Ellerslie Echo

Are We Back?

Championship Matchday 4 – Charlton (H)

Confession. I didn’t make this one. Sky moved it forward to 12:30 so I was busy elsewhere, and spent most of the game watching on a dodgy stream on my phone whilst the Elizabeth Line sat still on the tracks for more than 25 minutes. I did get to see most of the main moments, though, and saw just about enough to be able to write about it. What a one to miss that was!

We were promised changes ahead of this game and we did see some. New Left-back Rhys Norrington-Davies was put straight into the starting XI, Field was dropped, meaning Varane made his first home start of the season, next to Madsen. Mbuenge was put back in his natural position next to Morrison.

Harvey Vale started out on the right, but shifted into the 10 as the game progressed. Joe Walsh kept his spot – we’ll get to him later. Kone made his first start and Paul Smyth was kept on the left wing for Dembele to play in his best role (10). Charlton matched our 4231 formation, with the same lineup that lost at home to Leicester last week, keeping Kelman on the bench, who came on at 68 minutes for goal-scorer Rob Apter. 

A strong start, with an intense press that led to a big chance very early on, with Kone and Dembele linking up in the box but Kaddie’s weak bounced effort ultimately being no trouble.

It only took us 8 minutes to get in front, though, when Vale picked up the ball on the right wing and put in what initially didn’t look like anything special of a ball, but Kone had the excellent vision to dummy it for Smyth to put away. A near reenactment of Liverpool’s winner at St James’ Park on Monday, not quite the same finish though – I did think Kaminski probably could, or should have stopped it. It must also be mentioned that Walsh started this move, with a great throw out to Dembele who passed it onto Vale.

The momentum dropped off after going ahead, and we were desperate for the half time whistle. Charlton dominated in midfield, and we sat back and let them have total control of the game. It became very direct and route one from us for the remainder, with the best chance coming when Paul Smyth cleverly won a foul on the edge of the box and Madsen forced a save from the free kick.

Miles Leaburn hit the bar and we were lucky to still be in front. We did almost go into the break 2-0 up though, with Madsen putting a great diagonal ball into Dunne who headered it across to Vale, hitting the post from his own header, followed by the half time whistle. 

Many of us probably expected Dembele to be the one to come off at half time (I did anyway) but it was goal-scorer Paul Smyth who made way for Rayan Kolli, who was a fitting replacement and had a good outing. However, the midfield domination continued and Charlton equalised early on in the second half. 

Two men were at fault for this goal. Mbuenge, and of course Joe Walsh. Tyreece Campbell whipped in a ball to Rob Apter who hit it first time, with a weak volley that bounced over Mbuenge’s failed jump and was watched into the net by a confused Joe Walsh. Honestly baffling how this found its way in, but it was coming, and Charlton deserved a goal.

It looked for the next 30 mins like we were going to throw this game away. Walsh pulled off a great save at his near post to stop the Addicks going in front, and it was becoming more likely that we might lose. We weren’t peppered with chances and shots, but it was a lot of ball chasing and had Charlton shown a bit more quality in their final ball/end product, it could’ve been a lot worse. We started to slowly make our way back in, with Morrison hitting an overhead kick over the bar, but it was left to Stephan to turn this one back around.

The substitutions. They absolutely changed this game. Saito, on at 59 minutes, looked sharper than our lads have in every game so far, and he didn’t play a minute of pre-season. Burrell and Esquerdinha also brought some energy in the 68th minute and helped massively in wearing Charlton down. 

It was the Brazilian who won the ball back for Koki to receive and run at the Charlton defence, doing a lovely step over to get onto his left foot and slot it past Kaminski. An unreal goal against the run of play and one that instantly shut down any criticism/questions about his permanent signing.

That’s the level of quality we’ve been after. It’s why we were keen to make him permanent. We knew he didn’t put up standout numbers last season, but we could see the quality and we knew he would start reaping the rewards. The few goals he did score on loan last season were all top notch, and I’m just glad we’ve got him back, even if I didn’t initially see him as a priority. More than happy to be proven wrong on that front. I can’t speak enough about how happy I am that he’s already off the mark again.

Charlton hadn’t given up, also reverting to a route one style, launching balls forward. But Rangers had sussed this out, sat back and couldn’t be broken down. Still chasing an equaliser, Charlton launched another ball into our area. After a few headers back and forth, Esquerdinha picked the ball up just outside our own box and started the move again for the third, playing a ball to a dangerous area in the middle of the park, for Burrell to flick it on with what looked like a backheel, and Kone, composed, slotted it past the keeper from just outside the box. A proper striker’s goal, and one that we’ve been looking for for so, so many years at Loftus Road. 

Finally, 3 points. Sometimes wins like this make you wonder why we were even worried in the first place. We’re unbeaten at home after all! What was the score at Coventry again? 

There were a lot of weak points and I think we all know we can’t get carried away with it all. For instance, I said going into this game that Charlton’s midfield didn’t worry me, and bar Conor Coventry, it still doesn’t, so for us to be dominated so heavily in possession by a side whose own manager confessed to their lack of quality, is definitely something that needs looking at. 

We showed adaptation, and knew that we weren’t going to win this game with a keep-ball approach. So we threw tactics out the window and went full counter-attacking mode. Sometimes, that is all that’s needed, and it really, really paid off here. Maybe that’s what we need to revert to to get some points on the board. If it works, it works, and if it gets us over the line, so be it, but there are two reasons why this may create issues further down the line. 

The first is that R’s fans don’t expect that type of football, and we want to see quality in our playing style, we want attractive, fluid football. I’m still unable to actually put a label on the style that Marti had us playing, I’m not sure what it was, but it was a damn sight better than the football we played before him. No one enjoyed Ainsworth ball, that style of play belongs in Sunday league, not the second tier of English football –  so we don’t want to see its return. Stephan, like Marti, is a tactical manager, and he’ll obviously want to play attractive football once we are more confident. 

With players like Chair, Poku, Dembele, Saito, Varane, Morgan, Vale – we want to see their technical ability used to its fullest, we want to see their quality, we want to know that when it comes down to it, we have the players to compete with any team in this league, rather than just sitting back and launching it. These players have been crying out for a proper centre forward to put their chances away, so let’s hope that Kone can be that guy. It’s looking good so far.

The other issue is that, whilst it works in the short run while our manager and young squad suss out this league, we can’t get too cocky, as it won’t be long before teams start to sit back and shut us out. Being forced to change to this game plan against a newly promoted side does ring some alarm bells. Not to be a downer on what was a fantastic result, but it does.

Essentially the point here is that we can’t rely on counter attacks to win every game. I’m sure Stephan knows this and will be working on improving the quality we show on the ball. It doesn’t look like a new number 8 will be brought in, which is alarming. We need to make sure the ones we have right now can improve. 

That’s my one caution from this. Other than that, enjoy the win, enjoy those scenes at the end. The atmosphere looked immense. I’m fuming that I wasn’t a part of it. I’ve watched the videos back a few times. That’s what we want to see. More of that. Let’s get into the player ratings for this one. 

Player Ratings:

Joe Walsh – 6.5/10

I said I’d get to him. Sadly his best performance so far was ruined by a stupidly gifted goal. A great, quick long throw to start the move for the first goal and a cracking save at his near post to keep us in front were his two main highlights.

Charlton didn’t test him much other than this, but yeah, the goal. You have to be saving that. He watched it go past him and bounce slowly into the net. There was zero power on the shot. Yeah Mbuenge should’ve done much, much better but the keeper is supposed to be that last line of defence, and he wasn’t. It was embarrassing. 

As I wasn’t there, this isn’t something I can speak about from experience. But chants of ‘we want our Nardi back’ are not helping any situation at all. I didn’t hear it, I don’t know how loud it was, but I’m sure it was just a small minority.

I can acknowledge that Walsh has not advertised himself as a championship goalkeeper, and I haven’t hidden my personal preference towards Paul Nardi (who has his own downfalls) – but he’s 24, is playing his first season as a first choice at this level, and has worked damn hard to get there. So who does that help? It’s not on, and I don’t agree with it. 

Jimmy Dunne – 7.5/10

Much better from the captain today. I must admit I feel I went a tad harsh on him after Coventry (can you blame me?!) but he redeemed himself in this one. Back to his usual self, getting forward and winning headers in key areas. Did a pretty good job of coping with Tyreece Campbell, apart from the cross for the equaliser (the target of which should have been dealt with). Did give the ball away a few times. Sofacore had him down as our third best player, probably fair. 

Amadou Mbuenge – 6.5/10

This man has fast become a fans’ favourite, which I expected from speaking to Reading fans about him. Picking up the ball and dribbling through half the Charlton team, nearly reaching their box, had a hint of Ronnie Edwards about it –  a lot less disciplined, but faster, bold and brave. The geezer is nuts.

Leading the celebrations with Kone at the end, it’s impossible not to like him. However, I have to shave off a point for his part in Apter’s goal, it was a poorly timed jump that didn’t help Walsh at all. 

Liam Morrison – 7/10

Sofascore had Morrison as our lowest rated player, which I think is harsh. This is probably due to the fact that he only won 4 out of 11 of his aerial duels, but I can look past that, as in every other sense he was pretty fine. Not a stand out performance, but not a poor one either. I’ve only got him higher than Amadou because of the goal. 

Rhys Norrington-Davies – 7/10

One of the first things I saw when I managed to get my stream to work was RND giving the ball away. A pass accuracy of 55% is pretty poor, but as a traditional left-back, it was a solid debut for our new loanee. I think this will turn out to be a good signing, he just needs to improve on the ball, and work on his passing. 

Jonathan Varane – 7/10

A typically solid Varane performance. Still overrun in midfield for a big chunk of the game. It’s hard for a holding midfielder to play much of a role in the ‘hoof-ball’ that we saw in this game, but he certainly wasn’t poor. Still a crucial player and showed his quality. Paired up well with Madsen at points, but I’m still not convinced  – speaking of, he’s up next. 

Nicolas Madsen – 6.5/10 

A lot of people have been talking about how good Madsen was, and credit where it’s due, it was a lot better from him, especially in the first half. The direct approach suited him, as he was able to play some impressive long balls, one of them creating the chance that Vale nearly put away at the end of the first half.

However, he went back to default mode when the going got tough. He played a huge part in allowing Charlton’s midfield dominance, hiding and generally not being a massive help to Varane or the back four. 

I’m sorry, but a double pivot of Varane and Madsen just isn’t something I feel overly positive about. I’d rather Vale sit there, or even have two sixes of Varane and Hayden. He’s great at playing diagonal balls, through balls and set pieces, but he just doesn’t do enough of the hard work off the ball that you want from a number 8, or a 6, whatever you’d call his position in this game. 

Harvey Vale – 7/10

I’ve seen Vale’s performance described as ‘mediocre’ or ‘average’ from what I’ve read. I understand where these shouts are coming from, but sometimes a performance like that is what you need. Doing the simple things right, not doing anything particularly spectacular, but doing what is asked of you and contributing to the game positively.

Vale also played in two positions where I don’t believe he’s strongest – starting on the right wing and then moving into the 10. Stephan said that he has spoken to him about how he wants to utilise him – as a ball-carrying 8. So it’s confusing that he then went against this.

I think Vale had a good game, not just getting an assist, albeit a pretty average ball which was made to look a lot better by Kone’s dummy, but also hitting the post from a header, nearly putting us 2-0 up. He definitely showed signs of being a useful player, but went a bit quiet in the second half.

Karamoko Dembele – 6.5/10

I have to admit I wasn’t impressed with Dembele in this game. He was involved in the first goal, and had a big chance in the first few minutes at 0-0, but he probably should’ve had a better go at it. Overall, I just don’t think he was too involved here. 61% pass accuracy and only 25 touches of the ball.

I just don’t think there’s much to say about his performance. I still think he’s got bags of ability, clearly, I just worry about his ability to impact games when we’re up against it. His physicality has been a worry of mine for a while, and I think it’s what’s holding him back from being a top, top player in this league. I was surprised he didn’t get subbed off at half time, he was pretty ineffective. 

Paul Smyth – 8/10 

If this man had stayed on for the second half, he would have been my man of the match. He brought energy, danger and did not stop running. His best performance since Watford at home last season. At times it was almost like a 442 with him and Kone up top together. If Smyth wasn’t on the pitch, it would’ve been easy work for Charlton. Personally I think he got a bit lucky with his finish for the goal, but who cares? He put us 1-0 up and was one of our best players. Silenced a lot of people. 

Richard Kone – 8.5/10

Vital, vital signing. Really showed us what he can bring to this side, and absolutely put our previous number 9s to shame. His hold up play has been standout since he arrived, and it was brilliant again here. His dummy for Smyth’s goal demonstrated he has a football brain – the vision to be able to do that cannot be understated. 

Then, for his own goal, not much needs to be said. Burrell brilliantly put it on a plate for him but he still had work to do, bags of space, he could’ve easily messed up (and certain men we’ve been watching as of late definitely would have) but he kept his composure, and slotted it home. A great way to round up an impressive last half an hour. 

Substitutions:

• Rayan Kolli – 7/10 – Looked sharp, dangerous and a lot better than he did at Cov. 
• Koki Saito – 8/10 – Wouldn’t have won without him, changed the game, brought life to it. Great goal, showed exactly why we brought him back. 
• Esquerdinha – 8/10 – Assisted Koki’s goal, and found Burrell to assist the second. Another great sub who brought life to the game. I really like this lad so far, just needs to work on his defensive duties. 
• Rumarn Burrell – 8/10 – Immense work rate. I’ve hardly seen a bad word said about this man since he signed. Really good cameo and a superb assist for the 3rd.
• Isaac Hayden – 6.5/10 – Came on for a tired Varane and only touched the ball once. Didn’t have much to do due to the end to end nature of the game. Good to see him back.

A great way to finish off a quite horrible month of football, and sign off for the first international break. We need to remember not to get carried away, or start talking about play-off pushes and how good our team will be once everyone’s fit. A good win, against a poor, newly promoted side that made hard work of it. A lot of work still to be done, but lovely to get that first win under our belts, and as I said – unbeaten at home!

Man of the Match – Richard Kone

As mentioned, I would have given Smythy MOTM but he only played 45 minutes – Kone was brilliant from start to finish and I’m just so excited to have what looks like a proper striker for once. I won’t get ahead of myself as it’s only his 3rd game but 2 in 3 for the new lad (1 start) is not a bad way to mark your step up to the championship. 

Donkey of the Day – Joe Walsh

It feels really bad to be giving Walsh donkey for the third time already this season. It was between him and Mbuenge, both for the same goal, and I don’t want to seem like I’m letting Mbuenge off lightly for what was an embarrassing attempt at a header, but that was so poor from Walsh.

He has to get donkey for that – the ball bounced so slowly into the net it’s a joke. Like I said, it wasn’t a terrible performance from him but you want to be confident with who you have between the posts and things like that just don’t help. 

Up Next:

Championship Matchday 5 – Wrexham (A)

Score Prediction: Wrexham 1-1 QPR

One To Watch: Keiffer Moore

This will be a tricky one. There was such a high demand (and such a low allocation) for this away day that you were required to have 3,000 loyalty points for the first release. I don’t remember the last time that was the case, but it’s now sold out so I’m expecting a good one. We returned from our last trip to the raceground with a 2-0 win. When was that? 2004. So, not much history to go off for this fixture.

As expected, Wrexham have made statements in the transfer window about their intentions to compete in this league, Conor Coady, Nathan Broadhead, Josh Windass, Ben Sheaf, Keiffer Moore, and a bunch of others.

A very high scoring start to the season – 7 goals conceded and 10 scored, as well as a 3-3 draw with Hull in the cup (winning on penalties). QPR have conceded 11 and scored 6. For some reason I can’t see either side keeping a clean sheet here. 

Keiffer Moore is on 3 in 4 so far this season – you might call it a comeback after a pretty poor season at Sheffield United. The big Welshman has bagged 3 times against us in his career, so I fully expect him to get another here, considering the form he’s in. Probably a header, either that or a defensive error leading to an easy tap in.

Moore is the kind of sh*thouse big lad that always does well against the R’s, and I think our back four will struggle physically against him. 

Aside from that, I think our teams are quite evenly matched. I would say we have the better quality but they definitely beat us physically, plus, they look to be a better gelled team, with a gaffer that’s been with them since Non League. With the momentum of back to back promotions also behind them, they will be filled with more confidence, so we will have to battle for this. I think we’ll scrape a draw.

Championship Matchday 5 Predictions:

2 scores, 3 results correct this week. I’m getting further off every time. Sheffield United make it 4 for 4 (losses) so far, and Boro stay top. Bristol City, Coventry and West Brom all also remain unbeaten.

Aside from Boro, Stoke and Bristol City are the two sides I’ve been most impressed with this season, I wasn’t expecting the Robins to be even better than last season after losing Liam Manning, but they’ve been scarily good, and Stoke are flying after a strong window.

Marti’s Leicester got a good win on Friday night against Tom Brady’s superstars and seem to be picking up a run of form. Week off now to reflect on the past few weeks of football – here’s my predictions for the first fixtures back.

• Ipswich Town 1-0 Sheffield United
• Charlton Athletic 2-2 Millwall
• Oxford United 0-1 Leicester City
• Preston North End 0-2 Middlesbrough 
• Coventry City 3-2 Norwich City
• Sheffield Wednesday 1-3 Bristol City
• Stoke City 1-1 Birmingham City
• Swansea City 2-0 Hull City
• Watford 2-2 Blackburn Rovers
• West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Derby County

As always, thanks for reading. See you in mid September after the break. 

You R’s.