Do you think we tried our best to win against Charlton?

[brendywendy]

Oh - and how many International goals has Long scored as a full international? You can't really count the U19s.

errrm.....whats that got to do with what i said?

"and long is a rep of ireland striker with international goals."

[seahawk10]

Not using any subs was surprising. When is the last time that Coppell went the entire game with the starting 11? It was nice to see DLC and Seol get in there, I think Seol's play should get him at least on the bench as a sub in future games (give him the ball in space and he is dangerous). Long seemed to be too easy to push off the ball, especially against Charlton's thuggery at the back.

I voted no, mainly due to the lack of fresh players the last 20. But I think the players on the pitch absolutely did their best.

[rob the royal]

i voted no. however, that is in no way saying that the 11 players on the pitch weren't trying to win the game, nor that the management wouldn't have liked to have won.

however i think the team selection and the lack of subs showed that we were happy to take a point. on saturday we went for it, made the changes and lost. i was keen to see some changes last night, but those changes could have won it for us or they could have lost it.

so although at the start of the game i was a little disappointed to not see either kitson or doyle on, and at the lack of changes, at the end of the day we got a point where we could have ended up taking none. so although we started out to win the game, for once i think coppell decided to just settle for the point rather than make the changes and go all or bust.

[Sharpy]

team did
coppell didnt

[Schards#2]

Cannot believe that they are some people on here who don't believe that Coppell and the players were not at Charlton to win the match.

What a load of bollox.

1. Rubbish, quite obviously he wasn't playing the best team at his disposal in the cup games so we were not trying 100% to win them. I accept the reasons for this, trust is not an issue.

2. I fully accept that he has the club's interests at heart whether I agree with what he does or not, again, thishas nothing to do with trust.

3. I feel he's giving 100% to what he wants to do for the club. On occassion, I don't agree with it but that does not equate with him not giving 100%. If in giving 100% he makes a decision to not give it everything in a particular match (such as cup games and friendlies) I tend not to go and if the Bolton game is likely to follow suit, I won't go. To some fans, resting a few players doesn't matter but to me it does, each to their own.

does the same apply to chelsea when they put bridge in for cole?
ballack for lampard, cole for robben?
its a squad game etc etc blah blah blah


4. When the club is giving it everything, (probably the start of next season) I will start going away again.

wish you would go away now

Trying to dress up the fact that I don't like watching when we choose to play a weakened side as some sort of personal sleight on Coppell doesn't really add to the debate does it?

I don't like spending time and money to watch a weakened side and yesterday's was a weakened side - my choice. If you don't think it was, ask yourself if we would have played the side we played if we had 31 points and whether we would have made any subs.

it was 3 internationals put into the team
seol was our record signing
DLC has been, and was good again last night, going forward and in defence
and long is a rep of ireland striker with international goals.

kitson and doyle played saturday, and neither looked like scoring, in fact havent done for weeks-i thought it was a good idea to freshen things up with players who are playing for contracts, since the"1st team" has seemed to go off the boil.

so basically people are moaning becuase what? we didnt play oster and gunnarson-when they arent even 1st teamers anyway!
you guys are wierd sometimes[/quote][/b]

With Little and Convey now out, it was important to give Seol a chance.
But of course, some people are too short-sighted to even see that.

Doyle is jaded and is off the pace, but let's play him again, because 'HE'S OUR BEST STRIKER'

Again, short-sighted.

Bad, bad weakened team, how dare Coppell even think of NOT PLAYING OUR BEST TEAM, even though some of our BEST TEAM are OUT OF FORM, JADED and INJURED.

Let's run them into the ground.
I desire entertainment.

We should be bringing them on as Subs to show that we aren't afraid TO LOSE and WANT TO WIN, even though they may NOT DO ANYTHING CONSTRUCTIVE.

Boo Seol.

[RoyalChicagoFC]

I don't see this one in binary, yes/no terms.

Coppell's fulfilling his duty to try to see what he's got moving forward --and, no less important, what he hasn't got. He's got a rich vein of empirical data to mine, and if his conclusions about them are at all similar to mine, then the exposure of flaws such as those witnessed on Monday and in other recent matches will be put to good use as the looming who stays/who goes decisions come due and during the summer shopping season.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Funnily enough, based on the evidence of the last few years, I'm happy to give the management the benefit of the doubt now and again.

[paultheroyal]

A misleading title to the actual description of the vote.

Yes they tried their hardest (as per title)

Yes - team could of been stronger.

[The whole year inn]

Get Long out on loan to a Championship club next season, getting in a proven goalscorer to increase our numbers up front.

If Long starts any Prem game in the opening matches of next season it will be akin to getting smacked in the face on the way to Millwall only to arrive at the ground and see Jim McCintyre and Keith Scott leading the frontline.

[Stranded]

If you don't think it was, ask yourself if we would have played the side we played if we had 31 points and whether we would have made any subs.

I've already asked this twice. I'm giving up now. If you have opinions or comments which aren't in complete agreement with certain members of this board, you are scum and should not be allowed to air them.

I did actually answer this question regarding the team we may have played had we been in a relegation battle.

[southbank1871]

If you don't think it was, ask yourself if we would have played the side we played if we had 31 points and whether we would have made any subs.

I've already asked this twice. I'm giving up now. If you have opinions or comments which aren't in complete agreement with certain members of this board, you are scum and should not be allowed to air them.

Slightly unfair there RL, I think this has been a decent discussion apart from the usual suspects.

It's just unfortunate that you happen to be wrong.

[readingbedding]

Funnily enough, based on the evidence of the last few years, I'm happy to give the management the benefit of the doubt now and again.

Snap.

If fans are feeling 'cheated' they shouldn't go.

[Nick Shorey my Lord!]

As there seem to be conflicting opinions - mainly, it seems from those who watched on TV rather than those who were there, consider carefully the team choice and the way we played.

No. It was lazical, lifeless effort APART from the last 10 minutes when we started to up our game. The last 30 minutes of the first half was some of the worst football I've seen us play since QPR away two seasons ago (the 0-0 snooze draw).

[Seal]

The team on the pitch tried their hardest and wanted to win, that cannot be disputed.

My only frustration was that we made NO substitutions when Charlton were clearly there for the taking, especially considering we had 2 great goalscorers on the bench. This suggests Coppell was happy to let the starting 11 do what they could.

If we needed 3 points to stay up Coppell would have changed things.

[Wycombe Royal]

especially considering we had 2 great goalscorers on the bench...

...who aren't scoring and are seriously out of form.

[Seal]

especially considering we had 2 great goalscorers on the bench...

...who aren't scoring and are seriously out of form.

And they're not gonna score if they don't play!

[Wycombe Royal]

especially considering we had 2 great goalscorers on the bench...

...who aren't scoring and are seriously out of form.

And they're not gonna score if they don't play!

They aren't scoring if they do play at the moment, hence why Long and Lita were given a go, who both have better recent scoring records than either of Doyle or Kitson. Of course they will return to form but they doesn't mean they should play regardless.

[readingbedding]

Doyle looked very tired on Saturday.
But Coppell didn't want to win on Monday, so he brought Lita and Long in the attack.

[Hoop Blah]

especially considering we had 2 great goalscorers on the bench...

...who aren't scoring and are seriously out of form.

Doyle didn't look too out of form for Ireland the other day, and for my money Kitson has been playing pretty well, albeit without scoring (I think I might be in the minority on here with that statement though).

Doyle's 'seriously out of form' run is:

70 mins against Man Utd as part of the understrength cup team (first game back from injury and, from memory, did ok)
10 mins as sub against Arsenal during which time we nearly nicked an unlikely equaliser
15 mins against Pompey in the 0-0
25 mins on the left/upfront against Spurs where we'd been outplayed all game
90 mins against Liverpool, one of the best defences in Europe

Throw in his couple of appearance for Eire in which he scored a very good goal and I hardly think that run constitutes seriously out of form for a player returning from injury.

[Wycombe Royal]

especially considering we had 2 great goalscorers on the bench...

...who aren't scoring and are seriously out of form.

Doyle didn't look too out of form for Ireland the other day, and for my money Kitson has been playing pretty well, albeit without scoring (I think I might be in the minority on here with that statement though).

Doyle's 'seriously out of form' run is:

70 mins against Man Utd as part of the understrength cup team (first game back from injury and, from memory, did ok)
10 mins as sub against Arsenal during which time we nearly nicked an unlikely equaliser
15 mins against Pompey in the 0-0
25 mins on the left/upfront against Spurs where we'd been outplayed all game
90 mins against Liverpool, one of the best defences in Europe

Throw in his couple of appearance for Eire in which he scored a very good goal and I hardly think that run constitutes seriously out of form for a player returning from injury.

Prior to his injury he had also only scored 2 in 8 appearances, and those 2 were against West Ham, a match in which Ron Grant could probably have socred a couple if he had been playing.

Doyle and Kitson are not in golascoring form, and yes that form will return, but in the meantime the others deserve their chance to show what they can do. If they don't get that chance then it sends out a very demotivating message to the other members of the squad who aren't first choice in their respective positions.