Charlton v Derby County

[G STAR RAM]

There are certainly a lot of people passing comment on games they haven't seen.

But regarding Calero, i was suggesting he gets 20 mins as a sub because i have seen him.

So have I, against Mickleover Sports, very average that evening. McClaren sees him every day and obviously thinks he is not ready yet. What have you seen that makes you think he is good enough, not only to make the bench, but jump ahead of Ward, Russell, Dawkins or Best in the pecking order?

[RAMalicious]

Just got back in from the match.

Strange game really. They dominated the first 15 mins until they scored. Blame Hughes for the first goal, was far to weak in the challenge and it led to Christie being left 1 on 1 with their winger.

We then dominated, kept the ball well and scored a cracker. Hughes still a little dodgy at the back but was assured on the ball and dictated play.

From where I was in the corner, it didn't look like a peno but after seeing replays it probably was. Awful time to concede but we came out of the blocks really well and were all over them.

Mascarell coming on for Hughes was a shock for me as the team were playing well before ht. mascarell looks ok, passes the ball well and reads the game really well making some fantastic interceptions and tackles. However, put under pressure he struggled tonight. Gave the ball away a couple of times and played their striker in too.

Having said that, we still looked on top until we went 424. They scored immediately with what looked like a soft goal and although best looked a handful, I thought we missed the 3rd midfielder .

Christie did well until ward swapped sides and Dawkins didn't really offer much again. Seems to be a player that does well when the team is on top but not when we're pushing for a goal. Ward looks good tonight and only did a couple of stupid things (one run into nowhere with 3 men on him and a 40 yard volley that dribbled wide).

Defence looked shakey but I think it's more to do with the lack of defensive support from the dm tbh.

Martin looked good and laid the ball of well. Bryson and Hendrick were ok tonight and fed off Martin well. But there weren't many probing runs and the slick passing around this edge of the box wasn't really there.

Overall though, nothing to be overly worried about. We played well and would have won on another night. Need to win Saturday and I reckon if we take the positives out of today and remove the errors, we will do just that.

The stats seem to back up alot of what you say - we dominated possession, more shots/corners... It's the tweaks that are needed - is Bucko fit? OMG or Eustace? Where to play Big Willy? Russell for The Dawk? Ivan on the bench?

[Mills_DCFC]

Also can anyone who was there confirm if Dawkins was jeered off again? Think I quit following football if he was...

 

From where I was people clapped him and gave him support

[i-Ram]

Further to my earlier note, I don't think I would change anything in my review. It really now comes down to Mac earning his money and making the right calls:-

Is he sure Keogh/Buxton are the defensive answer for the season - if not, get some value from the sale of Keogh before 31/8, and bring in a proven, experienced central defender.

Picking a CDM - Hughes is not the answer. I think Omar is, but he needs game time to improve his sharpness and he also needs to learn the lingo quick as there were a few communication issues out there last night. Early days but I don't think Omar is as good as Thorne in respect of penetrative through balls. Seems a more sideways player.

Getting Bryson back on track - something not right with him at all. He does not merit a place in the team presently.

Having a plan b and c, as plan a of playing everything through Martin has apparently been worked out. The midfielders need to be finding the space that Martin creates, and our passing to them needs to be quicker. For me Hughes and Hendrick currently.

Getting some width and pace up front. I think Best could be a good signing (early days) and Russell through the middle too, are good striking options. But we need them to be racing into the box, to get on the end of crosses - which I can't see coming from either Ward or Dawkins. I am not sure if these 2 can't cross, or whether the coaching instructions are to cut inside and feed / feed off Martin. A good quality loan signing on the wing who can beat his man on the outside, and can cross, is something we need IMO. I don't know enough about Ibe or Grealish who I see mentioned in another thread to know if they are the answer.

Notwithstanding the above, I still remain optimistic for the season. We have good players at championship level who need to lift it a bit, but 2 new faces to improve the squad balance/quality I think are necessary. I am away on my jollies for the next 2 weeks and as I lie on my sun lounger I do hope Mac finds the answers on the training ground, and more importantly the upcoming iPro fixtures.

[Duracell]

So from what I'm reading, we've already learned that Hughes can't play CDM, and after Omar's disappointing 45 minutes last night, neither can he.

 

Eustace had better be faultless until Thorne's fit, then. But then again, he probably won't play as this moron we have in charge will probably give Hughes or Omar another go.

[Curtains]

So from what I'm reading, we've already learned that Hughes can't play CDM, and after Omar's disappointing 45 minutes last night, neither can he.

Eustace had better be faultless until Thorne's fit, then. But then again, he probably won't play as this moron we have in charge will probably give Hughes or Omar another go.

Calero and Hendrick will save us it's still early doors but don't like Forest above us at the top of the league it don't seem right lol

Onwards and upwards with the MAC.

[Phoenix]

Should I slit my wrists now, or wait until the weekend?

[Curtains]

Should I slit my wrists now, or wait until the weekend?

We will be fine.

Just a bit of fine tuning needed lol

[Woodypecker]

Hmmmm...unfit defenders, incorrect selection in CDM, PoTY frittering around peripherally, misfiring wide men - we're just not together yet. 

 

IMO The Mac needs some fresh faces - winger, centre-half, striker to add options and competition for places.

 

Prior to Wembley, Mac said: "if we are ready to go up, we'll go up". We weren't ready, so we didn't go up...the Derby team couldn't penetrate when dominant, defensive concentration was found wanting at a crucial moment.

 

It's still essentially the same team of course - so I'm not sure that we will be ready to go up this time around either, based on the personnel available/selected and the stuttering performances this far.

 

Long way to go - and if we beat Fulham, smiles might return.

[gfs1ram]

'but don't like Forest above us at the top of the league it don't seem right lol'

 

Charlton would have been top if we had not scored our second goal !!

[ilkleyram]

This time last year we had a very similar record - Drew at home against Blackburn, beat Oldham in the cup (just), beat Brighton away and lost at home to Leicester.  Nigel had 8 more matches to go - we won 3, lost 4 and drew 1 - during which time we played really well at Yeovil and v Millwall (both of whom had poor seasons) and Bolton away, but not so good v Reading at home and Leicester and the scum away.  

 

I thought that last night we were better in lots of areas - better as an attacking force, moved the ball around well at times.  After SM made some changes with 15/20 minutes gone and moved Wardy, we completely dominated the half right up until the penalty.  Charlton didn't have a look in, and Wardy's 1st goal was the best of the night.  

 

Live (I haven't seen the TV), the penalty looked very soft, more of a stumble than a foul (and the ref didn't book anyone) but what was disappointing was that all three Charlton goals were preventable - the guy was allowed to turn too easily for the first, the penalty started a long way out and should have been cleared before it got to the box (according to my watch we were also in the 5/6th minute of 4 minutes Fergie time), Granty had an opportunity to clear way before the third went in.

 

We have talked on here before, and praised (rightly IMO), SM's attacking instincts.  Well he went for it again last night but this time it didn't quite work out.  There were times, especially when we were pushing forward when we played ourselves into trouble at the back (we mostly got out of it too), our crossing from fullbacks and others is not always great and we have one or two important players still seeking consistent form - Bryson and Hendrick key among them.  There were some signs last night that Bryson is coming on, Martin was better last night and Christie had a better game.

 

I still think we deserved a point - for 40 odd minutes in the middle of the match we dominated totally - but we didn't take a couple of very good chances - Hendo in the first half, Keogh in the second.  We need some consistency and a bit of luck.  It'll come.

[EastKentRam]

Dont know why Hughes is getting more stick than Hendrick and Bryson who were both annonymous for large parts of the game.

 

We lacked a lot of guile and creativity in the final third, dont think we ever looked like scoring in the second half. First half when the game was level we looked far more dangerous.

 

Would like to see Hughes and Mascarell played higher up the pitch, they're easily are most technically gifted players so would like to be seeing them make things happen where it counts. 

[North_Stand_Ram]

Shocked at how bad we were. Half the players looked like they seriously couldn't be arsed.

[ilkleyram]

Shocked at how bad we were. Half the players looked like they seriously couldn't be arsed.

We were obviously sitting in a different part of the stand, North Stand  .  

 

I saw all 11 and substitutes, try their hardest throughout the match to get a result.  I wouldn't accuse any of them of not being arsed.

[top 6 finish]

We obviously haven't found our rhythm yet.Not surprising,really,no other team played

or even tried to play such a high tempo passing game like us because its not easy,especially

in this league.

 

Last season some of our football was breathtaking.Not just my opinion,pundits on BBC and

SKY were saying the same thing.We will get it back,when confidence returns,and it does

require confidence and self-belief to do what we do.

 

One other thing that nobody has mentioned,as far as I know,we could well be missing George

Thorne,maybe his influence was greater than even we thought it was.

 

We may have to strengthen the defence a tad,but that applies to every club,otherwise I am

totally expecting a top 3 finish at least.

[North_Stand_Ram]

We were obviously sitting in a different part of the stand, North Stand .

I saw all 11 and substitutes, try their hardest throughout the match to get a result. I wouldn't accuse any of them of not being arsed.

No pace and no rhythm minus small periods, we didn't seem to get going until we fell behind. Improvements are a must

[ilkleyram]

No pace and no rhythm minus small periods, we didn't seem to get going until we fell behind. Improvements are a must

Improvement needed, we agree; but that's very different from 7 players not being arsed

[notts_ram]

I havent seen as yet a determination running through our team to make up for the playoff final disappointment last season only talk about how it inspired Leicester last season and no actions.

[peakram]

I know its early days but don't see us being in the top two for automatics, I think the Thorne injury made sure of that, as a lot of the rest of the team was no different to last season (with one or two absentees on top).

 

Its looking like we will need to try and challenge for the play offs again for me, but it does seem a fair few teams are better than last season whereas we are probably only about the same so its going to be a tough challenge for sure, hopefully we can grow into it.

[Gypsy Ram]

it will be a closer league this year. I can't see anyone running away with it this year.