I think we were to light weight on experience in the midfield as well, the joys of following Watford the lofty heights one minute... The positive is we made a lot of chances, the negative is we might get tanked on Saturday badly
Fair play to Charlton - they did their homework and it paid off. Back to the drawing board for GZ - needs to ensure a bit of steel both in midfield and defence on Saturday. Sincerely hope Onesize is fit by then or we may be in for a tanking - although I suspect both Deeney & Vydra will start then which may hopefully take some pressure off the defence. I doubt that Eustace will get a run, but we need either him of Hogg there IMO
Charlton got stuck into us, pressed our central midfielders for the full 90 minutes, and also had their own spells on the ball, so I can't argue with them getting something out of the game. I felt we were worth a point, but that's football. Also, Charlton's opener reminded me of what used to happen with Loach in goal. I'm not attributing blame for that at all, it was just an unfortunate set of circumstances. Hall and Doyley are both out injured. Our younger defenders are used to having someone more experienced to marshall them, and Almunia had his own problems at that point in the match. While I would personally have picked Nosworthy, he didn't cover himself in glory early in the season, so you can't really criticise Zola for team selection. On the bright side, the attacking players who came in for this game were all very effective. Apart from left wing back (where Pudil is a dead cert), and while you have to assume that Abdi will start, I think a lot of very good attacking players will be very nervous about whether they're playing on Saturday.
Well that was disappointing. We missed Hall to marshal our defence and Hogg as the midfield general. They were allowed to pass the ball around us and allowed to move too freely. According to Tommie, Hogg was suffering after the Brighton game and was rested as a result. I do not understand why Deeney didn't start, Geijo and Forestieri just seemed to lack an understanding. I have to say that we were the cause of our own downfall, but the officials didn't help. Charlton players were making late challenge after late challenge and were not punished for it. They would leave feet in, pull us back and generally hack us down, but Kettle refused to do anything about it. Yet he was happy to book Watford players for their first offence! Case in point, Chris Solly hacked down Pudil and then as Neuton ran in with the ball he hacked him down too. It was a shambles!!
This isn't so much a response to you Dan, more to posts I've seen on other forums, but I'm not having the idea that we lost that game because Geijo and Forestieri played. We scored three goals, and Forestieri should have had a second penalty. We lost because we picked Murray instead of Eustace, and because we were lacking an experienced centre back. The last thing Aidy Boothroyd ever said that I agreed with was that if a team scores three goals, it should win the game. I don't doubt our ability to score two or three against City, but on that display we'll concede six or seven.
I certainly dont think thats why we lost, but Deeney's experience couldnt have hurt. He would have got stuck in and broken up the midfield.
A combination of Hoggs and Hall missing and a good display from Charlton. A quote from a Charlton supporter "Game of the season. Great fighting spirit to keep coming back. Fuller MOM, Hamer weighed in with usual world class save...Solly and Wilson good. The revelations were Stephens and Jackson, both had their best games of the season I thought."
Very inexperienced defence hardly helped us and in the first half we were awful in attack too. Charlton won the midfield battle. Not really a good day...we'll have them though. It is the Championship for you.
Well that was a little unexpected. We weren't at the races today and there was no leader on the pitch to gee things up a bit. Forestieri (when's he going to learn to stay on his feet?) and Geijo (until a little burst after half time) couldn't hold the ball up. Chalobah looked tired and I've rarely seen anyone looking so lacking in confidence as Murray. Defensively we were a shambles. Hoban (who has been excellent lately) had a nightmare and Neuton wins nothing in the air and gives the ball away regularly. Defenders frequently got in each others way and then failed in the most basic marking tasks. The only positive perhaps is a break from Championship football next week and a chance to regroup before the trip to Boro.
I agree with those who have said that we really missed Hall and Hogg to provide a defensive spine. We seemed to lose the physical battle in midfield too often today, with Fuller in particular using his physicality to create problems for our centre-backs. With the 3-5-2 it means we have plenty of options in attack but can often get caught a bit exposed out wide. On our right flank, Cassetti's lack of pace was exposed a few times. Meanwhile, Charlton's 2nd and 3rd goals came with attacks down our left flank and crosses into the penalty area. Always annoying to concede from corners as well, further exposing how we missed a defensive leader like Hall. Felt in attack that Geijo and Forestieri struggled a bit to put together passing moves in the first half, but for the majority of the second half connected together really well. Two or three times they beautifully carved open the Charlton defence with their movement and touch, and our third goal would be of a very good standard in the Premier League. Not sure if either will start against Man City but I thought in the second half they played really well, and will cause Zola a bit of a headache. Overall though, I don't think we did enough to win. With Hall, Hogg and Vydra starting I think we would have win. Nevertheless, it shows how exciting and unpredictable the Championship can be, and why it is better than the Premier League!
The truth is that we have not yet worked out how to play at home. Away we play a counter attack game very effectively but this does not work at home. I am not surprised - as GFZ says we are still building our team and learning so let's be patient - it will come
Oh and the good news is a side just up the M1 lost convincingly to that powerhouse of football - Woking Town
well...poop! Not the best way to start the new year. 5 changes seemed ambitious and it didn't pay off. The defense weren't up to it...we made it way too easy for Charlton who weren't that great...but we were not there today. The back was missing, we were shabby in midfield and the front line weren't accurate enough to score. All round, a performance to right off..and move on from.
Yes...it does cheer you up hearing them suffer. Their fans still seem very arrogrant as well in defeat. Whereas we generally accept a team is better than us on the day and just move on. As somebody living in Wales you probably hope either Newport or Wrexham pip them to promotion (or anyone else!)
Just to prove there is an intelligent Charlton fan amongst the majority of idiots, this was nicked from their MT.
I love it when they qualify for the playoffs. It ups the ante from a fan's point of view, and when they fail those extra few weeks make things more difficult for them going into the following season.
You lot are clearly a hugely talented side, much more so than we are. You cut us apart lots of times (I've no idea whether the offside goals were the correct decisions or not) and even when we went 4-3 up I was convinced you would score again. Today, however, we out-battled you. It tells you a lot about us that today was one of our best performances of the season. We're an average side, but on our day we can beat anyone. Such is the Championship. If you can sort out your defence you can get promotion no question. Best of luck for the rest of the season
