v Charlton Athletic (H) Match Day Thread

[Mckram]

I actually thought Gayle looked really promising for a player that’s been here a week with limited training.

He’s still got pace and played some really nice balls to bring others in to play. It was just a shame that we don’t seem capable of stringing more than 2 passes together beyond that.

[G STAR RAM]

14 minutes ago, Crewton said:

I'd like to highlight the performance of the referee and his "barely there" assistants as a contributing factor in the team's collapse. In his last 4 games, he'd handed out 25 yellow cards and 3 red cards. Last night, he booked Bradley for his first foul (which wasn't either a professional foul or a reckless tackle) after Charlton had committed 6 fouls already iirc. After that, it felt like nothing short of GBH would get a Charlton in the book. Well, they certainly tried hard to live down to that standard, but the ref wasn't interested. His indifference to their thuggery certainly contributed to that second half performance because, unlike against Stevenage, the players were completely knocked out of their stride by these tactics. It all made me wonder if the ref had been told that he'd been too free and easy with the cards of late and accordingly took a more hands off approach.

Had no control of the game at any point. The players were basically just doing as they pleased. 

When he was telling players where to take free kicks from they were just walking off.

Their player went down injured off the pitch, rolled back on and then walked 40 yards to the touchline, all while the referee just stood their watching. 

My favourite though was the free kick he gave us for a late challenge on Nelson which he 100% did not see and only gave because of the crowds reaction. 

[angieram]

49 minutes ago, sage said:

He scores and assists

So does Mendez-Laing. But not when they are being played out of position,  they don't. 

[Ian Buxton's Bat]

26 minutes ago, Crewton said:

I'd like to highlight the performance of the referee and his "barely there" assistants as a contributing factor in the team's collapse. In his last 4 games, he'd handed out 25 yellow cards and 3 red cards. Last night, he booked Bradley for his first foul (which wasn't either a professional foul or a reckless tackle) after Charlton had committed 6 fouls already iirc. After that, it felt like nothing short of GBH would get a Charlton in the book. Well, they certainly tried hard to live down to that standard, but the ref wasn't interested. His indifference to their thuggery certainly contributed to that second half performance because, unlike against Stevenage, the players were completely knocked out of their stride by these tactics. It all made me wonder if the ref had been told that he'd been too free and easy with the cards of late and accordingly took a more hands off approach.

Kevin Friend was in the director’s box area.

Isn’t he some big cheese in the reffing hierarchy these days?

[LazloW]

26 minutes ago, Oldben said:

Injury Prone: Gayle has faced challenges with injuries during his career, which could potentially impact his availability for matches and consistency on the fiel.

Mixed Performance: While Gayle has demonstrated goal-scoring prowess, there have been long periods of inconsistency in his performance over several years, which might be a concern for us.

 

It’s not like we’ve gone out and got Gayle as our first choice striker! We’re in a beggars can’t be choosers situation and he didn’t have a club, so I think it’s fair to say he isn’t going to come in and be a world beater.  What are people actually expecting!? 

I think the same can be said of a lot of our signings. We’re still in a position where we’re signing frees, loans or quite cheap players. Doesn’t excuse last night’s debacle - even the players we have should be able to deliver more than the quality we’ve had this season- but still think people are expecting our players to be better than they are. 

For what it’s worth, I thought Gayle did OK. Few decent flicks, got the ball in tricky places a few times and linked play but overall he had nothing to work off. We didn’t create a single clear cut chance for him. Can’t expect a striker to live off scraps and look fantastic. 

 

Edited February 28 by LazloW

[sage]

10 minutes ago, angieram said:

So does Mendez-Laing. But not when they are being played out of position,  they don't. 

Where did he play @angieram ?

[bcnram]

27 minutes ago, sage said:

He is streets ahead of Wilson and is our best player at breaking the offside trap. With Bird in an advanced role, he can pick him out. His recent burst of goals coincided with Bird improving.

 

Yes but Mr Warne said that he likes the way Wilson takes on defenders, even if he loses possession; which he mostly does.

[LazloW]

I’d like to echo the comments about the ref. Not sure he had much influence on the result (maybe letting Charlton get away with murder for 98 mins had some indirect effect) but he was a shocker.  The whole player coming back on the pitch to sit down injured, have about 10 mins of treatment and then go off on the side of the pitch (after being told seemingly to go off the back) was particularly maddening.  

Their No33 who scored the second arguably shouldn’t have been on the pitch. He instigated some ‘handbags’ with Nelson and got a stern talking to (Nelson had a sterner talking to even though he’d done nothing). He should have been booked for that. About a minute later he made a late challenge on Wilson (who had an absolute stinker himself unfortunately) which was a booking if Bradley’s tackle was a booking (it wasn’t, but refs should be consistent). He then made a few more fouls - but I think persistent fouling seems to be another rule which never seems to be implemented anymore. 

It’s the little things, just being generally inconsistent and weak throughout. 

[Tamworthram]

7 hours ago, Crewton said:

Smith was our best player (I'd like to know why he was subbed). Gayle made a few good flick-ons and had good movement with little service. Bird was doing the job of 3 midfielders by the end because everyone else was playing upfront.

Warne got the substitutions wrong. Wildsmith did another brainless thing. Charlton were dirty feckers who had the weak referee in their pockets - Adams had the s*** kicked out of him, their player on a booking kicked the ball away but didn't get a second yellow card, their injured player ignored the refs instructions to take the shortest route off the pitch and didn't get booked......jeez, the list is endless 😞

He said Smith was subbed because he was “chuffin”, or whatever phrase he used, presumably to mean he was exhausted. He didn’t look it but maybe he was.

I agree about Bird towards the end because we were throwing everything forward but I don’t think he was great throughout the game.

The ref was very weak and should have made the player go off at the shortest point and booked him. I wonder what his answers were to Waggy when he was complaining about it. There should certainly have been several other yellow card. When oh when will they clamp down on this all in wrestling at corners (I’m sure we’re just as guilty from time to time) but it’s becoming a joke now. The only positive thing about the ref (unfortunately) is he got the penalty shout right.

[Shuff264]

Another inept performance, I would say one good performance this calendar year away at Exeter, our home form continues to be poor.

Our inability to build pressure and create chances from open play is a real concern, we just invite pressure onto ourselves by continually giving the ball away from poor passing and attempted dribbles.

Line up worried from the start as we set up so defensively, never looked liked creating much.

Cashin had a good game defensively but isnt a left back, I don't know what Wildsmith was thinking but Charlton only get the chance after Bradley puts two aimless balls into midfield.

A lot of people giving credit to Smith, fair enough he was alright but I don't think he adds enough to the midfield, he isnt a great tackler or passer, hes just kind of ok.

For anyone interested in xG, thats out 8th game in a row we've recorded an xG of under 1.

[Tamworthram]

1 hour ago, eccles the ram said:

Having slept on it last night's second half display was inept and worrying. Yes we have injured players, as do every other team. Yes we have lost key positional players but when Smith comes out with on RD that the first half we played some of our 'best football' I am at a loss. That half time talk must have included  - we are 1 0 up,keep it tight and we will be ok. No, go out and get into them. Charlton haven't won for 18 matches. Apart from their shot against the post they really posed no real threat. Warne is a sensitive pleasant man who knows he is on 'borrowed time'. Even if we do go up, and it's a big if, he knows he will be here only based on performances and results. I don't believe he will be here by the end of the year. We need a massive turnaround on Saturday. I will be there but methinks another lacklustre display will turn the atmosphere toxic. Finally, three players clapped at the end, the rest trudged off. Come on chaps we had to endure that, at least show some respect. Rant over. Life is too short. We ae are still unbelievably in second place

Perhaps the most worrying for me, because we seem to see it time after time, is the manager’s and player’s inability to step up and/or change things immediately after half time. How many times (at PP in particular) have we seen the opposition come out for the second half and take control for at least 20-25 minutes? We seem to have no answer or desire to reimpose ourselves and are happy to let the visitors take over. Maybe not as often as I think but it does seem like pretty much every game.

And why the F do we make attacking substitutions with only a few minutes of normal time remaining? I could understand it if we were maybe three goals up (it’s been a long time since we’ve had that luxury) in order to give a player coming back from injury a bit of run out but not when we need to make things happen (and we’ve been ineffective up until then) and are seriously running out of time.

[TomTom92]

1 hour ago, Crewton said:

So does Hourihane, but in the positions they play, it isn't enough IMHO 

@sage Lets face it CBT was brought in to be the explosive winger which would lessen the burden on NML. For whatever reason he hasn't got going yet so we're stuck with Barkz and Wilson, neither are top end wingers nor match winners. 

Think Barkz is the more attacking choice but if we played 4-3-3- or 4-2-3-1 then providing the right players were picked ie Sibley in the hole then Wilson as a winger would be fine. 

[Srg]

This run of being so poor from open play really coincided with going to a back 3. Admittedly, last night, we didn't play a back 3 but it left us with Cashin (arguably the best CB in the league) playing left back to accommodate Sonny Bradley who's shown absolutely zero to be worthy of doing that. In turn, you're breaking up a great partnership in Nelson and Cashin. We're left with having space in the full back positions, with only 1 fullback capable of using that space (Wilson) who we're playing further forward.

Just so many square pegs in round holes unnecessarily.

[Tamworthram]

6 hours ago, SKRam said:

Well I did predict Leyton Orient as my left field choice to be amongst the Play Off teams. Looking good for that one. Unfortunately we’ve still to play them at home 

 

Unfortunately, we’ve still to play [insert any team] at home. 

[Sparkle]

43 minutes ago, angieram said:

So does Mendez-Laing. But not when they are being played out of position,  they don't. 

I thought it was deliberate to start with half a team playing in positions that they are not as good as in their best positions! Maybe it is so that he can tell them to change the team shape every ten minutes because he has got it wrong again 

[ramboy63]

Yet another awful performance one shot on target against a team that cant buy a win is shocking

Fair play to Charlton they came and did enough to upset us and take the 3 points,my issue is the way we are playing and its not just been the last few games we are bang average at best and being second in this league just shows how poor this division is this season

Im afraid if we do not get in the autos which on recent performances is unlikely i do not fancy us at all in the playoffs.

No way will Warne get sacked so its suck it up im afraid but surely you would expect a change if we do not go up unless Clowes sees us making the playoffs as a massive achievement,i like most think with a better Manager/Coach we would romp this league this season   

 

[nottingram]

9 minutes ago, Srg said:

This run of being so poor from open play really coincided with going to a back 3. Admittedly, last night, we didn't play a back 3 but it left us with Cashin (arguably the best CB in the league) playing left back to accommodate Sonny Bradley who's shown absolutely zero to be worthy of doing that. In turn, you're breaking up a great partnership in Nelson and Cashin. We're left with having space in the full back positions, with only 1 fullback capable of using that space (Wilson) who we're playing further forward.

Just so many square pegs in round holes unnecessarily.

Entire back 4 of centre backs (ish, Nyambe is at best a very defensive full back), with a wing back playing in the front 3, at home to a team who haven’t won in 3 months. Surprise surprise we offer absolutely zero threat from open play. 

His justification for it after the game completely nonsense and if I was Sibley hearing it I’d be fuming. 

I seem to remember he started arsing around with a settled back 4 who looked very good last year as well. 

[sage]

16 minutes ago, TomTom92 said:

@sage Lets face it CBT was brought in to be the explosive winger which would lessen the burden on NML. For whatever reason he hasn't got going yet so we're stuck with Barkz and Wilson, neither are top end wingers nor match winners. 

Think Barkz is the more attacking choice but if we played 4-3-3- or 4-2-3-1 then providing the right players were picked ie Sibley in the hole then Wilson as a winger would be fine. 

It's quite simple 

 

Barkhuizen      Gayle           NML

                          Bird

             Smith              Adams

Elder       Cashin        Nelson    Nyambe 

                         Wildsmith

 

Sibley, Wilson, Bradley, Hourihane and Waghorn to sub on 

Edited February 28 by sage

[Jourdan]

For balance, I think the biggest criticism that can be levelled at Warne is that his changes can be too left-field and tend to destabilise the team.

Injuries are obviously a big factor, but there are curveballs in team selection and set up that fans are struggling to decipher so imagine how the players must be feeling.

With so few games to go, we need simplicity and to establish consistent partnerships. Get Nelson and Cashin back together in a four. Play full backs at full back. Get Adams, Bird and Hourihane in midfield. Get NML and CBT on the pitch and playing with Gayle.

If we do logical things and don’t achieve logical outcomes, OK. But right now both the players and the manager are doing the inexplicable and that tends to make you think what if.

[jimtastic56]

45 minutes ago, LazloW said:

It’s not like we’ve gone out and got Gayle as our first choice striker! We’re in a beggars can’t be choosers situation and he didn’t have a club, so I think it’s fair to say he isn’t going to come in and be a world beater.  What are people actually expecting!? 

I think the same can be said of a lot of our signings. We’re still in a position where we’re signing frees, loans or quite cheap players. Doesn’t excuse last night’s debacle - even the players we have should be able to deliver more than the quality we’ve had this season- but still think people are expecting our players to be better than they are. 

For what it’s worth, I thought Gayle did OK. Few decent flicks, got the ball in tricky places a few times and linked play but overall he had nothing to work off. We didn’t create a single clear cut chance for him. Can’t expect a striker to live off scraps and look fantastic. 

 

Felt really sorry for Gayle last night . He has the build of a 10 year old kid , yet Wildsmith continued to launch every free-kick,  near the half way line , into the box 20 foot up in the air . Warne now thinks Bradley is some sort of lethal weapon ( after his goal Saturday) but the knock downs didn’t come.