The curse of live television struck yet again today. We matched Ipswich Town throughout but fell to an injury time sucker punch.
It was a decent game to watch in crisp winter sunshine and there was some quality from both sides. Unfortunately, both were short in the last third and there was always a chance that the match might be stolen. Neither side really did enough in full time to warrant a winner but Town sneaked it with the last roll of the dice.
Charlton simply weren't positive enough from the outside. It's not good enough to play one up front and play to hold on for 70 minutes. We have to be more aggressive at home and we must seek to provide greater entertainment. This may be only our third league reverse of the season but too many others have been games we might have won and which we might have provided more entertainment for the home supporters save for uber-caution. Igor Vetokele is a class act but he is playing on his own most weeks and we are expecting too much for him to win every game on his own. George Tucudean has a big heart but that doesn't get you the goals you need and anyone we pair with Igor is striker-lite. Roland needs to address the situation before it condemns our season to mediocrity.
The back five were solid enough once again but in midfield we didn't impose ourselves. Johnny Jackson had a poor game and struggled to get involved. Cousins, Gudmundsson and Coquelin were competitive enough but we need assertion at home and we didn't get it once again. Calum Harriott didn't give enough up front either which left Igor ploughing a loan furrow.
George Tucudean was introduced too late in a move to a 4-4-2 and we created nothing before Town snatched it. Six goals in the last eight games is nowhere near enough to stay in contention with the promotion chasers and it's no surprise, therefore, that we have slipped to tenth.
Big Bob needs to change his game plan in the coming weeks or we risk dropping out of the promotion race altogether and perhaps suffering a loss of confidence which could kill the season.
For me that was easily our best performance at home all season.
ReplyDeleteWe lost because we can't convert chances. A failing caused by the lack of a big striker to work as a foil to Igor. A failing that has been present since the start of the season.
Daggs
I mentioned last week that Igor needs a better service up front and playing him as a lone striker does us no favours.
ReplyDeleteIt may have worked earlier in the season, but now teams are doubling up on him.
However, if we had shown more composure in attack (most notably Harriott), we could have walked away with three points, rather than them.
As they say, what goes around comes around, and we have had a few games this season where we have done pretty much what Ipswich done today.
I won't get too downbeat with the result as we still created chances, but as you mention, it is clear we need another front man.
I think we can all see it, Bob Peeters and Roland Duchatelet as well. The problem is, they have said they are happy enough to soldier on for now at least. This begins to take us back to the original contention with Roland's grand plan to use his network and for his clubs to break even. Ultimately this season could be down to a lack of ambition. It will be seriously depressing to finish seventh having wasted a host of opportunities for the want on a better striking partner. The irony from yesterday's match was that it was a loan striker who netted the winner and we had to watch Steven Hunt and Murphy keep us stretched for 90 minutes.
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