Minority Report 2019/20 v Charlton Athletic

Our formation today was good old 4-4-2. Charlton also played 4-4-2 until the final 6 minutes plus injury time, when they changed to 4-3-3. I know that was when they changed because that was when Pratley went off. Until then, they had arranged their midfield 4 into a very narrow diamond, with Prattley patrolling in front of their back 4, and Jonathan Williams supporting the front 2. Because they were a narrow diamond, the width had to come from full back, but actually, only Purrington, the Charlton left back tried to get forward. Ben William was largely untroubled by having to mark anyone, although Leko’s diagonal runs constantly took him into Ben Williams’ territory, and I put Leko on top in their encounters in the left corner.


By far the biggest factor in the game was Jonathan Williams. Charlton’s narrow diamond gave McGeehan and Bahre three players to mark down the centre most of the time, and Williams constantly found space beyond those two and in front of our back 4. Diaby and Andersen had their work cut out for them marking Taylor and Leko, who I thought were terrific, and although Sibbick and Ben Williams were narrow, Jonathan Williams was still not close enough for them to challenge. Frankly, that Charlton trio were the best players on the pitch by a mile. As good as Diaby and Andersen looked against Fulham, today was a far bigger challenge, because today they were moved about, and today it was a physical duel at times. They looked a far less attractive proposition when they were moved about.


But that is not the point really, because as well as having to meet the challenge of two very good forwards, they also had to deal with Williams who was cutting us to bits from his unmarked position in front of the back 4. I lost count of the number of times I turned to my mate to say, that 7 is free again. It became monotonous. Now Stendel could have done something about it, particularly after our second goal when we had no further reason to need to attack. He could have introduce another centre midfield player and matched their numbers in that area. But he did not react until it was too late. Until after Charlton had scored their second. I was critical of Stendel in some of our early home draws last season. He has a natural predisposition towards attacking play that makes him reluctant to shut up shop and hang on when doing so would be more likely to get us 3 points instead of just 1. There is no doubt that he knows more about the game than me, but I do not think that is the point. He also has a different reaction to risk and reward than I do, and that will mean that we are sometimes at odds over the need for risk taking.


So would Mowatt have made any difference, had he been fit? Well we definitely missed his energy and his understanding of how to play in a midfield that is outnumbered, but I still believe Williams would have got free, simply because the gap between the defensive and midfield lines was too great because our centre backs were being pushed back by really good forward play.


Of course, because Charlton were very narrow in midfield, there has to be room elsewhere, and that room was out wide where the Barnsley full backs had freedom to roam. Ben Williams made good use of that space. Sibbick less so. The problem is that we had no height in our front 2, and it does not make any difference how often the ball is crossed into the penalty box via that route, a good big un will always beat a good little un.


Against Fulham, we played almost every ball out from the goalkeeper via short passes. Today the goalkeeper kicked almost everything. Why was that? My friend suggested that with Mowatt absent, there was no-one who the Coach could trust not to give the ball away, and there is merit in that thought. I believe that Charlton had no intention of playing a press, and if there is no press, there is no point. The point about playing the ball short is that the team is encouraging the press in order to draw players forward and create space beyond them. Charlton never intended to play that game, and why should they. Their midfield diamond was designed to win the ball deeper. Against Fulham we played the press in order to stop Fulham building from the back, but Charlton never intended to play that way so the press was pointless. Half way through the first half, I watched as Bahre delivered a message to McGeehan and the two centre backs. The message was tell the keeper to keep kicking it long.


I thought that Charlton deserved a point. They could have been 2-0 in front before we started. For the first chance in particular when the left full back missed an open goal, albeit from an angle our marking system seemed all at sea. I could not fault Sibbick’s position. He is bound to be narrow for that sort of cross, but where Thomas was is anyone’s guess. A full back is marked by a winger in the traditional 4-4-2 system, but Thomas was nowhere to be seen. Having said that I thought that Charlton deserved a point, and earlier in the piece, faulted Stendel for not changing our system earlier, I was particularly disappointed with the manner of their second equaliser. From my seat in the East Stand Upper Tier, it did not look a penalty. There were no appeals from any Charlton players, and it was a total surprise when the ref brought a halt to play and pointed at the penalty spot, because I thought that Charlton had a good chance to score. I have watched it again since I got home and the challenge is but a glancing touch and their player has already passed the ball before he is touched. I did not see a penalty at the time, and I do not see one now.


I have an unwritten rule for Minority Report. I do not mention the referee. The referee has a difficult job and he is bound to get some of his decisions wrong. In any event, I am biased towards my team. Having said all of that, I am about to break that unwritten rule. It takes me an hour and a half to walk home after a game and usually I have calmed down well before I arrive home. Today, I am not calm. Today’s man in the middle was awful. He booked Thomas when he had not clearly seen the challenge because his view was blocked. He went purely on the cry of the Charlton player. He gave fouls both ways when players went to ground from barely a touch, thus encouraging every player on the field to do likewise, and a Charlton player was booked for a foul on Williams when he was already headed down. He denied us an obvious penalty for hand ball and gave Charlton a less obvious one. Wilks was fouled 4 times within 10 minutes of his first whistle, with no punishment meted out to any Charlton player, and then Wilks became the first player in the book for patting the ball way. Later in the game, he reversed his previous decision-making processes because he lost control, booking player after player for very little and letting timewasting go unpunished. It is a good job that I was nowhere near the pitch or I would have fallen for his obvious wind ups and been asked to go and run the baths.



Rookie Watch


Radlinger was not as good as he was in his first game, and in particular, he was very slow off his line.


Although I do not fault Sibbick for their early chance, he did not take advantage of the space he was offered going forwards. His passing was not as good either


Diaby was pulled about all over the place, and whilst it was not all his fault, he did not dominate like he did last home game.


Andersen was led a merry dance by Leko, who constantly dragged him over to left full back position, leaving two of our players there and space for others to occupy in the centre. By the end, he did not know whether he was on this earth or Fuller’s.



I thought Thomas was a bit better this week, but he should have been with the space there was available to attack the full back.


Mallik Wilks also had space and he drew foul after foul in that first half without getting his marker punished. As the game wore on, he got draw inside in order to try to compete for the long kicks from defenders and our keeper, and he became less and less effective.


Connor Chaplin was my man of the match. His pace, movement and threat on the break were just what we needed to driver the Charlton defensive line back and create room for Woodrow deeper and in space.




Player of the Match


My player of the match is Chaplin. He did not last the game, but we were poorer when he departed.

 

Jonny Williams is class but unfortunately for Charlton is very unlikely to play a full season. I think we ll end up stronger as the season goes on than Charlton but they have had a great start. .

 

Good read that thanks mate. I agree on the penalty - he was desperate to give it - the players’ reactions tells you all you need to know.
At best it was soft.

Disagree with Radlinger, he was quick off his line to deny a certain goal in the second half and I thought he claimed crossed well?

Agree on Chaplin, played well.

I think we have a long way to go to form an effective team, which is no surprise. There are some good signs there but big concerns defensively.

If we avoid relegation the team and coaches have done very well. Which is disgraceful really as they should have been allowed to benefit from all their good work last season.

 

as always, a good read and v comprehensive. despite disagreeing with some of your analysis, I think you got much of it pretty spot on.
Jonny Williams was the best player on the park. He bossed the game and how I wish we had a player like him in our group. his reading of the game was first class.
.....and we did play 442. DS ditched the 4231 formation for this game, playing Chaplin up top with cauley. Chaplin had a fine game and he will improve.....I'm confident of that.
Totally disagree 're the keeper. he didn't have much to do but made one fine block. also disagree about Sibbick. He's growing with every game.
happy with Daniels assessment and his belief that we will be ok. his positivity is infectious and he has got back on track after being totally out thought last week at Swillsbro. he has shown he can adapt and change where needed.....as evidenced by our keeper kicking long pretty much the whole match.
thanks red rain.

 

I didn't really notice what our formation was. The defence and midfield did get a little separated, particularly for Charlton's first goal. Other than that it was a good match and I enjoyed it. Shame we couldn't hang on, but it was probably a fair result, I'd say.

 

Ps...........looked like a penalty to me. Bambo took the guys legs away.

 

Interestingly, Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager is also complaining about diving this morning. I think he has phrased it poorly, and what he is complaining about is players going to ground too easily. On many occasions, the player is already going to ground before he is touched in the challenge. Is that a foul, particularly when the touch is minimal, and the player would easily have withstood it if he had been upright and balanced, and not already committed to going down? Our referee yesterday officiated the game in exactly the same manner as Dyche describes. The game has moved on from being a game of opinions, and is now refed according to a book that no fan has seen. It saves the referees having to think, but it is ruining the game. It has become a game that is refed according to a book that practically no-one agrees with and which cannot see every eventuality and detail in advance. It aims for greater clarity and it achieves only greater frustration. The game is being ruined by the book. As for the book’s new opinion on what is hand ball. What a mess!

 

Great analysis RR. Pretty much agree with everything you've said. Looking purely at the football, Charlton deserved a point. They were, however, consistently allowed to bring our attacks to a standstill with a stream of innocuous, but cynical fouls. For that aspect alone, they deserved to go home empty handed. The referee was guilty of aiding and abetting.

For me, any foul of that nature, committed with the sole intention of bringing play to a stop, should be an instant red card offence. I don't expect to see it happening in my lifetime though, more's the pity.

 

I thought Charlton got round our press by playing longball football, Sibbick did very well and Thomas has definitely got quality and will get better.

As well as Chaplin played i do miss Moores presence and how we used to over power teams with Cavare bombing forward. Bahre is our best player by far but Mcgheehan should be captain.

It was a good game, we edged it but i was never confident that we would win. RR is right that when we went ahead it may not be a bad tactic to tighten things up a bit as we will need to scrap for every point.

 

Thought Williams should have offered more support to Andersen, also felt he was caught out of position too high up the field a lot in the first half, a lot of their joy came down their right, our left.

I felt it was a close game, Jonny Williams was everywhere, though him aside we matched them and exceeded them everywhere else to my eye. He was a constant thorn in our side and their man of the match by a country mile. A draw was neither a disaster for us nor completely undeserved for Charlton, but I still feel we should have won the game.

Re the penalty, watching it back it doesn’t seem clear but live, from the family enclosure in the East Upper, it did look like Diaby had taken his legs after the ball had gone.

I was too far away to judge the handball and I’ve not seen it back, it isn’t on the short highlights, but at the time we screamed for it.

On to Birmingham anyway, feels like two dropped but come May it could be a vital point gained.