Originally I said 3-1. But then AllHell broke the news that BWP would be missing through injury. I then predicted 2-1 using my ultra-complicated system of taking BWP's obligatory goal off. The appliance of science, eh? COYR!
Ha! Too true, Kish. I once ripped a whole front cover off of a Michael Jecks novel whilst trying to break into my purchase. Damn their eyes, I say!
Having listened on BBC London steve Brown was raving about the performance of chris solly and waggy....both charlton youth products good to hear. I have a lot of time for both. 1st half we wernt too clever apparently second half different team the only player to dissapoint... Hollands will be interested to hear the view of cafc fans who were actually there.
Just back from the game. Best team won. Hamer made a couple of stops from Lowe, and flapped at a late cross, but other than that, I felt our defence was broadly on top, beaten only by a quickly taken free kick. That's the kind of thing that happens to a team once in a season (if even that), so they won't be so sleepy in future. Their defence was also broadly on top, and Hayes-Wagstaff didn't really work for me. The first half was dominated by Bury, and the second half by Charlton. Completely different approach and attitude in the second half. Bury play some nice football. Not sure how they'll fare in the depths of winter, but given the time of the season and Wednesday's recent defeat at Gigg Lane, it's definitely good to come away with all three points. All in all, not a match I'll be telling grandkids about, but a good result on the day.
Just back from the game myself Thought Bury started extremely well and took the game to us - Closed our players down so we couldnt play our short passing game and we were limited to long and often over hit passes, great goal from them and especially liked the way they continued searching for a second goal when I thought they'd sit back on their advantage like some teams have done (cough Oldham!!) Charlton in the first half I felt was the worst performance I've seen this year but that was all credit to Bury - In the second half we came out all guns blazing and I felt the early goal turned the tide in our favour (very well taken from Hayes). In the end we tried really hard to make it 2-2 and certainly felt it would be when the Ref ignored the blatant penalty after the foul on Waggy (was basically lifted up off the ball and thrown on his arse, not sure how you can dive like that??) MOM for me was Chris Solly, dealt incredibly well with the Bury Left Winger all game and managed to get his small frame in the way of every ball that was coming into our box during the First Half After seeing Waggy up front thought he did extremely well chasing the ball down (Did anyone see what happened when he went down clutching his face or was he taking lessons from Nicky Bailey?) Great to see the legend that is Dean Kiely there as well today
Thanks, Irish and Adick4Life. Any more reports from those who went? Interesting point this season is that with the successive games different fans are nominating many different players as our better players or potential weaknesses. For example, Irish heres chooses Wiggins as MOM while in previous matches some were less than impressed. Some praise Waggy, others have thought he was relatively weak in some games. Same for Stephens, Hayes, Taylor, and so on. In a way this is good. It suggests that we have a team of generally equal talents and are not dependent on certain players who can be targeted by the opposition or we would badly miss if injured or suspended. Today we coped without BWP, for example. On the other hand, it makes it harder for CP to strengthen the team. He and our Chairman have previously suggested there is a bit more money available to buy a couple more players, but after the Reading match CP seems more hesistant, and indeed it is hard to see where he could usefully spend any money. We already have good players on the bench week after week and his main problem seems to be keeping everyone happy and loyal rather than trying to plug holes in the squad.
Did those who attended the match think that the fact nearly all our players had a complete rest midweek, while most of Bury's played in a tough and ultimately disappointing match, had anything to do with our second-half improvement? If so, all credit to Powell for making the decision he did.
Have to admit I was thinking the same Eddie, during the first half Bury looked strong which like you say could have been them kicking on from their disappointment against Leicester (whilst having momentum) where as they werent as strong in the second half due to tiredness perhaps (for the first 20mins they certainly didnt close the ball down as quickly) Is definitely a tough one to ponder as I know over the years a lot of Managers come out and say that players prefer dealing with constant matches as it keeps them sharp (also probably because players dont like to admit if they're tired)
By the way, I was happy with the subs policy yesterday. Re: tiredness, I didn't really get that impression, eddie. It wasn't obvious that one of the teams had been rested and the other had been playing a tough game midweek. We came out stronger early in the second half, which would normally be put down to the teamtalk, especially this early in the season. Then, at the end, Bury did have some fuel left in the tank to try for a late equaliser. Bury play good football. Pity they don't have many locals going to see it.
Steve Brown's analysis was that in the first half the back four sat too deep but in the 2nd half they moved the line higher up and played tighter on the Bury forwards, which they should have done in the first half, so credit to our management team for rectifying it.
When I posted this yesterday, Irish what I didn't realise was that of this figure, there were more than 500 Addicks there - great effort, everyone. Must be terribly disheartening for the players who've struggled to get the club promoted to see such a lack of interest. I know there's old wisdom about clubs like Bury who draw smaller crowds than the quality of their football merits, because they're surrounded by much 'bigger' clubs all fighting for support in the same cachement area, but you can't help but get the feeling that if a few more of these clubs "did a Hartlepool" they wouldn't have to fight so hard to attract support from their local communities.
My long awaited match report!! In the first half Bury hurried and harassed our midfield superbly, biting at ankles and closing down space. Their 2 wingers and Lowe ran their socks off. Jackson and Hayes were hardly involved at all! Sodje was lucky to stay on the pitch, some how the ref played play on when he chopped someone in half, then minutes later was rightfully booked for a tackle from behind. Some one mentioned Steve Brown’s comments that the centre halves played to deep inviting pressure, my take in this was that the reason we struggled in the first half was more down to the runs that Waggy was making. He didn’t run the channels, pull out wide or arc his runs, this basically ment the 2 lumps at the back didn’t get turned, or have to really move from their preferred positions and allowed them to head or kick every thing away. In the second half Jackson and Green often made runs in the space Waggy had made by pulling the defenders out wide. I think this was the single biggest difference, in my opinion between the 2 halves. On thing that really impressed me, and I witnessed similar at Millwall, was that as soon as we went behind we went down the other end and pushed for a goal. From the time we went 1 down, until we were leading, there was only one team in it. Player ratings and comments Hamer: Poor, really poor! His distribution was awful both from hand and the ground, most of his kicks went straight out of play of throw ins. Solly headed one out of his hands, he flapped at crosses, didn’t come when he should of. I blame him for the goal, but will let him off as it’s the sort of thing that can happen to anyone. 4 Solly: Head went down for a while after the cock between him and Hamer, was ok over all. Had a couple of good wingers against him that kept switching flanks. Nothing special either way, if we are going to challenge this season it is a position I would like to strengthen in quality, not quantity. 6 Wiggins: Like Solly marshalled the wingers ok, some good touches on the ball and a good engine. Only gets one higher mark because no obvious cock ups (apart from treading on the ball!). 7 Morrison and Taylor: I have grouped them together because the comments and rating would be the same! Much improved partnership from what I witnessed at the Den. Both look really committed, no nonsense centre halves. Put their bodies on the line and good communication between the 2. Good enough for this league, but have doubts about Taylor’s ability to move up a level. 7 Green: You can see that this boy has bags of talent, but only showed brief glimpses of it yesterday. Disappointed on expectation, not on performance really. A few good crosses, his life wasn’t made any easier by Waggy’s poor movement in the first half. Also does track back as well as Scott, but much better crossing and making space to cross. 7 Hollands: Poor passing, poor first touch and looked generally off the pace. Just looked like he was having a bad game and getting frustrated with it. A few reckless tackles didn’t help, another reason why CAFC didn’t “click” in the first half. When Alonso is fit I can see him missing out. 5 Stephens: This guy oozes class, obviously not his best game yesterday, but he looked like a good player not at his best where Hollands looked like an average player having a mare! Some sublime passing, good vision and the through ball for Jackson (which I thought was a miss hit cross live, until I saw it on TV later) was glorious. In a frenetic largely passed him byapart form a couple of long shots, but in our golden 20 minute spell his was very influential. 7 Jackson: A game of 2 halves from the skipper, no existent in the first half, one goal, one assist in the second! Loved his pose after he scored as well! He is not the sort of player that will grab a game by the scruff of the neck, but will change games if fed the ball. Great cross for Hayes and well-taken goal. Needs to get more involved in the middle third. 8 only because goals win matches. Hayes: Looks like Dean Ashton, both in physic, but also in a lot of his play. Suffered from the inexperience of Waggy in the first half and dropped to deep in search of the ball, leaving the 2 centre halves unoccupied and allowed to defend from where they wanted to. Pushed forward more in the second half and the result was obvious. The 20/20 comments about him may well come true this season and a player I don’t think we can afford to be with out for any period of time. Waggy: Well where do I start! I stated at half time that he was poor in the first half and have already stated why. None of this is do to lack of effort or application, but in my opinion, due to him not being a striker! Should have had a penalty and looked really fired up after getting a forearm smash from Sodje, which again the ref missed. As mentioned in previous threads he has pace and can finish, BUT is not a striker! With time this could come, but that time could be to late in his development, can you teach a player how and when to time runs? If so he will come good, but will be a long term project, not an overnight fix, as some people have suggested. 6, gets an extra one for effort! Ref, awful!! 2 1 for turning up and 1 more not finding a stupid reason to disallow either of our goals! My first league game of the season and some promise. Would love the feed back generally and on my player ratings. CAFC
Its so interesting to see different oppinions steve brown had solly man of the match and said Hamer played well and made 1 excellent save at 0 1 that he reckoned was the turning point and praised wagstaff and said he optimises a charlton player of old
Could Hayes be the new Andy Hunt? When Hunt came to us he was a terrific worker but could not finish and he took some flak from the fans. However Curbs stuck with him, his finishing improved and he became one of my favourite Charlton players ever.
