Parkies Boys Buzzed

We have been waiting for performances and results to match, but we did not expect that to materialise with the performance being poor and the result being unacceptable, against the bottom of the table team. Brentford, Tranmere and Dagenham & Redbridge - bottom of the table clubs, we cannot expect to get even a play off place if we do not take maximum points from clubs of this level.

As an advocate of Parkie, I have backed the manager since his original temporary appointment.  He now  has, for the first time, a team that he can truly call his own. Curbishley used to say that after 10 games you can judge how a season will go. We have reached that stage now and for a club for whom promotion is not only desirable but has a survival imperative, our current position, outside the top 6 and playing poorly is not acceptable.

Parkie talks of a geling period and without doubt, unless you are really lucky, a new team takes time to gel. Last season we were lucky and a relatively new team put together a series of record breaking results.  This season we have failed to find a cohesive team and formation. Detractors of Bailey, Burton and Sam may now be wondering just how wrong they may have been, certainly I would like some of the passion that Bailey showed and I never thought I would regret his departure.

I cannot say I am too keen on Parkies blasé attitude towards his sending to the stands and two match ban. How can the players be expected to show authority (however wrong the authority maybe) respect if the manager treats them with contempt. Instead of using the penalty decision to ensure a seat in the stands, Parkie should have been able to send out a team fired up and ready to take on the opposition and referee through the quality of their play and the desire to put a wrong right and send the fans home singing, not scowling.

We may have had a lot of poor decisions from the officials, however Parkie has focussed on this too much - poor decisions happen, as the author of Dr Kish has pointed out to me recently, we have also had decisions go for us, but we are fans and we have selective myopia. Parkie cannot influence referees decisions after they have been made, but instead of letting the players feel sorry of themselves, he needs to motivate players using every bad decision ever given against them - Right the wrong, don't bemoan the past.

I'm listening to Parkie on the radio and he is saying that the players did not come out for the first half with the right attitude, he says that the players have let "us" down, but for me the management team have let "us" down by allowing a team to come out with anything other than the right attitude. BBC London have criticised him for putting all the blame on the players and I have to say I feel that Parkie and his management team should be holding their hands up and taking a hefty level of responsibility.

Tuesday sees us appear on Sky for the second time and viewers will wonder what happened to the fight that they saw at Orient, not that many weeks ago but none will be wondering more than Charltons own fans. We have to play 6 regular players in the JPT and I expect Dailly to make his return for match practice. I would like to say we should rest players to protect them from injury prior to Plymouth, but in all honesty there is not a single player that I feel we would miss if he got injured for Plymouth.

If we had won today we would be sitting third a point outside the play offs, with the momentum behind us for Plymouth who lost at home today,instead we face the real prospect of facing league leaders Brighton in 2 weeks time on the back of a run of 3 defeats in a row, inc JPT.

I was not at Brentford today so I won't pontificate on what went wrong, however the gel period is over ten games is sufficient for 75% geling, so now is the time for Parkie to get it right and that is a comment from a friend, god knows what the Parkie haters are saying.