Working On Areas

The enforced break in proceedings should, we hope, have allowed time for Appleton and his team to work with the players (at least those not away) on addressing our obvious shortcomings: lack of organisation and awareness at the back which, coupled with individual mistakes, continues to cost us cheap goals; getting our forward options better sorted out to maximise available resources; related to this how to avoid sterile, ineffective first-half displays; and perhaps also how we might become a threat again from set pieces (which we have not been since the departures of Inniss and Stockley).

Coming on the back of a six-game unbeaten run from the start of September, it might appear that all is well, with a number of players having returned from injury and with the squad getting more used to playing with each other following the transfer window changes. Perhaps, but I think we’d all agree there is considerable room for improvement. There’s always room for improvement.

For the defence, individual mistakes are usually just something to accept as inevitable – and if someone keeps making them you bring in a replacement. More worrying is the regular lack of understanding and cohesion, whether it’s dealing with runners or coping with balls into the box. Simply changing personnel isn’t that easy as we are not especially blessed with options in central defence, with Elerewe joining Mitchell out on loan and let’s be honest Ness not yet this season having reproduced the form which filled us with such hopes before his injury and long break. As and when he gets back to that level he will no doubt hold down a regular slot. As it is, Hector and Jones are the central pairing with the shirts, with Thomas used in the full-back role. That really only leaves Ness and the as yet untried Abankwah as the back-ups. And centre-backs get injured and suspended.

Add in that the full-back positions are not yet nailed down. We don’t know if Thomas will be kept on the left side when Edun is back up and running, or whether it will be Watson or Asiimwe most of the time on the right. Then add in that the goalkeeper has changed, with Isted out for a while and Walker brought in as back-up for Maynard-Brewer. Given all this, perhaps a lack of understanding is unavoidable and only addressed over time. After all, Hector and Jones haven’t played together that often. Nevertheless, an effective defence usually needs a clear leader, the one the others take their cue from – and who dishes out the flak when someone isn’t doing their job. The obvious candidate is Hector, but you don’t see much sign of him performing this role on the pitch (perhaps he does it but quietly).

Quite frankly we seem rather docile (or confused) when we cough up chances and/or goals. It would be good to see greater animation and desire to put things right. Perhaps this will all just come with time, I certainly hope so, if only for the sake of Steve Brown’s mental health in the Charlton TV box. He regularly talks of what is and what is not acceptable and too often we are it seems falling short.

Getting the best out of our forward combinations is for me linked to the problem of dire first-half displays. We’ve gone from having no central forward options, with the pre-season injuries to Leaburn and Aneke, to having one with the signing of May, now to four with all available and the addition of Tedic, possibly five if Campbell(C) were to be used in that role. It’s a nice problem to have (one Holden could only dream of), but one I’d suggest needs to be worked on by all the squad, given that none of the forwards are especially similar in style or strengths, there are no real like-for-like changes. Given that, surely we need to consciously adapt our play depending on who is out there at any point in time.

It's no use saying just ‘Aneke, Leaburn, Tedic big guys, May little guy’. We have had ample demonstrations of late that Aneke is different from the others in that he is quite capable of battling two central defenders and competing for balls forward either on the ground or in the air. Leaburn is not as yet, nor is May, while Tedic we don’t know about yet in a centre-forward role. For sure the others offer different skills, with May for example adept at making runs between the back line. To make the most of that he needs someone to supply him with the well-timed pass and others to be working to help create the space. Alternatively you adopt the strategy that Spurs used to use when they had Clive Allen up front and Hoddle, Ardiles, Galvin etc in a packed and very talented midfield. I don’t think they ever played the ball up to Allen to do anything with it. His job – which he did very well - was just to get on the end of things and score. With Fraser, both Campbells, and Blackett-Taylor available that sort of approach has to be possible, as long as all understand that it effectively rules out looking for a simple ball forward to a lone central forward.

To go back to the sterility of first-half play, it seems we often begin brightly enough but then fade and seem to run out of ideas. Or rather we seem to stop working to create space with movement and become instead very static, giving the guy on the ball no real options. With Aneke the obvious out ball is available, with the others it is not. Without him determined opposition with men behind the ball are able to crowd out CBT and dominate the lone central forward. That’s when you need to break things up, look for central midfielders to combine moving forward, for the wide guys to stretch defences to make space for May or Leaburn to run into channels. Instead, too often we stand still, let the opposition progressively take the initiative and dictate the play.

Again, for me it’s all about adjusting our approach to who is on the pitch – as well as the opposition of course. We have to be flexible as we are, at least for now, looking for compromises which involve players not necessarily operating in their best positions and as starting Saturday we have four league games before the end of the month. If we want a No.10 Fraser is the obvious choice, but using May in the role allows the inclusion of another central forward. Leaburn and Tedic can be used in the wider right positions in order to have them on the pitch. Aneke’s inclusion also means we have to be flexible as he cannot be replaced like-for-like but neither can he last a full game.

Ah well, after all that (and let’s leave just why we are not scoring goals from set pieces, which for me cries out for trying some different routines) I just feel glad it’s not my job to make the actual decisions, when all the imponderables also have to be fed in: knocks, illness, performance in training, who did what and when etc. On Saturday we take on a side surprisingly underperforming so far, even factoring in their points deduction, one which hasn’t won for four games and lost three of them, which is having problems scoring goals (just 9 in 11). Would be good to see us at it from the start and not settle into a cautious, static mode if a bright start doesn’t deliver the goals we hope for, rather to look at what’s not working and adjust. Easier said than done for sure.