Charlton Atheltic (A) League 1 Sunday 12/12/10 .

[Evo Boozy Saddler]

Really really pleased. Well done the team, and the fans who went :D

[walsall'sno1fan]

First game I've made in ages but cracking performance from the lads. Charlton were poor though. We had control of the match and managed to keep them down to a couple of shots on target throughout, although Benson did miss a great chance when clean through. The back four were very solid, Butler in particular had a gem of a game. Midfield were tireless, Jones looked lively on the right wing. Impressed with the two front men too, who put in a good shift (their centre halfs Docherty and Fortune didn't enjoy Nicholl's pace) although they both should have scored at least one. Cracking move for the goal capped off with a well placed finish from Richards. Lets just hope we can keep this going...

[latviancheese]

I did snigger when i saw Richards had scored.

The bloke does nothing.

[Pangloss Saddler]

A magnificent performance by the Super Saddlers. 0-3 would have been a fair result. Julian Gray should be proud of his contribution today - the most talented player on the pitch.
Well done, Chris. Your spying mission to Luton on Thursday was time well spent.
Looking forward with even more than usual optimism to the visit of Southampton.

[fatboyslim]

How did Grigg do in his first league start?

[MILO5]

How did Grigg do in his first league start?

Grigg did ok, worked hard .

Got a bit bullied by their centre halves I thought in the first half and struggled in the air ; but was always available and created danger in the 2nd half a couple of times when he had it to feet.

[Darth Vader]

Nice to see Grigg get some much needed first team football under his belt.

[Oxsall]

Today's match was a fantastic performance from the team.

I went to the match with my two bros expecting nothing... except a heavy defeat. When we asked a steward for directions to the away end, she (semi-jokingly) asked if we were three of the 12 away fans who had bought tickets!

All the players worked really hard and performed well. Brain was very solid; he never looked like making a mistake, even if he didn't have any saves to make. His kicking was excellent. Butler (probably man of the match) and Lancashire were very solid in defence. Lescot and Westlake played well. Richards took his goal really well - it could so easily have ended up at the back of the stand - and in the second half was excellent, even showing a bit of pace at one point to chase back and rob a Charlton player of the ball just as he was bearing down on the defence. Taundry, as someone has said, was all over the pitch to good effect - he sometimes gave the ball away cheaply but generally atoned by demolishing three or four Charlton players to retrieve it. Jones looked dangerous running with the ball, especially second half. Gray, after ducking out of one challenge in the first half, looked a class act - one bit of skill to make space for a cross in the second half was amazing. And his pull back on the volley for Richards to score was perfect. It was the first time I've seen Grigg play - he held up the ball really well and did as much as could be expected in the air against the big Charlton centre halfs. He could have had a goal from a point blank header early in the second half but he couldn't quite get over it. He reminds me a bit of young Robbie Keane. Nichols played very well, as well as I've seen him play in a long time. On several times he used he pace to great effect, running the flanks. He provided the cross for the goal. I just wish he'd scored that one on one near the end - it would have given him a boost and capped an excellent performance. Hutchings and O'Connor looked the part in the dugout and on the touchline.

I've now been to two matches at the Valley and both have been great experiences (the other was the FA cup win).

I hope the team take heart from their excellent performance and build on it against Southampton.

I hope too that the fans will get behind the team against Southampton in response to today's performance. (I had a mate in the Charlton section and he said in the second half the away singing sounded pretty good.)

[Darth Vader]

Great report mate!

[MILO5]

hope too that the fans will get behind the team against Southampton in response to today's performance. (I had a mate in the Charlton section and he said in the second half the away singing sounded pretty good.)

Really? There was only about 20 of us singing, as much as we tried to belt it out in response to the efforts of the lads

Mind you it was pretty quiet from their end once the drummer stopped :D

[Surrey Saddler]

AM I A TRUE SADDLER? Today, I went out at 8 am in freezing Surrey. It was - 4. I have a cold. I was due to meet my son (who lives in Greenwich, barely a couple of miles from the Valley) and it was our intention to go to the match. He has a cold as well. What did we do? Went for a pub lunch instead, secure in the belief that we would be turned over. Drat. CAN I NOW COUNT MYSELF AS A TRUE SADDLER?

[Cheesebag]

What a great day out, makes you remember why you still support the team. some of the passing was sublime. julian gray looked like a player transformed! couldnt believe my eyes, at one point they had 4 players on him!!!!

talking to a couple of charlton fans on the choo choo back to charing cross and they said we were one of the best teams we had played this season and couldnt understand why we were bottom.

anyway... we were solid at the back, really liking the lancashire and butler combo. we had tricks and pace on both wings today with gray and jones, richards passing (sorry phil) was incisive and nicholls pace caused them trouble even if he did stray off side once or twice.

think we had 9 or 10 corners to their one, says it all really. could have been and should have been 4 or 5.

xxxxx

[WFC_Rob]

Having a settled back four really makes a difference. Let's just hope Butler & Lancashire continue to keep Smith & McDonald on the bench.

I'm glad Grigg seemed to do ok. Given the circumstances, it should have been a thankless task for him & Nicholls playing away at Charlton against two of the supposed better centre halves in the league but it sounded like they both played pretty well.

And as for Julian Gray - what do we need to do to get him playing like that every week?!

[latviancheese]

And as for Julian Gray - what do we need to do to get him playing like that every week?!

Tell him if he plays cack he doesnt get paid!

Always thought this squad had quality on their day, obviously today was a day. We need to use this as a platform to build on, they will be buzzing after that result. Now they just need to keep their heads up.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Still getting over the shock..... something the commentators both mentioned on BBC Radio London's excellent service though - they were praising Walsall to the skies, and they did single out Jonny Brain for his communication with our defence. Apparently he was doing a fair bit of shouting encouragement, organising them and so on, in much the same way as we remember a certain Jimmy Walker doing over the years. Perhaps Jimmy has been doing a bit of coaching on the side?

Excellent performance from all accounts, and a result to match. I know it's a little unfair, but I always like to see us do well against Charlton since they were responsible for dumping us in the cack in 1962 :roll:

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[Pedagogue]

I know it's a little unfair, but I always like to see us do well against Charlton since they were responsible for dumping us in the cack in 1962 :roll:

May 24th 1963, actually, WS - and I agree - I've never forgiven Charlton for that. It was the season of the big freeze (no football from Christmas to early March) and sat my A-levels in June. I didn't like 1963! :evil:

[Duke]

Fantastic performance by all accounts , superb result .

The big question is can we build on this .

It's worth remembering from all the reports I've read Charlton were extremely poor on the day . but lets taking nothing away from our performance of the season

There's hope for us yet :wink:

[Bernie]

Might be a total coincidence but this is the first (league) match not to feature any of our army of loan signings.

That is a very good point.

We had no loan players in our starting eleven, and only one, Ryan McGivern, in the squad of 18. The squad of 18 contained only one player, Butler, who was not at the club at the start of the season.

Last season was not great but Hutchings basically kept faith with the squad he started with and we finished a boring but safe 10th. This season Hutchings has brought 9 new players to the club after he told us that he was happy with the squad he had at the start of the season: Byfield, Macken, Reid, Dickinson, Andrew Davies, David Davis, Devaney, Butler and Walker. I wonder how much of the money received from Watford has been spent on the wages of those players, without them bringing us any success.

[Registered Saddler]

Might be a total coincidence but this is the first (league) match not to feature any of our army of loan signings.

That is a very good point.

We had no loan players in our starting eleven, and only one, Ryan McGivern, in the squad of 18. The squad of 18 contained only one player, Butler, who was not at the club at the start of the season.

Last season was not great but Hutchings basically kept faith with the squad he started with and we finished a boring but safe 10th. This season Hutchings has brought 9 new players to the club after he told us that he was happy with the squad he had at the start of the season: Byfield, Macken, Reid, Dickinson, Andrew Davies, David Davis, Devaney, Butler and Walker. I wonder how much of the money received from Watford has been spent on the wages of those players, without them bringing us any success.

Just to put up the counter argument... The permanent signings (Butler, Walker and Macken) all add something IMO, in particular Butler. And Devaney was really just a like for like while Jones was out. Byfield was here already. The other loanees, including McGivern, are the ones I'd be concerned about. That's not to say that long-term loans are bad, Swindon did pretty well last season after all. But it's much easier to mould a team and build consistency around the tried and trusted rather than people here for a month or two.

[Bernie]

Byfield was here already.

I had forgotten that Byfield came during August 2009, but since he has played for us so little this season no wonder it slipped my (dodgy) memory.

[WFC_Rob]

Might be a total coincidence but this is the first (league) match not to feature any of our army of loan signings.

That is a very good point.

We had no loan players in our starting eleven, and only one, Ryan McGivern, in the squad of 18. The squad of 18 contained only one player, Butler, who was not at the club at the start of the season.

Last season was not great but Hutchings basically kept faith with the squad he started with and we finished a boring but safe 10th. This season Hutchings has brought 9 new players to the club after he told us that he was happy with the squad he had at the start of the season: Byfield, Macken, Reid, Dickinson, Andrew Davies, David Davis, Devaney, Butler and Walker. I wonder how much of the money received from Watford has been spent on the wages of those players, without them bringing us any success.

It's a fair point, Bernie.

The one thing I still don't get about Hutchings is why it took him so long (and so much wasted money in signings) before he realised that Smith & McDonald weren't good enough to play at the heart of our defence.
Davies was a good signing (apart from on the injury front), but I'm not convinced we needed Dickinson, Davis & Devaney. We needed someone like Butler all along.

[portlandbill]

Davies (centre back one) and Devaney would have been very good signings if they had stayed fit.

[MILO5]

AM I A TRUE SADDLER? Today, I went out at 8 am in freezing Surrey. It was - 4. I have a cold. I was due to meet my son (who lives in Greenwich, barely a couple of miles from the Valley) and it was our intention to go to the match. He has a cold as well. What did we do? Went for a pub lunch instead, secure in the belief that we would be turned over. Drat. CAN I NOW COUNT MYSELF AS A TRUE SADDLER?

Surrey, Surrey, Surrey . Were you IN GREENWICH? If you were , with the mighty Saddlers playing and you didnt go, question marks have to be raised. If you didnt set off I'll let you off. :D

[Exile]

AM I A TRUE SADDLER? Today, I went out at 8 am in freezing Surrey. It was - 4. I have a cold. I was due to meet my son (who lives in Greenwich, barely a couple of miles from the Valley) and it was our intention to go to the match. He has a cold as well. What did we do? Went for a pub lunch instead, secure in the belief that we would be turned over. Drat. CAN I NOW COUNT MYSELF AS A TRUE SADDLER?

You're not Surrey Saddler. You're Sorry Saddler. :mrgreen:

Still a true Saddler though.

[Kings hill addick]

I have to say that we we're poor, but then we have been a few times this season. To say that our luck ran out yesterday would be doing you a disservice. We looked like we were either 'saving ourselves' for something else, or we believed that we could win without putting in the effort. However, you can only beat what is put in front of you and you did just that.

From I've seen of this division in the last sixteen months, despite it not being our best day at the office, you should have enough to get out of trouble.

What surprised me the most was that at no time did your players look nervous. In fact, as has already been said elsewhere, you looked more like the team at the top of the table than we did.

I cant say I'm pleased with the result, nor would I say I have any particular desire for Walsall to be successful but you not only played well you never resorted to wasting time or playing negatively.

If anything the result flattered us.

Something tells me that you will see a different Charlton side when we meet in April. We might both be desperate for points by then, but in the meantime don't let anyone tell you younger lucky to win, as you clearly were not!

Kings Hill Addick
www.kingshilladdick.co.uk

[Pedagogue]

Thanks very much for that, KHA. It's always good to read sensible, balanced views from fans of rival clubs - but I still haven't forgiven you for 1963, though! :D :D

[We-ARE-Walsall]

I have to say that we we're poor, but then we have been a few times this season. To say that our luck ran out yesterday would be doing you a disservice. We looked like we were either 'saving ourselves' for something else, or we believed that we could win without putting in the effort. However, you can only beat what is put in front of you and you did just that.

From I've seen of this division in the last sixteen months, despite it not being our best day at the office, you should have enough to get out of trouble.

What surprised me the most was that at no time did your players look nervous. In fact, as has already been said elsewhere, you looked more like the team at the top of the table than we did.

I cant say I'm pleased with the result, nor would I say I have any particular desire for Walsall to be successful but you not only played well you never resorted to wasting time or playing negatively.

If anything the result flattered us.

Something tells me that you will see a different Charlton side when we meet in April. We might both be desperate for points by then, but in the meantime don't let anyone tell you younger lucky to win, as you clearly were not!

Kings Hill Addick
http://www.kingshilladdick.co.uk

And from what I have seen, we definitely haven't. Let's hope you are right, and I am completely wrong eh ?

[Addis Saddler]

This is how today's South London Press end their report:

"Walsall weren't anything special, as their league position implies. To their credit, though, their mediocrity was unarguably less tedious than Charlton's ineptitude.
On such fine margins of haplessness are games as awful as this one inevitably decided."

Sour grapes from the Addicks scribe I feel!

[ws3]

This is how today's South London Press end their report:

"Walsall weren't anything special, as their league position implies. To their credit, though, their mediocrity was unarguably less tedious than Charlton's ineptitude.
On such fine margins of haplessness are games as awful as this one inevitably decided."

Sour grapes from the Addicks scribe I feel!

It gets on my nerves when the best some people can come up with is "you were crap, but we were just a bit more crap". Like listening to a nine year old. Charlton were taken apart by a much more organised team on Sunday, whether they like it or not. The only problem they had was that they walked out onto the pitch thinking that the points were in the bag.

[MILO5]

This is how today's South London Press end their report:

"Walsall weren't anything special, as their league position implies. To their credit, though, their mediocrity was unarguably less tedious than Charlton's ineptitude.
On such fine margins of haplessness are games as awful as this one inevitably decided."

Sour grapes from the Addicks scribe I feel!

Lazy reporting. If we had taken our chances, and it was 3-0 as it should have been , then they might have had to admit that we played them off the park.