Injury fears about Rob Elliot and Frazer Richardson proved to be unjustified as they were both passed fitness tests and were included in an unchanged line up for Charlton at The Valley, writes Phillipa Nicholson. There had been doubts about whether the match would go ahead and the pitch was looking very heavy which does not suit Charlton's style. There was the unusual sight of puddles in the vicinity of the centre circle.
With Glen Murray ill, Brighton lined up in a 4-5-1 formation with Nicky Forster up front. The postponement of Colchester's home match due to a flooded beach gave the Addicks a chance to return to third place.
Lua Lua put in a shot that was not far wide. Brighton won an early corner but the move ended in a goal kick. Brighton had a chance but Elliot collected off Forster. Dailly and Llera exchanged views on what had gone wrong.
Burton turned and put in a shot and Brighton's Czech keeper turned it away for the first Charlton corner of the match which was unproductive.
Racon put in a good chip, but it went on to the roof of the Brighton net. Reid won Charlton a second corner. Elliot had to save from a relatively tame effort from Forster. A shot from Racon was easily collected by the Seagulls keeper.
Burton came off after an half hour suffering from a recurrence of his groin injury and was replaced by Akpo Sodje. Sam defended well at the expense of a corner. Bailey cleared at the near post for a second corner.
An effort by Reid went into the Jimmy Seed stand. Brighton won another corner. A strike by Racon was blocked. Brighton counter attacked down the right and a shot from Calderon squeezed into the corner of the net to give the Seagulls the lead on 35 minutes.
A good build up led to a shot by Bailey, who had been playing very deep, on target. Reid won Charlton a corner in the last minute of normal time. Jackson's effort was cleared.
Half time: Addicks 0, Seagulls 1
A strike by Bennett was blocked by Forster who was offside. Reid got past Calderon, but Mooney was not able to take advantage. Sodje found Mooney but Elphick intercepted well. Brighton took off Forster and youngster Chris Holroyd on loan from Cambridge United came on.
Richardson advanced well, but ran out of options. Sodje had a chance from eight yards out but he put it into the side netting. Charlton won a free kick to the left hand side of the Brighton penalty area. Richardson's effort was poor. Charlton won another free kick, but it was unproductive.
Brighton won a corner. Richardson came off and McKenzie came on. Lua Lua came off and was replaced by Gary Hart. Brighton conceded a corner kick. Jackson was replaced by Sam Sodje. Llera won Charlton a free kick. Bennett shot from 25 yards out to give Brighton their second goal as Charlton fans headed for the exit. Elliot should possibly have done better.
Elliot saved well to prevent a third for Brighton. Dailly conceded a corner kick. Reid had a free kick on the left and Llera had a strike on target. Akpo Sodje scored a consolation goal which he put over the Brighton keeper.
9 comments:
That was disappointing. Parkinson lost the plot on the substitutions. When he took Richardson off, we were playing with just two centre backs and a left back! The team lost all balance and composure which was a pity, because just before the substitution I fancied us for an equalizer.
We are badly lacking cutting edge up front. Given the lack of options up I think he has to revert to 4-5-1 and give Nicky Bailey freedom to get forward more. Otherwise I just can't see us getting any goals.
It was good to see a manager showing passion on the touchline and his team responding with the same passion on the pitch. It was just a shame that it wasn't the Charlton manager, or the Charlton team.
We were terrible, but Parky cost us the game with the substitution of Richardson. The defence was left unbalanced and it lead to Brighton scoring the winning goal.
The team spirt seems to have all but disappeared - all the players were clearly bickering and blaming each other at the restart after the 2nd goal.
Though an avid reader of your own and other CAFC blogs over the past few years, and a supporter since the early Selhurst days as a kid, I've been content with taking in the musings of fellow Addicks and never felt the urge to post until now.
Sat in the North Upper as normal last night, and as has been the trend of the past few years, there seems to be an ever-increasing number of fans that expect us to steamroller teams in the first 45 minutes of a game. If not delivered instant satisfaction from events on the pitch, out comes the incessant jeering and booing of our own team. Coming into the last 20 mins of the game, each misplaced pass or hopeful punt was met with a chorus of abuse.
Granted, it was not champagne football by any means last night, and no, Parky is not a tactical mastermind whose substitutions were either entirely logical or effective, but it's still Charlton, we're still fourth, and the season is far from over!
Since we began our slide from the over-achievement of mid-table security in the Prem, the trend of turning on the team(espec. at home) seems here to stay, and given the fragile nature of pro-footballer's confidence, it seems that the days of the Covered End being the 12th man applies more to the opposition than the boys in red.
Brighton fans last night were a great example of how we used to be when the team were in a dogfight, and even though success was limited, it was a pleasure to go along to matches.
Here's hoping the team and management can turn things around and cement a place in the play-off lottery, if not better!?!?!
Last night's game was the equal worst I've seen from Charlton in 17 years. All three substitutions were forced by injury so the criticism of Parky on them is unwarranted. That is the only thing for which he shouldn't be castigated however.
Selecting injured players (Burton, Richardson) is idiotic as we hardly lack numbers in the squad.
Continuing to select lloyd sam is bewildering as Charlton start the game one man down.
Standing still looking glum in the technical area doesn't help.
Attempting to play passing football with 3rd division players on a bog of a pitch defies common sense.
Last night required grown men and simple endeavour so Parky litters the team with crocks and a quitter. The back 2 did OK and their passing was no worse than anyone else's, Mooney ran around much more in the 2nd half and looked to enjoy the withdrawn role. Sadly his limited ability was shared by all the midfield and attacking players. Aside from some additional bulk the two forward subs, ASodje and McKenzie added nothing to Charlton's potency, which if we are to believe they are keen to make the first XI, reflects poorly on them.
A duff selection from an increasingly duff manager and another in a lengthening sequence of collectively duff performances fully deserved the howls of derision and booing. Without swift and radical improvement the only thing that will quieten the jeering will be the reduced numbers attending to witness the debacle.
I thought Brighton did quite a good job at passing the ball on a bog of a pitch!
On a separate note, I thought their fans were a credit to them. Nearly a full allocation for a mid-week game and getting behind the side for the entire game. Why are Charlton fans so reluctant to chant but quick to moan? The BBM started as soon as the game kicked off anddidn't stop until he left on 80 odd minutes!
Further to Darren's comment, yes we are still 4th a strong 4th in division 1 at that, how dare the supporters get on the back of our hard working, fragile and simply magnificant team. I have been supporting Charlton (god help me) since the late seventies, and whatching this squad fills me with pride. Lets join together and be a strong twelth man for our team and manager. This club has the beginings of what from last night could be said to be "a champions league winning team" in the not so distant future. Hey we may even get in the play off lottery if we are really lucky. GET A LIFE.....
Last night was absolubtly terrible, I for one will continue to shout abuse until I see some football played at the valley!
The Pitch!
It was a pudding of a pitch, sticky in some places and bumpy in others, not one for fast flowing passing on the floor football. Brighton started immediately by lofting balls into space between Llera and Johnson with pacey wingers running on to the ball. Their initial tactics suiting the pitch much better than ours and putting us under pressure. You would have thought we would know the qualities of our own pitch.
The game turned when we missed putting the ball in the net after the goal mouth scramble and they scored on the counter attack, had we scored first we might have settled and gone on to win. I didn't think we played well against Yeovil and relied on Elliott's saves and better finishing than Yeovil.
At the moment we're an average 1st division side and Wyn's prediction of a 6th place finish may be right or even a little optimistic. I'm not sure Bailey-Racon in the middle works, rather see Semedo-Racon and Bailey back on the left.
Still hoping we can pull this out of the bag and that PP can find a settled team that does the job.
But we looked an unorganised mess in the 2nd half and hope those substitutions were down to injuries rather than tactical.
Saw Burton holding his groin (!) at the end of the Yeovil game if not fit he shouldn't have been on....McKenzie still hasn't been given a start,to come on into that mess may not be a fair reflection of him.
I can see where Darren's coming from. Its started to dawn on me, allbeit later than it dawned on Wyn that Charlton's start to the season was an overacheivement and raised expectations a little too far.
We can all clearly see the strengths and the defficiencies of the team at the moment. The lack of cutting edge up front is only too apparent. That being said, what is Parky to do? He has no money to spend to rectify the matter. There is no strike combination from our squad that will score us goals regularly.
The defence has suffered injuries at full back for several games now and has made us fragile at the back and the midfield is lacking confidence and energy. It looks like the team is crumbling but its hard to blame the manager. Before criticising, it would be useful to make some constructive suggestions as to how we can improve. With the current squad and no funds to improve the squad, all we can really do is get behind the players and hope they can start to produce some more inspiring performances.
We don't have a divine right to promotion just because of how far we've fallen. There are better 'smaller' teams than us in this league and they're starting to catch up with us. Let's revaluate rather than criticise.
Post a Comment