Charlton Athletic v Anzhi Makhachkala
Saturday 16th July 2016 … 5pm Kick-Off (BST)
Pre-Season Friendly
IntroductionGreetings from Austria… Home of the
Sound of Music and the inventor of car manufacturer: Porsche, this is a land where Red Bull doesn’t truly give you wings and where Arnold Schwarzenegger never comes back from, and for centuries is where the greatest composers performed, the likes of Beethoven (no not the dog) and Mozart.
For just over a week it’s also where Charlton Athletic will be based, for the last few years we’ve spent summer in Spain and Belgium… It’s a long season ahead and with players surely seeing their team-mates more often than their partners; this is a time for creating bonds between team-mates which can never be broken… It’s not all fun and games though, not all about initiation song contests or relaxing bike rides… Russell Slade has promised his players that they’ll be up from 7am till 7pm, constantly working on the training ground.
Of course not all work can be completed on the training ground; some of the work must come against match opposition too… Whilst in Austria, the Addicks will play two matches against foreign opposition, starting this Saturday against:
Anzhi MakhachkalaThe OppositionName: Anzhi Makhachkala |
Manager: Pavel Vrba
Division: Russian Premier League
Pre-Season Friendly Results:
- 04.06.2016 … Anzhi 3-2 Spartak Moscow II
- 30.06.2016 … Anzhi 0-2 Khimki
Apart from the three clubs that Moscow holds (CSKA / Lokomotiv / Spartak) and Zenit St. Petersburg; Anzhi are probably the next best known Russian side that exist… They were only founded in 1991, yet in 2011 the club were purchased by a Dagestani billionaire and the future looked extremely bright for a side based by the Caspian Sea.
As with any billionaire taking over a side, the big players promptly follow and one of the first to join was the legendary Left-Back: Roberto Carlos, also joining the Russian Revolution was Samuel Eto’o from Inter Milan… Sadly though despite an adventure in the Europa League (which saw them face Newcastle United), the adventure didn’t last long, three years after taking over the club the budget was cut drastically and Anzhi were relegated back to the 2nd tier
Thankfully (for Anzhi fans) they bounced back at the first attempt, upon their return last season they finished 13th which saw them finish in the Relegation Play-Offs, Anzhi survived though and will once again play top-flight Football next season yet gone for now are their hopes of competing with the major teams in vast country that is Russia.
Team NewsAs reported on the official website yesterday, only a handful of players have failed to travel to Austria for the pre-season camp; Jordan Cousins became our first major player to leave the club yesterday whilst Ahmed Kashi / Alou Diarra and El-Hadji Ba remained at home due to injuries.
Those who travelled though include the likes of Harry Lennon and Patrick Bauer whilst Jorge Teixeira has also travelled which’ll hopefully strengthen his slim chances of remaining with the club next season… Once again fitness will be the key factor for these matches so we should expect to see two different teams in each half.
For Anzhi it’s difficult because I don’t really follow Russian football yet there is a link between the two sides (
Abdul Razak a brief Charlton loanee spent a short period with Anzhi back in 2013)… Other members of their squad include: Jonathan Mensah (Ghana) along with a collection of other Internationals from Armenia / Belarus / Ukraine and Ivory Coast.
PredictionThis’ll be a tough result to predict, Anzhi themselves have only played two friendlies but kicked off their pre-season a whole month before Charlton so will be fitter (especially as their season begins in just two weeks) so a repeat of our tour to Belgium last season and defeat for Charlton wouldn’t be a surprise…
Comments
It's so brutal the way we've been chucked straight back into pre-season after the Euros. I was really enjoying the heady cocktail of constant football gambling,being annoyed at how shit England are, and getting to go and watch the Portugal matches in London's Portuguese bars in the hope that I'd find an unfussy Iberian bird with a fetish for tubby English blokes. It would have been nice to have a couple of weekends after the tournament finished to concentrate on barbeques, cricket and all day riverside drinking sessions.
But no, that's not allowed. Only three days after the final and Charlton have already conspired to lose to a pub side and sell one of our most popular players for a fraction of his value, a stark reminder that my chosen "hobby" is all set to provide me with yet another year of anger and disappointment.
Happy new season everyone.
Yeah your right it is the same bloke...
I'd have mentioned that in my Preview but just did a search on the Anzhi Manager and just copied the name from Google
As for the football, fecks knows...
14 in combat worm moves, 4 stabbed with the contents of his pencil case, the other 10 expertly wrapped up in his new flag
Go Seb !!
BTW .. @ForeverAddickted .. terrific write up and immaculate research
Solly Tex Johnson Fox
Holmes Jackson Crofts Harriott
Ajose Novak
Is probably the strongest side we could put out, unless Bauer/Lennon are fit enough to start.
I would imagine this will be the first game that we play a full side for 60 minutes or so and then introduce people like Buxton, Konsa, THD, Ceballos etc.
Our match last season against Saint Truiden was although seeing we're playing a Russian side they'll be worried about giving away any secrets and will throw Olly into the Gulag
So there won't!