There is no doubt that yesterdays result was a disappointment, but not as big a disappointment as some of the results of last season and I would rather be a Charlton fan this morning than a Reading one.
Despite the loss of Riga and the introduction of Clarke Blackpool remain at the bottom of the table and the expectation is that we would beat them. I had them down for a 3-1 victory to us, sadly it was not to be, but a point is better than zero and when you saw some of the players that are with Blackpool you could see a lot of experience amongst them..
Experience of the likes of ex Man U academy and former Charlton target Chris Eagles* or ex Spur Jamie O'Hara. A victory for Charlton was not delusional but it was, as it turned out, by no means a foregone conclusion.
And experience yesterday was something that we were short of, although you could argue that our two most experienced players resulted in our defeat - Andre Bikey blasting over an almost empty net and Tal ben Haim tackling from behind for the free kick that led to the goal.
The youth academy provided us with six** players yesterday and whilst we might wish Pope and Fox had not been there it was a fine recommendation for all of those who contribute to Valley Gold.
In defence of Fox, he is a solid defender, his problem is that he is not blessed with the ability to drive forward and needs a 2nd touch when he gets the ball, which takes momentum out of the game. Fox however is in the team at the moment and the "dogs abuse" he receives will not help him and his confidence. The fans getting on anther full back for Charlton resulted in his loss of confidence and he always played for us like a rabbit in the headlights and he was a seasoned pro who had just won his previous teams player of the season award. His season only lasted a year, and you may wonder what happened to him next, well it appears that he became an important part of a division one team who gained promotion to the Championship and today, whilst still holding down his place with them, he sits in the top place of the Championship.
Pope of course had two 'mares that resulted in both of Blackpool's goals, but where was his protection? he and Davies were left alone at the free kick which TBH should never have given away. And lets not forget he made a good save in the first half from Blackpool's only other shot. Pope is a young keeper, keepers mature later and go on longer and does not deserve being called a C, by our moronic fans.
But back to experience, our policy is to play youth and develop from within. Injury has probably accelerated this position not to mention Mr Duchatalet not opening his wallet willy nilly, after all in the last 12 months he has only spent circa £25 million on the club.
Yesterday the average age of the team was 23 years old and if you take out Bikey and TBH it was 21 years 6 months. We are a young in experienced side and we will make mistakes, I still believe we will be closer to playoffs to relegation come the end game and I believe we should keep the faith and stop slagging off our youth, after-all we were happy to sing after Jordans goal "He's one of our own ..!" Most of them are so we should be supporting them.
*Turned us down because we were not good enough, so relegation to level 3 would be nice.
** Strictly speaking 5 but I include Pope in there too.
1 comment:
I like this, I like this a lot.
Sometimes yer own supporters do the oppositions work for em. Pope and Fox have stood up to the test of Millwall. Will they be to withstand Charltons finest?
It's not all rosy, but mid-table is where I thought we end up and that's where we are now. I hope I'm wrong in a positive way at the seasons end. At the end of Jan we should all know a lot more about clubs direction though. COYR
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