Day 6.5 Made some good saves with his feet. Shoulders some responsibility for the goal in that he needs to command the players around him to stick to their positions.
Hare 4 Really struggled with players running at him. He stands off and stands off, letting them advance up the pitch. The substitution stemmed Charlton's wide play. His quality is his crossing/long passing. Great ball to put Ayunga in. But is that enough to excuse his defending?
Kilgour 6.5 Both centre backs defended pretty well. Pace is their problem, so they need to read the game to stop themselves being run past.
Baldwin 6.5
Leahy 6.5 I think full backs is our weak area for defending but Leahy did OK today. Ruffled some Charlton feathers which I don't mind.
Upson 4 Our weakest part of the team sits in front if the defence. A passage of play in the first half summed up how I see us defend through the middle: A Charlton player spins past Grant (who looks disappointed by this and ambles back) then runs straight at Upson at eases past him with a nutmeg! Only then does Kilgour come in to give a tackle with any substance. Upson plays a couple of good passes a game but misses tackles and I don't trust him to keep things ticking over.
Grant 3 At fault for the goal. If you're in the front post area it is your responsibility to clear up anything that comes into that area. Whether it is his starting position that was the problem I don't know but we should never be conceding direct from a corner.
Westbrooke 6 We have not found how to make the most of Westbrooke. I don't know where he played for Coventry but he clearly needs good players around him to thrive.
McCormick 6.5 Best of the midfield, he seems to get through a lot of work but does drift in and out of games. Maybe that is just inexperience. He does lack ideas when far up the pitch. That is where we missed Oztumer/Nicholson. I'd be happy to see McCormick drop back slightly when they return.
Hanlan 6.5 Both strikers were clearly told to feed off of long passes. I think they both have good strength for receiving the ball and holding it up. Hanlan especially has the ability to bustle past defenders once in the box. Both had opportunities to make the keeper work and should have done better.
Ayunga 6.5
Subs: Harries 6 Tactical sub and did OK when he came on.
Barrett 5 Tried to get involved and played one or two nice passes forward but had little overall effect.
Rodman 5 Barely noticed he was on!
Ref 6 Bitty game because of all the free kicks. Although thats not his fault he perhaps could have let things flow better. Red card was the correct decision. I said in the match day thread I don't appreciate the extra protection keepers enjoy when challenging fairly for the ball.
Charlton 6 Clearly a team out of form but there is no better team than us to turn form around! Their strikers missed some good chances but also their defence can be got at. I dislike Jonny Williams.
I thought a draw would have been a fair result, both teams has chances that they missed so the game was decided on a mistake. Conceding direct from a corner is an unforgivable sin. As with the Sheffield Utd game, once we went behind at that stage of the game, we never really looked like coming back into it. I have no issue with the obvious tactical decision to get it up to the front lads and play from there, it was a needs must approach caused by the absence of Oztumer and Nicholson who are undoubtedly the source of almost all our creative play. Our best chances came from long passes that Hanlan/Ayunga brought down. Our weakest areas remain the centre of midfield and at full back. We carry at least one passenger in those positions every game.
