Dec 29
Where do you start. Or put another way, where does it end?
That was shocking. A first 45 minutes up there with the worst I have ever seen. Slightly better 2nd half, but we are so fragile, well and useless, at the back that Oxford scored from their first real attack after the break and it was another straightforward loss.
Please click for moreKarl Robinson has never been short of a word or three but his assessments of Charlton and Johnnie Jackson in particular before and after their win over us yesterday was insightful and interesting.
Please click for moreI decided to give yesterday’s game a miss and took the football-widowed-other-half out for lunch. First time I have forced myself away from a game all season, and I’m grateful I did as it sounded desperate.
Despite a bright start Karl Robinson’s Oxford rolled us over. Punishing us in key areas and apparently we got away with 4.
Please click for moreAug 26
A bit of a weird one for me to be honest. I am quite friendly with the Lee family, although not enough to have any real intel, but I am sure Elliot Lee joining the Addicks’ today on loan will have raised a smile with both his grandad and father.
Please click for moreA sad day.
Lee Bowyer gave me one of the best days of my life. 90 +4. Wembley Stadium. Me, my son, my brother, my mates, 39,000 joyous fellow Addicks. Thank you Lee.
This time may well be right for everyone, and although I cringed whenever fellow fans were calling for his head, today’s resignation with a move to Birmingham City expected allows everyone to shake hands turn around, and walk away with a big smile on their faces.
Funny old game.
First half hour we chased the shadows as Oxford passed and moved around us and we didn’t trouble them at all as we lined up 4-4-2 with Smyth and Shinnie outside Pratley and Watson in midfield.
Then abruptly we burst into life. Gunter from the right played the ball into Shinnie, who shook his marker and played a lovely reverse ball into an acre of space for Connor Washington to run onto, which he did with full gusto and he finished expertly under Eastwood, and suddenly we were ahead.
I wrote the other day that it’s nigh on impossible to guess how we will line up in games. Bow said yesterday that it was the first time the team had played to that formation. It looked like (from watching on Valley Pass) that we were 5-4-1 with Solly and JFC advanced wing backs and a flat midfield. That put a lot of trust in Bonne, but he did not disappoint, despite the fact a year ago he was playing in a FA Cup qualifying tie at Maidstone.
Whilst Jacko and Marsh are drilling the players on set-pieces, Bowyer must spend hours in a room studying opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. Derby and Phillipe Cocu are no slouches but yesterday we picked them off at a corner and targeted the £10m Krystian Bielik. Teams appear to be obsessed in playing out from the back pedestrian like believing they are playing for Man City.
There’s been many people associated with Charlton Athletic over the years that I’ve admired and had many reasons to be thankful for, whether they are players, managers, coaches, owners or fans. Steve Gallen is the latest.
The 45-minute interview with Steve on Valley Pass is insightful and absorbing as he talks about a whole range of subjects from his childhood through to being appointed a Director of the club recently.
The Addicks are off to Spain this weekend for a pre-season training camp. The importance of which cannot go unnoticed. After years of Katrien Meire not being able to hold a piss up in a brewery type planning, it was Karl Robinson who eventually managed to convince Roly to cover a short trip to Ireland in 2017, hastily thrown together and in fact just imitating what he did the season before at MK Dons.
Last year Bow managed to convince Roly to splash on a Portugal bonding trip, which was the beginning of a journey of oneness and desire that ended on the Wembley steps.
Didn’t deserve to win that did we?
Very disappointing after Saturday. I was sorry that Bowyer made changes in the name of resting players, albeit understanding why he did. Fosu came back and is misfiring. Maybe the diamond doesn’t suit his offensive style. By all accounts Pratley again did well at the back.
I listened on the radio and it sounded like we lacked bite, and 2nd half when a promotion-forward side should have upped the gas, we just didn’t and fell into Oxford’s trap, who scored a great goal to grab a probably deserved point.
The second part of my look at our League One rivals as we enter our third consecutive season under our current genius owner. I am sure he is reading this as he renews his subscription for Valley Pass.
Here was Part One of my 2018/19 League One preview, which went Accrington Stanley to Coventry City.
Perfect. 600 mile round trip on opening day and because our new friends Sky fancy it, the game will kick off at 12.30pm. Nice for those of you that wanted to see the team in the flesh on opening day. Wait, we may even have new owners sat in the stand the old scrote in his laboratory watching on his Belgian telly..
This is followed by our new big rivals Shrewsbury Town at The Valley the week after, then the club’s first ever trip to Accrington Stanley and a game under the lights in SE7 home to Peterborough.
Predictably the lowest ever Wembley League One play off final crowd of just 26,000 today saw Rotherham put pay to Shrewsbury’s hopes of a return to tier two for the first time in 30 years. Rather unpredictably it was ex-Addick Richard Wood who scored both goals to tame the Shrews and send them back to whence they came.
Sad that we have to wallow in their defeat, but what the heck. It was a good game however and Rotherham’s superior muscle and fitness to Shrewsbury’s was further evidence of what a lightweight squad Karl Robinson had put together.
As expected Karl Robinson’s time as Charlton manager is over. He left the club by mutual consent this morning.
Mutual consent being that both Duchatelet and Robinson agreed to tear up his contract with some compensation paid to the manager. Some, if not all of which Duchatelet may well be reclaim from Oxford United, where Robinson is expected to turn up.
This story will clearly develop over the next 24 to 48 hours but it is now known that Karl Robinson tendered his resignation to owner Roland Duchatelet before the Blackpool game. The Belgian refused to accept his resignation, but Robinson has since offered again.
Chicago Addick 