Fine margins
Talking Point š£ļø
I would take anyway to get out of this league, even aimless hoofs upfield, if that somehow resulted in goals.
No Charlton fan should have been under any illusion of what Nathan Jones brought. His personality and style of play has had plenty of airtime.
The clubās owners and leadership with Jones as the architect have invested a lot of money to build an infrastructure within the club that was broken or non-existent previously and this is definitely a balanced project as opposed to Birminghamās āloadsa moneyā sprint to the finish line.
I am okay with that, despite becoming more disillusioned with League One with every passing game. Charlton have been fractured as a football club for so long that stability is vital to any future success after long cycle of mediocrity where we were headed in only one direction.
Jones is no Curbs when it comes to persona or bringing a sense of calm, but I have long tired of managers or head coaches talking in sound bites or making a 4-0 thrashing sounding as if we were unlucky.
Jones wears his heart on his sleeve, and there will be plenty more rants, honest or wild. Iām also appreciative that he has a real understanding of what we are as a community football club.
Long ball, squeaking 1-0 wins and exaggerated rhetoric are all very well if you are winning, however the scorn we saw from some fans after Saturday is what you are going to get if the team falls the other side of the line. There will be many fine margins this season and to succeed we need to be on the positive end of them regularly.
To do that Jones has to improve our offensive game and show plenty more variety. Outrunning opponents will not work alone. I want to see more ingenuity from the training ground. We are a work in progress but progress we have to. This is now his team with many players he would have pushed to have signed.
With the Cardiff City job hovering in the background, thereās talk of Jonesā head being turned. The Welshmanās ego is large, and he has a reputation for upping sticks, but he should also be credited for leaving behind a progressive club built for future accomplishments.
Luton absolutely were (twice), Southampton definitely were despite relegation and at Stoke he was just midstream in a long line of disorder and poorly executed managerial hires.
For the record I donāt he is going anywhere, which will distress some fanās, but I am willing to continue on this journey, as madcap as it might be.
Well said
Have Cardiff actually enquired or is this internet talk?
Even if they have it’s not a foregone conclusion that he’ll go, he’s been given everything he wants at Charlton from choices over coaching staff to player recruitment and more. Will he get that at Cardiff? Plus he’s jumped ship twice for better jobs in his career then crashed and burned on both occasions. Plus Cardiff are not an attractive proposition right now…
As for the long ball tactics, they worked last Tuesday against Cambridge, REG’s cross to Tayo Edun created the first goal and then his long ball to DK opened things up for Matty Godden. Midfields in L1 tend to be crowded and stifle fluid football.
Going back to NJ, he’s on a long term contract, if Cardiff want him it will cost, the compensation package will sugar the pill of his departure.
Internet speak only I believe, SP.
it’s only natural there is speculation, he was a childhood Cardiff fan and they have a managerial vacancy. I think that is about the extent of it though. He has only just started Charlton and has the backing and financial support of the owners, so I can’t see him going anywhere.
I wonder if you’ll feel the same after two away games then October 5th, When Birmingham have finished with us?
Alfie May to score one or two I predict.
Unless the Messiah whips down the M4 before, hopefully.
Given your posting history, I very much doubt you will ever find something remotely positive to about my club.
Sad.
I’ve seen many positives at MY club and sadly many negatives. But it’s still my club.
I simply wasn’t sucked in to the love for NJ and I don’t believe he will bring us the success we all crave.
His treatment of Alfie May was the final straw for me, an act of crass stupidity.
I don’t mind being in the minority if I believe I’m correct. Time will tell.
Sorry cock-up with the name.
It was me. But you guessedthat anyway š
CA I agree with most of what you have implied re getting out of this division as even under Chris Powell, quite a few of the games were dire, but he changed almost the whole team around and also brought in tried and tested players who could score plus wasn’t afraid to sub any player who didn’t perform!
Two things different about Jones, he is too much heavily relying on old players who did him well in the past and he knew. Things change and players change, similar to Adkins going back to the past on his previous tactics etc when he was at Southampton on how he ran his team etc, it doesn’t always work, things move on and so do players performances! If it did, every manager would use the same formula as when they were most sucessful, whether bringing in their decent old players, using same tactics, etc.
The other issue is with Jones, which we have had with most of the previous managers after Powell, except probably Riga, is that he leaves it almost until it’s two late to bring on subs and change the team around, even after our dreadul performance against Blackpool in the first half, the commentators incl Brownie thought he would have changed about three players at half time they were so bad, but no just one change, so it left yet again Coventry trying to handle the midfield all by himself and still no efforts on goal, until he finally sees that Campbell can’t do it all by himself up front and the midfield is non exisitant, which it has been apart from Coventry for most of the matches this season!
Plus unless he lowers his ego and finally drops Ahadme as his main striker, I can’t see us winning many games at all and it will be like last season under Jones mainly a continuation of draws, with a poor defence but at least strikers who could score. Whereas this season, we have a good defence but have no strikers who can rarely even get a shot on target, let alone score, so any club who can put at least two past us we then have very little chance of even salvaging a point!
I am with you CA on continuing the journey as long as Jones makes the changes needed!
Good comments.
Given where weāve been over the past 5-10 years and especially where we were last year facing relegation to where we are now, I genuinely think the scorn is laughable but sadly predictable.
For sure there needs to be creativity and for sure weād have been better retaining May but I donāt think weāre into paying Ā£20K p/w so that one is what it is.
Last season we had the worst defence I have ever seen in 40+ years, just pathetic. Now a decent foundation so letās wait and see eh? If weāve got the common sense and patience that is.
For those that are hoping NJ goes to Cardiff careful what you wish for ladsā¦still remember so much being in the Royal Oak and the news filtered through that Curbs was leaving being greated with cheers š¤¦the chatter was of a new appointment taking us into Europe. Oh dear.
Well written assessment and some poignant responses on here for once from most quarters in contrast to some of the normal negative drivel we see. Target clearly is to get out of this league in any way possible and with the building blocks in place for future stability which have been systematically destroyed since the Murray/Varney days.
Daggs – itās tedious now zzz
O/K I’ll leave you all to enjoy the reign of NJ without criticism.
I think Nathan Jones is the right man for this job, and the odd defeat doesn’t diminish the fact that I feel more confident of finally getting out of this league, with him at the helm, than I have in the past few years…
On a side note, I watched this interview with Charlie Methven, which was very interesting for some insight into our ownership model. Hopefully you’ll be able to follow the link- https://youtu.be/9sk77BnfkN0?si=_Z1UuQpZNaGJBT95
Yes I saw that from Methven, it was interesting and pretty sensible I thought, though a bit worrying for the women’s team. I liked the stuff about building on our talent pool.
I am not sure on the Cardiff rumours, but I saw somewhere he is the favourite for the job. While its good we are backing someone and building something, we do have a lot of eggs in the wee man’s basket. If he goes, or he fails, I suspect another manager will not see what Jones sees (remembers?) in the several Luton old boys. There is not much so far to suggest they are better than what we had. So they would quickly become dead wood. They might anyway on current performances. And his track record does not scream trust. Even if the Cardiff job is too early, if he does get us on a decent run at the playoffs I can imagine a bigger club coming in and him jumping ship.