A touch of complacency crept into the performance today and we were punished for it. A kick up the proverbial might be what is needed to refocus the squad to realise we are only good enough to win in this league by out-grafting the opposition. We are nowhere near the finishing article but are still heading on an upward trajectory if we keep our focus. A defeat but not a dramatic derailment COYR
Not just the performance, feels like a bit of the fanbase felt like we just had to turn up today as well.
Hopefully the team takes it as a bit of a lesson and we can dust ourselves down and go and win the next three in a row.
First defeat so no point being overly critical but the Ahadme and Campbell combo hasn't resulted in a goal in 4 games
Certainly going to be pressure on those two... However until today, there hasn't really been much created for them, where we had the Campbell effort in the first half that went narrowly wide, and then the Adahme moment where he should have taken the gamble and slid on the end of Campbell's cross.
Chances need to be created more from our Full-Backs in turn, for those two to start converting opportunities.
We're definitely missing Edwards, who seems better with his left foot than Small at the moment when in forward positions.
Even when a Striker has scored (Godden), its from the assist of another Striker.
Otherwise the one good time that a Full-Back has put in a decent effort, it was Small that found Adahme, whose neat chest down for Docherty almost made it 2-0 against Bolton last week, but for a bit a of lucky save... Think we can truly bemoan them, when we start having moments where they should be in positions when they're not.
Said it during the summer. Needed to sign a goalscorer once May left & also a creative midfielder.
Need to teach wingbacks to cross like wingers.
Ahadme & Campbell up top isnt working. Need to put Godden up there.
Next week only us & Wrexham from the top 6 are playing. Get a win & we are back into the top 2 and ahead of the pack.
And finally......no-one will convince me that keeping clean sheets is more important than scoring goals. Better off losing 4-2 today than 2-0. Table goes on points, GD & then goals scored. Got to get this team creating chances & scoring goals.
Alfie scored again today….lost faith with Jones over his handling of him….
If I were you ct, I wouldn't go to the games mate, make a stand, show that Nathan Jones that you mean business regarding Alfie, tell you what don't come on here either, that'll really show everyone that you are right royally pissed off.
Bit of a reality check but it wasn’t that different to the first three games.
A wise old Llewelyn once said “goals change games”. If Berry had taken that excellent chance at the end of the first half then I think it would have been a different result and another “one nil to the Londoners”. Instead, we weren’t able to keep it water tight, like we have been, and, despite the momentum seeming to have swung our way second half, we conceded a bit or a worldy and had no answer after that.
The second goal was a poor one and I suspect a few will get a dressing down from NJ for that.
The lack of creativity in midfield, even as an option off the bench, remains the glaring flaw in the side. Some weeks it won’t matter because the hard work and pressing will give up chances in itself. When the press doesn’t do that, or we can’t take one of the relatively few chances that approach will yield, like today, we will look toothless.
A fully fit and firing Leaburn in for a willing but very limited looking Ahadme could make a big difference, but who knows how fast he can get back to his best, or even what his best still is after such a long layoff. Hopefully Dixon can be a bit of an x-factor too, but he’s another one who we can’t be sure how soon he’ll be ready.
In the meantime, expect more games like today, and lot of clean sheets both for us and the opposition.
To be fair, we brought in Godden to replace May. I think it's about time he started in place of TC, I reckon his nous will be more useful than Campbell's pace and we can always bring him on later when teams are tired. Campbell just doesn't have the awareness and experience as a striker yet to make the most of the scrappy way we play
Nothing to panic about but it’s the risk we take with our style of play. It was another poor first half but we got back a bit of control in the second. However, if you’re going to set up to keep it tight for 70 minutes every week you’re going to go behind at some point. We don’t create a lot of chances and when we did go behind it all looked alarmingly like last season as the game plan changed.
Hopefully this is the end of the Ahadme + TC experiment. Get Godden in from the start and let TC go up against tired legs and we’ll hopefully score more goals.
Said it during the summer. Needed to sign a goalscorer once May left & also a creative midfielder.
Need to teach wingbacks to cross like wingers.
Ahadme & Campbell up top isnt working. Need to put Godden up there.
Next week only us & Wrexham from the top 6 are playing. Get a win & we are back into the top 2 and ahead of the pack.
And finally......no-one will convince me that keeping clean sheets is more important than scoring goals. Better off losing 4-2 today than 2-0. Table goes on points, GD & then goals scored. Got to get this team creating chances & scoring goals.
Had we kept a clean sheet today, we'd have drawn 0-0... that's 1-pts... vs 0-pts
There were some poor performances out there. The two forwards and Thierry Small being the standouts. Reading worked their socks off while we couldn't pass water.
We've won 3 games out of four, we've only conceded twice in the entirety of those four games. The tactics/method have not suddenly become bad or broken on the basis of one game. When it works out, it works well, this does not invalidate that.
However it does raise questions about what to do when it doesn't work as the only current alternative to "try and grind a result" is "the same thing but with different players", there is not a viable actual Plan B at present and the way a previously solid defence fell to bits like that is definitely something we need to work on. For a team set up to deliver suckered punches we are oddly vulnerable to receiving the same.
I'm sure Jones will be fuming and that extra hours on the training ground have been booked in this week, but I'm not going to act like this performance should be seen as overly prophetic of the season to come when at present its nothing more than one bad day.
We should be beating Reading in their current predicament if we want to go up. Hopefully it is just a blip and we smash Rotherham next week. Can't see it though. It really does ruin my weekend when Charlton lose!
Should we?
They’ve lost 1 in 4. Now the same number as we have.
Yeah, we should be if we want to go up. They've lost players and only added Chem Campbell who didn't play.
To be fair, we brought in Godden to replace May. I think it's about time he started in place of TC, I reckon his nous will be more useful than Campbell's pace and we can always bring him on later when teams are tired. Campbell just doesn't have the awareness and experience as a striker yet to make the most of the scrappy way we play
TC has been decent and carried all the threat from the front two. I’d like to see him on the pitch with Godden or Chuks. I don’t want to get into a pile on with Ahadme, or write him off yet, but I think we need TC’s pace and running down the channels and you could argue he’s been holding the ball up and doing a better job of linking the play than Ahadme too.
We should be beating Reading in their current predicament if we want to go up. Hopefully it is just a blip and we smash Rotherham next week. Can't see it though. It really does ruin my weekend when Charlton lose!
Should we?
They’ve lost 1 in 4. Now the same number as we have.
Yeah, we should be if we want to go up. They've lost players and only added Chem Campbell who didn't play.
To be fair, we brought in Godden to replace May. I think it's about time he started in place of TC, I reckon his nous will be more useful than Campbell's pace and we can always bring him on later when teams are tired. Campbell just doesn't have the awareness and experience as a striker yet to make the most of the scrappy way we play
TC has been decent and carried all the threat from the front two. I’d like to see him on the pitch with Godden or Chuks. I don’t want to get into a pile on with Ahadme, or write him off yet, but I think we need TC’s pace and running down the channels and you could argue he’s been holding the ball up and doing a better job of linking the play than Ahadme too.
TC paired with Godden wouldn't work as a lot of our play is long balls up to a big target man.
Comments
It isn't working for Gas and Campbell together, I really hope Jones switches it up for Rotherham.
Three wins out of four is a decent start to the season however.
Plenty have posted that Jones' teams are traditionally slow starters to the season so let's see what happens henceforth.
Hopefully the team takes it as a bit of a lesson and we can dust ourselves down and go and win the next three in a row.
Chances need to be created more from our Full-Backs in turn, for those two to start converting opportunities.
We're definitely missing Edwards, who seems better with his left foot than Small at the moment when in forward positions.
Even when a Striker has scored (Godden), its from the assist of another Striker.
Otherwise the one good time that a Full-Back has put in a decent effort, it was Small that found Adahme, whose neat chest down for Docherty almost made it 2-0 against Bolton last week, but for a bit a of lucky save... Think we can truly bemoan them, when we start having moments where they should be in positions when they're not.
But that isnt exactly happening?
Need to teach wingbacks to cross like wingers.
Ahadme & Campbell up top isnt working. Need to put Godden up there.
Next week only us & Wrexham from the top 6 are playing. Get a win & we are back into the top 2 and ahead of the pack.
And finally......no-one will convince me that keeping clean sheets is more important than scoring goals. Better off losing 4-2 today than 2-0. Table goes on points, GD & then goals scored. Got to get this team creating chances & scoring goals.
Last season we conceded on 66 & 76 mins.
Today we conceded on 66 & 76 mins.
A wise old Llewelyn once said “goals change games”. If Berry had taken that excellent chance at the end of the first half then I think it would have been a different result and another “one nil to the Londoners”. Instead, we weren’t able to keep it water tight, like we have been, and, despite the momentum seeming to have swung our way second half, we conceded a bit or a worldy and had no answer after that.
The lack of creativity in midfield, even as an option off the bench, remains the glaring flaw in the side. Some weeks it won’t matter because the hard work and pressing will give up chances in itself. When the press doesn’t do that, or we can’t take one of the relatively few chances that approach will yield, like today, we will look toothless.
A fully fit and firing Leaburn in for a willing but very limited looking Ahadme could make a big difference, but who knows how fast he can get back to his best, or even what his best still is after such a long layoff. Hopefully Dixon can be a bit of an x-factor too, but he’s another one who we can’t be sure how soon he’ll be ready.
In the meantime, expect more games like today, and lot of clean sheets both for us and the opposition.
However it does raise questions about what to do when it doesn't work as the only current alternative to "try and grind a result" is "the same thing but with different players", there is not a viable actual Plan B at present and the way a previously solid defence fell to bits like that is definitely something we need to work on. For a team set up to deliver suckered punches we are oddly vulnerable to receiving the same.
I'm sure Jones will be fuming and that extra hours on the training ground have been booked in this week, but I'm not going to act like this performance should be seen as overly prophetic of the season to come when at present its nothing more than one bad day.
We were lead to believe we would be playing with wingbacks this season, where are they?
A wingback gets forward, beat’s a couple of defenders and whips a cross in which Ahadme should be feeding off.
Not happening
WWDWWLLWWDWWW
Nine wins, two draws, two losses.