Back from the game ..... charlton

[Ian Royal]

No surpirise I agree on jobi. You could tell it wasn't going to be his night going forward because he lost the ball on his first go at the fullback. That first effort often seems to make or break him going forward.

Totally agree. Dad and I have been saying the same thing for much of the last couple of seasons. His confidence is so brittle in that respect. We met Brian on the Portugal tour and asked him about this, and he pretty much said the same thing. Jobi just needs the belief, and I think that was in part why Brian made him captain.

yeah I think he over thinks it and decides he needs to be more careful, sort of looking for the mistake. Rather than just enjoying himself and playing naturally. Always good defensively though.

[maffff]

And he even kicked himself in the head.

forgot about that

[Royal91]

This game epitomises why they are Champ players. Cannot consistently play well for the duration of the match.

Charlton without doubt the worst team I've seen this season and for 60mins we were cruising, we just couldn't kill the game off. Say that almost every week.

We let them play and that was down to taking Sharp and Williams off, but they needed to come off.

McAnuff should play in defence now as far I am concerned or not at all. His shooting is some of the worst I've seen.

Sharp looks much better than Le Fondre, all round game moving into better positions, turning the defence and linking play (although could be down the opposition)

Akpan please move on in January. Never seen a player who lacks so much composure and awareness. It's like watching a Sunday league player at times, hacking it forward when he's under no pressure. Can't pass, can't shoot is scared to put a tackle. If someone can name me 2 things he's got in his locker I'd like to know.

Pog MOTM again.

[ZacNaloen]

Wasn’t at the game last night so didn’t see his performance – but if indeed Guthrie’s performances are tailing off a bit, is it as much because of our lack of movement as Guthrie’s ability? A misplaced pass is a misplaced pass, but the 4 times I have seen us this season we have (first half against Watford excepted) suffered from the same problem, and real lack of pace and movement when we have the ball. There’s only so much a ‘playmaker’ can do if his teammates are comatose (hence it ding-donging around the back five).

I agree with this.

No one is creating space and angles for passes. Hence passes aren't on. Therefore only option is to go long. This will be the next stage hopefully.


Also, Charlton basically threw everyone up front for the last 15 minutes and we were under huge pressure and largely dealt with it well. How many shots on target did they actually have?

We struggled in midfield after Williams went off but at this point we are down to 3rd and 4th choice players as an alternative so really it's not shocking that we get a little disjointed at times. Stop over reacting.

[Cypry]

No surpirise I agree on jobi. You could tell it wasn't going to be his night going forward because he lost the ball on his first go at the fullback. That first effort often seems to make or break him going forward.

Totally agree. Dad and I have been saying the same thing for much of the last couple of seasons. His confidence is so brittle in that respect. We met Brian on the Portugal tour and asked him about this, and he pretty much said the same thing. Jobi just needs the belief, and I think that was in part why Brian made him captain.

Agree that he needs confidence, but not sure what game you were watching - his first foray forward was fantastic, tricked a couple of Charlton players resulting in a number of "olé"s, and most of the East stand singing his name....it was after his first poor effort on goal that he seemed to lose a bit of confidence...

[Brum Royal]

Also, Charlton basically threw everyone up front for the last 15 minutes and we were under huge pressure and largely dealt with it well. How many shots on target did they actually have?

Their shooting was woeful last night. I think the only save McCarthy had to make was the 1 on 1 with Church, otherwise a variety of catches/punches, or watching the ball go a long way either high or wide of the goal

[Brum Royal]

No surpirise I agree on jobi. You could tell it wasn't going to be his night going forward because he lost the ball on his first go at the fullback. That first effort often seems to make or break him going forward.

Totally agree. Dad and I have been saying the same thing for much of the last couple of seasons. His confidence is so brittle in that respect. We met Brian on the Portugal tour and asked him about this, and he pretty much said the same thing. Jobi just needs the belief, and I think that was in part why Brian made him captain.

Agree that he needs confidence, but not sure what game you were watching - his first foray forward was fantastic, tricked a couple of Charlton players resulting in a number of "olé"s, and most of the East stand singing his name....it was after his first poor effort on goal that he seemed to lose a bit of confidence...

You're right Cypry. I'd forgotten that one, but the point is a more general one.

[Cureton's Volley]

If someone can name me 2 things he's got in his locker I'd like to know.

1) A leather bound Gideon bible
2) An astonishingly dishevelled copy of Hustler from 1997

[BR2]

As a couple of posters have already said (as did Adie on Radio Berks before interviewing Adkins) most of us go to football to be entertained or is that true?
Whenever we have a dreadful spectacle like last night so many say "I'll take 3 points every day of the week regardless of the performance".
That is all well and good if the lack of entertainment is rare but this side is set up not to lose and the biggest disappointment was that from the 60th minute onwards we settled for the 1-0 at home against a side with no forwards and clear relegation candidates.

As Adie said, if you don't want entertainment then why not just sit at home and listen now and again to score updates on the radio?

At Southampton Adkins played attacking football and his side often outscored the opposition-now it looks as though he is frightened of losing and performances like the Watford and Forest games are extremely rare.
As I see it this is not a team and style being developed for promotion-none of the players would be good enough for the top level apart from our marvellous keeper and we would be a Palace rather than the exciting team that got promoted to the Premier League for the first time in our history.

I know that it is difficult to build, entertain and get results at a time when our club appears to have little money available however nearly every club in this division is in the same boat and we do at least have 3 years of £12,000,000 of parachute payments that the likes of Derby, Burnley etc. don't have.

As for last night we got away with it at left-back as Cummings had nobody much to worry about and I was glad that Kelly was playing when Charlton had a bit of a go in the second-half-one last-ditch challenge was something Gunter can only dream about.
I wish McCleary would take his man on the outside more often and the shape is better when he stays out wide.
Jobi started o.k. but is the classic case of a player's reputation being enhanced when he doesn't play and he faded badly as the game went on.
Good stuff from Pog and Sharp and Williams and of course the keeper who made the save that mattered.

So bring on Bournemouth with one of the worst defensive records in the division and I hope that we go at them for the whole game and entertain those of us who want to be entertained-those of you who don't care about being entertained have had your game already last night so please let us have ours on Saturday.

[ZacNaloen]

Jobi just needs to lay the ball off when he creates that space, I've never seen him hit it on target from that position. Ever.

[LoyalRoyal22]

Jesus That was dreadful.

The positives last night were: Pog, fantastic yet again – I wish him well wherever he decides to go in January. Cummings, very solid performance at left back and a goal saving far post header – keep him in for Saturday and Kelly at right back. Sharp – added more to our game than ALF ever would starting a match. Williams – broke up play and drove forward effectively.....before predictably getting injured and leaving the game. Williams, Drenthe and Bridge have all shown varying degrees of real quality at times but they are no bloody use to us if they’re injured every other week or can’t last 90.

I understand that some of the players were upset about the crowd getting stroppy. Well, when you’ve got Hopeless Akpan coming on and smashing the ball into the crowd under no real pressure you can understand there will be groans. We all know that a stadium full of middle-class jester-hat wearing simpletons is never going to be a particularly atmospheric place but the atmosphere is as poor as it has ever been, certainly since Rodgers – another manager who talked a good game and delivered precious little - was in charge.

What happened to the so-called possession football we were promised. Charlton were utterly abysmal for an hour and gave the ball away at will (see our goal). You’d think we could impose a style we have allegedly practiced since March, April time on them. Nothing doing. In fact – ironically, given some of the snobbery displayed on these pages – we actually looked more effective at times where we banged the ball into the channels, playing percentage football. The last half hour was as desperate as I’ve seen in years; at times HRK broke with pace to ease the pressure yet few of his colleagues had made a run to support him. Charlton - like other poor sides Millwall, Barnsley - had us hanging on desperately at the end and if they'd equalised no-one could have said we'd deserved better. In fact, with a rather obvious looking penalty and anyone other than Simon Church running through one-on-one with McCarthy they'd have gone into half time at least level.

Really not very good, once again. The only true barometer of progress is league position I guess, but I think that masks truly forgettable performances in this first third of the season and a continued inability to kill off games when we take the lead. You could argue ‘watch us when we play well’.....but there has been very little evidence to suggest a flowing 90 minute performance is around the corner and conversely I fully expect us to get another Sheffield Wednesday-esque slap around the face sooner rather than later rather as opposed dishing out a spanking of our own.

Gunter will be straight back into the team on Saturday thankfully. Why do you want the only fullback we have that can overlap and push on, out the team?

The people who thought Kelly was the better option before the season started have been shown up big time.

[Brum Royal]

They're different type of fullbacks though. Gunter is more of a wingback - bombing on, supporting the attacks - whereas Kelly is a more traditional right back - defender first, attacker second.

Gunter wouldn't have coped as well as Kelly did last night had he been in that position. In the same way that Kelly didn't offer us the width on the right wing we would have had had Gunter been available.

[BR2]

Jobi just needs to lay the ball off when he creates that space, I've never seen him hit it on target from that position. Ever.

What makes him think he is going to score?
His striking record over the past year or so has been abysmal.
Also I wonder why McCleary shifted the ball on to his much,much weaker left foot to shoot on a number of occasions when he is a good striker of a ball with his right as shown when his shot grazed the post.
Incidentally was that and the goal the only 2 attempts in and around target?

[Cureton's Volley]

Nigel asks the wingers to cut in and shoot

[Cypry]

Lots of over-reaction on here as far as I'm concerned - the only real area of concern with me is the levels of fitness within the squad (both in terms of picking up injuries and the ability to last 90 minutes)...

We pretty much dominated the first half, I think Charlton had one shot off target, and half a penalty shout (although I felt that Churches first touch was heavy and the ball was out of play before he went down). The second half started well, but with Charlton making 3 changes and flooding the midfield, an out of form Guthrie and a tiring Williams, we simply got over-run in midfield for the last 25-30 minutes. Had Akpan played to his capabilities we might have weathered the storm better, but he had a shocker. All in all an untidy, but welcome 3 points....

8 - Sharp had an excellent half, no surprise he tailed off in the second half having played about 15 minutes of competitive football all season so far, but he offered so much more than ALF does, mainly in his strength in winning and holding up the ball - a good finish for the goal as well - if we can keep him and Pog until the end of the season then ALF might as well bugger off in January coz he ain't going to be getting many starts if Pog and Sharp are fit....

7 - Pog had another good game, I wish he'd stay on his feet sometimes, he does seem to go down at the slightest touch, and his manner of doing it isn't convincing, but his hold up play, energy and ability to pick a pass have been a revelation these last few games - let's hope that his performances aren't merely with a view to lining up a move in January....

5 - McLeary was pretty anonymous for a lot of the game, save for hitting the post early in the second half. He has a tendency to cut inside all the time, and rarely tries to beat the fullback to get a cross in (Gunter seems to pick up this role most of the time on the right, so unsurprising it didn't quite work last night). Compared to Jobi he does little to support his own fullback.

7 - Williams had a good game, although it's a bit worrying he seems to have picked up another knock - he has the workrate of Karacan, with a neat touch as well. If we can keep him fit he'll be pivotal to our season and I can see him keeping Baird out (in fact I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see Baird again in a Reading shirt).

5 - Guthrie had a poor game by his standards. He is such a frustrating player, one minute he can play sublime passes, the next he simply gives it straight to the opposition. Last night it seemed to be more of the latter - it's all very well to say that the movement of the team isn't giving him options, but he needs to learn to make a simple pass when needed. He sometimes seems to go to sleep on the ball - gave it away early in the game just outside our penalty area and was lucky to be able to win the ball back.

6 - McAnuff looked tired at the end, not surprising considering his workrate during the game, and lack of game time this season. No end product from him, which was disappointing, he seemed to shoot on a couple of occasions where perhaps a ball across the box might have been the better option. Supported Cummings well though - personally I'd give him a run of games over Obita to see if he can get his confidence going forward firing...

6 - Kelly did well, in his preferred position you'd expect him to. Could've made himself a scapegoat if the ref had given a pen, but on the whole, had a pretty solid game.

7 - Pearce, did the basics and did them well. Nothing spectacular, but the sum total of one shot on goal for Charlton speaks volumes.

7 - Gorkks had another solid game, barely put a foot wrong. He said in an interview with Dellor after the game that he needs gametime to get his confidence back, and it seems to be working. The Pearce/Gorkks partnership was always a good one, and if we can keep a clean sheet on Saturday, then Morrisson might consider that he won't automatically be in contention when he's fit again...

8 - Cummings did everything we needed of him. He has pace, did his defensive duties well and without fuss, and offered a bit going forward when given the chance. MoTM for me and I hope he keeps his place at the weekend.


2 - Akpan had a shocker. Nothing seemed to go right for him from the moment he stepped on the pitch and he panicked....needs to get his confidence back before he goes anywhere near the first team again...
6 - HRK seemed to benefit from coming on later, gave him a bit of pace compared to Charlton at that time, although his final ball/shots were poor.
6 - Blackman barely had time on the pitch, but he won the ball, beat a couple of players and headed for the corner, which is something a few of his team-mates could've learnt from....


6 - Adkins had a problem given the injury list - I think he made the only changes he realistically could, but was a bit slow to react to the Charlton change - he seems to prefer to adopt a wait and see approach to changes made by the opposition, rather than reacting quickly...the real test will be what he does with the team at the weekend given last nights performances...

[floyd__streete]

Gunter will be straight back into the team on Saturday thankfully. Why do you want the only fullback we have that can overlap and push on, out the team?

Because....

I was glad that Kelly was playing when Charlton had a bit of a go in the second-half-one last-ditch challenge was something Gunter can only dream about.

[Huckleberry Hound]

A win using the least amount of effort necessary - from fans & players.

Charlton were a lot more threatening after they'd taken Church off.

[ZacNaloen]

6 - McAnuff looked tired at the end, not surprising considering his workrate during the game, and lack of game time this season. No end product from him, which was disappointing, he seemed to shoot on a couple of occasions where perhaps a ball across the box might have been the better option. Supported Cummings well though - personally I'd give him a run of games over Obita to see if he can get his confidence going forward firing...

Disagree about giving him a go ahead of Obita for an extended period, he's good back up if Obita needs a rest or gets injured but Obita is the future for the that position and did nothing to deserve the drop (except recognising we have a busy period ahead)

[floyd__streete]

The worst player yesterday was probably the fans.

LOL @ people who describe the fans as a 'player'. Don't forget, the fans have paid for the 'privilege' of watching and if they think that the product on display is rubbish - as it was last night, as it has been consistently all season - they are well within their rights to voice their disapproval, just as a bad stand-up comedian would be heckled.

[ZacNaloen]

It was an utterly boring game to watch, tempo was low in the second half and when we were counter attacking Charlton, who threw everyone up front for the last 15, it was only ever 1 or 2 players on the break so we couldn't over load them so nothing came of it. Leading to more fan frustration. Plus no one was looking for passes.

In short, incredibly frustrating to watch but wtf were the fans doing booing the one pass back to the keeper that happened all game. It was absolutely the right ball to play by Gorkss.