For a defense minded midfield we have, their goalscorer was afforded an unbelievable amount of space on the ball to control it, set himself and then strike. Really, really poor closing down. As hard as it was hit it also was not in the corner and for the second game running I feel a top L1 keeper would have saved a long range shot like that.
Some people seem to forget where we were last year.
Baffles me how many are saying we’re shit, when in fact we’re tough to beat and funding our feet going forwards which will take time. We also have leaburn to come back. some have short memories
We were playing the same way when on the fringes of relegation places last year. In fact doing it better than today, and last week. apart from Chuks 5 secs, 94 minutes 55 sec of poor quality hoof ball. No progress. No tactics beyond park level stuff.
Pretty painful watch tbh the football is dreadful and plan A does look to be a long diagonal ball, I suppose if we get promoted it will all be worth it but by god it’s full, the ball wasn’t on the floor for the first 3 minutes
Ahadme is absolutely shite, fingers crossed Leaburn is still the man, oh to have seen him up front with Alfie…
Conflicted on this one as although I agree the ball was mostly in the air & our defenders out ball is a long diagonal pass, I think I prefer that to aimless passing around the back that we've seen for the past few years. At least we are getting rid of it quicker and, as they say, your opponants can't score if the ball is in their half.
We've all been saying we lack a creative midfielder & it's getting clearer as each game goes by how we are missing one. Berry does his best but we need someone who can run forward with it & create chances for the forwards.
After listening to the CL pod on the car journey, it felt almost inevitable that we were going to stare down the barrel of a team breaking a poor away streak at our expense. Even with the change in personnel and managers, Charlton teams of recent memory don't seem to do well against the kind of physical and (perhaps a little dismissive to say but I will) uncomplicated kind of football Rotherham displayed under the tutelage of their rotund manager. I found it another uninspiring game of football that will likely be the kind we need to win to get close to the playoffs. 1-1 felt fair on the balance of play - I commented on the walk back to the car that this will not be the last of the games under NJ we will have this season that feel on that knife edge for ~100 minutes every week. It's just the style NJ employs. Ramsay is rightfully getting plaudits, but in a home game, having our right back being praised for defensive recovery tackles feels like it shouldn't be the standout performance on show. We have just yet to click in an attacking sense.
We now have what we have until January. I think these players could keep us top ten until that point. However, it nags at me that I really don't see where the consistent chances come from every week. We've had moments of determination or skill that have pushed us over the line in games, but we have yet to (pardon the metaphor) put anyone to the sword. As much as a Aneke screamer or a <whoever> last gasp effort might win us games, it feels equally likely that a bad referee decision or opposing "worldie" will nick the points from us. I'm sure it's lovely for any neutrals who love the drama - no wonder NJ wants to bite his nails. It's horrific tension every week. I question the ability for our players to be composed enough in the final third and this, in part, probably comes with a bit of fear to not disappoint the manager. I would give anything for a shackles off, carefree footballer that would drive us forward from midfield and play like they are in their back garden. It just feels the trio in midfield (in whatever combination) are playing to avoid defeat, rather than be bold to win games. Genuine quality at this level is rare, so it think we are just trying to be solid.
I'm happy with the 10pts from 5. These were going to be a tricky first few games and we have navigated them well. However, I just feel we are on a bit of a knife edge for every game, regardless of the quality of the opposition in front of us. Shrewsbury next week is a good opportunity to apply the sword I mentioned earlier - they are a poor side that we should, with designs of top 10++, dispatch comfortably. The likelihood of that feels slim, if I am honest. Still think we should get the result, but by tooth and claw than at a canter (albeit with some decent hard work sprinkled in).
Still, have to remember where we were this time last season. A bald, talentless Mancunian came in a year ago tomorrow and that should remind us how bad things could be. We're still on track by Messr. Mendez's legendary graph, I suspect, plus several other metrics.
My thoughts today: very little attacking threat we were told we would be a high pressing side, absolutely no pressing if their goal Small hit and miss Ramsay superb!
Adahme poor midfield no real press too many long balls that went straight to them a lot of work to do.
Should have said: TC excellent when he came on Chuks superb goal but we won’t score superb goals every week, we need bog standard tap in more regularly!
Honest performance by the side. Can’t fault any of them because they all put a shift in and work really hard out of possession , but we lack any real quality ( excluding Ramsey & Aneke). Not sure Godden did enough to guarantee a start against Shrewsbury
Adhame miss was awful. Won’t see many worse misses than that this season. We aren’t going to create enough to punt teams so most games will be tight. The only time I thought we looked ropey defensively was prior to the goal.
Think a draw was a fair result. However, we should have been 1-0 up after 5 mins.
Can’t knock the effort from the players but little quality as we seemed to be playing hoof ball for a lot of the game. Not sure what Docherty brings to the team, has no pace and rarely plays a forward pass. Ramsey was outstanding and Small started brightly but went down hill as the game went on. Great strike by Aneke after his poor header from TC’s cross. TC caused them problems from the moment he came on and should have got a penalty when clearly fouled when a defender bear hugged him. Officials were crap again
Anyone catch that 70-yard Mannion goal kick that Chuks caught on the top of his foot and killed dead. Stupendous touch. Some of the players were laughing
Supported the club through thick and thin and thin and thin for 40 years, and did something today I've never done. I left at half time because I was just bored. Don't know whether it's me or the team, but I felt no entertainment at all in that 45 minutes. Seemed like there was no attacking plan whatsoever, with no midfield support pushing up to form any sort of sustained attack. If that's what it takes to get promoted, I despair.
.
I said on the match thread at half time, reading the comments from those watching online there feels such a disparity of what’s being observed watching online to being in the stadium.
I don’t know if it’s the lack of movement or the amount of time the ball is bouncing around in the air etc not being so noticeable online, or you’re able to not emotionally invest yourself so much, I don’t know. I’m not criticising those not there so please don’t take it that way, it’s just an observation. The different view to what people were seeing in Ahadme online compared to everyone around me in the stand was palpable.
Things picked up 2nd half and it was a fantastic goal by Chucks. But with us now having a good feel of what a good League One team looks like, I was expecting us to be better than this so far.
I know we’ve only lost once, and I can’t fault the effort in any way. I’m just desperate to now get out of this league but I just can’t see how we are going to get our attacking play and midfield working in the first 2/3rds of a game.
Big worry for me also. If we start shipping goals who's going to grab the game by the scruff of the neck to get us back on track? We managed it today, but I've not seen enough attacking prowess yet to make me think we might have a sniff. There's nobody in the middle probing. Making clever passes through the centre of the pitch.
On another matter. What was going on with all the plasters in N Jones fingers today? If it's because he's chewing the skin above his nails he'll have no arms left by the end of the season watching this lot!
Win, lose or draw, the entertainment value is pretty much equal. There is very little excitement to be had watching Charlton this season. Flair is lacking in almost every player (over 90 minutes). If doing something right every now and again, is what NJ wants from his players then they are probably all meeting that target. Sadly the war of attrition served up each week,, is such a tough watch, winning isn't even that great. Maybe this team will come good, and the flowing football will materialise, but if it doesn't, and promotion is not achievable, it will be a tough, tough ask, to get many new fans parting with their hard-earned, to watch Jonesball, or indeed players to join the ranks.
Draw a fair result, we don't create too many chances but we also don't concede many. It's better than last season but if we want to really challenge we need some more creativity than the 50 yard cross field balls we were doing today
we cannot score goals and we waste chances but progress even slow progress is still progress and I have great faith in our young manager so why don’t we all give him a chance as I think we have lots of progression to come 👍👍
A very difficult game to watch, and we don't have enough quality, which has always been my concern, we are far from shit though?
Boring, yes, shit, no.
I am trying to take the positives, we are on 10 points, and on paper, that's promotion form in 5 games. It took us 8 games last season to hit this points total, so we are in credit. There is pressure on this Shrewsbury game now though, it is a must win, as they're absolutely pants. Need to win that if we want to be in the mix.
I also wonder if people would be more content if we acquired the 10 points in a different fashion? I.e., we lost to Bolton, drew with Reading away, and won the other 3 games. I think beating Bolton set some high expectations.
As long as we stay in the top6, and strengthen in January, I'll be happy. This squad does need more quality to achieve promotion though imo.
Working abroad so haven’t kept pace with any of it recently but worrying to see Docherty get such low marks in the player ratings. The bloke who was heralded as the new Kinsella/Dobson. I think it’s really important we have one of those. Was he really that vanilla today?
Bit baffled by reading all the “boring” comments and claims by some that they left/turned off early.
I actually enjoyed the game. Rotherham are a good side at this level and it was on a knife edge for the full 90+ minutes. The effort was there for all to see. Our defensive play/shape is chalk & cheese compared to last season. We won so many midfield battles I lost count and it wasn't all hoofball as I saw plenty of inter passing through the midfield. Admittedly our attacking threat lacks a killer blow and clearly something to work on but there were improvements on our crosses.
A draw was a fair result so no complaints!
Personally I really wonder what people expect in league one. Maybe watching too much PL and trying to compare. For me after years of shitty owners, crap managers and players who weren’t up for it, I’m only to happy to get behind our passionate manager and his hard working team! Also happy not to get too hung up on individuals deemed inadequacies and focus on what they can bring to the side. Ahadme is a case in point. Looks lacking in confidence rather than technique but wins a lots of flick ons /knock downs which we need to make better use of. Feel he needs a goal to settle down. Another is Tyreece who definitely scares the opposition with his pace and you can see the improvement in his strength.
Onwards and upwards. Played some of the stronger sides already and 10pts is a very decent return
Apart from Reading in 8th who beat us our other four opponents are 15th and below, Leyton Orient are bottom on zero points
I am struggling to understand your “played some of the stronger sides” comment
This early in the season it’s kind of silly to judge how good opponents are based on where they are in the table.
If we beat Reading they’d be 15th or below. If Bolton beat us they’d be 8th or 9th.
No more silly than saying we have played some of the stronger side’s which is what I was referring too when I replied.
That was a tough watch, and the atmosphere in the ground for most of the game (from both sides) reflected that feeling.
Defensively, we’ve improved a lot, but it’s frustrating that no one closed down Kelly, especially after conceding two similar goals recently. We need to play with more urgency and speed up our build-up play; it’s far too slow, giving the opposition too much time to organise.
Ahadme’s miss was hard to forgive—when the guy next to me shouted “donkey,” it was hard not to agree. Despite his work rate, we desperately need a number 9 who can consistently find the net; right now, Ahadme doesn’t look like the answer. On the bright side, Chuks’ strike was fantastic and should boost his confidence, as he’s struggled to score so far. It’s worrying that our strikers have only managed one goal this season.
Ramsey was my player of the match once again—consistent and impressive.
Still, 10 points from 5 games is a solid start, especially with key players yet to return. Onwards and upwards!
5 goals for in the league so far, Aneke has been on the pitch for 4 of them, scored 1, directly assisted 1 and indirectly assisted another. He still seems to be the key and somehow keeping him fit might make the difference this season.
Bit baffled by reading all the “boring” comments and claims by some that they left/turned off early.
I actually enjoyed the game. Rotherham are a good side at this level and it was on a knife edge for the full 90+ minutes. The effort was there for all to see. Our defensive play/shape is chalk & cheese compared to last season. We won so many midfield battles I lost count and it wasn't all hoofball as I saw plenty of inter passing through the midfield. Admittedly our attacking threat lacks a killer blow and clearly something to work on but there were improvements on our crosses.
A draw was a fair result so no complaints!
Personally I really wonder what people expect in league one. Maybe watching too much PL and trying to compare. For me after years of shitty owners, crap managers and players who weren’t up for it, I’m only to happy to get behind our passionate manager and his hard working team! Also happy not to get too hung up on individuals deemed inadequacies and focus on what they can bring to the side. Ahadme is a case in point. Looks lacking in confidence rather than technique but wins a lots of flick ons /knock downs which we need to make better use of. Feel he needs a goal to settle down. Another is Tyreece who definitely scares the opposition with his pace and you can see the improvement in his strength.
Onwards and upwards. Played some of the stronger sides already and 10pts is a very decent return
Apart from Reading in 8th who beat us our other four opponents are 15th and below, Leyton Orient are bottom on zero points
I am struggling to understand your “played some of the stronger sides” comment
This early in the season it’s kind of silly to judge how good opponents are based on where they are in the table.
If we beat Reading they’d be 15th or below. If Bolton beat us they’d be 8th or 9th.
No more silly than saying we have played some of the stronger side’s which is what I was referring to when I replied.
Don’t really agree. Bookies odds are far more likely to accurately reflect strength of teams across the league compared to their temporary league positions. They get one or two wrong but are usually on the money.
Comments
For a defense minded midfield we have, their goalscorer was afforded an unbelievable amount of space on the ball to control it, set himself and then strike. Really, really poor closing down.
As hard as it was hit it also was not in the corner and for the second game running I feel a top L1 keeper would have saved a long range shot like that.
10 from 5 is a solid start.
Wigan (A) 2-3 -> 0-1 Net: 0pts/0GD
Orient (H) 1-0 -> 1-0 Net: 0/0
Bolton (H) 0-2 -> 2-0 Net: +3/+4
Reading (A) 2-0 -> 2-0 Net: 0/0
Rotherham (H) 1-2 -> 1-1 Net: +1/+1 (using Oxford (H) as the weakest promoted side to compare against weakest relegated side)
So four more points and +5 goal difference against same/similar opponents from last season.
We’ve constantly got 10 men behind the ball and still no one bothered to close down their fella to smash it in from 30 yards.
why don’t we leave someone up at corners / set pieces…simply no outlet ball??
the midfield 3 are all too much the same
nothing up front until the 2nd half
Small had an absolute stinker but on the plus side Ramsey was superb on the right side
the formation isn’t quite working for me
About 3 times in the first half the ball dropped to him about 35 yards from goal and dawdled on it and got tackled.
We've all been saying we lack a creative midfielder & it's getting clearer as each game goes by how we are missing one. Berry does his best but we need someone who can run forward with it & create chances for the forwards.
We now have what we have until January. I think these players could keep us top ten until that point. However, it nags at me that I really don't see where the consistent chances come from every week. We've had moments of determination or skill that have pushed us over the line in games, but we have yet to (pardon the metaphor) put anyone to the sword. As much as a Aneke screamer or a <whoever> last gasp effort might win us games, it feels equally likely that a bad referee decision or opposing "worldie" will nick the points from us. I'm sure it's lovely for any neutrals who love the drama - no wonder NJ wants to bite his nails. It's horrific tension every week. I question the ability for our players to be composed enough in the final third and this, in part, probably comes with a bit of fear to not disappoint the manager. I would give anything for a shackles off, carefree footballer that would drive us forward from midfield and play like they are in their back garden. It just feels the trio in midfield (in whatever combination) are playing to avoid defeat, rather than be bold to win games. Genuine quality at this level is rare, so it think we are just trying to be solid.
I'm happy with the 10pts from 5. These were going to be a tricky first few games and we have navigated them well. However, I just feel we are on a bit of a knife edge for every game, regardless of the quality of the opposition in front of us. Shrewsbury next week is a good opportunity to apply the sword I mentioned earlier - they are a poor side that we should, with designs of top 10++, dispatch comfortably. The likelihood of that feels slim, if I am honest. Still think we should get the result, but by tooth and claw than at a canter (albeit with some decent hard work sprinkled in).
Still, have to remember where we were this time last season. A bald, talentless Mancunian came in a year ago tomorrow and that should remind us how bad things could be. We're still on track by Messr. Mendez's legendary graph, I suspect, plus several other metrics.
very little attacking threat
we were told we would be a high pressing side, absolutely no pressing if their goal
Small hit and miss
Ramsay superb!
midfield no real press
too many long balls that went straight to them
a lot of work to do.
TC excellent when he came on
Chuks superb goal but we won’t score superb goals every week, we need bog standard tap in more regularly!
If we start shipping goals who's going to grab the game by the scruff of the neck to get us back on track?
We managed it today, but I've not seen enough attacking prowess yet to make me think we might have a sniff.
There's nobody in the middle probing. Making clever passes through the centre of the pitch.
On another matter. What was going on with all the plasters in N Jones fingers today? If it's because he's chewing the skin above his nails he'll have no arms left by the end of the season watching this lot!
but progress even slow progress is still progress
and I have great faith in our young manager
so why don’t we all give him a chance as I think we have lots of progression to come 👍👍
Boring, yes, shit, no.
I am trying to take the positives, we are on 10 points, and on paper, that's promotion form in 5 games. It took us 8 games last season to hit this points total, so we are in credit. There is pressure on this Shrewsbury game now though, it is a must win, as they're absolutely pants. Need to win that if we want to be in the mix.
I also wonder if people would be more content if we acquired the 10 points in a different fashion? I.e., we lost to Bolton, drew with Reading away, and won the other 3 games. I think beating Bolton set some high expectations.
As long as we stay in the top6, and strengthen in January, I'll be happy. This squad does need more quality to achieve promotion though imo.
The bloke who was heralded as the new Kinsella/Dobson. I think it’s really important we have one of those.
Was he really that vanilla today?