Charlton Athletic 1 Leyton Orient 0
Definitely plenty of work needed, as well as new players, but a welcome opening day win for the Addicks over Leyton Orient today.
There was a lot to like, but we made a little bit too much work out of it in the end, but did enough to deserve the win in front of a very decent crowd.
Holden rewarded the youth that impressed during pre-season. Nathan Asiimwe, Tyreece Campbell and Karoy Anderson, who signed a new contract on the eve of the game, all started. It was meant to be a 3-5-2 with Lucas Ness, Lloyd Jones and Terell Thomas as the three, but to me Thomas operated as a left back allowing CBT a lot of freedom to get up and down the wing.
We began very brightly playing high up the pitch with CBT a threat every time he got the ball out on the left. On his first raid Alfie May was very unlucky not to score on his full debut controlling the ball excellently only to see his shot saved well.
The all-important goal came right on half-time when once more CBT danced into the box and fired across the goal for George Dobson to ram home with May also lying in wait.
In the 2nd half Campbell had a good chance to score a second following a deft Panutche Camara through-ball, but we tired late on and fell into the trap of sitting deeper as the O’s probed around our box giving us only a few minor scares.
In injury time, of which there will be plenty this season, Camara fluffed a golden opportunity to finish the game putting a shot wide of an empty goal after Scott Fraser had an effort saved.
Yet we held on to notch a very nice opening day 3 points.
A few observations. I though Thomas played very well. Composed on the ball and he put in some great tackles. Ness doesn’t look the player he was last season, but hopefully with more games it will return. Lloyd Jones however, had a good game.
Dobson was everywhere and was an unlikely match-winner. Fraser was his marmite self, and was oddly better after he got injured, which looked like it might see him being substituted.
I thought Alfie May had a good debut. He absolutely needs a partner to play alongside him, but he looked fit, agile and lively. Yes, he will get caught offside a bit as he likes to play along the line and right up on the last defender’s shoulder but I liked what I saw.
CBT was brilliant first half. Of course his last ball will sometimes go wasted, but he was such a threat in that first 45. 2nd half he hardly touched the ball!
I liked both Camara and Edun when they come on. Excited to see more of them.
Six academy players actually started, but Asiimwe, Campbell and Anderson all did themselves proud. All three needed to react a bit quicker at times, but they all played their part and showed plenty of promise.
MoM: George Dobson & Terrel Thomas.
Dean Holden: “It’s important that they see a team that are prepared to go out and represent them (the fans) on the pitch. Run all over the opposition. Fight, tackle and all of the things that we saw. It’s important because hopefully now they’ll see a team that they can relate to and they’ll want to come back the next game.”
Elsewhere in L1: Much has been made about Barnsley’s pre-season, but they had the result of the day beating Port Vale 7-0 at Oakwell. Wigan also raised an eyebrow winning at promotion favourites Derby. Peterborough won at Reading, Bolton beat Lincoln 3-0, Pompey and Bristol Rovers shared the spoils after a late home equalizer and in the university derby Cambridge beat Oxford 2-0.
A very accurate match report Chig (IMO) All I would add is May’s running and workrate was exceptional and Asiimwe looks a bit special to me.
echos of aribo
I said the same myself. Excited to see more of him. We have really missed a player that can get up and down the pitch with ease like Aribo used to.
Interesting heat maps here for Asiimwe, CBT and Thomas which emphasizes my summation that Thomas pretty much played in two positions.
https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/96466/playing-two-formations-at-the-same-time#latest
Very good appraisal of the game CA.
Just 2 questions
Why did we keep Kirk?
Why isn’t Tayo Edun starting at left back?
PS The fans were brilliant at the game the place rocked
I think Kirk will leave. Not sure Edun was 100% “up to speed” but he looked like he was when he came on.
Great to see and hear the old place rocking.
An interesting start to our season and it was evident that the charkton fans were fully behind the team….a different and more positive feel.
Orient fans filled the stand and to be fair Orientvgave us a few problems….Richie Wellens and his background staff deserve praise.
Dobbo ran the show and Alfie must be exhausted chasing everything on the pitch like a demented jack russell….once he gets his first goal I’m sure he can relax a bit.
A new dawn and era starts !!!
Hoping your now settled and both you,rollo and the family are well.
Thanks for checking in Chris. Yes, me and the pup are doing well although we may avoid getting in the car for a bit!
A good start to the season and a match against newly promoted Orient that could have been a banana skin was safely negotiated. A clean sheet victory is always a good thing whatever the circumstances.
It’s clear that we need a striker/target man for Alfie May to play off, Miles Leaburn and Chuks are injured but even if fit we need that player, it will be a long season. The experiment of playing Tyreece Campbell as second striker didn’t work for me.
Other players showed a bit of early season rustiness which will wear off with time – particularly the newer players who might not have had a full pre-season. I estimate that we’ll play around 60 games this season across all competitions so there’s no rush to play everyone including those not up to match speed.
There’s still work to be done on the squad but we still have three weeks before the window shuts.
I agree with your comment regarding Ness, he is looking a bit short of pace, but he is coming back from the injury he had at the end of last season, so not altogether surprising. It might be the reason he is playing in the middle of the back three rather than the right hand side of the three. Jones looks like a candidate for the central position long term.
CBT also faded after a brilliant first half which seems normal for him, so I think he needs to share the game with somebody like Campbell or Rylah (in time) and be the support player for May until we recruit a striker. Is Connor Wickham available?
I hope that Edun takes the wing back role as Thomas deserves a run of games in his present position.
It will be interesting to see the team at Newport as Holden can ring a few changes. We must not overplay May or Dobson in the less important games if promotion is the target. McCrandles and Kanu can come in. Mitchell can also play the Dobson role.
Solid start, a team that will only improve and more importantly (fingers-crossed), one we can identify with. Interesting test next Saturday.
Not a lot to add to the game comments apart from Camara looks class, ok forget the open goal. Sitting very close to the dugout and tempted to make a (joke) complaint about Dean Holdens language when talking to the 4th official. My 14 year old son heard him say F*** Off a number of times when being admonished by said official:-) The other thing was when we scored he only looked at the pitch for a few seconds then spent a minute or two looking at the crowd reaction around the valley…. you could tell he was really up for this game and I think he has seriously invested himself in our club!!!
I think he is. And for the longest time we have someone to invest in. Big opportunity for the new owners to back him.
CBT was a threat down the left but as pointed out the final ball can disappoint sometimes, but if it provides a winner, all well and good. May looks a live wire and could probably do with an upfront target man to get his best return, or a real pass picker to feed his runs. Huge round of applause for the academy starters, all looked as if they were capable. It all looked a lot more controlled with the introduction of Camara in the middle of the park. More to look forward to one hopes. Only one thought after watching the game, was Pratley let go too soon.