7 changes ffs and leaving our only goal scorer out, what do u expect? That's alright Kieran....you wait another 10 mins before making a change
Whatever Charlton had at half time I hope it gets tested!I can't remember seeing a team turn around a match to such effect.Woeful defending.
Had a similar feel to the end of the Paul Cook era, trying to play gung-ho football with a new team who dont know each other and crumbling when we concede. From that awful O'Shea header onwards we were awful. It's embarrassing to a team of £20 million players get ripped to shreds by a pretty average Charlton team. First half I thought we were half decent without looking overly dangerous. Problem is teams can just dig in and break on us and we've got a mistake (or 2) in us. Then we just look like a team of strangers. Too much change too quickly and too many changes tonight.
Just got home. Positives - Jack Clarke was excellent and kept going until the end. Akpom did enough in the 10 to suggest he should start ahead of Szmodics and that’s it, everyone is allowed 1 bad game so I will give O’Shea a pass but Greaves has bad game after bad game. Thought it was a mistake selling Burgess at the time now even more so as he would definitely be partnering O’Shea. I understand some changes have to be made but 7 is way too many. Back 5 should not change, KMC needs to choose what he believes to be his best and stick to it. Matusiwa was suspended and we don’t have a back up number 6 in the squad (Morsy, another one who shouldn’t have been allowed to leave). Front positions, for me it is now Philogene, Akpom & Clarke behind Azon. I have no idea what mcateer brings to the team, Ogbene is better and was let go. Final point - at the end of the game, some players came over to those of us that were left, KMC also came over but very half heartedly - clapped twice and then left - if he takes the plaudits when the team is doing well, he must also take criticism when they are doing badly. Time for 4 1/2 hours sleep before getting up for work
You can see why many of the old team wanted to leave. They were all dropped from the team because of the price tag of the players brought in, not 1 player in this team has started on merit. We need to go back to basics, get solid defensively and build from that. We're far too open and the CBs cant handle it. O'Shea looks half the player he was last season. From what I saw last night if you're replacing similar players Nunez is Morsy’s replacement with Matusiwa being Luongo's. I thought attacking wise we were okay, with some okay performances but we consistently lack end product and make the wrong decision. We have a load of players who hold onto the ball for too long, we've gone from a team who had quick passing and movement to one with a lot of players who like to dribble with the ball. Clarke and Cajuste most guilty of this, look good for the first few seconds then run into nowhere or hold onto the ball for too long allowing the opposition to get back into position.
Well that wasnt in the script. Lets begin with positives, yes there are a few! 1st half this team of strangers played well for long periods, at times 90% of play. But no goals. Overpriced McAteer had his best game for us and linked up well with Young. I thought Akpom played well too with 2 of our best chances at goal. Clarke is a different player to the one I criticised last season. He was good. But like others he dribbles too long. Negatives O'Shea is not a leader, not a Captain who would we replace him, Young? Poor defense oh how we miss Burgess! No team spirit 2nd half, lost our way. Team capitulation after going behind. KM perhaps at fault with too many changes. Does he know our best 11 yet? Probably not. I guess we can now look frwrd to another Championshiop season, and at least laugh out loud at our feathered friends!
I think there was an overreaction to the Middlesbrough game. We were beaten by a fantastic team and it could have gone the other way. Two years ago we didn't come out well against the top sides and got turned over at Leeds. Top two is not happening and McKenna needs to forget about results and focus on building the right conditions for finding the back of the net two or three times in every game. Scoring more goals will relax the defensive unit too. It's pointless to talk about Woolfy, Burgess and Morsy any longer. They are not at the club now.
We miss the pace and goals of Chaplin and Burns coupled to the drive of Morsy and Luongo therefore we don't score enough goals, we lump high balls up to Azon who has giant defenders towering over him plus George is completely out of form. I thought after the Sheff Utd, Portsmouth, and Budgies matches that the team was developing at last but last night was bloody awful, 16 corners and overwhelming possession means nothing without scoring coupled to a team pulled to pieces for the following match is never likely to become a settled side, in short we are toothless in front of goal and giving goals away with basic defencive errors giving the opposition tap ins, worrying times indeed and a tough game on Saturday v WBA.
I only managed to catch the highlights, but it looked like Greaves and Walton were massively at fault for the goals. Did the game massively change with Palmer’s substitution? Felt like we were well in control until that moment but I’ll defer to those who watched the match. We need a statement win against West Brom to keep pace with (checks notes) the top six.
Interesting that as well as ourselves Southampton and Leicester are both outside the playoffs at time of writing ✍️. It’s not the easy transition from Premier league to championship that people believe it should be. it’s now time for us to show a bit of loyalty to the team and run toward adversity as a collective.
A real narrative buster. Hard to say we're moving in the right direction after that result. Particularly disappointing that it was at home. And yet it appears to have been something within the game that threw us off. Whether a tactical change by Charlton at half time or Palmers injury - a 3-0 Charlton victory wasn't looking likely during first third of the game. Not that that makes it any better, poor in game management has been a common criticism of McKenna we need to find a way to react to adversity on the pitch and not rely on training ground scenarios
I think its a shame about Palmer because the last few games I feel hes started to look really assured including on the ball however I dont think it really changed the game. I thought Walton came in and was generally a reassuring presence, mopped things up and made a couple of very good saves/interceptions. I always really like his positioning and actually his distribution with his hands, although perhaps where he falls short of being a top GK is low shots, but I didn't particularly feel he was at fault for the goals. Our problem is we play nice football everywhere but the opposition penalty box. We're not quick enough to exploit space, we end up allowing the opposition to get back into position whilst we gradually commit more men forwards that when we lose the ball its so easy to break on us and we have a mistake in us every game. Hopefully that will improve with time, the thing which concerned me most about yesterday was the mentality and the lack of grit in those tough moments, after conceding that goal the capitulated. We need to get far more solid defensively, I feel the balance isn't right at the moment, we have too many offensive minded players on the pitch and too many front foot players who out of possession play the man rather than the space and that leaves us exposed. And similarly we don't have as many attacking players moving around, making runs to make space for others which we have been so successful at doing under McKenna and why Hirst worked so well in the system. We've got far more players who want to run at players rather than find space/make runs.
