Should have won, could have lost. The lack of a LM is becoming a serious problem. Agree Diarra MOM. Off to cook the haggis.
Referee with a shocker today, so were his Linos. Dubious free kick, then clearly a goal kick... The defending however was an abomination, the only time I really saw we were poor at the back today. Bauer has been an animal all season and he was today. Best player on the pitch by an absolute mile. Makinok was brilliant, yes his assist was great but my favourite thing he did was the step over/dummy in the 2nd half when on the half way line, allowed Watt clean through. Pope with the save of the season while 1-0 down, wonderful to get down to it and keep it out and push it away from danger. Igor wasn't with it today, I'll write it off as bad day at the office. Rotherham weren't impressive, their best performance was the elasticated waste on Evan's trousers, good job guys. 2nd half we deserved more, but 1st half was poor. If either side deserved it, we just edged, but if we want Playoffs we need to be killing these games, sh!te ref or not.
Disappointing performance. Watt had his frustrating head on all afternoon, drifting up too many blind alleys and dropping too deep, too often. He was not helped by having a waxwork doll playing up front (notionally) alongside him. God knows what has happened to Vetekole but his decline is staggering. Well done to 'No Hope Pope' for two stunning saves. He should retain his place when Hendo is fit. Kids for a Quid today, but still only 15,200. Suggests to me that many are still voting with their feet, and not buying the RD investment bollox myths.
I'm losing faith in Igor. Perhaps 10 games later than most, by my own admission. I just can't see where his goal is coming from, he's not been a threat for 10 months. It was noted he was ill Wednesday/Thursday, so perhaps he took one for the team today.
I can't remember the last time Igor had a good game. Having said that, I reckon he would have got on the end of JBG's low cross in the second half when nobody else had the savvy to anticipate it. Maybe not, he looks heavy on his feet. I become more convinced by the game that JBG belongs in the middle. At times we seemed to be playing 3 at the back, with Kashi as an auxiliary CB, and Solly and Fox as wing-backs, something Fox is not suited to. He had little help on the left, and had to make a lot of early crosses, none of which were threatening. I don't see Bergdich as an improvement on the Harriotts. And Ba was lucky the ref didn't spot his pretendy head-butt, after which Luzon rightly subbed him. This team is a real curate's egg, TBH.
Fox looked knackered by the end. I do actually think he's improving greatly but he's habit of just twatting crosses as hard as he can is getting very frustrating.
Pope had his best game in a Charlton shirt in my opinion. Makienok should start for sure, he scares defenders. Watt was as bad as Vetokele was, but to be honest neither of them had many chances
Fox's crosses were crap because he had to hit them too early. There was no-one to pass to, and he couldn't try to beat his man (or sometimes 2). The problem is the LM position.
I'm not overly concerned lads. We created enough goalscoring opportunities yesterday to win two games. On another day we we would be sitting in our pants on our sofa's this Sunday morning nursing a hangover having over celebrated thumping Rotherham 4:0. That's football . Had we not created anything against one of the worst sides in the division I'd be worried... but that's not the case. Lessons to be learned and onto the next one
i think we're being a bit unkind on vetokele. watt must be the hardest player to play alongside as he never seems to want to pass and isnt predictable (from a partnership perspective). there were times yesterday where i was shouting "just f'ing pass it" to watt as vetokele was in a better position. once he's in better shape he'll be back. looks like he needs a few games with mckienok to give him flick ons to run on to. the goal was very harsh on us. the freek kick was replayed on the big screen and the ref still gave the corner.
