Charlton Athletic Online

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Aston Villa 2
Charlton Athletic 0

Not even the return of Hreidersson, Holland, Hughes, and Hasselbaink could save a poor Charlton side from slumping to their fifth defeat of the season at Villa Park yesterday.

The four H's that Charlton needed were not these players, but Heart, Hope, Heroics, and even more Heart! What we got, was another disjointed performance from a side dessimated by injury, poor form and lack of cohesiveness.

Goals either side of half time, from Villa wide players Agbonlahor and Moore, were enough to put the ghame beyond the Addicks, and the conspicuous lack of effort to make a game of it after going two goals down did little to enamour the team to the fans or Iain Dowie.

Hermann Hreidersson was to blame for the first goal, sleeping on his six yard line while a cross from Gareth Barry came toward him, he let youngster Gabriel Agbonlahor run past him and finish well into the roof of the net. The second goal was a break away after a good Charlton attack, where Luke Moore beat Talal El Karkouri for pace after a through ball from Juan Pablo Angel.

The only decent efforts that Charlton had were a couple of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink efforts that were well saved, and a late Marcus Bent header that almost crept in the top corner.

I hate to say this, especially as it was always known that the start to the season was going to be tough, but I'm starting to get quite worried about the prospects for the season. Charlton are now down to second bottom of the league, and could be lower after next weekends match against Arsenal. We have also been drawn against Bolton Wanderers in the 3rd round of league cup, albeit at home, and they could well put an end to one half of our cup dreams for the season. Unless the injured players return, and immediately hit form, we could have a long cold winter of discontent on our hands.

The concern is also that this low league position could start to affect the home gates, and with a drastic drop in the number of season tickets sold this season, crowds of only 20,000 could be in attendance for games against future less glamourous opposition. How will the board view this, especially as this is a must-stay up season according to Richard Murray?

I don't want to be the first blog to start a Dowie out campaign, but unless our Head Coach starts to get the team to gel, and stops making those regular excuses for defeats that summed up his time in Croydon, then he will not have my support or backing during the tough times.

So come on Dowie, decide how you want the team to play, and pick the players to get points.

Yes, we all want Charlton to do well, and yes, we have had tough starts to a season before under Curbishley (though not quite this bad...). But we all knew that Curbs had the ability and could turn things around, and that he would be given the time to do this. Will the board allow Dowie that luxury?

The only way, after next week, is up!