IntroductionSaturday sees Chris Powell’s side visit 2nd place Hull City, in search for their first win in February. Despite leading against both Palace and Birmingham, the Addicks couldn’t dig out a victory in either games and last weekend’s draw against Brum was a huge disappointment considering the amount of chances the Addicks had to secure the win.
However despite Lee Clark’s comments, the Addicks did dominate the match and on another day against a different Goalkeeper, we would have easily won against Birmingham. To get back to winning ways, the Addicks will need to defeat Steve Bruce’s Hull who themselves are in inconsistent form, something that Charlton will hope to exploit on this weekend.
The OppositionAfter an excellent end to 2012 for Hull, 2013 hasn’t started been as glorious for the Tigers, however despite their inconsistent form, Steve Bruce’s side still find themselves in 2nd place and three points ahead of 3rd place Leicester and 4th place Watford. Infact since the start of 2013, Hull have only managed two league victories and their most recent one was on Tuesday night in a 2-1 home victory over Derby.
In that result against Derby, Hull lined up with a 3-5-2 formation which saw Robbie Brady and Ahmed Elmohamady as wing-backs and three in the centre of midfield. However, Bruce changed his players at half-time and one of the changes was bringing on loan signing Mohamed Gedo who repaid his manager by getting the opener against Derby in midweek. Due to the Egyptian International impressing off the bench on Tuesday, it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a starting position against us on Saturday.
Other players to watch out for include ex-Sheffield United star Stephen Quinn, ex-West Brom regular Robert Koren and ex-Man Utd youngster Robbie Brady, all of who are capable of influencing a win for Hull this Saturday.
The Line -Up
Well after an impressive 88 minutes on Saturday, I can’t see Chris Powell making too many changes as he looks to his side to grab an excellent three points at the KC Stadium this weekend. One change he may consider is dropping Lawrie Wilson, who has a dip in form recently. To replace Wilson, he may select Danny Green who had a decent cameo against Birmingham last weekend or he may opt to return Rhoys Wiggins to the starting 11 who may go to left-back/left-wing with Scott Wagstaff on the right.
Or alternatively, Powell may want to change the formation due to Hull’s formation selection. If this is the case, then it is most likely that Yann Kermogant will be dropped to allow another midfielder into the side despite Yann’s excellent performance last weekend. However, I think Powell will opt to stick with the 4-4-2 formation as selected last Saturday.
The back ‘five’ should remain the same (unless Evina is pushed further forward) and Stephens and Jackson should be kept together in the middle of midfield. Ricardo Fuller should keep his place after another fantastic performance against Birmingham and finally, Danny Haynes may be fit enough for at least a start on the sub-bench.
The Prediction1-1 draw. - Hull won’t be as impressive as their league position shows, but Charlton will just miss out on all three points.
Predicted Line Up
Comments
Another good awayday but just one point to show for it as we draw 1 - 1 again
1-0 up with 7 mins left.
I'd be tempted to bring Pritchard back in and revert to the 5-man midfield. His energy may be key on a pitch not a whole lot better than ours.
1-2
Koren
Kermorgant
Waggy
Prefer 5 man MF for an away game with Fuller up front and Kermit and Haynes on if needed for a goal and Wilson and Dervitte on if we need to close the game.
Is that what you call failing to clear and passing straight to the opposition who go onto score?
Unless he is injured, Wilson will play and rightly so.
Fuller with the goal
Don't fancy reading the post match views if we lose.
A typical battling Charlton away performance, after an equally typical Charlton streak of wasting any and all opportunity to get into the play-off mix/top half battle this season... a come from behind backs to the wall victory.
The cushion is down to 6 points now...