Pre-season games
I have never put much stock on results during pre-season, and it has never as far as I can remember been a harbinger for a good or poor season, yet today’s first half mauling by Aberdeen shows how much work there is left to do in the transfer window.
Holden looks glued to a 3-5-2 but he does not have the squad to play it, at least as of today, but he is the latest in what is getting to be a long line of Charlton manager’s that had a vision for a style of play but then never had to players to deliver it.
This squad needs wing backs and on today’s display another domineering centre-half plus up-front a much needed foil for Alfie May. Kirk and DJ need to be moved on, and they have to be replaced with at least someone able to fill Jes Rak-Sakai’s young boots.
Tayo Edun might be the LWB answer, because Blackett Taylor is not, and Nathan Asiimwe has potential, but we can’t harbour thoughts of promotion if we expect our young players to deliver over a 9-month season.
Aberdeen looked good, and should’ve been five-up at the break. I don’t know where finishing a long way third behind the Glasgow clubs puts you in an English league context but the Dons mightily exposed us in that first 45 minutes and a couple of times after.
We did improve in the 2nd half and CBT and Kanu made the score at least respectable.
Plenty of work to be done, but I’m happier that we didn’t squeak past our Scottish friends 1-0 as that could have papered over a lot of improvements that need to be done.
Last weekend began with the confirmation of new owners talking of actions not words. Let’s see.
I didn’t get to comment on the Millwall pre-season game, which sounded excellent for a friendly in front of a boisterous crowd. Playing that game regularly pre-season might take the edge of it, but it upped the competitiveness and did prove that both set’s of supporters liked the idea.
Photo credit: Kyle Andrews
I didn’t see todays game as I was watching the cricket, but agree regards the friendlies. I can’t see how the constant chopping and changing helps either. The best show so far was against Millwall for the first hour, but we lost it in the second half with all the changes.
Worryingly it seems to be the defence that is letting us down although the keepers have managed to keep the scores down. Fingers crossed we do get some more players capable of the format Holden wants to play.
We still have a full month before the transfer window shuts so I’m not too despondent. Also, Aberdeen play at a higher level than us – I’d argue two divisions higher and will be playing in Europe this coming season, we are a long way off that level. As a gauge of where we are it wasn’t bad and results wise what I expected. Bear in mind that we’ve had a few injuries to deal with so being to put out a settled side this pre-season hasn’t been easy.
So, there’s time for a couple of players in and time also to shift one or two on.
Agree CA can’t understand why Kirk & Jasemi are still in the squad it baffles me let alone Kirk starting and playing in a game which Holden will be selecting the players from for the first game of the season against Orient!
I only watched the highlights, but my friend who I go with each week was at the game and we both agreed the defense was a complete shambles apart from Maynard Brewer who played brillantly and stopped a much heavier defeat!
Even Holden admitted afterwards there was much to sort out in the defense, as on that showing it looked no better than last season! Lets hope he just gets the right formation and the right players to play it sorted quickley as Orient will be expecting to get a good start, with the previous season they had!
Well said Mike. The defence is a shambles and Kirk and DJ are dead weight. We can’t rely on Maynard-Brewer to save the day, the defence should protect him. Boy do we need a left back. CBT needs space to shine without Kirk getting in the way.
Let’s see where the squad is come end august and give the new fellas a chance, they’ve only been here a week.
Hope that dog of yours doing ok man.
It was an interesting encounter yesterday and Aberdeen showed their class with many players who demonstrated why they are a top club.
We battled well on a perfect pitch (well done the groundstaff) but Aberdeen took control of the first half. They showed a variety of attacking options that at times out-foxed our defence.
Alfie May ran around a great deal but had little to show for his efforts.
I think we had a much better second half and played with more confidence that helped us score twice.
The Orient game will indicate where we are at present but I’m optimistic.
Hoping you and the dog are OK.
Please explain the obsession with 3-5-2 when we can’t do it? Is it just because it’s trendy – along with the obsession with data? It really isn’t that complicated a game.
I bet Dean’s dad has a few things to say about it.
As a Scottish Addicks follower for 70 years, I could have told anyone prepared to listen that, whilst the SPL is a far cry from the Premier League, Aberdeen- where Alex Ferguson started off – would be firm favourites to give Div One Charlton a lesson in effective attacking football. Pre-season friendlies are rarely a guide to upcoming league form, 2-2 v Millwall probably the only game to have any meaning. Still lacking decent players in some key positions, Dean Holden will want to see some more signings sooner rather than later. Don’t get me wrong: The Dons game did have some positives but for me at this stage, I will revert to 🤞
Doug Morro
When you play three at the back the central player has to be good in the air and have good positional sense, the players on either side need to have pace to cover the wing backs when they are beaten or caught out of position. In earlier games Elewere , Bakrin and Thomas have performed well in those situations. Hector ,Ness and Jones all look suited for the central role and that leads to a severe lack of pace at the back when all played together. Hector did not play well and should be discounted for the Orient game. In the present situation I would use Ness or Jones
as the central player with Elewere ( if fit) and Thomas on the sides. If Elewere is not available I would go four at the back with Ness and Jones as the central defenders. If a forward with physical presence is not recruited I would give serious consideration to playing Thomas up front for at least part of the game as May needs support. Bakrin has played extremely well when called upon and hopefully will have a good season as right side of a back three or as right back.
I notice that my contribution to your site has not loaded (about 90-120 mins ago)
I recently had security problems on my email account so have had to create a new one. I took some time to craft a contribution to your site so I hope you can retrieve it.
rierti – all done. I had to approve the comment as you have a new email address.