Bielik returns to Derby after his loan spell at Birmingham finishes. Surely Derby will try to sell him, as he won't want to play in L1 and his wages will surely be way too high for L1 anyway.
Come home Krystian. I think I've learned how to spell your name this time.
Thought he was a quality player. But that squad was quality. Shows you how far off the current lot are in the same division. Depressing.
Yep Marshall, Lapsie, Reeves, Parker. Purrington, Williams, Morgan, Pratley, JFC who half our fans couldn't wait to get rid of. Solly was finished. Ward and Maxwell, remember them?
Cullen, Bieilk, Dijksteel, Taylor, Grant, Aribo and Phillips had either never played for us or really broke through that season. That's why we got promoted. It could easily happen again.
7 of the 1998 lads that won at Wembley hadn't played for us before that season either.
Thought he was a quality player. But that squad was quality. Shows you how far off the current lot are in the same division. Depressing.
The squad really wasn’t quality at all. The team was outstanding but the depth wasn’t there. We had no left back for the first half of the season and no partner for Taylor in the second half. It’s just that the top 5/6 players were far too good for league 1
Thought he was a quality player. But that squad was quality. Shows you how far off the current lot are in the same division. Depressing.
Yep Marshall, Lapsie, Reeves, Parker. Purrington, Williams, Morgan, Pratley, JFC who half our fans couldn't wait to get rid of. Solly was finished. Ward and Maxwell, remember them?
Cullen, Bieilk, Dijksteel, Taylor, Grant, Aribo and Phillips had either never played for us or really broke through that season. That's why we got promoted. It could easily happen again.
7 of the 1998 lads that won at Wembley hadn't played for us before that season either.
Krystian Bielik had an erratic start when he first came to Charlton on loan collecting more 5's than 8's with mistakes but boy when he was on his game he looked class.
I don't want to dwell on his injuries as that would be a kick in the nuts but towards the end of that season we had a couple of home matches when we scored 4 and Bielik was outstanding in midfield and getting forward and scored a cracker down the covered end. Also the goal he scored against Doncaster in the semi final 2nd leg early doors was mega loud and I celebrated with Rhoys Wiggins who was newly retired and this was the first game he had been to after the sad news.
Bowyer, the tinker man put Krystian back in a defensive position 1st half of the final before more tinkering at HT with Nabster coming off and Jason Pearce entering the contest.
Crazy to think that Bielik is only 25 and IF he could ever steer clear of injuries 🤞his career could still be top Championship at least.
CB, defensive midfielder or even licence to get forward he glided on a good day.
Whether he was playing CB or DM, he had this knack of carrying the ball from one end of the pitch to the other. It was so effective if we were struggling to pass our way through teams.
Thought he was a quality player. But that squad was quality. Shows you how far off the current lot are in the same division. Depressing.
Yep Marshall, Lapsie, Reeves, Parker. Purrington, Williams, Morgan, Pratley, JFC who half our fans couldn't wait to get rid of. Solly was finished. Ward and Maxwell, remember them?
Cullen, Bieilk, Dijksteel, Taylor, Grant, Aribo and Phillips had either never played for us or really broke through that season. That's why we got promoted. It could easily happen again.
7 of the 1998 lads that won at Wembley hadn't played for us before that season either.
I’m not sure about “easily”.
It's only 6 players. 7 of the 11 that started in 1998 were signed that season as well. Even with the transfer window it is far from impossible.
Thought he was a quality player. But that squad was quality. Shows you how far off the current lot are in the same division. Depressing.
The squad really wasn’t quality at all. The team was outstanding but the depth wasn’t there. We had no left back for the first half of the season and no partner for Taylor in the second half. It’s just that the top 5/6 players were far too good for league 1
You’ve got a point there. I still think the spine of that team was far better than the current one. Phillips, Bauer/Sarr, Cullen/Bielik, Aribo and Taylor were all significantly better than AMB, Innis, Dobson, Fraser and Leaburn. As you also say, they were a team.
Whether he was playing CB or DM, he had this knack of carrying the ball from one end of the pitch to the other. It was so effective if we were struggling to pass our way through teams.
Yes my memory of him is his class bringing the ball out of defence, but you could also see Bowyer doing his nut sometimes when Bielik would do a Zidane pirouette!
Thought he was a quality player. But that squad was quality. Shows you how far off the current lot are in the same division. Depressing.
Yep Marshall, Lapsie, Reeves, Parker. Purrington, Williams, Morgan, Pratley, JFC who half our fans couldn't wait to get rid of. Solly was finished. Ward and Maxwell, remember them?
Cullen, Bieilk, Dijksteel, Taylor, Grant, Aribo and Phillips had either never played for us or really broke through that season. That's why we got promoted. It could easily happen again.
7 of the 1998 lads that won at Wembley hadn't played for us before that season either.
It's possible but there is a slight difference, which is that we're
now a very long way from the topsy turvy recruitment of the Roland days
and there's no legacy of it left. In 2018/19 we only conceded 40 goals,
the second fewest in the league. Barnsley conceded 39 and Luton 42. We
scored the fewest goals in the top six. We only scored 2 more than
Peterborough in 7th but conceded 22 fewer. The main reason we were able
to do that was we still had some decent left over Championship level
defenders. Bauer hadn't been a huge standout in L1 previously but in a
well-drilled defence was far too good for L1, as eventually was Naby
Sarr. Pearce had a lot of Championship experience even if he was getting
on a bit and Solly was still good enough to do well at that level.
Dijksteel and Phillips were happy breakthroughs. Add Bielik into that
backline at times and even without a left back we were hard to beat.
Once we added an average specialist in Purrington we lost one game that he played in due to that
added balance. We even had Vetokele to call on here and there after
Grant went and he scored some key goals towards the end to help drag us
through before he broke again.
Now though we're a long way
from having left over Championship players who can be rehabilitated by a
decent manager. Getting a few decent loans and a goalscorer as well as
three academy players bursting through allowed us to drag a lot more out
of the quality we had hiding in the squad. I don't see that same
quality hiding in this one though, nor do I massively see Holden as a
big defensive improver. We could have a season where Ness, AMB, Campbell
and Leaburn all break out in a big way, maybe we keep Hector, but even if we
make 6 brilliant signings I don't think there's quite the quality there
to be polished amongst the squad. We'll see, but I think we need a lot of work doing to the defence and to completely rethink the midfield plus a massive slice of luck (which we're of course famous for) compared to already being within reach - play-offs the previous season despite being rubbish - and needing that bit extra in 18/19
The Forgotten man or the Chuks Aneke of his day, Igor Vetokele did make a decent comeback and only from memory ? he broke down again soon after when being sent higher than the Wimbledon lad by Inniss when a keeper fouled Igor outside the box down the Jimmy Seed end. He may have carried on but I believe it was soon after. I'm not one to berate Refs after being a manager in youth football but boy did I go ape when the keeper only got a yellow card.
Charlton have had some shocking luck as Igor Vetokele was mustard when he first joined and enjoyable trips to Brighton and Brentford (are they in League 2 now 🤔) showed he was an excellent signing and finisher amongst the rubbish. I was at Rotherham when the wee fat man Steve Evans got his two CB'S to take turns in kicking Igor. That was the start of his Achilles heal injury and why he never could kick on from his great start.
When Igor and Josh Cullan both dislocated their shoulders in the same match I knew there was a price to pay for not buying the heather from the Gypsy lady ! Why did she put a curse on the whole club and say you will never beat Millwall again.
Someone say "break a leg" FFS. It works in the theatre.
Bielik - could've imho had a great career as a premier league player but injuries destroyed him - he's not the first and won't be the last. Thought he was the missing piece of the puzzle when he played for us.
Thought he was a quality player. But that squad was quality. Shows you how far off the current lot are in the same division. Depressing.
Yep Marshall, Lapsie, Reeves, Parker. Purrington, Williams, Morgan, Pratley, JFC who half our fans couldn't wait to get rid of. Solly was finished. Ward and Maxwell, remember them?
Cullen, Bieilk, Dijksteel, Taylor, Grant, Aribo and Phillips had either never played for us or really broke through that season. That's why we got promoted. It could easily happen again.
7 of the 1998 lads that won at Wembley hadn't played for us before that season either.
It's possible but there is a slight difference, which is that we're
now a very long way from the topsy turvy recruitment of the Roland days
and there's no legacy of it left. In 2018/19 we only conceded 40 goals,
the second fewest in the league. Barnsley conceded 39 and Luton 42. We
scored the fewest goals in the top six. We only scored 2 more than
Peterborough in 7th but conceded 22 fewer. The main reason we were able
to do that was we still had some decent left over Championship level
defenders. Bauer hadn't been a huge standout in L1 previously but in a
well-drilled defence was far too good for L1, as eventually was Naby
Sarr. Pearce had a lot of Championship experience even if he was getting
on a bit and Solly was still good enough to do well at that level.
Dijksteel and Phillips were happy breakthroughs. Add Bielik into that
backline at times and even without a left back we were hard to beat.
Once we added an average specialist in Purrington we lost one game that he played in due to that
added balance. We even had Vetokele to call on here and there after
Grant went and he scored some key goals towards the end to help drag us
through before he broke again.
Now though we're a long way
from having left over Championship players who can be rehabilitated by a
decent manager. Getting a few decent loans and a goalscorer as well as
three academy players bursting through allowed us to drag a lot more out
of the quality we had hiding in the squad. I don't see that same
quality hiding in this one though, nor do I massively see Holden as a
big defensive improver. We could have a season where Ness, AMB, Campbell
and Leaburn all break out in a big way, maybe we keep Hector, but even if we
make 6 brilliant signings I don't think there's quite the quality there
to be polished amongst the squad. We'll see, but I think we need a lot of work doing to the defence and to completely rethink the midfield plus a massive slice of luck (which we're of course famous for) compared to already being within reach - play-offs the previous season despite being rubbish - and needing that bit extra in 18/19
I get the point that we got in the play offs the year before but from that squad we lost, if not literally, Amos, JFC, Kashi, Konsa, Dasilva, Fosu and Maginnes from that team. If memory serves they included the top 3 in the POTY vote, and statbank. As well as our top 2 scorers.
The 16/17 about the same level as we are now, if not slightly worse and we got in the play offs, as you say, the next year. In 96/97 we finished 15th.
Neither times we spent a fortune but what we did spend we got, mostly, right. 7 or 8 really good signings could be enough. 4 or 5 really good ones and 3 or 4 crap ones won't.
Thought he was a quality player. But that squad was quality. Shows you how far off the current lot are in the same division. Depressing.
Yep Marshall, Lapsie, Reeves, Parker. Purrington, Williams, Morgan, Pratley, JFC who half our fans couldn't wait to get rid of. Solly was finished. Ward and Maxwell, remember them?
Cullen, Bieilk, Dijksteel, Taylor, Grant, Aribo and Phillips had either never played for us or really broke through that season. That's why we got promoted. It could easily happen again.
7 of the 1998 lads that won at Wembley hadn't played for us before that season either.
I’m not sure about “easily”.
Agreed the problem at our level is a lot of players earn a living on reputation and if they feel there is nothing to play for come Jan they dont apply themselves
Comments
But that squad was quality. Shows you how far off the current lot are in the same division. Depressing.
Purrington, Williams, Morgan, Pratley, JFC who half our fans couldn't wait to get rid of. Solly was finished. Ward and Maxwell, remember them?
Cullen, Bieilk, Dijksteel, Taylor, Grant, Aribo and Phillips had either never played for us or really broke through that season. That's why we got promoted. It could easily happen again.
7 of the 1998 lads that won at Wembley hadn't played for us before that season either.
I don't want to dwell on his injuries as that would be a kick in the nuts but towards the end of that season we had a couple of home matches when we scored 4 and Bielik was outstanding in midfield and getting forward and scored a cracker down the covered end.
Also the goal he scored against Doncaster in the semi final 2nd leg early doors was mega loud and I celebrated with Rhoys Wiggins who was newly retired and this was the first game he had been to after the sad news.
Bowyer, the tinker man put Krystian back in a defensive position 1st half of the final before more tinkering at HT with Nabster coming off and Jason Pearce entering the contest.
Crazy to think that Bielik is only 25 and IF he could ever steer clear of injuries 🤞his career could still be top Championship at least.
CB, defensive midfielder or even licence to get forward he glided on a good day.
Thanks for the memory.
The Forgotten man or the Chuks Aneke of his day, Igor Vetokele did make a decent comeback and only from memory ? he broke down again soon after when being sent higher than the Wimbledon lad by Inniss when a keeper fouled Igor outside the box down the Jimmy Seed end. He may have carried on but I believe it was soon after. I'm not one to berate Refs after being a manager in youth football but boy did I go ape when the keeper only got a yellow card.
Charlton have had some shocking luck as Igor Vetokele was mustard when he first joined and enjoyable trips to Brighton and Brentford (are they in League 2 now 🤔) showed he was an excellent signing and finisher amongst the rubbish. I was at Rotherham when the wee fat man Steve Evans got his two CB'S to take turns in kicking Igor. That was the start of his Achilles heal injury and why he never could kick on from his great start.
When Igor and Josh Cullan both dislocated their shoulders in the same match I knew there was a price to pay for not buying the heather from the Gypsy lady ! Why did she put a curse on the whole club and say you will never beat Millwall again.
Someone say "break a leg" FFS.
It works in the theatre.
The 16/17 about the same level as we are now, if not slightly worse and we got in the play offs, as you say, the next year. In 96/97 we finished 15th.
Neither times we spent a fortune but what we did spend we got, mostly, right. 7 or 8 really good signings could be enough. 4 or 5 really good ones and 3 or 4 crap ones won't.