Holmes_and_Watson

And there's some bad things too. 🙂 This post is a test of The Gallows Humour posting system. For preparedness ahead of a long season.

I did get a ghost of Nathan moment, when he said that. 🙂 I almost expected a "pound for pound, I've got the highest possession stats in Europe" follow up.

Lightning

He's certainly getting across the level of performance he expects. Are Charlton aiming for promotion? Nate certainly seems to be. I saw the (not very many) highlights. That second goal was conceded from a counter. They got players back, but defensively weren't switched on enough and conceded. That's what he was so livid about.

Lubricant

Fuller (not Ricardo) interview:- https://x.com/CAFCofficial/status/1829924483227931000 No eye contact. Absolutely seething. It's his job on the line, eventually. I can only hope he can leave that at the club. Yet, consistent in that he had no issues with the first one they conceded coming form them try to be aggressive. People respond differently. But do you think you're game would be consistently better under the responses of Nate or Russ?

I don't think the Charlton lads will have a ping pong table much longer. 🙂

This. If anything, I remember being really frustrating at Adkins for not pressing the advantage against a few opponents, resulting in us conceding. You can never be sure we wouldn't have been dragged back into it, but there were good signs that we would be okay. SR Someone mentioned Potter in the match thread yesterday. 🙂 That's interesting. I had gone down the path where the club were giving him plenty of time. Mind you, the financial impact of our last relegation was massive. And SR have already chopped RalphBall v1.0 and 2.0, NatBall, and PulloverBall. So, they can't be that beholden to a style of play (makes you wonder if Dragan has mentioned that the style of implementing the "project" keeps going through so many changes, from the smarter than smart SR).

From Martin's post-match interview: It is 5 goals conceded: 3 from errors and 2 from set pieces. We do end up opening up to try and get back into it. However, we end up being more open because the initial system simply isn't doing enough to get back into a game on its own merits. If we made a daft error, we should be more than capable of generating chances to level it. That we can't, indicates that the set up isn't working, across a game. When we were starting to get into the game, we conceded a second. That’s probably the bit where it could have turned around. Conceding a second, under similar circumstances, indicates that there's more going on than just silly errors. Martin is right when saying there's no reason to have so many, so close. Why are they so close? Yes, the intentions are good. Yes, they are desperate to help each other. Martin seems surprised that the ball ended up back there. But it's the system that puts them there. And it has worked under his direction. What we're seeing now, is it trying to work with 5 at the back, switched full backs not offering the same passing angles, a 'keeper who isn't as good a passer, and an absent midfield offering no transition or passing angles. Any number of flags there, before this is going to click again. If even some of those are rectified, the players won’t be bunched up, and under tension to play it across or back. Our defence gets pushed into making lots of passes. Not to control the play, but to get it out of our third. Martin can look at the individual errors. But those are just the ones we got caught in. There are a lot of other moments, where we're an error away. Particularly at the higher pressing tempo our opponents have. Aribo in a 1 on 1 in the game comes to mind. With 5 at the back, we shouldn’t be getting caught out. Martins right in that, by playing 5 at the back, we do compromise elsewhere. Martin said we should have scored 2 or 3 ourselves. We did create a few chances, although not at the same level as our opponents. A lot is put on AA for missing it. However, all through the league top strikers are missing chances. They are getting more opportunities to get more chances than we are generating. It's an ongoing thing with RussBall. We need move opponents about and transition at a quick tempo, preferably with numbers. When it's not working, we allow them all to drop back into a defensive shape, and then recycle it. Other teams are content to lose some control, balancing that risk with creating clear space for attack. We're relying on a few decent moments to get our goals. Martin can say AA's chance needs to go in. But his side of things have to have a long look at the chances we're generating and the shape of both teams, when they are being created. What he does mention is that we conceded a second when we were finally getting a glimpse of some momentum. In spite of all of the above. Our speed, movement and purpose just wasn’t sufficient to get anything from that, before the risks above cost us again. Martin pre-empted a lot of the questions. There will be personnel changes. It’s disappointing that we seem to be having to go back to relearn a lot of the things from last season. Everyone would be hoping to take those lessons and push on. Arguably, a number things last season were never near the levels Martin was looking for either, resulting in that late change. So, we’re a bit caught out looking to meld two things together. Elsewhere, there are teams losing because they haven’t the possession or control of games. Our whole approach is to have that, and then create from that foundation. Where we seem to struggle is getting it through teams at pace. And to do so regularly, so that our strikers aren’t expected to finish off a high number of their chances, regardless of the xG of each. We’re not playing to create the space to pass it through. And with 5 at the back, we’re just prone to making an error as the players see limited options. We’ve plenty of options, so we can only look for improvements.

From Sky highlights:- West Ham and Brighton also made very poor errors at the back, and both lost goals as a result. Lots of joy for teams, breaking in behind retreating defences. Our lack of tempo and transitions, means we don;t come close to doing that frequently, despite having at least 2 players who do really well from it. Lots of strong, physical central focal points across the league. Something we've not goine with. Lots of end to end attacks, which is something RussBall tries to prevent. We have the possession stats for it, just not the control or the creativity. Everton came undone, losing a 2 goal lead because they didn't control hold possession.

Window: Investment Amount: 9/10 Needed to replace: McCarthy, Downes, Stu, Che, Fraser, Brooks/Tella and get in some DM cover. We got in: Ramsdale & McCarthy, Downes, Archer & BBD, Fraser, Cornet, Ugochukwu & Fernandes We also got in Sugawara, Taylor, Edwards, Wood and Lallana and the obligation for THB. An overhaul of the squad with lots more depth added. In terms of funds and endeavour to improve, I don’t think much more could have been asked for under the financial position the club are in. Transfers: 6.5 - 7/10 – Did really well in a lot of areas, possibly except the most important: the need to compensate for Adams' departure. Need to see how Martin expects to get this working. We didn’t replace Adams. We have a better finisher in Archer, but we’ll need to see if someone centrally can pick up the dropping deep, support and physical parts of his game. It’s a key part of the team. I’d have been happier losing quite a bit of the new squad depth to support getting someone else in here. We’ve replaced Stu with Ugochukwu and Fernandes, to give more versatility to the midfield. It looks as though they may be used quite a bit, as Downes is the only one of the current 3 starters who has been decent. Aribo has strengths, but Fernandes is already looking more effective in the unit. When Martin’s system clicked, we had Baz as part of a defensive unit that could ping the ball around the back. If Martin is going to use that again, Ramsdale’s passing needs to be pretty decent. Manning would invert, and KWP roam providing plenty of passing options, also helped a lot by Smallbone. That approach looks sorely lacking already this season, not helped by the lack of a central outlet in an Adams replacement. Despite the overhaul, it’s going to be a struggle to stay up. It’s a squad with more depth and options to it, than the one that came down. But it’s not one that has massively improved (caveat of there being unproven players at this level , who may be excellent) on what came down. There are lots of unproven players and management needing to hit the ground running.

Pound for pound, Jones is the best in Europe. That's a tough record for Martin to beat.

Well said. We've had well meaning ITKers in the past. For whatever reason, there's a few/some posters that just give them abuse. Desperate for the information, yet at the same time envious/bitter/demanding about sources, and also expecting the ITKer to know about every move. It can be relentless, and unpleasant to see. After a while, some simply conclude it's not worth the effort/ abuse. It's another plus for the CoT. The way the information is released is set. i think it draws some criticism away from the CoT group itself. That it's a CoT group also means that it's not just one person getting the flak, while also making the information on the thread even more valuable. I did wonder how the CoT would do on it's own thread. But it really stands out. Take a bow, guys!

A nice all round goal (caveat: Brentford sitting back, but not as compact). Fernandes, Dibling and the quick passing of Lallana all key. Nice finish too.

Suga + Llamas!

'tator: "Only once in the PL have Saints opened a season with 3 defeats and without scoiring, back in 2001, when St Mary's opened."

Oh. Our passing out utterly failed there.

Well, we do still ahve some of the players considered surplus to requirements in his system. We might not in a few weeks.

Lallana on! That will rattle them.

Cleverly not putting a date on that.

That's what stands out. And it has often stood out with our set up. Our individuals get us results. Not because the system allows them to be in a position to do so, but because they go against the instuctions.

Better practice or seethes. He moved things around, after we'd already lost this one. But he will set up up well within his football philosophy. In his head, that Barcelona job awaits him if he just stays consistent. Even if we finish bottom wioth 0 points. 🙂

Oh, I thought you said "Unleash the llamas." Still, hopefully we'll do better in the replay.

Just think how much more complacent they'll be after their next couple of goals. 🙂

Well worked from Brentford. But a really simple one to be conceding from. Done by a long throw. >sigh<