Cheltenham Town v Charlton Athletic

[RS1978]

Oh there goes Matty Taylor

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

No just Charlton

So that record is meaningless really

We shall see in 30mins

Even if he scores a hat trick the fact he scored in the past against a team of different players has no bearing.

[CTFCfan99]

Brutal defending again. We've been alright this half but that'll do it. League Two here we come

[HamTown]

Flabbergasted

[1985CTFC]

All the teams around us will be celebrating. Picking up injuries, and now a tough ask, but can't give up.

[1985CTFC]

So that record is meaningless really

We shall see in 30mins

Even if he scores a hat trick the fact he scored in the past against a team of different players has no bearing.

I am blaming you for jinxing Keena this season saying he would be top scorer. It's all your fault.
Looks like he might get a run out now, what with Matty likely out for a while.

[QED]

Oh there goes Matty Taylor

The biggest moment of the season. We were in the ascendency and looked like winning from there.
In a flash the whole mood changes, we have no starting number 9 for the season (probably), Charlton get the momentum and go on to win.

I hope I’m wrong but that’s probably that.

[Jerry St Clair]

Couldn't have been much worse really. Really feels like a watershed moment.

One dimensional hoofball without anyone to win it, injuries mounting up, a defence becoming leakier by the game. Just cannot see it happening now.

[art vandalay]

Poor. We looked like a team that knows it‘s going down. Wouldn‘t be surprised to see us slip down to second bottom now.

[longmover]

thing is charlton looked so brittle at the back and just needed steady pressure and goals would come but we just looked completely without idea (for the majority of the game)

[Uppy]

Feels as if it’s well and truly slipping away now unfortunately

[Nham68]

thing is charlton looked so brittle at the back and just needed steady pressure and goals would come but we just looked completely without idea (for the majority of the game)

There was about 6-7 mins when equalized and we played with belief, ball on the ground , looked like a good side . It was a transformation . As soon as we went behind again , it evaporated .

Lloyds and Taylor looked flogged .. need a rest .

[Garby74]

They had more quality.
I thought second half we were much better.
Blood sweat and tears will only get you so far. You need quality.

Every corner I fear we will concead.

What a gem JT is turning out to be...he has to start from now on....sublime...all he wants to do is take players on. Second half Pett was excellent.
Lloyd is knackered...Taylor injured....Keena...shoulda been loaned out!

Where do we go from here...I dare not look at the table

[Shade]

Fully expecting relegation now. The bottom 4 are the bottom 4. Done by early March. Obviously, there is still time but based on those 4 performances (and they're getting worse), the injuries...everything going against us, and with 4th 5th and 6th up next, I think by the end of March we could be 10 points adrift and that will be that.

Of course, win at Oxford on Saturday and it all looks possible again, but you'd have to be mental to actually believe we're going to get anything there with the players we have available, with seemingly none of them in form (bar Thomas!).

Is Williams injured? Freestone? Haven't heard anything about either. Assume Ferry and Taylor will be out for at least a few weeks, and Nuttall not in the squad tonight either? Are we really down to Lloyd and Keena as our only forwards? f#!$ me the football gods are absolute c**ts. Give you hope, then snatch it away and then some.

[1985CTFC]

Little bit of good news, Exeter, Fleetwood, Carlisle,, Cambridge and Shrews all have to play Charlton. Small consolation.

[Shade]

Ugh, the old lack of ambition knobheads are out in force on social media again. 2.5 weeks ago they were probably either stewing because we'd picked up 3 points or signing the praises of the club. One old boy reckons he's been watching home and away for 40 years and nothings changed, never been any ambition. He must have been asleep on the days we won all the titles and trophy, play off victories and rise from Southern league to league one. What an absolute bellend.

[Malabus]

Hoof ball FC...we will f#!$ doing that.

[Jerry St Clair]

Is Williams injured? Freestone?

Freestone is injured. JP confirmed it.

Before the Burton game, Williams was out at the PRE end having, what looked to me, like a fitness test. He was doing shuttle runs across the penalty area with Gav Crowe timing him while the rest of the squad warmed up as normal.

[Anteros]

Disappointing. But you can't criticise the players effort and hard work. They run all game long but it's the quality we are lacking. Which is understandable because of our budget and resources.
You have to give credit to Taylor and Lloyd, they have to feed off scraps and are often isolated.
IF we go down but still give 100% until the last game then I will still be proud.
The previous two seasons we have been fortunate that we have had a striker that scored 20 + goals and we never had a disastrous start like we did this season.
COYR

[Benctfc]

That result puts massive pressure on us to get some results at some tough upcoming away games.

I still think the turning point in our season was losing Street. Him and Goodwin were massive to the style of football we play and losing their presence up front was a blow. Him and Lloyd were just starting to build a partnership too. This has meant Taylor has had to play more than ideal and has now pulled up.

Thomas again looked our only attacking threat. Is it time to change formation to get him in the team? Maybe 4-3-3 with him and Lloyd out wide? If we are going down we need to get him game time and experience as he could be a point of difference next season in L2.

[Si Robin]

Like others, I'm deflated after last night, but I'm not beaten.

I think DC has to take his share of the blame for the last few games. There seems to be rotation for rotation's sake at the moment and this is creating confusion in the midfield and defence. The back three on Saturday were perfectly fine, so why did he need to drop Smith and move Long from his best position. In doing so, he also moved our most tenacious midfielder to wing back. Not content with this, said midfielder was then moved to left wing back - where he looked worse than a fish out of water - because the backup wasn't even on the bench (admittedly this could be because of a niggle).

Dropping Sercs for a couple of games has meant it took him a couple of games to get back into the swing of things. I understand he's 33 and will need a break, but Curtis is 39 and hasn't had one, and Matty Taylor is 34 and doesn't seem to get dropped despite breathing out of his ass for the last 180 mins game time or so.

The team needs a reset ahead of Saturday. We have to play with the mentality that we have nothing to lose and do to Oxford what we did to them at home in November. Players prepared to get in the faces of the opposition and bloody some noses. It also needs every one of us to give them that backing as well.

[Alf]

We made one or two half decent chances but couldn’t put them away. Quality up front is the main difference between teams at the top and bottom of leagues as we found out with Alfie May last season.
We haven’t been able to replace him and are paying for it. Ok, I know it’s ‘old hat’ but it’s true,
Matty Taylor has quality but is also a bit creaky. However, we are what we are and just have to keep battling. Could we have defended better for a couple of points in the last two games? Possibly but Darrell wanted to win the two games, which I’m sure the fans did too, so any criticism there comes with the benefit of hindsight which doesn’t count.

[Warwickshire Robin]

Like others, I'm deflated after last night, but I'm not beaten.

I think DC has to take his share of the blame for the last few games. There seems to be rotation for rotation's sake at the moment and this is creating confusion in the midfield and defence. The back three on Saturday were perfectly fine, so why did he need to drop Smith and move Long from his best position. In doing so, he also moved our most tenacious midfielder to wing back. Not content with this, said midfielder was then moved to left wing back - where he looked worse than a fish out of water - because the backup wasn't even on the bench (admittedly this could be because of a niggle).

Dropping Sercs for a couple of games has meant it took him a couple of games to get back into the swing of things. I understand he's 33 and will need a break, but Curtis is 39 and hasn't had one, and Matty Taylor is 34 and doesn't seem to get dropped despite breathing out of his ass for the last 180 mins game time or so.

The team needs a reset ahead of Saturday. We have to play with the mentality that we have nothing to lose and do to Oxford what we did to them at home in November. Players prepared to get in the faces of the opposition and bloody some noses. It also needs every one of us to give them that backing as well.

100% with you on this Si, was basically what I was going to write!

On the tinkering however, I suppose in his defence, DC has done this since he came in and for the first 4 months or so it has largely worked out, but now things aren't going as hoped it looks bad and leaves him open to this sort of criticism. But I guess that is just the way football is!

The regression to our early season aimless hoofing it up front has been somewhat baffling was well. I know DC said that wasn't the plan against Burton but they carried it on for long spells last night and it is just pointless, so the message just isn't getting across. It was no coincidence that our best spell of the game either side of our goal came when we were getting the ball down and actually passing it to other players in red rather than giving their central defenders heading practice.

Finally, it will be interesting to see how DC deals with Jordan Thomas from now on in terms of playing time and formation. He is a really exciting looking talent and the one guy we have who looks like a game changer. I get we have to be careful and not put too much expectation on him but the lad is completely different to what we have in the squad and should be someone we look to build around for the future and this future may be now!.

[1985CTFC]

Like others, I'm deflated after last night, but I'm not beaten.

I think DC has to take his share of the blame for the last few games. There seems to be rotation for rotation's sake at the moment and this is creating confusion in the midfield and defence. The back three on Saturday were perfectly fine, so why did he need to drop Smith and move Long from his best position. In doing so, he also moved our most tenacious midfielder to wing back. Not content with this, said midfielder was then moved to left wing back - where he looked worse than a fish out of water - because the backup wasn't even on the bench (admittedly this could be because of a niggle).

Dropping Sercs for a couple of games has meant it took him a couple of games to get back into the swing of things. I understand he's 33 and will need a break, but Curtis is 39 and hasn't had one, and Matty Taylor is 34 and doesn't seem to get dropped despite breathing out of his ass for the last 180 mins game time or so.

The team needs a reset ahead of Saturday. We have to play with the mentality that we have nothing to lose and do to Oxford what we did to them at home in November. Players prepared to get in the faces of the opposition and bloody some noses. It also needs every one of us to give them that backing as well.

Yes all at sea at the start of the game. Credit to Charlton as they played high tempo bit like us when DC came in. Ferry coming off and Kinsella taking over didn't help. I saw no reason to move Long inside, unless to counter Alfie?
2nd half much better when we took the game to them.
But if we won it would have been a masterstroke by DC. Who'd be a manager?
As mentioned we had a few 3/4 chances but lacked composure in front of goal.
Need to see what Harrop can do at the start of a game. Still some winnable games left. Exeter, Carlisle Fleetwood Burton and a few mid table teams. But they need to be wins.

[Ihearye]

Like others, I'm deflated after last night, but I'm not beaten.

I think DC has to take his share of the blame for the last few games. There seems to be rotation for rotation's sake at the moment and this is creating confusion in the midfield and defence. The back three on Saturday were perfectly fine, so why did he need to drop Smith and move Long from his best position. In doing so, he also moved our most tenacious midfielder to wing back. Not content with this, said midfielder was then moved to left wing back - where he looked worse than a fish out of water - because the backup wasn't even on the bench (admittedly this could be because of a niggle).

Dropping Sercs for a couple of games has meant it took him a couple of games to get back into the swing of things. I understand he's 33 and will need a break, but Curtis is 39 and hasn't had one, and Matty Taylor is 34 and doesn't seem to get dropped despite breathing out of his ass for the last 180 mins game time or so.

The team needs a reset ahead of Saturday. We have to play with the mentality that we have nothing to lose and do to Oxford what we did to them at home in November. Players prepared to get in the faces of the opposition and bloody some noses. It also needs every one of us to give them that backing as well.

Yes all at sea at the start of the game. Credit to Charlton as they played high tempo bit like us when DC came in. Ferry coming off and Kinsella taking over didn't help. I saw no reason to move Long inside, unless to counter Alfie?
2nd half much better when we took the game to them.
But if we won it would have been a masterstroke by DC. Who'd be a manager?
As mentioned we had a few 3/4 chances but lacked composure in front of goal.
Need to see what Harrop can do at the start of a game. Still some winnable games left. Exeter, Carlisle Fleetwood Burton and a few mid table teams. But they need to be wins.

Very true re the chances, I the second half, long, bonds, and sercs had clear unopposed strikes and not one tested the keeper. Just not good enough. Their second was a criminal bit of defending. Who let's the striker get in front of them right in front of goal? Maths says we can still pull it off, but the head says we have been waiting for a reaction for too many games now. Didn't hear who won motm, Am hoping it was Jordan Thomas as he was the only one who lifted the mood

[Jim]

Felt we lacked any control last night, especially in the first half. As DC said in his post-match, it was chaos at times and we couldn't get to grips with the game. We were much better 2nd half for spells, but I didn't understand some of the selection decisions. I'm sure DC has his reasons, i.e. he wanted more pace in the back three and didn't trust Smith from the start, but moving Long and using Kinsella at RWB didn't work IMO.

I thought Bonds was pretty poor again, especially on the ball. He seems to need a second or two longer than any other player and gets caught too regularly. If not caught, he hurries a wayward pass and gives away possession that way. Kinsella needs to play the rest of the season in CM, he's the only one with real energy.

I thought Pett was good again, not just his usual deep-lying playmaker stuff, but tracking back and putting in some great last-ditch tackles. Definitely my MoM.

We somehow need to swing our performance levels back to where they were a few weeks ago, but it's hard to see how especially with the added injuries. It looks like the Nuttall gamble hasn't paid off so we potentially only have 2 strikers who have a grand total of 2 goals all season.

[Si Robin]

Bonds is a great player technically, but he has no natural instinct. As you say, he needs a second or two longer than any other player.

[horlickfanclub]

Like others, I'm deflated after last night, but I'm not beaten.

I think DC has to take his share of the blame for the last few games. There seems to be rotation for rotation's sake at the moment and this is creating confusion in the midfield and defence. The back three on Saturday were perfectly fine, so why did he need to drop Smith and move Long from his best position. In doing so, he also moved our most tenacious midfielder to wing back. Not content with this, said midfielder was then moved to left wing back - where he looked worse than a fish out of water - because the backup wasn't even on the bench (admittedly this could be because of a niggle).

Dropping Sercs for a couple of games has meant it took him a couple of games to get back into the swing of things. I understand he's 33 and will need a break, but Curtis is 39 and hasn't had one, and Matty Taylor is 34 and doesn't seem to get dropped despite breathing out of his ass for the last 180 mins game time or so.

The team needs a reset ahead of Saturday. We have to play with the mentality that we have nothing to lose and do to Oxford what we did to them at home in November. Players prepared to get in the faces of the opposition and bloody some noses. It also needs every one of us to give them that backing as well.

Good post. The positional changes and substitutions caused some of the lack of cohesion last night. Where was Nuttall when we needed a forward?The Manager wanted him in and seems to be blanking him while running Taylor in to the ground. He might need to swallow his pride and bring in Nuttall and Olyinka soon.

[Jim]

Bonds is a great player technically, but he has no natural instinct. As you say, he needs a second or two longer than any other player.

I have been a huge fan of Bonds in the past, and rate him as a player who could play higher - he has the ingredients. It feels like a mental/confidence thing with him. He has the ability, no doubt, but I find myself wincing every time he gets possession at the moment, anticipating a turnover - same with Smith. I don't feel that when Kinsella or Pett have the ball.

[RS1978]

Bonds is a great player technically, but he has no natural instinct. As you say, he needs a second or two longer than any other player.

You have to remember that Bonds is still only young - and consistency will come as he gets older. Maybe he's not what we need rn with having to put in regular 6/7 out of 10 performances every Saturday/Tuesday ? Maybe a start for Harrop/Thomas/Sloggett against Oxford?

Any further news on the Taylor/Ferry injuries?

[Broadway Brian]

Bondsy’s best games are always when he’s destructive as opposed to constructive. He’s strong and has an uncanny knack of getting a foot in to break up play. Give him time on the ball or require a pinpoint pass as part of a swift counterattack then he usually isn’t your man.

[Si Robin]

Like others, I'm deflated after last night, but I'm not beaten.

I think DC has to take his share of the blame for the last few games. There seems to be rotation for rotation's sake at the moment and this is creating confusion in the midfield and defence. The back three on Saturday were perfectly fine, so why did he need to drop Smith and move Long from his best position. In doing so, he also moved our most tenacious midfielder to wing back. Not content with this, said midfielder was then moved to left wing back - where he looked worse than a fish out of water - because the backup wasn't even on the bench (admittedly this could be because of a niggle).

Dropping Sercs for a couple of games has meant it took him a couple of games to get back into the swing of things. I understand he's 33 and will need a break, but Curtis is 39 and hasn't had one, and Matty Taylor is 34 and doesn't seem to get dropped despite breathing out of his ass for the last 180 mins game time or so.

The team needs a reset ahead of Saturday. We have to play with the mentality that we have nothing to lose and do to Oxford what we did to them at home in November. Players prepared to get in the faces of the opposition and bloody some noses. It also needs every one of us to give them that backing as well.

Good post. The positional changes and substitutions caused some of the lack of cohesion last night. Where was Nuttall when we needed a forward?The Manager wanted him in and seems to be blanking him while running Taylor in to the ground. He might need to swallow his pride and bring in Nuttall and Olyinka soon.

Nuttall has picked up a niggle apparently.

[1985CTFC]

Felt we lacked any control last night, especially in the first half. As DC said in his post-match, it was chaos at times and we couldn't get to grips with the game. We were much better 2nd half for spells, but I didn't understand some of the selection decisions. I'm sure DC has his reasons, i.e. he wanted more pace in the back three and didn't trust Smith from the start, but moving Long and using Kinsella at RWB didn't work IMO.

I thought Bonds was pretty poor again, especially on the ball. He seems to need a second or two longer than any other player and gets caught too regularly. If not caught, he hurries a wayward pass and gives away possession that way. Kinsella needs to play the rest of the season in CM, he's the only one with real energy.

I thought Pett was good again, not just his usual deep-lying playmaker stuff, but tracking back and putting in some great last-ditch tackles. Definitely my MoM.

We somehow need to swing our performance levels back to where they were a few weeks ago, but it's hard to see how especially with the added injuries. It looks like the Nuttall gamble hasn't paid off so we potentially only have 2 strikers who have a grand total of 2 goals all season.

Bonds is best as people say, when he is destructive. Ratting around tackling and breaking up play. Pett has almost taken up that role. Whether we swap and push Pett further up, or we go 4 2 3 1 and they both shield the defence as a 2. But getting a bit late to experiment. Harrop, Sercs Thomas and Kinsella could rotate in the 3.

But as many managers say performance isn't about the formation.

[Jerry St Clair]

Didn't hear who won motm, Am hoping it was Jordan Thomas as he was the only one who lifted the mood

He did win it.

I don't understand the reticence to 'protect' Thomas or ease him in gradually.

He's been playing in the National League South so does not have the transition from Academy to mens football problem that we often have with loan youngsters. The rough and tumble should not be a shock to him.

And he's not that young. Only a year younger than Lloyd and Bonds and we don't seem to want to nurse either of them. And he's a full FIVE years older than Jayden Danns who Klopp thinks is old enough to scoring in front of the Kop.

Let's play him.

[Jerry St Clair]

In the cold light of day, I'm feeling more phlegmatic about last night than I did walking home.

Charlton fans were purring about their performance. They are playing better than they have, probably for a few years. Maybe we just played a talented team, bang in form and high on confidence. If we'd played like that last night against half the other teams in this division, we may well have won it (that's a low bar, admittedly).

But, time and games are running out. We need bags of luck in the run in, but it must be our turn for some.

Keep the faith.