A Bit Of A Mess

 Another disappointing display and result at MK Dons yesterday that gives further concern to a very disappointing start to the season.

We were on top for about the first 15 minutes when we scored. After that we went into our shell and lacked any real ambition.

Once MK had scored their first goal the writing was on the wall. They had the game sewn up after their second and we never really troubled them again.

I don't think we had an effort on target in the second half. The arrival of Dean Lewington should have heralded more attacks down their left hand side but it didn't and I think on only two occasions did we do so.

Our attacking intent consisted of long balls up to Stockley who had no hope as he cut an isolated figure with no one near to offer any kind of support. It didn't stop us trying though!

Adkins say he wanted us to play a pressing game but time and again MK were able to play the ball easily out from the back as only Stockley was near to press! Nothing was changed to address though!

From what I've seen so far this season there is no discernible game plan allied to an ineffective midfield. 

The booing at full time indicates that fans patience is wearing thin. No amount of platitudes or positive spin from Adkins will do no more than paper over the cracks.

I know that Lee Bowyer would often shoot from the hip but I'd rather that than failing to be open and honest about the team's shortcomings.

What message is sent to the players but selecting the same starting eleven after such an abject display on Saturday against Oxford?  

One can't help but wonder why it was decided that Shinnie and Pratley were surplus to requirements. In the case of Pratley it can't be because of age as we've retained Gunter and Watson who bring little to the party. 

Someone made that decision but we don't know who or why. The same can be levelled at our current recruitment policy. I wrote yesterday that Roddy's involvement added another layer of complication to the process.

I refuse to accept that having got it so right for so many years against the worst of all possible backgrounds, Steve Gallen has suddenly lost his Midas touch! We are led to believe that he is now just doing the contract negotiations. If that's the case, what a waste! 

I think we need more detail on Ged Roddy's involvement in transfer and recruitment activity. Further to that, a precise explanation of his role would be good. 

I do feel that he is having a very large say on all football areas of the club yet we've heard virtually nothing from him since his arrival.

Someone else we've not heard much from of late is Jacko. Skip in recent seasons has been quite prominent and we'd often hear from him. Now, Covid enforced isolation of Adkins aside, we've heard diddly squat!  

It's clear that we need a number of players to boost our flimsy squad. They need to be of decent quality too and not just there to make up the numbers. However, time is running out and we're going to be desperate soon, leaving ourselves at the mercy of clubs and agents.

There's a lot that needs to be put right. The team and style of play needs shaking up. One up front isn't working and especially at home we need two. Ditch the consistent long ball approach, it isn't working.

I'm happy for Adkins to be given more time, after all, it's early days and the transfer window is still open. However, the signs aren't great and he needs to get his act together fast and give over to a bit of plain speaking. Fans aren't stupid we know what we see.

  

  

MK Away

Tonight we face the Dons of MK following hot on the heels of the Dons of Oxford if you’ll permit me that tenuous connection.

Unlike the majority of those students who recently received their results, an assessment of the Addicks’s start to the season is somewhat disappointing.

The two league performances to date have been insipid and uninspiring. At least one could point to a fairly solid defensive display against Wednesday but that wasn’t the case on Saturday.

Oxford ought to have won 3-1. That the U’s are far from the strongest team in the league is further cause for concern. Perhaps more worryingly than that Karl Robinson, hardly a man noted for his tactical genius, managed nullify one of the few attacking threats we have!

There were so many poor returns from a number of players. I hope that Adkins can galvanise the team ahead of what will be another tough game tonight.

I think we all appreciate that Rome wasn’t built in a day and it will take time to reverse years of neglect and chronic mismanagement of our club. However, Thomas and Nigel haven’t helped themselves with some over exuberant comments.

This squad obviously needs strengthening but even in the worst of times we were in a better place in terms of recruitment than we are now.

It was good to get Stockley but our failure to replace our top goalscorer, Aneke, by this stage doesn’t look good.    

Looking at tonight’s oppo and you’ll see they recruited Troy Parrott who would have fitted the bill perfectly. I know we were interested in him a couple of seasons ago so am unsure why wouldn’t have pursued him now.

I’m sure more bodies will be coming in but the clock’s ticking and we don’t want to end up making signings for the sake of it so to speak.

I hope I’m wrong but I do fear that Ged Roddy has added a layer complication to the recruiting process. I think most of us would trust Gallen’s judgement without hesitation but Thomas has put a lot of faith in Roddy across all areas and I feel he is getting the final say.

That aside, in the short term we need to start creating more chance and upping our game overall. Let’s hope that starts tonight.

COYR!

Nigel Adkins Q & A

I was fortunate to be one of the people attending last night's Q&A session with Nigel Adkins.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable hour and a half in which the manager spoke quite open and honestly about all things Charlton.

In respect of specific questions about specific players he was as clear as he could without breaking the confidence or trust of those players much as one would hope and expect.

I was keen like many others to know why Chuks isn't starting and playing more games. Adkins was clear that he would like to start and play him more but there are reasons that he doesn't. It obvious that like all fans he sees Chuks as a great player at this level. It would seem that Aneke himself lacks confidence in his physical ability to play for long periods. I'm sure it's something that he is being helped with if so.

There's little point or need for me to go into too much detail about the session as it will be covered better elsewhere no doubt by people with better recall than myself.

Overall it was great to hear from the man himself and learn some more of his background, experience and football philosophy.

I found it all encouraging and feel reassured that Adkins is his own man who has a clear vision of what he wants to achieve and how. 

As one might expect his thoughts and views appear very much aligned with Thomas's and that alone is reassuring.

Whatever the outcome of Sunday's final League One games I think we can look forward to a bright and interesting future.

Come On You Reds!

  

All But Over

The fat lady is about to start singing and almost definitely will following Saturday's 1-1 draw at Accrington.

It was absolutely dreadful with the first half especially being a wretched watch. Sadly, there have been so many like that this season. Watching games at home means it's so tempting to walk away from them although I've always stuck it out to the end. 

Often it's been the football equivalent of Dr Who as you're virtually watching from behind the sofa.

Worryingly in our last 3 games we seem to have lost our way. Once we lost DJ from the team we have appeared to be incapable of adjusting. 

Adkins has clearly inherited this squad but nevertheless can't be excused from criticism in respect of formations and  team selection.

Gunter underlined how much better Matthews is than him. The midfield showed that Shinnie deserves a start ahead of most of them yet only got a couple of minutes.

Why we apparently decided to match Stanley's approach to the game is a mystery to me. Adkins often speaks of the need to only worry about how we play but Saturday wasn't like that.

We have players more than capable of playing a decent passing game. Against Accrington it was crying out for us to get the ball on the floor and stop banging long high balls over all the place.

Our best striker and probably best player, Chuks again didn't start. Why? Further to that why can't he play alongside Stockley?

At half time clearly changes were needed. Yet we didn't make a change until the hour mark. Aneke's impact was immediate and underlined how foolhardy it is not to play him more.

I am so bored of reading how Chuks can't play for 90 minutes. He had done so this season and if I recall correctly played nearly 90 minutes in two successive games. This season is probably the fittest he's been but he's ended up playing so little!

If you read my blog ahead of the game you'll know that what I've written isn't born out of hindsight.

As ever with Charlton the season is effectively over but not completely. The club still has to tease with the feint hope of still making the play-offs. Mind you if we did one seriously can't envisage us being more than cannon fodder for whoever we play.

It is a shame because we are capable of putting out a decent starting eleven who, if correctly set up, would be more than a match for most teams in this league. Sadly, we are often too far removed from being so.

It has been an awful season in the wider world and on the pitch but thankfully better off it with the arrival of Thomas. If he hadn't taken over then I dread to think where we would be and how we would feel about our future.

There's a lot of work to do during the summer and Steve Gallen and co will need to be on their best game and pull some rabbits out of many hats! A silver lining of a potential defeat on Tuesday would be an earlier start to working on next season and clarity of where we'll be.

 

Accrington Away

Tomorrow ( or perhaps it was today ) we make the long trip up to Accrington in what, in respect of our play-off hopes, is a must win.

There's much to admire about Accrington from the way it is run by their excellent owner, Andy Holt, to Bumble ( David Lloyd ) one of their famous fans. Their achievements have been quite remarkable.

Stanley have scored 11 goals in their last 4 games with the last two games being 3-3 draws. Clearly they carry a threat up front whilst being prone to conceding a few themselves.

For our part, the Plymouth game aside, we haven't scored as many goals as we would like or perhaps deserve. That allied to our tendency to concede sloppy and/or late goals has been our undoing in numerous games this season.

On Tuesday we were slow to respond and make changes against a Crewe side who acquitted themselves very well. Tomorrow we need to set up better and adjust more rapidly if things aren't going our way.

Whilst I appreciate the success we've had of late with our starting formation I don't believe we oughtn't to change to 4-4-2.

Further to that I can't see a problem with starting with both Aneke and Stockley. I appreciate that they are similar players but I don't think many defences would relish the challenge they offer.

Why Aneke, like Shinnie, hasn't played more is a mystery to me. Chuks has been great this season and  converts a high percentage of chances in addition to offering good hold up play. He is our best striker and needs to start or play a much bigger part

I note that Adkins spoke about Shinnie not playing due to the success of the current squad and competition for places. All well and good if you're winning games buy we've lost and drawn the last two and Shinnie is more than equal to most of our midfield. I find it baffling especially given the two games a week situation and the need ( one assumes ) to rotate the squad.

Hopefully, they will get their chance tomorrow in what promises to be a very tough game. Stanley may be out of the play-off running but they aren't rolling over for anyone as their game against Sunderland on Tuesday demonstrates.

A result similar to that of our last away game would do very nicely but let's be honest any kind of a win will do. It's essential if we are to prolong our season. 

The fixture planner have again given us a final game at home to the potential Champions ( Nice how that happens so often! ) and it would be nice if we had something riding on it!

I don't think it matters this season where you finish as there is no advantage in playing the second leg at home, certainly not for us! Added to that we are quite capable of both beating and losing to any team in this league!

Fingers crossed for the 3 points tomorrow and who cares about the performance.

Come On You Reds!

A Real Test

Games don't come much tougher than tomorrow's trip to the Stadium of Light. However, it's a challenge we should welcome and this season we have tended to play poorly against teams lower in the league.

Sunderland's indifferent start to the season has given way to a long unbeaten run and more solid performances following the arrival of Lee Johnson.

Aiden McGeady has returned to the fold and formed a formidable partnership with Wyke and has provided him with plenty of assists!

We will need to be really solid defensively and also to take whatever chances come our way especially from set pieces.

I suspect that Adkins will want to stick with the starting eleven that secured the 3 points on Good Friday. Certainly it's hard to argue against keeping the same back four in front of Amos. Matthews and Purrington for me remain the best full back pairing and it'd be harsh on Pearce to drop him.

I didn't rate Gilbey last week as much as the manager did and would prefer to see Shinnie in his place.

I'm still puzzled by the omission of our best player, Aneke, week after week. I appreciate what Stockley does, however, it's nothing that Chuks can't do. In addition, I see no reason why the can't play together, something we've rarely seen this season.

Given that we've finally ended trying to play out from the back so much Aneke offers another option from goal kicks.

Stockley has shown what his physicality brings to our team and Aneke offers that too and the pair of them will scare League One defences.

Adkins has had the luxury of more than a week to work with the whole squad ahead of the game. He has one more week ahead of Ipswich before we return to two games a week on the final leg of the season.

The new manager will certainly need to make use of the whole squad in the last few weeks. He will be praying that he won't have to call upon his skills from his previous incarnation as a physio! It's fair to say that we're long overdue some luck with injuries.

A draw tomorrow wouldn't be disastrous in terms of our play-off hopes but a defeat would make it damn sight harder to achieve that goal.

Come On You Reds!

 

  

First Win For Adkins

 A much changed Charlton side took all 3 points in yesterday's early kick off as the new manager put his stamp on the team. 

A new role for Maatsen paid early dividends and the loanee had a stonking game. A constant threat up front and put in a decent defensive shift that Lee Bowyer would have very much approved of.

It took a while for us to settle down but once we did we looked a threat going forward. Sadly, that dissipated in a rather lacklustre second half. However, it mattered little as our final run of games are all about the result.

There were plenty of decent performances notably Inniss, Forster-Caskey, Stockley, Maatsen, Pratley to name a few.

For me our best full back combination is Matthews and Purrington and I was pleased to see them in the back four.

I understand that playing two strikers yesterday wasn't the way perhaps that Adkins wanted to set up. However, I still fail to understand how Aneke can't be starting games. A change of manager hasn't changed that and it remains a mystery to me.

Defensively, one heart-stopping moment aside, we looked quite comfortable. Inniss was immense and his display just served to underline how much he's been missed.

It was good to see that we are not messing around at the back from goal kicks. Kicking out long it so much the safer option.

Early days but the manager seems to have had a positive impact and we'll take 1-0 wins to season's end!

The run in sees us pit our wits against high flying teams. It will be tough but these are the sort of games it seems we're more capable of getting ourselves up for and that is no more typified than in this season.

Sunderland are flying at present with McGeady in superb form and recently delivered a hat-trick of assists for Wyke. He will need to be closely marked.

Let's hope Adkins gets the lads fired up for the challenge.