Charlton Athletic v Bristol Rovers
Saturday 5th August 2017 … 3pm Kick-Off
Referee: Christopher Sarginson (Staffordshire)
IntroductionIts hard to imagine where the last three months have gone yet the time seems to have flown by since we last saw Charlton kicking the ball in anger… Of course you have to go back to the last day of April when in fact we did just that as we ended the 2016/17 season with a 3-0 win over already relegated Swindon Town and thus confirmed that we’d finish in 13th place – Yet its now time to assign that season to the history books, we’ve got a new season to pin our hopes, dreams and sorrows to… and it begins this Saturday against Bristol Rovers!!
The OppositionName: Bristol Rovers |
Manager: Darrell Clarke
Pre-Season Form: (
P)-13 | (
W)-6 | (
D)-3 | (
L)-4 | (
GS)-23 | (
GC)-15
Following promotion from League Two in 2016 it was an impressive feat for Bristol Rovers to just miss out on the Play-Offs last season, especially with reliable Striker: Matt Taylor being sold to rivals: Bristol City at the end of the January Transfer… No doubt having conceded nine goals against us last season am sure that Rovers will be eager to get this fixture out of the way yet that was last season, what has happened in the close season?
Naturally a Striker to replace the goals scored by Taylor would be at the top of the list and with Tom Nichols joining from Peterborough after just one season, they may well have found their man whilst notable mention has to go to Defender: Tom Broadbent signed from Hayes & Yeading after serving in Afghanistan with the British Army for a number of years.
Results as you can see above have been mixed yet an impressive win over Premier League side; West Bromwich Albion over the weekend means that our opponents might not be so easy as they were to beat last season. One interesting aspect taken from that match review is the sign that five half-time substitutions were made on Saturday, is that a sign that fitness isnt quite there for some or was it simply to protect certain players ahead of the opening weekend… We’ll soon find out!!
Charlton Team NewsOur own Pre-season has been well documented which ended most notably with the 6-1 demolition of Ipswich Town last Saturday. In terms of the squad much has changed once more with both Roger Johnson and Adam Chicksen released following the ending of their Contracts whilst Jorge Teixeira and Cristian Ceballos were permanently shipped out to Belgium.
Incomings have been minimal and far between… Patience once again being a key word of our summer; Jay Dasilva has returned on loan from Chelsea with Ben Amos also coming on loan from newly promoted: Bolton. The biggest issues last season were our ability to score goals though yet you’d hope those issues will now be laid to rest with Billy Clarke (Bradford) and Tarieq Fosu (Reading) adding to our attack… Mark Marshall is of course another option yet will be forced to sit out the early stages of the season whilst he recovers from a knee injury. Most promising over the summer though was the fact we’ve retained Ricky Holmes on a new Contract despite interest from Sheffield United.
Amos
Solly | Bauer | Pearce | Dasilva
Kashi | Forster-Caskey
Holmes | Clarke | Fosu
Magennis
Substitutes Bench: Phillips | Sarr | Konsa | Crofts | Dijksteel | Watt | Ahearne-Grant
PredictionFirst game of the season is always the hardest to predict as players will be still shaking off the cobwebs and regaining their match sharpness… Following our result last weekend it’ll be a disappointment if we don’t win yet I expect a much tighter game with maybe just the one goal to win it, a draw certainly wouldn’t be a surprise. Sheffield United certainly proved last season that a good start isnt required when achieving promotion.
Comments
And now we wait for @MrLargo 's first pre match prediction of the season.
I think we'll win this 2-0
2-1 to the Addicks, Clarke and Magennis, 2 assists for Rickkkkaaaaaayyyyy
Novak on the other hand is turning into Cory Gibbs and has barely been seen this Pre-Season and with Tony Watt being the first sub against Ipswich on Saturday that for me puts him well ahead in the pecking order.
Of course we could well see Konsa and Bauer as the Centre-Back pairing, depends entirely if Pearce is fit!!
3 - 0 ( Megininnis , Pierce & Holmes )
Will be very interested to see the attendance, 15,000 I reckon
COYR
0.1
Mag limps off after 3 minutes and an injured Da Silva replaced by Jacko.after 11.
When will you lot ever learn?
We'll have a player sent off early for refusing to take off his kneeless jeans on the field of play.
At 0-0, Holmes will slot Magennis through for a 1 on 1 with the keeper but his gaze will be diverted to our CEO in the crowd who, this week will be wearing a Star Trek outfit, causing Josh to balloon his effort into the South Stand.
We'll concede from a corner in the 44th minute.
We'll come back out, all pumped up, have a good 10 minutes where we force 19 corners but ultimately, fail to muster an effort on target.
The game will peter out with those three games in Ireland over the course of seven hours coming back to haunt us in terms of fatigue.
Ben Reeves will be watching from the West, this time with a different pair of trainers on.
Millwall and Palace will win.
We won't beat Brizzle as easily as we did last year but if everyone plays to their best we should be too strong and run out winners by two goals.
Top of the league for 1 game.