And how small would our squad be if we hadn't signed Gower, Church, Wood and Sordell? Gower's proven himself in the Championship with Swansea. I don't agree that Hollands is better, he struggled at this level last season. Agree I would have thought Smith was still ahead of Pigott. But in the end, it's not ideal having either Smith or Pigott as the 4th choice striker. Don't think Wiggins has been that poor. Could give Evina a run, and he might well do, but we have bigger problems up front and in midfield. It's hardly going to turn this run around. Pritchard had a good season last year and was excellent v Leicester. We've often been a better team with him in rather than starting. Not sure he'll continue to start. For me this squad is poor at this level. Might see things differently if everyone was suggesting the same or similar changes, but look on all the Charlton forums and you'll see everyone has a different idea about the starting lineup, the formation, the subs etc. We're a poor side whichever team he goes with. Many of us (me included) wanted to see Cousins and Stewart start yesterday. At the moment the changes, often ones many fans have called for, aren't making a difference. A big part of that is down to a lack of quality in the squad.
It would be the same size if we'd kept Fuller, and not loaned out Hollands, Green and Smith. I don't think Hollands has been given a long enough run to make that judgement. Injuries haven't helped. How can we have bigger problems than a player who is out of form, out of shape and is unable to ping balls into the box with any real regularity? For me, this is a major problem that needs sorting. We have a young player itching to get a game, yet he rots on the bench. That is a matter of opinion. Personally, I think he needs to be dropped due to an extended run of poor form. The squad may be weak, but there is no excuse for a lack of effort, motivation and basic technique.
Those players are out on loan for a good reason. Two aren't good enough for this level and one needs regular football if he's going to make it at this level. Injuries haven't helped Hollands no, problem is he lacks pace like most of our central midfielders. I seriously doubt either Hollands or Green will ever play regularly at this level. With Pritchard the stats from last season will show we were better when he played. Not sure he should be in the team at the moment but many agree he was excellent v Leicester and he had plenty of good games, and got several assists last season. I don't believe the players aren't trying but they're clearly lacking confidence. Missing our best players makes a real difference. Powell's made some mistakes but it's still very early on in the season.
It's cringeworthy. A mixture of patois schtick from a wannabe gangsta rapper. He also describes himself as an "entrepreneur". No mention of him being a professional football, which is unsurprising given his performances.
Dying to read your report, particularly interested in reports that Kermit was limping. Say it ain't so, SuperC?
When a club is clearly struggling like we are, there are three levers you can pull... 1. Change the owners to get an influx of cash for players....highly unlikely 2. Change the players through the above, or from existing owners cash.....nope. 3. Change the manager, in the hope that a new one could squeeze more out of the existing players. The 3rd one comes with huge risks, but then again we didn't know that Richard Murray had feet of clay when he replaced Curbs with 4 useless duffers in 4 years. It may be worth trying again ? What we can't do is do nothing. One thing looks certain, Powell cannot get any more out of these players. His comments after Burnley smacked of desperation (" me and the staff need to look at the formation again"). You can put lipstick on a pig as many times as you want....at the end of the day, it's still a pig.
Sorry, forgot to give a report on Michael Smith - he played very well, his approach work in particular was very fine indeed and he was a real handful for the Cheltenham defence but he didn't really have a single clear-cut chance all game. The real revelation was Harry Pell, definitely the MoM for me. I didn't ever see him play for us but on this showing, I'd have to ask why he was ever let go (maybe AllHell and FHB could help there). Highly influential, tackling hard and also playing a stream of pinpoint passes for the entire first half. As Cheltenham's influence grew he knuckled down, dropped back and played sweeper. It's significant that the clearance from the keeper that set up Jamie Cureton's glorious goal bypassed him by going over his head. He looked absolutely gutted at the end. He's also the biggest midfield player I've ever seen, I'd say he wasn't far short of Smith in height and build. Our other loanees had a decent day - you'll have seen Ade Azeez' snorting debut goal for Torquay and apparently Nick Pope kept Aldershot in the game yesterday.
I saw Harry Pell in one of the youth cup games when he was here. Was one I thought we might have kept on. Not saying he'd have broken into the first team, but on what I saw he had more about him than the likes of Davisson, Popo, Tuna and Perkins. Not surprised a few years on none of them are playing league football. With the u21 league we seem to be keeping more players on. Had Pell been coming through now he might well have won a contract. Saw Azeez' goal, Newport fans were very impressed. Hope he pushes on http://www.the-exiles.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31819
AHLL and myself were both surprised and disappointed when Harry Pell went. In a Youth Cup game he scored one of the best half-dozen goals I've ever seen at Charlton. In fact I told Eddie a few months ago to watch out for him because he would make it. Glad about Smith, sounds just like the same Smith I used to see at Sparrows Lane. His finishing wasn't quite up to the rest of his game, but, as Andy Hunt showed, you can work on it and improve it, despite the conventional wisdom that natural goalscorers are born not made.
Not sure why anyone would want to read it, but here goes. Opening period were decent enough - we were enjoying spells of possesion, but honestly was doing very little with it. When Burnley had their possesion they were far more purposful and knew how to carve us open. I guess thats where confidence comes in to it, but we genuinly seemed happy to have the ball with no purpose other than to not let Burnley have it. Something I'm noticing about Morrison is that he's a very good recovery defender, but initially he does make too many mistakes. He wobbled far too much and couldn't handle either the powerful Vokes and the quick movement of Ings. I haven't seen the goals again, but I think it was the second which was a diagonal ball in and the striker shouldn't have been unmarked. He seemed to have so much time, and you knew it was a goal before it reached him. That happened on more than one occasion. Kept an eye on Stewart to see how he would fair in his first start. He struggled going up against Trippier (one of the best RB's in the league). Struggled badly. However, the balance in the midfield was horrible again. It looked as if we asked Gower, Stephens and Cousins to protect the back 4 and do nothing else. Pritchard also badly struggled to get in to the game and was coming infield too often to try and see the ball. Stewart was the only midfielder who would try bring it forward, but he needs to get some new boots as he slipped on the ball a few times. As for Yann - I didn't see him limping? Haven't read much about the game, where did you read about it? He was only on the field for about 5mins, and literally had a few longs balls he went for and nothing else. Not going to do player ratings, but I thought Wiggins did well considering they seemed to play most of their football down the right (more of it seemingly being their strength, and not targeting Wiggins). Church hustled and bustled, but I'd be interested to see the stats on how many times he touched the ball. Had one header which was easy for the keeper. I'm curious to see where CP goes from here. Does he change the team again or try and have a stable 11? I imagine there will be a change, but it's not a good sign having players come in for a game, out for the next 6 (a la Danny Green). I expect to see Wood come in. Not sure Dervite or Morro will be dropped, so looking at one of the middle 3. What happened to Jacko btw?
Jacko was injured in training, we were told just before the game. We were also told there would be more info on the OS after the game, but all it said was he "picked up a niggle". It was Kevin Nolan who thought Kermit was limping; thanks for the report.
It is a worry that when jacko doesn't start, we don't have any central midfielders who want to get up in to the oppositions box. Especially when you're playing 4-5-1 :S
Nice one, SuperC. The performance sounds pretty grim, with the exception of Stewart and Wiggins' performances. Is this a potential left-side partnership for the foreseeable? I would like to see Dervite in the middle of the park with Cousins. Not much invention, I suppose, but with Harriott and Stewart on the wings, perhaps they can supply the bullets for Kermit (if fit) and Church.
Too early to say if there is a partnership to be had IMO, but I think they will now have a run of games together to see where it goes. He is more polished than Harriott, chosing his runs more wisely. But he is also very lightweight, so unless we have him in areas where he can do damage he will struggle in helping us to retain possession making him pretty much redundant. Though it was one game, and against a Burnley side who were afforded the luxury of being able to play a very high line and not be concerned with what we did once on the ball. A local said that must have been one of Michael Duff's easiest games... Agree about Dervite, and I think that's where CP will go. I imagine for Stephens, though a middle two of Gower and Cousins doesn't inspire me.
