Today's Considered Opinions

After getting some pretty decent feedback from last weeks 'thoughts' I thought I'd have another go (it must be the budding writer in me). I'm going to break this down into positives and negatives:

Positives:

We scored a couple of goals and looked far more threatening in the process. The second goal in particular was a decent move, good ball and a great finish that left the keeper stranded.

Mellis turned up and showed what he could do (in patches). We look a FAR better team when we get him on the ball and let him create. Some of the no-look style passing and passing off the outside of the foot we absoloutely outstanding. He just needs to be more consistent.

Some of the passing and movement in the first half was top class, it helps that all the players looked sharp and more match fit. This will come more with time!

Scott Wiseman is turning into a very decent Championship player. I thought I should add this as last year I was one of his biggest critics. I'm glad he's proving me wrong! Also on this note, it was great to have Kelvin back. He wasn't as sharp as he needs to be, but that's down to his injury and with time he'll be pivotal to the team again.

Negatives:

I'm buying Flicker a book called 'How to defend Set Pieces for Dummies'. Why oh why we cannot defend from corners and free kicks is just beyond me. Every time the ball goes into our box its mass panic and we really struggle. We now have height in Mvoto and COG so why the panic!?

The ref was abysmal! He didn't cost us the game, in fact far from it, but he was rubbish! Charlton employed some real rough house tactics at times yet these went unpunished, opposed to little niggles that were given bookings.

This is going to annoy people.....I'm sorry for banging the same drum but Dawson isn't up to the Championship. He is caught out and wanting time and time again. The sooner we can get Etuhu, Perkins and Mellis in that middle 3 we'll be a far better team. Also there is a real need to get Nyatanga back into the side as Kennedy has developed long ball and lack of confidence syndrome. Give him some time out of the team and he'll come back a better player.

Finally, we need to stop reverting to hoofball when we are under pressure. That is the most important time to keep the ball, pop it around and make the opposition work. After the first Charlton goal, we dropped far too deep, invited them forwards and started lumping it long. They were just picking up the scraps and the attacks started again.

Today really showed it is a game of two halves. We are not far away! A good centre forward to play off COG and get Cranie, Nyatanga and Etuhu back in the team and we'll be ok. Keep the faith (for now!)

 

I disagree about Kennedy. He hasn't developed long ball and lack of confidence syndrome. He has a great left foot and Flicker utilizes that to get the ball forward quicker. I lost count of the times he played a perfect pass into O'Grady's chest or feet. It was by far our most effective tactic. He certainly doesn't lack confidence either, he's quite at home playing short passes at the back while under pressure.

 

Wiseman was very good again today. His awareness and positioning has come on a hell of a lot. Not sure what his 'effort' on goal was all about though!

Agree with this, although at times today he took too long on the ball and put us on the back foot.

 

Be nice for us to threaten a goal from a corner and free kick , but there was more positives today than negatives . Mellis is our most creative player but goes missing in games , but we need him in the team to link the midfield and attack without just playing long ball to cog all the time

 

Totally totally agree. His left foot and his use of the ball is sweet. Top quality. Hardly ever misses the target with a pass. As flicker sez.....he's like an American quarter back. Intrigues me that over 90 minutes so many different opinions are formed. That's footy I guess. But TK? Quality.

 

Thought Diggers could have done a little better with his header from a corner, but generally you're right. Our bigest problem is that O'Brien often takes them and he can't actually kick a football properly. He scoops it rather than strikes it. Consequently our corners are floated in rather than pinged in. Don't get ne wrong, I think O'Brien has many good attributes, kicking a football isn't one of them.

 

Which is rather a handicap when you consider his paid profession eh ?

 

Laughing at that, they are floated but i`d like to see us attack the ball more at corners. Their keeper caught one chest height int first half anyone running in in front of him would`ve just needed to get their head on it.

 

O'Brien did very well at wingback today. Got a bit tired later on but played well on the whole. His delivery from corners is abject though, I agree with you there. They need to come in with more pace and whip to cause problems. Their keeper helped himself to half of them and those that do reach our players are travelling that slowly it's hard for them to generate any pace on headers. Something that needs to be worked on really as not scoring from corners is something that has gone on far too long.

 

Could well be ;-)

 

I thought that TK and Jimbo had decent games today actually. Although I've always thought the same about Jim's technique when it comes to crossing and corner-taking. He doesn't seem to be able to generate enough pace on them.. still, at least some of them are put into the right areas.

 

Thought he was terrific in most things he did.....except corners and free kicks. Why doesn't Mellis take them one side, Kennedy to other, both can strike a ball pretty well.

 

We never put anybody on there keeper at corners too , and instead of giving us a chance to score from , we tend to suffer from counter attacks off our corners

 

Just seen the goals on Sky.

Thought that Luke Steele could have come out to challenge Church a little bit sooner than he did. The defender running back was unlucky that they couldnt clear the ball off the line.

A bit of a demoralising result in the end. We need to get this win to ease the pressure sooner rather than later.