I think people know my thoughts on Kirk and despite him scoring yesterday, we often look like we are playing with 10 men when he’s on the pitch. I think Millwall thought so too hence him coming in unmarked to make it 2-0 last night.
I’ve previously said my peace on this matter but I stand by that we won’t get promoted with Kirk in the team.
DJ, Kirk, Henry, Chin, and Kanu all need to be playing their football elsewhere this season. The latter 3 on loan, although I don’t think Chin will make it at this level.
With Taylor coming in and Anderson taking his chance, so pleased with that, it looks less likely McGrandles will be involved, especially as we have Payne who I think Holden much prefers.
There’s going to be movement and as long it’s in the areas that we know we need to shift, and we bring in at least one striker and another winger, I don’t think we’d be too far away.
Leaburn, May, Aneke, (New?), (New - Can also play wide?)
Why bother listing Aneke. Won’t be available for more than 10 sub apps. Also I think Sess is a no go. Injured again. Would be good to get a more experienced cb in and send Mitchell on a loan I think
Because he’s a first team player and if he is here for the whole season, I am sure we will see him more than 10 times.
Aneke, that qualifies for the optimism of the year award
I’ll start by admitting I don’t know too much about Nombe. When I looked at his 17 goal compilation video I have to say I wasn’t that impressed. Certainly nothing like the corresponding Alfie May collection. Thought he looked very much a league one striker. Now I know that’s where we are but unless his all round play is good which is something these videos never show I’m still to be convinced. Naturally I’ll trust Holden and Scott to know far more than me.
I thought the same when I watched his 17 goals montage on YouTube, thought Alfie May looked a lot more technical and creative with some of his goals.
I've watched it again now and on a second watch he does look fairly good, seems to have pace to pace to burn, comfortable on both feet and strong for his size, 5'11 is not exactly short either way for a centre forward.
I think based on how we played yesterday, how tenacious and competitive May is in his chasing down, if we had someone else quick I think we would cause all kinds of trouble for any defense in this league. You can see him and Jevani Brown worked off eachother well and with how attacking we are on the wings I can see him popping up.
I'd be very happy with this, I still think JCH elevates us completely but if he's unrealistic then Nombe is comfortably my second choice from this league.
Let's hope we are as persistent as we were with Tayo
I’d prefer Nombe to JCH. Nombe is only 24 and fits the hungry point to prove younger type player that we should be going for. JCH has nothing to prove at this level. If you’re going to spend 7 figures on a player I’d much rather spend it on a 24 year old that has room to develop, rather than a 29 year old that will only go down in value
With me personally I actually prefer the older player in their best years as we don't have to worry about them every transfer window and can enjoy them.
I understand your view point though and would be a nice problem to have if he was a success and we were able to sell him on in that hypothetical scenario
Clarke-Harris is a better player and more of a guarantee of goals. But I think looking at the players we are signing and the style Holden wants us to play, Nombe fits that high energy with lots of running and pressing that we seem to be looking for. Nombe would probably be a lot cheaper as well. Overall I think he’d be the better signing.
Personally I don’t think we will get either unless these new owners are prepared to really push the boat out on transfer fees
If we can get 10-15 appearances (I know, I know big if) out of Aneke we are really are ‘cooking’
Agreed. Impact player at very best. I think everyone needs to be singing from the same sheet. He's never going to give you anywhere near 90 minutes. Bizarre footballer. But there's no miracle cure here. So as long as he knows. The management know and we know, let's move on. 25 minutes of carnage towards the latter ends of games is about all any of us can hope for. 15 or more of them and I'd be happy.
If we can get 10-15 appearances (I know, I know big if) out of Aneke we are really are ‘cooking’
Agreed. Impact player at very best. I think everyone needs to be singing from the same sheet. He's never going to give you anywhere near 90 minutes. Bizarre footballer. But there's no miracle cure here. So as long as he knows. The management know and we know, let's move on. 25 minutes of carnage towards the latter ends of games is about all any of us can hope for. 15 or more of them and I'd be happy.
Agreed. Work with what you have and not what you wish you had.
This is how I see things shaping up in a 3-5-2 with Edun and Taylor through the door.
We know there’s a need for a striker as Aneke can’t last and Leaburn also prone to the odd injury. We also were in for a right back so I would be surprised if we aren’t still looking in that area.
I personally would also like one more centre back which would allow one of Mitchell or Elerewe get minutes on loan somewhere.
As others have mentioned as well, having four quality centre mids also allows us to switch to a diamond when the 3-5-2 isn’t working. Would still need a proper target man through the door though.
You cant go into the season with Kirk/CBT, DJ/Campbell as makeshift strikers.
We've done so well up to thus point assembling a decent squad to get top 6, can't ruin it by not signing another proper striker.
I think we only need 1 more as Leaburn will feature heavily after Sept & Aneke might be "ok" later in the season too.
But please, no more make do & mend.
I have a feeling that's what we're doing with our keepers, maybe unfair as I've not seen much of either but certainly on last nights showing Isted is an accident waiting to happen & AMB seems a bit hit & miss. Surely we're not going to put what looks a decent squad together & not bring in a quality keeper. Also think we need an Experienced CB, Elewere has a dodgy knee & Mitchell isn't ready imo
Isted did brilliantly at Barnsley, helped them secure their place in the L1 playoffs and they were really disappointed not to keep him. Hardly a make do and mend keeper. Pretty ridiculous to base your perception of a player on one preseason game
This is how I see things shaping up in a 3-5-2 with Edun and Taylor through the door.
We know there’s a need for a striker as Aneke can’t last and Leaburn also prone to the odd injury. We also were in for a right back so I would be surprised if we aren’t still looking in that area.
I personally would also like one more centre back which would allow one of Mitchell or Elerewe get minutes on loan somewhere.
As others have mentioned as well, having four quality centre mids also allows us to switch to a diamond when the 3-5-2 isn’t working. Would still need a proper target man through the door though.
You cant go into the season with Kirk/CBT, DJ/Campbell as makeshift strikers.
We've done so well up to thus point assembling a decent squad to get top 6, can't ruin it by not signing another proper striker.
I think we only need 1 more as Leaburn will feature heavily after Sept & Aneke might be "ok" later in the season too.
But please, no more make do & mend.
I have a feeling that's what we're doing with our keepers, maybe unfair as I've not seen much of either but certainly on last nights showing Isted is an accident waiting to happen & AMB seems a bit hit & miss. Surely we're not going to put what looks a decent squad together & not bring in a quality keeper. Also think we need an Experienced CB, Elewere has a dodgy knee & Mitchell isn't ready imo
Isted did brilliantly at Barnsley, helped them secure their place in the L1 playoffs and they were really disappointed not to keep him. Hardly a make do and mend keeper. Pretty ridiculous to base your perception of a player on one preseason game
As I said "maybe unfair" but he didn't fill me with confidence with his suicide pass outs to put us under pressure. their second goal seemed to go straight through him, he fumbled a weak shot & just managed to grab it off the line but yes pretty ridiculous to dare to criticise a charlton player on one game & hopefully he will prove me wrong. Of course it would be fairer to judge him over the course of his career so far but I suspect there's a very good reason why at 26 he's only played 22 senior games.
Like most keepers, I think Isted would absolutely love to ping it 50 yards every time the ball’s played back to him.
The fact he kept doing it, despite it going ‘wrong’ a few times, is probably because he’s under strict instruction to do so.
I don’t understand using it as a stick to beat him with.
He could have maybe done a bit better with the second Millwall goal but has otherwise looked to be commanding, decisive and possessing strong reflexes.
The “weak shot he fumbled” was a deflected effort that he used said reflexes to get something on and rushed back to his line to finish the job.
Lastly, using lack of senior appearances to judge a goalkeeper is a weird one, given that there’s only really 92 first choice goalkeepers across the country at any one time. Goalkeepers careers often end later in part because they take off later, unless they’re earmarked as a special talent from a very young age.
Like most keepers, I think Isted would absolutely love to ping it 50 yards every time the ball’s played back to him.
The fact he kept doing it, despite it going ‘wrong’ a few times, is probably because he’s under strict instruction to do so.
I don’t understand using it as a stick to beat him with.
He could have maybe done a bit better with the second Millwall goal but has otherwise looked to be commanding, decisive and possessing strong reflexes.
The “weak shot he fumbled” was a deflected effort that he used said reflexes to get something on and rushed back to his line to finish the job.
Lastly, using lack of senior appearances to judge a goalkeeper is a weird one, given that there’s only really 92 first choice goalkeepers across the country at any one time. Goalkeepers careers often end later in part because they take off later, unless they’re earmarked as a special talent from a very young age.
Once we have signed a bigger striker (or Leaburn returns) then he will probably kick it long more often. There was no point going long on Tuesday as May and Kirk are not going to win anything against Millwall centre backs.
I’d imagine that once the season starts we will try and play out but if a team is pressing us well then we will go more direct. But pre-season is about practice so I’d rather us make the mistakes now and keep trying to play out so that once the season starts we are better at it. Most teams play out from the back a lot more in pre-season than they do once the season starts
'Interest' is a weird thing in football. We never see even a fraction of the contact that is carried out between players and clubs. Big clubs sometimes contact players and their agents, as well as their clubs on occasion, to let them know that in 3 years if they carry on this way they might be interested. Our interest in Tunnicliffe probably wasn't much beyond getting in touch with his agent and asking if he would be open to a move to Charlton but he's not top of the list and little else, and his agent has spun that to see if more concrete offers appear from elsewhere. I think Tunnicliffe would have been a Foley type signing if we had brought him in, desperation at the end of the window when the gaps are showing and the money's not there.
This is how I see things shaping up in a 3-5-2 with Edun and Taylor through the door.
We know there’s a need for a striker as Aneke can’t last and Leaburn also prone to the odd injury. We also were in for a right back so I would be surprised if we aren’t still looking in that area.
I personally would also like one more centre back which would allow one of Mitchell or Elerewe get minutes on loan somewhere.
As others have mentioned as well, having four quality centre mids also allows us to switch to a diamond when the 3-5-2 isn’t working. Would still need a proper target man through the door though.
You cant go into the season with Kirk/CBT, DJ/Campbell as makeshift strikers.
We've done so well up to thus point assembling a decent squad to get top 6, can't ruin it by not signing another proper striker.
I think we only need 1 more as Leaburn will feature heavily after Sept & Aneke might be "ok" later in the season too.
But please, no more make do & mend.
I have a feeling that's what we're doing with our keepers, maybe unfair as I've not seen much of either but certainly on last nights showing Isted is an accident waiting to happen & AMB seems a bit hit & miss. Surely we're not going to put what looks a decent squad together & not bring in a quality keeper. Also think we need an Experienced CB, Elewere has a dodgy knee & Mitchell isn't ready imo
Isted did brilliantly at Barnsley, helped them secure their place in the L1 playoffs and they were really disappointed not to keep him. Hardly a make do and mend keeper. Pretty ridiculous to base your perception of a player on one preseason game
As I said "maybe unfair" but he didn't fill me with confidence with his suicide pass outs to put us under pressure. their second goal seemed to go straight through him, he fumbled a weak shot & just managed to grab it off the line but yes pretty ridiculous to dare to criticise a charlton player on one game & hopefully he will prove me wrong. Of course it would be fairer to judge him over the course of his career so far but I suspect there's a very good reason why at 26 he's only played 22 senior games.
It's not 'maybe unfair' though is it, it's ridiculous. You can criticise a player for a performance, sure, but saying you think we've signed a make do and mend keeper (whose last competitive game was a man of the match performance in the L1 Play-Off final) because you didn't like some of his distribution in one pre-season friendly is silly. There's a world of difference between a poor performance and a poor player.
Comments
Impact player at very best. I think everyone needs to be singing from the same sheet.
He's never going to give you anywhere near 90 minutes. Bizarre footballer. But there's no miracle cure here.
So as long as he knows. The management know and we know, let's move on.
25 minutes of carnage towards the latter ends of games is about all any of us can hope for.
15 or more of them and I'd be happy.
sorry, no, getting mixed up with Dansk Red
The fact he kept doing it, despite it going ‘wrong’ a few times, is probably because he’s under strict instruction to do so.
I don’t understand using it as a stick to beat him with.
He could have maybe done a bit better with the second Millwall goal but has otherwise looked to be commanding, decisive and possessing strong reflexes.
Lastly, using lack of senior appearances to judge a goalkeeper is a weird one, given that there’s only really 92 first choice goalkeepers across the country at any one time. Goalkeepers careers often end later in part because they take off later, unless they’re earmarked as a special talent from a very young age.
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New signing?
Ronnie is looking more and more like he is made out of plasticine with each day. A big money move to Madame Tussauds next I think.