A welcome win (the first outside London this season) in the not so prestigious Football League Trophy on Tuesday saw Charlton progress in the competition but that matters not when we travel down to Plymouth on Saturday. The league is where our priorities lie this season and our away form to date has been dreadful – especially for a team with aspirations to join the ranks of the Championship.
Many would’ve predicted our upcoming opponents to be “there-or-thereabouts” this season yet they have wobbled – especially at home. They have played 5 games at home this season and only won once and lost on three occasions. They have also only had a single clean sheet all season.
Any other set of fans armed with those stats would feel confident about going into this game, but not us. After a dreadful 90 minutes against Brentford last Saturday where the team looked devoid of ideas, creativity and a cutting edge, the trend looked set to continue on Tuesday for the first half. And then Kyel Reid got into the game.
The left winger is (quite worringly) our only player who seems to be able to turn games on their head in recent weeks and the other players need to step up to the plate. It was encouraging to see Kyel play 90 minutes against MK Dons, something that he has not been able to do effectively in a Charlton shirt in my opinion. It’s a given he starts at Home Park along with Scott Wagstaff who seemingly has the ability to do not a lot and then pop up and score. If only he could get his crossing up to scratch.
The central midfield pairing of Semedo and Racon will continue as will Lee Martin just behind one of Benson or Abbott. I thought Pawel put in a decent shift on Tuesday and would like to see him and Benson start up top together but I just can’t see Martin getting dropped for one reason or another.
We saw a glimpse – in my view – of the preferred centre back partnership in Fortune and Dailly and I’ve got no doubt that the fitness, calmness and ability of our club captain will see him retain his place for the long trip South (with Doherty feeling “a bit fluey”). And yes, Jackson and Francis will start.
It would be great to get a second away win on the trot and it would nicely lead into our first big game of the season the week after against Brighton. It’s Charlton though, and it’ll be tough. I can’t see more than a draw I’m afraid. 1-1.
Also, don’t forget to get your raffle ticket to win some great prizes and in turn raise some much needed cash for the Charlton Upbeats:
http://www.justgiving.com/charltonupbeats
Come on you reds!
Comments
Really hope we start the game as we did vs Dagenham, passing it quickly, early crosses put them under pressure as with their home form they may crack with their supported start booing them BOOOO
Wss slightly harsh on waggy imo, certainly on tuesday he did well and looked a threat in first half when reid was quiet. then turned into the reid show which he still managed to pop up with a goal. i agree he does come in and out of games but i think partly due to tracks back alot and he is not as big an impact as reid
COYR!!!!!
Problem is, neither were Brentford/Dag & Red/Tranmere/Exeter
Concerns for match will be that after losing at home to Hartlepool there will surely be a reaction from the home team, we can relate to how they must be feeling after some abject performances against "weak" opposition.
Also Charlton will most likely look to play football and this will give Plymouth an opportunity to do the same encouraging an open match.
If we reproduce the second half performance at MK we will most definately win the game, but consistancy has been an issue and with Charlton never guaranteed.
We know what Charlton are capable of on both sides of the coin but at worst we will get a draw but going for a 2-0 win.
1-1 draw.
2-0 charlton - never troubled (hahahaha)
last week without the ref,fans of llera to blame, everyone was left puzzled as to whose fault the debacle could actually be this time. but a victory on tv may have earned the players a liitle extra belief in their own abilities.
generally i would be going for the charlton win as the standard of the opposition has been about or possibly worse than my vets league and it wouldn't need too much of a brain to be able to get easy wins.but somehow we just play for about 20 minutes out of the 90 which isn't the brightest tactics to employ though i'm sure someone on here will see the positive in that.
home win for plymouth but only because the opposite of my predictions keeps coming in and i do want us to win.
25 -0 to plymouth
Starting my assault on Plymouth at 8am tomorrow
I've told you......'special soft drinks' on the coach will see you fine. :-)
Only worry on the coach is if you get the Grim Reaper as a driver. :-0
You poor deluded fools.
We are rubbish this season and can't score more than one in the league at home. Even worse away where 4-2-4 is even more inappropriate.
Plymouth already know our one and only useful tactic. Give it to Reidy and hope for a decent cross.
0-0 or 0-1 defeat.
Can see where you get the name from grumpy
Noone will be up against one Simon Francis so I can see us conceding. The question is whether we can score as many or more than we concede.
Sadly I think not and can see us losing this 2 or 3 nil.
It depends which Charlton turns up.
Or may be they will both turn up for different halves.
I usually have a strong instinctive feel about whether or not we will win (even if it's more often than not wrong).But the current side has me totally mystified and are so inconsistent that even reading tea leaves, mood music or how loosely Parky has knotted his necktie are no longer reliable indicators of how we will play!!!
So for no other reason than wishful thinking I'm saying 3-1 to Charlton. Surely there has to be one game this season in which we stomp all over the opposition when nobody expects it. So why not Saturday?
Elliot, Francis, Fortune, Dailly, Jackson, Waggy, Racon, Semedo, Reid, Abbott, Benson
Lets hope that the 2nd half comeback against the Dons will help our men in red gel a bit...
Good news the other 3 are close to returning, especially Anyinsah.
Parkinson has one new injury worry to contend with after Lee Martin picked up a dead leg on Tuesday night.
However, Joe Anyinsah, Matt Fry and Alan McCormack are all close to returning from injury and could be in contention to feature at Home Park.
"Joe, Matt and McCormack are all close fitness-wise after missing Tuesday with niggles," confirmed Phil. "Lee Martin has a dead leg so we'll assess him on Friday morning."
elliot
francis dailly fortune fry
wagstaff semedo racon reid
abbot benson
Pretty much go with ooh aah line up i think we desperately need to make it stick up top a little more and with martin up there it comes back far to easily.
The whole midfield except reid need to be more with it and we can come away with a result.
ain't that the truth.