Cynical of course..........
It was the word on the lips of the vast majority of Addicks as they belatedly left The Valley yesterday. One might add to that another C word..........cheating of course, what were you thinking ?
It seems that Dirty Leeds haven't changed and the ethos instilled by Revie in the 70's is serving as a lasting legacy intrinsically linked with them. Perhaps it's in the manager's job description, a need to perpetuate that approach to win a game of football. Michael Brown was the epitome of everything that was to despise about United yesterday. Sadly the vastly incompetent referee, Keith Stroud, simply lapped it all up. Stroud and Leeds were a deadly combination and we stood little chance as a result.
The gesticulating Stroud, a useless t**t
No one minds losing to a team that has outplayed you, played decent football in an appropriate manner, sadly none of this can be said about Leeds on Saturday.
Brian McDermott has more hair than I have respect for him.
I was a fan of McDermott but not now. Anyone who seemingly condones, encourages and endorses that approach to the beautiful game deserves nothing but scorn. Shame on you !
I was pleased to see both Harriott and Stewart start but not so pleased to them playing on their unnatural sides. I fully understand the idea of cutting inside onto their favoured foot but Stewart's crossing in the first half suffered as a result. The penalty might not have been conceded had it been Stewart trying to make the tackle as opposed to the left footed Callum. They did swap briefly to their more correct positions ( with Stewart scoring in that time note ) but like the ref, it was all too short.
We didn't deserve to lose this game but to an extent we were masters of our own downfall. Ben Hamer had a very poor game. I know all about the recent clean sheets ( my mate does his laundry ) and he's undoubtedly played a part in those. However, his distribution was awful yesterday. In addition, he should have claimed the ball before the third went in and his positioning for the fourth in questionable as he seemed to be obscured by standing in line with the last man in the wall.
Time wasting was one of the tactics employed by United and Paddy Kenny was commander in chief. In my view he should have been booked well before he was. The linesman should have told the ref ( he had his back to Kenny ) about the sarcastic applause that ought have resulted in a second yellow and an early bath for the custodian.
It would be churlish not to acknowledge the fact that Kenny made several excellent and crucial saves to keep his team in the game. The ones from Church in the first half and Harriott's apparently deflected effort were top drawer.
We should have had at least one penalty but we were never going to get anything from him were we.
The final C word..........clapping. There was no clapping just now at The Cenotaph because it isn't the done thing and no one was asked to. Similarly yesterday the crowd as told that we would be observing a few moments silence...even that was beyond our friends from Oop North. Clap players and others associated with a football club if you like but not those that fell in the two world wars and other conflicts.
A sad day all round.
Succintly put. I could not believe it when so many morons started clapping. What got me was the utter stupidity of them even mistaking that gesture for the traditional minutes silence! I did start writing a post for my own blog last night but was finding it quite hard to put my opinions on time waisting and general cheating in a way that wasn't complete vitriol directed towards Dirty Leeds.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why Charlton lost was because mccormack is the best striker in the league, hamer is useless and your defence is terrible. The pitch was an absolute disgrace, it was spitting throughout the day and your pitch can't handle it. That causes injuries, mistakes and just ruins the game. Charlton deserved what they got because of that awful pitch and the fact that the home support is also a disgrace where as the away support was exceptional.
ReplyDeleteEven if there was cynicism does that really cause hamer to not make a single save or for every single of your crosses go out of play.
Can I also say I did find it quite strange when a fans further back started clapping. I do find it equally strange that every single charlton fan blames cynicism for losing, not poor defending and goalkeeping
Scoops, indeed I had to tame it quite a bit myself ! Anon, I think you'll find I said we were masters of our own downfall to an extent allied of course to the Leeds approach and the man in the middle. Our pitch is bad but that can be improved, Leeds haven't changed and that is unlikely to ! The away support is exceptional, it must be not to feel any embarrassment or shame in watching their team behave like that every game ! There's a delicious irony in Leeds having won the " Fairs " cup but sadly it's lost on the average Leeds fan.
ReplyDeleteWe did what we had to do to get a result. Right from the lineup. Pugh and brown don't fit in to our attacking, fast paced style of play but they played to grind out a result. We had to revert back to the dreaded hoof ball to get the result and yes time wasting was evident, hard tackles and cynicsm was all there but is that the reason why charlton lost.
DeleteNo
Carried on, 17 shots, 4 on target is pretty poor, 0 saves is appalling, countless amounts of wayward crosses and although possession was a major tactic for charlton it wasn't attacking possession it was just playing the ball around without doing much at all. Ross mccormack showed he was by far the best player on the field, followed by paddy kenny who kept us in the game
ReplyDeleteThe charlton fans love to shout at the ref but hate to get behind the team. It is disgraceful. The leeds fans are proud of the hard work and commitment of the players from all eras as shown when andy hughes came bolting out when all the home fans left "your leeds and you know you are" was sung. He wasnt a great player just a hard working dedicated player just like Pugh and brown. If they continue doing what they did on Saturday which is grind out results when we need them then we will be successful. We knew we couldn't play one touch football right from when the squads came out
I think I made it clear that the ref and Leeds approach combined to make it difficult for us to win but didn't fail in acknowledging our own part in the defeat. Your comments are a verbose of saying we'll win at all costs as has always been the way with Leeds.
ReplyDeleteYep if we're playing on Sunday league pitches we have to play Sunday league football to win. As a result we are now 1 point off the playoffs, ready to play in front of 25000 plus next Saturday against a managerless team sitting 16th where as you are ready for a relegation scrap as you are 3 points off relegation ready to play QPR.
ReplyDeleteThat's an insult to Sunday league football, they don't need to stoop that low. Think you'll have a long wait for kick off if you turn up to watch Dirty Leeds next Saturday, I think it's not until Saturday week that you'll get to enjoy another bout of that horrible brand of football. Of course you get bigger gates, so what ? There's f**k all else to do in Leeds whereas there are many other attractions in London aside from the numerous other football clubs. We know our pitch is s**t but we don't have the same large budget as mighty Dirty Leeds. United won't make the playoffs not even if you had Mr Stroud reffing all your games.
ReplyDeleteI live just outside of London, so I don't really care what there is to do in leeds. I only make the trips to watch leeds united play. The support at charlton home and away is appalling. The fans just sit there in deadly silence other than the 200 odd at the top of the north stand who try but fail to create an atmosphere. How many will you bring to leeds this year? 300 like last time! We had to play that way to win at the valley that's why we played our reserve players, michael brown and danny Pugh who are both tough tackling long ball specialists. They won't get a look in all season. Whose to say we will or won't get playoffs. We're at home next match against middlesborough, were on top form and mccormack is on fire. If we win we will most probably be in the playoffs where as if you lose you will most probably be in the relegation zone.
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DeleteOh yeah also, it turns out the referee wasn't so bad after all, both penalty decisions proved to be correct. Harriot showed his quality and inexperience in the match. Instead of jockeying Pugh he decides to lung in from behind to get both the man and the ball. The ref didn't have much choice. Church clearly slips or dives as he goes flying across the box. Brown I think clearly makes zero contact and church either skipped on the poorly turfed pitch or dived. I honestly think he slipped but there you go. Other than that no referee decisions influenced the match just mccormack's quality and hamer's incompetence