Disappointing to lose that game, for me we didn't seem to move it through the thirds as quickly as we usually do and that allowed the Charlton players to get back behind the ball and squeeze the space, which left us shifting the ball around the edge of the area without any real penetration. Not much else wrong in my opinion. Vydra to me is one of the most intelligent players we have - he made some superb runs into space yesterday, but the ball was either not released quickly enough or was given to other players. His step over for Deeney in the first half was also sublime. More to come from him I am sure. One player who did hack me off yesterday though was Lloyd Dyer - he didn't look the remotest bit interested and I don't think he used his pace once to get down the outside, maybe this was due to Charlton doubling up on him or just lack of appetite - I expected more from him. Ekstrand was fantastic, though I do think he was rightly booked, the only mystery was how the referee failed to see the tug, he was right on top of it. Not the best away day but definitely not the worst. The Pilot pub in Greenwich was very decent, lovely range of Fullers beers to be had and Peroni on draught! Also great to be able to leave the car in their car park for the duration of the game. So not all was lost! Suppose better get off to Blackpool. Good vociferous support today from the travelling hordes.
I reckon he was probably thinking "Oh farking hell, what on earth has Tommy Hoban just done?" No way can you blame Gomes for the penalty.
Did anyone else notice the stand off between a CAFC fan and Deeney during an injury break in the second half? Loved it when Deeney just lifted his shirt to prove he wasn't fat - htye obviously had quite a dialogue as it went on for a good few minutes....
I totally agree. I think he will be a very good fit for us. It's unfortunate the circumstances he took over, when we were flying and when the season was already underway and the transfer window had shut, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. It might help if we all kept our feet on the ground..it's a tough league and there are some very good sides/squads as well as ours. I'm sure that watching the Forest v Derby match today will show any doubters that! Worth noting too that the only two managers to actually get us promoted to the Premier League lost their first matches in charge of us. Garcia lost his first two games as Brighton boss. Far rather lose a couple now however bad losing makes us feel, than at the business end of the season.
Surely after missing out on automatic promotion under Zola by just 2 points we can totally dispel the notion that there's a 'business end of the season'? Every game is of equal importance.
We created enough chances to score but didn't. You would expect deeney to score one of the chances he had in the first half and on another day the ref gives us a penalty and sends their centre back off. We have already played worse than that this season and won and if we had come away with a point the mood would be different. There is still work to be done but they played like the away team as soon as they scored and tried to make it difficult for us, despite this we still created chances with their keeper being given motm.
Yes of course but if you lose a game now you can get those points back, if you lose points at the business end you can't. Everybody with Zola's season will have their own different take on what cost us promotion..was it Bristol City or the late draw Burnley got at the Vic or whatever..but actually the simple truth was it was the Leeds match that did us. Had that been Match 45, we'd have had one more chance to go up automatically. I just feel we all need to keep our feet on the ground. My own opinion is there are actually stronger squads than us in the division, with more experienced coaching staff, and who've been together longer. We're good, it's certainly one of the best squads we've had at the Vic, and I believe Garcia will prove a good appointment, but we're one of several teams with a realistic chance of top 6. Winning our 3 home matches (against middle sides) didn't make us worldbeaters, and losing to an unbeaten side yesterday doesn't mean the world is caving in. We remain a squad of talented individuals, pieced together by an often over-zealous Technical Director, who are still finding their feet and getting to know each other and developing as a team, not helped by all the coaching upheaval. We'll find our feet, our best side and formation, and discover what our true level actually is.
He was shoved in the back. It was obvious at the time apart from the individual who matters the referee. That was daylight robbery yesterday however our finishing and at times passing was woeful in the final third. Anya has to get back onto the practice pitch and just keep practicing his crosses because he will end up like a Lennon. He did provide one or two decent balls but the consistency is far off. Also the slow start and lack of urgency. Teams are going to sit back and remain compact and thus you need width rarely seen in the first half. Playing three at the back you also need one of those three to commit to midfield and some of the midfield to actually make runs beyond the ball carrier instead of passing it around in static triangles. Nando was sorely missed for his ability to commit people and Fabby would have been a good alternative I feel. One thing the FLS omitted was the scandalous amount of timewasting which highlights the need for an independent timekeeper. No doubt the hypocrites from the Valley who went on about our so called diving antics will have the shame to admit their cynical efforts to slow the game down.
Not any longer. Garcia will have more of a say in transfers, with Dowling working for him and not the other way round.
Sluggish start lot of short sideways unnecessary passes. Don't know if Gomez needed to commit for penalty as Angel LA was on premises. Def pen tho as was the one not given on troy. Total domination poor finishing (dyer) couple good saves. Best chant of day directed to fan having go at Troy."Deeney says you're a c###" . Good drink in bunch Of grapes good support.
Just lacks confidence and he needs supply which he is not getting enough of at the moment. He will come good. Charlton ? Well organized, a couple of decent players but over the season midtable or just below. They are nothing special.
Dowling has been brought in to boost the British side of the scouting network. Doubt Garcia will have any more say in transfers than Zola did.
Good grief we need to sort our corners and crosses out. Shambolic yesterday, as good as Abdi is, he should certainly not be our number 1 corner taker. On another day we could have got 3 points there, we were clearly the better team for a good 90+% of the match and deserved more but fair play to Charlton I guess, good/bad tactics whether favourable or not, whatever gets you the 3 points. Time wasting before the 50 minute mark was a bit questionable though. Need to try harder away from home if we want to be anywhere near the top 2/6. I see Blackpool got their first point as well, we should be getting 3 points there on Tuesday.
Reminded me a bit of the game at Millwall late in the Play-off final season except the winner came early. Dominated but were just too sloppy 1st half and just couldn't finish 2nd half.
You mean before the 5 minute mark surely? Their keeper was dawdling over taking goal kicks from the moment Deeney's first chance went just wide at the other end.
Was left incredibly frustrated by the result. Like many have said, we didn't play that bad and on another day we may have taken a point, or even all three. In my opinion, Deeney was trying to do too much. Could have set up Vydra on a couple of occasions and was trying too many fancy flicks - it just wasn't his game. Of course, he put in his usual effort. You could see Vydra was getting frustrated by the service. I thought he was actually making some good runs and getting in the right positions. I thought McGugan played well, until he looked up and saw the goal. Otherwise, he had some nice touches and passed quite well. Probably the most frustrating Watford player I have seen. Much better second half. Parades impressed and Anya was a bit better further forward. Missed Forestieri I think, and perhaps even Munari's composure. Hopefully Tuesday provides a better result. I think there was enough positives. Just incredibly frustrating like football is sometimes.
Andrews injured in the warm up remember. I think he would have provided a bit more composure in the middle then McGugan did. Probably meant a reshuffle as well with Abdi sitting deeper whereas McGugan played the further forward role.
I've now seen the highlights and I thought Watford were excellent yesterday. It's amazing how results sway people's opinions, but Charlton just rode their luck. If the referee gives the first penalty, he has to give the second one as well. Both were blatant, so we've been given no favours there. Deeney's flick over two defenders, then to curl the shot from distance against the post was brilliant. Anya and Tozser brought good saves from the keeper and we had a very tight call on an offside to disallow a goal, which could have easily stood. It was a very marginal decision. We 14 shots at goal and Charlton only had 4, of which only one was on target. So you can consider that is one of those things that happen in football. We looked very slick going forward, and some of the interplay was great. Tozser's pass to Dyer, who didn't quite get the shot on target, was wonderful. The better team lost, but the performance was very good....IMO.
Injuries really undermined us yesterday. The two things we really seemed to miss yesterday were someone to drive through the middle, which Munari has been giving us, and someone to commit their defence and pull their shape about, which is an FF speciality. Without those things Charlton looked relatively comfortable at getting back and setting up their lines.
How i viewed the game was yes Hoban was at fault for the penalty but i believed Gomes didnt need to come for that ball as Angella seemed to of had it covered. I think Deeney was selfish yesterday on a couple of occasions he could of rolled in Vydra for a one on one but decided to shot instead, i also thought the opportunity when Vydra dummies the ball Deeney should of done a lot better with. Our passing was inconsistent and our shooting boots were most definitely left at home. Overall a decent performance just lacking that finishing touch. On to Blackpool which should most definitely be 3 points for a team of our quality.
Disagree. Don't let the result blind you. The performance was still good enough to have won yesterday, the fact we didn't is just one of those things that happens from time to time. A fluke/unjust defeat doesn't mean we suddenly don't have a good squad anymore. Yesterday's game seemed to be a far more established away performance than we are used to in recent times. We dominated, and rarely looked in trouble defensively. Forget this result, as if we play like this, with the shots for 14 and only 4 against, throughout the season, we will win the vast majority of games. I personally think we have one of the best, if not the best, squads in the division and I think we have a very good chance of actually winning the league this season.
Excuse me please read my post more CAREFULLY! I have never said we don't have a good squad. I just personally don't feel it is the best in the division yet. I feel such comments that get posted on here smack of arrogance and indifference to other sides in the division, and lead to an unrealistic expectation that we should be thrashing everybody out of sight. I'd say we still look short of a decent back-up keeper and I still wish we'd have kept Ranegie and Battochio. We have a very good squad, though the absence of two of this season's key performers yesterday did affect us. And before you start mis-reading my post as a doom and gloom anti Garcia one, I believe he's just the coach to get the best out of what we have and we'll do well under him.
We will probably progress to a top six side this season, I can't see past Forest, Derby or Norwich to battle it out for top two, and we will make up the numbers just below.
I guess that'll become more apparent as the long season drags on but I'd say probably Forest and Norwich, maybe Derby. How about you? I'm honestly not trying to be negative about ours..it's up there in terms of pedigree and class. I just worry when people say ours is 'the best' because it builds up too much expectation. For as long as Vydra is struggling to return to the class act of two seasons ago, or Ighalo takes to get his first goal for the club, I think we may feel the loss of Ranegie as a squad option. I think we're an experienced second keeper light, the full/wingbacks are yet to really distinguish themselves this season, while the second-string midfield we played against Doncaster looked poor.
Spot on. As we saw yesterday, 2 or 3 injuries and we're struggling. Sure we can put a side out which looks great on paper, but it's full of compromises
Best squad doesn't mean best team. Having good individuals is all well and good, but they have to be able to perform as a unit.
I read a lot of the comments on here and they were mixed. Some say we were awful, others say we were unlucky. The stats clearly back up the latter but even more so is the fact most Charlton fans thought we played well and they had to defend for their lives. We could easily have won that game and even so, we have won two thirds of our games so far which is promotion form.
