Surely the most important thing is staying in this division, therefore supporting the team. We have the CP supporters who will find anything to have a dig at with the new manager. We have the CP out brigade who strangely thought that we would get a Malky Mackay type in so moan at everything the new manager does. We have the RD haters, which well at the moment is pretty much everyone. Personally, I am of the view that I liked Powell, however was not sure on his tactics and player selection some of the time, but was willing to give him a bit more time due to his hands being tied in regards to recruitment. As soon as RD came in the writing was on the wall for CP. I think we all knew that we would not be getting a 'known championship standard manager'. So we have a new board and new manager. Irrespective of how you feel about that, surely all we can do as fans is support the team for 90 minutes every time they go out on that pitch in the hope that we will not be relegated to the wasteland of League 1. In the words of CP 'we move on' (just for typical)
Fruit, It was evident at Millwall on Saturday that Riga is unlikely to solve our problems, at least with this group of players. Some will say 'give him time' but he is learning on the job, and his CV has more holes in it than a tramp's string vest. I would like to see a call made to an experienced, out of work Championship manager given the short term remit of keeping us in the league. Dave Jones springs to mind . We have got no goal threat whatsoever. Unless Riga is a hitherto unknown master coach with a bulging contacts book full of decent Championship standard strikers, we are no better off than we were under Powell. IMO
We've moved up two places since CP's sacking. Progress, methinks. And then a 2-0 win over Bournemouth tomorrow...
Oddly enough I was going to say we could have the donut emoticon as long as it were to be used when discussing Krispy Kreme.
Davy Jones ... Worked wonders at Sheffield Wednesday this season...they were goin down whilst he was in charge
Being one of the few who was ambivalent about Chris Powell, I did wonder sometimes whether the players trusted his tactics. The only time a player made any public comment about him to my limited knowledge was when Solly praised the help CP had given him. THere were times watching Charlton when I'd think "Surely he doesn't tell them to play like that". Like when a defender would have the ball and everyone would run away from him leaving him only the long-ball option, think of all the long balls getting lumped up to Kermit. Or after we scored the team would drop deep inviting the other team to attack. Most teams gain in confidence after they score. I just had no idea what CP's football philosophy was. The players already know what Jose's philosophy is and according to Morro the players are buying into it. If we are going to stick religiously to the idea of playing it out from the back it will probably cost us a goal or two while the players get used to it, but personally I can accept that. Even in the middle of Jose's first game I said that it looked as though Morro had been told not to hoof it! It's still necessary occasionally but there might be better times on the way.
Players are very fickle so morrow saying we are buying into to Riga's way of playing... He would say that wouldn't he it's his boss in his interest to say it .
That is all BS. If you ask 99% of managers and coaches, and 99.9% of fans, they will tell you they want football played on the ground and played out from the back. Powell said it at times too. I always listen to the opposition commentators on Charlton Player and the majority of them said Powell was known for wanting to play good football and a respected coach. We didn't see a lot of evidence of it at times. I just quote it as an example of how people keep mouthing the same old platitudes. They mean nothing. Even Pulis, when defending his long ball tactics, has always added that he would play a different way if he had the right players. But from the Championship downwards, how many put that into practice? Words are cheap, but it is a different matter when points are at stake for the team, and players are frightened of being made a scapegoat for making a mistake when trying to play thoughtful football. It would be better if Riga just said nothing at all, and let the results talk for him. If we go soaring up the table he will soon become a hero. If we don't, he will be exposed as a minor accessory in the Great Asset Stripper's con-trick.
That is all BS. If you ask 99% of managers and coaches, and 99.9% of fans, they will tell you they want football played on the ground and played out from the back. Powell said it at times too. I always listen to the opposition commentators on Charlton Player and the majority of them said Powell was known for wanting to play good football and a respected coach. We didn't see a lot of evidence of it at times. I just quote it as an example of how people keep mouthing the same old platitudes. They mean nothing. Even Pulis, when defending his long ball tactics, has always added that he would play a different way if he had the right players. But from the Championship downwards, how many put that into practice? Words are cheap, but it is a different matter when points are at stake for the team, and players are frightened of being made a scapegoat for making a mistake when trying to play thoughtful football. It would be better if Riga just said nothing at all, and let the results talk for him. If we go soaring up the table he will soon become a hero. If we don't, he will be exposed as a minor accessory in the Great Asset Stripper's scam. Exactly. He probably believes what he is saying too. What player is going to say, "Actually, I don't agree with the boss, I think we should boot the ball into Row Z at every opportunity"? Now if Riga can get Morro and Hamer playing the ball out from the back, without making mistakes that help to get us relegated, I will be really impressed.
I can only describe what I see on the pitch. Halfway through the Udders game I actually said that Morro looks as though he's been told not to hoof it.
We played plenty of football tonight, and we did it with the same players Powell had at his disposal.
It wasn't everybody's cup of tea, though. There were plenty of shouts behind me of the likes of "Hit it forward you c**t", "You're playing the wrong way", and"Get that f*****g ball up the park".
"Riga Outclasses Powell Shocker" We were dire for the first 40 min. Harriott in particular looked like a non league player running off a bad hangover. The turning point was the substitution. Who would Powell have brought on for Harriott ? We know....favoured son Pritchard. He would have stuck to 4-5-1 and in all probability sought to grind out a 0-0 draw. Riga went for Obika, switched formations, and we improved from then on and got the win. Impossible after last night to deny that Powell's clown tactics and substitutions have cost us many points this season, including the two we would have dropped last night had he remained in charge. The fans who blindly followed Powell despite his manifest tactical shortcomings must share in the culpability for our league position, without their vocal but misguided support, I believe that TJ or RD would have fired him sooner. Last night proved that fans must judge a manager on his performance as precisely that, a manager, not on whether he does tunnel jumps or phones members of CL to wish them a happy birthday. Last night at full time felt like we were getting back to being a serious football club again, and not a footballing version of Match.com. " Captain - your man is no longer on the bridge, and the ship is no longer sinkin"
The Riga - CP arguement is flawed in the sense pritch probably wouldn't have been on the bench, and RD wouldn't have signed obika. Let's just savor in victory and enjoy being out of the bottom 3
Well it wouldn't have been Obika, because he wasn't available to him this season... We looked a far more dangerous team when he came on...
