The Revolving Door!

Dean Holden paid the ultimate price for Saturday’s performance and loss away to Oxford on Saturday.

Yes, it wasn’t good, yes, he got several things wrong and yes. The game, like many others of late, wasn’t well managed.

It has been a dreadful start to the season with constant chopping and changing of formations and starting elevens. However, Holden probably deserved a bit more slack given the lack of support in respect of transfers. In addition, whatever bad luck and decisions in games and injuries have all conspired against him.

It is still something of a surprise that Holden has gone especially as this ownership group brought him to the club. Unlike, some of our previous managers his departure is a real shame. Clearly, Dean is a decent bloke and had the best of intentions. He deserved better support and I’d like to have seen how he’d have fared with a better squad.

Saturday’s first half was probably the worst of the season to date. The U’s goal followed a routine from a free kick that I assume was designed to outwit them. All it did was see the ball hoofed long downfield where May was expected to outjump and out muscle the defence.

The result was that it came back with interest and our boys decided to back off allowing Goodrham to advance and pick his spot.

It was a similar disaster for their second where we overcommitted and their quick break saw us outnumbered and all over the place.

Now the management team has gone, the revolving door turns once more and we’re scrapping around looking for a new manager, about 6 new players whilst needing to offload at least 3 and maybe more players that simply aren’t up to the task.

The managerial shortlists I’ve seen make depressing reading bar one or two passable possibilities. God help us all if we up end up with Johnson or Evans!

Come midnight on Thursday and we’ll know how the last couple of days of this transfer window has panned out. I think we’d have been struggling to recruit players before the weekend’s events but with no manager and an uncertain future all round it looks like a Herculian task!

All we can hope for is a half decent manager and a handful of reasonable players who will no doubt be predominantly loans.

What an utter mess! 

Dean Holden paid the ultimate price for Saturday’s performance and loss away to Oxford on Saturday.

 

Yes, it wasn’t good, yes, he got several things wrong and yes. The game, like many others of late, wasn’t well managed.

 

It has been a dreadful start to the season with constant chopping and changing of formations and starting elevens. However, Holden probably deserved a bit more slack given the lack of support in respect of transfers. In addition, whatever bad luck and decisions in games and injuries have all conspired against him.

 

It is still something of a surprise that Holden has gone especially as this ownership group brought him to the club. Unlike, some of our previous managers his departure is a real shame. Clearly, Dean is a decent bloke and had the best of intentions. He deserved better support and I’d like to have seen how he’d have fared with a better squad.

 

Saturday’s first half was probably the worst of the season to date. The U’s goal followed a routine from a free kick that I assume was designed to outwit them. All it did was see the ball hoofed long downfield where May was expected to outjump and out muscle the defence.

 

The result was that it came back with interest and our boys decided to back off allowing Goodrham to advance and pick his spot.

 

It was a similar disaster for their second where we overcommitted and their quick break saw us outnumbered and all over the place.

 

Now the management team has gone and we’re scrapping around looking for a new manager, about 6 new players whilst needing to offload at least 3 and maybe more players that simply aren’t up to the task.

 

The managerial shortlists I’ve seen make depressing reading bar one or two passable possibilities. God help us all if we up end up with Johnson or Evans!

 

Come midnight on Thursday and we’ll know how the last couple of days of this transfer window has panned out. I think we’d have been struggling to recruit players before the weekend’s events but with no manager and an uncertain future all round it looks like a Herculian task!

 

All we can hope for is a half decent manager and a handful of reasonable players who will no doubt be predominantly loans.

 

What an utter mess!

Oxford Away

When you’ve just lost 3 league games on the spin what better than to travel away to a team that’s just won 3 in a row!

Following an opening day defeat to rivals Cambridge, the U’s have recorded 1-0, 1-2 and 1-3 wins. The away wins at Derby and Barnsley are particularly impressive.

Manager Liam Manning replaced Karl Robinson back in February after a poor set of results and performances. In truth, Robinson ought to have gone well before then (sound familiar?). Manning appears to be doing things right and he has made his mark on the team.

Oxford have several promising young players that are in good form at the moment. Notably, they include goalkeeper James Beadle who left Charlton for Brighton a couple of years ago. Another mess courtesy of the previous regime.

James is on loan from Brighton. Beadle has great promise and even at the tender age of 19 has been impressive this season.

Another 19 year old with Charlton connections and performing well is Stan Mills (son of Danny) who is on loan from Everton.

Slightly older at 21 is Stephan Negru. He has only played a handful of league games but has also shone to date.

A more senior player at the “old age of 27” is Cameron Brannagan who has played over 200 games for United. He is a quality player who is usually good for 10 to 15 goals a season. 

Oxford, like us this season, are a young side and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain their good start throughout a long season.

Anything other than a defeat tomorrow can be viewed as an improvement. For that to happen we need to cut out the silly defensive mistakes that have blighted our last few games.

Going forward, we are creating chances although that’s only good if you take them of course!

Having Kanu up front last Saturday greatly increased our goal scoring threat. Playing May on his own up front is daft and Kanu needs to stay there.

There is some thought that new signing, Chem Campbell, may start in a front three of CBT, May and himself. Not a good idea for me. Aside from May needing a proper striker alongside him, we need a physical presence and outlet. The ball has more chance of sticking up front with him in the side.

AMB ought to be replaced by Isted and if fit. Camara should come straight back into the team.

Holden has had a full week to work with the team to address the issues at both ends of the pitch and hopefully, we see an improvement at both ends of the pitch.

Our league record at the Kassam is woeful and I was lucky enough to be there for the cup game that we won a few years ago. Let’s pray that we can record a rare league victory much against the odds.

It’s often when we play the better teams that we do well, tomorrow would be a good day to win! I might just have a punt on that….geddit!

Come On You Reds!

Another Defeat

The pattern for this season (and many others!) continues and we should be used to it by now. We dominate for large periods, create lots of opportunities but fail to take them before finally gifting goals to the oppo.

It was blindingly obvious that if we didn’t turn that first half dominance into goals were going to be at risk of at least not winning. I’m as pessimistic as the best of them but at half-time even I didn’t think we could conspire to lose this!

Like Barnsley we’ve played Vale at home, like Barnsley we play in red and white but there ends the similarities. The Tykes had 8 shots on target, we had 7. They scored 7, we scored 2. Barnsley also didn’t gift goals in order to keep a clean sheet!

How can you explain a young lad and a very experienced player both making mistakes that lead directly to goals. To be fair to Asiimwe he is young and inexperienced and that aside, he looked knackered. Hector really ought to know and do better.

We constantly change the defence but no one is really staking a claim for a right to start. That, allied to changing systems is a recipe for disaster and so it proves.

Finally playing two up front made us more potent and it should have happened before. However, we still need to make more of our chances. CBT gets in to some positions but again his slowness to either shoot or cross early enough costs us.

In the first half he kept cutting inside but worked his across the goal trying to create a shooting chance. At one stage I thought he’d end up in the car park before doing either!

The ref was awful and yes, it should have been a red card but that doesn’t excuse the loss. Again we’ve collected more yellow cards. You might argue that one or two were unjustified but the players ought to know that time wasting and arguing will almost certainly lead to a card.

AMB and Alfie have now, I think, both collected 3 yellows. Both Saturday’s booking were avoidable. They know how it works this season. Ultimately, our thin squad will be tested again as the inevitable suspensions kick in.

The bench was awful on Saturday and most of those players really need to go. I counted 4 that I’d happily say goodbye to. How can we have any success if that’s all we’ve got?

Holden’s post match comments almost seem to distance himself from the recruitment process saying Scott and his team would have it in hand. I hope that Dean isn’t removed from any transfer dealings.

Our new owners and in particular, frontman Charlie boy have been very quiet. We need more than being photographed outside the pub. The season’s start has been a disaster and we need to be told what they intend to do to address it.

I fear we won't hear anything or get any insight.

Prior to 1^st September. By then something will either have been or we’ll have had another lacklustre summer transfer window being told that we couldn’t quite get deals over line, were just beaten to one or two signings etc.etc.

I’m really struggling to see how we can expect to get anything from Saturday’s visit to Oxford. Liam Manning’s boys are in good form but in any case, I think we’d struggle to beat any team in the league at the moment. That’s how bad it is!

Vale At The Valley

Tuesday night's late defeat to Bristol Rovers perfectly encapsulated the eternal lifecycle of a Charlton fan. A bit of promise, a set back, hope and finally, defeat and despair! Repeat ad infinitum!

Much like Saturday's loss away to Posh we probably didn't deserve to lose but again, we did. And again defensive lapses and a failure to take more than one chance cost us dear.

Leaving Alfie May to battle away without proper support is costing us dear. The difference when Kanu came on was clear and obvious. He simply must start tomorrow.

May was unfortunate not to score but it was good to see him have a couple of opportunities against a high line defence. With one of them it's inexplicable how the defender didn't see red. 

Further bucking the trend of matches to dates was that only 3 yellow cards were issued to players and that a relatively small amount of time was added on in each half. 

The goals we've conceded to date have all been self-inflicted. Payne gave away a needless free kick and the defence pretty much switched off for the second. I'm off the opinion that sadly, AMB was at fault for both.

Whilst he was credit for a decent save from the free kick I felt he ought to have put it out for a corner. There was always the danger of a rebound and a second bite otherwise. Like the second, I appreciate that he wasn't helped by a soporific defence!

We were presented with a decent start to this season and winning only one of our opening 3 games is a missed opportunity. Losing 2 of them is even worse. We have already lost ground and will have to do so much better if we are to achieve even a play-off spot.

Dean Holden faces some more selection headaches. He would be helped by some much needed additions. I trust that work is going on behind the scenes and that he has been given some reassurance in that regard. 

We've just under 2 weeks to finalise the squad and get it to a position to make a decent fist of challenging at the top of the league.

I assume that we are somewhat hampered by the need to rid ourselves of some of the squad. Some of the poor recruitment decisions made under the previous regime hang over us like a dark cloud.

After conceding 7 goals on the opening day Vale haven't let in another goal in the following 2 league games. Clearly they've sharpened up the defence and so we will need to take any chance we get if we are to get anything from the game.

Equally, whilst Vale haven't been prolific scorers if we have more defensive lapses then we'll come away with nothing.

We have a tricky looking trip to Oxford on the following Saturday before we're back at home against Fleetwood with a finalised squad by which time we'll be clearer on how this season is going to shape up.

Come On You Reds!

Time To Steady The Ship

 " What's a pirate's favourite letter? "

" R ! "

" No, a pirate's first love is the C ! "

That remains one of my favourite jokes. We need a bit of humour (when don't we as Charlton fans) as the early excitement has evaporated following two successive defeats.

Tonight we face The Pirates and we need a performance and more importantly result to calm things down.

There's an increasing sense of both frustration and disappointment especially as we were told targets were identified. The need for a striker has been obvious for some time. We've been incredibly patient with the new owners but on this they've maintained a radio silence.

It's annoying as our early fixtures have offered a chance to put down a marker. We can dismiss the cup game, I'm not overly fussed about going out of that. However, had we acquired a half decent striker to support May then we probably would have come away with at least a point on Saturday.

The Posh really didn't impress me much but the one goal they got always looked like being enough given our lightweight attack.

We are so reliant on CBT instigating nearly every offensive action and it's so predictable and easy to nullify. Any aerial cross is usually cut out given our diminutive strike force.

I was disappointed with our approach against Orient given that they played such a high line defensively but I can't recall us playing May in behind them. It seemed the obvious thing to do.

Charlie needs to come out and reassure us that there is a plan of action other than wait for a few more days and we end up shopping at lastminute.com again!

Of course, it's more than just a striker we need. That has also been quite evident for some time. The new rules mean that we will see many more player suspensions given that yellow cards are being handed out like confetti. 

I'm sure the intentions are good but it's gone too far. Players and indeed managers are getting carded for the most trivial things. That allied to our fondness for long term injuries doesn't bode well for our weak and thin squad.

In addition, we are now seeing games last longer than ever. I agree with the aim to reduce the time the ball is out of play but the knock on effect of prolonging games is something that needs attention.

On Saturday the second half didn't kick off until 4.10pm and the game finished at 5.05pm. Not so much of an issue with a 3pm kick off but for evening games it will have an impact of fans travel.

For those of us who live a bit further away evening games mean not getting home until at least midnight. The extra time that will now be added on is likely to push that back even further.

Clubs ought to look to bring forward evening kick offs to 7.30pm in order to help alleviate the travel difficulties.

Tonight's opponents have drawn both their opening league games which is pretty decent when one considers they were against Pompey and Barnsley. We are going to have to be on top of our game and probably need a bit of luck if we are to get anything tonight.

We live in hope and this time last season I travelled down to the Valley for the game versus Plymouth not expecting much. We ran out 5-1 winners and a repeat of that would be very welcome (I can but dream!).

Come On You Reds!

      

   

 

 

Peterborough Away

If a week is a long time in politics it's even longer in football and more specifically S.E.7!

My excitement and anticipation of last week has somewhat evaporated ahead of tomorrow's visit to London Road, It's not purely down to Tuesday's result. The performance and additions to the injury have serves to highlight the overall weakness of our squad.

Our need for a striker has been blatantly obvious for months well before the end of last season even. Despite being told our transfer targets and the associated budget had the agreed there's not been any progress to date. Leaburn's injury was unfortunate but we always needed more cover.

Just as worrying is the lack of movement out of the club. I really think it's to say goodbye to Kirk, DJ and McGrandles. Maybe we're having trouble shifting them.

Of more immediate concern is tomorrow's game of course. Playing last season's Play-Off semi-finalists away won't be easy. Posh went 4-0 up after the first leg only to remarkably lose the 2nd leg at Hillsborough. 

Darren Ferguson returned for the umpteenth time in January. It was an appointment that was largely questioned at the time but it proved the correct one.

We'll do well to keep Jonson Clarke-Harris quiet. He bagged 26 league goals last season on his way to jointly winning the golden boot along with Ipswich's Connor Chaplin.

Looking at ourselves we need to cut out the awful defensive errors and mistakes that accompanied all 3 of Newport's goals on Tuesday! Embarrassing and naive. Those who made the long trip up from London deserved an awful lot better.

Overall, given the paucity of our squad and our propensity to collect injuries we're probably better of out the cup, 

Let's hope we can emerge from tomorrow without further knocks and at present, I'd take a decent away point especially as we have another home game on Tuesday.

Come On You Reds!

A Decent Start

There was a lot to like yesterday as The Addicks started with a win at a very wet Valley. There was an awful lot of rain but the pitch was still watered prior to kick off!

The opening day is always a good win and although the weather wasn't great it failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the largest home crowd for some time. The fans really got behind the and it made for a good atmosphere.

I guess a technical issue put paid to the playing of Valley Floyd Road but Brian Cole did an admirable job as he stepped into the breach to kick things off.

An effective rather than dazzling performance saw us over the line and get the 3 points. In the end that's what matters most. It was quite entertaining stuff for the most part, full of energy and endeavour.

The debutants more than justified their inclusion and Alfie May's tireless running deserved a goal which he so nearly got but for a quality save and Dobbo nipping in ahead of him!

I'm not a fan of the multi-ball system that the EFL has brought in this season. I think it is open to abuse by clubs should they so wish but at least it keeps the ball in play more which is the aim.

Tiring legs were replaced as the game wore on and it served to improve the team at the time. Camara ought to be playing for the other Championship club in Anglia as he looked mustard. His skill and vision was a cut above and if he can stay fir he will prove a tremendous acquisition. It was a shame he couldn't convert the chance he had late on as that would have capped a nice cameo.

A decent start then with much more still to do. We do really need to get on the front foot and get a striker in asap. I appreciate that some of the recruits (loanees) will be left until late as the Premier clubs sort their needs.

I presume that for Tuesday night's cup game we will rest a few ahead of the trip to Posh on Saturday. As good as the competition was for us last season, I wouldn't be too fussed if we out early doors. We struggle to cope with injuries at the best of times and any more risk than necessary certainly won't help.

 

 

 

 

 

Here We Go Again!

The departure of Sandgaard means a fresh start in so many ways and one will try to be optimistic. The great Dane has taken his banjo and accompanying ego arguably leaving the club in no better state than when he left.

The early signs were promising as we initially excused Thomas in indulging himself with the endless self-promotion. Increasingly it became obvious that he was clueless with his reluctance to accept advice from anyone outside of his immediate family.

Thankfully, his departure was accompanied by that of the good doctor and Sandgaard junior although one wonders how we can replace his extensive lower league and recruitment knowledge.

There’s still a lot to learn about the latest new owners but there are promising signs in that we haven’t been overly treated to the unrealistic and empty rhetoric that littered Sandgaard’s tenure.

Charlie clearly will be fronting up for them which is fine by me. I don’t necessarily need to hear direct from the owners. Back in the day you had little idea who owned football clubs and the same for the chairmen too.

All we want is success on the pitch allied to some decent football. Improving on performances won’t be too difficult. Hopefully, us fans can recapture a lot of the enthusiasm and anticipation that has been sadly in recent seasons.

The early transfer business was good most notably with the acquisition of Alfie May. A quality player at this level who is also a local lad. Aside from that, having played for The Deres makes him alright with me!

As much as we can hopefully look forward to some more much needed incoming transfers there is equally work to be done to rid ourselves of a few deadweights. Many of those have plenty of opportunity to prove their worth and have failed to do so.

The stupidity of starting the season whilst the transfer window is still open does no one any favours. We can only properly gauge where we are come the 1^st September.

Sadly, we have said goodbye to Steve Gallen. I guess it was inevitable that he was going to leave and in any case, I think QPR had been courting him for some time. It won’t be a surprise if he ends up there.

Gallen pulled many rabbits out of the hat over the years whilst doing a difficult job given the restraints he was working under. As much as anything he was required to play the role of a diplomat and that was something he did with equal aplomb.

We couldn’t have wished for a better opening game than playing Orient. They are a proper football club and I was so pleased to see them get promoted last season. One of my mates is an O and he was chuffed with promotion after the difficult times they’ve been through.

One of my favourite memories is a rare Sunday game against them. I’ve checked and it was Sunday 25^th October 1981. It finished in a 1-1 draw. To demonstrate how rare Sunday games were, I seem to recall that we were simply handed a team sheet. I guess they weren’t permitted to sell programmes.

The game featured the legendary Stan Bowles. He brought a touch of class to the game. I remember that he ran out late for the second half as everyone was made to wait for him…….and rightly so!

Talking of legends tomorrow sees the long-awaited return of Darren Pratley. Darren is a player who was fantastic for us and should never have been let go. His time at Orient has shown how big a mistake that was. He can look forward to a great reception from all round the ground.

Holden continues to impress me and one hope he will get the backing he needs. Last night’s Q&A only served to add to my admiration and respect for him. I really hope he succeeds.

I’ve been sufficiently moved by the pre-season developments to buy a season ticket. Let’s hope my unusual moment of optimism is not misplaced!

I am so looking forward to tomorrow, let’s hope the whole day meets my expectations!

Come on you Reds!