Good, crisp passing played to feet; very little hoofball; movement on and off the ball; and some great goals, even if a penalty was missed. No, that wasn't Charlton. It was Leamington who scored the old five against Bedford Town in a 5-0 victory at the New Windmill Ground last night. Only 345 people were there to watch them play as well as they have done this season and consolidate their claim on the play offs.
As for Charlton they have slipped into mid-table mediocrity after a 2-0 defeat at MK Dons. The Addicks managed to hold on to 0-0 until half time but the stats tell their own story: possession 69 per cent to 31 per cent to the Dons and only two Charlton attempts on target. What was apparently a 4-5-1 set up didn't help there.
Benson got himself sent off for a lunge on Stephen Gleeson. Apparently he lost control of the ball and lunged after it, clattering their player. As that is his second straight red, he will be out for four games. No great loss in my view.
Those who were there once again saw a team totally lacking in confidence. The verdict was that Worner was OK and made one decent save. Llera and Daily were OK. Jenkinson was decent, but didn't get forward enough. Francis was absolutely dire, missed at least crucial tackles and his passing and crossing were woeful. Bring on Solly!
Semedo offered his usual strong performance. McCormack contributed little, especially in the second half. Racon put in a typical performance, some good, some bad. Wagstaff was hard working but not effective going forward. Reid was like Racon, some good moves, but too much dross. Once again the midfield seems to be at the heart of the problem.
Benson had very little service, but nothing much that came his way stock. There was little chance for either Wright-Phillips (who apparently has a knee problem) or Eccleston to make much impact.
Already people are on Chris Powell's back, pointing out that Bristol Rovers sacked their manager Dave Penney after 53 days. Changing the manager won't do anything if you don't change the team. It's a rebuilding job for next season.
Charlton have sunk to 9th behind Carlisle and Orient. My season ticket pack arrived yesterday at last and I will be renewing. But will all the 9,000 existing season ticket holders renew after this run?
8 comments:
We were near the bottom of the form table when Parky was sackeed. After a brief Powell-inspired bounce, the form is back to where it was with Parky. Seems to me that there is something seriously amiss within the playing personnel. Rather than turn on the manager, the new owners must give him the time and patience in the summer to replace a number of individuals who are not cut out for the cut and thrust of this league
How can all the bloggers be getting on Powell's back already. All of Parkinson's summer signings are terrible, without exception. How on earth do you expect to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!!!!
"all we are sying is give Powell a chance." sung to the tune of Lennon's classic give peace a chance.
Powell is very much part of the problem - he continues to select the execrable Francis and the shamelessly disinterested Benson - he plays 4-5-1 away from home to try and avoid defeat in the belief we will swallow the cobblers that it is an attacking 4-3-3. His selections and his tactics get comfortably beaten by a team missing 6 first teamers and he makes no changes until 20 minutes after going behind in a game where Charlton didn't manage a third of the possession and only contrived 4shots in the whole game. It is too late to salvage this season - it is also too late to salvage more than 4 or 5000 season ticket sales for next term. The iceberg has been struck and Powell is still conducting the band. I'll only go and subject myself to more of his dillusional drivel on Saturday afternoon because the rest of my life is an even more parlous state and the humiliating debacle against Brentford will make for light relief.
Said before I thought it would get worse before it gets better, our injuries aren't helping. But I as you will be shortly renewing my season ticket for next year.
There is always hope....
It seems as though the malaise goes far deeper, and the main criticism is that we persist in the combination of "pass and probe" and "if in doubt, get rid".
This has been a feature so long it dates back to late Curbishley, when the spectacle of Fortune launching long balls upfield was a regular sight. Now back then, because we had forwards with pace or ability (and DB, who had both) that could work, and t be fair it was not the predominant strategy, even though it happened too often. What we have now is an array of players who are trying to do the same, but appear to have no confidence and precious little fight. Of our current back four Dailly and Francis are almost immobile, Llera is error prone and Jenkinson is playing out of position.
The midfield is principally set up to protect the back four, but does this by essentially dropping back to play 6-2-2: further, there is a reluctance to challenge for the ball, and the lack of movement forward exacerbates the problem, as players regularly start by looking for the (easy) backward pass instead of the forward one, and therefore making forward runs is pointless.
Despite playing four central defenders, we don't feel we can play two wingers, so the one who does play is easily doubled up on.
Upfront is the real question - and the area where Powell has to held to account. Unlike Parkinson he has BWP and Eccleston, both very capable at this level. Neither are suited to playing as a target man (frankly, neither is Benson) but with the ball played behind or into channels they have the pace required. It seems clear that Powell is attempting to apply the Curbishley policy of keep it tight and then hope to make a few chances - but the personnel don't have the ability. What we need to do on saturday is to show clear intent to attack, and to press the game, because our current style invites players to pick apart the weak points.
If we aren't going to win, we at least need to try and entertain.
Worner, Jenkinson, Solly, Dailly, Llera, Eccleston, Racon, Semedo, Reid, Wagstaff, BWP.
It is the teams fault we can't keep blaming the manager
You'll be lucky if you can book a ticket I tried online yesterday and like everything else at Charlton it doesn't work
Trevor -
why can't we criticise the manager who decided to play BWP for only 15mins against MKD, and Eccleston for only 28mins in the last two games?
Both are championship-standard players, whilst Benson and the Southend 2 are league 2 at best.
Obviously it isn't JUST the manager - we appear to be playing the same style as we did under Parkinson, and suffering from the same problems - lack of ambition, starting slowly and with a huge fear factor. I also think the announcer is to blame - the appeals to 'get behind the team' are pathetic - it's their job to motivate the crowd, not vice versa!
we stuck in the middle.
We are exactly 13 points behind 2nd place and 13 points above 21st place with a whole host of clubs almost level on points.
On present form I find this quite worrying.
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