[Archived] Charlton Athletic 1 0 Rovers

[modes98]

Did anyone else not get the impression we were robbed tonight Or was it just me?

Erm i did, feel like punching a wall, or steve dunn i'm not fussed!

Getting all the "luck evens itself out comments" from my mates.....47 games without a penalty says it all....what luck!

We got screwed last season after brad ahd earned us a valid point and now its happened again!

[Baz]

I thought we played relatively well. We worked our socks off but lacked the ability to both hold the ball up up front and we also (worryingly) didnt look like any of our strikers would score. Charlton got more than they deserved from the game but got the run of the ball in both penalty areas.

Overall though with that commitment and level of performance we will be fine as we should win more than we will lose especially against those teams fighting against relegation.

Definately a penalty but same old story, also thought there could have been one in the first half when Chris Perry was hugging Paul Dickov.

[AlanK]

I can`t beleive only Jim has touched on the subject that Neill was woefully at fault for the goal. What was he trying to do? Duck out of the way?

Brad 7

Neill 3

matteo 4

Amo 4

Gray 7.5

emerton 6.5

Jansen 6.5

Flitty : Can`t rate him as he wasn`t playing

Fergy ; see above

Dickov 7 worked hard

Stead 6.5 worked hard, must keep his chin up

Jay.B caused trouble for the last 10 mins

So, we have hard working forwards getting no supply from midfield because midfield are to worried about helping out an awful defence.

[Blackpool_Rover]

Poor performance. Basic defending let us down again.

Some observations.

Jansen's feet look as though they are stuck in cement. Still way off the pace.

Emerton is a worse crosser of a ball than Gillespie - either too long or too short or hit against a defender.

Neill continues to go to sleep at vital moments - viz the goal.

Stead worked hard but we're toothless in attack.

Emerton had a good game

[trueblue]

Watching tonights game on sky (I couldn't afford the trip to Charlton) one thing became apparent... the total lack of quality ball in to the front two !

How are Stead and Dickov (or whoever plays up front) expected to produce goals from the dross service they're getting ??

[Bobby G]

We easily deserved a point.

Our defence was awful.Matteo and Amoruso look so unsure.Gray doesnt have any pace but at least worked hard.

Ferguson and Flits went missing for long periods.Fergie doesnt look too happy,his body language is negative.

Stead had some great touches,he looks class but cant buy a goal for anythinng.Dickov worked hard,but Jansen didnt look too good today and he left the left side empty at times in the second half.

Emerton was our most creative player.

We need 3 points on Saturday.Like someone else said I think it might go down to there being 3 worse teams than us in the League,I HOPE!

Hughes has his work cut out.Souness did a great job but he backtracked all his good work in the last 12 months,especially in his transfer dealings.

[trueblue]

Definately a penalty but same old story, also thought there could have been one in the first half when Chris Perry was hugging Paul Dickov.

Hugging him ?? I thought Perry was half way into Dickov's shorts !!

[ace]

Clear handball in the area by Matty's best-man! The number of times the referee doesn't "see" blatant fouls concerning Rovers is a joke.

Penalty at Southampton -not seen,

Penalty for Southampton that no-one (including Beattie) saw,

Handball by Saha-not seen,

Now handball -physically deflected by player by raising arm :not seen.

Paranoia or conspiracy..think I'll go and watch Sopranos..Big Tony would have a solution I'm sure!

[Exiled in Toronto]

I can`t beleive only Jim has touched on the subject that Neill was woefully at fault for the goal. What was he trying to do? Duck out of the way?

Brad 7

Neill 3

matteo 4

Amo 4

Gray 7.5

emerton 6.5

Jansen 6.5

Flitty : Can`t rate him as he wasn`t playing

Fergy ; see above

Dickov 7 worked hard

Stead 6.5 worked hard, must keep his chin up

Jay.B caused trouble for the last 10 mins

So, we have hard working forwards getting no supply from midfield because midfield are to worried about helping out an awful defence.

I would agree with that, though I would give Flitcroft some credit for getting in the box and on the end of chances twice, even if he isn't much of a finisher. Overall there just isn't enough quality in that team to bother most other teams in the division.

[mrsjansen]

Don't know what to say really.

Jansen didn't play well, but compared to most didn't play that badly.

Niell gets worse the more I see him play.

Matteo can't get any worse.

Roll on January....................

[AlanK]

Roll on January....................

Unfortunately Mrs J, if we carry on how we have started, by the time January comes we may be looking at what players to sell and buy to construct a competitive squad for "the championship div1 thingy"

[bazza]

1-0. But. A lot of positives can be taken out of the performance. Things are on the up. We just have to be patient.

Spot on KSB. I am quite upbeat even though we lost. But the effort was there for all to see. We are getting better in fitness and effort. Things are not going for us yet. We deserved a point from tonight's display but we didn't have "the rub of the green"

No penalty either. Ball on arm rather than arm on ball.

It'll come good. Have patience. Thank goodness it's September and not April. Sparky has plenty of time and he is beginning to turn it around.

[Maverick]

Another defeat!

Looking at the positive sides of the game, we where the best team. Second half possession was around 65% to us so there is no dough who was controlling the game. Attempts on goal we where the best side as well. On Charltons goal we where unlucky. Friedel could have taken it, but unfortunately it went through his legs.

In the first half we played a lot of long balls, that didn’t work. Especially the ones delivered by Gray. In the second half we played more along the ground and this worked better. Don’t think we have the right players to play long balls.

Bothroyd and Tugay came in as subs and didn’t bring anything to the game. Jansen on the left side had a poor game and should have been substituted by Pedersen. Stead showed some of his potential.

And we should have got a penalty. How the ref didn't see that I can't understand.

A step up from the Newcastle game, but still a defeat.

[Bobby G]

There were days when we played teams like Charlton when we would say hey theres 3 points,and if we got one point,we would say 2 points lost.Now other teams are saying the same about us.

Compare the two teams players today and player by player we might have had 8-9 better players I'd think,but as a team we just lacked much cutting edge.

Its a shame.

[Cheeky Sidders]

Definitely a penalty and I think the decision not to give it was indicative of a poor refereeing performance. Charlton were guilty of persistant fouling but only had Stuart booked near the end. Why? I'd book that *@#! as soon as look at him but that's just me.

Anyway, we can't rue ungiven penalties or blame dipsh1t referees for this defeat, the bottom line is we can't allow half of our players to have a poor game and expect Dickov to do everything on his own.

How many times was the ball played into the box with nobody there to follow up?

How many times did we run out of ideas when we approached their 18 yard box?

For all our possession and all the corners, how many proper saves did Kiely have to make?

How many times did Lucas Neill (exceptionally poor tonight) concede possession?

I'm only grateful for the fact that the three promoted teams are unlikely to survive and Southampton are looking very ropey. Saturday is going to be a very tough game now.

[ABBEY]

more important things on tonight like trying save everything ive worked for over the last 13 years but ...ANOTHER POSS POINT LOST TO C RAP REF .CHRIST ALMIGHTY THE DEF PUT HIS ARM OUT TO THE WALL,,,,,HERES TO THE NEXT 1000 GAMES WITHOUT A PEN.

BTW bring back grabbi bothhemaroids is shiteee

bad mood all round .

[philipl]

I thought the Rovers made a decent fist of it tonight- a lot of clubs will lose at the Valley this season.

Yes it was a sure penalty which was not given but so was Brad's foul on Fuller at Ewood last week- had both penalties been given,chances are we would be one point worse off and still waiting for our first league win.

Unfortunately the two best chances fell to Flitty- 10 out of 10 for him getting there but the usual 0 out of 10 for composure and technique in front of goal.

I was impressed with Bothroyd when he first came on, was relieved that Matty lasted the full 90 minutes and looked fit and fresh at the end and I felt he looked rusty rather than incapable. The two free headers at the end should have been much better directed but he was there to win them. Stead had some goood moments.

Major concerns:

Dickov and Stead do not work as a unit. Did Stead receive any useable passes from Dickov all evening? A few did go the other way.

Its own up time, Matteo is a bad acquisition. Amo will always drop us in it two or three times a game whilst Lucas will position himself by the Southern Cross (not visible on any ground the Rovers are likely to play at) and Mickey Gray will get skinned at least once every game. In summary we have a seriously wonky defence which may or may not be improved by the return from injury of Todd and Short.

Ferguson was poor. For a £7.5m midfielder, too many passes were woeful and he totally failed to impose himself on a Charlton midfield which was organised and pressed well but was short of the quality at least eight Prem clubs will show against us.

Parting thought:

Pompey, Saints, Baggiees and Palace are worse than us- phew!!! It is a relegation scrap now for the Rovers but one in which we hold a lot of the advantages. Norwich are rather unlucky not to have won yet- I am seriusly worried about our visit to Carrow Road which is probably going to be at the worst possible time for us to go there.

[mrsjansen]

Now now Rovers fans I have some shocking news...............................

Journalist......................on...................YOSS...........................DEFENDS..............Rovers

.....................Saying........................it ............................WAS....................A..........PENALTY.

Twonk Marsh is saying it wasn't tho.

[cuidado]

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!!!!

Was Hughes expecting his old mate Jansen to SUDDENTLY score a goal? Nothing tells me he would. And why do people keep on telling Bothroyd was good? You cant expect much from a player! He had the ball 4-5 times, yes he didnt lose it, but everyone can do a pass backwords!!!

Emerton even had to drift to the left when Jansen was out of position. I am so dissapointed now, cant believe that hughes. If he doesnt play him next match im wondering if Morten is shagging his wife or anything. I cant see any other reason.

[super_neill]

Twonk Marsh is saying it wasn't tho.

OMG I hate him! how the hell in God's name could that not have been a penalty! . The ref again had a perfect view and waved play on which quite frankly was shocking. I am off to buy an Arsenal shirt

[AlanK]

Now now Rovers fans I have some shocking news...............................

Journalist......................on...................YOSS...........................DEFENDS..............Rovers

.....................Saying........................it ............................WAS....................A..........PENALTY.

Twonk Marsh is saying it wasn't tho.

The journalist defending us on Sky sports is Henry Winter

[mrsjansen]

They are saying it was ball to hand. That if someone fires a shot from 10 yards out then he can't help it if his hands are by his side and can't get them out of the way on time.

[cuidado]

They are saying it was ball to hand. That if someone fires a shot from 10 yards out then he can't help it if his hands are by his side and can't get them out of the way on time.

Stop moaning about the penalty-issue. Charlton had the exact same thing in the 1st half. How can a player remove their arm from 2 meters? And NO, holding the hand there ISNT an "un-natural" placement of the arm! Holding the arm into you body is.

We lost because we sucked, and the players used sucked. Bad managing.

[den]

If you watch the replay of the pen, when Emerton releases the ball, the defender put his right leg out, moves his body/arm towards the ball. Not ball to hand, but body to ball.

[mrsjansen]

We really wheren't that bad that we sucked. I'm not saying we played well, but there seemed to be a better spirit there, that some players seemed to want to play for us.

So stop over reacting.

We just have to take the positives into Saturdays game.