Charlton go second from bottom

Charlton are second from bottom after their 2-1 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers this afternoon.

Charlton nearly nicked a late point after the ball was scrambled off the line, but were poor for most of the game.

Wycombe came within a whisker of opening the scoring when Curtis Thompson's effort came back off the post after he had been teed up by Daryl Horgan.

But the deadlock was broken two minutes before half-time when McCleary was given plenty of time to cut inside before finding the bottom corner from just outside the box.

The second goal for the hosts finally arrived when Horgan's ball into the box was headed back across by Jordan Obita to give McCleary an easy header at the back post.

Charlton, who were largely listless, despite 59 per cent possession, had some belated hope when Sam Lavelle headed in Harry Arter's corner in stoppage time, but they could not force an equaliser.

Thomas Sandgaard tweeted: 'Today’s loss puts us in a difficult position. We have to start playing better. Toward the end we gave ourselves a chance. We need more of that every minute on the pitch.'

Louis Mendez asked Adkins about absence of DJ, Kirk, Watson and Matthews from the squad today - confirmed none were injured and it was all just selection decisions. "We’ve now got a very big squad of players from having a small squad of players."

Gareth Ainsworth reckons Wycombe could have got five goals against Charlton: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/wycombe-boss-we-could-have-got-five-goals-against-charlton-it-wouldnt-have-been-an-injustice/

Louis Mendez thinks that Charlton have not turned up this season: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/four-takeaways-from-charltons-loss-at-wycombe-the-addicks-have-not-turned-up-this-season/

Will Charlton be able to see the wood for the trees?

Events elsewhere remind us that there is something to be said for stability at a football club.   Derby County are going into administration and face a 21 points deduction reflecting years of financial mismanagement as they tried to buy promotion.

Meanwhile, entrepreneur Matt Southall has taken a 25 per cent stake in Rochdale.   As someone said, at least local Range Rover dealers will be happy.

Charlton face Wycombe Wanderers this afternoon and despite our good record against them (don't mention that cup defeat at home when we were in the Premier League) it is difficult to be confident given recent performances by the Addicks: https://www.castrust.org/2021/09/wycombe-our-favourite-opponents/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wycombe-our-favourite-opponents

The Chairboys have been on the road for nearly a month and are looking forward to a return to their native beechwoods and their bosky home.   They were rather unfortunate to be relegated from the Championship last season and I have a lot of respect for their manager Gareth Ainsworth.

Four Four Two forecasts a 3rd place finish and the fan forecaster goes for 3rd.   They will certainly be thereabouts.

Wycombe are currently 9th in the table and 7th in the form table, Charlton are fifth from bottom in both. The Chairboys have won both their home league matches.

The acoustics at the ground are such that even a half full away end can make a lot of noise.

A three way race

The competition for the automatic promotion places was looking more like a three-way race after Leeds lost 2-0 at Exeter, Norwich repaid their start of the season humiliation with a 5-0 win at Colchester and Charlton unseated the Chairboys to win 2-1 at Adams Park.

Having located my ticket tout, Vern, I joined the Addickted inside the Dreams stand. We were well represented and must have made up around a quarter of the crwod.

Wycombe threatened down the wing in the early phase of the match, but their inaccuracy let them down when they failed to convert three chances, one of them a one-on-one with Elliot. Charlton then took their chance well when Shelvey made use of a cut back from Lloyd Sam and put the ball inside the far post from 15 yards out.

The pitch was rather small and box like in shape and it was also very slippery. Mooney had a half chance to put the Addicks 2-0 ahead but his shot lacked enough power. The Chairboys were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position, but their effort came off the wall. One of the things I liked about Charlton's play in the first half was the way in which Bailey was putting in long and accurate balls across the pitch to Sam who was tormenting the opposition.

Half time: Chairboys 0, Addicks 1

Wycombe looked more lively when they came out after the break and put Charlton under some pressure. As in the first half, a worrying feature was the space given to their wingers who often popped up unmarked.

The inaccuracy of Wycombe's shooting is emphasised by the fact that they had three shots on target to Charlton's seven. Eventually, however, their work down the wings paid off and Jon-Paul Pittman made use of a low cross from Stuart Green to level the score.

Parky responded by taking offf Mooney and bring on Dickson, followed two minutes later by the replacement of Omozusi with Richardson returning from injury. On 74 minutes Burton was taken off and replaced by McKenzie. On 77 minutes Bailey pounced on a loose ball after his shot had come out to make it 2-1.

The referee somehow five minutes of time to add on at the end of the game, but Charlton were able to withstand the pressure and end their run of draws.

Match analysis

Ivy the Terrible has awarded the Silver Bone to Nicky Bailey not just for the winning goal, but also for a captain's game in which he defended when needed and made sure he talked to the other players about what was going right and wrong. Elliot was exposed for the goal and couldn't do much about it and apart from one ball high up in the air, he was calm and in control. Good to see before the game that he and Randolph can banter with each other. Basey was one of our weakest players and the reason that Wycombe found so much space down the right. He also picked up an avoidable yellow card, the only one of the match. Omozusi has been all right as a fill in, but it's good to see Richardson back. Dailly had an excellent game, his quality showed, and he received a personal hug from Parky at the end. Llera looked like an accident waiting to happen, he was often poorly positioned. Semedo received repeated chants from the Addickted and was calm and confident. Shelvey had a good game, showing both determination and skill. The Bloke Beside Me complained about Sam complaining that all his trickery and the players he got round produced no end product. There is something in that, but he was a real threat to the opposition and is more talented than the level he is playing at. Burton had rather a quiet game and it is not suprrising that the two goals came from midfield. Mooney gets a good mark for effort, but never really came close to scoring. Dickson put in one weak shot after he came on and then had a chance to create a one-on-one towards the end of the game, but hesitated after he had burst through. Richardson looked the quality player he is when he came on. McKenzie was described by the Bloke Beside Me as 'all huff and puff' and he made little impact.

Hiss of the Match This goes to the Wycombe floodlights which offered a strange combination of glare and ineffectiveness. As the mist rolled in from the beech woods, it became increasingly difficult to follow the game at the other end of the pitch.

Crowd rating Some rousing choruses of Valley Floyd Road but relatively subdued. 6/10.

Reading results off the table

When we were in the Premiership we went one spring to an away game at Norwich. The Canaries were bottom and were eventually relegated. We were lower mid-table as I recall. I though the game was evenly matched and a draw would have been a fair result but in the second half former Addick Matt Svensson scored the winner. I thought we had given a reasonable account of ourselves but when I got home there was a torrent of complaint from Addicks, and not just from the usual suspects. How could we lose to 'bottom club' Norwich? One of the things you shoild never do in football is read results off the table.

Wycombe are in the relegation places, but achieved a surprising away draw against Leeds last week. When we played them in the first match of the season it was evident that they had battling qualities and didn't give up easily.

Their fans are fanatical in a curious way. I saw Rushden and Diamonds play them at Nene Park in League 2 and the referee got fed up with the abuse of their then manager Lawrie Sanchez and sent him to the stands. This wasn't much help as the stands behind the dugout are quite shallow and Sanchez continued to jump up and down and shout abuse despite half hearted attempts by stewards to restrain him.

The assembled Wycombe fans took great exception to this and stayed in their stand after the game chanting 'Chairboys'. By the time we were halfway up the hill away from the ground they were still at it. Quite what point they were making to the empty fields around them was far from clear, although their own stadium also gives them an agricultural view.

A friend of mine who has lived in various parts of England before returning to his native health (Essex) took the view that High Wycombe was the least friendly placed he had lived in. It's a curious mixture. The furniture industry has now disappeared and the factories have been replaced by flats for commuters to London (there is one factory in Princes Risborough). It is the home to one of the most expensive and most successful girls schools in England (Wycombe Abbey).

It will be good to see Christian Dailly back in defence. Richardson is available, but may not be fully fit. Indeed a general question is how march sharp the Charlton side are, given that they have not played a match for three weeks and training must have been constrained by the weather.

One boost is the signing up of David Mooney for a further 28 days, although not for the whole season as had been hoped. Back from injury, he will be able to team up in an effective partnership with Deon Burton.

I will be at the game tomorrow. I would like to drive back up the M40 with three points: my great fear is of yet another draw and if pressed I would go for 2-2, but I think a repeat of the 3-2 win at The Valley could be achieved.

I don't know much about Wycombe

Thinking about High/West Wycombe brings to mind Ali G's remark when he was interviewing the Secretary of State for Wales, 'I don't know much about Wales, but I hear it's crap.' A friend of mine who has lived all over the country (but has now returned to Essex) says that Wycombe is the worst place he has ever lived in.

My normal matchday routine is to drive down the M40 to park up at High Wycombe and get the train from there. This Saturday I shall get a fast train from Leamington that goes straight through High Wycombe, waving a cheery greeting to the assembled Chairboys as I go past. Incidentally, they are called Chairboys because the beech woods of Bucks gave rise to a furniture industry based in High Wycombe (now largely gone).

I encountered the Chairboys once before when I went to a match at Rushden and Diamonds. Their then manager, Lawrie Sanchez, was sent off by the referee who got fed up with the abuse directed at him from the dugout. Sanchez placed himself in the shallow stand behind the dugout and continued to go beserk, leading to an intervention by stewards.

The Chairboys took exception to this and other decisions and remained seated in their stand after the match chanting 'Chairboys'. I could still hear them as I walked up the hill towards my car. The view I formed was that their hard core away support was made up of descendants of the Hell Fire Club which used to meet nearby.

I have one good memory of Adams Park which is approached through a single road industrial estate but has an attractive setting. I saw the Charlton women's team take the league cup off Arsenal much to the shock of the assembled Gooners. Wasps also play there and are supported by Alan Curbishley's wife and, since his furlough, by Curbs himself.

We could get on to Disraeli, but I think we have had enough local colour. What about the team? The view of 4-4-2 is that they are not very good. They forecast a finish in 21st place, commenting 'If the Chairboys follow the standards they set so far in 2009, then an instant rerurn to the basement is a distinct possibility.' This could mean the sofa for manager Peter Taylor: six of his last seven jobs have lasted barely a year.

The fan commentator is surprisingly gloomy, saying that he fears administration and relegation. Mmind you that view has also been expressed at Charlton, but as my Bristol Rovers supporting fan said yesterday, if you can't be optimistic at this time of the season when can you be? Asked what change he would make at the club, the Chairboy says, 'Stop spending more than we can afford.' For some obscure reason, the disliked club is Colchester United rather than MK Dons (although I believe there used to be a rivalry with Oxford).

Matty Phillips is a kind of Jonjo Shelvey figure at the club. The 18-year old enjoyed a fine debut season, but was not used too often to avoid burn out. Tommy Doherty is apparently the terrace favourite and most important player.

The Wycombe fans can be expected to make a lot of noise because of the 'fallen giant' challenge. That is really all rubbish because we were never giants in the first place, just a medium-sized club who had good fortune and, for a while, good management. The Chairboys will not doubt recall their league cup victory over us when we were in the Premiership when Les Reed was in charge.

There have been some signs of a revival of slight optimism among the Addickted over the last few days. There has been an acknowledgement in some quarters that Phil Parkinson is a decent bloke who has been working hard for the club in difficult circumstances and that he should not be condemned before a ball is kicked.

Nevertheless, the Addickted will be nervous and an early goal is important. I expect Parky to play a 4-4-1-1 formation with Shelvey in the hole and Burton up front. I am going for a 2-0 win (Shelvey, Bailey).

Enjoy the game!