Charlton Athletic 0 Blackpool 3
Amongst the total hopelessness today was the sound of the death knoll echoing around that famous stadium. We couldn’t hear it, but it was there loud and long.
A month or so back we stopped looking like a promotion team. Today we didn’t look like a team at all, shorn of all pride and commitment.
The team has long had no identity but today we threw hunger and dignity onto the bonfire as well.
I have long been a Lee Bowyer fan, but for his own good and reputation, let alone what is best for the club, he has to stop the blame game and the excuses. The buck stops with the manager and there’s not a single chink of light that leads the way to redemption from what I can see.
Caring unfortunately is not enough.
As for the game. Once again we were one-down within the first 10 minutes. Despite the commentators rose-tinted glasses, it was an obvious penalty. It was two before half-time, another long range effort as red shirts backed off into row A of the Covered End Lower.
That was the 9th straight home game we have let at least two in. 17 first half-goals in that time. That is not unfortunate or unlucky, that is scandalous.
Darren Pratley was making his feelings pretty clear in that 1st half. Valley Live should come with an R rating, and it was a surprise to absolute no one that he was sent-off a minute or two into the 2nd half. He should have been removed with the almost half of team Bowyer did substitute at the break.
Watson is no better and he and Gunter have been dreadful signings. January signings Smith, Jaiyesimi and Schwartz have done nothing to improve the team as we could not muster a shot on target all game. If Bowyer is still in charge at Wigan on Tuesday, he could do no worse than play a team full of youngsters.
To rub the salt in gaping wounds, Aneke was then given a straight red for an elbow, which looked a little unjust, but it was only thing that was.
Depressing stuff. Not in that ‘we may not have a football club to support’ way, but just in what supporting a football club means to us all.
“But it hurts me. Because I care. That’s something everybody knows. I care about this club. I’m fighting and I will keep fighting until told otherwise.” – Lee Bowyer
Photo credit: Kyle Andrews
Chicago Addick 
Keep the bow he will get it right With the right players
Got to write this season off he has been there when he could have walked a way people have short memories
How right you are, no other manager has had to go through what Bowyer has had to put up with, assemble a squad in a matter of days against the background of a ban on buying, a salary cap, and that’s only two of many situations, He deserves to be given a chance to rebuild properly for next season,
Will you two still be saying that when we are in divison 2 next year! This is deja vu of last season in the championship, where we were playing against much better teams, we can’t even beat the bottom teams in this division! Bowyer should do the honerable thing and resign gracefully and stop blaming everyone and everything else, bar himself for the absolute dire performances! His first big mistake was dropping Phillips entirely, who has been one of the loyalist players at Charlton just because he wouldn’t sign a new contract, very petty and not good management! Phillips was one of the best if not the best goalie in the Championship last year and saved us many a time, he would have never let Charlton down, just look at how Cardiff are doing now with a new manager and Phillips in goal!
I have been a supporter of Bowyer but enough is enough, lets just hope Sangaard sees sense soon, before we are in really dire straits and it may be too late!
Oh and by the way most of these poor performances are from the permanent players Bowyer and Gallen have brought in, with some even been shifted out in January, did they do their homework! Bowyer also has his favourites and continues to play and back them no matter how bad they play, whilst others are dropped for just a single error! Whatever happens anyway, we will mostly have an over 30’s team next year, who will be playing out their twilight years at an leisurely pace at Charlton, as others have done in the past, unless they are paid off, as no one else will take them off our hands!
Eddie Howe are you still available!
Totally agree with with Mike. Bower brought in the players , and they are all div one standard. The club is bigger than the manager. Charlton are an embarrassment and changes are needed for next season. We need an established manager with experience, having said that , who would want to manage us right now. I’d love Paul Cook but looks like Ipswich have done the sensible thing and snapped him up. We are lost with bower.
EDDIE HOWE come on down…………….please
The ‘I support Bowyer because he stayed when others MAY have left’ brigade, need to open their eyes. We are displaying relegation form and we are approx. 10 points short of the average target for safety in League one.
Right now I’m not confident we can gain them. Even if we do? How does this pathetic season fit in with Thomas Sandgaard’s hopes for our future?
Wigan must be rubbing their hands together for Tuesday evening !!….we are the only club in the division that look like ‘canon fodder’ If we dont get some wins under our belt from the March games,I cant see us picking up any points at all in April and May given the sides we have to play.
League Two is beckoning unless Bowyer can instill some stability.
Can’t quite believe how quick people are to turn on a manager. He’s been through more than most managers go through in their whole career, and stuck by us. He’s earnt the right to make mistakes, which he has with a few of the signings. This was always going to happen, we were over achieving with a squad patched together at the last minute. Sooner or later we were going to hit a wall.
He deserves support until he’s had a proper summer window to build. Stick by him through the bad times, like he did with us. Just until he’s given a clear slate to prepare, then judge.
Bow deserves a lot of credit for sticking with the club last year – both incarnations of ESI made it all but impossible to do his job leaving the club relegated, transfer embargoed and losing quality players – Sarr, Taylor and Lockyer all left on frees and then we were in serious danger of admin. He could have left at numerous points last year so he deserves some loyalty and support when things aren’t going well for him. But you can’t keep playing those cards.
There comes a point when whatever a manager says isn’t getting through to the players, whatever team he selects, and the formation he tries, none are working. He’s rung through every permutation possible and the result is the same. At that point you have to reluctantly bite the bullet and bring in a new manager. There are too many repetitive mistakes – how many goals have we conceded from just outside the box? Yesterday their second goal scorer (Virtue) was allowed to advance with the ball and get a shot away, the nearest covering defender was too far away, this has happened too frequently to be one of those things. The first penalty was down to poor marking and poor defending, where was Gunter? Why was Deji on the wrongside of the attacker? The lack of defensive nous and organisation is too obvious.
That said – Stockley was on-side and his goal should have stood, the third goal/their second penalty was embarrassing to give. Yates fell under the barest of contacts and Chuks was sent off for a routine challenge where there was no intent or recklessness. But aside from that the team looked ragged, de-motivated and lacking in confidence and there for the taking. Pratley’s two yellows underline that while this is a physical division that you can’t be too aggressive and the second was off the ball/late and too easy to give. The fault isn’t all Bow’s – a few of our senior players need to demonstrate a bit of leadership. This is a club with investment behind it and with an ambitious new owner and there’s a lot for them to play for.
As so often Shadow, you encapsulate my own thoughts very well.
I suggested on Charlton Life a couple of weeks ago that the club should appoint Steve Brown as a defensive coach, he knows what it takes to make us better and like Bowyer he cares for the club. Too many are gunning for Bowyer, there is no mention of Johnny Jackson, surely he has a much larger part to play in how some of the players are currently performing. I think Bowyer does himself no favours in the manner he speaks to the likes of Scott Minto after the match where I can understand he is down but he comes across as somewhat defeatist, when I think what is required is passion and aggression albeit controlled like he was as a player. I hope his demeanour is very different when he speaks to the players today, when he tells them it is up to them to get the club out of the mess they have contributed to getting us in. The blame should not be aimed purely on Bowyer.
I respect Lee bowyer as someone who does really care for the club, on paper, looking at the players and listening to what they were going to bring to the club/team when they were brought into the club, you believed that this was a team that could do something. What they have managed is the disintegration of the team. It’s becoming frightening to watch the next game,take yesterday,no shots lack of effort,poor team selection, it was obvious that to everybody except Lee that Pratley would get sent off if left on the pitch.Also I don’t like this statement that he tells a player that he will not be involved in the next game, this should be said behind closed doors,it certainly cannot be good for any team spirit that is left.MY BIG FEAR now is RELEGATION
Graham I agree with you Bowyer should not take all the blame, but the problem is he doesn’t actually accept any blame himself, there is always an excuse! He blames certain players, the weather, the refs, poor decisions, the pitch, the opposing bench and so on but never his own tactics, poor management of certain players who he knows won’t stand up to him, his poor selection of team, poor subsitutions, never dropping certain players no matter how bad they play and also defending them when they have had cards, playing players totally out of position when he has other available etc! Plus to cap it all he says nearly all the time afterwards, we were the better team, I have no idea what games he has been watching! Scott, Curbs & co all agree nearly every game now before Bowyer comes out after the game, they were the better team, but Bowyer doesn’t ever see it! We need someome impartial, who will actaully tell it to Bowyer like it is as we all see after each game, Charlton were dire and the better team won!
Give the youngsters a chance. At least they will be hungry and committed. Hopefully they will also care as much as Bows clearly does. I think fans will respond positively to those that demonstrate commitment and effort irrespective of age. Many of the players who have played recently clearly do not care and they are an embarrassment to the club and themselves. Getting sent-off is a cowards way out when things are not going to plan. The side needs character and commitment as a bare minimum. The end of the season cannot come quickly enough to rid the club of the ‘cancer’ spreading through the team. It is simply not good enough to get on twitter after a defeat and make disingenuous promises about being better next time. The club needs players to lead by example and SHOW they are committed.
It is quite clear that virtually each team member is not putting in the effort for themselves, their playing colleagues, the management, the Club or the supporters. The question is why?
At the start of the season the results, 22 points from 10 games, were going fine. Then Gillingham at home. Since then 22 points from 21 games. What has happened since?
As in recent seasons past, one can no longer blame the ownership. The answer is now surely in the dressing room which then transfers itself onto the pitch. Individuals who were previously performing acceptably and even sometimes quite well are now simply pathetic. As mere on looking supporters we can only guess why, but something has obviously gone badly wrong.
All involved are now questionable and each must be aware of their employable future. P 45’s are in sight for many.
Having been a fan since we won the FA cup (wow 1946), I have seen many up’s and downs’s, but this season takes the biscuit.
I follow the club at all levels and some supporters are saying give the youngsters a chance but as I mentioned after a recent game several of the best U23s are missing presumably through injury ,i.e. Vennings, Mingi, Powell and Aouachra. I think Quiterna, Barker, Henry, Maynard Brewer and Harness are worthy of consideration but you cannot put them all in at once, Maybe one in the starting line-up and one on the bench. Barker looked very promising at the start of the season so should be given a further chance. From reports I read it seems that DJ was about our fifth choice of a winger I feel Quiterna would be a better option so put him on the bench.
Where is Morgan, who is so often over criticised by LB? Davison should have been retained to play as a co-striker with Stockley or Aneke because his work rate is so impressive, It is too early for him to play as a No.9 but he would learn his trade by playing alongside a more experienced No.9. Taylor and Grant worked well because they both worked hard for each other for the benefit of the team. Hemed was a disgrace last season and I am beginning to think Schwarz is little better. I think a squad with Stockley and Aneke to compete for the No,9 shirt With Washington and Davison to compete for the supporting role. I said earlier in the season that the squad should have five strikers, two in the team, two on the bench and one more to cover for the inevitable injuries and suspensions. I think the loss of Aneke for forthcoming games reinforces the argument.
I am afraid that LB’s frustrations continue to exhibit his poor man management and PR skills.
Groundhog day CA – and I can’t do it any more – haven’t missed a streamed game all season but they are on their own on Tuesday and I hope things change without my having to suffer watching it. Have been involved in some Covid research and was asked to fill in a mental health survey last week. It had a list of symptoms such as anxiety, depression, anger, frustration,tearfulness etc. and asked how frequently you felt you had those symptoms in the last 2 weeks. As there was no box for ‘on Tuesdays and Saturdays’ I couldn’t answer honestly.
Like a drug though isn’t it LP. I just need to find myself something else to do on Tuesday. I know they’ve been saying that having live sport played is a tonic for the locked-in nation but not for every fan. Spare a thought for Grimsby supporters.
I like all of us are hurting watching the terrible Charlton performances . It feels like we are watching the same match each time . You know where we are lacking you know that we will concede at any moment and you know deep down how poor we are . I keep paying my money listen to the Valley Pass team try and give us hope but know full well this team is not up to it. At half time as Bowyer made his substitutions i decided he should go . Why on earth had he left Pratley on he was bound to get sent off ! It took one minute to be proved right and I felt anger. The other week I had listened to Steve Gallen saying how pleased with the business we had done and how we were covered in all positions. Can’t say I ever felt as confident as him . Had we not had warning our two central defenders would be out for 3 months ?? Who signed Ronnie ? New pace from our new Swindon wide man who everyone wanted ?? Sounds very depressing doesn’t it but I decided to watch our recent play off win yet again ! What came across to me is the manager we now wont out got the side right . Tough tackling busy body Cullen with the gifted Aribo in Midfield good players at the back and a good keeper. How many teams after that would lose some of those players that was down to the owner and not Bowyer. What I’m trying to say is Bowyer is making plenty of mistakes but he hasn’t suddenly become someone we should hate think incapable. Watch that final again look at the players lost..we have poor players now and for good reason . I want to give him a chance.
Tony – think I am confused as you are.