and feels like a total 'brown nose'.
This club deserves very much better and we must crank the pressure up on this regime - one way or another - to ensure that we get it.