Lofty

I knew you'd enjoy that! The thing I enjoyed the most, and the main reason I posted it, was the passion of the fans as the game swung back and forth. First the happy delight of the Charlton fans, then the depths of despair and the ecstatic heaving mass of Doncaster fans bouncing up and down at the other end after their goals, and finally delerium for Charlton as the shoot out ends. Great stuff. Football drama at its best.

What it could look like: will the CPL Champions celebrate like this? 😄 Great vlog! (This one is especially for @JamboAl).

I couldn't read the article because I don't have a subscription and don't want one. However, they did show me the first paragraph or so, which is where that mistake appeared.

I have held my tongue on this until now and for the reasons you mention, but Gale's team selection last night was downright Bizarre. He has THREE centre forwards in his squad and instead he chooses to play Musse there, out of position. I wonder what those three centre forwards think about that. We looked a lot more threatening when Hoyle came on -- and then Musse, one of the players most likely to benefit from Hoyle's presence, goes off!! I mean, WTF!!? Match after match, Murrell has under performed but Gale stubbornly refuses to drop him. Players need to know that their place in the team is not guaranteed. It motivates them. Garcia played very well first half -- a fair bit better than Murrell IMHO -- yet he got subbed out at half time. A back three of Garcia, Thomas, and Arguiñarena would have been just fine. Peña looked quite threatening when he came on. If we are doing squad rotation, why do we only see him for 15 mins immediately prior to a two week break? To me, Gale's team selection has looked a lot more like a random tinkerman job than planned squad rotation, while he stubbornly sticks with his favourites. It never ends well for tinkerman managers.

I'm going the throw #7 Dylan Sacramento into the mix for Valour. Has been doing a ton of good work in the middle of the park: ball winning, breaking up attacks, and setting up attacks for Valour. Constantly in the thick of it and getting stuck in. My second choice for Valour is #6 Martin Arguiñarena. Very polished and not only by far Valour's best defender but also does a very good job of moving the ball forward and getting into attacking wide positions himself.

There were a lot of empty seats around me. I'd be surprised if the actual attendance was even much over 50% of the open sections, which would put it well under 4k -- and seriously calls into question the supposed paid attendance number (STH number although never announced -- why not? -- is probably around 2,500, and is is hard to believe that almost half the STHs did not show up). I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but we seem to have transitioned from the Information Age into the Propaganda Age.

He was an embarrassment to himself and to the sport. He looked like an utter fool.

May 16, 2019 vs. Forge (h) Garcia starts off 45' (played 45') Muenkat starts (played 90') Peña on 79' (played 11') https://www.flashscore.ca/game/UuQY9crs/#game-summary Running Totals after 5 matches: Attardo: 26 Garcia: 135 Peña: 11 Muenkat: 176 TOTAL: 348 (179)

Muenkat #11 grew into the match and made a good contribution in the last half hour. He was indeed a complete waste in the first half. In all my years of watching football, that is the first time I have ever seen a match stopped for a goalkeeper break dance. He had some nice moves! Edit: One other thing. That ridiculous flopping about to waste time would not be effective if we had a: VISIBLE CLOCK

That's where they were put and they seem to be happy with it.

And there's the rub!!

Good win by Forge, they looked much more cohesive than Valour and certainly offered more going forward. Lovely goal by Borges but Farago's positioning was a bit suspect. First goal was well taken too, although not many teams can contrive to concede a goal from their own corner kick. After that nearly happened a second time I was starting to wonder whether Valour should simply start to decline corner kicks. Which would be in keeping with my observation that Valour set pieces thus far this season have been an absolute joke. Three centre forwards on the books and the one who starts is....none of them. Garcia has a very solid first half...and is promptly substituted. WTF is going on? Anyway, my MOTM for Valour was Gutiérrez Zuñiga but once again it could easily have been Sacramento who has been a very solid performer every match.

Valour could be in for a long season. Shaky at the back and struggling to create good scoring chances up front. Set pieces are an absolute joke. Team selection is eccentric to say the least, with Gale stubbornly continuing to pick players who continue to under perform. A few flashes cannot hide all the obvious flaws. Batten down the hatches Valour fans!

DIY stats: not courtesy of CPL. Valour Attendances (CPL matches only): HOME: 20,650 / 3 = 6,883 avg. Thu 16 May 2019 vs. Forge: 4,731 Sat 11 May 2019 vs. HFX Wanderers: 5,763 Sat 4 May 2019 vs. FC Edmonton: 10,156 AWAY: 4,415 / 2 = 2,208 avg. Wed 8 May 2019 vs. Cavalry: 2,055 Wed 1 May 2019 vs. Pacific: 2,360

Actually, it was almost 16,000 fans for the first two home games.