[Archived] Charlton Athletic 1 0 Rovers

[benhben]

Fergusson - dont get me started. At no point has he looked like a premiership player and the sooner someone else comes in for him the better. It is an insult that this man captains our side given the complete lack of effort that he puts in.

Shut up you tool! What games have you been watching, Barry must have got at least 7 man of the match awards since his injury, and was just finding his feet before it. He is a quality player hence he has been made captain to lead by example!

[American]

After watching the match last night, a few observations:

I'm with those, such as USABlue, who weren't that upset by our performance. We showed EFFORT, which we have been known to lack in the past (Leicester last season, Villa 2 seasons ago, as 2 examples). The breaks didn't come, and we lost. We showed that some of our players have what it takes. Which leads me to:

We REALLY need another central midfielder. When I saw that Flitcroft was starting last night, I was worried. Tugay and Flitty just don't do it any more. We missed out big time on Cahill and I even think that Sideshow Bob (don't remember the spelling of his real name) would have helped us out big time. When is the last time we had a true scoring threat from central midfield (who didn't turn into a lazy, pie eating, injury prone player)? That's what we need, give Ferguson a chance to create and distribute from the back, and give him another option to distribute it to.

As for the goal, yes, Brad should have had it. But, as Roaming Rover pointed out while we were watching the match, it was a very well headed ball, down to the ground first, which was a good move, and unexpected.

Did we deserve a point out of the match? No, they scored one goal and we didn't. Were we good enough to get at least a point? Yes. Do we have room for improvement? Yes. Am I talking out of my backside? Probably.

[roversfan1]

hence he has been made captain to lead by example!

As he did yesterday, I lost count of the number of times his name was mentioned and that wasnt a one off ! Massive price tag and for what ?

[benhben]

Can u name any rovers players that had a great game last nite? If he was such a poor player why is he captain of rovers, an international team (albeit scotland) and was a fans favourite at a massive club like rangers! He is a quality player, who else would we replace him with? Douglas, Flitty? i think not!

[roversfan1]

Dont get me wrong I dont think there were to many people who covered themselves in glory last night and I never singled Fergusson out he was one of a few annonymous / bad players.

However, I do think that he is an example of how we have wasted money on average players and then wonder a: why we get into trouble and then b: why we cant get out of it !

He is an average player IMO and in the games I have seen him in he hasnt lead by example and got stuck in - that is what I expect of a captain and thats why Im disappointed in him !

Still, I hope to be proven wrong in the games to come...

[USABlue]

The Guardian report. Another report in the much derided press which does not slam the Rovers' performance the way many on this mb have done.

The telling line is where it says that there probably is little difference between 7th and 16th in the Premiership this season.

I remain extremely concerned by Ferguson's failure last night (this was a game he should have bossed but his long and short passing looked all wrong and he seemed to wilt under Charlton pressing), resigned to the fact that we will have an unreliable defence until 1 January at the earliest and cannot see Dickov and Stead becoming an effective attacking unit.

Yes we are one point away from a relegation slot and the next three games at least are going to be massive nail biters with defeat in any of them precipitating full on crisis reactions from the supporters.

However, there are very encouraging signs from last night:

Look at what Jansen did well - he looked physically stronger, lasted the 90 minutes as well as anyone and not one skill was consistently missing from his repertoire- and also remember he could be frustratingly eratic BEFORE his accident. This now encourages me to believe that the percentage of good play by Jansen will increase the more games he gets and that a Jansen/Stead partnership will emerge as one of the most potent strike forces in the Premiership. Competition for places from Bothroyd, Dickov and Gally will be intense but I think the goals will begin to flow again.

Emerton also just needs to keep on lifting his confidence level. Not so much the touchline dragon neeeds slaying but what about the by-line bogeyman? Had Emerton driven for the by-line on four occaisions last night when the opportunity was there, I am sure he would have set up at least two golden chances. Emerton blossoming into a player opposition managers worry about will give Hughes the opportunity to blood MGP/de Pedro on the other side but they will remain a luxury item until Emerton and Jansen are fully restored to self-belief. Hopefully his dead ball and crosses delivery will suddenly click into gear as well- we have seen him deliver fantastic corners, its the problem of the ten duds before the one with menace that Hughes and his team need to sort out.

Most importantly, Hughes seems to be a much smarter motivator than Souness. I was really impressed by the way Rovers put enormous pressure on Charlton for 15 minutes after conceding that goal and kept creating goal threats after Charlton had weathered that initiial storm.

Lets also be grateful that Pompey, Saints, Baggies and Palace are in the Prem this season and that Norwich have played so well for so little reward.

Thank god for you philipl. I thought Matty looked sharp on occasion also. the fella can still win headers. It may just come back to him. I agree him and Stead could, and I emphasise could, work out well if Stead gets some coaching on winning the ball in the air and beefs up a bit. It was encouraging to see him get a few calls for fouls last night usually the refs just let the other team knock him around. Bring on the Villa.

[speeeeeeedie]

I've read a few of the posts and get the general opinion, and as usual I agree with some and think others are downright stupid.

My own perception of the match was that we were hard done by, I think we deserved a point for all the pressure but goals count in this game and we can't find them. Maybe another penalty opportunity slipping us by would have made the difference.

Rovers relied too much on the long ball without any real creative flair from our midfield. Our best two chances fell to Flitcroft, and Amoruso was unlucky to miss kick it with the goalmouth scramble. The goal was yet another bit of bad defending from Lucas Neill.

Both Jansen and Emerton played well last night, they were full of toil and some invention but most of it was done 40 yards out. My theory is that our fullbacks aren't up to it. Neill for all his defensive misgivings alone should be worthy of the hoof, but his attacking play is desperately numb. He seems to go forward with no ease, never puts in a good ball and constantly gets caught upfield when it goes wrong for him. Grey is similar, a good defender but offers no attacking options. They are both woefully short of pace which may answer why they don't like going forward. Hreidarsson and Young were excellent for them, a constant menace at both ends, ours were the opposite. With the fullbacks offering nothing it means that our wingers have to do more leg work and start further away from their goal when they do get it. If the fullbacks pushed up more, when they have the chance, it will force the opposition to think about them. Look at Ashley Cole, (I'm not comparing us to Arsenal and I know there is far more to it) he spends half the game bombing down the left side, our lads never do. If we address this it will help.

As for the rest of the team:

Friedel had nothing to do, apart from one great save late on.

Matteo and Amoruso did well. I like Amo, he can organise well, but their lack of pace added to the other two give me a great sense of dread against fast strikers.

Ferguson got into it the more the game was played on the floor. I like him, but he needs the ball at his feet. Flitcroft was OK but he can't cut it anymore.

Dickov and Stead toiled without much help, we need to play shorter balls up front giving our midfield more time to get there and support them.

In summary, we won't go down. There are 3 sides much worse than us in this league and a couple who could lose it at any moment, we haven't got going yet. Remember it is only Hughes' third game, away from home. He needs a while to get his system in place. I think his first order is fitness and speed work, then tactics. I was for giving Souness 10 games, but he jumped early and gave us Hughes so in that respect we have a head start in fixing the previous manager's maladies.

[tashor]

Reading the above posts made me wonder if we were all watching the same game....and just shows the size of the task for Hughes.

Apart from Brad there doesn't seem to be a single player that a sizeable majority here would agree should start for us.

That is a huge problem and shows that we have a moderate sized squad of adequate players, but no stars on present form.

The first thing Hughes must do is build a spine for the team of 'keeper, dominant central defender, ball controlling centre midfielder and goal threatening centre forward.

For what it is worth I would build the defence around Amoruso as, clumsy though he can be, he has a big heart and never tries to hide. Perhaps he should've been made captain. When fit Short should play with him. Nissa is not good enough at this level.

I still feel we must stick with Ferguson in midfield as he at least has the potential to become a good player at this level. The more games he plays, the more he will improve. I would also like to see what Thommo can do in centre-mid when he returns as we need more enthusiasm and attitude here.

Upfront our only class player has gone and left us with a massive ©hole to fill. I suppose the only first choice is Dickov as at least he never knows when to quit. However, he lacks the attributes to open up defences on his own. It could be any two out of five to play as far as I am concerned. If Hughes can get a pairing that plays well together and start scoring regularly we will not flirt with relegation. Otherwise we will have a long depressing winter ahead of us.

[Howard Gayle RulesOK]

Last night was ######. Rovers were ######, Charlton were ######, Charlton's fans were ######, Rover's fans were ######. It was ######. And Emerton is a ###### who looks like the alien from the Fifth Element.

[benhben]

i guess it was ###### then!

[Scotty]

Top post tashor - couldn't agree more.

[chris]

Upfront our only class player has gone and left us with a massive ©hole to fill. I suppose the only first choice is Dickov as at least he never knows when to quit. However, he lacks the attributes to open up defences on his own. It could be any two out of five to play as far as I am concerned. If Hughes can get a pairing that plays well together and start scoring regularly we will not flirt with relegation. Otherwise we will have a long depressing winter ahead of us.

I still think at 32 yrs old Dickov is a short term soluation and not a very good one at that, Hughes should be looking to form a partnership between the younger strikers such as Stead, Gallagher or maybe Jansen to take the team forward, playing Dickov is basically saying we are going to struggle this season lets put in a battler and hope he get 8 goals this whole season. Thats the truth.

At this moment I really hate Souness for selling Cole and buying Dickov, he totally screwed us I think

[American]

Funny, Cole plays and scores for Fulham, they still weren't doing well. He sits out and they win. Yet we miss him? Yorke has scored for Brum, why aren't people saying we miss him? Who we really miss at this point is Gallagher.

[BrianPotter]

This is the earliest oppurtunity I've had to get onto the board since last nights game, and to be honest reading through the posts I cannot beleive the amount of negative comments.

Agreed last night was by no means a classic performance (by either side).

First half we were poor, but second half I thought that was the best we have played for quite some time. Okay we lacked a little quality in certain areas but we attacked and attacked for almost the whole 45 mins, and we had 66% possesion (which for the away side I think is outstanding). We perhaps lacked a cutting edge in front of goal and the quality of the final ball needs to improve, but I can't help but feel optimistic after the performance - we looked 100 times better than under Souness.

Lets be realistic, Hughes has been in charge for 11-12 days, already there is an improvement, the rest will take time to come. I just can't beleive that people are being so negative, give the guy at least some time to sort things out.

What is the point in giving Hughes and the Team two premiership games (one of which we won for those who seem to have forgotten - and at home as well !) and then start moaning again. We should all be behind Hughes and the players 100% and give them the time needed to get things right.

The man is not Merlin, he cannot wave a wand and make everything like it was 10 years ago. I for one am under no illusion that this is going to be a tough tough season, but lay the blame at the door of the man that built the current side not the man who has inherrited - and also lets get behind the players as negativity and criticsm will harm the CLUB in the long term.

[chris]

Yorke has scored for Brum, why aren't people saying we miss him?

If you don't know the answer to that then I feel sorry for you

[RoyRover]

I was extremely disappointed after last night's result, because I thought that we could have gotten at least a point from the game. In the first half we were dreadful, we couldn't string any passes together and just resorted to hoofing long balls aimlessly up the pitch. Defensively we are still dreadful and Amoruso and Matteo were shown how dreadful they really are, by the 'potent' pair of Lisbie and Johannson. Apart from Flitcroft hitting the post and and Dickov's effort we weren't dangerous at all.

We were much better in the second half, showed alot more effort and had some good possesion, some decent chances and a clear cut penalty. Other pluses were Jansen, who looked like he belonged in the team and Bothroyd, who I think should start our next game.

[American]

Yorke has scored for Brum, why aren't people saying we miss him?

If you don't know the answer to that then I feel sorry for you

I don't think we miss Yorke, but I think we'd be just as well/poorly off if either of them were still here. Remember, this is a team game. For all Cole has done for Fulham, they have not gotten results with him in the lineup. They have just as much talent in their lineup as we do.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

I wanted 22 points before Christmas, sadly I dont know where the points are going to come from as Stead, as good as he is, is missing Andy Cole to play alongside.

Thanks Graeme, you have really left us in the mire

Finally, the pure folly of selling Cole and replacing him with the sub standard Dickov starts to hit home...Souness has basically left us with boys trying to do the job of men in attack and I fear its going to cost us very dearly indeed.

[MCMC1875]

We should be able to sue him for malpractice.

[Tris]

I really hate Souness for selling Cole and buying Dickov, he totally screwed us I think

really ? you think that ? you've never mentioned it before ... i thought you were a big fan of Paul Dickov

[LeChuck]

People have been praising Dickov a lot for last night but I was shouting for him to be taken off. Whilst I appreciate his enthusiasm and work rate, I can only repeat what I said when we signed him: hard work is no substitute for quality.

He has done a lot of running but has any of that closing down resulted in a goal? Like was pointed out to me yesterday, he will only get one or two a season from those if he is lucky. He was involved with goals against Southampton but they were from good play, not running around like a madman. Last night, apart from his curled shot in the first half, he was very poor with the ball and was one of the main reasons we lacked any sort of quality in the final final third. Gallagher or Jansen in there is a must for me, it's not like these two are lazy anyway, whoever we put in there is going to close people down.

[greggyk]

Read a lot of crap and now people are staring to believe the minority on here who are so god damn negative. People, HAVE YOUR OWN OPINIONS.

I went to the game and the journey back wasnt that bad despite we lost. There were many positives and if our chances had fell it someone like Stead, Dickov or jansen, we would have won.

I thought our defence was ok apart from one mistake(but every goal scored can be denied, so Its hardly a defensive mistake scoring from a corner). Our midfield over powered charlton and were unlucky not to be on the wining side, and our strikers....were ok.

We played well enough to at least get a point. But on another day, we would have.

Some people say its just like last season, but thats not true, because last season we were dire. This season has been so much better and Im sure in a few games time we will put a good run together and end up finishing 9th-13th.

This post is not looking through blue and white tinted glasses, its reality! And most rovers fans I talk to at matches(who i bet dont post on here) have the same opinion as me.

And one another thing which shows how different opinions are on here compared to people at matches are. (i know it was months ago but...who cares) . I didnt hear any complaining about souness at the matches

[1864roverite]

gallagher strained his muscle whilst scoring the goal against bournemouth

ricky your wrong... matteo was not looking at the ball or player when the ball hit him, heriedersson was blatant in sticking his arms out and blocking the ball !

[rover6]

The thing is, MGP HAS everything we lacked tonight, so i cannot believe that he was not brought on.

We needed good people in the air, Morten is a good header. We needed flair, crosses, finishing skills, and those clever little passes that could open any defence. And we dont bring on MGP. I mean, we even had one sub left!!!!

Give over.

I was disappointed that MGP wasn't brought on as well, but he hasn't exactly had a flying start to his Rovers career has he? You can't blame Hughes from trying to give Jansen a chance to prove himself.

I'm surprised that Hughes chose Jansen in the starting line-up over MGP (not De Pedro, though) and would have thought the least MGP would have added to the game late on wouild have been a fresh pair of legs and a threat from long throw-ins.

To be honest, I don't think there were many players who would have made a difference to tonight's game - we were under par as a whole, struggled to threaten the Charlton goal and it would have taken alot more than what MGP's shown for us so far to make an impact.

I've got high hopes for MGP, but just because he was a star in the your home league doesn't mean he's gonna have the same impact here straight away. We've already got one player suffering from a lack of confidence (and quality service) in Jon Stead - it'd be a shame to see MGP suffer the same set back so soon after he's joined.

I think you're a bit over-dramatic - Hughes needs 100% support from everyone at the moment - he's trying to get the best out of a squad of someone else's players. We can't go throwing our rattles out of the pram everytime one of our favourite players doesn't get a game. Gally's put in some decent showings for so far us in his short career at Ewood and he's no closer to getting into the team either.

If MGP's as good as everyone says he will get his chance.

I don't know what Hughes was playing at last night.

It was obvious that MGP should have been brought on near the end.

He scored the late goal against Bournemouth and with his confidence quite high because of that, he would have been just the man to pep up our attack.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Read a lot of crap and now people are staring to believe the minority on here who are so god damn negative. People, HAVE YOUR OWN OPINIONS.

I went to the game and the journey back wasnt that bad despite we lost. There were many positives and if our chances had fell it someone like Stead, Dickov or jansen, we would have won.

I thought our defence was ok apart from one mistake(but every goal scored can be denied, so Its hardly a defensive mistake scoring from a corner). Our midfield over powered charlton and were unlucky not to be on the wining side, and our strikers....were ok.

We played well enough to at least get a point. But on another day, we would have.

Some people say its just like last season, but thats not true, because last season we were dire. This season has been so much better and Im sure in a few games time we will put a good run together and end up finishing 9th-13th.

This post is not looking through blue and white tinted glasses, its reality! And most rovers fans I talk to at matches(who i bet dont post on here) have the same opinion as me.

And one another thing which shows how different opinions are on here compared to people at matches are. (i know it was months ago but...who cares) . I didnt hear any complaining about souness at the matches

Must have been at Old Trafford then or you don't speak to many people

Greggyk - Think youl'l find at the moment most will agree with you as it does look liken there might be some light on the Horizon - the question is how far is that horizon away? For all our possesion last night we didn't really hurt Charlton and bar the two chances of Flitcroft (why him) we didn't look like scoring.

At least Hughes will be able to see the problems now which as far as I'm concerned have been blatantly obvious for nearly two season's now - shame a certain manager couldn't.