Derby County 2 Charlton Athletic 1
For all but the last five minutes that was bad. Yes injuries, yes budget, yes 12-year olds but I was worried as soon as I read Bowyer’s pre-match thoughts. It sounded so defeatist. I was much happier with his response after, and of course he is right, there is no excuse for the absence of fight and battle.
Equally we just didn’t go for it. We had a man advantage, maybe throw Sarr up front (he’s a liability at the back) with Davison and not take him off. Jesus we are about as useless against ten men as we are on the box.
It was poor from the first second, why have we been starting halves so badly? Defensively again we were horrible. We should have been down before they scored, then Bielik was sent off and that was our chance but you’d have never known they had a man less. By the way we are all massively partisan and biased but booing Gallagher the rest of the game, especially when Wisdom could have gone too. Take a look at yourselves Derby fans.
Not one for the memory to end the decade, and a shadow of a performance (and a lineup) that beat the Rams at The Valley just 9 weeks ago. As they say we have to go again, in three days and now with no Macauley Bonne who was taken off with a hamstring injury. It never rains but it Cat 5 hurricanes.
We need a lift, a big one.
Addicks at a pesky Pride Park:
Bow: “We weren’t good enough and got exactly what we deserved and that was nothing.”
Elsewhere:
Photo: @K_AndrewsPhotos
Chicago Addick 
Having new ownership kick in and spend on some fresh, decent quality faces to bolster the squad is the antidote needed to turn things around. There were a half dozen Charlton guys out there tonight whose presence would not be missed, should they be replaced. Lee Bowyer looked a combination of anger, frustration and total perplexity!
I have been frustrated for years about our approach to taking free kicks near the half way line.
I first noticed the problem when Matt Holland was with us must be ten-fifteen years ago, instead of playing the ball into the opposition’s penalty area as an attacking set play we play a short square or back pass and frequently get nowhere. Yesterday was the limit, Gallaher is fouled on the right touchline about three yards inside the Derby half, Solly plays the ball back 25 yards to Lockyer who passes square to Pratley who in turn passes square to Sarr who attempts a pass forward to Purrington or Doughty which is intercepted by a Derby player. Derby break down our left flank cross and score. Must be one of the worst goals I have ever seen us concede.
As you know from previous comments I have made on your site I am not a fan of our full/wing backs but I thought Matthews played well against Bristol City and should have kept his place. Matthews has only played a handful of games so was rotation necessary, he was presumably fit because he was on the subs bench. Solly failed to get forward in open play continually passing square or backwards and not making any meaningful forward runs. We were playing a back three system so presumably Solly was playing as a wingback. Once again I urge the club to prioritise recruiting two Full/Wing Backs worthy of the name.
The second goal reinforces this opinion, the ball crossed from the right by a player in unchallenged space converted on the left side of the goal by an opposition player as per Millwall and Hull.
A dire display from a team that has been ravaged by injury and illness so we shouldn’t be overly critical. To put it into perspective this time last year we hiked up to Coventry, played equally badly and lost – we all know what happened next. We’ve come a long way in the last year.
Hopefully as soon as the window opens we can shift a couple of loanees in and if the takeover is approved we can sign some much needed new blood to freshen things up. We need a striker a defender or two and couple of midfield options at least.
A voice of reason. Happy new year Shadow.