Danny Holla

Diego Napier said:

"Gifted a goal" is far too harsh. Ventokele, who's currently in a rich vein of form, took advantage of an unlucky deflection, the ball could have ricocheted anywhere. You can't control everything in a 95 minute game of football.

I'm not sure what you mean by Charlton being very poor but very well organised, surely that's an oxymoron? Isn't being well organised very good and not very poor? In addition, their keeper made an excellent save to deny Teixeira an equaliser, their defence covered well to deny us opportunities, their midfield put in a major shift and their striker found the net twice away from home from the 2 chances he had. That reads like good not poor to me.

By the way, goals from set pieces are derived from attacking play not just gifted to us (and are given equal weight when determining the final score!). Our attacking play means that we will get more set piece opportunities (12 corners yesterday). Hyypia has spoken of the need for us to take advantage of set plays (in the way he did) and it's a positive that it appears Hyypia has encouraged Dunk to emulate his style of play.

For the large part of the game we were very composed and progressive; we restricted them to three chances, they were pressed back by us and if we had taken advantage of half of our opportunities we would have beaten them comfortably. They were a good side that we dominated but lacked the cutting edge to beat. Sometimes you just have to accept that you don't always get the rub of the green.

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The Hon Sec said:

Agree with this 100%. We will continue to see teams come to the Amex with a defensive set up and it is up to us to break them down. I thought Charlton were very good at what they did yesterday. But BHA will improve.

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One Teddy Maybank said:

Interesting. Where do you think Charlton will finish? 14th for me based on yesterday.

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DarrenFreemansPerm said:

Top 10 for me. Their game plan changed having scored an early goal, they picked us off twice from only 3 attacks. They didn't need to commit too much forward as we were chasing the game, barring Dunk's last minute equaliser they nearly executed the perfect away performance. Vetekole is dangerous and their defence is well organised.

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One Teddy Maybank said:

Interesting. Where do you think Charlton will finish? 14th for me based on yesterday.

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martin tyler said:

For them i think it will depend on Venkole staying fit as there appears to be little other goal threat. I think mid table as they are organised.

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One Teddy Maybank said:

Yes. Was he the player they signed when their negotiations with COG failed?

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One Teddy Maybank said:

A good response.

However, Charlton were well organised, but offered little coming forward because they didn't have to having taken the lead. So, whilst yes that may because of our play, IMO it was because they didn't need to. When we started bombing forward a good team may well have picked us off, so poor.

In terms of the set plays, of course they are given equal status (bit surprised you put that), but Dunk's goals were a result of poor marking. We still failed to create that much in open play. 2 perhaps 3 good chances in the first, 1 maybe 2 in the second, and as you say by 'lacking the cutting edge' we didn't take them. Hence the need to create more.

It was encouraging, but really not as good as a number on here are suggesting. The goals we conceded were ridiculous and were lapses in concentration. Stockdale has admitted fault, but Bennett dangling a leg to clear on the first as well, and then letting their winger get a cross in when we had them double-banked with JFC can only be classed as sloppy. The forward took the chance, but it was a result of sloppy play.

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Diego Napier said:

I think we'll just have to agree to differ.

From your posts, you saw a poor but well organised Charlton side matched by our poor marking, lapses in concentration, sloppy play and inability to create chances.

I saw our fast improving (with a lot of latent potential) team come up against a considerably revamped and in form Charlton side with a new manager who has totally eschewed their old "put it in the air to Kermogant" style for an effective, neat, pass & keep the ball game.

Ah, opinion, opinions eh? Wouldn't it be far less interesting if everyones opinions were the same!

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