Just got back from the game and oh my that was incredible. Firstly despite the crowd being sub 17,000 it was still one of the loudest performances from the North Stand, North upper was electric could hardly hear myself think at times. I missed Ricardo Fuller being unveiled as I was in the queue for drinks in the kiosk for about 20 minutes. Anyway to the game. Firstly special mention has to go to BWP, worked his socks off, a superb finish and was simply my man of the match. Now I've not really rated him that much, he scores but I've always said he either works hard for the team but can't score OR he scores but does nothing for the team. Tonight he did every thing and was everywhere in the final third, holding the ball up against CB's twice his size was MoTM performance without doubt for me. Kermogant worked hard even harder then normal I thought especially due to it being against Leicester, was so glad he got his goal and was really well taken. Didn't win it in the air half as much as he did last year but what can you expect against better class opposition, especially against a team I would put money on (if i had any) to win promotion this season. Took a few knocks but hey, he always does. Morrison and Cort were rocks at the back as usual, Cort I think only missed one header all night and that was in the opposition penalty box. Morrision did one tackle in particular after Jacko lost the ball in the second half that I think saved a certain goal seeing it was 3 on 2 in Leicester's favour. Solly and Wiggins were good even though I believe that Leicester controlled the flanks, they always seemed to have so much space out wide. Solly gets special mention for a run the length of the field in the second half stoppage time from the corner up until about 20 yards from goal skipping past about 3 of the foxes was incredible. Hamer as was superb in his performance. He held onto everything actually everything and I don't think that he has ever played that well. Claimed crosses and good saves, simple but needed and he held them. Jacko was Jacko, out wide decent, was in and out of the game would show up when needed. I think he pushed it back to Kermit to score his goal. Jacko did lose it twice in about 30 seconds allowing counter attacks that luckily Leicester messed up the first time and Morro did a tackle Bobby Moore would be proud of. Stephens was back to his performances of the start of last season was pinging balls about and was tackling hard and was superb but he also would fade in and out of the game. Hollands was non existant, but that is how I like him. He does the things that no one notices but if he didn't do them we would be missing him big time. He did do one massive lunge at Nugent in the 2nd half when they were countering that if he connected would have been an early bath. Prichard, works hard but I'm not sure if I think he should be a RM, he isn't quick enough, simple as but he works hard and is committed. Would I prefer Green, Waggy or Wilson? Maybe but only if they are on form. RM is a real problem for us. Overall we were brilliant but so was Leicester, that was a great advert for Championship football. I believe they will win promotion this year and if we play like that we can push for playoffs well. Leicester play some of the best football I have seen at the Valley in years and seeing I've been a season ticket holder for about 9 years now that is a lot of teams. All the best to Leicester but thank god we won that! COYR
I love each and every one of them equally except Kermorgant of course who is like a first born to me. They could lose every game 5 nil but so long as they tried that hard and showed they meant it I would be happy - that, for me, is CAFC.
BWP or Morrow for MoM, Bradders ran his socks off and if he lost the ball then he would be challenging to try and win it back (which he did a few times) I guess Morgan will be more than happy that he only has to play Bradders once more this season BUT Morrow was a rock.. I lost count of the amount of times that Morrow not only won the ball but then turn the attacker and come away with the ball, he was like a man possessed! For me Morrow ..9/10 (MoM) BWP.. 8.5/10 Wiggins ..8/10 Hamer .. 8/10 Solly .. 8/10 Kermit .. 7.5/10 Cort .. 7.5/10 Hollands .. 7/10 Stephens .. 7/10 Pritchard .. 6.5/10 Jackson .. 6.5/10 Ref .. 7/10 would have been higher but it seemed to me that he wanted Leicester to equalise in the last 5 +5 mins ... not blowing for obvious fouls and making Morrow leave the pitch for Leicester's final corner when Morrow was dealing with his nosebleed quite adequately with his shirt. I marked Pritchard down because he was leaving Chris far to exposed down the right by positioning himself far to far infield.
And he was a bit on the big side and twice in the last 10 mins he blocked off Hollands and Kermogant while we were defending
Great win against a Leicester side that will definitely be up there at the end of the season. Special mentions should go to BWP, who ran about all night and took his goal superbly, and Hollands, who most definitely has the class for this division. Delighted for Yann too, even though he didn't have his best game for us tonight, he got the goal that mattered in the end. COYR!!
Strange to think we played better on Saturday, against a worse team, yet got a better result tonight. Will write more tomorrow, really enjoying life back in the Championship.
Just got home, logging on while tucking in to a tasty thai curry. Outplayed them in the 1st 45, but i thought the foxes would snaffle a point in the second half. Im surprised they didn't, I thought their extra quality would take the chances they had and beat us. I can't really add anything to the player ratings, instead ill add some random thoughts. 1. On more than a couple of occasions Hamer could have put us on a quick counter, but instead allowed the Foxes to sort themselves out before kicking it. 2. BWP won a lot of headers. 3. Chris Solly = amazing. 4. Rhoys Wiggins is very classy. 5. Michael Morrison fancies himself as a ball playing centre half. His little drag back after 20 minutes would have put Messi to shame. 6. Leon Cort is the real deal at CB. Clearly knows his onions, complements Morrison well, brilliant in the air. 7. I think our weakest link is left and right midfield. I think JJ would be better inside alongside Hollands. The atmosphere was pretty good, initially disappointed with the lack of folks in North Lower F Block, but towards the end of the first half I appreciated being able to put my feet up.
I have never been more pleased to be proved wrong. All credit to CP and the boys, to our supporters at the Valley and those posters on here who, unlike me, kept the faith. I suspect I was on the right track about tiring, which could have been part of the reason Leicester came on strong in the second half, but adrenalin kept us going. It won't always, but we are not going to meet many teams better than Birmingham and Leicester. I expect CP will start with the same XI against Hull (if no bad knocks) but maybe use his subs a bit earlier. Whatever, let's savour the moment.
I agree that it would be nice to have some dynamic wingers who run at defenders, but I also think if you take jacko away from wiggins then he'll be isolated and struggle. Wiggins needs JJ like Andrew ridgeley needed George Michael.
Been away from the forum for a while... daughter shamelessly hogging all my time(!), but had to post after last night. What an incredible game of football. After 10 minutes we'd seen more from Leicester than any team in 3 years of League One football, and the standard of ref (weird 8 minutes of injury time aside) was just a level apart from last year's morons. But enough about anyone else... What a team! First half they survived the early pressure, then established themselves with 2 great finishes, superb set piece delivery from JJ, including a point blank header from Cort that Kasper did well for, defence looked very impressive (was actually worried about Solly in first half but he got better as the game went on). Stephens and Hollands also grew into it. But the tempo and the desire from the team was brilliant to watch. OK, not every Championship match will be that good, but felt like Charlton again! Saw Robbo, Steve Brown et al in the attitude of these guys. Proud to wear the shirt. Rode our luck in the 2nd, Vardy and Nugent should have scored and I agree Hamer had about his best game for the club. Morrison in the first half was the complete Centre-Back, complete with Messi-esque ball skills. What BWP took before the game I have no idea, but if he plays like that every game then Fuller's going to struggle to get a look in. MoM... would've been MM, but given the clear chances created for Leicester in the last 15 minutes when the defence started going a little AWOL I'll have to give it to Hamer. Last word of course has to go to Kermit. Outjumped (unbelievably!) in the first half, he took his goal so well and showed some of the class that makes him a hero! He'll have far easier games, but to keep his head and play his game shows a lot of credit to the guy. Now can someone explain why he didn't take the free-kick with 2 minutes to go?
I am happy to be correct with my 2-1 prediction. I thought we were superb last night: resolute, disciplined and calm under pressure. Morro was MOM for me. He threw himself at everything and caught a few nasty blows to the delicate regions. His calmness on the ball also allowed us to play out of defence and not just give possession away. He receives a 9.5 for last night's performance. Hamer is coming into his own. His handling is much improved and I now have a greater trust in his decision making. The goalkeeping coach deserves great praise for the improvement to Ben's all-round game. BWP worked his socks off and looked dangerous in the spaces. The arrival of Ricardo will galvanise him and ensure that he doesn't let his spirits drop. I may have to eat my words and accept that he will thrive in the Championship. I will be happy to do so, and extra happy to pay my charity bet if he scores 10 goals. All in all, a great night at The Valley. The lads did us proud and deserve all the praise in the world. COYR!
Good point re Hamer. He's always made me nervous, but I think he has been outstanding the past 2 games. He deserves the praise after the criticism he received last year (inc me on many occasions).
Hamer 8 - very solid performance and made a lot of saves that poorer keepers would have fluffed. Solly 7.5 - tough in the tackle and went forward well, typical wholehearted performance. Cort 8 - solid performance Morrison 8 - solid performance, got a torrid time from the ref though. Wiggins 7.5 - made some great tackles all over the pitch. Didn't go forward much but I shall expect that in this league. Pritchard 8 - fairly slow when dribbling but put his body on the line in a great defensive performance Stephens 8 - quality performance, sprayed the ball around well and put in some excellent balls for BWP. Hollands 7 - fairly anonymous but tackled well, and played the ball about. Jackson 4 - poor poor performance. Lacked the pace to compete with any Leicester plays, constantly lost the ball in dangerous positions. Kermorgant 6.5 - seemed to try too hard and thus wasn't his normal self, didn't win as much in the air, but took his goal very well and seemed a threat. BWP 8 - well taken goal and constantly threatened Leicesters defense. Made intelligent runs and was happy to pass the ball to those in a better position. (Subs) Wilson 5 - did nothing but lose the ball. Stood back a bit much when defending. Kerkar n/a Cook n/a Ref 5 - got the simple things right but many mistakes. In the first two minutes gave Leicester a free-kick after BWP made a truly excellent sliding tackle. Then held play up whilst their defender received treatment despite already being off the pitch. Constantly got in the way of our players so that they could defend properly. Completely missed an elbow into Solly's face. Didn't blow up when Morrison got clattered by a Leicester striker, leaving Wiggins to defend about three players. Made Morrison leave the pitch in the last minute corner, meaning Leicester had two more players in our box.
http://addicktedcharlton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/charlton-athletic-2-1-leicester-city.html My match report for those interested
Jeffers - Thanks for a well written balanced report - I note you are a 15 year old budding journalist - I think you have a good future (just bear in mind journalists pay cheques are falling faster than the odds on Leicester grabbing top spot this season) I would though recommend a spot of proof reading might just avoid sentences that include this little gem from your report cum shot across the face of
Hahah thank you very much. Yeah I will watch out for that, but it appears the older the more immature... Assuming you are older than fifteen.
This sums Danny up perfectly, and sums up perfectly why I love him in our team. His efficient and workmanlike performances are a joy. He can do a bit of everything, but he does it without fuss and every good team needs a player of his ilk. With regards to JJ: he has looked jaded thus far. He really put in a shift at Brum, but flagged badly in the second-half. Is this due to the greater demands of the Championship? Or is he unfit? He did look terribly flat-footed last night - even though he has never been a nippy player!
I've also been critical of Hamer but his performance was flawless last night, and some of his distribution was top drawer. I agree bthat BWP was MOM but when we were under the cosh in the second half Cort and Morro were an immense barrier and it's hard to see how Taylor can get a game unless one of them gets injured. I particularly enjoyed Cort's positional play and anticipation. Is Danny Haynes injured by the way?
Forest, Haynes is suffering from a hamstring niggle. Only read that late last night after being concerned that he didn't make the bench in either of the two games. Ponders, I'm not sure whether Jackson is unfit or if he's just struggling with the pace of the Championship. He was never a pacey player in League One but got away with it as he drifted into good attacking positions. I'm hoping he can keep that up in The Championship, but I do feel we perhaps need to bring in a pacy left-mid, as Kerkar seems to lack a bit of pace too. Perhaps someone who can cover LB and LM will add versatility to the bench. And no, Cedric Evina cannot be that player.
