I must say I was quite shocked by some of the over the top negative comments on here yesterday, having just watched the extended highlights on iFollow we were by far the better team and outrageously unlucky, hitting the woodwork 3 times. Get a grip people.
The better team doesn't go 2 - 0 down before half time and fail to get anything from the game. We obviously weren't.
In the second half. When we'd basically rolled over in the first. The first half performance was an insult to the 1000+ fans who'd used considerable time and money to get down there and support their team. This after the pathetic defeats against Preston and Portsmouth in the previous 2 games, and the overall poor season we've had. People are sick of it.
The statistics on the BBC (shots, possession etc) back me up. The iFollow highlights are not biased towards either team and 70% of the action showed us in possession and threatening their goal. We should have won comfortably but for a couple of bits of poor defending.
It was a game of 2 halves. We were by far the poorer team in the first half, and we did well to only go 2 down. We improved considerably in the second half, caused them problems, hit the woodwork and scored a good goal. Overall, on possession, chances, shots on target, we appear to have been the better side. But that first half killed us. It was as poor as anything I've seen this season. It was laughable.
Juat watched on Quest. They blamed lack of chances taken. It's not just poor defending, its not doing it up top so we were second best in both departments
Totally agree. Couldn't see at the time as was at the other end of the pitch, but did you see the Mads header on goal in the first half? On the highlights it looks like a blatant handball by their player and it's in plain sight of the ref, directly in his eyeline. It's the chance (the only chance?) in the first half when Brown then hit the post and it goes out for a goal kick. I know we never get penalties and clutching at straws a bit, but that would have made it 1-1 and I suspect a different game. Having said that I agree that first half was laughable, the attitude was all wrong, and it was woeful. In the end it cost us because we couldn't recover from it in time. From the 60th minute mark onwards we were much the better side, but too little too late.
We seem to have a habit of switching off just before half time and getting picked off as we tire in the last quarter. It would suggest concentration and fitness are big issues.
What are the record books going to say? Charlton 2-1 Barnsley but Barnsley were so so unlucky because they hit the woodwork 3 times?! We weren't unlucky at all, the first half performance was a disgrace and we are going down without a fight. Just to add that the negativity on here is fully justified. People have paid a lot of money whether that is up front i.e. a season ticket or on a match by match basis and they've had enough of those in charge. Some people can't see that the "plan" has changed from when Cryne was in charge.
To be honest I didn't see the handball, it was a long way away as you say, and I thought it was Cauley Woodrow with the follow up which hit the post, although the official site says Aapo Halme. But I agree with your general point though. The second half was a far better formation which suited our lads better, and gave us much needed width.
We were a shambles at the back believe me. That first goal wouldn’t have been conceded by a pub side. Criminal that we’ve ended January weaker than we started it.
In the first half it was completely one-sided. We couldn't get on the ball in midfield at all. The change in formation helped us in the second half, but also Charlton decided to defend their well-deserved lead. If extra points were awarded for a 3-0 win it might have been a different story. So I think just looking at the stats misrepresents how the game actually unfolded.
What formation do you think we'll start the next match with, and play until the 60 minute mark whatever the scoreline? Like you I have no time for our owners, but our manager is absolutely shocking.
Well, it's almost a lost cause as we all know, but in general I think in football (and in business in general) it's unwise to force people to work in a way they're not comfortable with. Far better to fit the system to the available players, rather than try to fit the players to the system. As we can't defend, the only chance we've got is to try to outscore the opposition. I believe the best way to do that is to use width and get crosses in. I'll reserve judgement on the manager, I'm unsure as to what limitations he's working under. If I were sitting in a restaurant watching the guy at the next table eating a nice juicy steak, but I was given the choice of cabbage, celery or sprouts, you can't blame me for having bad taste if I choose sprouts.
I think people who have spent hundreds of pounds to watch the match in full are entitled to be critical of the performance. Too many players making schoolboy errors that you don’t expect from professionals. By way of example, we got pulled up at least three times for foul throws. The last of which was Ludwig who managed to encroach at least a full yard over the line in front of the assistant ref, before her threw it. Should not be happening. We were terrible in the first half. The second half did not do enough to cheer me up. We lost, and I can’t see much cause for optimism. I didn’t get home until 11pm. I spent 7-8 hours on trains. Sorry if anything i post is negative, but i feel that I’ve been robbed of a day of my weekend. It’s a choice i made, so I take it on the chin, but I won’t be doing it again this season.
The first half was very, very poor. Wasn’t on a par with Preston though. Outside of the set piece goals conceded Radlinger didn’t have a save to make and there were no real chances of note for Charlton unless I’ve forgotten one. It was more being sluggish and poor with the ball, but even then we should have scored twice with the Halme chance and another where Brown chose to pass rather than shoot after a counter attack.
