Charlton started with a new 3-5-2 formation. Freddie Ladapo – loaned from Ipswich on Friday - went straight into the team to form a striker duo with May. Coventry was brought in to play alongside Dobson and Bakinson in a midfield three, with Tennai Watson and Edun operating on the flanks.

Charlton started the game well. They were the dominant team and had the majority of the possession. Edun, who was lively and is clearly more suited for the wing-back than the full-back role, could have had a penalty early on.

Burton is a well-organised team and seemed content to let Charlton have the ball and wait for a glitch in Charlton’s defensive unit. They didn’t have to wait long. After 23 minutes, a goal kick reached Hugill, who won a header that somehow put Mark Helm one on one against Lloyd Jones. Helm eased past the Charlton defender and put the ball in the net behind Maynard-Brewer. A textbook Route One football move. There were positional errors all across Charlton’s backline, but Jones’ failure to close down Helm is disappointing at this level.

After 28 minutes, the equaliser should have come as May scored a brilliant goal. He elegantly curled the ball over the keeper after being played through, but the linesman flagged for offside - a very dubious decision. Minutes later, Thomas fired a marvellous shot from outside the box that was going for the top corner, but the keeper made the best save of the day to keep Burton in front.

Charlton dominated possession, huffed and puffed, but lacked urgency and penetration. There was room behind the Burton defence, but the runs didn’t come, or they didn’t match the passes. But apart from a defensive blunder, the first half wasn’t too bad from a Charlton perspective. A re-group at the interval would hopefully get the team back in a game that seemed to be there for the taking.

Alas, any hope of a comeback was more or less quashed as Burton scored their second from a long throw-in in the 47th minute. Most Charlton players scrambled to the near post, but were unable to clear, the ball swirled across the box, and Brayford ended a chaotic goalmouth scramble with a close-range tap-in behind Maynard-Brewer.

There were perhaps some small signs of a Charlton team on the ascendancy at the hour mark, but all in all the second half was awful, and a comeback seemed more and more unlikely. Charlton looked flat, were slow in possession, and failed to create clear-cut chances until Kanu hit the crossbar after 95 minutes. Kanu, Gillesphey and Fiorini came on after 73 minutes, as Appleton changed formation to a back four and a diamond in midfield with May playing behind Ladapo and Kanu. Kanu had a good chance after 81 minutes, but the young striker mishit the ball under no real pressure. You don’t get too many chances like this, and this shows that Appleton still has to rely on players who should not really be playing at League One level. Charlton played more long balls than they have done previously, which made sense as Burton’s back line left plenty of room behind them, but the runs never clicked and the lack of physicality up front was also evident. 

One way to look at today’s game is that there was in fact something to build on from the performance, particularly in the first half. Charlton had 73 per cent ball possession in the game, and recorded an xG ratio of 0.95. Burton had an xG of 0,53, which could make the casual observer wonder how Charlton managed to lose this game 2-0. For the faithful Addicks supporters, though, it is obvious that this is not bad luck on the day. The lack of organisation, desire and quality, at least in some position, is the reason behind today's defeat and the fact that the team is now heading towards a relegation battle.

In my opinion, the main learning point from today’s game is that the squad Appleton has at the moment, has some severe deficiencies that must be addressed in the transfer window. Needless to say, it is an absolute necessity to get in a player that can provide some of Blackett-Taylor’s pace and unpredictability. His form in the first half of the season has probably glossed over some of the issues mentioned above. 

Moreover, Coventry, Dobson and Bakinson are really good players at this level (they would all be picked ahead of Oshilaja in the Burton midfield, for instance), but their styles are too similar: They like to hold and distribute the ball, they’re passers, not runners. A box-to-box midfielder should be added to the squad to make the team less one-dimensional and offer more support to May and Ladapo. Tennai Watson also looks toothless in attack, which will be a major headache if a wing-back system is to be the way forward for this group of players. 

Any way we choose to look at it, the big picture is that this was another catastrophic day at the office for Michael Appleton. His Addicks were easily beaten by a very ordinary Burton Albion, and if Appleton can’t find a way to get points from games like this in League One, his tenure must surely be nearing an end. 

Artikeln skriven av Jørgen Sørbø, 2024-21-1, 01:46