BFIFOLLOW Charlton

[Westwood52]

Sorry but those tactics half an hour out,were from a different age and right out of Mark Hughes playbook.At one point we had three LBs and three CHs on.OK with ten minutes to go,but half an hour to shut up shop was asking too much .Bowen will excuse that three points justify the means.We had a very good twenty minutes first half,but after that it was largely turgid.This team and this manager will not make an impact next season.If you are happy with just survival fair do.

IMHO

Rafa 7 Generally very good ,but his best save nearly laid it on a plate for Charlton.
Osho 7 One poor moment when he over committed 2nd half,but another promising performance.
Blackett 7 Again very good.
Morrison 8 His sort of game wasn’t it.Back to the wall stuff from an hour in.MOM.
McIntire 6 Bullied,but hung on in there.
Pele 3 After a couple of good games,had a shocker.
Rino 8 I still question his fitness level.He had a chance to finish the game off,when he caught out their CB,but just didn’t have the legs.
Swift 7 Generally did ok.
Olise 7 Couple of poor moments;but he is learning all the time.
Puskas 8 Coming into form,suprised he was taken off.
Meite 7 Usual blunderbus.

Gunter Did enough.
Moore Not much of an impact.
Obita A couple of good crosses,but generally poor.I think it was a penalty when their player was booked for diving to try to enforce it.
Richards No problems,might have scored.
Baldock Totally ineffective.

Finally,the last couple of weeks the refs have been good;this guy was awful.Their CF should have had a red card for the scrape on Mc Intire.

[sandman]

Yet transfer what he's done since taking over to a whole season and we would be right up there.

Good win, good management, classic away performance.

[Zip]

I thought Puscas was unlucky to be taken off especially so early

Rafael 7 He has become very reliable. Another solid game
Osho 8 Excellent. Really strong and good passes out of defence
Blackett 6 Sound first off but totally switched off in early stages of second period
Morrison 8 Terrific, committed performance
McIntyre 7 Did well and won several headers.
Pele 6 Slow start but improved as first half wore on
Rinomhota 8 MoTM Won his tackles. Lots of hard running to break up play
Olise 5 Struggled to get into the game. One or two poor moments
Swift 6 Again not at his best but still provided a quality pass for the pen
Meite 6 Some good stuff. Some bad stuff. Worked hard.
Puscas 7 Surprised he came off. Thought he held up play well

Of the subs Moore stood out. If he doesn’t leave and we don’t get Pele back he is worth a shout at CDM.

[windermereROYAL]

Puskas 8 Coming into form,suprised he was taken off..

Totally baffled by that, held the ball up very well in the first half, then replacing him with Baldock who was useless.

[Hound]

Puskas 8 Coming into form,suprised he was taken off..

Totally baffled by that, held the ball up very well in the first half, then replacing him with Baldock who was useless.

Probably partly to rest him

It’s not normal circumstances with us trying to make the play offs or whatever. Already planning for next season and an injury to our most prolific CF (and potentially sellable asset) isn’t going to help that

[Snowflake Royal]

Good ugly win.

For me, that was a case of Bowen being concerned with the joy they got down the flanks first half and making a change to counter it that went wrong, and then throwing everything he could at us staying ahead to correct that mistake because we'd lost the initiative. Job done.

First 20 minutes we looked very sharp, then Charlton had a couple of chances and started playing much much better, without doing much with the limited creativity they had.

We looked to have lined up in the normal 4-5-1, but Meite started playing up top midway through the first half and we became quite narrow and almost a 4-4-2 diamond, exposing our flanks. Should have capitalised on our early chances and put the game to bed. No idea what was going on between Blackett and Obita but they seemed incapable of linking up at all and Blackett went to pot after half time whilst still at LB.

Sacrificing Pele to try to shut out their wings was a mistake for me. He hadn't been playing particularly well but really gives us a solid base to work off. Once he went off Rino had to stay back a bit more and suddenly the front line was isolated again.

Cabral - 7 very lucky Aneke didn't stay onside, but some good work
Osho - 7 looking good.
Blackett - 7/5 very good first half, but much poorer second. Needs to improve his crossing
Morrison - 8 imperious
McIntyre - 7 very solid
Pele - 6 but an important 6, lost the ball a bit but defended fairly well.
Rino - 8 MotM ran the show first half, then tired and had to stay back
Swift - 7 much better but couldn't get on the ball and get us going second half
Olise - 6 some lovely stuff and positive, but a lot didn't quite come off.
Meite - 6 buzzed around as a nuisance but didn't cause too much trouble
Puscas - 7 better game, but wouldnt have managed much second half totally isolated.

Baldock - 6 totally isolated and managed very little
Obita - 5 crossing has gone down hill, a yard or so slower and just looks tired
Richards - 7 did quite well, unlucky not to be playing more
Moore - 7 stiffened our backs
Gunter - 6 did ok

Bowen 6 bit of a hash of things second half, but enough to hold on.

Think they should have had a stonewall penalty second half, so feel really quite lucky. Ref gave absolutely everything to them except the two or three crucial decisions that settled the game.

[Hound]

Interesting to see Bowen being sympathetic to Bowyer in the interview after the game

FWIW didn’t think it was a pen to them but the goal was prob on side

But then I thought Aneke should have been sent off as well

Agree mainly with Ian’s ratings

[Royalwaster]

Interesting to see Bowen being sympathetic to Bowyer in the interview after the game

FWIW didn’t think it was a pen to them but the goal was prob on side

But then I thought Aneke should have been sent off as well

Agree mainly with Ian’s ratings

Just watched replay and looks about a yard off-side ...

[RoyalBlue]

Yet transfer what he's done since taking over to a whole season and we would be right up there.

Good win, good management, classic away performance.

Shame he can't produce any classic home performances. They are equally turgid without the results to compensate. So I guess you could equally say transfer what he's done at home since taking over to the whole season and we'd probably already be relegated.

Also, with the crap officiating at this level it is a massive gamble to settle for 1-0 wins. One bad mistake by the officials (or in today's game one correct decision that should have given Charlton a penalty) and you've lost at least two points. Had Charlton been given that penalty (and even the most biased Royals supporter would probably have to say it was a penalty) and we would probably have ended up losing that game with Charlton fired up and us incapable of scoring goals with such a defensive setup.

[RoyalBlue]

Interesting to see Bowen being sympathetic to Bowyer in the interview after the game

FWIW didn’t think it was a pen to them but the goal was prob on side

But then I thought Aneke should have been sent off as well

I thought it was a clear penalty to them and he was a mile offside as our central defenders had done well to push up However, we agree there should've been a red card. The dreaded VAR would have probably resulted in that - a very nasty, dangerous challenge.

[Lower West]

At least this group of players has character. Large squad that provides little from the bench.

[windermereROYAL]

Interesting to see Bowen being sympathetic to Bowyer in the interview after the game

FWIW didn’t think it was a pen to them but the goal was prob on side

But then I thought Aneke should have been sent off as well

Agree mainly with Ian’s ratings

Just watched replay and looks about a yard off-side ...

https://twitter.com/jackarronscarth/sta ... 4114455552

Looks onside.

[Millsy]

Good comments and ratings above.

Overall an ugly win and sometimes you have to do that.

Not entirely sure what went on with having 27 defenders on the pitch but hey... If we can get an away win while trying out lots of players, resting some and experimenting with shut-up shop tactics that's fine. Bowen will have learnt something from that.

To me the game was very strange. We were absolutely crushing them. We didn't rest on a 1-0 but went for more and deserved another. Then they had the offside goal and the game totally flipped. That's the only concern for me. Why?

Another concern was how easily they found out our left back weakness. I like Blackett but am not sure what was going on there.
Trying to fix that weakness ended up making us very weird.

Some great attacking but again I miss Ejaria.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yet transfer what he's done since taking over to a whole season and we would be right up there.

Good win, good management, classic away performance.

Shame he can't produce any classic home performances. They are equally turgid without the results to compensate. So I guess you could equally say transfer what he's done at home since taking over to the whole season and we'd probably already be relegated.

Also, with the crap officiating at this level it is a massive gamble to settle for 1-0 wins. One bad mistake by the officials (or in today's game one correct decision that should have given Charlton a penalty) and you've lost at least two points. Had Charlton been given that penalty (and even the most biased Royals supporter would probably have to say it was a penalty) and we would probably have ended up losing that game with Charlton fired up and us incapable of scoring goals with such a defensive setup.

Well yeah, you could say that if you wanted to be a negative Nancy and bash the manager for no reason.

[Snowflake Royal]

Interesting to see Bowen being sympathetic to Bowyer in the interview after the game

FWIW didn’t think it was a pen to them but the goal was prob on side

But then I thought Aneke should have been sent off as well

Agree mainly with Ian’s ratings

Just watched replay and looks about a yard off-side ...

https://twitter.com/jackarronscarth/sta ... 4114455552

Not sure how anyone can think it's a yard or a mile off. It's very very close. That looks on, a split second later on the freeze frame it may look off.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Just watched replay and looks about a yard off-side ...

https://twitter.com/jackarronscarth/sta ... 4114455552

Not sure how anyone can think it's a yard or a mile off. It's very very close. That looks on, a split second later on the freeze frame it may look off.

How does he know they will go down by a point? Does he have a Crystal ball

[windermereROYAL]

Just watched replay and looks about a yard off-side ...

https://twitter.com/jackarronscarth/sta ... 4114455552

Not sure how anyone can think it's a yard or a mile off. It's very very close. That looks on, a split second later on the freeze frame it may look off.

Impossible to call in real time without VAR, we benefitted.

[Westwood52]

Oh and a bit of a cock up by Tim and Mick just after half time.But otherwise they were ok.Their excuse was they did not have great line of sight ;for deciding who had been subbed.

[Royals and Racers]

Puscas is going to have to change his Penalties. I guarantee when he takes his next pen the keeper will stand still and catch it !!

[windermereROYAL]

Puscas is going to have to change his Penalties. I guarantee when he takes his next pen the keeper will stand still and catch it !!

Wycombe, keepers right ( guessed right but beaten) Wigan, down the middle, WBA, keepers right (went the wrong way) Sheffield utd, keepers left in the corner (top GK went the right way but couldnt get to it) today down the middle.