Both goals down to him today. Simply not good enough as this level. A man has got to know his own limitations.
The last survivor of Duchatelet's piss-poor signings that led to the relegation melt-down in season 2015-16. Signed a five year deal that finally runs out summer next year. Has he been offered a new contract yet?
Listening to CharltonLive preview, they predicted that Matt Smith would come on as sub to win, and we would need the height to combat him, which is why Sarr was there. He didn't do the job he was given, Bowyer won't be pleased. I expect Oshilaja to play next time we play a back 3.
First goal was the same. Sarr failed to even jump, let alone challenge his man on the cross....who then scored. The way we started today was embarrassing. Far from being “up for it”, we didn’t lay a glove on them in the first 25 mins. They swarmed all over us and won every 30/70 ball ! we got better in the second half, but Bonne wasn’t really a threat again and we had lots of sideways possession. You just knew their goal was coming, and you could also predict the manner of it. None of our team was great today...indeed...most of them seemed to sh1t their pants. But if Naby Sarr is a Championship footballer, I’ve got 2 holes in my backside.
Sarr is technically a decent footballer , unfortunately you cannot teach someone to be more aggressive, it’s not in his nature and in this league you can’t be missing that characteristic . Pearce alluded to it saying he was going to make him mean 2 seasons ago, well he is still the same old mr nice guy
Still have doubts about the wisdom of Bowyer calling him out so publicly. He also called out Pearce last week for the penalty, although not in such a scathing way. It's the first time I've questioned Bowyer's judgment.
I can't see where Bowyer has actually named Naby Sarr, unless it's behind the paywall. Here is the free stuff posted on the CAFC website; I wasn't there yesterday so I can't comment on whether o not Charlton were the better team. The basic stats suggest it was a fairly even contest. But I can't fault anything Bowyer says here in the middle section about defending set pieces. I'm sure he was telling the team all week how important this game was. If some of them weren't listening, or if the atmosphere in the Den shrank their balls, that deserves to be said. LB shouldn't have to defend them on that count, or pretend it did not happen. If they are not men enough now to take that criticism - if they lose the fair-weather 'respect' they had for Bowyer because of his harsh but fair words, then they are not the men he thought they were in the first place. What Bowyer has said might not be the most astute political thing to say. But he has told the plain truth - as I believe he always has about the football. It's only with RD that Bowyer plays word games. If Charlton slip into the bottom 6 later this season because some of our squad are not man enough to learn from their mistakes and stand their ground during tough matches, that won't be Lee Bowyer's fault. Bowyer is fulsome in his praise of them when they get it right. No way should he ever wrap them in cotton wool when they bottle it. Especially not Naby Sarr.
“We were better than them from start to finish” No, we definitely were not. A Karl Robinson -type comment. Our team was totally overawed by the atmosphere in the first 25 min, and looked like a bunch of frightened kittens. Dillon dropped a cross & flapped, and we were third to every challenge. It was pathetic. For LB to make a comment like that is bizarre. Gobbo would have been pilloried for it and rightly so. It’s clear from social media that the performance & surrender has pissed off a lot of our fans. A real low spot under Bowyer.
Bow's substitutions seemed a bit strange? The Pratley change, was Bow worried about a second yellow for Prats? Lapslie for Leko, seems very negative considering that even Rowett said that this gave his team a lift and that we were in control at that time, why not bring the more attacking/creative Oztumer on against a tiring Millwall defence?
I can't find the quote now that "their player wanted the ball more than our player", which I read after the game. You would never have seen Fergie saying that in public, but you can bet your life he would have let him have both barrels in private.
