BWP | Chicago Addick

Aug 21

The passing game

Tuesday night’s atmosphere was a little surreal I thought and certainly Addicks’ watchers are going to need to learn how to watch Peeters’ new look team.

There were groans around me as the ball often moved from a promising attacking position back into our own half. One old boy near me shouted out it was “disgusting” how a ball out wide wasn’t crossed into the box, but instead passed back.

The award of a foul appeared to bother the players, not because of foul play but because it broke up a rhythm. Instead of then launching a free-kick into dangerous opposing territory they were mostly just tapped to a team mate so the players could continue their passage of play. I only remember Jackson’s effort outside the box being sent goalwards.

Peeters team and the style is a work in progress and I think for long ~~standing~~ suffering Valley stalwarts it is too.
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Jan 31

Jim White…. take a breath

Another January transfer day full of hot air.

Aston Villa did buy a couple of teenagers and Sunderland splashed out on a Newcastle fan but other than ‘Arry increasing QPRha’s debt burden, Arsenal were the days surprise big spenders. Goalkeeping prospect Jack Butland moved to Stoke but the headlines were once again grabbed by David Beckham, who signed for PSG until the end of the season and will donate his salary, believed to be worth a total of around £3 million, to children’s charities.
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Jan 25

He’s played more games than Shaun….

….Bradley Wright Phillips has played more games than Shaun….

He’s also scored 14 more goals than his step brother too. Good news that he is staying, we don’t want to start dismantling the squad now and the varied talents of Haynes, Hayes and Clarke have yet to prove they can be as dangerous as BWP in front of goal at this level.
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Jan 1

1 Comment

Clarke’s a shoe in

I’m very pleased with Chris Powell’s early January transfer business. I wish Paul Benson all the best at Swindon where he will be reunited with his old car-pooling mate Alan McCormack, but even a blind man could see that he wasn’t in the manager’s plans. Meanwhile replacing him with the division’s 4th top scorer is a clever bit of business in my book.

Clarke will not be the last person to fall out with Paulo Di Canio, and has all the DNA of a Powell signing. A player with age on his side who has impressed at this level, could play higher and has something to prove. Welcome Leon.
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Nov 19

4 Comments

Brentford 0 Charlton Athletic 1

300 Addicks boated up the River Thames today to Griffin Park to watch the game, but it apparently wasn’t true that Bradley Wright Phillips walked on it instead!

Today was unlikely to be easy with our record at Griffin Park and so it proved as we defended gallantly and rode our luck especially in the first half when the Bees were easily on top.

Powell is proving that without the need for flying tea cups he is still capable of instilling a belief into his players during the half-time talk and we came out of our shells in the 2nd half.

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Oct 2

1 Comment

Sheffield United 0 Charlton Athletic 2

There are games that define seasons, there are games that alter fortunes and there are those singular results and performances that give you a real sense of belief.

It is far too early to tell if yesterday’s result will define our season and the victory didn’t alter our wonderful early season march, but what it did do was send a powerful message not just to our opponents but to us. Years of decay have left confidence in tatters amongst supporters and I don’t think I was alone thinking that yesterday, in fact the whole of the past week, would tell us something about Chris Powell and his players.

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Aug 16

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Colchester United 0 Charlton Athletic 2

Second to your boss calling you into his office to give you an unexpected pay rise, listening to Charlton win away from home sat at your desk with ear phones discreetly tucked into one’s ears is a bloody nice way to spend an afternoon at work.

Apart from just a couple heart in mouth moments (mostly from corners and without the benefit of pictures) the commentary team on Player gave me an excellent description of an impressive and confident away victory this evening. This at a ground, well two grounds actually, where we had never previously won a league match, although I was at Layer Road many moons ago to see us very fortunately win in the cup. But why ruin a good stat?

I think a lot of us were thinking that tonight was a really difficult test. Colchester had scored 8 goals so far this season but that first half performance sounded, and has since been confirmed by onlookers, a devastating display of attacking football.
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Jul 30

2 Comments

Ready or not

“It was a battling performance from the visitors, who matched the Lions throughout a frenetic and absorbing match which will whet the appeitite among Addicks supporters for next Saturday against Bournemouth and the new season” – cafc.co.uk

I can’t help myself, but like a kid stood outside a candy store with his Dad’s wallet I’m a little beside myself with excitement a week from the opening day of the new season.
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Mar 2

Pony

Pretty hacked off with last night to be honest and I didn’t even have to suffer through it. I was tied up in client meetings the whole day, so I dipped in and out of Twitter and was really lifted to see us take an early lead. What happened afterwards sounded pretty shambolic.

For the most part Powell is being given the time that the new owners had wished for. Parky would have been lynched from the west stand by now.

There is no disguising that we are in a mess, things haven’t improved even with BWP’s five goals in seven games and the only other chink of light has been the introduction of Carl Jenkinson. The rest have been pony.
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Feb 12

5 Comments

One half wonders

Charlton Athletic 3 Peterborough United 2
Does it really matter if we only play for 45 minutes? Chris Powell’s 4th win following a stunning 2nd half performance, that followed a dismal first 45.

I’ll try not to dwell on the first half for too long but we sounded second all over the pitch and constantly compounded our problems by keep giving the ball away. Doherty and particularly Dailly sounded every day their combined age of 68 as Mackail Smith and Tomlin gave them a torrid time and we were lucky to be just one down at the break which was met with frustration from the stands and some boos.

The biggest cheer of the first half came when the referee went over like he’d been shot by a sniper from the East Stand, and then followed by the loudest applause when he left the field on a stretcher. The club should consider producing an end of season referreeing highlights DVD such are the kerfuffles we have had down at The Valley this season.

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Feb 5

1 Comment

Huish little Bradley

Yeovil Town 0 Charlton Athletic 1
Some nail biting moments in the 2nd half but another very welcome 3 points as the Chris Powell revolution gathers some speed.

Whilst the goals were flying in in the Premier League, one would do us at a very windy Huish Park, only the 2nd defeat in 9 for The Glovers. The first half sounded dyer, although it is hard to blame Alex! But the 2nd half was a lot better. BWP missed what appeared a sitter, but he would get another chance.

Just after the hour a good break involving Anyinsah and Wright-Phillips saw us win a corner and from that BWP smacked home a close range header. At times we were hanging on, Fry almost scored an own goal that would have been replayed forever and it was nerve-wracking stuff but we held on despite another long period of injury time.

Bournemouth, Southampton, Oldham and MK were all pegged back late to draw, others won but the win took us back into the play-off places.

Addicks at Huish Park: Exiled Addick.
CA fact: Chris Powell became the first ever Charlton Athletic manager in it’s history to win his first three matches.

Feb 2

9 Comments

Those men referee’s huh?

Charlton Athletic 1 Colchester United 0
This afternoon I was tucked away in a big conference room underground searching for both daylight and a Blackberry signal. I was doing a half decent job (I think) of paying attention to what was going on in front of me on stage but surreptitiously I was refreshing my Twitter Blackberry feed furiously to see what was going on at The Valley.
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Jan 24

2 Comments

BWP signs. Board splash the cash

Bradley Wright Phillips or BWP has become Chris Powell’s first signing joining the club for an ‘undisclosed fee’ but some guess work entirely on my part puts it at around £200,000. Reading pulled out of a £300,000 deal last week because he failed a medical. He has had knee problems for a while but a 2nd opinion showed that his knee is fine to play. Slightly worrying but that explains the length of contract (18 months) and my estimated fee. Of course if his goals can propel us to promotion then it will be a couple of hundred grand well spent.

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