I was having a drink last night with a mate who was a professional footballer in the championship. Having posted a couple of days ago a plea for us to be more direct , it was really interesting to hear him say that the quality of the championship is not very good partly because every team now from the u-18’s level upwards think they have to play like Barcelona.It makes the play too slow , too many sideways and backwards passes. The younger players , particularly from prem clubs who go out on loan don’t know how to tackle or take a tackle . They struggle with the physicality of the league .
He asked me ‘who are the 2 players in your team who ideally you would like to have the ball the least’.I answered I suppose it should be the centre halves – he then said who do you think has the ball the most at charlton – I said that I strongly suspect it is our centre halves.
Ask yourself if mick mccarthy of Ipswich who had 16 corners last night and as a result won 3-0 and will get them promoted while we dominated the middle of the park understands the pointlessness of trying to be Barcelona unless of course iniesta is on our January shopping list.
My biggest wish for 2015 is a happy peaceful and healthy new year to anyone who takes the time to read my ramblings
My 2nd wish would be for charlton to say goodbye to the ‘patient build up’ and get a couple of wingers who can beat a man plus a centre forward who can head the ball and get the ball into the box at least 3 times more often per game than they did in 2014.
HAPPY NEW YEAR and BIG LOVE to all you addicks out there !!!!!
Albury Addick 
Yur views on th style of play and players that we need mirror my own which I have been postulating from about 6 games from the season’s start.
Once somebody agrees at the club we might just see some more attacking and penetrating play. Personally, I would find that a lot more exciting than some of the pedestrian stuff that has been served up of late;
As the second half of the last home game showed, we are more than capable of playing like that.
Spot on. Dare I say it – we are boring. Like watching Italian football on a Sunday afternoon years ago. We will not gain promotion, new fans or players who want to play for us under the current policy. Forget the early mistakes of the players released, we are now lightweight in a division that requires seasoned consistent professionals. No amount of imports from the Duchelet group will give the squad the Championship experience. Surely those that have been sent packing already demonstrate that each of the managers, Sir Chris, Riga and Peeters all appear to agree but have not been able to get that across to the owner yet. Sadly our main man, Jacko, is on the wan after excellent service over recent seasons. We pose no threat to the opposition goal at present so lets go positive instead of pretty.
Rogeraddick
So you want to see the ball lumped into the box by the centre halves. I am sure your friend is excellent company. The view of an ex championship player doesn’t surprise me or impress me. Ask him how many teams he has managed and coached at championship level.
Jon
To be fair , lumping it into the box by the centre halves is not what I said . My point is that we generally need to be more direct and get it into the box more often . My preference which I refer to in the blog is with wingers. If you look back at our best team in the last 15 years , you certainly would not have wanted Eddie Youds or Richard Rufus to have been the players who had the ball the most. You wanted it to be with Kinsella, Newton, Robinson, Mendonca, Hunt , etc.
cheers
Albury
Hi Albury, thanks for your comments.
If the ball is not played out from the back there are three or .. four main options.
1 One of the back four tackles someone and kicks the ball in the direction of the big centre forward who is employed to jump up and try to head it.
2. The goalkeeper kicks it in the direction of the big centre forward who jumps up and try to head it.
3. A midfield player wins a tackle and kicks it in the direction of the big centre forward who is employed to jump up and try to head it.
4. This pattern of play is broken when the big centre forward wins a tackle and because he doesn’t have anyone big to aim at passes it back to another player who kicks it up in the air to the guy who won the tackle (I thought I’d avoid calling him the big centre forward) who can then jump up and try to head it.
Some observations:
A. In this system corners and free kicks become very important because they (corners and free kicks) reduce the distance the ball is kicked before the big centre forward tries to head it.
B. Players dont need to think much when using the long ball- “direct method”. And because they wont see much of the ball mistakes will be relatively rare. The worst we can expect is when the guy we employ to wear gloves kicks it long, misses the pitch and hits the East Stand (whereupon those of a superior intellect will cry “Deano”).
C. In this system the wingers you talk about wont see much of the ball. Unless someone brave or forgetful stops kicking it in the direction of the big centre forward who tries to head it..and passes it.
And finally my turn to bore you with the comments of a good friend…mine is a West ham season ticket holder. He told me today that the recent introduction of Andy Carroll has reduced West Ham to playing the “long ball” at every opportunity. In his words “it’s becoming more and more the easy option…hellishly tedious to watch.”. He predicts West Ham are destined to slide down the table. Only time will tell. He also said he would happily pay Newcastle to have the “big man” back,,(apparently there are rumours-more likely just wishful thinking). He said he’d help him pack and drive him up there!
Maybe in the meantime you might be tempted to pop along to Upton Park? Only kidding… All the best… Jon