Charlton Athletic 0 Middlesbrough 1

Was that the new bad, or was it only as bad as many of the home games last season? That was the question I was asking myself after the game today.

It didn’t sound pretty with a lacklustre attacking display and an uninspiring sounding midfield in which once again (at home) we failed to get anywhere near to winning the all-important possession battle.

A real shame after the encouraging win on Tuesday and a shame, although not unexpected, to only see two of that vibrant side start today.

I had Boro down to struggle this season, and maybe they will, but they still splashed a million quid during the week on the highly rated Albert Adomah. After noting how Bournemouth got taken to the cleaners today, our opening two games should have seen us notch at least a point on the board, but we know better than anyone how topsy-turvey this league is.

My worry is that Powell, who was explicitly and frustratingly late again with his subs today, is now starting to get sidetracked by the toxic atmosphere surrounding the club, which even the most rose-coloured-spectacled Addicks must be starting to see. More on that later in the week.

A week for Powell to get back to basics and attempt to pull this group of players together. They’ll probably all he’s going to get.

Addick Bloggers at The Valley: And Nothing Else Matters; Hungry Ted; Valley Talk; Addicks Championship Diary.
Powell-ometer: A very disappointing opening league performance from Powell’s team that lacked ambition and surprisingly passion.
Elsewhere: Watford put our defeat last week into some perspective as Bournemouth came back to earth with a bump losing 6-1 at Vicarage Road. Blackpool scored late again to beat Barnsley, as did Forest to win at Blackburn. Bolton and Reading shared two goals as did Huddersfield and QPR. Derby had a good win at Brighton, Ipswich comfortably took care of Millwall at Portman Road, Burnley won at Hillsborough and Yeovil lost at home to Birmingham 0-1.