Difficult to find any positives from this. Parks prob. selected the best side he could with resources available.
After Dailly had done well at right back last week he went for safety by playing him there again to try to counter the threat from Brighton's left wing.
Whether Doherty should have started after a flaky game last week is not so certain, but with Lierra also plagued with errors and uncertainty of late it was a difficult choice.
However, unless Fortune took a knock, it is difficult to fathom out why Parks decided to take off Fortune instead of Doherty after the latter had committed several errors, one of which resulted in a goal.
Brighton played a good passing game (that bordered on the dull at times in the first half, with the number of sideways and back passes). Charlton had three reasonable efforts, a Martin blockbuster just tipped over, a good header from Abbot (after we managed to get in one decent cross (from Martin) and a blocked Benson shot.
Other than that we did not threaten and Brighton began to turn their possession into total superiority.
While Brighton’s first two goals were largely down to errors, they always looked as if they were coming as Brighton had several chances arising from a mixture of some good passing movements but equally from some lax, lay-off marking.
We came out with no real new ideas in the second half and unlike recent games where we have turned up the quality of our game and the pressure, on this occasion we just descended further into gross mediocrity.
Elliot made a couple of good saves but looked uncertain on several occasions and whilst LuaLua fired a blinder in for their third goal, it was a long range effort and Elliot was nowhere near it (though from our position on the East Stand it was difficult to see if it swerved wildly).
In midfield, Racon was too lightweight, Samedo is solid but does not have the flair whilst upfront Benson and Abbot again had poor service but Abbot in particular just does not seem to have the right first touch while Martin again flattered to deceive.
Once again we seemed reliant on Reid to beat his man and make chances, but he was as guilty as anyone of a succession of poor final crosses when we actually got forwards into the box. With him seemingly suffering a bad knock the portents for the next couple of games are not good.
In fact, with 2 difficult away fixtures and a home game against Sheffield Wednesday (who seem to be hitting form) a mid table position looks the best we can hope for at the moment and a relegation scramble is beginning to look a distinct possibility.
Parks has done a reasonable job in putting together a side on next to no budget. However, they are at best a mid table team at the moment and there is increasing doubt as to whether he can mould this side together to play with the required commitment, passion and spirit to move us ahead, especially when the chips are down.
What Murray thinks at the moment is anyone’s guess.
If he senses that we are losing touch with the promotion hopefuls over the next 2-3 games and the team is not playing with the required craft and spirit he may just think that a change at the helm is required. Given the apparent state of the finances the commercial implications of a change would be another big gamble that, if it backfired, would move us further down the path to disaster.
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2 comments:
Parky said before the game that the team were confident and relishing the chance to have a go at the division leaders. From the evidence of this game, he was either having a larf or is totally out of touch with his team. Hopeful quotes in the media don't motivate the players. He and his coaches have all week to do that.
From what you witnessed, other than maybe Lualua (sp?) from Newcastle, was there any Brighton player who was, man for man superior to his Charlton counterpart? - or were they just better coached and motivated?
Hi Ken:
I tend not to note the opposition’s players’ names unless they are well known and obvious, like Lualua or they particularly catch my eye (thinking ‘there is a player for the future’ or one we could do with if we could afford him).
That was rather the case some years ago when Adam Johnson came on for Middlesbrough and it was obvious how he was going to hit the big time, and was a far better player then than Dowling who was either in the England team at the time or certainly in the reckoning.
Same goes for Hoolahan who tiny as he was run the midfield for Blackpool, and in my view would have been a tremendous acquisition had we pursued our reported interest. He eventually went to Norwich and made all the difference there on their promotion push whilst we bought an alternative load of crap.
When we last played Tranmere at the Valley they were virtually bust and had recruited a load of semi pro or reserve journeymen. They had a big bustling centre forward who Steve and I watched with interest who gave us a lot to trouble. Just the man we could have done with then, and now).
Re Brighton, Lualua was only on for a short time but caused us a lot of damage and certainly looked a class above. They had a couple of midfielders who were also all over the place and controlled things. Both were superior r to our players on the day. Interestingly, one was Kishishev whom the Brighton fans on the train said had been playing well. He was much derided by a section of the CAFC fans before he left and he is now several years older. However, he had a super game was fitness personified and looked far superior to Racon or Samedo. In fact, against us, like Luaulua, he looked a Premiership player.
Their centre forward was no fool and in the first half they tore our defence to shreds several times, often exploiting our failings to stick tight on their players.
Otherwise, they looked good competent players playing to a game plan (that in my opinion was pretty dull for much of the time; a lot of across field and backwards passing, the kind that England try and play and fail when perhaps they would be better off playing a blood and thunder natural English game, but effective against us).
Perhaps the biggest quality they had, which we have sorely missed for a long time, is sensible and enthusiastic running off the ball into spaces and also real tastes for coming better out of 50/50 tackles.
They were not that great, but the way we played they were still superior on the day by a long margin.
Apart from possessing the basic skills and nouse to counter this, there has to be the enthusiasm and spirit there. We just do not seem to have this at the moment once we go a goal down. Without success in these depts. we are never go to have lasting confidence.
In fairness, I think they started reasonably confidently but then just run out of ideas. That is part coaching, but also reflects the overall quality of the side with one or two exceptions.
That is something that the coaching staff have to promote / instil in the side and they are not successful at the moment.
Prob. Doesn’t totally answer your questions but after a heavy day out in Kent and a good lunch it’s prob. A case of never mind the quality feel the width!
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