Charlton - Back From The Game...

[Don Finch]

Spare a thought for me you bastards! I come all the way from Pompey to get my regular dose of shite football.

You poor b@stard, it was hard enough getting a bus from Reading town centre! Sounds bad, but I'm almost happy that I can't make the game on Saturday.

[brendywendy]

Charles Hughes along with his mate Graham Taylor brought about the style of football that most people on this thread have been railing about. Complicit in this doctrine throughout his managerial career has been Steve Coppell, bar a period of eighteen months around 2005/6. Did the team play such excellent football in that period because of Coppell or in spite of him?

I've said before that I've often thought Coppell fluked the side of 05/06 and that side just didn't fit in with his normal style. I think he did excellently at keeping the momentum up and managing the squad on the way to promotion, but it certainly didn't seem like a Coppell team to me.

What we're seeing now is closer to what I expected when we appointed him as he was always a percentage football man at Palace.

always though 05/06 just took percentage football to a whole new level myself

[North Somerset Royal]

Spare a thought for me you bastards! I come all the way from Pompey to get my regular dose of shite football.

You poor b@stard, it was hard enough getting a bus from Reading town centre! Sounds bad, but I'm almost happy that I can't make the game on Saturday.

Per AA Portsmouth to Mad Stad is only 63.3 miles. Many people travel further than that. My journey is over 90 and I have only missed one home game this season due to friends wedding.

[CMRoyal]

doesnt matter what kind of player he is, we expect the CMs to not give the ball away in dangerous positions, and to track a player and tackle when it does happen

Agreed, we do expect that - what I'm saying is that MM should play in a formation where we no longer expect that of him.

[brendywendy]

Spare a thought for me you bastards! I come all the way from Pompey to get my regular dose of shite football.

You poor b@stard, it was hard enough getting a bus from Reading town centre! Sounds bad, but I'm almost happy that I can't make the game on Saturday.

Per AA Portsmouth to Mad Stad is only 63.3 miles. Many people travel further than that. My journey is over 90 and I have only missed one home game this season due to friends wedding.

plastic

[CMRoyal]

Marek started again, then I see.

Another two goals scored in which he played at least some part.

Do go on...

OK, I'm overstating the case, but he played the ball to Long and also earnt the corner. The emphasis is on "some"!

[brendywendy]

doesnt matter what kind of player he is, we expect the CMs to not give the ball away in dangerous positions, and to track a player and tackle when it does happen

Agreed, we do expect that - what I'm saying is that MM should play in a formation where we no longer expect that of him.

just dont like 433 or 451 at home
and nor does coppell

but i can see why it may work

[Hoop Blah]

just dont like 433 or 451 at home
and nor does coppell

but i can see why it may work

As long as your taking the game to the opposition and your getting the best out of your attacking players it doesn't really matter that it's 4-5-1. I'd not really like us to play that way if it was being used as a defensive measure, but I don't think that's what's being suggested really.

Coppell is unlikely to play it though, but it does mean that we won't get the best out of Matejovsky.

always though 05/06 just took percentage football to a whole new level myself

We played 'better' football than just lumping in down the channels and hoping to work the percentages though, at least that's how I saw it anywhere. I can see what you mean though.

[Snowball]

4-5-1 is also 4-3-3 if the players are fit (for that play Noel RW)

[cmonurz]

Yep. Didn't Pardew use 4-5-1 at one point with Chadwick and Rougier/Forster (?) as wingers? It was effectively a 4-3-3, because of the way we played, and the engine on our wide players.

In fact, based on my last sentence, it can't have been Rougier.

[brendywendy]

always though 05/06 just took percentage football to a whole new level myself

We played 'better' football than just lumping in down the channels and hoping to work the percentages though, at least that's how I saw it anywhere. I can see what you mean though.

great football, but essentially it all came down the wings/through the channels
i see what you mean too!

[Alan Partridge]

always though 05/06 just took percentage football to a whole new level myself

We played 'better' football than just lumping in down the channels and hoping to work the percentages though, at least that's how I saw it anywhere. I can see what you mean though.

great football, but essentially it all came down the wings/through the channels
i see what you mean too!

You can do that when you've got good wingers.

[skipper]

Little was NOT great in the first half. Who were you watching? He did ok, but seemed to cut in at the halfway line oh too often and we had feck all down the right.

I disagree.

He was good in the first half - especially when lined up against the rest of the team that were out there.

Of course he was good in the first half, he only had Kebe to improve upon. Maradonna would of been good last night, and he hasn't got any knees.

[Woodcote Royal]

doesnt matter what kind of player he is, we expect the CMs to not give the ball away in dangerous positions, and to track a player and tackle when it does happen

Agreed, we do expect that - what I'm saying is that MM should play in a formation where we no longer expect that of him.

just dont like 433 or 451 at home
and nor does coppell

but i can see why it may work

After gaining just one point from our last 3 home games, how much more evidence will you require before accepting that 4-4-2 is no longer working

PS. I'm asking you this question. I'm already painfully aware that, in Steve Coppell's case, this eureka moment may not occur before we lose our league status......................

[handbags_harris]

Yep. Didn't Pardew use 4-5-1 at one point with Chadwick and Rougier/Forster (?) as wingers? It was effectively a 4-3-3, because of the way we played, and the engine on our wide players.

In fact, based on my last sentence, it can't have been Rougier.

It wasn't really a 4-3-3 at all, because of the way Hughes was used just behind Forster. More of a 4-4-1-1. Bog standard wingers really, certainly not advanced up the pitch to create the 4-3-3 in attack, 4-5-1 in defence effect.

[PEARCEY]

He has the odd decent game, like at Birmingham and so forth, but he makes far too many basic mistakes for someone with so much 'experience' for me. His timing's usually out and he's very clumsy indeed. The worrying thing is that he made exactly the same defensive error on Saturday for Plymouth's first goal but hasn't learned. He's okay as a squad player until the end of the season, but Bikey wins far more in the air, possesses far more pace, is stronger in the tackle and will generally be able to bully strikers.

When you combine Pearce's reading of the game, organisational skills, timing of the tackle and aerial ability with Bikey's attributes I think you have a bit of everything and can't go far wrong. Duberry's been getting found out much like Ingimarsson was beginning to and although there's no arguing that both are top pros, they are both past their sell-by dates IMO and are no good if the club is looking to go forward. In Pearce and Bikey you have the future, which is what Coppell should be looking at.

Totally agree

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

just dont like 433 or 451 at home
and nor does coppell

but i can see why it may work

As long as your taking the game to the opposition and your getting the best out of your attacking players it doesn't really matter that it's 4-5-1. I'd not really like us to play that way if it was being used as a defensive measure, but I don't think that's what's being suggested really.

Coppell is unlikely to play it though, but it does mean that we won't get the best out of Matejovsky.

always though 05/06 just took percentage football to a whole new level myself

We played 'better' football than just lumping in down the channels and hoping to work the percentages though, at least that's how I saw it anywhere. I can see what you mean though.

Think not having Shorey at left back is the biggest different, even more than Sid. We weren't playing that different football, just that Shorey could pass is it out the back very well.

[Terminal Boardom]

MoM - Blakey

MOM - long

Apart from 2 goals - what did he contribute? One run in the first half when he was unlucky to have the ball get stuck under his feet and a second run in the second where the referree was a tad generous. Granted, he did well to get on the end of the corner to score. That aside, appalling control and a distinct lack of vision of foresight to get into promising positions.

Matejovsky is too lightweght

matejovsky is not the greatest tackler, agreed. but his vision is top class, he has that bit of invention that no1 else does and its different from our wing play which is a great weapon.

I am not even talking about tackling. I lost count the number of times that we was muscled out of posession. If a CM cant hold off one would be tackler ...

Inability of front 2 to find space

long and doyle did look to get into space but if the ball is played into OUTER SPACE or heading passed the byline, what are they to do. the problem was defending during the game, hence the 2 goals conceded.

Doyle looked totally disinterested. He looked a yard off the pace. Long did what Long does. If the problem is long balls out of defence then why aren't the midfield looking to take the ball? When Tigana took over at Fulham he had one key rule and that was for the player in posession to have at least 3 options open for receiving a pass. But I digress. There was a distinct apathy about the front 2 as if they were already sulking with the return of Kits and Blakey.

General inability of full backs to consistently ovrlap

fullbacks consistantly overlapping is too predictable and we would have been exploited imo. we still scored 2 goals and hit the woodwork 3 times without 'consistent overlapping'

And since when have we been unpredictable? If a FB overlaps, it doesn't have to be used EVERY time. Just as a winger does not always go past a full back. Fact is, if no overlap then the option, the choice, does not exist.

Lack of options when in posession

4 against 5 in the middle its not easy to find a pass in the middle.

So MOVE! Find space. Pass to feet. Play with pace.

Feds too slow to clear upfield

Some of our best attacking play over the last 3 years has been when we have counter attacked with extreme pace. Why wait to allow the oppo to get in position?

CM pairing invisible for at least 1 hour

should have gone to spec savers

I prefer Dolland & Aitchison. Then again, I wish that I HAD left my glasses at home or in the car. Played too deep and succeeded in passing backwards. The only creativity came from Blakey.

[Sarah Star]

MOM - long

Apart from 2 goals - what did he contribute?

LOL!
Isn't that the equivalent of saying 'What have the Romans ever done for us?'

[Terminal Boardom]

MOM - long

Apart from 2 goals - what did he contribute?

LOL!
Isn't that the equivalent of saying 'What have the Romans ever done for us?'

That had actually crossed my mind

Are you the Judean People's Front?

Trevor Senior scored loads but since when did that warrant MoM? And what does it say for the rest if Shane Long WAS MoM? Don't get me wrong; I think his enthusiasm is first rate and he never gives up. May as well give the "award" to Kingsley!