The Blame Game

For a second successive Saturday a late goal has cost us points. For a second successive Saturday the manager made poor choices with substitutions. For a second successive Saturday he blames the players. For a second successive Saturday the manager doesn't accept any responsibility.

Never mind that we apparently dominated the game the real fault lay in the team yet again failing to convert chances into goals. Donny are in poor form and haven't won a game all year and we couldn't beat them or hold onto the lead.

The opportunity that fell to Reeves best typifies the inability to score. In that position any player, even one without an eye for goal, shoots to the far post. They certainly don't pull the ball back to the penalty spot.

There has to be a reason why we struggle to win games or more convincingly when we do. As sure as eggs are eggs it's down to an awful lot more than " the rub of the green " as Robinson would have us believe.

For someone who likes to portray himself as the great motivator the manager sure knows how to mistreat players. KAG gets loaned out and Aribo get dropped. In both cases the players deserved a run in the side. In Aribo's his replacement JFC did little against Oxford to suggest he should retain his place and yet he gets singled out for praise and does just that.

Magennis fails to score in 14 games and always starts and never gets subbed. Not even coming off for even the last 15 minutes. Never any attempt to try something different.

Good performance goes unrewarded and vice versa !

Robinson never ever wants to accept any blame. I vividly recall the defeat away to Northampton last season. A dreadful performance. Afterwards Robinson told us all that in the lead up to the game he'd seen things he'd never seen at a football club before.

As far as I'm aware he never has explained what that was. Like most things he says it would appear to be a diversionary tactic.

I read with interest that some will cite his age and say he is still learning. Yes, he is relatively young for a manager but he's been doing it for 8 years now and in any case, I'd rather he didn't learn on the job with us ! I say that but in fact, there's little evidence that he's learning at all.

Robinson talks and talks, uses words like passion, desire and commitment and bandies them around like confetti. They roll off his tongue in failing attempts to convince us that he knows what his doing and can motivate players. 

Like his time with MK he gets famous names in to " aid " with training sessions. More attempts to impress us. Look who I know ! Up here ( MK ) he had Ian Wright and Robbie Fowler to name but two. Trust me it really didn't do them much good.

Recently he's had Darren Campbell at Sparrows Lane. Again we're supposed to be impressed by this. I do understand the benefit of players have a greater knowledge of the mechanics of running but their time at present would surely be better spent on practising defending or shooting ! It's just a gimmick.

Bizarrely in spite of all this Robinson is heavily linked with the vacancy at Barnsley. I don't think he'd take it even if he were offered it. I don't believe he wants to move away from MK. In any case he previously turned down a bigger job at Leeds.

He has a reputation for expansive football and yet that is rarely converted into goals. Add to that our team's defensive frailty against the most average of teams plus the manager's poor game management and it's easy to see why we are under achieving.

Unless Robinson has a road to Damascus moment it's hard to see things greatly improving. As we now have two players for every position he really has no excuses. Failure to beat Bradford on Tuesday would be a further blow to any play-off hopes even if it we did qualify it seems unlikely that we would beat a team over two legs.

For Robinson to turn things around he needs to wins games, talk less and accept responsibility when he things go wrong................I'm not holding my breath ! 



 





 

Oxford Bag Three !

There's no escape ! Robinson has written an article for a Milton Keynes magazine. The remainder of it will be published in instalments over the next 18 months ! Obviously it's ok to criticise adult players immediately after a game without apparently having given it much thought !

Charlton are long time admirers of James Henry seemingly chasing after him for about the last 5 transfer windows at least. Yesterday we got confirmation that we have given up chasing him ( or any other Oxford player making a late run ! ). Henry was horrid and took the game away from us.

At half time I felt we might pay for our missed first half opportunities. We had created some great chances but our failure to convert ultimately cost us.

Oxford lost Wes Thomas due to an injury sustained in the warm up and he was replaced in the starting eleven by Obika. Ultimately he too succumbed to injury and the U's had to resort to Napa ( see what I did there ! ).

Robinson clearly has his favourites and those that aren't. JFC and Aribo being two examples. Joe has been in fine form but was left out yesterday. JFC doesn't do anything that Aribo can't ( apart from stop when clean through on goal of course ) and didn't deserve to start ahead of him.

Bizarrely he was one of only two players the manager identified for praise afterwards. He rubbished the rest of the team whilst singling out one player whom he didn't name but I assume wasn't getting a lift home from Robinson ( a reference to his article above ). 

Marshall shouldn't have started either and certainly oughtn't to have featured in the second half. However, Robinson decided that the player he described in midweek as sensational should contiue. Indecisive only starts to cover how he played. At one point he turned this way and that going nowhere before conceding a throw in as yet another attack broke down.

Never mind the poor team selection yet again Robinson's lack of ability in respect of game management was cruelly exposed. Marshall should have been removed at half time at the latest.

Having restored the lead at 2-1 the manager needed to make decisions regarding the subs. Clearly he got it wrong again. Robinson shouldn't be making basic mistakes but he repeatedly does and never learns or apologises for them. Instead he bangs on about how they spoke at length in training about tracking players.

Really ? Maybe he did but two of their three goals were almost identical and for the first, the defence backed off allowing Henry to shoot unchallenged. 

In addition to the above we don't seem to carry any threat at set pieces. At free kicks we don't appear to have a scooby what we want to do. No clever routine or even a direct strike at goal.

Our corners were awful although they were clearing the first defender this week ! However, they were floated in with no pace leaving anyone who might get on the end of it needing to generate all the power.

Oxford always carried a threat and the way we were opened up in the first minute was a portent of things to come. After they equalised for the second time I don't really think it came as any great surprise to anyone that they went on to get the winner.

All of us want to get out of this wretched league and we ought to secure a play-off spot but we're making really hard work of it. Let's not use the ongoing potential sale of the club as an excuse. I don't believe it makes any real difference to the players.

Robinson has his two players for each position now as a well publicised graphic illustrates and with some exciting attacking players in particular he now has no excuse if he doesn't at least deliver a play off place.

Potential new owners will doubtless be thinking the same and when looking at games like yesterday's might decide the person deserving of criticism is the MK resident in chief ultimately deciding he's not up to the task.

Time will tell but he can't afford too many more performances like yesterday or he'll find he has a lot more time to devote to local journalism. None of us other MK residents deserves that !

Blackpool Legend

The great Jimmy Armfield

Joint planned demonstrations scheduled for Saturday against awful owners have, quite rightly, been abandoned in order to allow for tributes to be paid to Blackpool legend, Jimmy Armfield.

He spent his entire career at Blackpool and played over 40 times for England being unlucky to miss out playing in the 66 World Cup matches due to injury.

After his playing days he managed both Bolton and Leeds.

Sadly, I never saw him play but enjoyed his observations and co-commentary on the radio. He was, I believe, a real gentleman. His life and career will quite correctly be celebrated and remembered on Saturday. He will be greatly missed. 

The Addicks travel to Bloomfield Road on the back of 3 straight wins so ought to be in good spirit. The return of Fosu, the emergence of Mavididi since his second spell with us and the arrival this week of the highly rated Zyro with us gives cause for optimism.

The squad now has real attacking flair and probably enough to mask the striking deficiencies of Magennis. Surely there has to be a possibility that Josh won't actually be in the starting eleven in at least one of the next few games ? There must be some chance ? No ? Oh well, it was just a thought !

There remains a question mark over our defence of course. We still look extremely vulnerable at set pieces in particular but in general to be fair. We need to tighten up or perhaps have better formation that doesn't leave us so exposed against quick counter-attacking teams. We are frequently caught out and teams that are better able to convert their chances will leave us hoping in true " Vindaloo " style to " score one more than you ! ",

I don't see Robinson changing his approach to games ( or team selection too much - see Magennis above ! ). Therefore, if we are to be successful ( and we really ought to be in the next few games ) then we need more speed, greater movement and earlier balls into the box.

It remains to be seen whether Robinson can deliver that. For me I find a certain irony in this view that Robinson plays attacking football. How often have scored more than two goals this season ? Without checking I'm not sure but it took until last Saturday for the Heineken offer to be cashed in so to speak.

Overlooking all that as I said earlier on we now possess some exciting players who appear to have goals in them. Hopefully they will provide both them and some football to whet the appetite.

If Robinson can't at least secure 6th spot barring any extenuating circumstances ( automatic spots are beyond us no matter what the manager says and he would wouldn't he ) then he has failed us as aside from Wigan and Blackburn there's no team that ought to be better than us.

That would leave us looking to next season and trying get out of a third tier that potentially contains Birmingham, Sunderland, Hull and or Bolton to name but four ! There are two or three similarly big clubs that might yet go down.

Let's hope that doesn't come pass and in the meantime focus on Saturday where our fans can pay tribute to a wonderful football man who graced the game both on and off the pitch. Hopefully we can leave with the 3 points too.

Come On You Reds !

Turkish Delight

A former Charlton academy player showed what we were missing on Saturday. Oztumer aka the Turkish Messi, ran his socks off and put in a really good performance including a goal resulting from a perfectly time run. The shortest player on the pitch headed home to equalise in the first half.

It was a real pleasure to see him play and sad that we let him go allegedly on the basis that he was too small. Looked alright to me !

Our goal and a couple of near misses aside the first half wasn’t good. It was the away team the showed us how to play in a fast, quick passing manner allied to good movement.

Our build was so slow and many times the ball was played backwards and across our own area. Walsall did what a lot of teams do and sat back to a degree allowing us the ball in our own third. Orchestrated by the aforementioned Oztumer we often struggled to get the ball forward comfortably.

Some have defended this approach citing that when the opposition sets up like this it makes it difficult for us to play as we'd like. What ? Then we need to change our approach or play like Walsall did and pass and move quicker. 

We looked like the away team for long periods of that first 45 minutes.

The second half was an altogether better affair. The catalyst for that was Fosu. For him it was like he’d never been away – for those of us who’ve had to watch some pretty ordinary stuff of late we certainly knew he had !

He brought more drive and energy to the team. Fosu in combination with Mavididi could be fun if they continue like that. He seemed to spark the whole team.

Aribo has another good game and Robinson ought to be embarrassed that he didn’t give him his opportunity earlier in the season.

Marshall was marginally better than I’d seen of late and delivered a few good crosses. I won’t get carried away as he still struggled to beat his man and often lost the ball unnecessarily.

Magennis again squandered chances to score and I’m amazed he doesn’t draw more criticism as a result. It’s what his main role is. I know he wins headers but he ought to shouldn’t he ?

Reeves wasn't pulling up any trees but was doing ok in a central role before Robinson strangely decided to move him out wide. Maybe as Robinson gets to know the player he won't make the same mistake again !

When he plays ( when doesn’t he ! ) pretty much all goal kicks, kicks from the keeper and long balls are directed his way. That would be ok to an extent if we had others feeding off him but it rarely happens because we are seemingly not set up to prosper from it.

We keep doing it though ! Robinson said Josh needed a rest. Well, give it to him then man !  We might just discover something a whole lot better.

The squad is slowly recovering and with reinforcements expected this week there is no hiding place if we don’t maintain a winning run against teams in the lower half of the league.

We have today added Michal Zyro a Polish striker come wide man on loan from Wolves. I'm given to understand that he is some player who career has stalled a bit following an injury.  Sounds as though once he gets fit he'll be an exciting player to watch !

No point in discussing any takeover as rumour and speculation are rife but there is a distinct absence of anything else. Nothing of any real substance to report so it’s best to wait until Roly has sold up, packed his bags and then rejoice that that particular nightmare is over !

Next Of Kin

Young Liam - you can clearly see the resemblance to his dad !

A return to S.E.7 on Saturday for Kin, Kin, Kinsella ! However, this is Liam, son of the great Mark and a Saddler. Young Liam is a converted midfielder ( what else ! ) who plays at right back. The youngster has just secured an extended contract with Walsall. It'll be interesting to see him in action.

Should Marshall play on the left I wonder how tough his afternoon will be. I wonder that because what I've seen of Marshall of late leads me to believe that Liam won't be extended too much. I wasn't at Bury but it takes more than a 6 yard tap in to win me over ( all credit for being in the right place at the tight time etc. etc. ).

The Addicks return home following two 1-0 wins against poor sides. Amazingly these have got us back in the top 6. You'll forgive me for not checking dates in May just yet ! 

I know I've said this before ( and I'll say it again ) injuries and other matters aside - all of which were not so prevalent at the start of our bad run - some of the football has been dire. My season ticket costs me a lot of money and I'd like to think that at some point I'll be getting better entertainment than that !

Enough already ! Let's look forward. Walsall, Blackpool and Oxford ( who'll be tough ) offer a truer indication of how our season will pan out. Failure to garner less than 6 points will and you can pretty much kiss goodbye to any extension of our season.

Despite the departures ( and I'd still love to know the background to Ricky going ) we still have a pretty decent squad and one that ought to be capable of more than we've seen of late. Labouring to victory over two of the worst teams in the league isn't going to set pulses racing.

It's reported that we're due to get some lad from Palarse on loan. It's the best we can expect at the moment I guess but we really need a striker of course if we are able to bring anyone in. That must be the priority surely ?

Magennis, I assume, is to continue in the team. Amazing ! What can you say about last week's attempt to lob the keeper except.......oh dear ! Josh is set to make Leaburn look prolific ! Might be time to dust down and update those " I saw Leabun score ! " t-shirts !

The best his supporters can now say about him is much work he does defensively winning crucial headers. Great ! How about trying to nod one in the oppo's goal ! 

If we lose Konsa as seems likely then we could probably do worse than stick him in the back four. That would relieve the pressure on Robinson as he persists in playing him and he might just have a valid reason to do so.

The long awaited takeover appears set to become an even longer awaited takeover with no clear bidders amongst a misty sea of various characters linked by a similar name. I fully expect to see Hope Lange in the directors box on Saturday with occasional appearances from Edward Mulhare coinciding with inclement weather ! 

Added excitement is to be had by guessing the number of subs on the bench. Throw in the element of those on it who are actually fit to play and you see what a fun afternoon is to be had ! Who needs face painters and garage music eh ?

A number of people have highlighted how unrealistic Roly appears to be in his attempts to secure his asking price. As they point out the value of something really isn't what you paid for it but its worth now. Having made such a pig's ear of running our club it can only be a lot less than he paid.

I do hope that the people behind ROT follow through with their plans in the election that involves Roly even if he has sold long before then. That's spiteful and vindictive you might say and in one you capture the very essence of his approach to us and our club now. Therefore, don't let up. In the name of Bart........go for it !

I'm really not anticipating a great game on Saturday but life is full of surprises so I'll try and be optimistic and hope that Robinson isn't outsmarted again by a club with more limited resources than us.......it's just at the beginning of a new year after all. Here's hoping !

Come On You Reds !

     

Holmes And Away

Holmes wasn't playing away but the Addicks managed to secure a second 1-0 win and their first away in the league since October.

Rather like the previous Saturday it would appear that it wasn't a great performance but it's better than losing I suppose especially given the circumstances of the last week alone.

The upcoming games are all very winnable if we're are playing anywhere our best. However, as we've seen in the last two fixtures nothing is easy in this league.

The manager probably deserves some credit for this win but he can spare me the " woe is me " tone of recent interviews.

I accept all the injuries and Roly not backing him at all in this transfer window. However, Robinson and the players need to get on with the hand they've been dealt.

All of us in our less well rewarded jobs have to deal with difficulties and set backs on an almost daily basis. The school where I work suffered a couple of devastating blows last year both within a few weeks of each other. However, we had to get on with things.

You'd think our brave boys had been to war in the last few days with the manner of reporting of some events.

Yes, I know it doesn't help when Roly has inflicted untold damage on our club over the last 4 years and even more of late but please, get on with the job in hand.

I'm not sure why Robinson opted to only have 5 subs on the bench. That included Solly and JFC who were both not really fit to play. It was great that they wanted to be there but why not include some of our U23's. Surely they're better than nothing.

What if Phillips was injured ? Are we seriously to believe that Robinson wouldn't have a young keeper on the bench ?

It's with things like that Robinson lets himself down in my opinion.

As a footnote to all of the above I now read that Robinson says he wanted Carruthers in return for Holmes. Now I am really confused as I'm sure that the manager said a couple of days ago that Ricky only just told him that he'd had an offer from Sheff Utd with the inference that he ( Robinson ) was unaware of it.

However, it was at least a week ago that Robinson went public on wanting Carruthers. All that gives credence to my view that Robinson wanted Carruthers and that Holmes going the other way was originally part of the deal. It was only when Roly said he wanted cash only that that particular deal blew up.

My last word on Holmes is that he has been an excellent servant to the club in his short time with us. He's not been of his best of late and I've been quite critical of him for that. However, be in no doubt that he is a very good player at this level and one who at his age deserves a shot at the Championship and maybe more. You really can't blame him for grabbing this opportunity and he leaves us with some pretty good memories of his time in a Charlton shirt.

As with all things in S.E.7 it's all a bit of a mess. The sooner this takeover goes through and decisions are made ( whichever way ) on the management side both on and off the pitch the better.

In case you were wondering the pics at the top of this piece are " Holmes under the ( MC ) Hammer ".....hilarious eh ?

Have a good week let's hope it brings some positive news.

Elementary My Dear Watson !

Things are a bit of a mess down in S.E. 7. " No s**t Sherlock " I hear you cry !

Funnily enough it's another Mr Holmes that is causing a bit of a stir. Ricky has gone from fans favourite to public enemy number one in one fell swoop !

Is he guilty of leaving a sinking ship or was he backed into a corner with little option. To be honest none of us really knows and only Ricky, his agent and possibly Robinson know the truth.

I would comment that Robinson made clear his desire to sign Carruthers from the Blades. I can't believe that Wilder would not have been after Holmes as part of the deal. Therefore, having made this public if he didn't think it before then Holmes must have been thinking he'd been involved.

It's little wonder then that Ricky's head is turned. Perhaps it's been known for some time, who knows ?

Robinson does seem keen to create MK Dons mark 2 in his attempts to re-assemble the very same players who let him down previously. Quite why you'd want to do that I don't know !

Whatever you can understand Holmes wanting to grab a last opportunity if the interest from Sheffield United is genuine. He may, of course have become exasperated with Robinson and / or the ongoing takeover mess.

Richard Cawley states that there are other disaffected players. It would be strange if this were all down to a protracted takeover and apparent lack of investment. I'd love to know who these other players are and perhaps we'll find out in the fullness of time.

I guess that no one could blame the manager for holding out for a pay out if he gets the boot. I just don't think we need all the rhetoric surrounding it in wanting the best for the club, the fans etc. If he is genuine just get on with the job.

Following the exit from the Checkatrade we return to league action on Saturday against another poor team in Bury. 6 losses on the spin apparently. We really ought to beat them but our recent one win in 9 or 10 games and an unsettled background whether we can get the 3 points is anyone's guess.

To be honest I think even 6th place is beyond us and unless a new owner and manager come in I don't expect that to change. Soon I think we can write off this season as one in which we have just been treading water at best.

In the meantime, 3 points on Saturday would at least keep the embers burning but only just.