Am kind of pleased with how last night turned out. It wasn’t a drubbing by any means, a pretty even game in fact. Some of our senior squad played pretty well, Pearce, Watson, Morgan, Gunter and MacGillivray were all fine, while owner and recruitment team were all shown what the strengths and limitations of our younger players are.
Elerewere was the stand out of the young bunch for me. Like many of his predecessors, he will have to learn from those around him, but did not play within himself, passed long, had a run forward and defended pretty solidly throughout. He may be able to cover adequately (4th/5th choice central defender), but if the budget is there, I would rather he go out on loan in League 2 to gain experience.
Davidson battled well all game, won a few headers and tested their keeper well. A bit more composure with his chip late on and we could have been going to extra time. More game time and I am sure he will develop further. Having played for the first team at L1 and Champ level, I think this is an important season for him to chip in with a few goals and make a bit of an impact, even if mostly off the bench.
Ghandour showed some nice glimpses first half, but faded in the second half and arguably could have been substituted a bit earlier. My early impression is that he would benefit from another U23 season and the odd game in the Papa John’s.
Clayden’s pace is too great for his footballing feet and mind atm, but when those things gel and they will with experience, he could be a very exciting prospect. Similar to Ghandour, but think his electric pace may be worth exploiting late in games from time to time.
Roddy is the weakest of the bunch that played last night. Not to say that he won’t step up in due course, but I have rarely seen a full back pass side ways or backwards so much in one game in my life. He may have been a bag of nerves and apprehensive to express himself, as the one time I recollect him pushing forward, he got a half decent cross in, but I think he needs more time, patience and coaching to get him anywhere near 1st team, cup or otherwise, ready.
A great advert for need of very capable and experienced bodies, while opening the door to 2-3 youngsters at best.
We really have some me miserable fans and some trolls on this forum. We are obviously short on squad quality. Most fans are at least hopeful that we can strengthen before the window closes. There are a number of people posting that are clearly hoping that we don’t so they can moan and complain and rip the club as soon as they can. The same fans that disappear when we are playing well but are the first to post as soon as we struggle
No, we want to make it clear to the owner that we won't tolerate bullshit and if he is serious about being succesful then like any other succesful businessman he has to be prepared to invest money in the business. We fans do our part by investing our money and by turning up to support the team. He has to play his part too and we need him to know that. Nothing would delight me more than to see proper investment in the team. I have supported the club through thick and thin for 55 years with some good owners and mostly bad ones. Which sort is Thomas? He has 20 days left to show his mettle.
What choice do we have?
I think that we have to accept that he has underestimated the difficulty of the task to copy 18/19 let alone all his other exaggerated aims.
I think that his heart is in the right place. He just doesn't really have the resources to do what he wants to do.
We may be proved wrong. Maybe we'll sign 5 good players before September. I doubt it though.
We really have some me miserable fans and some trolls on this forum. We are obviously short on squad quality. Most fans are at least hopeful that we can strengthen before the window closes. There are a number of people posting that are clearly hoping that we don’t so they can moan and complain and rip the club as soon as they can. The same fans that disappear when we are playing well but are the first to post as soon as we struggle
No, we want to make it clear to the owner that we won't tolerate bullshit and if he is serious about being succesful then like any other succesful businessman he has to be prepared to invest money in the business. We fans do our part by investing our money and by turning up to support the team. He has to play his part too and we need him to know that. Nothing would delight me more than to see proper investment in the team. I have supported the club through thick and thin for 55 years with some good owners and mostly bad ones. Which sort is Thomas? He has 20 days left to show his mettle.
What choice do we have?
I think that we have to accept that he has underestimated the difficulty of the task to copy 18/19 let alone all his other exaggerated aims.
I think that his heart is in the right place. He just doesn't really have the resources to do what he wants to do.
We may be proved wrong. Maybe we'll sign 5 good players before September. I doubt it though.
I needed to see for myself the latest crop of player who are being given the opportunity for the gateway to the first team squad.
And there lies our strength and weakness. Great that we continue to let the parents of children who join our academy know there is that chance to go all the way to our first team. At the moment we have a couple of really talented 13 and 14 year olds we are trying not to lose to CAT A Academies. Joe Gomez's dad is a great help in giving chats to our best young kids and their parents.
The weaknesses; are they good enough ?
3 very reliable sources, who don't know each other told me verbatim about Ademola Lookman and why he joined Cafc at 16. The reason was his agent/rep said Ademola will come to Cafc if within 18 months he is given an opportunity to play in the first team IF, and obviously a big IF his form in U18 or U21 warrants the opportunity. Ademola did impress and the rest is history.
Joe Aribo went from a tall all arms and legs defender in a Foundation to the attacking midfielder, comfortable on the ball once he came to Cafc via Staines FC.
As an ex salesman, this really is our USP the problem we will have going forward is we need to keep the good ones, and realize double quick the players who will struggle.
That is the skill in youth development, even though it's not an exact science because of growth spurts and strength.
But of the younger players who featured last night, only Deji2 and Powell were actually academy players
Clayden arrived because Orient don't have an U23 team, Davison and Ghandour were picked up from non league while Roddy was obviously introduced by his old man. I really doubt that we were fighting off Palace and Chelsea to sign those 4 players, indeed I imagine they would have signed any contract we put in front of them, just to get back into professional football
Agree with the 4 players you mentioned as they are older other than Roddy, and are given another chance in the tough world of Pro football where A trialist will go anywhere to try to received a pro contract.
Deji looked the most assured at 17, and had a good battle with Presley; Raw as you would expect but talented on my first sight of him. ( We had two big black CB in our u18 in the two games on you tube last season, was Deji one of those guys ?)
Nigel mentioned the Gateway to the first team last night so I imagine others from our successful U18 will get their opportunity as well as Deji. Especially if we keep getting knock backs with our attempts to get players in who have options.
Yes, Deji was part of that very good U18 team
By contrast, our U23 side last season was pretty average
Cheers Killer, I assumed he was. Both of the tall Lads had potential even though it looked like both of the CB were going through a growth spurt and at times were a tad ungainly. has Deji got ahead of Barker who I thought perfered to play CB ? It does seem the better young players are in our U18 and lower age group. Which is a major problem for this season unless they are going to be fast tracked like Grant, Konsa, Lookman, and Gomez who all broke into the 1st team at the 17/18 mark.
Grant was far too young to be playing,1st team in the Championship at 17 and it took the Crawley loan move to turn him into a consistent player at Cafc. Then surprise, Surprise we lose him to a premier club yet still some cerebrally challenged Cafc fans gave him stick when he returned.
There is a big difference in ambition between AFC Wimbledon and Charlton.
Cafc were in the Premier (tier 1) in 2002 when the phoenix club were reborn and 230 players turned up to an open trial on the common. Soon after they joined the Combined counties League (Tier 9/10.)
Not going to repeat " we should be beating teams like Wimbledon" similar to a Northern Manager about Cafc, But it does show the level we are at opposed to the days we would beat the likes of Chelsea or West ham during the naughties.
Wimbledon are run on a shoestring, every penny they have (plus pennies they don't have) went into getting their new ground built.
It's not "big club supporter" arrogance to say that Charlton should be at another level to them
feck me, I've just watched those highlights. From what I'd read on here I thought Davison had missed a complete howler. Agreed, maybe he should have done better but he made a great run, controlled the ball well, found some good space, made the keeper make a save. I've seen far worse misses from far better strikers than him. As I said could have one better but it wasn't an horrendous miss.
feck me, I've just watched those highlights. From what I'd read on here I thought Davison had missed a complete howler. Agreed, maybe he should have done better but he made a great run, controlled the ball well, found some good space, made the keeper make a save. I've seen far worse misses from far better strikers than him. As I said could have one better but it wasn't an horrendous miss.
He needs to go back out on loan if stockley gets injured and he’s our backup it’s worrying
feck me, I've just watched those highlights. From what I'd read on here I thought Davison had missed a complete howler. Agreed, maybe he should have done better but he made a great run, controlled the ball well, found some good space, made the keeper make a save. I've seen far worse misses from far better strikers than him. As I said could have one better but it wasn't an horrendous miss.
I think it was a brilliant bit of composure to control it and get it down and shot off with defender on his shoulder and keeper rushing out.
In the context of having scarce chances it's magnified as a big miss but if it was Aguero doing the same in highlights of when he had 5 other chances and scored a couple the focus would be on the great control and composure.
feck me, I've just watched those highlights. From what I'd read on here I thought Davison had missed a complete howler. Agreed, maybe he should have done better but he made a great run, controlled the ball well, found some good space, made the keeper make a save. I've seen far worse misses from far better strikers than him. As I said could have one better but it wasn't an horrendous miss.
Large, the poor effort by Davidson was the head down from Stockley which Davidson managed to lob over Keeper, bar and quite away back in the lower North. That wasn't shown on the highlights.
The chance shown was a decent effort by Josh but when we are creating so few chances we needed that to fly into the goal as it was our only shot on target over 190 minutes and two matches at the valley.
Don't see how you can really lambast Roddy for the goal. If he makes a tackle and it goes wrong it's either a penalty or the man is completely free. At some point we have to accept that crosses will come into the box and expect to see them defended
Am kind of pleased with how last night turned out. It wasn’t a drubbing by any means, a pretty even game in fact. Some of our senior squad played pretty well, Pearce, Watson, Morgan, Gunter and MacGillivray were all fine, while owner and recruitment team were all shown what the strengths and limitations of our younger players are.
Elerewere was the stand out of the young bunch for me. Like many of his predecessors, he will have to learn from those around him, but did not play within himself, passed long, had a run forward and defended pretty solidly throughout. He may be able to cover adequately (4th/5th choice central defender), but if the budget is there, I would rather he go out on loan in League 2 to gain experience.
Davidson battled well all game, won a few headers and tested their keeper well. A bit more composure with his chip late on and we could have been going to extra time. More game time and I am sure he will develop further. Having played for the first team at L1 and Champ level, I think this is an important season for him to chip in with a few goals and make a bit of an impact, even if mostly off the bench.
Ghandour showed some nice glimpses first half, but faded in the second half and arguably could have been substituted a bit earlier. My early impression is that he would benefit from another U23 season and the odd game in the Papa John’s.
Clayden’s pace is too great for his footballing feet and mind atm, but when those things gel and they will with experience, he could be a very exciting prospect. Similar to Ghandour, but think his electric pace may be worth exploiting late in games from time to time.
Roddy is the weakest of the bunch that played last night. Not to say that he won’t step up in due course, but I have rarely seen a full back pass side ways or backwards so much in one game in my life. He may have been a bag of nerves and apprehensive to express himself, as the one time I recollect him pushing forward, he got a half decent cross in, but I think he needs more time, patience and coaching to get him anywhere near 1st team, cup or otherwise, ready.
A great advert for need of very capable and experienced bodies, while opening the door to 2-3 youngsters at best.
[Next two weeks will be crucial!? Lol. That’s our default setting these days.]
Have to say that’s a more optimistic reading of the game I witnessed. I’d have agreed perhaps at half time, but the longer the game went on the more Wimbledon dominated. And they’d made eight changes for this match compared to our seven.
As for the younger players, I’ve rated Deji since the first friendly he played in, but the rest are just seem to be honest toilers at this stage. And they’re quite a bit older than Deji, to the extent that I can’t see anything more than small improvements might be expected. Could well be wrong there, would certainly like to be.
PS I feel for Roddy as he was clearly annoyed with himself (or the lack of options in front of him) for always seeming to pass backwards. But there was also the throw-in, almost level with their penalty area, where he (I *think* it was Roddy?) had three attacking options but he elected to throw to a defender, and the ball ended up with our keeper. A few minutes later the same happened on the right. Wimbledon turned their throws into attacks.
feck me, I've just watched those highlights. From what I'd read on here I thought Davison had missed a complete howler. Agreed, maybe he should have done better but he made a great run, controlled the ball well, found some good space, made the keeper make a save. I've seen far worse misses from far better strikers than him. As I said could have one better but it wasn't an horrendous miss.
Yes, it was a quality first touch. Had he scored….
Just to be clear on whether Sandgaard is investing in the club, he put in a £10.5m loan last year which according to the accounts isn’t enough to fund the business in 21/22. He has committed to putting in more otherwise the auditors may have raised doubts in signing off the 19/20 accounts at the end of June 2021. There was a player trading profit last season but the club is burning through cash.
We can argue about lots of things in terms of whether it’s enough to challenge and whether TS’s rhetoric has been wise, but he is putting significant money in.
Just to be clear on whether Sandgaard is investing in the club, he put in a £10.5m loan last year which according to the accounts isn’t enough to fund the business in 21/22. He has committed to putting in more otherwise the auditors may have raised doubts in signing off the 19/20 accounts at the end of June 2021. There was a player trading profit last season but the club is burning through cash.
We can argue about lots of things in terms of whether it’s enough to challenge and whether TS’s rhetoric has been wise, but he is putting significant money in.
Thanks Airman, just to be clear you have already stated the £10.5m is a loan so I assume at some point he will want it back and it attracts a rate of interest as well? Is the extra money he is putting in classified as a loan by which I mean is he topping up the £10.5m already loaned to us or is the extra money straight out of his pocket never to be seen again?
Just to be clear on whether Sandgaard is investing in the club, he put in a £10.5m loan last year which according to the accounts isn’t enough to fund the business in 21/22. He has committed to putting in more otherwise the auditors may have raised doubts in signing off the 19/20 accounts at the end of June 2021. There was a player trading profit last season but the club is burning through cash.
We can argue about lots of things in terms of whether it’s enough to challenge and whether TS’s rhetoric has been wise, but he is putting significant money in.
Thanks Airman, just to be clear you have already stated the £10.5m is a loan so I assume at some point he will want it back and it attracts a rate of interest as well? Is the extra money he is putting in classified as a loan by which I mean is he topping up the £10.5m already loaned to us or is the extra money straight out of his pocket never to be seen again?
It's an unsecured loan with no interest and no likelihood of him getting it back outside of the PL, if then. So I think it's a loan in name only.
Do you really see gold in Albie? I really never have. What has he done to suggest he’s an enigma? He looks like a very mediocre footballer to me. A nice kid for sure but I don’t see this classy midfielder that everyone else does. Might just be me.
Me neither . He works hard but he panics in front of goal . He takes free kicks but rarely threatens from them . He takes a good corner , I’ll give him that . I really do hope he comes good but I’m not seeing it at the moment.
Not one of his corners last night created a scoring opportunity. Either under or over hit every one.
The same was true of his free kicks.
I suspect Gunter would be a better option for corners.
That was truly dreadful and for too many reasons to be ignored. 1. Morgan and Clare, our first team creative players, both looked inadequate. 2. Other than Elewere, none of the young players looked remotely close to being first team. Davison might be 4th or 5th striker, the rest looked completely out of their depth. 3. We created nothing all game except one ball over the top led to our only shot on target. I make that 1 in 180 minutes if football so far.
This squad needs 5 or 6 quality players, not just squad members, to make a challenge this season. If Sandgaard thinks Adkins can do it through 'self sufficiency', which I have heard he has said, then dream on Tommy.
Blimey, toys being thrown out over a poxy cup competition that is no more than a diversion. The manager is totally right to give as much exposure to the first team as possible for our youngsters. When you play the kids its actually not about the result, its how they handle the situation and the more you do that the greater their chances of progression. They will make signings, and four players will give the current squad a very good chance of a top six position.
Blimey, toys being thrown out over a poxy cup competition that is no more than a diversion. The manager is totally right to give as much exposure to the first team as possible for our youngsters. When you play the kids its actually not about the result, its how they handle the situation and the more you do that the greater their chances of progression. They will make signings, and four players will give the current squad a very good chance of a top six position.
Just to be clear on whether Sandgaard is investing in the club, he put in a £10.5m loan last year which according to the accounts isn’t enough to fund the business in 21/22. He has committed to putting in more otherwise the auditors may have raised doubts in signing off the 19/20 accounts at the end of June 2021. There was a player trading profit last season but the club is burning through cash.
We can argue about lots of things in terms of whether it’s enough to challenge and whether TS’s rhetoric has been wise, but he is putting significant money in.
It boils down to, our owner is not wealthy enough to seriously fund the club. At best he may be able to keep it ticking over.
Albie Morgan should not be taking corners and free kicks until he learns how to get the distances correct.
Agreed, he can't manage a decent corner and yet the club are expecting him to be the man running our team this season. Not a chance, he'll have a good game here & there like always.
PWR as can't be ar*ed after that extremely worrying , if not disappointing evening in SE7.
Lacklustre, second to nearly every ball ( and that's being generous), lacking in ideas....shall I go on ?
I honestly don't know where to begin so best to keep it short, but not so sweet.
The youngsters deserve their chance, and the Cup is made for this as we rarely win anyway, but apart from Deji Mk2, none of them caught the eye & TBH, looked totally out of place. Davison worked hard but hardly won a ball in the air all match. If JS gets injured, we're fecked. End of.
And for the 1st teamers ? Well, I have to admit, I'm not overly impressed with Clare, & Dobson was awful in the 20 or so minutes he was on the pitch.
Albie stood out from the others by virtue of his energy & eagerness to turn things around but it seemed that everything he tried that didn't quite come off, NA would turn around to Jacko, with raised eyebrows or a shake of the head....Maybe I'm reading too much into this but our young midfielder seems to be under more scrutiny than anyone else in the red shirt. We sat a few rows back from our dugout and it was difficult to ignore this. Others around us seemed to notice as when Albie made a good pass or broke up a Wimbledon move, the clapping increased as if to say "Well done, Albie. We're with you". Rather concerning though IMO that this player appears to be under pressure to perform more than others. I hope I'm wrong.
In summary, I'd wished I'd stayed at home watching Eastenders & Holby but it was my decision. It's crystal clear, even to me, that there is no depth or cover at all in our squad to the extent that there seemed to be a sharp intake of breath when any tackle was made by the opposition on our senior players tonight...and not just from me. Of course we'd all like to see our young guns coming through but IMO, none of them is ready for L1 matches if we aim to fulfil TS's "dreams" this season.
It's all very well promising more players arriving but to expect them to hit the ground running & slot in immediately is pie in the sky in my book. I wonder whether the gaffer is happy with the way his squad is shaping up or whether there is trouble at 'mill behind the scenes. He certainly didn't look happy tonight & I'm interested to hear what he has to say about this performance when I have chance to read it. Something has to happen/change , goals need to be scored from somewhere, our midfield is crying out for a playmaker, ideally in the Kinsella mode and this won't change without money changing hands.
Whether TS is prepared to save our season before it's barely started remains to be seen. Decent players of the kind we badly need won't come cheap. But he has raised expectations and he will be expected to play his part in delivering regardless of whether he was somewhat foolhardy at the time. There are problems, however minor, starting to reveal themselves behind the scenes which need attention in addition to those visible to all on the playing side. My views regarding an on site CEO have been posted elsewhere.
It remains to be seen how these first few weeks of the season will play out.
But our owner will know that he who pays the piper calls the tune.
Comments
Elerewere was the stand out of the young bunch for me. Like many of his predecessors, he will have to learn from those around him, but did not play within himself, passed long, had a run forward and defended pretty solidly throughout. He may be able to cover adequately (4th/5th choice central defender), but if the budget is there, I would rather he go out on loan in League 2 to gain experience.
Davidson battled well all game, won a few headers and tested their keeper well. A bit more composure with his chip late on and we could have been going to extra time. More game time and I am sure he will develop further. Having played for the first team at L1 and Champ level, I think this is an important season for him to chip in with a few goals and make a bit of an impact, even if mostly off the bench.
Ghandour showed some nice glimpses first half, but faded in the second half and arguably could have been substituted a bit earlier. My early impression is that he would benefit from another U23 season and the odd game in the Papa John’s.
Clayden’s pace is too great for his footballing feet and mind atm, but when those things gel and they will with experience, he could be a very exciting prospect. Similar to Ghandour, but think his electric pace may be worth exploiting late in games from time to time.
Roddy is the weakest of the bunch that played last night. Not to say that he won’t step up in due course, but I have rarely seen a full back pass side ways or backwards so much in one game in my life. He may have been a bag of nerves and apprehensive to express himself, as the one time I recollect him pushing forward, he got a half decent cross in, but I think he needs more time, patience and coaching to get him anywhere near 1st team, cup or otherwise, ready.
I think that we have to accept that he has underestimated the difficulty of the task to copy 18/19 let alone all his other exaggerated aims.
I think that his heart is in the right place. He just doesn't really have the resources to do what he wants to do.
We may be proved wrong. Maybe we'll sign 5 good players before September. I doubt it though.
It does seem the better young players are in our U18 and lower age group. Which is a major problem for this season unless they are going to be fast tracked like Grant, Konsa, Lookman, and Gomez who all broke into the 1st team at the 17/18 mark.
Grant was far too young to be playing,1st team in the Championship at 17 and it took the Crawley loan move to turn him into a consistent player at Cafc.
Then surprise, Surprise we lose him to a premier club yet still some cerebrally challenged Cafc fans gave him stick when he returned.
It's not "big club supporter" arrogance to say that Charlton should be at another level to them
In the context of having scarce chances it's magnified as a big miss but if it was Aguero doing the same in highlights of when he had 5 other chances and scored a couple the focus would be on the great control and composure.
Large, the poor effort by Davidson was the head down from Stockley which Davidson managed to lob over Keeper, bar and quite away back in the lower North. That wasn't shown on the highlights.
The chance shown was a decent effort by Josh but when we are creating so few chances we needed that to fly into the goal as it was our only shot on target over 190 minutes and two matches at the valley.
Adkins reflects on Carabao Cup exit
https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1091219256?-11197:833
We can argue about lots of things in terms of whether it’s enough to challenge and whether TS’s rhetoric has been wise, but he is putting significant money in.
The same was true of his free kicks.
I suspect Gunter would be a better option for corners.
The answer is yes.