Well, it makes a change for me to be at the game in the flesh. Been back a while, as its a simple drive down the A3 for me to get home, but been waiting for my curry take-away !
One of the very few times i've come out of a game after a heavy defeat, and not felt upset or depressed!
Let me give you a little background on how i managed to acquire a ticket - i simply kept ringing the box office on Friday afternoon who eventually put me through to Fulham, who were very accomodating, and sold me the only ticket they could sell me which was the last one in a shared corporate box - yes , very up market, but i thought, why not. In the box were 3 Fulham fans, 3 Norwegians who were pseudo Fulham fans because of Hangeland and Riise, 1 Swiss bloke and 2 Ausiie birds who spent the whole game rabbiting.I had only ever been in 1 box before and that was Man City v Spurs a couple of years back on a corpoarte jolly.
OK, firstly, general overview of the game...we were unlucky, and Fulham hugely flattered by the 4-0 - first half was fairly equal, and their goalie made a couple of good saves to keep us out, their goal came about by a huge slice of luck by a very accommodating deflection staright into the guys path.
Second half we were by far the better team until they scored their second on a breakaway. We dominated possesion, penned Fulham back into their half, and looked like equalising any minute - BWP had 1 glorious chance with only goalie to beat, but he managed to beat the shot away.The second goal killed us off really, and we looked a little deflated after that.
Player marks
Sullivan 7 - maybe at fault with a couple ofgoals, but made 2 good save, one in each half.
Solly -8 feel you could almost right down his performance at the beginning of the game - so solid, never gave Frei a thing - battled for everything.Only slight downside is that his forward play needs polishing a little.
Wiggins - 7 Solid - looked classy.
Morro - 7 Again, solid and unspectacular - ddnt give Zamora/Dempsey much
Taylor - 7 same as Morro
Jacko - 7 Played well, looked composed on the ball - maybe should have done better in 1st half with shot that went into sidenetting
Hollands - 6 Innocuous but solid
Pritchard - 9 MOM - effervescent, always chasing,retrieving,composed on ball - rarely gave it away, and when on the ball looked threatening
Green - 8 had a good game, impressed with his ability
BWP - 7 saw little of the ball, and should have scored in 2nd half at least - nothing going for him at moment.
Kermy - 6 Quiet game - mostly outmuscled by their CB's
Fans - Loud all game however, only 4/10 - i'll explain later.
It was quite an experience being in a box with a variety of people/supporters- and let me say that Fulham staff and their fans were just beyond nice to me - however, i have always in my multi-decade time of being an Addick I've been very proud of being a Charlton fan - today i found myself apologising to the Fulham fans in my company . Most of the time, our fans decided to taunt the Fulham fans with hugely industrial language or the Addams Family song rather than trying to encourage the team. Now i've been at games where this is a regular occurence - but i always thought we had a bit more class than that. Very disappointed - especailly as Fulham and their fans had made me feel so welcome.
Anyway, rant over, one good thing is that I managed to convince the Swiss bloke to go to the Valley in 2 weeks time- as he was very impressed with the quality of football a third tier team could provide.
A little confession here - this is the first time in the flesh I have seen us this season - and , despite the scoreline, i was hugely impressed - there were long spells in the second half especailly you would have wondered what team was in the Prem - the quality of football we displayed was terrific - and a huge compliment must go to CP and his staff. For anybody like me that got used to the rubbish dished up by the likes of Parky - go and see this team now - there is no comparison.They are the Dogs B- and after seeing them today have no doubt we will be there at the end of the season.
Oh, and BTW, no apparent injuries to worry about !
One of the very few times i've come out of a game after a heavy defeat, and not felt upset or depressed!
Let me give you a little background on how i managed to acquire a ticket - i simply kept ringing the box office on Friday afternoon who eventually put me through to Fulham, who were very accomodating, and sold me the only ticket they could sell me which was the last one in a shared corporate box - yes , very up market, but i thought, why not. In the box were 3 Fulham fans, 3 Norwegians who were pseudo Fulham fans because of Hangeland and Riise, 1 Swiss bloke and 2 Ausiie birds who spent the whole game rabbiting.I had only ever been in 1 box before and that was Man City v Spurs a couple of years back on a corpoarte jolly.
OK, firstly, general overview of the game...we were unlucky, and Fulham hugely flattered by the 4-0 - first half was fairly equal, and their goalie made a couple of good saves to keep us out, their goal came about by a huge slice of luck by a very accommodating deflection staright into the guys path.
Second half we were by far the better team until they scored their second on a breakaway. We dominated possesion, penned Fulham back into their half, and looked like equalising any minute - BWP had 1 glorious chance with only goalie to beat, but he managed to beat the shot away.The second goal killed us off really, and we looked a little deflated after that.
Player marks
Sullivan 7 - maybe at fault with a couple ofgoals, but made 2 good save, one in each half.
Solly -8 feel you could almost right down his performance at the beginning of the game - so solid, never gave Frei a thing - battled for everything.Only slight downside is that his forward play needs polishing a little.
Wiggins - 7 Solid - looked classy.
Morro - 7 Again, solid and unspectacular - ddnt give Zamora/Dempsey much
Taylor - 7 same as Morro
Jacko - 7 Played well, looked composed on the ball - maybe should have done better in 1st half with shot that went into sidenetting
Hollands - 6 Innocuous but solid
Pritchard - 9 MOM - effervescent, always chasing,retrieving,composed on ball - rarely gave it away, and when on the ball looked threatening
Green - 8 had a good game, impressed with his ability
BWP - 7 saw little of the ball, and should have scored in 2nd half at least - nothing going for him at moment.
Kermy - 6 Quiet game - mostly outmuscled by their CB's
Fans - Loud all game however, only 4/10 - i'll explain later.
It was quite an experience being in a box with a variety of people/supporters- and let me say that Fulham staff and their fans were just beyond nice to me - however, i have always in my multi-decade time of being an Addick I've been very proud of being a Charlton fan - today i found myself apologising to the Fulham fans in my company . Most of the time, our fans decided to taunt the Fulham fans with hugely industrial language or the Addams Family song rather than trying to encourage the team. Now i've been at games where this is a regular occurence - but i always thought we had a bit more class than that. Very disappointed - especailly as Fulham and their fans had made me feel so welcome.
Anyway, rant over, one good thing is that I managed to convince the Swiss bloke to go to the Valley in 2 weeks time- as he was very impressed with the quality of football a third tier team could provide.
A little confession here - this is the first time in the flesh I have seen us this season - and , despite the scoreline, i was hugely impressed - there were long spells in the second half especailly you would have wondered what team was in the Prem - the quality of football we displayed was terrific - and a huge compliment must go to CP and his staff. For anybody like me that got used to the rubbish dished up by the likes of Parky - go and see this team now - there is no comparison.They are the Dogs B- and after seeing them today have no doubt we will be there at the end of the season.
Oh, and BTW, no apparent injuries to worry about !

