Post-Match Thread and Ratings Charlton Athletic 1-0 Southend United

[Uncle Leo]

Match reports and ratings here please....

 

[jamesmut2000]

A game we should have got something from but didn't. Much improved from Tuesday night but still didn't do enough in front of goal.

 

[Smiffy]

deserved a point. Much the better side 2nd half. Still missing creativeness in the middle. Much better performance, against an average charlton side.

 

[Magnum PI]

Good performance but some frustrations

1. Francis delivery
2. Malone (very poor player in my opinion)
3. McCormack distribution again
4. Barrett. Stop wrestling people in dangerous positions
5. Barney. Why didnt you just hit it first time?

 

[DTS]

Overall I thought we played well but jsut lacked the final ball. Laurent was majestic at times and killed there full back time after time. Good turn out and fun day.

 

[bilbyboy]

Good performance but some frustrations

1. Francis delivery
2. Malone (very poor player in my opinion)
3. McCormack distribution again
4. Barrett. Stop wrestling people in dangerous positions
5. Barney. Why didnt you just hit it first time?

Yep have to agree with all 5 points. My 10 year old son plays Sunday morning football, we keep telling all of them that you can't walk the ball into the net, if you don't have shots then you can't score goals. Barney on 2 occasions, Macca 2 occasions and Walker 2 occasions, i lost count with Laurent. We have to have shots at goal, not every goal we score will be a sitter, sometimes we will get lucky, others we won't, one thing is for sure, if you don't take a shot then you ain't gonna score. UTB.

 

[seany t]

Not sure if their goal was poor defending by us or just a good header, but 2 of our boys got a touch on it and Mildy got a hand to it. But I'll let Steve off as it was low, seen late and he'd just made a great one handed stop from a goal bound effort a minute before.

Overall, annoying that we didn't get anything from the game seeing as they only managed about 2 efforts but equally we only hit the target about the same amount of times.

Good things:

1) Morrisson looked very good. His confidence wavered right after the goal for 5 but his first half performance in particular was very good.

2) Laurent was superb and created all of our best openings. But he can still be guilty of taking that touch or player on too many.

3) We looked fairly solid and players seem to be used to their positions now.

Bad things:

1) Francis. Now mate, I've long stuck up for you but how can you be such a wonderfully skilled individual one week and then a liability with the attention span of a goldfish the next? Every long ball he hit was softly weighted and easy to read. Every clearance seemed to cause more problems than the initial situation. He improved second half but he really, REALLY needs someone to shake him and remind him that he's better than that.

2) Lack of a decent, cutting pass of a ball. Moussa was receiving it too wide so couldn't do much with it. Barney barely got anything to work with all day and was understandably gutted when he missed that golden chance 20 odd minutes in. Every pass Macca made was a touch too short or to a centre back. Didn't even really notice Grant today. We need someone in the middle. Whether it's Moussa or Dougie, we NEED SOMEONE IN THE MIDDLE.

3) Ibhre & Malone... The former barely touched it, whereas you hoped the latter wouldn't. Poor deliveries (we wasted every set piece we had, and we had A LOT), poor tackling, poor marking, poor positioning, poor end product. I hate to slag players off after being SUFC players for 5 minutes, but they were woeful.

4) Tilly's subs. Now we all know Tilly doesn't like to bring on a sub early on, but why even bother when there's 4 minutes to go? It just breaks up the flow, confuses people and rarely results in anything. A waste of everyone's time...

Ref was ok. Missed a few things on both sides but wasn't helped by a linesman to our left who I think had those fake arms Father Ted uses, seeing as he didn't raise them all game. I felt the booking on Moussa was harsh. And the impression I got from the Charlton fans to our right was that our looping cross did in fact sneak in under the crossbar.

Highlights of the day:

The guys behind me singing their ****take of TBV song about "Going up The Grapes". What on earth is that song boys? I thought our lot were good today and very vocal, but gotta say that chant for me is a non-starter. Far too hard to sing for a start to get any volume behind it and not really overly encouraging?

The linesman who waved his flag only to see it fly out of his hand. Great stuff.

Bailey not scoring. He suffered a lot of abuse and must have enjoyed his victory turn to our end and the subsequent roar filled with swear words. He played ok. Not the best I've seen him, but Charlton looked lacking today - which makes it even sadder that we were unable to test them and get a point.

 

[seany t]

Quite a nice ground mind

 

[bazzashrimper]

A good performance - deserved a point at least. We ran the game second half, but just lacked the killer ball / movement or maybe a bit of luck

Mildy 6.5 - Couple of good saves, but he may feel that by his recent high standards, he could have kept the goal out.

Malone 6.5 - Not the best full back we have ever had, but a few good balls into the box, especially in the first half.

Barrett 7 - Did OK, didn't have much to do to be honest.

Morrisson 7 - Won many headers and confident on the ball. For 18, this kid is a real prospect - hope we can get him on a permanent

Francis 7 - Did some bad things, but did some very good things. Francis in a nutshell

Grant 7.5 - Closed the ball down well. Seems to have improved on the ball now too - doesn't give it away. Won numerous free kicks.

Macca 7.5 - Thats better Macca. Some great tackles and distribution back to normal (still not a creative maestro, but he never was). There was one tackle in particular on the charlton left back which summed up his determination. Seemed to enjoy playing with grant more than JFC perhaps?

Moussa 7 - Much better than on Tuesday, hopefully a return to form is just around the corner.

Laurent 8 MOTM - Took Charlton apart at times, brilliant to watch. One fantastic cross to put Barney clean through. If he could work on getting his final ball better more consistantly, he could be our next £1m player

Barney 6 - Should have scored, other than that he worked hard, but nothing fell to him.

Jabo 6 - Dropped off the front, but a lot seemed to break down around him.

Subs - Walker 6.5, Scannell 6

Ref - 8. Had a really good game. I was amazed after last time I saw him away at borient where it was the second worst ref performance I have ever seen.

Crowd 8 - Sang for 90 mins.

Charlton - Not in the same class as Norwich, Southampton or Leeds. Crowd were quiet, but seemed like a decent bunch.

Nicky Bailey - Hasn't changed. Captain for Charlton, but celebrated the goal and victory by cheering at the southend fans. Clearly not loyal to charlton and should they not go up this year, he'll be off on his next dream move. As for his performance, it was pretty decent, made a few good tackles and had a decent free kick - but still lost out to Macca & Grant

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Thought we deserved a point, but quite honestly we could have played for another half hour and still not scored. They scored with their first real attack and as i was sitting in the 2nd row i heard a defender (may have been Barrett) shout out to someone to cover Burton. No one responded and hey presto, a free header and we're 1-0 down. 4 points minimum from our next 2 games is a must, otherwise over the christmas period it wont only be prices at the shops going down.

 

[Mick]

Ref was ok. Missed a few things on both sides but wasn't helped by a linesman to our left who I think had those fake arms Father Ted uses, seeing as he didn't raise them all game. I felt the booking on Moussa was harsh. And the impression I got from the Charlton fans to our right was that our looping cross did in fact sneak in under the crossbar.

.

The assistants, unusually, swapped sides at half-time.

The booking of Moussa was harsh but players brought down at speed always look more dramatic and I wasn't surprised to see the card.

 

[dodgeblue]

Charlton like a number of sides in this league are very average. Southampton far and away the best side i've seen this season.

Lots of possession but not very creative today. Not sure what role Macca is trying to play but he gives us nearly nothing going forward so is a waste of a player if Grant is holding midfielder.

Francis needs to realise that when Laurent has the ball he needs to push up past him and stretch the oppo defence.

Moussa is supposed to be wide left but spends his entire time coming towards the centre so we have no width.

Not sure about Jabo yet time will tell.

Malone looks good defensively not so good pushing forward.

There is nothing in this league to frighten us but we look frightened to really attack teams and push forward quickly.

 

[choggy]

The running joke before the game was that we were going to get spanked and we were only turning up just to have a pop at Bailey.

After a woeful first half in which their domination of midfield exposed our weak defence the general consensus was that we were right. Charlton dominated proceedings and we were restricted to a few couter attacks. Nicky Bailey was given plenty of stick, his raised fist at us when they scored was petulant but expected. Jabo Ibhere seems to have a deadly eye for row Z and it was only Charlton's wayward finishing and inability to capitalise on our mistakes meant that it we only went in 1-0 down.

Whatever Tilson said had half-time worked. Second half our midfield bossed preceedings and we ran the game. McCormack was everywhere, Grant is getting back to his best, Moussa ran his socks off on the wing and Christophe was a real handful. However despite our huge territorial possession their keeper never made a save of note. Bailey got booked, we gave him a load more stick but at the end of the game a lack of creativity,spark and a decent final ball meant that we lost an entertaining but ultimately frustrating game when on the balance of play we deserved better.

Was chatting to a Charlton fan on the train back, he reckons that they haven't been playing well recently but on today's showing they are not going up but will be in the play-offs. The Charlton fans reposte to our Bailey abuse was that 'Bailey's too good for you', they're probably right but unless he engineers another dream move he'll be playing league 1 football next season.

UTB.

 

[seany t]

After a woeful first half in which their domination of midfield exposed our weak defence the general consensus was that we were right. Charlton dominated proceedings and we were restricted to a few couter attacks.

I dunno, I thought it was all us until the 25th minute. We looked shaky after their goal until half time, but prior to that spell we had a long range effort fizz wide from Francis, two goal bound headers diverted to just past the right post and Barnard had that golden opportunity after Laurent's run.

I thought the opening 25 was the best I'd seen us play for a while?

 

[choggy]

I dunno, I thought it was all us until the 25th minute. We looked shaky after their goal until half time, but prior to that spell we had a long range effort fizz wide from Francis, two goal bound headers diverted to just past the right post and Barnard had that golden opportunity after Laurent's run.

I thought the opening 25 was the best I'd seen us play for a while?

We were good for the first 10-15 but after that it seemed to me that their midfield took control and we were on the back foot. I thought that Malone was out of his depth defensively and they exposed our left flank time and tiime again which ultimately led to their goal.

We did have a few chances that were deflected or not taken but but by the end of the half I could only see one team winning it.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Thought it was a fairly poor game with few clear chances. We could and should have got a point, Charlton weren't great but I got the feeling they could've stepped it up if need be and they were solid at the back. Bailey was fairly ineffective and you could see he was getting quite wound up by the abuse he was getting, although to be fair he did manage to restrain himself (except for shouting at us from a good distance) and shook everyone's hand at the final whistle.

We started brightly. Barnard had a great chance at 0-0 that would expect him to score. Different game if that goes in. They played well after that for the rest of the half but 2nd half we had most of the posession and Mildy was barely troubled. But as usual it was just a lack of cutting edge. I can't remember us playing one good through ball. Nice ground although it took me about 45 minutes to find a cash machine and get my tickets, got a bit lost. And the home fans were very quiet, we were by far the louder. My ratings:

Mildenhall 6 - Could be criticised for the goal as it went through his legs and had a few communication problems with Morrison which he seemed to be annoyed about.

Francis 7 - Fairly solid at the back, didn't do much going forward and hardly put any good balls in.

Morrison 6 - First time I've seen him. He's strong and good in the air but a bit on the slow side.

Barrett 7 - Solid and pushed forward at the end as usual.

Malone 7 - Again first time i've seen him and was quite impressed. Nice left-foot, made some good overlaps in the 2nd half and his set-pieces were quite good, although the people around me on the train back didn't sound impressed.

Laurent 7 - Our best attacking threat but just runs into nowhere somewhere. End product lacking. Almost snatched an equaliser at the end.

McCormack 6 - Mixed performance, did some good things but some poor distribution again. Unusually reserved.

Grant 6 - Quiet, didn't do anything wrong though.

Moussa 7 - Thought he played quite well after all the reports on here of him being in bad form. Made some good runs forward.

Banard 5 - Shocking miss at 0-0 considering the way he's been gobbling up goals this season and barely touched the ball all game. Poor service though.

Ibehre 6 - Held the ball up well, didn't really link up with Barnard though, and he's not going to within a month. No goal threat.

Subs - nothing, too late

Wouldn't give the ref 8 but he wasn't bad.

 

[dashman]

Only on dead ball plays did Bailey come forward, other than that he played in front of their back four and mostly the centre circle. This made them less attacking IMHO but played to his tackling strengths etc. We lack finishing again, not attacking in numbers, uncohesive, slow to turn defence into offence and sluggish coming forward. Subs on earlier especially DS whom should have been on first anyway. To improve we need to track their running players as Monroe was outnumbered on several occasions and when we have the ball; hit the empty pockets at speed instead of constant back passing etc.

 

[Skyblue]

Magnificent support from all you guys that went today. Straight from the off I found myself blotting out the babble from the commentary on Blues world (does that guy not realize we can still hear him when its half time or the end of the match?) and just listened to the constant singing that was coming over loud and clear. The only time you were drowned out by Chalton was in their response to the Bailey is a wa*ker chant which at full volume on my puter was glorious.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Whatever Tilson said had half-time worked. Second half our midfield bossed preceedings and we ran the game. McCormack was everywhere, Grant is getting back to his best, Moussa ran his socks off on the wing and Christophe was a real handful.
UTB.

Being as Jeff was sitting in the stands with the supporters I find that hard to believe! :stunned: Think you mean Laurent! ;)

Ok, you knew it was coming, well, I find myself surprised at the criticism AGAIN of some players, I thought this was a pretty good team performance on the whole and we certainly never looked intimidated or scared or even likely to be on the end of the predicted tonking.

Was surprised and delighted to see Franny Laurent make the starting line up, but if Jabo is in the side and was brought in to replace him, who does that mean has "made way" now?

Mildy - 7, not quite as confident as of late and has to sort out the communication with Morrison - was nearly disasterous at one point.
Francis - 6, we have to find someone else to do the dead ball stuff - apart from one lovely free kick that was spot on, they were poor all afternoon. Better on field play than of late, more confident with Laurent back.
Morrison - 7, a good game, has grown in confidence and stature since that awful first start at Yeovil.
Barrett - 7, also a good game but has to stop the grappling, it's blatantly obvious.
Malone - 6, suffers as our LBs have all season when Moussa goes walkabout, does ok but a little naive on occasions.
Laurent - 7.5, welcome back Franny! Almost everything creative came from him and predictably he suffered as a result with some pretty rough tackling.
McCormack - 8, completely overshadowed Bailey, great energy and great discipline on the whole. Took the game by the scruff in the 2nd half and reminded us all what a good player he can be. Swapped shirts with Bailey at the end ;)
Grant - 8, Granty just edges MOTM for me. I thought he had a fantastic game in the middle, him and Macca swapped the defensive roles very well and they looked very comfortable together.
Moussa - 7, better again, but still not the Moussa we saw playing here earlier in the season.
Ibehre - 6, I'm sorry, but apart from being strong against oppo defences, I don't see what he brings to our side. His strength is his key, I think we need to see how he performs against weaker sides.
Barney - 7, didn't play as deep as on Tuesday and was unlucky on a number of occasions.

Subs:
Scannell for Ibehre - 6, Walker for Moussa - 7, both later than I expected, Jimmy looked more like the Jimmy we saw when he first came to us, whether that was because it was Charlton or not I don't know. Nice to hear the welcome for him over the tannoy when he came on.

Ref - 7, pretty much one of the best I've seen this season, could do nothing about the disputed goal as the idiot linesman was never going to give anything all day.

Crowd - 9, great to see so many there, well done to everyone.

Bailey - big fat 0. You are a **** of the highest order, bloody disgrace to celebrate the goal by taunting our fans.

 

[Pubey]

Mildy 6
Malone 6.5
Barrett 6.5
morrison 7
Francis 6.5 (excellent second half)
laurent 7 MOTM
grant 7
macca 7 (6 in the first half, 8 in the second)
moussa 6.5 (got into the game in thr second half)
barney 5.5 (missed his only decent chance, v quiet)
ibehre 6

I thought we were great in the second half and we bossed bailey and co. Classic suckerpunch in the first half and we couldn't quite unlock their defence