In atrocious playing conditions, Lee Bowyer's make-shift eleven did the club and it's new owners proud this evening. Outplayed in the opening twenty minutes by a Swansea side still able to display Premier quality they found themselves a goal down but steadied the ship and came out in the second-half to carry the game to the hosts and tried everything they could to find the elusive equaliser. The game was not dissimilar to the battling display at QPR. Naby Sarr even came on to be pushed up front in the last ten minutes when we caused them problems.
We started with Taylor and the inexperienced Davison but Taylor was withdrawn at the break for Doughty. He didn't look injured at the whistle although Bowyer is saying he has a thigh injury. I don't suppose he would feature against West Brom in the Cup on Saturday and we have another week of recovery time after that, so pulling him off at half-time seemed premature unless he was really crocked. Irrespective, Doughty helped carry the game to Swansea and create sustained attacking momentum. The problem, of course, was we lacked a finisher in the box.
Davison, Gallagher and Doughty all had half-chances from distance before the finish but we didn't do enough over the ninety minutes to deserve more than the 1-0 but that was much better than most Addicks feared pre-match and certainly after twenty minutes.
It's not been a good week us in terms of two defeats but Bowyer has managed to give more game time to Doughty, Davison, Dempsey and Vennings. Matthews played well in trying circumstances at right-back and I thought Purrington had a decent game on the left. Pearce and Lockyer were solid, if unspectacular. Gallagher shaw less of the ball than against Derby but also saw less of the kicking he received up there. Albie Morgan and Dempsey both struggled with the pace and movement of Swansea in the first-half but were better in the second when we spent more time in possession and going forward.
Bowyer will saw again that he couldn't ask any more of his players and that they gave their all. Hopefully he can continue to say that in the coming months but that his playing choices are improved and he has p-layers with more to give at this point in time.
I have said before that I believe Lyle Taylor will be off and if that's the case, sooner rather later as we need to move on. Andre Green signed on loan from Villa today but hopefully Bowyer will get a couple of quality permanent signings this month. I'd like to see a couple of more ambitious names join us to signal some intent going forward.
We started with Taylor and the inexperienced Davison but Taylor was withdrawn at the break for Doughty. He didn't look injured at the whistle although Bowyer is saying he has a thigh injury. I don't suppose he would feature against West Brom in the Cup on Saturday and we have another week of recovery time after that, so pulling him off at half-time seemed premature unless he was really crocked. Irrespective, Doughty helped carry the game to Swansea and create sustained attacking momentum. The problem, of course, was we lacked a finisher in the box.
Davison, Gallagher and Doughty all had half-chances from distance before the finish but we didn't do enough over the ninety minutes to deserve more than the 1-0 but that was much better than most Addicks feared pre-match and certainly after twenty minutes.
It's not been a good week us in terms of two defeats but Bowyer has managed to give more game time to Doughty, Davison, Dempsey and Vennings. Matthews played well in trying circumstances at right-back and I thought Purrington had a decent game on the left. Pearce and Lockyer were solid, if unspectacular. Gallagher shaw less of the ball than against Derby but also saw less of the kicking he received up there. Albie Morgan and Dempsey both struggled with the pace and movement of Swansea in the first-half but were better in the second when we spent more time in possession and going forward.
Bowyer will saw again that he couldn't ask any more of his players and that they gave their all. Hopefully he can continue to say that in the coming months but that his playing choices are improved and he has p-layers with more to give at this point in time.
I have said before that I believe Lyle Taylor will be off and if that's the case, sooner rather later as we need to move on. Andre Green signed on loan from Villa today but hopefully Bowyer will get a couple of quality permanent signings this month. I'd like to see a couple of more ambitious names join us to signal some intent going forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Go on, you know you want to....