'We want Pardew out' - but he stays

'We want Pardew out' was the chant of the Covered End during today's abject 1-3 capitulation to Barnsley, but the manager has made it clear that he is staying. I was interested to see what he would draw from his book of excuses, thinking that Halloween or the weather might be likely candidates, but apparently it was all down to Linvoy Primus not being available. Pardew's solution to the crisis is to think of bringing in another loan player. Can we loan a manager?

Any remaining apologist for Pardew should listen to this short interview: Pardew First, he says that the team wasn't big enough and strong enough to cope with Barnsley. So why did he put out a team that had so many relatively inexperienced youngsters? Surely this was a case for the likes of Holland and Todorov?

Second, he says that he has tried changing it around and it hasn't worked and perhaps he should stay with his strongest team. Perhaps the penny has dropped at last, but one problem is I don't think he knows what his strongest team is.

Once again throughout the game his body language was negative and passive. As one of our commentators has suggested, perhaps he does accept that his fate is sealed.

One member of the Glynne Jones list has suggested four scenarios for the club and I have borrowed his schema because I think it sums up our dilemma quite nicely:
Scenario 1: We stick with Pardew and get relegated ... result (almost) no fans
Scenario 2: We stick with Pardew, fight relegation, and escape excitingly ... result more Pardew?
Scenario 3: We appoint someone new, fight relegation and go down ... result (almost) no more fans, but a clean start for the new incumbent, and some positivity from those fans left.
Scenario 4: We appoint someone new and they keep us up. Result, something positive to build on.

Charlton have now dropped into the relegation positions after Southampton's win at Preston but, despite protests outside the ground after the game, the board appear to be relaxed about the prospect of League 1 football. Or, if they are not, they are not doing anything about it (although a commentator has suggested that there may be a board meeting on Monday).

I don't feel inclined to do a detailed analysis of the game, but the row behind me had a point when they said that pro rata our performance was less good than when we were relegated from the Premiership. Essentially, the work of the last fifteen years is being put to waste.

We can't defend set pieces, as was shown by Barnsley's early goal. We can't keep possession, we hesitate in attack and we resort to hopeful long balls. The side is completely disorganised. Players like Bailey seem to have regressed in the last few games.

All credit to Barnsley, they knew we were there for the taking and they stuck to their game plan. 'It's just like watching Wednesday' was one of the chants from the Barnsley fans. I thought the referee, supposedly the best thing to come out of Preston, did them a few favours by taking a 'it's a man's game oop north' stance and not penalising some blatant fouls, one of which played a part in the third goal.

We started to play with a bit more determination and fluency in the second half, although the ball was still up in the air a lot. Eventually Hudson got us a consolation goal, but it was all too late and quite a few fans had left by then, not surprisingly. The Covered End applauded the Barnsley team as they left the pitch.

One wag asking if there were any positives from the game said that he was keeping the page blank. For me, the good news was that the Bloke Beside Me, Paul from Bexleyheath, has come home from hopsital in his fight against cancer.

Match analysis

The Silver Bone has been withheld. Match analysis emeritus Hooch the Pooch has stepped in as match analyst emeritus to rate the players as Ivy the Terrible is a young dog and could not comprehend what she saw. Weaver got a response to his applause to the crowd at the end and I don't blame him for what went wrong. It's very difficult to make saves when you have a forest of players in panic mode crowding the box in front of you and in any case he did make some saves. Cranie seemed to be out of position and out of sorts. Hudson did his best and scored a goal and was one of the best players out there. Basey was actually concussed in the first half and I wonder if this continued to affect him as this was a very poor performance - although I have always had reservations about him. But it was his free kick that set up the goal. Moutaoukil did make some good runs forward. Sometimes he positioned himself very well on the wing but no one seemed to notice him. Wright made some tolerably good contributions and got warm applause when he went off, but I still think he was out of his depth. Bailey made some terrible errors. Ambrose is a scapegoat player for a lot of fans. I don't think he's much good, but he's no worse than many of the others. But when he gets in front of goal he tends to blast over or otherwise make a hash of things. I almost forgot Sam who had an error prone first half. But again one wonders what goes on at Sparrows Lane because he seems to have gone backwards as a player. Someone asked earlier in the week why I don't rate Varney. Yes, he has commitment, but I also value skill. But he did have one good shot on goal in the second half and he did get booked, although rather harshly in my view. Gray was really out of it. Bouazza looked up for it but didn't make a difference. Dickson was a huge disappointment.

Hiss of the Match Juneau the Soccer Cat enlisted her sister Amber to hiss as well, while Cat (his real name, his owner being a minimalist), the Coventry City supporter from next door, came over to offer his commiserations (and eat some food). Alan Pardew becomes the only Charlton manager since this blog started to receive the Hiss of the Match twice. Mind you, it might also have been given to the police who held us up in the rain while they sent a mounted policewoman to investigate the 'shouting and singing' on the station.

Crowd rating How does one expect them to react to this dross week after week? They did get behind the team in the second half when it showed a spark of life.