FarnboroughCanary

I have to agree with Salopian.. after witnessing last nights lack of creativity, if Charlton score any more than 1 goal we are doomed! But hey-ho.. still 2 home games to get the points we need!

I have to say firstly that Lambert is God... but he did get it wrong last night. Some may say his options were limited, but what was most disappointing was the way we were not able to adapt in a positive way until "lastminute.com" tactics for the last 10 minutes.. Firstly, the pitch desperately needed some water, it was hard and VERY bouncy and I can only assume Orient decided that we would not like it that way and watering it would only help us.. but no excuses.. ALL our players were out warming up on it and just about all of them received at least 2 dodgy bounces during the warm up so they should have been prepared. The first goal showed that we had learned nothing and the second showed why we are going to have serious problems next year in the Championship with our inability to deal with corners or Free kicks which has been evident throughout a great season. My marks would be as follows: Forster - 7 Was hesitant a few times to come out when he should have but overall played solidly with 3 good saves at vital times.. kicking is still his weakness though. R Martin - 4 Was not strong enough in tackle many times last night, poor ball distribution and worryingly last night many times seemed to be unable to see any opposing player directly in front of him when trying to slip a pass through! Doherty - 7 Solid performance, I am still not a big fan but you cannot deny this man has balls and wears his heart out every game for us, if only some of the others showed the same passion last night... at least last night he did not attempt any dodgy back passes on that bobbly surface! Nelson - 5 simply not mobile enough to play alongside Doherty in my opinion. Dreadful mistake for their second goal and is never comfortable on the ball, got away with a few other missed headers last night. Looks heavy and carrying a few too many pounds. Drury - 7 Was always available for the ball but had little in front to aim at and to be fair was never given a moment of peace by closing down opponents who were hungry to win. Smith - 8 Great performance in an overpowered midfield, looked comfortable on the ball beyond his years but unfortunately receiving the ball far too often with his back to goal on a bobbly surface did not give him too many opportunities to play anyone in. Russell - 5 Looks tired and although put in a good amount of running, most of it looked like "going through the motions" rather than with any great purpose. Again like Korey, was struggling with an Orient midfield which was packed and hungry to close us up. Lappin - 6 Thought his first half performance was as average and ineffectual as most of our play in the first half, but was one of those who came out and gave it a bit of a try in the second half before being subbed. Johnson - 3 looked like a fish up a tree at times.. unable to get into the game and did not seem to know what to do to get into it either.. showed his lack of experience last night. Martin - 4 He really is an enigma... great at home but has the tendency to drift right out of games away. Definitely missed the leadership of Holt alongside him last night, miss timed more jumps for headers than I have toes and fingers on my hands and feet and really looked unfit and a bit overweight last night (although he shouldn''t be!) First half he really found it hard to link up with Elliot (so did most of the team!), Second half he really did not make any impact on the game and did not look interested until we got a free kick outside the area with 1 minute left! Elliot - 1 I think one of the previous posts said they were over generous giving a mark of one and I feel the same... Not a clue how he has made it into the professional game on this showing, his runs are predictable and always rely on going 10-15 metres round the back of the defender, a race which he cannot actually win unless he starts from an offside position. Great oppertunity given to him in the second half and he did not have the composure to take the ball on and run at their goalkeeper, from 25 yards out just lashed the ball out of play 15 yards wide and then gave us a dramatic "head in the hands" moment where we were all supposed to feel sympathy with his "bad luck"... Watching him play brings back memories of some of the apathetic performances of the Glenn Roeder loan signing circus of last year! Subs: Mcnamee - 7 Good influence on the game, frightened the Sxxt out of their right back when he came on.. shame he was not on earlier! Dont believe what you read about his "cross-cum-shot" that hit the bar, it was not a cross... he tucked inside and meant to curl it in the far top corner, we were right behind him as he tried it.. great effort. Hughes - 5 Had a good chance from 18-20 yards but struck it straight at the keeper and probably hit it too well Macdonald - 5 Hardly got a touch and you would not have known he was on.. What really hurt the most was that Orient seemed to want it more than our lads and I dont know what sort of changes Lambert can make on Saturday without Holt and Hooli as the rest seem drained of ideas...