An enjoyable couple of hours with Slade and Nugent with about 60 fellow Addicks.
Although widely derided on here, they are a committed group of Charlton fans who arrange evenings like this for local supporters and do it very well. I believe that only a few are members of this forum, so I suspect this is the reason why the feedback here is often sparse.
I got the feeling that most fans in the room were anti the regime - indeed some were quite vociferous in their condemnation, which surprised me. However quite a few were against the protests and felt it was nothing but a hindrance to the team performing. Russell himself suggested the players would use this as an excuse if they performed badly.
Anybody who wanted to ask question of Slade/Nugent were free to do so, with no censorship. However, as you'd expect there were certain issues that Russell was, shall we say, guarded about.
The first session started off with Russell explaining how he and the team operate on a weekly basis, including thorough analysis of players, fitness levels, performance and areas of strengths and weaknesses that they feel they need to work on, illustrated with a good old PowerPoint presentation. Lots of stats, who did what, when and where, who passes to who, who crosses from where, how many metres each player runs and at what intensity etc. Fascinating stuff and the first time I'd seen the in depth analysis of not only our team and their performances, but also that of the opposition.
It included targets set by Russell (none of which appear to have been met to date) and differing tactics, depending on the opposition and the state of the game.
Russell was well aware of the situation at the Club before he joined and it was made clear to him from the beginning that mistakes had been made. He seriously believes that there has now bee a cultural change and he will do all he can to speed up the progress of that change. He feels that appointing him Manager rather than First Team Coach is the biggest step and he has full autonomy on the footballing side. He has a great relationship with Nugent which is open and honest. Nugent is definitely not a 'yes man'. He didn't once mention Steve Head.
His first thoughts on joining the Club were that there wasn't a 'oneness' amongst the playing staff. He gave an example of the canteen at the training ground which wasn't being used by the players post session. He felt it was because it was too functional and basic. So he tarted one table up, tablecloth, napkins, cutlery, a couple of newspapers and invited KM over for a coffee. He asked her to pick where she wanted to sit and of course she chose the tarted up table. The point was made and now they're all like that plus some TVs on the wall and all the players now use it post training. Builds a much better team environment.
More later.
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Comments
Builds a better team environment? I'm calling bullshit on that one, they played like strangers on Tuesday.
They way they played don Tuesday they should all find a corner at the training and sit cross legged facing it.
They are the goody-two shoes group of fans that NightMeire wheels out at any time she cannot use T20. I'm glad some of them are now anti-regime, as this has not been the picture painted at other times.
Little things like that must help but it's so basic and easily missed or forgotten about when you bring in head coaches from another country/culture and sack them every few months.
No players wanted to stay and spend time together, no team spirit was nurtured.
It was yet another symptom of a broken club.
"Russell suggested the players would use this as an excuse if they performed badly"
WTF!
2/ "Russell himself suggested the players would use this as an excuse if they performed badly".
If both of the above statements were genuinely said that is laughable. There have been games were we have won and played well whilst very large protests have taken place. I am boycotting so can only speak from what I read on here but to my knowledge there have been no protests inside the ground this season?
For Russell to suggest the players will use any of the above as an excuse "if they perform badly" is a dreadful thing to say.
Russell Slade on the protests (not verbatim but not far off): "Of course it affects the players; it's a distraction and it can make life more difficult. And you know what? I also think it's almost like giving the players an excuse. They can say to themselves 'How can we be expected to cope with that?' There's no doubt it has an impact. I would be lying if I didn't say that."
Isn't it the manager's job to stop that kind of nonsensical thinking, not promote it? Or is he also getting his lame excuses in early?
The opposition will obviously be doing the same, as Oldham did on Tuesday, when they played straight through our midfield with quick direct passing, in the first twenty minutes in particular, having previously identified a slow midfield from their scouting reports.
So it's therefore a question of whether the tactics are correct. Whether the team selection and formation is correct. Whether the players are good enough to carry out those tactics and whether the adjustments during the game lead to a good result.
After the Fleetwood game, Brussell told us to trust him, because he knows what he is doing. Then in the Wimbledon game, Ardley switched Poleon from the right flank to the left at half time, to capitalise on the space in front of Solly left vacant by the wandering Holmes, whereas Lookman had covered back into the space in front of Fox in the first half denying Poleon the space to operate. Then Ardley fed in his giants from the bench during the second half to overload our centre backs against crosses. Brussell failed to recognise that and it cost us the game. WIth all the analysis he has, he should have recognised that and adjusted.
Peter Clarke scored with a header at a straight-forward free kick on Tuesday, which I'm sure would have been highlighted prior to the game, so sometimes it's also individual mistakes and the calibre of the player carrying out his marking job that determines a result. Not always the coach.
There's talking a good game and delivering a good game. Let's see if there is an improvement starting with tomorrow and further into the season.
Bill Shankley always used to say - Preparation - Improvisation - Adjustment - Attention to detail. They are the key factors. Adjustment and Attention to detail (e.g. Planning against opposition set plays) are the key factors in a game.
A good insight and nice to see the manager being open with his football planning and philosophy.
Did anyone ask about Mowgli?
So the chairs are being rearranged as the ship sinks.
I can see that Slade is already wearing his Life jacket under his tracky.
Millwall once appointed their Chief Scout Bob Pearson as acting manager, he lost all six games. The football fraternity was in stitches.
Tony K -right hand flunkey
John C - left hand flunkey.
What a team !