If JR has identified Church and Green are cack ... Why start them in the first place. Let's face it JR had a decent first 3 games but Saturday was a total disaster end of and if Powell gets blamed for our other defeats surely the buck stops with Riga for this awful display. I didn't expect to win but it was the manner of the defeat for me... Gutless passionless something that under Powell I didn't see. Tuesday need to be 100% better.
No, it made sense. This is Riga's "pre-season". He clearly knew nothing about Charlton or English League football when he arrived, He is having a look at our players to see if he can see something Powell missed. He has re-installed Pritchard, Green, and Sordell and has now recalled Pigott to have a look at him. No doubt if we keep on losing we will see Gower, Hollands and Azeez being tried out as JR gets increasingly desperate, together with ever-weirder team formations. What does it say about Parzyszek if Pigott is recalled before the Polack has even kicked a ball for the first team? It is not as if Pigott is pulling up any trees at Gillingham. He is quietly rebuilding his confidence and re-learning the basics (and that is what he should be doing) but has done nothing to suggest he can be an instant saviour of a struggling team at a higher level. So not much of a vote of confidence in Parzyszek there. No, blame the organ-grinder, not the monkey. Riga is not really a football man and was never brought in to run football at the club. That is why he does not have the title "Manager", let alone "Director of Football". He is just some office stooge brought in as a facade while RD steadily gets on with his asset-stripping and financial three-card tricks.
This made me smile. Surely Gomez is worth a start and send Morrison up front. To be fair, Saturday's display was only a little bit more inept than this season's match at Turf Moor, which was followed by a quite good performance at home to Forest. Burnley were better too that day. Those were happier times...
You have come up with some belters lately, Mike, but this is the best. Did you watch the Sheffield United match?
I think he is only 16 and still has another season at u18. He is not even playing full matches at u18 level yet and rightly so. Why risk damaging a good thing? We have already damaged Pigott's confidence and are overplaying Cousins, leading to a drop in form. I hope that was the reason Poyet was taken off on Saturday. If so, kudos to JR. The time to bring youngsters on is when the team is playing well on a decent pitch. Not into a disorganised shambles with no proper manager or forward line, on a potentially dangerous pitch where it is impossible to play decent football. It is not as if our problems are at CB. It is the only position where we have competent cover. And that made me smile. Took me back to the '70s when there was an absolute craze for moving defenders to CF to provide height and muscle. Some of them were so good they stayed there, as it was obviously easier to replace a CB than find a good striker (same as today). But why mess up the only part of the team which is more or less working OK? Not Morrsion's fault the asset-stripper sold Kermorgant. If both teams were better that day, the pitch would account for that. The Burnley commentators, who were very unbiased and moderate, said it was the worst game they had seen this season on the worst pitch they had seen for years. They just wanted their team to wrap up the points and get off without injuries. Forest at home was perhaps the best we have played and an entertaining match for once.
I presume that by that match everyone knew that CP was being given the boot and were demoralised. Plus it was only a cup match, and as the experts here always post every year, "the cups are a complete waste of time". I did suggest beforehand fielding a complete reserve team to give us a better chance against 'Udders. We didn't, and faded badly in the latter match. And the reserves might have given it a better go. But I agree we have played a number of league matches as badly as the Burnley match or not much better.
If the Burnley commentators thought the match at Turf Moor was an enjoyable spectacle of footballing skill, then I would doubt their impartiality. Injuries, odd team selection, player sales and unusual formations would also explain the difference. Forest at home was good right up until the equaliser I wasn't being serious with the suggestion of messing with the only part of the team that's functioning well. For passionless, Sheffield Utd is an interesting choice. Sure, it fizzled out after the goals, but if Harriott had scored it could have been different. Poor in quality, sure, but passionless? I don't agree. From all accounts, Leicester away was the passionless one.
And the players' performance was nowhere near as passionless as the large number of fans who went on to forums announcing that they wanted Charlton to lose to Sheff Utd
I didn't say it online, but I was quite relieved we lost because otherwise we faced almost certain humiliation against a Premier league side in front of the nation. I don't see any great change in the football over the last 4 matches. Toothless, not gutless, I'd say. Different owners, different managers, but the problems still start above the manager, just as they did before. I don't know whether or not Roland will turn the club round in the long term, but in the short term he's shown that he's badly misjudged the standard of the Championship. If the players he parachuted in were as good as he clearly thought they were we wouldn't have any problem staying up. CP would have used them, results would have been better, and CP would still be in a job. What we'll find out this summer is whether he's learned from this mistake. We've got 3 very good youngsters who will soon be old enough to sign pro contracts- Gomez, Edwardes and Ahearne-Grant. If Roland can persuade Paul Hart to sign a new contract, and these 3 youngsters, maybe that will point the way forward. I've given up on Poyet by the way. If he signs it will be a huge bonus.
I don't count the sheff utd match and stand by my statement I've been to every home match and Burnley was the worst by far complete opposite of the passion shown V QPR a few weeks before. If you can't see that must have Riga scented sunglasses.
You could compare our performance vs Burnley to the Ipswich game; likewise the QPR game to the Bournemouth game.
Spot on Billy, and arguably we've come out weaker since he arrived, because only two players from the group of players he dumped on us, look to have anything about them, Reza & AA and they've turned out to be bit part players, who in no way improve us over Yann & Stephens, which he sold... Looks like Obika has rounded off our striker options, and with the hope of landing some much needed RM quality evaporating fast, we're left with JR proving what most of us knew along anyway... You can't polish a turd.
Dress it up in what way... Positive tactics, team selection, subs, what..? He's supposedly done all that, but it's still a turd.
The Sheffield United match was the icing on a cake made of dog-****. We had the chance to go to Wembley, which would have brightened the mood around the club, but instead CP blew it with his putrid tactics, team selection and cowardice. And any fan who says the cups don't matter or that they wanted us to lose is a moron. If it has our name next to it, it is an important match and we should be looking to win every one, regardless of whether we get thrashed in the next round. Anyway, the Sheffield United match is not the only example of dross that springs to mind: matches at home to Middlesbrough, Millwall and Blackpool were stinkers.
I am all for quiet understatement, but that is going too far. Kermit and Stephens (plus Solly when fit) were our only players who could comfortably hold down a place in a top six side. Having them compensated for those who were barely Championship quality at all, with the result that we ended above halfway last season. The two imports couldn't hold down a starting place in a Div Two side. Not because of lack of skill but because of lack of fitness and physique. Adjarevic isn't really cut out to be an impact sub either. He needs a team built round his abilities and that takes time to develop. Finally, playing both Adjarevic and Jackson means we have a total lack of mobility in midfield. One or the other.
We have RM quality and its name is Wilson. OK, not brilliant, but this season one of our better players and the least of our problems. It is a RB we need, and quite a few have moved clubs or gone on loan lately who would have filled the gap. Also a LM so we don't have to play Capt Creaking-joints there. Tabb or Judge would have done nicely and you would think not too ambitious. I am sure there are many other options, not that RD gives a toss.
