Introduction
There is a certain buzz that has infected Charlton fans since the season started. After what was a quiet and at times discontented summer, two excellent results against a duo of promotion favourites – a draw away at Birmingham and a win against feeder club Leicester – sees Chris Powell’s men going into Saturday’s game against Hull with a sense that they can really compete in the Championship this season. The half time introduction of Ricardo Fuller during the Leicester game was described as a “signal of intent” by Chris Powell and judging by Stoke fans’ reaction could provide a welcome boost to the squad once he is fit. Saturday’s opponents Hull beat Brighton 1-0 in the opening game of the season but suffered a reverse of that result against the ever popular Steve Kean’s Blackburn on Wednesday night.
Opposition
Hull have had a busy summer since the epitome of the Manager’s Merry-Go-Round, Steve Bruce took over at the KC stadium. Their headline signing of German forward Nick Proschwitz from SC Paderborn (£2.5m) has been supplemented with the capture of long-time rumoured Charlton target Sone Aluko from Scottish 3rd Division battlers Rangers whilst Abdoulaye Faye comes into the midfield. Hull also have threats from Matty Fryatt and Robert Koren and expectations around Humberside have risen considerably to the extent that the playoffs are the minimum requirement.
Potential Line Up
Three games in a week will test any squad, yet Charlton still seem to be suffering from a distinct lack of depth on the bench which means Chris Powell and his team will have to manage the troops as best they can. In particular, captain Johnnie Jackson and Dale Stephens looked tired with 25 minutes to go on Tuesday night and there is a slight concern that one more game may result in a drop of performance levels but that remains to be seen.
An unchanged line-up is more than likely at The Valley come Saturday with the Charlton defence in particular looking as strong as it did last season. With Captain Jackson unlikely to be dropped, the fleetingly impressive Jordan Cook will patiently sit on the sidelines until he gets his chance with Bradley Pritchard managing to keep the two natural right wingers in Green and Wagstaff out of the team. It was great to see preferred striking duo, Yann Kermorgant and Bradley Wright-Phillips both get up and running on Tuesday, and hopefully the imminent threat to a starting place in terms of Ricardo Fuller will push them both on in the coming weeks.
Prediction
Will three intense and high tempo games be too much for Charlton? A fast start and early lead may allow us to dictate the pace a bit easier than we did against the Foxes but Hull have a decent attacking threat that we will need to be aware of. Most Charlton fans would’ve bitten your hand off for five points from the first three games looking at the opposition, and that’s what we’ll end up with. 2-2.
Come on you reds!
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Comments
hope for a win be pleased with a draw, dont want to lose out in the final stages which could happen. go with 1-1.
They will attack with pace and skill, we will defend resolutely and take all three points from a couple of set pieces.
Also I think we will get a decent crowd and a good atmosphere and a 3-0 win to match - BWP is in the zone and JJ has gone two game without scoring so is due one.
Never been a fan of Bruce as a manager, but they have some good offensive players, Koran in particular I rate.
Tight game and draw seems most likely.
I think it will be another draw.
2-2 with Pritchard getting the first and BWP getting the second as he sees Fuller taking off his training bib.
Another wide open, pacy game but our defense is tight as usual and we get a goal either side of the break. JJ and Solly with the goals.
Steve Bruce sacked on Sunday