This match was always going to be decided by a single goal after a cagey back and forth between the boxes. And so it came to be.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t our goal that proved decisive and a large travelling contingent of supporters returned to South East London empty handed and largely disillusioned. Charlton travelled to Hertfordshire in hope of redemption and started quite well, if not dominant then certainly brighter than the opposition. A new formation saw Tyreece Campbell as part of a front three. He proved a handful out on the left alongside Matty Godden down the centre and Daniel Kanu on the opposite side, both of whom offered quite a bit less. Though looking better, Charlton found it difficult to hit the mark and Stevenage eventually worked themselves back into it, with the first half finishing honours even.
Charlton lost this within minutes of the second half. Stevenage came out with a bit between their teeth and proved troublesome from the off. Chuks Aneke came on a little earlier than usual to stem the change in momentum and had an opportunity that he blazed over the bar when it seemed easier to bend round the out-of-position keeper. That was about all we had in terms of decent chances. Our set pieces were largely poor and it was from a poorly worked corner that Stevenage found themselves on the counter attack from which they’d score. We huffed and then puffed without really causing problems for the remainder of the second half, though we had a couple of small chances at the death to find the illusive leveller that would save our blushes. We’re neither clinical nor industrious enough to win these sorts of battles at the minute, which is obviously disappointing.
We’re certainly well short of where we need to be to challenge for promotion.
Stevenage 1 Charlton 0
Over to you.
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Comments
Very concerning
Bored of seeing players like Dobson and May go with significantly inferior replacements.
Bored of seeing managers rolling the dice and playing players out of position
Looked like we'd solidified at the back which we have improved on from an awful defence last season but now have no creativity and pose very little threats.
Bored of relying on Aneke who can't play full games and can't start.
Bored of squads and signings being overrated and then looking nowhere near good enough to challenge in League One.
Another season of mid table nothingness it appears unless we sign so quality in January which never really seems to materialise.
If Jones alienated or didnt fight tooth and nail to keep May on side and on board thats looking a very silly decision in seeing the league's top scorer go whilst we are making goal scoring look a sparse affair.
And playing lloyd jones up front twice outside of an injury crisis suggests we're severely lacking options up top.
Grim.
40% drive him to Cardiff myself
Those percentages will reverse if we don't win one of the next two
It says a lot for the dreadful quality of our set pieces that one of them led directly to the Stevenage goal.
We started looking busy without creating anything but then faded and gradually succumbed to the pressure.
Chuks missed an absolute sitter and it may have been a different story if we’d scored first. But, hands up, we got what we deserved - bugger all.
Can’t pass well enough, Can’t move well enough. Can’t cross it well enough. Can’t finish well enough. Got to start doing better, otherwise with some tougher looking fixtures coming up we’re going to find ourselves rooted in mid-table, at best.
But that’s where we deserve to be after years upon years of inadequate management.
The tide will turn, eventually. Hopefully it ain’t gonna take much longer because being in this shite league is soul destroying.
So I'll keep it short.
Utter fucking shit.
Third manager on the spin to have no game plan other than 'bring Chuks on after an hour and hope he does something'
I don’t get why he keeps making seemingly unnecessary changes
Formation and style of play is so rigid, that’s it’s as close as poor as I have seen us with the ball at our feet.
i literally cannot state enough how bad we are at moving the ball. Stevenage are shit as well, but they still moved it quicker and with more purpose than us.
wrong starting 11 picked again.
Tuesday is a huge game because going into next saturday at home with 3 losses on the spin, could see some of the crowd turn
There is no direction or strategy to attack except to go long.
Defensively we don’t look strong anymore. Clearly Jones doesn’t feel we can cope defensively without playing 5 at the back.
Coventry has been alright this season but his set pieces are simply atrocious.
Kanu offered nothing today. Why did Godden come off instead? He was isolated, crying out for support so we take him off for Aneke who would’ve provided some support.
I don’t think Jones has a clue what his best team would be with everyone fit.
I’m not sure playing Anderson, Campbell and Kanu from to start away from home is ever going to win us a game.
Edwards wasn’t himself and again I think not having Small in the squad was a mistake.
It seems like Jones didn’t know what to do so threw on his old reliable source in Berry, who did nothing but get booked.
What was the point in signing Hylton, I still don’t fully understand when quite clearly this team is screaming out for creativity and pace. It doesn’t have it.
He's been backed to bring in players for his system but his system is shocking. Unfortunately a lot of those brought in have so far been pretty poor. No discernable tactics and zero creativity. We did well in our first few games by being defensively solid but if we concede then we've got no chance of 3 points as it stands.
He may well get us working better and we can't have a knee-jerk reaction but I'm yet to see anything that shouts Jones is a tactical genius. Really hope he proves me wrong.
When you cut under all the chaff talk about how good this season was going to be.
I love Chuks. But to go into a season with your sole attacking reliance on one so unreliable is f*****g bonkers!
People have acclaimed Coventry in recent weeks, and I agree he’s probably been our best midfielder, but boy he’s pretty mediocre. At this level, you have to be able to hit the target from a free kick at very least.
We’re going to need to win at least one of our next two matches to halt the slide.