Birmingham v Charlton | Post-match thread | 15/07/2020

It does seem everything has gone against us and we seem destined to go down

What a complete cack of a season.  I have seen a few supporting this lot but it really does make you wonder.

A multitude of bollock belters...

So the sole bit of positivity I can take from this:

Reading and Birmingham both knew that any result against us was a bonus (Reading were helped by being given an early lead) so sat back because they knew the result would mean safety...

These last two games have proven we cannot break teams down that sit back, we just dont have the playmaker to do it

Wigan on the other hand cannot do that on Saturday

They have to come to the Valley and win, failure to do so and they're all but down, we CAN exploit that if we're clever enough

Am convinced our defence wont capitulate in the same fashion as Hull did, its just about making sure we take our chances for once

it’s too much to take... capitulation months ago would have felt a lot better than this... 

we are masochists, I woke up at 4 am and now can’t go back to sleep because I’m so angry/gutted/ depressed. 

AFKABartram said:

Can’t comment on the defensive tactics blaming in this, I didn’t watch it.

However, I do know it’s a massive frustration for every football fan when their side try to shut the game down when they are winning and then don’t achieve it. And I cannot think of a single team / manager that does not adopt this tactic when defending a slender lead in the last segment of the game. Can anyone?

I appreciate everyone is gutted when we lose and there will always be an element of blame emerge. But Bowyer is not a ‘shit manager’ for the games we don’t lose in extra time.

Given the amount of crap he’s dealt with and how he has everytime seemingly put our club first when he could easily have said f**k this, I’d love it if we could all be a bit more supportive and loyal. Just my opinion. 

Of course. But how many other managers change 40% of the outfield players within 6 mins of 13 mins to go? 

Off_it said:

cafcfan1990 said:

Off_it said:

cafcfan1990 said:

Off_it said:

mid_life_crisis said:

Without doubt, this lot are the biggest bunch of bottlers in the history of football.

Although this one is also "special"

Sorry mate but don’t start digging people out for their views, especially in the midst of frustration at a goal which could relegate us. 

How anyone can say we haven’t bottled it at times this season is beyond me. 

How the fuck have we "bottled it"? Please, tell me. Who didn't put in the required level of effort today? Who shirked challenges?

The simple fact is our squad just isn't good enough or strong enough for this league, not since we lost our two best players. If we stay up it will be a miracle. It was always going to be a miracle.

You can't say the players are shit on the one hand and then expect them not to make genuine mistakes. You can point at the manager, the substitutions, the referees, anything you like. But our squad is piss weak for this league and ultimately that's the real problem.

Bottling it for me isn’t just about putting the effort in. I never said challenges were shirked. We make so many mistakes. Go back and look at all the goals we have conceded in the last 15 minutes of games. They are just so so soft. 

I’m in agreement with the squad of course. Our early form exceeded our expectations and the bar was set too high. The quality in the squad showing now. 

Well maybe that's where our interpretations differ then.

"Bottling it" for me means you didn't stand up to be counted. You didn't put your head in where it hurts. You let your team mates down because you didn't fancy it or weren't up for it.

Hand on heart I really don't think you can say that about any of our squad, or the manager.

There's a lack of quality which leads to mistakes. But they're honest mistakes, genuine mistakes from people that are doing all they can and not through lack of effort. They are just falling short and you can see how it's hurting them.

That's nothing to do with "bottling it" in my book, which is why I objected to the comment.

No you can’t say that about our manager nor 99% of the players. I haven’t before and will not start now. 

ForeverAddickted said:

So the sole bit of positivity I can take from this:

Reading and Birmingham both knew that any result against us was a bonus (Reading were helped by being given an early lead) so sat back because they knew the result would mean safety...

These last two games have proven we cannot break teams down that sit back, we just dont have the playmaker to do it

Wigan on the other hand cannot do that on Saturday

They have to come to the Valley and win, failure to do so and they're all but down, we CAN exploit that if we're clever enough

Am convinced our defence wont capitulate in the same fashion as Hull did, its just about making sure we take our chances for once

I admire your optimism but just can’t see it. They’ll beat us comfortably. This is Charlton though so we could easily beat Leeds and stay up. 

I know I'm going to be in the minority here but I thought we played pretty well, dare I say the best performance since Hull.

I know we're all annoyed about another late goal conceded but just to defend Bowyer a bit. Not sure what else he could do. We're a team that clearly struggles to score and people here want him to keep going for a second? He'd be slaughtered even more than he already is. Everyone moaning about the subs but Bonne nearly scored a second after those all took place. The set up was more positive and we looked to keep it on the deck and be a lot more direct with our running and passing. Some of it was actually really nice football.

This post isn't a blind must support Bowyer at all costs as without a doubt he has made some big cock ups I just feel today wasn't one of them.

Leeds_Addick said:

killerandflash said:

It's one thing bringing on a defender in the final couple of  minutes, but Sarr came on in the 84th minute, that was THIRTEEN minutes before the final whistle. All one way traffic in that period as we had completely lost the initiative

I think Sarr came on to give us some more height in defending their long throws. I thought it was a good idea at the time anyway. 

Bonne did enough today and against Brentford to win both games. He did well being in position for two tap ins, great save for the second but that’s not what cost us the game. 

I can’t wrap my head around bringing Field off for Morgan at all. I have no idea what Bowyer was thinking. It’s hard to blame Taylor for relegation when we were a few minutes away from surviving. 

I think we’re down. 49 is the number for safety and we’re not beating Wigan or Leeds. 

pratley played in fieds postion - the ball came to morgan about 5 or 6 times in the doughty position -left side - and in particular he stayed up at corners, same as doughty - morgan did zip with those chances which doughty would have relished - morgans game is not the same as doughty, he's a passer - bowyer has lost a lot of talent over the course of the year but i lay that and playing the likes of oshilaja and pratley in a lot of instances since lockdown squarely at his door - if you have no threat, you will concede 

An absolute sickener – but we did not deserve to win. Brum had 24 shots to our seven. Phillips made excellent saves, best of all diving to his right to parry a fierce low shot through a crowd.

We had 60 per cent of the possession – most of it ineffective. Pissing about on the halfway line, putting team-mates under pressure with hospital balls. One of our perennial problems is strikers like statues – no movement to make space or invite passes from midfield. And when Hemed and Bonne do eventually get possession, they haven’t the skill or cunning to threaten the goal.

Doughty accelerates and leaves the defender for dead – and two minutes later makes a basic mistake, leaving us exposed. Chuks did well as sub, driving at the defence. Our central defenders were resolute as usual: Lockyer made vital last-ditch tackles.

McGeady is bang ordinary at best. Cullen made errors: causing the penalty was the worst of several. Crowley and Gardner bossed the game in Brum’s favour.

Brum, Boro and Stoke seem to be safe. Will we avoid the drop? By one point, one place...? 

NorthStandUltra said:

Not blaming Bonne at all, he was effectively a non-league striker last season & is now being asked to lead the line in the Championship in a relegation threatened side who don’t create many chances. 

This

10 goals isn't a bad return in your first season at this level.

cafcfan1990 said:

ForeverAddickted said:

So the sole bit of positivity I can take from this:

Reading and Birmingham both knew that any result against us was a bonus (Reading were helped by being given an early lead) so sat back because they knew the result would mean safety...

These last two games have proven we cannot break teams down that sit back, we just dont have the playmaker to do it

Wigan on the other hand cannot do that on Saturday

They have to come to the Valley and win, failure to do so and they're all but down, we CAN exploit that if we're clever enough

Am convinced our defence wont capitulate in the same fashion as Hull did, its just about making sure we take our chances for once

I admire your optimism but just can’t see it. They’ll beat us comfortably. This is Charlton though so we could easily beat Leeds and stay up. 

I just think we do better against those sides who'll attack us more because of the space they leave

If we want to get something from Wigan / Leeds then we have to keep the ball better

MuttleyCAFC said:

I think it is fair enough to go a bit more defensive at the death but you should never lose the outlet as it invites teams to really push up, even shit ones like Birmingham. Also, don't start going ultra defensive with 15 or more to go, irrespective of the score as the longer you do it, the greater the odds you will concede whether that be in the 95th minute or 75th minute.

Exactly. He made the subs in the 76th minute, that's still TWENTY minutes left, a fifth of the game if we're saying games are practically 100 minutes these days.

By all means put Pratley or Sarr on with 5-10 minutes left, but don't take off 3 attacking players (Doughty/Williams/McGeady) and basically invite the opposition to attack. 

And even if you're going to do that, you still need a fast attacking outlet to get them on the counter...........but we had no one.

Pratley looked like an old man as Bellingham breezed past him to set up their goal. Field would not have been done so easily, even after 93 minutes of running