Amid all the doom and gloom, the one bit of good news over the last few games has been the attacking flair and wholehearted commitment of Tony Watt, who looks like he could just be the striker we need. He surely must start on Saturday. I thought he deserved his own thread because we have all been so down and preoccupied with other matters recently that his excellence has largely gone unremarked. Given that before he arrived we were told he was an utter waste of space with no technical atttributes and a bad, bad, bad attitude, he has been a revelation.
Yep, I think it helped that we have tried to see him as the one shinning light from January and he appears to be thriving from that. Again, it seems to be the internet community that put him down as at every game I've been to since he signed the majority of fans have sung his name and appeared excited by him.
I admit I was put off by the fact that 3 managers criticised his attitude, but there's been nothing wrong with his attitude at Charlton, including when he played for the U--21's. The fact that he was delighted to get out of Belgium shows a good attitude in itself. That was a very composed finish on Tuesday.
I confess I didn't know what to think about Watt. I wanted to be excited by the arrival of a player who had played and scored in the Champion's League; aftter all, we don't see many at Charlton. But I was woried by the comments of Charlton supporters who claimed to have seen him and whom I believed were decent judges of a player - in fact, I'd go so far as to say I cannot ever recall any player arriving at CAFC with such a hostile campaign against him before he had kicked a ball. "He is knocked off the ball by the wind let alone an opponent, he has no pace, he has little ability and cannot take players on and get passed them." "One of the worst ever CAFC signings. Certainly the worst Standard Liege player we've had dumped on us ." "What we lack and what he offers could not be any further apart." I don't think I have ever seen such a limited player". "He is not going to improve our shortage of goals, not a chance and a three and a half year deal is astonishing, total piss poor management." But the opposite has been the case so far. He was supposed to be worse than Koc and Nego and more trouble than Balotelli - yet whenever he has come on he has looked the most able and commited Charlton player on the pitch. Let's hope it lasts. Lesson: don't believe anything you read on t'internet!
I don't think anyone sensible questioned his ability, at least at Championship level. It was his commitment and fitness that were dubious. So far we have no complaints on the former issue. The latter remains to be proven as he has only played 90 minutes once, plus four cameos. He is certainly looking like a useful asset but to use words like "excellence" and "revelation" is a bit extreme. It is only seven months since he was transferred for over a million quid. Hardly a biblical event if he turns in some half-decent performances at this level. That is the least we should expect. I don't like to see players being over-hyped. It does them no favours. Often the same posters who do so are the first to deride them when their form drops off. He is only a kid. Give him time and space to develop, make some mistakes and have the odd bad game. Not build him up only to be knocked down, like Piggott and Harriott.
Thought he changed the game when he came on Tuesday night and was Man of the Match (not for the first time in his brief time with us so far). I liked your phrase "I don't think anyone sensible questioned his ability", B&M. Plenty of people claiming inside knowledge did question his ability (see above); as said I cannot recall any player ever arriving at the club with such an array of negative comments and it is good to see him so far proving them wrong.
Watt and Vetokele have to start up top whenever they're both fit, the two of them will get goals. We just need to ensure we keep them out at the other end and we might be alright.
I think the worst player to join us from Standard Liege was Yohann Thuram-Ulien who was utter trap, Koc we never saw and Nego (given he didn't join from SL) was just of limited ability.
I was one who questioned his attitude only on what previous Managers had said. There is a good player there but needs to keep it going until the end of the Season.
Lets not go overboard - he has scored one goal & runs around a lot when he comes on. It will be interesting to see if he starts tomorrow.
Apologies to Negativity Nick for being positive, but I thought Watt was frigging superb again today and put in another MoM performance. His only rival as MoM was Bulot, another favourite of Nick's, whom he described as an imposter nicking a living by posing as a pro-footballer!
The best thing about Watt is his attitude. He's brave. He never gives up. He's reignited Vetokele. And he inspires the crowd big time. In other words, the exact opposite of the waste of space he was described as by a bunch of cowardly keyboard warriors . In 50 years of following CAFC, I don't think I've ever witnessed such a campaign of denigration against a player in advance of him signing. Weren't we told on at least one fan's forum that he was so bad he made Church look Messi?
Surely, you don't mean 'nobody knows more about Belgium Football than me' Reams. It was obvious that Billy Liar had never seen him play before, watched any Belgium football, or even has any idea where Belgium is. I know more about woman's feelings than he does about football. I didn't know however that today is valentines. Sorry love.
I don't say it often, but I'll say it. I TOLD YOU SO About Tony Watt, I wanted him and people were pessimistic (understandably) but I backed him so YEAHHHHHHHH. I'm glad I've been proven right here, doesn't happen often, afterall I said Pavel Abbott would be our top scorer
