[St Charles Owl]

Its been a great run and this result should be used as a lesson for us, you have to turn up and perform every game!!  Maybe there should have been more changes to the team but its done now.  The one positive for me is I got the feeling on Tuesday night that we did more to preserve the unbeaten run rather than go for the win!!!  We need wins, I'll take a few defeats if we can turn games we would draw into wins, so now our unbeaten run is done, lets get back to winning more.

Couldn't agree more Chaz   two wins and a loss is 6pts, three draws is 3pts.

I think Brighton did the same and thats why we cancelled each other out.  Look back at the Village when they had that 46 game unbeaten run, they won nothing and in the end it became about preserving the run rather than losing and in the end they scraped into the playoffs.  Not saying unbeaten runs are bad things, but we need to be going out for the win no matter what!!

[Imre varadi]

like statesider said we have sogu or whatever hes called , we laso have matiass to ping in crosses !! what we need is some one to chip in with the goals upfront and if hooper isnt going to be that man then ship him out sharpish !! we dont need someone whos only going to score 3 goals in 10 games like nuhui !! also if we did have another bannan then we would probably win the xxxx league never mind go up or try and get into the playoffs !! this is early days i know , but the last player i watched in midfield who actually looked good the more time you gave him on the ball was shezza ?

---

i think im going to join owlstalk seriously this site is so shit !!! when we dont win you dont here fuckall for days ?

[St Charles Owl]

Not sure we know what Hooper is yet. Played in one game, which was the worst our midfield have played for a long time, so difficult to judge him on today's game. I'll be happier when Sougou, Matias and Lopez are all fit, because all of them can alter a game from the bench even if they don't start. I still think Joao could be the striker we need, maybe he needs a day off every three or four games but he has shown he has the instinct when the service is there.

[Imre varadi]

joao and forest are brilliant , but they are not going to score more than 1 goal a game apart from the odd time ? and if hooper cant get with the pace then xxxx right off mate cos we havnt signed you and we owe you nothing !! thats what loan signings are !! nothing !!! we would be better off getting someone who knows where the nets bulges !! thats all im saying !!

---

agian if he signed with us its a different beast !! but i dont care for giving him xxxx time as hes off in the new year !! so start scoring or xxxx off !!

[Maddix]

i think im going to join owlstalk seriously this site is so shit !!! when we dont win you dont here fuckall for days ?

I know what you mean Imre   even Thurny's dead 

The admin lot should have put more effort into keeping New-606 going rather than 'seeing an opportunity' 

Don't forget to give me a nod when you find a decent site Imre 

[Towinjustonce]

Disappointing result but wouldn't get to bent out of shape about it. We aren't the finished article and we all know that. CC picked his best players which I think you should do no matter who you play in this league, just the Arsenal game has taken its tool on us.

For me, Matias and Songou are a huge loss recently, as FF and Joao are the only real goal scoring threat we have. This has showed in the last 2 games where we have struggled in an trtacking sense. Opposition defences have not had anything different to think about.

As for Hooper, it's a big 2 months coming up for him, we will only get better and stronger so it's up to him whether he wants part of that. This game did not work out for him more due to everyone else being below par.

One positive out of this is it gives the whole club and set up a kick in the hole again. This league is not easy to get out of no matter how shit teams are.

[Statesideowl]

2 weeks on the training ground and I expect Hooper should be understanding us. Nothing less than a win is good enough against Huddersfield

[Towinjustonce]

2 weeks on the training ground and I expect Hooper should be understanding us. Nothing less than a win is good enough against Huddersfield

Hopefully Turner, Lopez, Matias and Songou will be fit to return then too and chomping at the bit. When you list the 3 midfielders missing we badly missed them in the last 2 games.

[Jacko The Flopsy Piglet]

That was a bit disappointing. Was out all day and didn't hear the result til watching the FL show. Had a bad feeling from about 4.15 when I heard a radio say "Sheffield Wednesday nil". I thought I heard it say "three" before that but I spent the rest of the day convincing myself I'd mis-heard, but worried that I hadn't! Charlton do seem to like bursting our bubble. Whenever we seem to be playing well and might be going somewhere we seem to play them and it all goes up in smoke.

Got two weeks to brood about this one. In some ways I wish we had a game on Tuesday night to get over it but if the players are really that knackered then maybe a rest is what they need right now.

[madsteve]

A third consecutive flat performance. Playing a full strength team against Arsenal has cost us five league points that we should have won. We beat Forest courtesy of a moment of brilliance from FF but lacked the intensity against Brighton & Charlton. Only time will tell if CC made the right decision to sacrifice five points for that great night against Arsenal. We have two weeks now to recharge our batteries but we face a similar decision soon against Stoke, where playing our strongest team could cost us more league points.

CC gave Hooper his first start & it was clear in the warm up that he is a quality finisher, far better than anything we have seen for years. As soon as the match started, it was clear that we looked tired & Charlton were up for it. Inevitably they scored when we failed to mark up at a corner and went 2-0 when Hunt was easily beaten and they had a tap in.

Joao & Sasso replaced Hutchinson & Loovens at half time but we were soon 3-0 down when Charlton ripped through our right flank again to create another tap in. After that we played a bit better & were rewarded with a consolation from FF but we never worked their keeper.

Hutchinson & Bannan worked hard but to little effect. Lee found some good positions, Hooper won some good balls and FF flitted in and out of the match. It was a tough day to be a striker with no service. From two promising positions, McGugan & Pudil each hit balls straight over everyone's heads & out for goal kicks

Westwood - 5 - maybe could have saved the third
Hunt - 3 - defensively inept
Lees - 5 - struggled
Loovens - 4 - couple of mistakes
Pudil - 6 - main source of attacks
Hutchinson - 5 - wild tackle, out for two matches
Lee - 6 - good movement
Wallace - 4 - Looked tired
FF - 6 - flitted in & out of match
Bannan - 5 - worked hard but lacked quality
Hooper - 6 - worked hard but no service
.................................
Joao - 6 - bright but off target
Sasso - 6 - looked quality
McGugan - 5 - linked play but created little

Stat Attack:

Goals:

FF - 1

Assists:

Lee - 1

Tackles:

Lee - 4
Loovens - 3
FF - 2
Sasso - 2
Hunt - 1
Wallace - 1
Hutchinson - 1
Bannan - 1

Interceptions:

Lees - 3
Pudil - 2
Hutchinson - 2
Hunt - 1
Loovens - 1
Lee - 1
Bannan - 1
Hooper - 1
Sasso - 1
McGugan - 1

Clearances:

Loovens - 4
Lees - 2
Hutchinson - 2
Sasso - 2
Lee - 1
Joao - 1

Attempts:

FF - 5
Joao - 3
McGugan - 2

Attempts on Target:

FF - 2

Key Passes:

Wallace - 4
Lee - 1
Bannan - 1
Hooper - 1

Dribbles:

Lee - 2
Joao - 2
Hunt - 1
Bannan - 1
FF - 1
Hooper - 1

Dispossessed:

Lee - 2
Hooper - 2
Hunt - 1
Pudil - 1
Wallace - 1
Hutchinson - 1

Bad Control:

FF - 5
Bannan - 3
Lee - 2
Hooper - 1
Hunt - 1
Wallace - 1

Crosses:

Wallace - 9 (3 accurate)
Hunt - 3 (1 accurate)
Lee - 2 (1 accurate)
Bannan - 2 (0 accurate)
Pudil - 1 (0 accurate)
FF - 1 (0 accurate)
McGugan - 1 (0 accurate)

Passing Accuracy (Total Passes in Brackets):

Sasso - 94% (18)
Hutchinson - 81% (16)
Wallace - 81% (31)
Bannan - 79% (63)
Lees - 79% (28)
McGugan - 77% (22)
Hooper - 74% (23)
Hunt - 72% (36)
Loovens - 71% (17)
Pudil - 70% (57)
FF - 69% (26)
Lee - 64% (33)
Joao - 40% (10)
Westwood - 39% (33)

If we continue our cup run or have a run in the FA Cup, we have to use our full squad to accommodate these extra matches or lose points in the league. There is little point having a big squad when players like McGugan, Sasso, Palmer & Wiggins have started a total of three matches between them during the last run of games since the international break.

If we sneak into 6th place and get promotion via the Playoffs then it will have been worth it but if we finish 7th then it will have been a season wasted. A dose of reality - we are ten points off the promotion places and eleven points off the relegation places.