Sunday 21 August 2022

Charlton Athletic 1 v Cambridge United 1

I didn't get to see the game today as I was watching Elgin City draw with Stranraer. At half-time I was comforted to know we had the lead and the 74% possession allowed me to relax safe in the knowledge that 'Garnerball' was, presumably, alive and well.

However, a few comments on WhatsApp suggested all might not be as well as might appear in the headlines. The disappointment of a Cambridge equaliser burst our bubble to some extent but I have to say that the hype this week following the excellent performance against Plymouth was startling.

I know we are desperate for some success and that large parts of our fanbase are prepared to ignore the obvious in the fervent hope or plain naive belief that things are much better than they actually are. It may yet prove that this Summer's business was inspired. That Ben Garner is actually a lower league Pep Guardiola and that we didn't need to spend a bean in order to transform our playing squad. The facts are, that we have brought in four League Two players, one League One player and a Championship loanee.  That still leaves our squad well short on numbers from last season (aside from any qualitative assessment) and, thus far, we have supplemented it successfully enough with youth. 

Yesterday was something of a little reality call. Cambridge are a well organised and well run club but they have nothing like our resources or potential. They will have a successful season if they finish tenth but they matched us yesterday and will be looking forward to playing us again at their place. I really hope this helps reset our expectations  because they looked hopelessly high ahead of yesterday.

We still need two strikers and another left-winger and I will keep saying it all the time I hear things like 'a Centre-Back is our priority.' We really have to get these players in if we are to give ourselves any realistic chance of remaining in contention until New Year. If we don't get them we will need to rely on youth. That can prove to be inspired but young players really need careful management or they can wilt. Typically that involves limiting their appearances and trying to play them into winning teams where confidence is high. Without several more experienced pros, we will risk over-using them.

Wycombe Wanderers next week will be another test. They have started slower than normal but love giving it to bigger clubs and it will be a battle at their place. It really would be a great time to introduce a new goalscorer....

 

1 comment:

  1. Lots got excited by the Plymouth result but seemed to conveniently forget that we were playing against 10 men for over half of the match. Of course Garnerball is going to succeed when there's extra space available.

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