The performance tonight was very disappointing,some of the squad players were clearly not match fit whilst the others were rubbish.I think the lack of a reserve side might hurt us if we get a few injuries or suspensions as the players that come in will not be up to speed.At least we can concentrate on the league for a while now until the FA cup 1st round appears.
I know it is only the JPT and if we get a good performance and 3 points on Saturday it will be totally forgotten, but I was shocked at how abysmal we were. I cannot see any advantage to the club in playing that badly. It didn't even seem to be that we were avoiding injuries because our confusion and clumsiness got quite a few players involved in physical knocks. Not a single player enhanced their reputation, though Sullivan and Evina did enough to suggest they are adequate cover. Cannot blame the strikers too much as they didn't get a decent pass all night (apart from when a Brentford player laid a chance on a plate for Hayes, who panicked). Could easily have been 5 or 6. Big talking point was how awful Alonso was. It was one of the worse displays of passing I have ever seen, and that is supposed to be his forte. To give him credit he was looking for the ball all night and finding big spaces in which to receive it, the sign of a class player. But that only makes his repeated giving the ball away when under no pressure even less excusable. He has had plenty of time to get fit so his only excuse could be that he lacks matches. How will he get them with us, with only one Cup competition left? We cannot really send him out to non-league football to sharpen up as we do with the youngsters. What can we do with him? That linesman was an idiot. Not only did their second goal come from a touch by Waggy, but their player was in line anyway so there never was any reason to disallow it. Then one of their forwards was wrongly given offside when well past our backline when at least three yards onside when the pass was made. Only bright spot was that five first-choice players (and Kermorgant for 80 minutes) were kept out of this shambles.
I only saw it on the tele as I'm at uni, but all I have to say is.... I feel more confident with Francis then I do Hughes at right back...that is all
Hughes was abysmal. Francis against Preston was even worse, but at least with Francis he can do it when he wants to, or the stars are in alignment, or it is that time of the month. He was great against Reading whereas Hughes looks like a player whose legs have totally gone (like Doherty) and needs to step down to Div Two or non-league as he will never play a good game again at this level. Maybe as a midfield "stopper" which is an easy position to play, but we don't play that system so we won't ever need him.
Hughes is better further up the pitch but not better than what we have (Green and Wag) but competition is always welcome. I'm sure this sub-par performance will be forgotten in a few months if we're still in automatics at the time, which I'd hope to see. Johnstone is unimportant in the long run
I thought Alonso improved as the game went on. Looked very heavy legged at the start, but during the second half thought he played some nice passes and hassled them off the ball. Evina, suli and green were fine. Don't see the panic in our depth, the three names above, plus cort and kermo make up the 5 man bench. Think Alonso will get better with some friendlies and then have players like bover returning. I hate all cup competitions, always made that clear, so I'm not even thinking about it. Back to the league!
Hughes and Doc will cost us points if they play any part this season. Its actually hard to believe they are still professional footballers.
I'll do some player ratings, although i watched it on tv. Sullivan 6 not at fault for any goals. Hughes 3 if he is better than Francis then Francis should give up now Evina 6 first time i have seen him ok going forward light weight at the back. Doc 1, only cos he turned up! Bored now, might finish it off later
I would like to give my MD 10 points for arranging a Board Meeting last night which meant I didn't get home from work till after 10pm Now then..... did I miss anything?
OK I get the picture - so was this Chrissy's Northwich Victoria?? I always imagined Evina to be more of a wing-back, better going forward. Gary Doherty arriving and being consistently woeful is another great Charlton Athletic mystery to me - I know he was never amazing but we're talking about a player who has played 100 odd games in the top flight, had just won the league with Norwich ad was only 30 when he signed us. I've never seen a worst centre half ever - for any team. Ever. And I don't buy into that 'focus on the league' rubbish. I want to go to Wemberlee, and more importantly we seem to have lost convinvingly to a potential promotion rival AND our fringe players haven't (apparently) showed any fire or skill to give Powell a selection headache...
OK I get the picture - so was this Chrissy's Northwich Victoria?? I always imagined Evina to be more of a wing-back, better going forward. Gary Doherty arriving and being consistently woeful is another great Charlton Athletic mystery to me - I know he was never amazing but we're talking about a player who has played 100 odd games in the top flight, had just won the league with Norwich ad was only 30 when he signed us. I've never seen a worst centre half ever - for any team. Ever. And I don't buy into that 'focus on the league' rubbish. I want to go to Wemberlee, and more importantly we seem to have lost convinvingly to a potential promotion rival AND our fringe players haven't (apparently) showed any fire or skill to give Powell a selection headache...
Wouldn't compare it to northwich- this was playing a team in the same league as us, whilst we rested 6 *key* first teamers. In the eleven we also played Alonso, who's first start it was for us, and players building match fitness I.E evina. Result is already forgotten as far as I'm concerned.
So we now know that our starting XI is amazing .. but apart from a few of our reserve our strength in depth isn't as good as we thought. Doc looked like he was running through treacle - the offside decision where their guy was yards onside was a joke and all down to Doherty playing so deep as he knows he's got no pace whatsoever now Bad evening at the office but all to look forward to now in the league One of the other posters mentioned how do we keep them all happy now with no cup games on the horizon ... if that's how they (fringe players) play then they don't deserve to start imo Back to the normal XI - possibly with/without Wagstaff for Green
