Mar 14
I’ll take that. 7 massive points this week, and from three such different games.
We were excellent last Saturday at home to Birmingham and thoroughly deserved the 3 points. The long Wednesday trip up north to Middlesbrough saw a masterclass defensive performance and we snuffled all 3 points to take home. Today we were poor, and we contributed to a poor match, but still managed to come away with an important point.
Please click for moreA huge win.
It was at times a draining game to watch, but there was also plenty to enjoy. Lot’s of positive performances and we showed all the aggression and defensive bravery that heralded our start to the season.
Please click for moreJoe Bennett has been training with Charlton and for the first time he put on a red matchday shirt today appearing as a 60th minute substitute in the 1-1 draw at Cambridge.
Bennett is a free agent and could provide both cover at left-wing-back plus add an experienced head and good counsel to the younger players in the dressing room next season.
please click for moreA bit of a turn up that. Bolton just didn’t show up and Oxford were worthy winners.
That means that we keep both Peterborough and Bolton as well Barnsley and welcome Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town, Rotherham, Stockport, Wrexham and Mansfield. Crawley and Crewe meet at Wembley tomorrow to decide our last remaining opponent for next season.
Please click for moreOnce BA staff announced at the beginning of our flight today that there would be no Wi-Fi I slumped back into my seat, put my hands in my pockets Appleton style and immersed myself in a Scandinavian crime series.
I quite recommend being blissfully unaware of Charlton at the moment.
Please click for moreSchoolboy defending saw us lose for the fifth consecutive game at Oxford. Somehow in an attacking situation we had 8 players ahead of the ball just outside of the box, and Oxford broke on us five against one to win the game late on.
Worst than that was how after a week on the training field we played the worst 45 minutes of our season in the 1st half. We were woeful forcing Holden into changing the shape before the break and he had made three changes by the time the players re-entered the field for the 2nd.
Please click for moreDean Holden’s agent has been busy, and I don’t blame him.
Holden has said all the right things since being installed as the temporary manager of Charlton just before Christmas. His mates have all disappeared, but it does sound like he wants to grasp the opportunity to manage the club and stay.
It is a turnaround job, but possibly both parties have found someone to believe in, and belief has been in short supply in SE7 for some while.
Please click for moreCharlie Methven was seen at last night’s game at Oxford, probably wearing one of those half and half scarves.
This after it came to light yesterday thanks to investigative work by Rick and Dave, that Methven and his ‘group’ have signed a deal to purchase the club, not the real estate assets, from Thomas Sandgaard.
Please click for moreWhere 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 moreAt least this week we didn’t have how great they’ve looked in training, but instead the players visited the club’s museum and embraced the history and traditions, and “understand that we’re now writing the next chapter.” 🤣🤣
The next page being that 1st half then, probably the worst in the last decade, in front of possibly the lowest amount of Addicks for a Saturday league match perhaps since we returned. Understanding that the train strike did not help.
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 moreI’m not one for looking at the league table or casting season-long aspersions after three games, but I would like to see a glimmer of possibility, a framework, a promising player, a style of play, but today was again poor.
After a pre-season of much hype of player acquisitions, a defined style of play and rock n’ roll what has been served up so far has been pretty uninspiring. We were a long way second-best today, overrun in midfield, error prone in front of our own goal and bereft of attacking ideas…. the long hoof in the general direction of Stockley’s head will become very tiresome, very soon.
Please click for moreNext up Part II of my look at our League One rivals and those sides that the bookies think will be challenging for a play-off spot.
Please click for moreHappy to see us finish the season on a high. It may have been a sloppy own goal that gave us the win, but it was good to see us keep going at the end looking for another goal.
A very decent return this week, but as expected we just miss out on the Play-Off’s by goal difference with Oxford comfortably seeing off Burton 4-0 whilst down on the south coast Pompey choked at home to Accrington.
Please click for moreSteve Brown said the game lacked quality. It lacked most things in all honesty – two mid-table teams playing the season out.
Nothing during that 90 minutes to scare the current top 6 incumbents, but there are still some upside down results and if Schwartz had scored we’d have been two points from the top six which is pretty nuts when you think of our form since the turn of the year.
Part III and my final look at our fellow League One teams teams this season. I started in the north in Part I and moved towards the middle of the country in Part II and lastly we have the southern teams for this conclusion.
Karl Robinson had a sticky start to LAC (life after Charlton) but this is his third full season at Oxford United and a sense of optimism fills the town. Robinson’s side fell at the final hurdle a couple of months back but have kept the majority of that squad together.
Had a banana skin written all over this one, yet our lack of ruthlessness in front of goal surfaced again. Losing Igor Vetokele was a blow, and we have to hope it was just a knock as he has got better with each game, and Lyle Taylor is so much better with a striking partner.
We dominated early proceedings, and took a deserved lead when Aribo was brought down, and Taylor finished from the spot. After that listening at home it looked like a case of how many, except in our case it is never going to be many.
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.
What day is it..
I’ve been travelling out on the west coast and have lost all sense of days and time. There was 90 minutes I tried to follow the other day and managed to listen to a bit of the game from the start. Leading up to Fosu’s goal we should already have been led.
Part I, Lancastrians and Yorkshire types here, Part II for Greater Mancunians here, and Part III for Middle Englanders here.
Right then, my final part and the good old South of England. I’ll start my way from the eastern most club to the one furthest west.
One of a few seaside clubs in the division, Southend United chased a play-off berth all the way to the final game of last season, a nod to what a bit of experience and stability in these trigger happy days of football management can do. Only Keith Hill pips Phil Brown in the League One longevity stakes.
A new low, but with plenty of deep water below us to consume us.
The photos doing the rounds tonight of an empty Valley are utterly depressing. Thank you Roland for your legacy. We have been truly blessed.
Sadly I think we are nowhere near the bottom as now Karl Robinson struggles to control an ever more spiralling out of control football club. His post match interview blamed everyone and everybody and he talked of players he didn’t have. This after what he said was a good transfer window. Three points and no wins in the five games since and this with an almost entirely fully fit squad, although our displinary record is horrible. More fouling Robinson said when he joined if you remember.
It should be a good time to play Oxford. They suffered late FA Cup heartache at Middlesbrough on Saturday after superbly clawing their way back to 2-2 against Premier League opposition.
3,200 U’s fans shared that heartache on Teeside on Saturday and there will be many less at The Valley tonight. Mind you there won’t be that many Addicks either as The Valley is set to witness another sub 10,000 official attendance.
I know little of Saturday’s game apart from what I have read from eye-witnesses and I don’t think it was much cop. A sell out away end didn’t seem impressed and I note that the anti Roland songs are getting louder and more prolonged.
Just 2 wins from 9 games, and those against two teams below us in the table. It’s early, although I always take note of that 10-game barometer, but as Barnsley will attest this league is most definitely a marathon and not a sprint.
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Rivals, non rivals, I guess it depends where you live, but Gillingham under the growing reputation of manager Justin Edinburgh were one of the surprise packages last season, only a poor slide at the end seeing them miss out on a play-off place. Edinburgh will be looking to improve on a 9th placed finish and he has added well to his squad, although Lee Martin will miss the start of the season due to a bad injury picked up in a friendly.
Scott Wagstaff also joined from Bristol City and Paul Konchesky from Leicester, but who played 36 games on loan at QPR last season. Ex-Addick Josh Wright the captain at Priestfield. Has there ever been a time when the Gills has had no ex-Charlton players? They did lose centre-back Joe Egan to Brentford but importantly have kept the sought after Bradley Dack, at least until now.
Keeping Dack will be essential and Edinburgh may need to add to his squad before the deadline, but I expect Gills to be challenging for the play-offs again. Promotion 10/1. Relegation 7/1.
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Sarasota, Florida
