TM Trotter

Four Four Fucking Two. It was to be the cure for all our ills... until it wasn't. As sloppy a first half as I've seen under Evatt. Granted there were flashes up top, but my God, we were soft defensively. Got a lot better second half, reverting to the formation and setup the players have played all season. But then, the game was pretty much lost as Barnsley just had to sit in, and they did it well. 4 at the back was an experiment which, given it was a cup game, was certainly worth the gamble for IE. Just didn't pay off this time. Seems there are a few managerial moaners on here, and in the stands. Fuck me, shall we sack it all off and have a merry go round of pub league cloggers like Adkins, Appleton, Coleman, Adams in charge? As an aside, Bod was excellent and deserved his goal. Its a shite cliche, but he really does have a "great first touch for a big lad". Just wish he'd show it consistently enough to make the starting spot his own.

There's a lot of talk about formations, which I believe are moot, when you consider the abysmal decision-making from the wide areas. When Oxford have two gigantic lumps at centre half, WHY are we always pumping high balls into Kachunga and Charles? Evatt referred to this in his post-match; for me, if the fanbase is going to berate him - this is the stick he needs beating with, not calls of 442 or whatever. The system we play, by definition, creates these great chances, and today's only three goal chances come from balls fizzed in. Please, Ian, spend the next two weeks hammering them to play it on the floor in the final third, as currently, we're setting crosses up for an imaginary Peter Crouch. Other thoughts: Oxford will be knocking on the door of playoffs, decent side; decent balance of class and shithousery. Jones seems to have gone to shit in the past few weeks. Trouble is, do you bring Aimson in for him? Not sure. Does Eoin Toal actually exist? Sadlier deserves a start behind the front two. He was involved in most good things for us today. I personally haven't a problem with Dapo at LWB. Think it could pay off if he didn't try to beat every man from his own third. Evatt is going nowhere, neither is a back 3. Enjoy the ride.

I'm probably on the younger end of things here, and I'll put my hands up and say that, yep, I can't stand them. Obviously Blackburn and United are there, but as they've always had more fierce rivalries, it felt like a one way street. The whole Tranmere thing passed me by (just). So for me personally, there was always a bit of a vacuum. Now they've shared divisions with us for a good few years, become blindly obsessed with us as literally nobody else cares about them, and (for me anyway) it's kind of filled that void. Hopefully now their owner has clearly got bored, all 23 of their fans suffer - even one tenth what we did under And*rson. But they won't, the slimy bastards always seem to land on their feet.

I'm still bouncing and I didn't want to write any analysis on the bad bits of tonight... but I'm glad someone else has said it. Charles was abysmal tonight, absolutely shit. Not 'feeding off scraps' as many have said before, his all round game was just naff. Would drop over Kacha on Saturday. Anyway, WHAT a feeling. Fantastic. Up the fucking Whites!!!!

I was standing at that gig. Christ, it was moist. I'd pick very similarly to @Marc505... Maiden are the only huge band left on my 'must see' list. I paid more than I'd care to admit for their upcoming gig at the MEN, i can't wait!

Yes. Yes there are. It's a fucking cult.

I have a lot of Coventry City-supporting friends. They won the first EFL Cup featuring the u21s in the competition, and I remember taking the piss out of their ticker tape and open top bus parade heartily. "How small time", I recall thinking. Now, while I detest everything about the Prem reserve involvement, happily, they're not actually much more than first round fillers, and I think I'd celebrate a Pizza Cup win at Wembley like I would a play-off final. I started watching around 99-00. Sure, while I was of course spoiled with PL days, it still irks me that we haven't "won" anything in that time. Just no open-top bus down Chorley New Rd please...

Meanwhile City are struggling to fill on their cheap tickets so much that they're advertising every home game on Radio XS. Weird bunch, Mancs. I'm a long-time Borington in WSL and even we've noticed lads starting chanting alone. Never anything untoward, happily, but it's unheard of, sitting with the Thermos flaskers. Maybe Neil wants 3 stands of noise? 🙃

Not much more I can add to what's already been said. Barnsley will (and already have - Ipswich, Wednesday) take points off sides we want to be competing with. They're a big ugly side I wouldn't want to watch every week, but they came here with a plan and executed it well. If on the first day you'd have said 7th in mid-October, we'd have all taken it. Sure, some shit results recently but I trust Evatt to rectify it. I don't think anyone needs to panic just yet.

Well supported club, Bradford. Apparently they're expecting 20k on for their game against Stockport on the weekend. I also don't recall this one. Must have been Parky era, with *shudder* Jamie Proctor up top?

One of my favourite games this season. Granted, humble-brag time, I watched it with a couple of beers in the very beautiful, very warm (30c) Tbilisi, but still... we never got out of third gear and still totally bossed the game. There's something special happening this season. COYWM

You make a fair point. Tye side does have shades of the 00s 'golden generation' feeling of disunity to it. And maybe, while the quality served up by a side the bookies have as one of the favourites for the WC continues to be so... fucking lethargic, it may draw attention to the 'off pitch' aspects. But then, I'm perhaps wet behind the ears compared to some and don't *really* correlate footballers using their prominent position as a force for good, to the abject misery of sitting through a Southgate tactical masterclass.

This "virtue signalling" really has you rattled, doesn't it? If you're not interested, put the match on at 8.01. Or start following the Hungarian national side?

Just noticed, and sorry if its been raised already (hard to look past that gorgeous ball and thumping header tbh) that Santos does a cracking bit of NFL bodychecking on the MK 33 to open up a gap. Bit like where Ipswich mugged us off on day 1. Love it. Maybe all the dreadful corners earlier in the game were a ploy to let MK drop their guard at set pieces? 🤔

There are glimmers. Thought he ran well tonight, pressed the defenders in a Charles-esque fashion. Can't fault his work rate these days, in comparison to him looking quite lazy last season. That said, he's not a goalscorer. Never has been. But if we've got goals from across the 10 outfield (and a set piece presence now, get in Jonesy!), maybe that's not an issue for Evatt? Still a useful squad player for me, nothing more, nothing less. As an aside, I couldn't believe how poor MK were. They're in trouble if they play like that every week.

Not totally sure what Bakayoko has offered for much of the season so far, in fairness. 1-2 for me, Charles and Lee. Got a good feeling about tonight.

Stopping kids football is what has made me believe the FA have seen their arse early and assumed everyone else will stop. Lunacy.

Having near enough every other sport continue really does show how misinformed this decision is.

Ridiculous decision. If you want to mourn in solitude, I'm all for that. If you don't give a shiny shite about the royal family, I'm all for that too. Surely on something like this, it's the ultimate in personal preference of choosing how to "show respect", if you even want to at all. Imposing disruption to normality for hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions (even just based off MOTD viewing figures!), is nothing but pointless virtue signalling from the FA/EFL. Why not just have a minute's silence/applause before the game, whatever, and carry on? If you're too affected to go to the football, that's fine, don't go.

Thanking you.

Last minute look at the online ticket office, no joy. Have we sold out? Or reckon its worth a bell/pick-up tomorrow?

That's a hell of a stat, re Wheevers. Wow. I know we're supposed to be focusing on improving on set pieces across the board. As a team, we are largely hopeless at corners, Santos not being the only culprit. Still desperate for him to get his bonce on something... maybe he'll wait til the playoff final for it 🙂

Some quite level-headed comments there. Always found Charlton supporters to be a decent bunch. Reading opposition fans' opinions of Santos is always interesting... it's almost universally positive, which makes me think - does our fanbase take him for granted? And if so, is it perhaps because we've been spoiled with a recent-ish history of PL quality like Bergsson, N'Gotty, Cahill, Dawson et al? Yes, Rico is prone to a howler, but in the third tier, how many CBs can outsprint most attackers, get their head on everything, AND spray 60-yard cross-field passes for fun?

Just as an aside, I thought Johnston was sub-par for a lot of today. Bit of a wobble after a largely strong start to the season.

Thomasson was exceptional today, delighted for him. Hopefully that gives IE even more headaches in the centre. Great response from all after a poor start. Kept charlton at bay for the rest of the game quite comfortably. Lovely getting a good, solid win in front of a big crowd for a change. 19k on today? Cracking effort.