Well that's a quarter of the season gone and we marked it with a gutless home defeat to a Brighton side who had everything we were missing; confidence, organisation, responsibility, teamwork and belief. Man-for-man, I don't believe they have any more quality and capability in their squad than we do. It's hard to get away from the conclusion that our faltering efforts are more to do with the management.
Parky's post match viewpoint will make interesting reading because I don't see how he can avoid taking responsibility here. My suspicion is that he will heap praise on Brighton but that will be a cop out. The odd poor showing is excusable but this coming on the back of the shambles in the first half at Brentford is unacceptable. There might be a "lot more to come from these players" but they aren't showing many signs of delivering it and with Kyel Reid stretchered off with what looked like a serious injury, we look to be in a pickle.
Our back four look incapable of going through a game without gifting the opposition at least one goal. Gary Doherty will be criticised for their first when he was caught flat-footed by a clever lob back into the box. That might be harsh but he gave the ball away for the second and Johnnie Jackson compounded the error by leaving a back pass woefully short which Brighton took full advantage of. Lua-Lua's beautiful strike for the third was salt in the wounds but the game was already settled. I am pleased to report that I missed the fourth because I left with the mass exodus after the third.
Racon and Semedo simply cannot run the midfield and provide attacking impetus as well as a defensive cover. We manage the latter but do very little of the former. Instead we have been focusing on our wing players to provide the ammunition for two front-men who look increasingly like third division plodders. Reid did at least manage a succession of crosses today but most were over hit or at least put to the back post when our man was on the near post. Lee Martin was again lightweight although he did manage one superb run and cross in the first half which found Abbott only to be steered wide of the post.
Benson saw very little of the ball today and Abbott was left to lead the line. His first touch is particularly poor and he appears to rely on stretching rather than jumping for the ball.
We are now past the "gelling" stage and I am afraid we look like we are lacking motivation. This was an easy win for Brighton and, frankly, it was an embarrassment. I am glad I am off to India for a week because I don't want to think about Charlton for a week at least. We are down to 14th and with Carlisle away next week, a relegation battle could be closer to hand than a promotion push.
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A spot-on assessment of today's shambles, especially your opening paragraph.
ReplyDeleteWe are a world-away from being anywhere close to the sort of side Brighton appeared to be today, and for the first time, I'm looking at Parky and wondering if he's capable of lifting the team to the required standard.
Hungry Ted - According to the OS, the Parky Out Brigade arrived behind the west Stand after the game. It's not good news when this happens. Our players are capable of responding to a set-back but we shouldn't need a regular set-back in order to get a performance. I wish Parkinson would put some of the players under pressure. He hardly ever criticises any of them publicly and I suspect he doesn't do it too often away from the microphones. Maybe he's just too much of a nice guy?
ReplyDeleteI came here thinking it was a Charlton fan's blog. But then I read that you couldn't be bothered to stay to the end so I'm obviously mistaken.
ReplyDeleteThe match I saw, we were as good as them for the first half. One defensive mistake and one fantastic free kick turned a 2-0 fair result into a 4-0 flattering scoreline. Two of those goals have absolutely nothing to do with the manager.
Thanks Phil. I appreciate it would be hard for you to leave early but I pay to get in and can, therefore, decide when I have seen enough.
ReplyDeleteDave, think I might join you in India.......it's tempting ! Did the previous poster really say that two of the goals were nothing to do with the manager ? Really ? Who picks the team and prepares them then I wonder ? Even I observed pre-match that Lua Lua would be a threat and I believe that over half the people in the ground saw what the guy did last week from a free kick.
ReplyDeleteGood job he wasn't on from the start eh.
Who decided to bring on Francis who Miles Weston skinned time and again at Brentford thinking that he would cope with him ?
Don't think leaving early makes anyone less of a supporter. It's probabyl a better way of showing disappointment and probably more productive than booing.
I second Phil's comments about our preparation for games at the present e.g.
ReplyDelete- Parky was surprised by their diamond formation - well he shouldn't have been they have played it before this season. And what was his response at half time?
- We keep trying the long ball to Docherty at the far post with dead balls. It hasn't worked so far and I think everyone must be aware of it by now.
- Why haven't the wingers been coached to put the ball in front of the centre forwards. About 80% of crosses are just wasted at present - far more than anyone else in this division, and we make our forwards look far worse than they actually are.
- Why do we continue playing with two wide men when we are being overrun in central midfield.
- Why wasn't any pressure put on Kish - ask any Charlton fan what Kish does when he is put under pressure.
- Why the continual resistance to doing something different and innovative that might actually surprise our opponents? Nothing ventured nothing gained I'm afraid.
Most bad days at the office can be put down to the lack of proper preparation -especially when they keep happening. After Brentford and Brighton - the normal rule would be that the next failure is the last one.