Let's talk about the Charlton Athletic game

[selby]

  Last nights game I found very frustrating, reading the write ups on here I think I let my emotions and wanting us to get a win run away with me and thought the performance was worse than it actually was. I thought we were capable if beating a not too clever run of the mill Cambridge side and never really went at it to do so.
  Others saw a better performance than I did football wise, but we did hang in there, we did battle, nobody's head went down  and yes on reflection some of the younger players are now showing they are learning fast and are much improved.
    A shout out for Olowu who made a mistake that cost us an early goal and for twenty five minutes struggled to get into the game and looked shaky on the ball, he stuck at it, grew into the game, got his confidence back and looked a different player as he regained confidence, well done young man.
  On to the Charlton game, a club that as a youngster had a hero in Sam Bartram a goalkeeper who was in every cigarette card collection set, looked like the man in the street with his flat cap on, and was always photographed in mid air making a spectacular save or punching the ball in the middle of a bunch of attackers with a polo neck jumper on. Now they seem to be a club that have loads of managers, always have an upturn when a new one comes in and for a short period are on fire and we look as though we are meeting them at the wrong time as they have an interim manager in Jonnie Jackson who,s first game in charge resulted in a win away at in form Sunderland and we are next up.
  They will look on us as lambs to the slaughter, a terrible recent away record and with some of our best players Rowe and Close likely to be absent due to injury and a small squad so limited really to the team we had out last evening. Can we meet the challenge? well they are not that good until last week, and if they are decent now just because of the change in manager they want to dump a load of players who can't be trusted and play for themselves.
  We are getting better and this game could tell us a lot about where we are, the character of our squad, and their desire to do well, all of which we have taken steps forward on in recent weeks, our biggest problem taking chances, do that and we can compete and do better. Charltons home record is poor we have to be resolute at the back and get at them and knock any confidence they gained at Sunderland right out of them  and go and gain our first  away points to build on.
  Away travel looks to have tailed off because of Covid, but we always seem to have a following down their of exiles, I hope we give them a showing to be proud of if they do go.
    Can we get a result?
    Are you going to the match?
    Do you see their change of manager  a danger and them giving an improved performance than their recent form?
    Are you seeing the first green shoots of our own recovery?
    Are Rowe and Close likely to take part, and would you start them if fit? or have them on the bench?
    Are you happy we are improving?
   Lots to discuss about this game and our club, please have your say.
 

[Bailey Vickerage]

Going to be a tough game considering our current away form and them having confidence after beating Sunderland, also Johnnie Jackson has a 100% record as caretaker manager of Charlton (played 2 won 2).

Dahlberg

Knoyle Williams Anderson Olowu

Smith Bostock

Vilca Galbraith Hiwula

Dodoo

Think smith should be 1 of the 2 deeper midfielders with his pressing and next to Bostock his energy could help him massively.

[selby]

Bailey, I could go along with that. If Close and Rowe were available for the game what would you do, would you change it for Saturday?  or leave it as is and have them on the bench for more recovery time?

[ColinDouglasHandshake]

Can't see getting anything from this game IMO. The Crewe game is a realistic 3 points as they are worse than us, if that were actually possible.

Charlton have some decent players and have the bounce effect from sacking their previous manager and our away form is utterly abysmal.

3-0 comprehensively beaten unfortunately. Putting the pressure back on for the Crewe game.

[Sammy Chung was King]

I see us beating Charlton and drawing with Crewe .

[Campsall rover]

Can't see getting anything from this game IMO. The Crewe game is a realistic 3 points as they are worse than us, if that were actually possible.

Charlton have some decent players and have the bounce effect from sacking their previous manager and our away form is utterly abysmal.

3-0 comprehensively beaten unfortunately. Putting the pressure back on for the Crewe game.

No i think you are doing our team a disservice saying “if it is possible to be worse than Crewe”
We are not that bad and are slowly improving. Only Ipswich have beaten us comprehensively.
With our injury list and no of changes to the team over the 1st 14 games it is little wonder we have only avoided defeat 5 times.

[ColinDouglasHandshake]

Can't see getting anything from this game IMO. The Crewe game is a realistic 3 points as they are worse than us, if that were actually possible.

Charlton have some decent players and have the bounce effect from sacking their previous manager and our away form is utterly abysmal.

3-0 comprehensively beaten unfortunately. Putting the pressure back on for the Crewe game.

No i think you are doing our team a disservice saying “if it is possible to be worse than Crewe”
We are not that bad and are slowly improving. Only Ipswich have beaten us comprehensively.
With our injury list and no of changes to the team over the 1st 14 games it is little wonder we have only avoided defeat 5 times.

Fair point although i disagree. We only know how to play one way and this is despite a variety of players having played for the first team this season so far. No matter who we bring in, we play the same way and for some teams it is easy to play against.

Cambridge for example could easily have won if their late header had gone it. MK Dons dominated us after the 15th minute but somehow we managed to nick a goal. Cheltenham should have actually beaten us as they missed a pen, hit the post and missed a lot of chances. Morecambe coped easily with us but we nicked the win despite Dahlberg escaping a red card and giving a penalty away. I won't go on but there's more, in the words of Jiminy Cricket. We are not improving.

We are playing one way and one way only and against teams who work us out, we generally present little danger to. It doesn't matter that we aren't getting battered every week, what matters is that we have looked unconvincing in every game this season. Yes, some games we've been the better side overall but been very fortunate to come away with points.

We battle hard and are very industrious and this generally stops us from getting smashed. The defeat at Ipswich was one of the few games where we did not work hard nor put in the usual efforts and we paid the price. Working hard and putting in the effort doesn't mean that the team are improving and will win more football matches. It just means that we won't get heavily beaten most weeks and some weeks we will just do enough to get a win.

Neither mean that we are slowly improving IMO.

We play the same way every week and rarely looked like a side playing with confidence or a side capable of turning the screw on teams.

[DRCraig]

Impressive stadium. Good recent history under Curbishley. That counts for nothing now. We are slowly getting there. So I am saying 2-0 to us.

[Mustapha-Dump]

Going to the game, completely for the day out and a swill in the city rather than the game, would take a score draw right now.

[River Don]

A tough assignment.

I'm hoping they can go down there and manage to get back without losing.

If we can just go 15 mins without slipping up badly in defence or conceding a silly own goal... That would be a massive help.

[Sussex Flyer]

Does anyone know if tickets can be purchased on the gate. As the name suggests I don't live in Donny and when trying to purchase online tonight, the only option was to collect from the Keepmoat!

[dickos1]

Can't see getting anything from this game IMO. The Crewe game is a realistic 3 points as they are worse than us, if that were actually possible.

Charlton have some decent players and have the bounce effect from sacking their previous manager and our away form is utterly abysmal.

3-0 comprehensively beaten unfortunately. Putting the pressure back on for the Crewe game.

No i think you are doing our team a disservice saying “if it is possible to be worse than Crewe”
We are not that bad and are slowly improving. Only Ipswich have beaten us comprehensively.
With our injury list and no of changes to the team over the 1st 14 games it is little wonder we have only avoided defeat 5 times.

Fair point although i disagree. We only know how to play one way and this is despite a variety of players having played for the first team this season so far. No matter who we bring in, we play the same way and for some teams it is easy to play against.

Cambridge for example could easily have won if their late header had gone it. MK Dons dominated us after the 15th minute but somehow we managed to nick a goal. Cheltenham should have actually beaten us as they missed a pen, hit the post and missed a lot of chances. Morecambe coped easily with us but we nicked the win despite Dahlberg escaping a red card and giving a penalty away. I won't go on but there's more, in the words of Jiminy Cricket. We are not improving.

We are playing one way and one way only and against teams who work us out, we generally present little danger to. It doesn't matter that we aren't getting battered every week, what matters is that we have looked unconvincing in every game this season. Yes, some games we've been the better side overall but been very fortunate to come away with points.

We battle hard and are very industrious and this generally stops us from getting smashed. The defeat at Ipswich was one of the few games where we did not work hard nor put in the usual efforts and we paid the price. Working hard and putting in the effort doesn't mean that the team are improving and will win more football matches. It just means that we won't get heavily beaten most weeks and some weeks we will just do enough to get a win.

Neither mean that we are slowly improving IMO.

We play the same way every week and rarely looked like a side playing with confidence or a side capable of turning the screw on teams.

Of course we’re improving,
If you went to the Cheltenham game and Cambridge game and didn’t think we deserved to win both games then you have a problem.
On Tuesday we did in fact change the way we play, we got the ball wide much more frequently than we did on Saturday for example, as soon as Galbraith got the ball he looked immediately for both wide men, this isn’t something we’ve done in previous games.

Dodoo, hiwulu and vilca are a different level altogether to what we had playing up front at the beginning of the season,
Anderson and Williams have improved dramatically these last two games, Galbraith is the best midfielder we’ve had since stock,
There’s plenty to be encouraged by but only if you want to let yourself be encouraged which many people don’t seem to want to do.

[Bailey Vickerage]

Bailey, I could go along with that. If Close and Rowe were available for the game what would you do, would you change it for Saturday?  or leave it as is and have them on the bench for more recovery time?

if they were both fully fit then they would both go straight in for me, close, Galbraith and Bostock work well as a trio and Rowe would go straight back into the LB slot for me as I’m not sure whether Olowu would be able to cope with the pace and trickery of Leko on that flank.

[sha66y]

Nailed on draw from 2 hit and miss teams trying to find something, yet giveaway nothing…..

[selby]

  A hard decision though Bailey although having a cup game next makes it easier to play them in my opinion and then give them a good break.
   Dickos, you didn't see a lot of Kane, Whiteman, and Ramsey then, I am not saying they were better but did themselves proud when they were here, Whiteman and Kane carried us as their leaving has highlighted since and although Ramsey didn't play a lot for us he is playing at the highest level in the world now. Not many we have had have done that who have graced our pitch for us.
  Sha66y, we need to tighten up at the back that's for sure, do that and we can progress.

[Bezza]

Charlton will have had a massive boost beating Sunderland, going to be tough to get anything though we are improving , hopefully will see improvement from Knoyle who I thought would be better than we've seen,

[ForsolongaRover]

Sometimes, and we have seen it with Rovers, when you are riding high you suffer unexpected defeats. Sunderland have, until this season been very vulnerable at home, and whilst I do not dispute that Charlton must have played exceptionally well, I doubt whether they have transformed “overnight”.

They would have gone to Sunderland without any expectation of a win and under no pressure to do so from their fans.

They will be under extra pressure at home and expected to beat us, so it will be no pushover and I’d give Rovers a good chance of at least a draw.

[jamesrover17]

Decent recent record at the Valley, even though we technically lost the playoff game we won over 90 minutes, mauled them last season and obviously everyone remembers floodgate, think we beat them when they were on a roll in the FA cup as well

1-2 Rovers for me

[Chris Black come back]

If you take away the FA Cup game and also the Play Off game as technically it was only a ‘second half’ match, then our league record at The Valley is played 7, won 2 (including last match there), drawn 0, lost 5. We have failed to score in 5 of those 7 games.

[Bailey Vickerage]

  A hard decision though Bailey although having a cup game next makes it easier to play them in my opinion and then give them a good break.
   Dickos, you didn't see a lot of Kane, Whiteman, and Ramsey then, I am not saying they were better but did themselves proud when they were here, Whiteman and Kane carried us as their leaving has highlighted since and although Ramsey didn't play a lot for us he is playing at the highest level in the world now. Not many we have had have done that who have graced our pitch for us.
  Sha66y, we need to tighten up at the back that's for sure, do that and we can progress.

Weve actually got crewe next not scunny, I would only play Rowe if he was defo fit enough to play. Would maybe consider putting him on the bench with how weak our bench is atm but we can’t be risking having him out long term with the injuries we’ve already got. RW confirmed that Close will be out for 2-3 weeks.

[selby]

  Forgot about that game Bailey that game is just as important and on the face of it a tad easier in theory.
  The attitude we must have is win if we can but don't lose if at all possible to teams around us, hopefully we can improve our away fprm.

[Bailey Vickerage]

  Forgot about that game Bailey that game is just as important and on the face of it a tad easier in theory.
  The attitude we must have is win if we can but don't lose if at all possible to teams around us, hopefully we can improve our away fprm.

Yh Charlton will be tough but crewe we should be beating, 4 points from the next 2 would be a very good return.

[ForsolongaRover]

Charlton’s home record is the worst in L1 and we know about our’s away, but apart from their Sunderland result we would surely see the game as our best hope for a breakthrough on the road.

If I were RW I’d be convincing them that they have a great chance of a win.

Their crowd is not exceptionally intimidating in that vast stadium and it’s the ideal game for putting the pressure on them from the start.

[The Beast]

  Forgot about that game Bailey that game is just as important and on the face of it a tad easier in theory.
  The attitude we must have is win if we can but don't lose if at all possible to teams around us, hopefully we can improve our away fprm.

Yh Charlton will be tough but crewe we should be beating, 4 points from the next 2 would be a very good return.

I’d be ecstatic with 3. As badly as Charlton are doing I don’t think we’ve got the characters in the team to go to a place like Charlton and come away with anything, hope they prove me wrong.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I think Charlton are capable of much more and have been underperforming under Adkins. They will probably have the bounce from his sacking and the good result at Sunderland.

Just think they'll be too strong for us and will run out 2‐0 winners.

[Bailey Vickerage]

Charlton’s home record is the worst in L1 and we know about our’s away, but apart from their Sunderland result we would surely see the game as our best hope for a breakthrough on the road.

If I were RW I’d be convincing them that they have a great chance of a win.

Their crowd is not exceptionally intimidating in that vast stadium and it’s the ideal game for putting the pressure on them from the start.

if a manager isn’t trying to convince his players that they can win a game I’d be worried.

[selby]

Earlier in the week I heard a weather warning of heavy rain in the south east of England for the weekend and potential flooding. Couldn't help wondering if Charlton were winning three one and the pitch started to show standing water how urgent their ground staff would undertake clearing the pitch for the game to continue.

[GazLaz]

Charlton will be boosted by Adkins leaving and Jackson taking over. It will be a really tough game. 2-0 sounds about right.

[steve@dcfd]

Looks there’s a 50/50 chance of Tommy being available if he gets through training today.
Taylor having an injection in his ankle but will not be available and Gardner scan on his calf but not available.

[ForsolongaRover]

BV : The point I was trying to make was that their result at Sunderland should not make us feel that we had to be defensive. We need to believe that we have a real chance of winning and really go for it.