Sunday, December 21, 2008
No Time Like the Present
Norwich City 1 Charlton Athletic 0Not much Xmas cheer after this result, which leaves Charlton precariously placed equal bottom of the table. I listened to the game via Charlton TV, but have yet to see the goal.
It seems that the first half was similar to that witnessed at Blackpool – good possession and resilient in defence, but efforts on goal being well saved – and then the second half was pretty similar too. At least the early capitulation there didn’t happen at Carrow Road, and it took an hour for the winning goal to be knocked home by ex-Addick Leroy Lita. Apart from a couple of straight at the keeper efforts from Bouazza (left), nothing of note troubled the Norwich defence in the second period.
So we pass Xmas on a run of 14 games without a win – desperate times. Phil Parkinson has two more games coming up this weekend; Friday’s Boxing Day derby with QPR and then a tough away game at Alan Pardew’s executioners Sheffield United. It would be nice to think that Charlton could earn some league points in either game but the feeling is so very negative at the moment.
You can’t blame Parky for yesterday picking the same squad that did quite well in the Derby home match, so a lot of the blame for the performance has to rest with the players. From the commentary, Gray, Basey, and Sam seemed seldom to be mentioned, while others like Bouazza, Bailey, and Semedo apparently only ever gave the ball away. Hudson was solid but I suspect that the commentator liked him as he twice confirmed that he had just made his first mistake of the afternoon – first giving away a poor pass, then the goal, as he was marking Lita when he scored. At least the two-minute transmission delay seemes to have vanished...
OK, so Santa didn’t come early for Addicks fans, and we have to hope that Boxing Day brings one of those positive results that will go down in folklore – like 5-0 versus Manchester City in the late eighties or 4-2 versus Chelsea five years ago to the day.
Giving up hope is not an option; we are half the season plus one game through, and many more minutes need to be played before the fate or otherwise will be confirmed. It doesn’t look good at present, but then this time of year is all about presents.
I’ve had a crappy 2008, and I cannot wait until 2009…
