Charlton Athletic v Leeds United
Saturday 12 December 2015 … 3pm Kick-Off
Referee: Andy Davies (Hampshire)
IntroductionFootball can be a cruel game can’t it… No one expected the Addicks to get a result against unbeaten Brighton last Saturday yet when we took a two goal lead it didn’t just send shockwaves around the home sections in West Sussex but also around homes in South East London and Kent (for those bitter Gillingham fans)… Throughout the season, Jeff Stelling sitting in the Soccer Saturday studio has mentioned time and again that Charlton had yet to score prior to the 40th minute in a match (Of course the stat became obsolete when we scored twice in the first half against Sheffield Wednesday), this became difficult to repeat a similar stat when Charlton scored within 70-seconds with Ademola Lookman opening his account for the season.
We’re Charlton fans though, we know things are never meant to last but the moments to savour are getting shorter and shorter… We knew our time in the Premier League would never last, that relegation would come for us some day… We knew that Chris Powell wouldn’t remain as Charlton Manager forever, that someday he’d be sacked… We knew our lead against Brighton wouldn’t last and sadly despite the work from the First Half… It didn’t and the cruelty of Football would result in us not even getting to take a single point back to SE7… We have to try and pick ourselves up once more though, there were positives (notably our counter attacking play) to take from that defeat and as we close on the all-important Christmas period, we invite
Leeds United to the Valley.
The OppositionName: Leeds United |
Manager: Steve Evans
Ground: Elland Road |
Nickname: The Whites
With yet another protest planned this Weekend… We face a side in a similar situation to ourselves… Leeds are owned by the Italian:
Massimo Cellino and forever seem to be unsure if they’re going one way or the other, it wasn’t always like that though, it wasn’t even about Leeds United... They were formed in 1904 just a year before ourselves and were called
Leeds City FC (who themselves were the first owners of Elland Road), things didn’t turn out well for the original club and were forced to disband in 1919 due to allegations of illegal payments to players during the First World War.
This of course left Leeds without a Football Club so Leeds United were instantly formed and invited into the Midland League… Elland Road had been taken by Yorkshire Amateurs (still in existence today) yet in 1920 they graciously made way for Leeds United to play at the famous stadium, they were elected to the Football League in 1920 (for some reason entering straight into the Second Division rather than the Third) and in the Football League they have remained ever since.
First Meeting @ the Valley: Charlton Athletic 0-1 Leeds United (24 October 1931)
Last Meeting @ the Valley: Charlton Athletic 2-1 Leeds United
Charlton Team NewsAgain I write this Preview prior to the Press Conference which should hopefully be out later today… The good news comes from the Christmas visit to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital which shows evidence of Ahmed Kashi and Cristian Ceballos existing, although whether they left the Hospital is questionable as both remain injured. The match against Brighton came too soon for
Johnnie Jackson who should hopefully return to the side whilst Patrick Bauer will begin his two match ban (confirmed on the FA website (unless I've read it wrong), although that website does think that Welling United are a Championship side)… With new rules based on players suffering from concussion it’ll be touch and go whether
Harry Lennon appears for Charlton this Saturday, should he be missing them surely Alou Diarra and Naby Sarr will be the defensive partnership.
Henderson
Solly … Diarra … Lennon … Fox
Gudmundsson … Jackson … Cousins … Lookman
Vaz Te … Ghoochannejhad
Substitutes Bench: Pope … Holmes-Dennis … Sarr … Charles-Cook … Ba … Ahearne-Grant … Makienok
Prediction
Charlton Athletic 2-2 Leeds United (Lookman … Ghoochannejhad)
Comments
Diarra and Sarr is unappealing, especially without the defensive shield Diarra (usually) provides in midfield
Henderson
Solly
Diarra
Sarr
THD
Cousins
Ba
Charles-Cook
Ghoochannejhad
Vaz Te
Lookman
Substitutes: Pope Fox Thomas Aribo Moussa Ahearne-Grant Makienok
With just two more games after this before Xmas, we may well see some "diplomatic" sendings off (copyright Danny Mills), so with a three game ban that player is unavailable for the Boxing Day game; more likely to happen on Tuesday though, as that would get them out of the Wolves game too on 28th!
Sorry, I was just in the middle of a dream in which I was teleported back to the year 2000 - we had just lost 5-0 to West Ham and were about to beat Manchester City and Arsenal to begin a 9 match unbeaten run.
Anyway, back in the real world, we're home to Leeds on Saturday and it's got all the makings of a great day out for the hoards of travelling Leeds fans. 3-1 defeat, more hilarity for Katrien.
Note to protesters: try not to be too mean to Katrien. She may be the Chief Executive Officer of a once-successful business, but first and foremost she is a woman and should therefore be treated differently to her male counterparts, regardless of how many lies she tells and how many mistakes she makes.
CAFC 2 v Leeds United 0
And that led to three points. A repeat here would be very, very nice
Sorry
Having said all that I'm going for a 1-0 with boy wonder scoring the only goal.
I assume we are now down to the Under 11s to populate the bench if homework allows.
2-5 loss and Carol confirmed as defensive genius..
Henderson
Solly-Diarra-Lennon-THD
Cousin-Jackson
JBG-Vaz Te-Lookman
Reza