Listened on Valley Pass, it sounded to me as though we were happy to let them have more of the ball in the first half in our half and soak up pressure whilst trying to hit them occasionally on the break. 2nd half was the reverse, we went at them from the off, scored 2 missed at least 3 other gilt edged chances, and other than 2 outstanding saves from Dillion, we were comfortable. The fantastic start to the season will breed more confidence and when you look at who is yet to come in, when fully fit,- Hemed, Kayal and Otzumer that is some seriously excellent squad. Im tempted to lump a few quid on a top six finish right now, and not waiting until 10 games have gone. Well done to the entire squad and of course Bowyer, JJ and Gallen!!
Win was also vital today as being sensible, i can't help think we need as many points as possible by the Wigan game as after that things get a lot lot tougher.
Win was also vital today as being sensible, i can't help think we need as many points as possible by the Wigan game as after that things get a lot lot tougher.
Its frustrating yet despite our good start we could still lose our next two and end up in 13th
Best side #readingfc have faced this season. Incredibly well organised and they’ll be up around the top 6 all the way for me. Also best fans here for a long time. Credit to them. #cafc
Win was also vital today as being sensible, i can't help think we need as many points as possible by the Wigan game as after that things get a lot lot tougher.
Its frustrating yet despite our good start we could still lose our next two and end up in 13th
What makes our points total huge and how impressive this run is...is the fact that not many teams will go on a run like we are....everybody will beat everybody in this league and I don’t think there is a stand out team this season who will run away with it.
Brilliant performance. Only slight concern is we missed a couple of extremely good chances like we did vs Forest. Earnt ourselves the penalty this week though.
First half was much more scrappy. Not sure what he did, but Bowyer tweaked something at half time then it was one way traffic. Leko’s goal was a lucky deflection but we absolutely deserved to win.
A week before the season, I thought we’d have 3 points or less from August. Instead it’s 14, unbeaten, and clear second in the table. Bowyer and Jacko are geniuses. To gel that team together, with 14 new signings, lots of whom were last minute, and to have them playing so fluently from the get go. Great stuff. Theoretically we should get better yet as well. Trying to keep my feet on the ground, but the longer it goes on the more we look like the real deal. We can play the pretty stuff but also battle away with the best of them.
Bowyer is carrying on from last season and he’s building something special. We will compete in this league. We have a team that won’t give up. He knows what you need in a winning team. It’s shows in the type of midfielders he brings in - energetic, mobile, skilful and aggressive. Gallagher looks a great prospect and I can’t wait to see Field and Kayal. We had promising starts under Peeters and Luzon, but I can feel this is very different.
We won today with Aneke coming off the bench, Field, Kayal and Morgan not even in the squad. We’re looking to add a right back and hopefully Hemed or another striker.
Opponents and their fans will underestimate us. Clubs with recent Prem history in particular will expect to dominate possession. Their fans will get frustrated because we’ll fight for every ball and nick goals against the run of play. Even if they do control the game we’ll find ways into games, we have players who will create chances.
Our goals today were the type of goals we were scoring throughout last season -
Taylor’s a quick attack from the back. We’ll catch teams out when space opens up like that. Bowyer teams pass out from the back, but they also know when to go more direct and up the tempo. Nice to see long pass from Leko set up the goal, a player who you might imagine gets his head down and runs rather than picks out a ball like that. Brilliant to see Taylor score, especially like that after all that’s happened recently.
Watch Aneke’s in full if you can. Williams drives into the box to try to create a cut back. It doesn’t come off so Cullen tried exactly the same thing and it came off. It’s clearly a way Bowyer wants them to attack because it’s so effective. We scored goals and won penalties doing just that all season long last year. We have midfielders and attackers who can pass and dribble their way into those positions. One reason it’s so dangerous is that you don’t need top strikers to score those chances. It’s about getting those players into the right areas and reacting before the opposition do.
Gallagher’s goal came from a set piece. From stats I remember seeing late last season we perhaps surprisingly were one of the top scorers in the league from either corners or set pieces.
Powell was the best manager since Curbs and did a very good job for us, but Bowyer has overtaken him. He’s a genius and is our best chance of experiencing that sort of success again. We’re competitive but play good football and it’s far better than any of that tippy tappy stuff the likes of Robinson and Peeters tried to play.
We’re going over achieve in terms of our budget. Maybe that will only mean lower mid table but whatever happens it’ll be a season to remember. Whether you’re going to games or watching streams do whatever you can to make sure you see as much as you can. It might even mean the play-offs again. With the madness of the past five years the chances of another bizarre and ridiculous twist in which Roland owns the club as we march back into the Premier League with a tiny budget can’t be completely ruled out.
An uncharacteristic excitable post from you @Scoham. Hard to strongly disagree with it though. Genius might be a bit strong just yet, but Bowyer is certainly very bloody good.
You’re bang on about playing style. I love watching us play. We play what I believe should be considered the modern English style. High tempo and committed but with good efficient passing and a focus on chance creation. We’re up there with 97/98 and the Parker/Jensen/Di Canio side in terms of entertainment. Powell, for all his achievements was a naturally conservative coach. He’d have switched Leko for a defensive player today and taken the point. Bowyer brought on Aneke and encouraged William’s forward and was rewarded handsomely. Might have backfired on another day but I want to see us trying to win, like most fans do. I’ll take the odd loss dong that, like I’ll take the odd iffy back pass trying to play good football out from defence.
I’m not going to get too carried away yet re potential final league position, but we do appear to be carrying momentum and certainly aren’t going to be cut adrift in last place like our budget might suggest. Could be a fun season.
Win was also vital today as being sensible, i can't help think we need as many points as possible by the Wigan game as after that things get a lot lot tougher.
I’m looking forward to the tough run of games even more now
unbelievable start and didn’t dream this would happen
At the match. What a great day out.fantastic 2nd half performance from the boys. I can't fault a single player today they all gave their all. Special mention for Phillips he pulls out big saves when it matters,I really don't understand those who knock him. What can I say about Bowyer. He is simply the man. Unbelievable to have this many points so early in the season. Long may it last. COYR.
Brilliant performance. Only slight concern is we missed a couple of extremely good chances like we did vs Forest. Earnt ourselves the penalty this week though.
First half was much more scrappy. Not sure what he did, but Bowyer tweaked something at half time then it was one way traffic. Leko’s goal was a lucky deflection but we absolutely deserved to win.
A week before the season, I thought we’d have 3 points or less from August. Instead it’s 14, unbeaten, and clear second in the table. Bowyer and Jacko are geniuses. To gel that team together, with 14 new signings, lots of whom were last minute, and to have them playing so fluently from the get go. Great stuff. Theoretically we should get better yet as well. Trying to keep my feet on the ground, but the longer it goes on the more we look like the real deal. We can play the pretty stuff but also battle away with the best of them.
Bowyer is carrying on from last season and he’s building something special. We will compete in this league. We have a team that won’t give up. He knows what you need in a winning team. It’s shows in the type of midfielders he brings in - energetic, mobile, skilful and aggressive. Gallagher looks a great prospect and I can’t wait to see Field and Kayal. We had promising starts under Peeters and Luzon, but I can feel this is very different.
We won today with Aneke coming off the bench, Field, Kayal and Morgan not even in the squad. We’re looking to add a right back and hopefully Hemed or another striker.
Opponents and their fans will underestimate us. Clubs with recent Prem history in particular will expect to dominate possession. Their fans will get frustrated because we’ll fight for every ball and nick goals against the run of play. Even if they do control the game we’ll find ways into games, we have players who will create chances.
Our goals today were the type of goals we were scoring throughout last season -
Taylor’s a quick attack from the back. We’ll catch teams out when space opens up like that. Bowyer teams pass out from the back, but they also know when to go more direct and up the tempo. Nice to see long pass from Leko set up the goal, a player who you might imagine gets his head down and runs rather than picks out a ball like that. Brilliant to see Taylor score, especially like that after all that’s happened recently.
Watch Aneke’s in full if you can. Williams drives into the box to try to create a cut back. It doesn’t come off so Cullen tried exactly the same thing and it came off. It’s clearly a way Bowyer wants them to attack because it’s so effective. We scored goals and won penalties doing just that all season long last year. We have midfielders and attackers who can pass and dribble their way into those positions. One reason it’s so dangerous is that you don’t need top strikers to score those chances. It’s about getting those players into the right areas and reacting before the opposition do.
Gallagher’s goal came from a set piece. From stats I remember seeing late last season we perhaps surprisingly were one of the top scorers in the league from either corners or set pieces.
Powell was the best manager since Curbs and did a very good job for us, but Bowyer has overtaken him. He’s a genius and is our best chance of experiencing that sort of success again. We’re competitive but play good football and it’s far better than any of that tippy tappy stuff the likes of Robinson and Peeters tried to play.
We’re going over achieve in terms of our budget. Maybe that will only mean lower mid table but whatever happens it’ll be a season to remember. Whether you’re going to games or watching streams do whatever you can to make sure you see as much as you can. It might even mean the play-offs again. With the madness of the past five years the chances of another bizarre and ridiculous twist in which Roland owns the club as we march back into the Premier League with a tiny budget can’t be completely ruled out.
An uncharacteristic excitable post from you @Scoham. Hard to strongly disagree with it though. Genius might be a bit strong just yet, but Bowyer is certainly very bloody good.
You’re bang on about playing style. I love watching us play. We play what I believe should be considered the modern English style. High tempo and committed but with good efficient passing and a focus on chance creation. We’re up there with 97/98 and the Parker/Jensen/Di Canio side in terms of entertainment. Powell, for all his achievements was a naturally conservative coach. He’d have switched Leko for a defensive player today and taken the point. Bowyer brought on Aneke and encouraged William’s forward and was rewarded handsomely. Might have backfired on another day but I want to see us trying to win, like most fans do. I’ll take the odd loss dong that, like I’ll take the odd iffy back pass trying to play good football out from defence.
I’m not going to get too carried away yet re potential final league position, but we do appear to be carrying momentum and certainly aren’t going to be cut adrift in last place like our budget might suggest. Could be a fun season.
Great performance, on the pitch and off it, we were so assured 2nd half, LB and his team really do have us working well and together currently. I am just breathing in the heady heights of 2nd.
Reading, souless ground in the middle of nowhere, angry random support but it has good points like lots of trains home.
Win was also vital today as being sensible, i can't help think we need as many points as possible by the Wigan game as after that things get a lot lot tougher.
I’m looking forward to the tough run of games even more now
unbelievable start and didn’t dream this would happen
Yup, I think teams are gonna be just as worried playing us at the moment.
This is getting a bit silly now. As a combination of factors we have the smallest budget, a relatively inexperienced manager (six games at this level) a pretty young team, and are favourites to go down. Perhaps Charlton should be censured in some way for not following the pre-ordained script! The explanation of everything is whatever Lee Bowyer say it is, end of. In my view so far this season in terms of sheer willingness to compete only Barnsley have matched us, and whilst there are good skilled players in every team we have played, indeed good management and teamwork too, what Charlton are doing is squeezing every last bit of juice out of the battling imperative bottle...because bottle is what we show game after game. The secret others haven't sussed yet is that we have some pretty good players too. We are underestimated, and we out fight opponents. In a decent nip and tuck first half we might have scored, but so might Reading, hitting the woodwork and a great save from Phillips when Reading broke free after we gave the ball away. However the second half was very different. Was it that Reading were bemused that we hadn't laid down and died for them, and once they reached half time they simply didn't have the stomach to face a Charlton trademark performance for another 45 minutes? We basically took over and dictated virtually all of the second half, we had built a platform and were going to capitalise. OK Leko's goal took an unlucky deflection for Reading, but we had a lot of chances at regular intervals, I don't think Reading threatened despite decent approach play, their best chance came from a late free kick very well saved by an excellent Phillips. Any Phillips critics around today? No I don't think there are. Aneke came on after an hour for Williams whose 15 minute second half cameo was probably better that his first half performance, and Aneke shifted the prism a little bit and we became even more dangerous than we had been up to then. Aneke was brought down for a penalty that looked stonewall to me. Now guys. How many of you now think a Lyle penalty is a formality, and how many of you still have to hold your breath and battle the nerves? Even with the keeper attempting to play geometric mind games with Lyle it was no good for him, and of course for every one of us it was never in doubt...was it?!?!
We won because at the moment we have a team of winners, the fact that we totally deserved it is an added bonus.
Clean sheet. Undefeated. International break.
Does it get much better than this after six games?
It is going to get a lot lot tougher from now on in, but we might just about have the cojones to survive.
As for the players. I have mentioned Dillons saves, Solly might get sorted once in a move, but if an attacker does not immediately capitalise Solly does not get beaten twice. I thought he was superb, as was the whole defence. Pearce, Lockyer and Purrington are three more great defenders, and defensively I believe we were very much better than Reading. In midfield we had baldylocks and the three baby loans. I mean Gallagher and Cullen were so effective in their roles, and for me having seen a very disappointing Field against Forest Green, I would say he was our best player for the first hour and that was even after being shackled by a booking. Williams is Williams. Just as Taylor is Taylor. The guy takes the brunt, gives everything every game and regularly scores, what more do we want? That he gives away free winning lottery tickets to our fans every game? Leko can be frustrating I know, but Bowyer is right about his unpredictability and I am glad he scored, keeps his pecker up. Pratley was the perfect sub yet again, Hamed not especially noticeable.
The Charlton fans were so good, so loud and so sustained I thought we were playing at home. They were excellent, the challenge is to be that excellent when we hit a stumbling block.
This is all getting, as I say, rather silly now, I can't be doing with my head spinning this much.
Comments
Well done to the entire squad and of course Bowyer, JJ and Gallen!!
Best side #readingfc have faced this season. Incredibly well organised and they’ll be up around the top 6 all the way for me. Also best fans here for a long time. Credit to them. #cafc
https://twitter.com/tomlight93/status/1167832880023818240?s=21
https://www.skysports.com/football/reading-vs-charlton/video/409416
unbelievable start and didn’t dream this would happen
What a great day out.fantastic 2nd half performance from the boys.
I can't fault a single player today they all gave their all.
Special mention for Phillips he pulls out big saves when it matters,I really don't understand those who knock him.
What can I say about Bowyer. He is simply the man.
Unbelievable to have this many points so early in the season.
Long may it last.
COYR.
Reading, souless ground in the middle of nowhere, angry random support but it has good points like lots of trains home.
Cant wait for Wigan now
This is getting a bit silly now.
As a combination of factors we have the smallest budget, a relatively inexperienced manager (six games at this level) a pretty young team, and are favourites to go down.
Perhaps Charlton should be censured in some way for not following the pre-ordained script!
The explanation of everything is whatever Lee Bowyer say it is, end of.
In my view so far this season in terms of sheer willingness to compete only Barnsley have matched us, and whilst there are good skilled players in every team we have played, indeed good management and teamwork too, what Charlton are doing is squeezing every last bit of juice out of the battling imperative bottle...because bottle is what we show game after game.
The secret others haven't sussed yet is that we have some pretty good players too. We are underestimated, and we out fight opponents.
In a decent nip and tuck first half we might have scored, but so might Reading, hitting the woodwork and a great save from Phillips when Reading broke free after we gave the ball away.
However the second half was very different.
Was it that Reading were bemused that we hadn't laid down and died for them, and once they reached half time they simply didn't have the stomach to face a Charlton trademark performance for another 45 minutes?
We basically took over and dictated virtually all of the second half, we had built a platform and were going to capitalise. OK Leko's goal took an unlucky deflection for Reading, but we had a lot of chances at regular intervals, I don't think Reading threatened despite decent approach play, their best chance came from a late free kick very well saved by an excellent Phillips.
Any Phillips critics around today?
No I don't think there are.
Aneke came on after an hour for Williams whose 15 minute second half cameo was probably better that his first half performance, and Aneke shifted the prism a little bit and we became even more dangerous than we had been up to then. Aneke was brought down for a penalty that looked stonewall to me.
Now guys. How many of you now think a Lyle penalty is a formality, and how many of you still have to hold your breath and battle the nerves? Even with the keeper attempting to play geometric mind games with Lyle it was no good for him, and of course for every one of us it was never in doubt...was it?!?!
We won because at the moment we have a team of winners, the fact that we totally deserved it is an added bonus.
Clean sheet.
Undefeated.
International break.
Does it get much better than this after six games?
It is going to get a lot lot tougher from now on in, but we might just about have the cojones to survive.
As for the players. I have mentioned Dillons saves, Solly might get sorted once in a move, but if an attacker does not immediately capitalise Solly does not get beaten twice. I thought he was superb, as was the whole defence. Pearce, Lockyer and Purrington are three more great defenders, and defensively I believe we were very much better than Reading.
In midfield we had baldylocks and the three baby loans. I mean Gallagher and Cullen were so effective in their roles, and for me having seen a very disappointing Field against Forest Green, I would say he was our best player for the first hour and that was even after being shackled by a booking. Williams is Williams.
Just as Taylor is Taylor. The guy takes the brunt, gives everything every game and regularly scores, what more do we want? That he gives away free winning lottery tickets to our fans every game? Leko can be frustrating I know, but Bowyer is right about his unpredictability and I am glad he scored, keeps his pecker up. Pratley was the perfect sub yet again, Hamed not especially noticeable.
The Charlton fans were so good, so loud and so sustained I thought we were playing at home. They were excellent, the challenge is to be that excellent when we hit a stumbling block.
This is all getting, as I say, rather silly now, I can't be doing with my head spinning this much.