The irony of playing long ball to strikers, target players and wide men is that you automatically create more second ball situations and we clearly don't focus on this in training because our second ball success rate is poor - either due to poor positioning/anticipation by our players or equally, as I suspect, by a lack of pace and fitness where it matters.
Possession is the best form of avoiding too much second ball and that is a game CAFC have moved increasingly away from in recent months.
Possession with penetration through forward passing and using the channels requires good movement, good understanding, technical ability of a good first touch, good weight of pass, players with pace and physical strength, the ability, shape and technique to recover the ball quickly when losing possession (the Barcelona 6 second rule) and most importantly, hard work - we do not seem to have the quality with the current, injury-ravaged squad. We are a country mile away from this dream scenario at this moment.
It really is so depressingly sad. It's infuriating beyond belief that this current ownership/regime think that they can just use this club as a play thing and treat us with such contempt. I truly believe that R S***alot gets a sadistic buzz out of using and abusing us and is more than happy to lose a few quid (relatively speaking) as he plays around with a London football club. The Football League really needs to tighten up its rules and regs now when it comes to ownership as this is one experiment too far.
I can say it's only a game. I can say it's only a season, but what I can't say is it's only a football club, because this club is central to my psyche. It's part of what grounds me in life. I know people will be saying get a grip, but Charlton, win, lose, or draw, are part of my everyday life. Why the hell would I log into this site filled with other fanatics lunatics every day (many times a day) if that wasn't the case. Losing is as shit today as it's ever been but when the club is being run as it is right now, it somehow feels as though the custodians with the power and influence to change things, are not going to and that really makes me upset and angry. For me the players are scapegoats in all of this mess. The owner is a very successful businessman and knows what is needed to sort out a business problem, the question to him must surely be, "what is stopping you?"
Perhaps we aren't too high on RD's priorities: Today Sint Truiden are 14th in Belgium Premiership which means they qualify (remarkably) for the play-offs for a place in the Europa League......Ujpest are 4th in the Hungarian Premiership and a point off automatic qualification for the Europa League......Alcorcon are 6th in the Spanish Second Division (a Play Offs slot for promotion to La Liga)....even Carl Zeiss Jena are 3rd in the German Regional League North-East. Given our squad is at least as strong as Sint Truiden and clearly better than Alcorcon he would, from his point of view (wrongly, as he under estimates how strong the UK Championship is), regard us as his only failing team. Could be he feels that a thorough purge is due in SE7 with a rebuild from scratch.
As usual, I come late to the party but at least I do come.....and wearing my black & white scarf.
TBH, today saw a very different Fanny from the one who shouts & cheers on the team from the first to last whistle, deafening all & sundry in the process. This afternoon I felt as though all the fight had gone out of me - really flat & almost disinterested in what was happening on the pitch for possibly the first time ever since I started supporting this Club.
On reflection, I think it's almost a case of self preservation....not reacting to every pass / shot/tackle & not feeling the extreme highs & lows. I felt worn out - as though it was an effort to even clap any good moves & found myself looking around certain areas of the ground for fellow Addicks who sit there every home game.
It was almost as if I've consigned us to League One already and have told myself that no amount of shouting encouragement will make one iota of difference to that fate. And I began to understand why thousands of season ticket holders are voting with their feet....and inevitably visiting their GP for another supply of "those" tablets.
When I did concentrate on the game, I saw a disjointed display from a team not lacking in skill but in application and a game plan. Sadly, this must be the result of poor management and an unbalanced squad of players with too many unproven youngsters and too few experienced old heads to help guide them for 90 minutes ...and in most cases, for the 2nd time in 48 hours.
I saw young Lookie try his hardest to impose himself on the game & pull up with yet another injury, possibly resulting from being less than 100% fit at the start of the match. Is this the way our young Academy players should be "abused" and is this kind of treatment likely to turn his head towards the Arsenals or Chelseas of the football world where his skills would be nurtured & allowed to develop sans extreme pressure ?
I also saw gut busting performances from our 2 stalwarts, CS & JJ, who would give their eye teeth to see success at our Club once again & to play in front of decent crowds with their well earned support. How, they must wonder, has it come to this ?
And I also witnessed much endeavour from Ba, Fox, Lennon who didn't shy away from the action and noted that Saar looked a better player than of late.
So, some successes if success can be measured in a team that can't buy 3 points & looks unlikely to change that in its current guise. Having missed Burnley & Bristol due to ill health, I'm now questioning my sanity in considering the upcoming trips to Huddersfield & Hull....
But it's not the players' fault that we're in this unholy mess. I know sometimes individuals don't help themselves but THEY don't choose the formation or pick the players ; THEY haven't reduced this squad to one full of half fit, over played, unmotivated lads. THIS as most of us have been saying for many weeks, is down to ONE MAN and ONE MAN only. And it has to change before this great Club of ours, like the parrot in Monty Python, is no more....
Peter Varney. We, the fans, salute you for your attempt to stem the tide of this madman. I only know what I have read from today's VOTV & thank AB for bringing this to our attention. But PLEASE don't give up on us in our time of need. We know you love our Club as much as the most ardent supporter and I'm sure you share our anguish. There must be a way to get to our current owner & it won't be easy...We'll play our part , rest assured and after today, I'm certain that the 2% has increased substantially.
This , like the Battle for The Valley is a fight we HAVE to win.
CAN ANYBODY TELL ME WHAT VAZ TE BRINGS TO THE PARTY THAT TONY WATT DOESN'T?
Vaz Te must have a bloody good agent.
I watched him closely today and he wasn't interested. He didn't want to know. He wandered around as if he was sulking about not being chosen at CF. Pathetic. Unless it's on a plate in front of him, he ain't moving for it. When he had a chance, he sliced it wide from the penalty spot position, got up, shrugged his shoulders and wandered back to the halfway line.
When I pointed this out in our last match I got abuse from our resident munter Colin (who seems to be somewhat silent after this debacle.) Similarly I labelled Reza a fraud for pretending to chase down but in reality makes sure he never runs the risk of getting hurt. Today his ploy on throw-ins was to point down the line towards another Charlton player, avoiding eye contact with the thrower, so that the throw never came to him. He has more bookings than goals this season. No doubt Colin will rave about these two...again
The only good thing today was the stand-up protest after they scored. At least now, if the deluded one claims it's only 2% we can officially get her sectioned.
Booing KF at the end felt good too. Good Charlton boo. Not quite a Pardew and Parkinson level boo, but getting there. Shit owner. Shit CEO. Shit manager. Shit squad. Shit match.
Perhaps we aren't too high on RD's priorities: Today Sint Truiden are 14th in Belgium Premiership which means they qualify (remarkably) for the play-offs for a place in the Europa League......Ujpest are 4th in the Hungarian Premiership and a point off automatic qualification for the Europa League......Alcorcon are 6th in the Spanish Second Division (a Play Offs slot for promotion to La Liga)....even Carl Zeiss Jena are 3rd in the German Regional League North-East. Given our squad is at least as strong as Sint Truiden and clearly better than Alcorcon he would, from his point of view (wrongly, as he under estimates how strong the UK Championship is), regard us as his only failing team. Could be he feels that a thorough purge is due in SE7 with a rebuild from scratch.
Ominous
Thank you for these interesting stats, simonmatthews.
A professional football club is a business and, like all businesses, it has budgets, operating costs/overheads and break even points.
Players wages play a bigger part in the cost structure of a football based business than any other major overhead in any other business I can currently think of.
If you look at the size of our current squad compared to the likely revenue the club attracts annually from season tickets, League & TV hand outs, player sales and ancilliary revenue received from off-field activities and services, it is not surprising that the club is currently struggling both on the field, due to the horrific injury crisis and off the field as the income stream stutters along.
Please could somebody put me straight here but, is it not true that a player needs to be paid whether he's injured or not? I have never heard of statutory sick pay applying to a pro footballer - but maybe it does?
Either way, if we have to fulfil contractual pay commitments to both short and long term injured then we clearly cannot bring in new or loan players when the budget is already spoken for.
Simple business economics or have I missed something?
In reality, either Roland has to dip urgently into his war chest or he needs to get some outside investment - there is no time to deliberate on this - it is a must do.
Still trying to work out what positions Reza KAG, Lookman ,Vaz The and Mak were playing. I don't think they knew either.
An absolute mess. If we had a decent coach in who could organise and motivate these players we may have won as Wolves were pretty poor overall but sadly they didn't need to be any better than poor.
Another reason Fox gets, in my view, unwarranted stick. Since Bulot went, he has had absolutely no help in front of him. Can't blame the players entirely for that, as you say, it looks like they are not being coached on the system we use. This is far more concerning than Fox's apparent ineptitude.
This was my fifth game this season[supported since sept 67].I didnt want to come but my sister is married to a wolves fan so I was committed.If I was offered a free half season ticket in the best seats I would say thanks but no thanks.The players must hate playing in that poisonous atmosphere .As Fanny said its not their fault .Most are not ready/good enough but tried hard[except vaz te who is a lazy shit].It makes me sad.I care of course care but it will be the 7th relegation I have seen and I dont want to allow myself to feel as bad as I did for the last 6[I can still remember going to fulham v sunderland[0-0] the day we had to get a better result than them[fulham] at blackpool in 1972 and dont want to feel that bad again.The trouble is I will and long after Roland and Katrien have gone I will be at the valley hoping it will be better next time.
Paper-thin Div 1 squad, pub team Manager, arrogant/lying stooge CEO, lunatic Chairman. As football fans we all need hope. With these people in charge, there is no hope. Will I now take a relegation to rid our great club of these despicable arseholes and restore hope? Yes.
Paper-thin Div 1 squad, pub team Manager, arrogant/lying stooge CEO, lunatic Chairman. As football fans, we all need hope. With these people, there is no hope. Will I now take a relegation to rid our great club of these despicable arseholes and restore hope? Yes.
What's to say they would jog on if we got relegated? That's the scary thing about this mob football success appears low down on the priorities.
Whose to say they wouldn't dig their heels in and see us floundering in league one facing relegation to league two just out of arrogance and stubbornness. Wouldn't put it past these kranks.
Yet again another unbalanced lineup. At least give us a chance with a third central midfielder if we're going to play that sort of formation. Second half the game got a lot more stretched, we tired and we're left with a two man midfield and a four front players completely disorganised.
So often we saw players with a lack of options. The defence have the ball, we have two midfielders and four attackers pushing forwards. Where's the movement, where are the overlaps, players dropping deep, linking up etc. Fraeye seems to want us to play a passing game but without a midfield. It's making a small and inexperienced squad look even worse than it should.
The players are suffering because of the ridiculous choice of manager/head coach and the way the squad has been built. RDs plan for the club to fund itself through selling players would be far more likely to work with a better head coach/manager and more proven experienced players to ensure the youngsters aren't overplayed or in a relegation battle.
KAG is playing far too often and to make it worse he was played out of position once Lookman went off.
Reza is another that isn't a wide player.
If the squad was bigger and better perhaps Lookman wouldn't have started today and wouldn't have picked up another injury. The way things are going I expect he'll be sold in January. With Gomez and presumably Watt going there really is no reason to sell him so quickly. He's good but is he really ready for Premier League football? He's also under contract until 2018 according to Fraeye.
Vaz Te struggled today but has been a lot more effective in previous games even if he doesn't seem to be much of a goal threat. I guess it's probably down to a lack of fitness.
On the back four again the small squad is causing us problems. Solly was the only player there with decent experience. Individually they may all be decent prospects but Sarr and Lennon have never played a full season of first team football. Fox as has been obvious for a while needs the right type of player in front of him giving him an outlet and support. Not a striker high up the pitch leaving Fox having to pump long balls up the pitch.
I thought Ba did ok especially considering our team and formation. He's another that will find it hard to progress and improve while playing in a struggling and inexperienced team.
The performance and result was like so many games this season. Not sure I'll bother with Forest on Saturday because until there are changes it'll be more of the same.
With the transfer window opening soon it's up to RD to do enough to give us the best chance possible of staying up. Just like last year. But will he? And even if he does, why will it be any different next season?
Such a lack of experience in that starting eleven and on the bench today.
Ba, Lookman, Fox, Lennon, THD, Sarr are all kids with not much championship game time under their belts. That's 6 of the starting 11!!!!
Couple that with a half fit Vaz Te and a 'hit and miss' Reza then they were always going to struggle.
Then throw in a manager who is completely inexperienced and beleagured, a crowd who have rightly had enough, an early injury to Lookman - it makes Wolves ability to only score 2 look utterly pathetic.
Very sad to say that I can't see how this situation will be turned around. The noises from KM in that video suggest that money will not be spent on a decent manager or experienced championship players next month, so presumably they are just praying for a miraculous run of results that will just happen.
Paper-thin Div 1 squad, pub team Manager, arrogant/lying stooge CEO, lunatic Chairman. As football fans we all need hope. With these people in charge, there is no hope. Will I now take a relegation to rid our great club of these despicable arseholes and restore hope? Yes.
What's to say they would jog on if we got relegated? That's the scary thing about this mob football success appears low down on the priorities.
Whose to say they wouldn't dig their heels in and see us floundering in league one facing relegation to league two just out of arrogance and stubbornness. Wouldn't put it past these kranks.
I totally agree. I wouldn't put anything past this madman and his puppet. That's why, purely hypothetically, I'd take a relegation if it would guarantee their departure.
Their previous strategy has been to apply a sticking plaster, and no reason to expect otherwise, they want to stay in the Championship, perhaps so they can attract young talent who would be less eager to join a League 1 outfit.
I expect Fraeye is still there to bring in the new players and will be given a crack at a better squad with 3-4 maybe even 5 new players, with sadly some departures.
Either because he really does have RDs ear or because no other trusted person is available, unless of course he goes shortly.
Not sure anything else would fit with their previous thinking, misguided as it may be.
That wasn't a football match that was a circus show.
Day by day week by week they are dismantling the club to nothing. We are fast becoming the next Blackpool and it kills to see. For 5 minutes earlier after they scored the fans became united for a few minutes for the first time in ages but it wasn't long enough, part of me was hoping they would score more just so the fans can unite again, but it fizzled out to the point of no one caring when the second went in late on.
That wasn't a football match that was a circus show.
Day by day week by week they are dismantling the club to nothing. We are fast becoming the next Blackpool and it kills to see. For 5 minutes earlier after they scored the fans became united for a few minutes for the first time in ages but it wasn't long enough, part of me was hoping they would score more just so the fans can unite again, but it fizzled out to the point of no one caring when the second went in late on.
But it was a start, Nicholas.
Next time there will be more taking part and hopefully it will go on for longer.
Not everyone "signed up" for the anti RD/KM campaign at the beginning but you can bet your bottom dollar they're more likely to do so after today's performance and the VOTV article.
Here is an example: we are losing at home - again - and we have a corner at the Covered End. There is a figure measuring 6-feet 7-inches waiting in the box. Fox takes the corner: he slams a low ball that doesn't beat the first defender. Wolves are free - three quick passes from one end of the pitch to the other - and fire a shot that misses by an inch.
Our players are miles away. Two months ago at the Bromley Q & A, Gudmundsson and Henderson deflected questions about Luzon and Duchatelet; "Blame us, the players", they said. I can assure them both that I do.
Our academy breeds small players: physically weak, right from the start. Muscled off the ball in midfield - 50-50 challenges are bottled or lost, swept away. At The Valley we start brightly, passing accurately, side to side, peripherally pretty - yet after 30 minutes we haven't actually had a shot at goal. Our midfield is vacuous, has been since Bowyer, Parker, and Reid. Cousins fainted in the dressing-room at half-time at Bristol City.
It was glaringly obvious against Leeds two weeks ago that we could have played until midnight and not scored. Same again today. Our opponents seize possession, pass and move, get round Solly and Fox, and send piercing balls across our six-yard-area. One-nil. Two-nil.
What's crucial is that we are simply unable to put up a fight against our fellow strugglers. We were ripped apart at home by Huddersfield, lost at MK Dons, couldn't beat Rotherham at home, nor poor Bolton. We could have been 4-0 down at half-time at Ashton Gate. Yes, of course Carol will go soon.
The best part of the game today - I say this especially for our fellow Lifers in the States and Australia, spared the hapless comedy of Fox's corner - was when the whole Valley stood up and chanted, pointing at the directors: "We want you OUT".
How bad must Franck Moussa be in training to not start in front of KAG?
It must be a fitness/match fitness issue otherwise I really would have expected to see Moussa given some game time today.
My guess is that Moussa is not quite ready yet and was on the bench in case of emergency - otherwise it would make no sense, as you point out.
Did anyone witness Moussa warm up? I could have sworn I saw him driving away from the ground at 2:50.
I agree with lots of what has been said about the game; some okay performances notably from Solly and Ba but really who cares about that-we are a shambles and, even with players coming back from injury, that is going to continue while we've got our clueless Belgian non-league man in charge. My son has decided he is done for the time being and didn't bother today, I am going to follow his lead for the Forest game-I can't think of a good reason to bother, the Valley is horrific at the moment and if that laughing arrogant excuse of a CEO we have been lumbered with wants to improve the "experience" of a trip to SE7 then she's got her work cut out. Maybe it was urgent meetings about the standard of sandwiches and entertainment in the Vista lounge that stopped her meeting Peter Varney to discuss the investment opportunity with the Kuwaiti company building the £2.5bn fairground up the road. Priorities and that but then she is just a junior fucking lawyer who, like that waistcoat wearing tosser, should be nowhere near the positions they are in at my club. That's MY CLUB Katrin not yours, not Roland's who will hopefully, please God, be gone soon.
Apologies for the language but I am rather angry and can't believe it has come to this.
My 3 year olds first game and he enjoyed the booooooing of Fraeye at the end First time my wife has been since that Wycombe cup game (on our 5 year anniversary of first date,how romantic) in the following 9 years we have produced 4 boys and attended today for the first time as a family of 6 My wife wants us all to go again on Saturday ! If we ever divorce I will be using this as evidence in the courts pleading that she's insane ! The temperature is dropping a bit this weekend so that may be my out for having to turn up and watch that shit .
80% League One and boredom beckons 20% the freak show digs deep and pulls out a miracle and we survive
wasn't there and am disappointed at the result (of course) .. let's see if the penny has dropped and we get some ENGLISH backbone and experience into the squad over the next few weeks .. also, we can only hope that a few of the 'injured', the unfit and /or the demotivated get with the programme and start earning their salaries by turning out for the odd game .. as to 'formations' and playing style .. the present squad has limited ability and cohesion .. it is futile to try fancy Dan line ups & complicated formations with inexperienced players who find it difficult to adequately mark an opponent or to make an accurate pass .. lets hope that Fraeye sticks to a basic no frills 4 4 2 and saves the fancy theory for his next job on the continent .. unless some money is spent and /or a rethink of how the playing staff is organised and disciplined, we are fucked with a capital FFFFF and the purgatory once more of the third strata beckons .. .. on to a Yorkshire January and games against fellow strugglers and a promotion hopeful .. easy it will not be .. the team needs to start showing some backbone on a regular basis and the 'manager' needs to stop fucking about with formations and tactics
It was pretty clear from the team being announced that we had little chance. There was some hope during the game as Wolves seemed equally poor. But I was waiting for them to twig that they could attack us a bit more without us posing too much of a threat and when they worked it out, there was only going to be one winner. To be fair to KF, I don't think he could have picked any side to have won that one, with the players at his disposal. He needed to flood the midfield, but didn't have any midfileders. He didn't have any centre halves to play with wing backs either. However, he should have had Holmes -Dennis playing instead of Fox and started with Mackienok - limited player that it is, any manager who understands balance would try to play a player who engages defenders. That can be taking them on, but also physically as in big Mac's case.
The game went largely as I predicted. I said in the prediction thread that it is hard to see anything other than a defeat for a team that finds it so hard to make chances and so easy to make silly defensive mistakes. And so it was.
Comments
Suggest KF reads this and digests it.
The irony of playing long ball to strikers, target players and wide men is that you automatically create more second ball situations and we clearly don't focus on this in training because our second ball success rate is poor - either due to poor positioning/anticipation by our players or equally, as I suspect, by a lack of pace and fitness where it matters.
Possession is the best form of avoiding too much second ball and that is a game CAFC have moved increasingly away from in recent months.
Possession with penetration through forward passing and using the channels requires good movement, good understanding, technical ability of a good first touch, good weight of pass, players with pace and physical strength, the ability, shape and technique to recover the ball quickly when losing possession (the Barcelona 6 second rule) and most importantly, hard work - we do not seem to have the quality with the current, injury-ravaged squad.
We are a country mile away from this dream scenario at this moment.
fanaticslunatics every day (many times a day) if that wasn't the case. Losing is as shit today as it's ever been but when the club is being run as it is right now, it somehow feels as though the custodians with the power and influence to change things, are not going to and that really makes me upset and angry. For me the players are scapegoats in all of this mess. The owner is a very successful businessman and knows what is needed to sort out a business problem, the question to him must surely be, "what is stopping you?"Spell it out Roland
Ominous
As usual, I come late to the party but at least I do come.....and wearing my black & white scarf.
TBH, today saw a very different Fanny from the one who shouts & cheers on the team from the first to last whistle, deafening all & sundry in the process. This afternoon I felt as though all the fight had gone out of me - really flat & almost disinterested in what was happening on the pitch for possibly the first time ever since I started supporting this Club.
On reflection, I think it's almost a case of self preservation....not reacting to every pass / shot/tackle & not feeling the extreme highs & lows. I felt worn out - as though it was an effort to even clap any good moves & found myself looking around certain areas of the ground for fellow Addicks who sit there every home game.
It was almost as if I've consigned us to League One already and have told myself that no amount of shouting encouragement will make one iota of difference to that fate. And I began to understand why thousands of season ticket holders are voting with their feet....and inevitably visiting their GP for another supply of "those" tablets.
When I did concentrate on the game, I saw a disjointed display from a team not lacking in skill but in application and a game plan. Sadly, this must be the result of poor management and an unbalanced squad of players with too many unproven youngsters and too few experienced old heads to help guide them for 90 minutes ...and in most cases, for the 2nd time in 48 hours.
I saw young Lookie try his hardest to impose himself on the game & pull up with yet another injury, possibly resulting from being less than 100% fit at the start of the match. Is this the way our young Academy players should be "abused" and is this kind of treatment likely to turn his head towards the Arsenals or Chelseas of the football world where his skills would be nurtured & allowed to develop sans extreme pressure ?
I also saw gut busting performances from our 2 stalwarts, CS & JJ, who would give their eye teeth to see success at our Club once again & to play in front of decent crowds with their well earned support. How, they must wonder, has it come to this ?
And I also witnessed much endeavour from Ba, Fox, Lennon who didn't shy away from the action and noted that Saar looked a better player than of late.
So, some successes if success can be measured in a team that can't buy 3 points & looks unlikely to change that in its current guise. Having missed Burnley & Bristol due to ill health, I'm now questioning my sanity in considering the upcoming trips to Huddersfield & Hull....
But it's not the players' fault that we're in this unholy mess. I know sometimes individuals don't help themselves but THEY don't choose the formation or pick the players ; THEY haven't reduced this squad to one full of half fit, over played, unmotivated lads. THIS as most of us have been saying for many weeks, is down to ONE MAN and ONE MAN only. And it has to change before this great Club of ours, like the parrot in Monty Python, is no more....
Peter Varney. We, the fans, salute you for your attempt to stem the tide of this madman. I only know what I have read from today's VOTV & thank AB for bringing this to our attention. But PLEASE don't give up on us in our time of need. We know you love our Club as much as the most ardent supporter and I'm sure you share our anguish. There must be a way to get to our current owner & it won't be easy...We'll play our part , rest assured and after today, I'm certain that the 2% has increased substantially.
This , like the Battle for The Valley is a fight we HAVE to win.
7:55PM
seth plum said:
CAN ANYBODY TELL ME WHAT VAZ TE BRINGS TO THE PARTY THAT TONY WATT DOESN'T?
Vaz Te must have a bloody good agent.
I watched him closely today and he wasn't interested. He didn't want to know. He wandered around as if he was sulking about not being chosen at CF. Pathetic. Unless it's on a plate in front of him, he ain't moving for it. When he had a chance, he sliced it wide from the penalty spot position, got up, shrugged his shoulders and wandered back to the halfway line.
When I pointed this out in our last match I got abuse from our resident munter Colin (who seems to be somewhat silent after this debacle.) Similarly I labelled Reza a fraud for pretending to chase down but in reality makes sure he never runs the risk of getting hurt. Today his ploy on throw-ins was to point down the line towards another Charlton player, avoiding eye contact with the thrower, so that the throw never came to him. He has more bookings than goals this season. No doubt Colin will rave about these two...again
A professional football club is a business and, like all businesses, it has budgets, operating costs/overheads and break even points.
Players wages play a bigger part in the cost structure of a football based business than any other major overhead in any other business I can currently think of.
If you look at the size of our current squad compared to the likely revenue the club attracts annually from season tickets, League & TV hand outs, player sales and ancilliary revenue received from off-field activities and services, it is not surprising that the club is currently struggling both on the field, due to the horrific injury crisis and off the field as the income stream stutters along.
Please could somebody put me straight here but, is it not true that a player needs to be paid whether he's injured or not? I have never heard of statutory sick pay applying to a pro footballer - but maybe it does?
Either way, if we have to fulfil contractual pay commitments to both short and long term injured then we clearly cannot bring in new or loan players when the budget is already spoken for.
Simple business economics or have I missed something?
In reality, either Roland has to dip urgently into his war chest or he needs to get some outside investment - there is no time to deliberate on this - it is a must do.
As football fans we all need hope. With these people in charge, there is no hope.
Will I now take a relegation to rid our great club of these despicable arseholes and restore hope? Yes.
Whose to say they wouldn't dig their heels in and see us floundering in league one facing relegation to league two just out of arrogance and stubbornness. Wouldn't put it past these kranks.
So often we saw players with a lack of options. The defence have the ball, we have two midfielders and four attackers pushing forwards. Where's the movement, where are the overlaps, players dropping deep, linking up etc. Fraeye seems to want us to play a passing game but without a midfield. It's
making a small and inexperienced squad look even worse than it should.
The players are suffering because of the ridiculous choice of manager/head coach and the way the squad has been built. RDs plan for the club to fund itself through selling players would be far more likely to work with a better head coach/manager and more proven experienced players to ensure the youngsters aren't overplayed or in a relegation battle.
KAG is playing far too often and to make it worse he was played out of position once Lookman went off.
Reza is another that isn't a wide player.
If the squad was bigger and better perhaps Lookman wouldn't have started today and wouldn't have picked up another injury. The way things are going I expect he'll be sold in January. With Gomez and presumably Watt going there really is no reason to sell him so quickly. He's good but is he really ready for Premier League football? He's also under contract until 2018 according to Fraeye.
Vaz Te struggled today but has been a lot more effective in previous games even if he doesn't seem to be much of a goal threat. I guess it's probably down to a lack of fitness.
On the back four again the small squad is causing us problems. Solly was the only player there with decent experience. Individually they may all be decent prospects but Sarr and Lennon have never played a full season of first team football. Fox as has been obvious for a while needs the right type of player in front of him giving him an outlet and support. Not a striker high up the pitch leaving Fox having to pump long balls up the pitch.
I thought Ba did ok especially considering our team and formation. He's another that will find it hard to progress and improve while playing in a struggling and inexperienced team.
The performance and result was like so many games this season. Not sure I'll bother with Forest on Saturday because until there are changes it'll be more of the same.
With the transfer window opening soon it's up to RD to do enough to give us the best chance possible of staying up. Just like last year. But will he? And even if he does, why will it be any different next season?
Ba, Lookman, Fox, Lennon, THD, Sarr are all kids with not much championship game time under their belts. That's 6 of the starting 11!!!!
Couple that with a half fit Vaz Te and a 'hit and miss' Reza then they were always going to struggle.
Then throw in a manager who is completely inexperienced and beleagured, a crowd who have rightly had enough, an early injury to Lookman - it makes Wolves ability to only score 2 look utterly pathetic.
Very sad to say that I can't see how this situation will be turned around. The noises from KM in that video suggest that money will not be spent on a decent manager or experienced championship players next month, so presumably they are just praying for a miraculous run of results that will just happen.
That's why, purely hypothetically, I'd take a relegation if it would guarantee their departure.
I expect Fraeye is still there to bring in the new players and will be given a crack at a better squad with 3-4 maybe even 5 new players, with sadly some departures.
Either because he really does have RDs ear or because no other trusted person is available, unless of course he goes shortly.
Not sure anything else would fit with their previous thinking, misguided as it may be.
Day by day week by week they are dismantling the club to nothing. We are fast becoming the next Blackpool and it kills to see. For 5 minutes earlier after they scored the fans became united for a few minutes for the first time in ages but it wasn't long enough, part of me was hoping they would score more just so the fans can unite again, but it fizzled out to the point of no one caring when the second went in late on.
Next time there will be more taking part and hopefully it will go on for longer.
Not everyone "signed up" for the anti RD/KM campaign at the beginning but you can bet your bottom dollar they're more likely to do so after today's performance and the VOTV article.
Just ask northstandsteve .....
Our players are miles away. Two months ago at the Bromley Q & A, Gudmundsson and Henderson deflected questions about Luzon and Duchatelet; "Blame us, the players", they said. I can assure them both that I do.
Our academy breeds small players: physically weak, right from the start. Muscled off the ball in midfield - 50-50 challenges are bottled or lost, swept away. At The Valley we start brightly, passing accurately, side to side, peripherally pretty - yet after 30 minutes we haven't actually had a shot at goal. Our midfield is vacuous, has been since Bowyer, Parker, and Reid. Cousins fainted in the dressing-room at half-time at Bristol City.
It was glaringly obvious against Leeds two weeks ago that we could have played until midnight and not scored. Same again today. Our opponents seize possession, pass and move, get round Solly and Fox, and send piercing balls across our six-yard-area. One-nil. Two-nil.
What's crucial is that we are simply unable to put up a fight against our fellow strugglers. We were ripped apart at home by Huddersfield, lost at MK Dons, couldn't beat Rotherham at home, nor poor Bolton. We could have been 4-0 down at half-time at Ashton Gate. Yes, of course Carol will go soon.
The best part of the game today - I say this especially for our fellow Lifers in the States and Australia, spared the hapless comedy of Fox's corner - was when the whole Valley stood up and chanted, pointing at the directors: "We want you OUT".
I agree with lots of what has been said about the game; some okay performances notably from Solly and Ba but really who cares about that-we are a shambles and, even with players coming back from injury, that is going to continue while we've got our clueless Belgian non-league man in charge. My son has decided he is done for the time being and didn't bother today, I am going to follow his lead for the Forest game-I can't think of a good reason to bother, the Valley is horrific at the moment and if that laughing arrogant excuse of a CEO we have been lumbered with wants to improve the "experience" of a trip to SE7 then she's got her work cut out. Maybe it was urgent meetings about the standard of sandwiches and entertainment in the Vista lounge that stopped her meeting Peter Varney to discuss the investment opportunity with the Kuwaiti company building the £2.5bn fairground up the road. Priorities and that but then she is just a junior fucking lawyer who, like that waistcoat wearing tosser, should be nowhere near the positions they are in at my club. That's MY CLUB Katrin not yours, not Roland's who will hopefully, please God, be gone soon.
Apologies for the language but I am rather angry and can't believe it has come to this.
First time my wife has been since that Wycombe cup game (on our 5 year anniversary of first date,how romantic)
in the following 9 years we have produced 4 boys and attended today for the first time as a family of 6
My wife wants us all to go again on Saturday ! If we ever divorce I will be using this as evidence in the courts pleading that she's insane !
The temperature is dropping a bit this weekend so that may be my out for having to turn up and watch that shit .
80% League One and boredom beckons
20% the freak show digs deep and pulls out a miracle and we survive
Bang on the money legaladdick regarding Reza , bloke is a footballing fraud.
.. as to 'formations' and playing style .. the present squad has limited ability and cohesion .. it is futile to try fancy Dan line ups & complicated formations with inexperienced players who find it difficult to adequately mark an opponent or to make an accurate pass .. lets hope that Fraeye sticks to a basic no frills 4 4 2 and saves the fancy theory for his next job on the continent .. unless some money is spent and /or a rethink of how the playing staff is organised and disciplined, we are fucked with a capital FFFFF and the purgatory once more of the third strata beckons ..
.. on to a Yorkshire January and games against fellow strugglers and a promotion hopeful .. easy it will not be .. the team needs to start showing some backbone on a regular basis and the 'manager' needs to stop fucking about with formations and tactics
The game went largely as I predicted. I said in the prediction thread that it is hard to see anything other than a defeat for a team that finds it so hard to make chances and so easy to make silly defensive mistakes. And so it was.