Sunday 4 January 2015

Looking for a power surge

I wasn't able to get to the cup game yesterday because of family commitments which was probably just as well. Predictably, it has led to calls for 'Peeters out'. The modern game places excessive emphasis on the manager (or the coach in this case). All the evidence shows that changes of managers make a difference, but usually only in the short run, although, of course, that is what football is often all about.

However, one must also look at the players and I think that any coach would have problems with a rather thin squad which is now over reliant on young players, some of whom are well short of Championship standard. Unfortunately, some players who started the season well seem to have lost form, notably Vetokele and Buyens.

In any event, if I understand this regime correctly, they are unlikely to change the coach before the end of the season. What remains to be seen is how many and which players are brought in during the transfer window. I suspect not that many.

One post I saw described yesterday's game as 'one of the most abject performances I have seen from a Charlton team.' Given some of the performances I have seen from Charlton teams over the years, somehow I doubt it. One thing you learn to do as a Charlton fan is to keep your expectations under control. Very few comments have mentioned the other team on the pitch but from what I have heard Blackburn played rather well and that may have had more to do with the result than Charlton's performance.

Next Saturday's game against Brighton is clearly vital, but a concern now is that the negativity of much of the crowd won't give the players the support they need. We might have one new signing by then, but unfortunately he may be too readily dismissed as a Standard Liege 'cast off'.

When I heard the floodlights had gone out, I hoped it might be another Doncaster scenario, but sadly this was not to be the case. It wasn't that someone had forgot to feed the meter, but a 'power surge'. That's what we need on the pitch, but I am not too hopeful.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that is about right Blackburn were confident and composed Charlton were poor though Jackson I thought was typically committed and Simon Church looked better than those around me were expecting.

Geoff said...

It was an unhappy performance against opponents who played like a well-coached team. TBH was telling Wilson from the start how and where to play, much to Wilson's distaste, Cousins now looks as though he is simply waiting for a transfer. Perhaps his strategy is that if he plays badly enough he'll be left out and that's the cue to leave. It can't work when there are only 13 fit first-teamers.

Unfortunately, Wyn, the list of those who have deteriorated since early season gets longer by the week. Add Cousins, TBH and Bikey to your list above. Gudmunsson is the one current bright spot, but he has still to learn that in our football someone will be up your backside before the ball reaches you. Henderson is badly missed.

One unavoidable fact is that, apart from the two big central defenders, we are lightweight and the majority of opponents is bigger and faster. Changing Peeters won't change that, but there are things the coach could address such as the time it takes us to get into gear.

Crack Addick said...

As has been said previously, Blackburn played well and passed the ball around very well with quick short passes.

That said the two goals were comical. Fox looked to have lead in his boots for the first goal, when Wilson was done (theme for the half) and the ball whipped into the box. For the second he was left totally exposed as the Midfield ball watched.

But overall I still think Fox played okay when you consider his age etc, the efforts of the players around him and made some good last ditch tackles.

Anonymous said...

Morrison was as bigger loss as some others we are lamenting. He had his critics as a player, but Vice Captain why? like JJ, big commitment and a big heart. We need experienced players like that now. But as they say, players need to know that a club wants them and BP should have done better. He's gone and so has all the previous talk about Charlton becoming a feeder club for Standard Liege. I recently posted here that of the last 3. Draw 1-lose 2, yes v predictable, but player supporter moral is not so predictable and now the next match is massive. COYR

Anonymous said...

I really wonder why RD bothered,

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering what RD wants to get out of a loss making club like ours too. It doesn't feel good being his toy to play with.

I was also wondering why somebody put up a Standard Liege banner over the empty seats in the North East quadrant just before kick off. The banner was confiscated by the stewards.