In the last few days I have been fearing the worst about the upcoming run of games and was not confident of getting anything at Crewe. Prior to kick-off, however, when I saw our line-up I felt more reassured and even checked our price at Bet365.
Our inability to score goals without Stockley was my main concern but the return of Conor Washington and starting with the more experienced Leko rather than Davison or Burstowe gave me false hope we could get in front and stay there. As much as our team selection may have raised spirits, my hopes were really founded upon playing a poor Crewe side struggling in the relegation places.
The game opened well enough with Johnnie Jackson's side dominating possession and appearing to be playing quickly from back to front with some freedom. We bossed things for 25 minutes without creating a goal-scoring chance but Crewe were beginning to work our our game-plan and began to win more of the ball. Our back three and the wing-backs when in possession in defence, were playing long passes into midfield. Early on Dobson, and particular Lee and Gilbey were profiting on these and working balls to Jaiyesimi, Wasington and Leko in advance wide positions. Those three were struggling to beat their man and attacks petered out. Crewe then began to step-in on our balls out of defence and suddenly found themselves with space and time to attack us.
They created the first good chance which was fired wide with the goal beckoning and shortly afterwards, Stephen Henderson was forced to push a ball out wide from a diving save. Soon after, Henderson was forced into a challenge deep in his area on a Crewe forward and the player was sent sprawling in what looked at first glance like a penalty. The ref waved it away for a corner and the replay showed Henderson got his fingers to the ball a split second before the he brought the Crewe man down. No matter, from the corner Crewe drew another stop from Henderson but he spilled the shot and Finney was on hand to knock in the rebound.
We failed to respond to the goal. We kept up with the 35 yard passes out of defence and Crewe continued to pick us off. The killer second goal came before half-time and it was a howling defensive error as they headed home a left-wing cross unopposed.
I decided to spend the rest of the night with my wife watching evening TV, so am not qualified to give any opinion on the second-half other than to say we managed a consolation goal through Mason Burstowe - his league debut goal and something that may become more significant over time than it was last night.
I note that our substitutions were again like-for-like as Jackson stuck with his 3-5-3 shape and continued with our tactical approach that wasn't working. The 3-5-2 formation has served us well in terms of enabling us to firm up our defence but without Stockley as a spearhead, I think we need to be thinking about a 4-4-2 again and focus on creating goalscoring opportunities through the middle than persisting with crosses that we don't seem to be able to win. Washington rarely gets up for a ball and I can't recall seeing Leko make a header. Davison and Burstowe aren't ready to mix it in the air with established centre-halves either.
The bigger issue for me from last night is again one of leadership. Pearce and Famewo often call the shots but there is precious little ahead of them. Gilbey or Lee should be bossing midfield but both are quiet and often disappear for spells. Dobson was great once again in the first half, playing in front of the back four but he was by-passed in the second-half.
If we had brought in a goal-scorer during the first ten days of this window, I think we would have scored first last night and won the game. Our failure to do so is negligent. You wouldn't go with only one goalkeeper, so why do it with only one striker? The current four match losing league spell is becoming an issue, as is our form away from home - it's not been great all season. The performance last night also speaks, once again, to the Summer recruitment failure. There is nothing we can do about that but the transfer window is open and we should have taken steps already to address the glaring issue upfront.
Johnnie Jackson sounded pissed-off last night and I hope he is being brutally honest with his players. The majority of them aren't going to see better playing days after Charlton and loads of them are out-of-contract in the Summer. Plenty too have been given second chances with us and shouldn't be allowed a third. It's galling to see players going through the motions when you know they are amongst the best paid in this poor league.
If Thomas Sandgaard thinks he can keep his money in his pocket until the Summer, he is taking an unacceptable risk based on what we are currently witnessing. A humiliating finish to this season will cost him plenty next Summer. Fans have been buying season tickets in this division because they have anticipated watching a winning promotion campaign. When that hope fades as it surely is now, numbers will nose-dive and we risk cementing our current position as one of London's worst three clubs. An unthinkable relegation would put us on a par with only Leyton Orient and we would face the prospect next season of becoming the Capital's lowest ranked side for the for first time in history. "Doing a Charlton" would take on a whole new meaning.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Go on, you know you want to....