Sunday 23 August 2009

Beware The Ides Of March

Gray has gone and Dickson is allegedly on his way, there are no rumours coming out of the Valley of players coming in, other than Parkies continued comments that he would like to add players to the squad.
The assumption with Gray going is that the take over is all but done. I like the current regime, Murray has always had Charlton at his heart and Martin Simmons has always been a good guy to meet for a chat and a pint, but the demands of modern football and the failures of decisions made over the last few years have put the resources required to run a club beyond them. Not only that but the demands on them through three seasons of failure must have drawn on their own personal energies. Whatever the takeover brings, the resources, just to manage the day to day will be very welcome.
Whoever they are, the takeover consortium will inherit a team on top of its game and on top of its league. However, they will also be taking over a squad short on personnel in defence and strikers who can score. In midfield we are well served, although a winger would not go amiss, if Small is not seen as a long term prospect on the left.
In defence, we have a strong 1st choice, Dailly is proving to be solid and outshines any of the central defenders, including Ward, in his marshalling of the defence. He has also formed a strong relationship with Llera, who is rapidly becoming a cult figure. Richardson has added consistency to a position that has had a revolving door in place for two seasons. Kelly Youga continues to be the weakest link, but with the amount of coaching he receives during the game I do think he is showing signs of improvement, taking him back to the post Scunthorpe Youga. Whilst we have Solly and Basey in reserve and maybe even Mambo (No. 5), the defence needs reinforcements.
In attack, we have a plethora of forwards who cannot score. Burton has shown his quality and put away two chances already, but him apart the manager has no trust in those that are left Fleetwood, Izale and Dickson, if he stays. There are rumours of Kandol coming in, guy from Southend and of course we have put down our marker for the guy from Gillingham.
Whilst there are only 9 days of the transfer window left we then move into the loans window and whilst we prefer to have our own playing for us, I would not object to taking on a couple of Prem league youth season long loans, but no more journey men looking to get fit.
We need to get new recruits in or the results like yesterday will dryn up before our normal March time dip and in this season we want to keep going right till the end.
Charlton Wallsall Player ratings
Elliot - 6 - Rating suffers from having nothing to do
Richardson - 7 - Beginning to develop a strong attacking relationship with Sam
Dailly - 7 - Talks the players around him through the game, may not have the arm band but has the spirit of he captain.
Llera - 8 -Truly making an early stake for being a legend. He and Dailly are giving us the stability at the back that we lacked last season
Youga - 7 - 7 may slightly flatter him, but Kelly is putting in the effort and is improving game by game. He is receiving a lot of coaching from the sidelines and his defensive partners.
Sam - 5.5 - At this level Sam needs to be taking on defenders and beating them. Would he have scored Wagstaff's opportunity or would the ball have got caught under his feet. As long as we are winning his place will remain safe, especially as he and Richardson are working well together, but a down turn in form and Wagstaff maybe seen the answer.
Semedo - 8 -This player purchased as a centre half is making the defensive midfield position his own and becoming the lynchpin between defence and attack.
Racon - 7 - Playing well but not fulfilling his potential and really taking the game by the horns, once he does that he will be awesome.
Shelvey - 6.5 - Jonjo is difficult to mark, we expect him to be outstanding every game but he is still only 17. Played well but not outstanding, below par of his Orient 2nd half display, but still effective and without the recklessness of the 1st half of Orient.
Bailey - 6.5 - Busy, but fairly quiet.
Burton - 8 - If you accept that DB won't score every game but works hard and brings players into the game, could have had another lob over the keeper, just did not get the ball quite high enough.
Wagstaff - 7 - 1st time he has not looked light weight and took his goal well, will put pressure on Sam to be a more cutting edge attacker