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Plasticise

17 September 2014

Charlton 1 Wolves 1

I wasn't really paying attention at half-time, when an unfortunate case of banter broke out on the pitch. A dumpy-looking old man in a t-shirt, who seemed to enjoy his own jokes, had a bucket of water poured over him, then made a sexist comment. All the clues were there, but I still didn't recognise him until a scattering of outraged tweets filled my timeline. It was like a calamitous transfer window: we've given away Diego Poyet, but for some reason we've kept Jim Davidson.

I still miss Diego, and these comments by Bob Peeters don't convince me otherwise. As I said in my last blatherings I don't think Buyens, for all his abilities, has got the level of fitness to get through 90 minutes at his best, unlike Poyet, who tended to become more noticeable as games went on and those around him tired. I am surprised Buyens hasn't ever been subbed off, but then I look at who's on the bench and it makes more sense. There doesn't seem to be anyone there who can come on and make an impact, and that's a result of the thinness of the squad.

But it's a lucky team - well deserved after so much bad luck last year - and the luckiest man of all is Tal Ben Haim. He's survived two pretty blatant penalty appeals and last night was almost punished for a terrible bit of play, with only the paint on the left goalpost and the way the grass in front of the goal lies saving him. Sooner or later, though ...

A draw was the least Wolves deserved. They fully showed why they've had such an impressive start to the season: they're quick and well-organised. A series of corners in the first half all looked dangerous but were well defended. When Charlton got their first corner, the last thing anyone expected was that it would lead to astounding acrobatics by Bikey, but that's what happened. Wolves weren't daunted, although if Tucudean had scored one or more of his chances, perhaps things would have been different.

The second half was dominated by Wolves. Their equaliser came from another corner, not one of their best, to be honest, but it set up an exciting end to the game where either side could have scored, but - obviously - no-one did. Bulot made a debut appearance as substitute for Lawrie Wilson, but it's too early to tell how good he is. The bloke behind me (we've all got one) grumbled at the end "two points lost". Really, bloke?

Some other views:
Chris Powell's Flat Cap
Charlton Casualty
The CAFC report

2 comments :

Bob Miller said...

Let's keep in mind that Charlton struggled week to week last season to even survive in the Championship and now we have a team that is still under construction, undefeated and sitting in an early playoff position. Not a bad turnaround in my mind.

Brian said...

Fair comment, Bob, and I agree that things are much better than anyone expected.