Just got back. First things first - it was a terrible game - error strewn and pretty much skill-free. And we should have won. Hulse was first denied by a fine save from Ikeme (who else?) but his miss in the last minute was shocking, a lovely cross from Solly put it on a plate for him and completely unmarked, he put it wide. My MoM was Chris Solly - one piece of play towards the end showed exactly how good he is - two Wolves players ran at him, he dispossessed the first one, the ball squirmed free to the second and he took it off him as well. Lovely. The midfield was a mess. Pritchard played heroically and tried his best to hold it all together but it was so disjointed, barely two passes in a row found their man and the movement always seemed to be lateral or backwards. When we started threading balls through in the second half, it threw Wolves completely. Sad to report that JJ had an absolute stinker - he's getting a place on reputation and sentiment at the moment and it's painful to watch. The jury's out on Evina as well. Hopelessly beaten for their goal, he redeemed himself with a peach of a cross for our goal (exactly as you described it, IA) and some of the shapes he and Wilson (who also had a decent game) and Pritchard were making in the second half were very encouraging. Wiggins can't get back quick enough for me. The new stand is wonderful, although the climb up to the top left one nutritionally challenged lady gasping about half way up and really they should provide oxygen, inhalers and the odd defibrillator. Probably the most comfortable seat I've ever sat in at a football ground and a truly spectacular view. The Charlton faithful (1200, I'd guess) outsang and outshouted the eerily quiet Wolves fans by a distance - a fine performance all round. I'd also like to name check Wayne, Les and Alex, three Wolves fans who not only walked me to the ground from where my bamboozled satnav had dropped me, but also waited for me to come out and walked me back to my car - top blokes one and all. Good point, but should have been three. Early night coming up, headache's gone, but so has my voice...
Looks as though you bumped into the same Wolves fans as I did, Tewkes. Shame it looks as though the midfield may not be sorted after all. Pritchard and Wilson have added to the energy levels, but what were the other two like, Dervite and Kerkar? Kerkar still playing with his head down? It must have improved second half judging by the chances we(Hulse) missed.
Dervite was OK, but he's playing out of position, which means we're probably not seeing the best of him - tidy enough game with a few decent passes and tackles, but nothing special. Kerkar had a poor game, too much running down blind alleys and a tendency to turn into the tackle rather than away from it. Definitely the worst I've seen him play. And yes, he is still playing with his head down. Hulse ran and ran and put in a hell of a shift and even though the first chance was a brilliant save, he should have buried the second, although I'd imagine he was on his last legs by then. The real problem though was Jackson - frequently off the play, floating around like a t*t in a trance sometimes and terribly poor passing. He looks thoroughly frustrated with his own game, he knows it's not going right and doesn't seem to be able to correct it - as I said, painful to watch.
Thanks for reporting, and thanks to you and the other Addicks fans who made the trip. Even on Player I could hear them outsinging and outchanting the locals. Sounds very similar to the Leeds game which I have now watched twice on Player. I had understood we played quite well in that but having viewed the match I was stunned at the poor quality of football, though the onus was on Leeds to get the ball down and play. Sounds as if Wolves did that to some extent first half, then panicked too easily in the second when we put up some resistance. In the good old days before Keith Peacock single-handedly introduced the concept of subs into the game, when players were crocked they were moved to the left wing and told to hobble about, do the best they could, and not be a liability to the rest of the team. CP has reversed that ancient wisdom by moving Jackson away from the left-wing into the middle, where he is a considerable liability. You don't lose skill and know-how in one season so I can only conclude he is not remotely fit. One loose ball in the Leeds game he was given a three-yard start out of five and still arrived second to the Leeds player. In view of the consensus, I have to regretfully accept that my favourite player, Danny Hollands, is bang out of form and deserves to lose his place to the less than wonderful Dervite, but I would be astonished if he couldn't do better than Jackson. My other complaint is about lack of subs. I can understand CP being cautious after the Barnsley debacle but yesterday he went to the other extreme. Hulse is not primarily employed to score goals but to run about a lot and get kicked. Surely after 70 minutes it would have been wise to give the poor guy a rest?
Cheers eddie, it certainly was a good atmosphere. The game was crying out for someone to run hard at their defence, probably Green, and for Hulse to be given a rest and BWP to have a run out. The only reason I can see for not making the changes was firstly we'd got the point and were looking under no threat and secondly, we've got Cardiff and Middlesborough coming up within four days of each other and we're going to need all hands to the pumps for those two.
Without doubt I'd have taken 2 points from the 2 tough away games, but I want at least 3 points, preferably 4 from our 2 home games next week, otherwise the late chances missed could see us in the bottom three.
We need at least 4 preferably 6 points from the next 2 games and the home fans deserve a decent performance after the dirge we've been dished up at home specially v Barnsley last time out and I'm still seething over the no show v palarse
Sorry its a bit late, but my player marks for the Wolves game: Hamer 7.5 - Collected every cross and corner, was comfortable with their long range shots and distributed well. Solly 7 - typical Solly performance. Cort 7 - solid. Morrison 7 - solid. Evina 7 - the best game I've seen him play. Still showed some naivety and made a few errors, but was fairly competent defending and did well to get the ball forward. Wilson 8 - brilliant game. Was our most dangerous attacking threat, and didn't neglect his defensive duties either, covering for Solly whenever the latter went forward. Glad he got the goal. Dervite 6.5 - was calm in possession, distributed the ball well and made some great tackles, but let quite a few opposition passes go right through him - worrying considering his key position is as a centre-back. Pritchard 4 - ran around like a headless chicken all game, leaving gaping holes in our midfield and rarely did anything with possession. Made me nervous every time he decided to run with the ball. Jackson 5 - completely anonymous throughout, couldn't keep up with the pace of the game and like Pritchard, left far too much space open in midfield. Kerkar 4 - made one good cross, aside from that he seemed like he couldn't be bothered. Head down all game and constantly running straight into the opposition full-back. Hulse 5.5 - the tactics were all wrong for him. The midfield were too far behind him for him to link-up with anybody, his only option was to go for everything himself. Got into some great positions behind the opposition defense, which you wouldn't really expect from a target-man, but his lack of pace really showed. Seemed to give up towards the end, saw him telling Wilson to stop and take his time in the last couple of minutes as though he wished to play for a draw, about 20 seconds later he put a header wide which he really really should have scored. Biggest twat(s) of the day award - Either: a) the small group of fans in the lower tier who were singing "You must be ****, if Wilson scored" for a couple of minutes after the goal, and also sun "My Garden shed is bigger than this" despite Molineux being 4000 seats larger than The Valley. b) The Police Officer who, upon seeing a fan drinking beer in his seat, grabbed the bottle off of him, poured it all over the floor (creating a health and safety hazard) and then threw the bottle onto the floor. Few Comments: -Loved Molineux, especially the seats - I stood all game but their height made for a perfect leaning post, and when I did sit at half-time it was super-comfy. -Didn't appreciate the fans being so spread out in the lower tier, there must have only been about 200 of us, spread out over about 2000 seats. -Wolves fans were really loud once they got going -Appreciated Ben Hamer sprinting the whole length of the pitch to clap the fans at the end, I may think he's a bit of a twat but he's certainly growing on me.
