One night in Walsall

as the song goes- is like a year in any other place

Well OK maybe not but what fun we had on Tuesday night. A magnificent performance from the team, somewhat Barcelonaesque  I thought full of lovely passing and flowing movement. I wore every piece of warm clothing that I could locate only to find that it was unseasonably humid and I was sweating more than the players.

You have to say that when the team is on a going day they really are a pleasure to watch. Apart from the train service back from the Bescot to New St – what genius planned a train in the 90th minute followed by one 45 mins later- it was a great night out.

Its hard to believe that there are even 2 better teams than us in this division let alone 6, but consistency has been the problem and the injuries to Igor and Josh Cullen are bad news. Cullen in particular was brilliant on Tuesday night. Also its no coincidence that since we paired Pearce and Bielik we haven’t let a goal in for 3 games.

I can recommend the Eggs Benedict breakfast in Virgin 1st class ( senior railcard discount) back to Euston on Weds morning. Very tasty.

Bielik is imperious

Far be it from me to criticise our Lee and we all make mistakes but I can’t imagine what he was thinking when he put Pratley at centre half at Rochdale and Bielik in midfield. Bielik is a monster in the making – he was imperious yesterday and together with Pearce they make a fantastic central pairing. I’m a bit worried about young Djksteel. He’s going to be a fabulous player but at the moment he has a worrying tendency to give the winger on his side of the pitch too much space.

An excellent cameo from the ‘eskimo’ ( left out in the cold) Marshall and another great shift from Joe Aribo. I thought both Reeves and Jamie Ward played well so grounds for optimism everywhere.

Anyway, all that aside, an excellent performance yesterday but the injury to Taylor is concerning – holding the ball up top will be more problematic without him. Let’s hope Karlan and Igor step up to the challenge on Tuesday at Walsall.

I agree with Lee that the team is better than last season but they need to find some consistency from somewhere and win a few games on the bounce.

 

 

Charlton have dropped into the abyss

I don’t know about you but losing games away at places like Rochdale and Scunthorpe and getting a lucky draw at Accrington in front of crowds of c 3,000 just shows to me how far the club has descended into the abyss.

It is frankly a disgrace and massively embarrassing for the dwindling diehard fans that still bother to go to games. It almost makes you ashamed to admit that you are a Charlton fan  – and I’ve been going week in week out now for 52 years.

I really like Lee Bowyer and I seriously hope that he can turn it around – but at some point we’ve got to stop saying how talented the players are and sort out what’s going on in games. To be honest, we’ve assembled the team for tuppence so they probably aren’t that good and probably can’t play it out from the back with 20 passes until it gets to Taylor or Grant. In which case , let’s stop trying that and get the ball forward quicker. We’ve been trying this tippy tappy stuff for 2 seasons now and it isn’t working.

maybe you have to play like Stoke in order to get out of this league – we need to be more direct and for heavens sake we won’t go anywhere unless the midfielders start to score some goals – Reeves, Fosu, Cullen, Aribo etc have to contribute.

Im not sure about all these small skilful players – what we need is a defence and midfield made up of 9 Jason Pearce’s

 

Daylight Robbery at The Valley

How on earth did we lose yesterday ?

We were infinitely the better side with loads of possession, a hatful of chances. Up until their first goal in the 80th minute I don’t think Coventry had actually had a shot  and then somehow we contrive to let them score two. On Tuesday night, we dominated Scunthorpe, missed two open goals in the first 15 minutes and should have won the game comfortably.

Youve got to feel for Lee Bowyer, we are playing some lovely football, the players are giving 100 % effort and on the balance of play really should have won both of these games easily. We are too open at the back and somehow he’s got to shore it up without sacrificing too much of our attacking capability.

Part of the problem is the lack of defensive options available to him. The only possible change I guess is to bring Beliek in to centre half and push Sarr to left back , putting Solly back to right back with young Dijksteel back to the bench.

It is hard to believe that we can carry on playing so well without getting better results- let’s hope so !!!!

More complete nonsense from Roland

You do wonder if Roland takes any PR advice from anyone – if he does , I suggest it’s probably Gerald Ratner.

Apparently, the recent publicity over the row over the discretionary bonuses for admin staff has “affected his ability to sell the club”. What a load of absolute cobblers. No serious interested party is going to give two hoots about the publicity accorded to this petty issue or indeed the issue itself.

In fact, if I was an interested buyer, I would think it’s great news because it just demonstrates how inept Rolands regime and management are that somehow they allowed this to occur in the first place. What idiot in management could have created a ‘discretionary bonus’ scheme with enough confusion in it that the staff actually thought it would pay out when the club is losing c £10m a year.

Any new owners would be thinking thats great it’s yet another example of how any new management team with even half a brain would be welcomed with open arms.

The statement from the club is an example of how to insult your fans collective intelligence.

Its like watching an episode of the Brittas Empire

Lee Bowyer can lead Charlton back to the Premiership

OK you probably think I’ve gone mad in a fit of Plymouth win inspired euphoria- but – and I’ve frequently banged on about this – football, much like business, hinges on momentum. Lee has created an attractive entertaining side, which is indeed better to watch than last season. The momentum is building, it’s not just the last 4 wins on the spin- it’s the way they are playing and the likelihood that it will continue.

Added to this, the manager is the most important piece in the jigsaw and he obviously knows how to pick a player – look at Taylor, Cullen, Grant, Bielik – and he certainly knows how to motivate them.

They don’t get bullied any more, we give as good as we get and they run their hearts out all game long. He also understands football tactics, when to play 442, the diamond, 3 at the back – all that stuff. Finally, he speaks calmly and sensibly and oozes common sense.

We should get promoted this season and if we do, the first season back in the championship will bring a Top 10  or possibly Top 6 finish because we will have the momentum. With a big slice of luck which we are well overdue, we might well go straight back up – look at Wigan this season who might do just that.

The obvious flaw in all of this is if our idiot owner decides to revert to type and start doing stupid things again. But so far so good. We can only hope that finally he realises its best to leave it to someone who actually knows what they are doing.

It would be nice to se the crowds returning. I suspect there really aren’t many ‘boycotters’ it’s rather that people got fed up watching us lose and play poor football.

Well to all of those who used to come , get your arses back down The Valley because it’s fun again and you will absolutely love it. If you are actually boycotting because of the owner, he’s not going to sell now until at least January, so you might aswell postpone your principles and come and enjoy supporting your team again

onwards and upwards and back to the Premiership with Lee Bowyer.

Corrupt and/or Bonkers

Let’s be frank, in order to own a Premiership or Championship club you need to be a Billionaire now. There are very few ‘local boy made good’ owners. Quite a lot of the new breed of owners made their money by stealing from every one of the population in their home countries – the principal owner in London being a case in point.

There has been much gnashing of teeth in South East London this am following the revelation that we might swop one nut job owner, Duchatelet for another in Fawaz Al Hasawi. He does indeed look like another example but the problem is that common sense and vision don’t normally accompany vast wealth – hubris, arrogance and corruption normally do.

Anyway, we shall see – it’s really hard to believe that any new owner could be stupider than Roland – at least the Forest bloke didn’t manage to get his club relegated.

The club statement about the EFL meeting is a case in point. It’s complete jibberish – apparently written either by a 10year old or by someone who doesn’t speak English as their first language.

I am sorry to say that any new owner of Charlton with the requisite funds ( that rules out the Aussies) is highly likely to come with a significant amount of unpleasant baggage. Unfortunately that’s the world we now live in.