Expectations of Championship

Bruxelles_Addick

What should we expect next season? We’ve been away for sufficiently long for most Charlton fans to find it an unfamiliar place. There is never a good time to be relegated but a change of scenery gives the chance for a needed rebuild . The caveat has to be that we don’t want to stay in the CCC any longer than necessary. However it seems that the CCC is quite different to the division we left in 2000. Some thoughts:

1. There are more ambitious teams. Most are recent ex Prem but also others who have not played in the top division for many years if ever now sense they have an opportunity. The transformation of Reading from CCC also rans to runaway winners and then Prem success is one role model but Watford’s success in over one season moving from no hopers to play off winners have helped change the mind set of many clubs.

2. Technically the football is better. This doesn’t mean that the standards have shot up but there are arguably more players in the division with recent Prem experience or who could make the step if promoted. The gap in quality between the sides has been compressed. The saying that anyone can beat anyone else is true. Those that make the playoffs tend to be those who have just that little bit more consistency/strength in depth/goal scorers.

3. Playing styles have changed. There are few long ball sides with battering ram strikers these days. Next season the most direct side in the division will probably be Watford. Most sides playing something approaching a passing game with a lot emphasis on having athletic, midfielders quick to the ball.

4. Squads and teams are in greater flux. Free transfers and the loans system means more changes in squads. Gone are the days when there would be one or two summer signings. For most clubs they are shedding at least 5 or 6 players and bringing in an equivalent number. Premiership loanees are a feature of virtually every team.

I really hope Pardew takes the opportunity for a proper rebuild, retaining a few players with the right attitude and ditching/shifting the rest. In effect we need a fresh team not the same losing side recycled.

sasha_saves

Good point. It does seem as if the CCC has changed. In Pardew we have someone who should know what it is all about - though it is two years since he was in it. Which players in the squad now do you think are suited to the championship. Not sure that any of our midfielders fit the bill of being athletic and quick to the ball!

AFKABartram

Not sure i agree with a couple of those. I very much doubt there will be more ambitious teams than us. Its essential from the long-term financial well-being of the club that we bounce back as quickly as possible. We will also being into this with a strong support base that we will be desperate to hang on to and use as the base for future ground improvements if we return. We also have an ambitious manager, probably the biggest 'name' in the championship, and he will not want to hang around there.

I'm not too sure the playing style will have changed that much. I still think it will be a lot more physical and direct than the premiership and i think our signings of a target man and industrious midfielders will reflect this.

Bruxelles_Addick

Holland wil be useful as an experienced operator but we need a runner alongside him. Ambrose and Reid have both been useful attackers at CC level before but not sure we can play both without weakening defensively. Hughes - not sure.

Striker is the most pressing need. With Bent (about to be) gone we need to bring in 3 players with current goal scoring ability.

Rothko

We need a thug in midfield, hard working with a nasty streak running through him

razil

Nicholls?

markwebb25

from what i gather walton is a bit of a thug so why not give him a whirl?

Bruxelles_Addick

Walton might have a part to play. He is energetic and enthusiastic but seems to operate mainly in headless chicken mode. But arguably as a centre midfield combination with Holland it might just work providing there were real attacking options on the right and left.

F-Blocker

[cite]Posted By: Bruxelles_Addick[/cite]Walton might have a part to play. He is energetic and enthusiastic but seems to operate mainly in headless chicken mode. But arguably as a centre midfield combination with Holland it might just work providing there were real attacking options on the right and left.

Does that make him the new Kish?

markwebb25

why not. hes an airhead but i think with more guile than kish, plus he can score a few.

Bruxelles_Addick

[cite]Posted By: AFKA Bartram[/cite]Not sure i agree with a couple of those. I very much doubt there will be more ambitious teams than us. Its essential from the long-term financial well-being of the club that we bounce back as quickly as possible. We will also being into this with a strong support base that we will be desperate to hang on to and use as the base for future ground improvements if we return. We also have an ambitious manager, probably the biggest 'name' in the championship, and he will not want to hang around there.

I'm not too sure the playing style will have changed that much. I still think it will be a lot more physical and direct than the premiership and i think our signings of a target man and industrious midfielders will reflect this.

Think you misunderstood my first point - I mean more ambitious clubs than there used to be not more than us.

On playing style, there are still a lot of teams playing a pressing midfield game but surprisingly few have an old style centre forward. Derby are probably the most regressive team in the division re playing style in the division. It is a bit more physical and a bit more direct than the PL but my point was that it is far less so than when we were last there. Wolves are an interesting side. McCarthy took Sunderland up a couple of seasons ago with a very physical, hard working side who then failed badly. At Wolves he seems to have produced a very different team with a lot of pace. A sign of how the division is evolving into a budget PL2.