Out of the League Cup

[Boogie]

Probably a good thing to get a wake up call after Saturday.

What do those of you that went think of the players who did not play on Saturday and got their chance tonight?

Sounds like Beano was kept quiet and Hall did not make an impact. Any promising stuff from ODowda and Williams?

Was the defence and Whing / Rose completely outclassed or tired after Saturday?

[Paul Cooper]

I went and thought that overall we were outclassed.

Having said that things were very tight in the first half and we had as many chances as them in that half. Three of their goals came through deflections and we didn't have the breaks (it sounded like Accrington had all of the breaks V Middlesbrough). In the second half they looked a better team- they were strong on the ball moved well and passed quickly. Oh and they were clinical in taking their chances.

The new players? Williams in my view was our best player (alongside Mullins). extremely quick, took players on and made chances. One slight criticism is that he had 2-3 half chances and wasn't clinical. O Dowda did Ok. he went on a couple of very good runs when he took players on. In the first half he looked a little in awe of the occasion and preferred to pass the ball back to the full back rather than taking people on. When he started to take people on though he looked more confident and got more into the game.

Hall played just behind Beano. He did little to influence the game. Part of the problem for us last night is that the ball didn't stick with Beano or Hall when it was played upfront. I didn't go Saturday, but from what I read we were crying out for Kitson to play last night. The crowd turned against Hall and when he was taken off there were many cheers.

Regarding midfield, neither Rose or Whing did badly in my view. Rose tried to get hold of the ball and to pass it to somebody in a yellow shirt. Whing harassed the Charlton players and broke play up when he could. But Charlton are in a different league to what we will be playing in League 2 and they outclassed us in the second half in midfield with their slick passing and movement. The midfield may be fine in League 2 (Saturday will be interesting), but against a team of Charlton's calibre it was not strong enough.

Positives were Mullins who I thought was generally excellent, Wright who threw himself into 2-3 blocks to save likely goals and undoubtedly Williams who could be an excellent impact substitute and looks an ideal replacement if Potter is injured or moves into the middle.

Finally we looked far better when Potter and Smalley came on for Hall and Beano. Both the substitutes looked very confident and worked together well.

[GodalmingYellow]

I would never want us to lose a match, but if I had to pick one to lose, that was one last night.

There is no shame in losing to a team 2 divisions higher than us, and the result will hopefully as Boogie says, ensure that no one gets carried away with Saturday's result, good as it was.

The priority this season has to be promotion above all else, even if that means going out at the first stage of every cup competition.

Disappointed to be out of "our" cup, but it is going to worry me not a jot.

[slappy]

I appreciate the league is our priority, but it didn't do Bradford much harm as they got promoted through the play-offs, earning probably £1MM through their cup runs.

I think Wilder has a mental block against higher league teams and managers like Evans and Westley when he decides that his attacking side won't be able to cope with either their strength or their ability, so goes 4 4 1 1. He's done it against Crawley, Stevenage, Sheffield United (away), Rotherham (home last season). We try and defend with the forlon hope of getting a goal on the break, but instead the opposition get a few goals first half, he tries to change it second half, and by then it is too late.

If we'd started with Smalley, Rigg and Potter as a front line we may have had a goal or tow, rather than having Constable left on his own with Hall not really getting the ball up to him.

O'Dowda and Williams look promising, but the Championship side midfielders and defenders saw through their mazy runs and fairly easily stopped them. Most surprising was at least twice the ball was passed to Hunt about a yard too far in front and both times he didn't seem to make any effort to try and get to it.

Late on in the game at three down we had good chances of handball appeals, but the ref seemed not to think that a player raising his arm to block the ball was handball.

[OUFC4eva]

All good and fair comments.

4-0 was probably a little harsh but we were given the runaround especially in midfield and down the flanks
where both Hunt and to a lesser extent Newey had difficult evenings. Charlton were slick with good, quick passing
and good movement. They also looked physically stronger but of course they are a decent Championship side
with some excellent young players on that showing. Experienced midfielder Danny Hollands showed his class.
the left back Cedric Evina (previously with Oldham) attacked for fun.

What you can't do is give the ball away cheaply or get repeatedly dispossessed of the ball which happened frequently.
Whing and Rose were outskilled but never gave up though. Constable toiled with little support
and Asa played as if his laces were tied together.Sloppy with the ball Mr Hall.

The plusses were the superb Mullins and the exciting Ryan Williams who looks to have searing pace and good balance.
O'Dowda has certainly got ability and it's good he has finally got 90 minutes of competitive action for the first team.

Not too disappointed and in some ways I am glad we are out of the LC - just wish we could have made a
better fist of it in such fine surroundings and on an immaculate playing surface.

[ty cobb]

Having been on holiday for the Pompy game (stupid early start to season) this was my first chance to see the new players. Rose was tidy, Hall didn't do much but seemed to be mainly up front trying to close their defence down as they knocked it around for fun, he doesn't strike me as a effective player to be in the "hole".

I actually thought both our full backs were pretty poor, got beaten quite easily on a number of occassions and their distribution was generally awful and involved a hoof up the pitch. Yes this was a Championship team but they made 10 changes from Sat and I would have expected them to cope as least as well as Purkiss and Tonks did against West Ham a couple of seasons ago. Thought Deano and Alfie looked good when they came on.

I don't buy this unlucky excuse either, we set out to largely sit back and whack the ball forward to Beano. Beano is not a target man he plays his best football when it's 4-4-2 and he has a target man up alongside him. Putting him up against someone who is half a foot taller than him and just whacking it up to him is not the best way to get the best out of him.

We had nearly 800 present there last night, why can't we go for it against a team like this, maintain the momentum of Sat rather than effectivly admit we're not good enough, look to sit back and hope we don't conceed in the hope of nicking one. With the odd exception (Gills away) it doesn't really work.

I also don't like this "it's the league cup we're better off out of it" feeling. The league cup gave us our greatest achievement, to treat it with this kind of disrespect really annoys me - I don't mind getting beaten by a Championship side provided we go down fighting giving it a real go. We didn't do that last night and I wish I hadn't bothered going.

Oh yes we should also have had two pens for blatent handballs.

[GodalmingYellow]

Yes it did no harm to Bradford last season Slappy, but I imagine we will have to wait another 125 years of the Football League for a League 2 side to repeat the feat. It was a very rare occurrence.

I very much doubt anyone intends any disrespect to the competition at all Ty. If it was a choice of winning the League Cup whilst failing to get promotion, or getting promotion whilst going out early in the League Cup, I reckon the vast majority would take the League Cup win every day of the week.

Charlton put out a weakened team, as did we. We paid for it. Harm done, very little.

I agree entirely with Ty's view re Beano and I agree entirely with the views that we should go out and attack teams rather than trying to scrape something from the game, a trait of Wilder's which very much against his favour. There is nothing to lose by going all out to beat them.

[slappy]

When I say it didn't do Bradford (ultimately) any harm, perhaps they would have got auto-promotion without the cup runs.

Also I've read that Charlton were only expecting a few hundred fans, and so ran out of away tickets, and resorted to stewards taking cash on the gates. But the reported 771 is very good for a Tuesday night in London.

Forgot to mention the catering is almost as bad as the East Stand at the Kassam stadium. Queue up for the whole of half time for a blistering hot sausage roll. (At the Kassam you might queue up for the whole of half time for a burnt sausage roll or luke-warm pie). Probably linked to the underestimate of away fans.

[Eric Pollard]

771! There's loyalty for you. Well done lads. United we stand!

Although nothing compares to the DW Stadium, I must say the grass was green and the view were splendid. I am considering sending young Hall 'oop north as he might be better off as trainee loose forward for my main team.

'Oop the Warriors'!

[Kernow Yellow]

I wasn't at the game, Jerome, but I think Ty has a point - if even a League 2 team (and one with a glorious history in the competition) is putting out a weakened team for what should be a glamour tie, then where does that leave the League Cup? Having said that, I guess the back 7 (as it were) were very much first choice, so to have conceded four to their reserves is disappointing.

One thing worth noting is that we've played two genuine, out-and-out wingers in both games of the season so far. With four players seemingly well in contention for those positions, that bodes well for a more exciting playing style this season.

PS This Eric Pollard character is hil-ar-ious, isn't he?

[SWA]

Charlton away is about as far away from a "glamour" tie as you can get in my book! However, I agree with the sentiment, it's sad for us to put out a weaker side....

[Paul Cooper]

I agree that we probably should have played a stronger team (although ODowda for example got his first start which is surely a good thing)

I don't actually agree that the plan was to sit back and hit them through long balls. CW could easily have gone in with a more defensive 4-3-2-1 formation and sat back. Instead he went with 2 inexperienced out and out wingers which hardly suggests that the plan was to sit back (this probably explained a little why the full backs had a difficult time as well) In the first half we tried to get forward and made a number of half chances (most fell to Williams). Mullins racing the whole pitch to give Williams a good opportunity hardly suggested that we wanted to sit back).

We simply played against a team 2 Divisions higher than us and to me it showed. If we wanted to put up a better show then we should have started with Smalley, Potter and Rigg (but then ODowda and Williams would not have got their chance). Kitson was also clearly missed and it struck me how much Beano does not hold the ball up very well when it does go to him on the ground.