Charlton Athletic v Northampton Town
Saturday 19th August 2017 … 3pm Kick-Off
Referee: Kevin Johnson (Weston-Super-Mare)
IntroductionThe Football season is now slowly spluttering into life with last Saturday seeing the Addicks completing the second game in what will be a long season from now until May next year. Following our opening day victory against Bristol Rovers many fans left on a high yet have now been brought back down to earth with a bump after our 2-0 defeat at Plymouth last time out… This weekend we host Northampton Town as Karl Robinson and his side look to return to winning ways.
The OppositionName: Northampton Town |
Manager: Justin Edinburgh
Season Record: (
P)-2 | (
W)-0 | (
D)-0 | (
L)-2 | (
GS)-0 | (
GC)-2
Northampton Town come to the Valley this Saturday having made a less than impressive start… No goals have been scored by the Cobblers whilst failure to keep a clean-sheet has meant that both opening fixtures have ended in defeat. It’s worth noting though that both loses have been by a single goal meaning that our opponents this weekend won’t be a walkover of any kind… What has been the cause for the poor start though?
Well instantly it cannot be claimed that Justin Edinburgh hasn’t received the backing of the board with 14-players joining over the summer yet many of those have been to replace the nine outgoings which included Goalkeeper: Adam Smith who left for Bristol Rovers… Notable incomings have been Dean Bowditch and Daniel Powell from MK Dons on free transfers whilst Chris Long (Striker) has joined on loan from Burnley… Special mention to Matt Taylor still going at the age of 35 having played in the Premier League for West Ham and Bolton; Charlton should be well aware of his potential should any free-kicks be given around the edge of the penalty area.
Potential Northampton Line-Up:
Cornell
Phillips | A.Taylor | Pierre | Buchanan
M.Taylor | Kasim | Bowditch | Crooks
Long | Waters
Charlton Team NewsStrikers, we desperately need Strikers appears to be the cry from fans in the stands… With Tony Watt now gone and Lee Novak serving the last of his red card suspension the pressure remains completely on Josh Magennis’ shoulders as our only available senior Striker this Saturday. Once again it looks like the academy will be forced to throw in the kids before they’re potentially ready with Reeco Hackett-Fairchild the latest to under our current regime and should be on the bench this Saturday having made his debut against Plymouth.
In other areas the squad probably still picks itself especially in the wide areas with Ricky Holmes and Tariqe Fosu hopefully continuing their early season form (both deserving goals for the start they’ve had)… The one other suspect area for fans is no doubt in goal with Ben Amos having a shaky start to his Charlton career; Dillon Phillips sitting on the bench has to wonder what he’s got to do to earn a start for Charlton and as the season continues will no doubt question his own career at the club, especially as his own Contract ends next summer.
Amos
Solly | Bauer | Pearce | Dasilva
Kashi | Forster-Caskey
Holmes | Clarke | Fosu
Magennis
Substitutes Bench: Phillips | Sarr | Konsa | Reeves | Jackson | Ahearne-Grant | Hackett-Fairchild
PredictionHaving made a poor start you’d hope that Northampton are there for the taking yet Plymouth proved last week it’s not that easy… the result last week certainly worried me in terms of our inability to break teams down and see this Saturday being a carbon copy of that game (just hoping for a better result) – Failure to manage this a long season ahead beckons as many other teams will be adapting the very same style.
Comments
i see they are advertising that players children this week to take part in family fun day, which is good as a fun atmosphere for kids as football should be fun for them, before there old enough to realise what a pigs ear you have made of there football club.
from os;
Saturday will see the club celebrate its family and community values and as part of the day some of the players' kids will be amongst the matchday mascots
2-1 Charlton
I have a good feeling we will turn these over.
4-1
It was nice while it lasted, but the “Countdown to Promotion 17/18” thread has now slipped down to page 3, and the Scouse gobshite’s “fans have got their team back” comment looks likely to rank as one of the stupidest of his many stupid quotes.
For the realists any hint of early season optimism is now officially over. Like an inmate at Wormwood Scrubs who’s just enjoyed a rare conjugal visit from his missus, we must now head reluctantly back to our cells to contemplate the remainder of our sentence at HMP Roland.
Despite Karl’s quite brilliant “3 games in 3 days” intensive pre-season fitness programme, we’re already struggling with injuries, and fielding players who aren’t fully fit. It doesn’t help that, despite having had since last February to identify and obtain transfer targets, we still find ourselves with a paper-thin squad, scrabbling around at the end of the transfer window for a striker when it’s been apparent since Ajose bombed out that we’ve needed a proper goalscorer (not to mention some strength in depth in other areas). Karl’s pre-match bullshits this week in relation to signing a striker were particularly sobering: http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/15478987.Robinson_gives_worrying_update_on_Charlton_striker_search/.
Can anyone translate this ridiculous sentence into normal English?! – “It’s not my fault, it’s previous things that have been done and maybe people have been left to do what they need to do and put us in this position.”
Northampton look like ideal opposition, having lost all three of their opening encounters, but let’s not forget that Tubby McChatterbox oversaw our first defeat to the Cobblers in 53 years when we lost 2-1 last March, and I wouldn’t bet against him smashing another record by overseeing our first home defeat in 82 years. However, there does appear to be some fighting spirit in our threadbare squad, and I reckon that’ll be enough to earn us a draw.
1-1, Bauer gets his second of the season. Fat Karl states in his post-match press conference that Patrick Bauer’s goal-scoring feats have demonstrated that we don’t need to sign another forward. “Countdown to Promotion 17/18” thread slips down to page 6.
Looks a good signing for them
a goal drought ? .. yet still one up front ? .. at home ? .. against a middling 3rd strata team ? .. even so we should win this (I am stating should, I should be typing 'definitely will')
CAFC 2 v Northampton Town 0
Amos
Player discipline.
Set pieces
Which way we kick
Fosu and Holmes
To win we will need to establish a two goal cushion in the first hour, otherwise I suspect a draw or defeat. Probably a 1-1 like last season.
That's not to say Reeves won't be in the squad, as I know he is doing a lot of pre season type work, but I did find it a little strange he wasn't taking part with the whole group considering they would've been working on patterns of play and shape.
Hanlan was also doing running drills on the side by the U23 training, so hopefully he is back soon.
Not sure how I feel about tomorrow, but hoping for a win.
3-1
Queue first ripple of discontent among the smattering of fans around The Valley.