Mar 7
Dean 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.
Chicago Addick 