Plymouth Argyle 2 Charlton Athletic 0
Another listless performance from Charlton and that is one win in six, and not a goal or very few actual shots on target since early in the Forest Green game, who are adrift at the bottom.
Total admiration for those Addicks who backed the team the whole game because this is all so demoralizing.
Although defensively we threw bodies in the way and made some last ditch tackles and blocks, offensively we are clueless, spearheaded by the most clueless of all, Macauley Bonne.
I don’t really get this formation that Holden is suddenly playing. A back three completely neuters our wide players, where we have our only proper threats. Rak-Sakyi for example has been very subdued in recent games.
Holden did make positive subs bringing on Kanu, Leaburn and CBT, and it was better in patches, but we lacked any cutting edge.
The first half wasn’t much to write home about, but for them to score after 8 seconds of the 2nd half was a killer blow, and a shame for Ness, who made the mistake, but he had another solid game as did Hector and Dobson.
The Pilgrims finished us off on the break near the end, and I will say it again these top teams are not spectacularly good. Bolton maybe aside, yet the are miles better than us.
Safe journey home to those fantastic fans who made the long journey.
Dean Holden: “Now we’re taking a little bit of pain in terms of results these last three or four games. Our fans are intelligent, they know where we’re at as a club and where we want to get to. It’s frustrating, it’s not great being a Charlton fan at the moment.”
Stats (CAFC first): Possession – 44% / 56%; Passes – 346 / 425; Accurate passes – 229 / 303; Shots (on target) – 8 (5) / 5 (0)
Chicago Addick 
Nicely summarised CA….
It’s clear that we have a very weak team and despite new arrivals the quality in performances is erratic to say the least.
Our players on the whole give their all but we are up against Superior teams who have enough quality in depth to have the edge.
It’s also clear that tactically we are all over the shop and don’t have a plan B to get consistent wins.
It’s crucial that we will our home games and luckily the Upper North fans is a great bonus when they get behind us.
Superior teams !! The Cringley North under eleven girls team could give our shower of shit a beating.
Once again, the same as the Derby and Wednesday fixtures, it was hard to see us getting anything out of this game given our current form and the quality of our opponents, and so it turned out.
It is though, for us, very sad to see, how very large the gap is in terms of ability compared to several teams in the top half of the table.
Unfortunately, with the current state of affairs at ownership/boardroom level nothing will change anytime soon.
I take my hat off to all our supporters who made the long trip to Plymouth, and were served up 90 mins of dross.
Same old same old.
Cut and paste the last several games.
No goals in over 7.5 hours…….no goal from a striker in 12 games.
The good news……..we have only 12 game left.
The bad news………..we still have 12 games left.
As I’ve said before: Macauley Bonne’s main contributions have been to get offside on a serial basis and commit fouls. Full stop.
We may question weird formations but bottom line is we’re simply very far from good enough. For the first time this season Dean Holden brought on his subs when it wasn’t too late to have positive effect. (which it did; but no goals).
On a Saturday I find I’m very relaxed when Charlton concede a goal. Because it’s what I expected.
A new owner should be the totally aware that if they don’t have serious money set aside to BUY decent players likely to get us into the Championship, don’t bother.
Our Loan policy, with a few notable exceptions, does not cut the mustard.
Doug Morrison
I can’t disagree with any of that Doug.
Thanks CA. Once upon a time we could have taken Accrington Stanley as a done deal……
Whilst Thomas Sandgaard undoubtedly saved the club; he really didn’t have the cash to restore Charlton to former glories.
He made the mistake many have made before him, bringing his son and wife into the business. Nepotism rarely works; in football especially. There is something of the farce about the negotiations to sell the club; apparently reneging on an agreement
after a good faith £1 million payment had been banked. Gillingham, in deep trouble, have a new owner and new manager who have already taken the Gills almost out of the Div 2 relegation zone. A lesson for the Addicks: build a strong foundation THEN and only then reach for glory.
I don’t know if you remember the Dr Kish Charlton blog to which I contributed as the late Chris Thomson’s “Favourite Glaswegian.” My “scoop” which attracted 5,000+ hits was when I reached Thomas via LinkedIn, having several chats which I passed on to the Valley Faithful.
I’m no spring chicken, having followed the Addicks for 67 years.
As we say in Glasgow (I live in Kent) I’m blethering on….
Doug Morrison
I’ve just about given up on the season, it’s now time to make more use of the Academy and give a few players like Daniel Kanu, Tyreece Campbell and Miles Leaburn etc more game time ahead of next season. I’d like to have seen Deji Elerewe play, but he’s gone to Bromley on-loan.
I’m disappointed in Macauley Bonne, things didn’t work out for him at QPR but this was his golden opportunity to re-ignite his career while his contract was winding down. His job is to score goals and his positioning/reading of the game in the penalty box is poor. Why isn’t he in the centre of the box looking for half chances and picking up on knock downs? Then there are the frequent times he receives the ball and is off-side. Simply looking along the line to stay onside of the last defender is basic stuff yet time after time he’s caught offside.
A couple of the formations that Dean Holden has sent out have baffled me, three at the back against one central attacker yesterday? But it has allowed Sean Clare to get forward a bit and showcase the midfielder that we originally signed. But I want to see Jesurun Rak-Sakyi either getting wide or getting into the box a bit more, under Holden his inside right sided attacking midfield role risks putting him into crowded midfields where he’s not getting the space to run at defenders.
Anyway it’s been nearly five full matches since we last scored – that was Corey Blackett-Taylor against Forest Green Rovers on February 14. That goal came after JRS skinned the left back and got a cross into the box that deflected into CBT’s path. Since then CBT seems to have been benched and our top scorer is playing deeper in midfield. I assume Holden is doing these things consciously to try out different strategies but they aren’t working.