Woke up this morning feeling fine, I've got Charlton on my mind, Bowyer's got us playing the way we should... 🎶 especially in the second half as we put 4 passed Wimbledon to win 5-2 in front of 2000 lucky Addicks and an owner who finally gets us, cares, and is ambitious. Suddenly, things look very positive. Only 4 points off of top spot, and it shows that a week is a long time in football. Jonny Williams is a perfect example of that phrase too. The Welsh wizard came off the bench to essentially score the winning goal and put in a fantastic performance, just the reaction everyone would've wanted. Now the mood has changed, and we all want the next game to come as soon as possible. Well, the wish is granted as we welcome our next opponents to The Valley, on Tuesday evening under the lights, Bristol Rovers.
OppositionManager: Paul Tisdale (57.1% win rate)
Stadium: Memorial Stadium
League Position: 15th |
Last 6: WWLDLL
Nickname(s): The Gas, The Pirates
Bristol Rovers played Plymouth Argyle at home on Saturday, winning 3-0, their last line-up was:
van Stappershoef
Ehmer | Kilgour | Baldwin | Leahy
Westbrooke | Upson | Grant
McCormick
Hanlan | Nicholson
New manager Paul Tisdale, who was appointed on 19th November, has just started to turn things around at the Memorial Stadium. After a run of 7 games without a win, including the last 3 of them without a goal, Bristol Rovers have now won their last 2 games; scoring 7 goals in the process. But one thing that he has changed since coming in, is new set-piece routines. Two of The Pirates goals on Saturday came from a corner which had been worked on in training. Rather than players gathering in a specific area of the box, which you usually see from most teams, they were spread out around the box all making their own individuals runs. The ball went into the centre of the area, around the six yard line both times, and both times they scored. If Bowyer and the coaching staff decide to continue with the man-mark way of defending corners, the players must be switched on and not let the Bristol Rovers player get goal-side because it will cause us a lot of problems if they do. When attacking, their movement comes alive, the third man runs are always an option and it's helped with players like Hanlan and Nicholson up front, both who are mobile and can carry the ball forward. The Pirates also like to keep the ball more than soak up pressure and hit opponents on the counter-attack. 10 of the 16 games they've played so far this season has resulted in more possession and more passes than their opposition. And under Tisdale, pass it they will. This shouldn't be a game where the ball is in the air much of the time. But it's not wise to focus on just their strong points, they have weaknesses like everyone else and getting in behind their defence is one of them. With Washington's movement and runners from midfield, which we had on Saturday in the second half, we could get quite a few one-on-one situations.
Player wise, they have some very good League One quality across the pitch. Jack Baldwin was at Sunderland until the summer but was not in the squad on that incredible day nearly 19 months ago (where has the time gone?!). Max Ehmer, the new captain for this season, has played every minute in the league so far. The tall German defender has made over 300 appearances across the last 10 years in League One, many of them for Gillingham until he left the outside toilet for the west country in July. In midfield, Zain Westbrooke is a talented player who was in the Coventry team that won promotion last season. Chertsey born, Westbrooke would start his development at Chelsea before moving to Brentford, working his way up to their B side. After failing to break through, he'd find a new home in Coventry for a couple years and has since moved further west to Bristol Rovers. He may not score many - although he got their 3rd on Saturday - but he has the technical ability to find the pass to someone who may be more dangerous. At the base of midfield is another experienced player, Ed Upson. Another with around 300 League One appearances, Upson played for 4 different clubs at this level. The type of midfielder who keeps a team ticking over, always making himself available, always trying to look for the forward pass or the strikers movement in behind the defence. But also the midfielder who has the job to break up play. If we manage to keep him quiet, it will massively help reduce the service into Hanlan and Nicholson, allowing us more control in midfield and able to express ourselves better. If Maddison and Williams start, getting beyond Upson will be a big part of any success we have. Up front, I think we all know of Brandon Hanlan, the former Addicks academy striker is another who moved from Gillingham to Bristol Rovers in the summer, and has found the net regularly this season with 7 goals in 17 appearances in all competitions. And finally, to round it back up to a different type of Charlton note... alongside Hanlan is Nicholson who signed for The Gas in July from Colorado Rapids, the closest team to Mr Sandgaard's home in the US.
Charlton Team NewsLet's get the negative side out of the way first. I start this section of the preview the same as I did my last, 'Charlton and freak injuries, a marriage made in hell'. Akin Famewo will be out for around 9 weeks after sustaining ankle ligament damage whilst partaking in a simple defending drill in training. After clearing the ball, the Norwich loanee would fall backwards and land on his ankle, he now will spend 3 weeks in a boot before 6 weeks of rehabilitation. That leaves us back to just two fit centre backs, something we have had to get used to this season. Other news saw Morgan miss out on the squad on Saturday due to a family member contracting the virus. It means the young midfielder will have to self-isolate for a period of time and won't be available on Tuesday.
Chuks Aneke and Jonny Williams proved to be the substitutions that made the difference against Wimbledon. The latter scoring only his second Charlton goal and first at The Valley, he was also unlucky not to add to his tally but Purrington was on hand to wrap up the win, adding our 5th on the day. For Aneke, well, he continues to fulfil 'The Aneke Role' and scored again after coming on. Incredibly, that's all 6 of his goals this season from the bench. You cannot deny the impact he makes when he enters the fray. Another player worth mentioning, although he didn't get on the scoresheet, is Marcus Maddison. The left-footed maverick worked as hard as anyone off the ball, reading the play, tracking back, and making some important interceptions. We all know his quality in possession, but it was impressive to see how Bowyer has got him working hard for the team already.
As usual, we can expect to see a few changes again for Tuesday as a number of players will struggle to play 3 matches in a week. One of them is Forster-Caskey. Bowyer's failed attempt to describe him getting into the box like a duck to water would make many laugh, but the point remains the same. Forster-Caskey has the ability to score goals from midfield as he showed on Saturday, but after playing a full 90 minutes, you would expect him to be on the bench for Bristol Rovers. Other changes could see Matthews come in for Gunter, who probably put in his best display for us so far, or Purrington could come back into the team to allow Maatsen to get further forward. Due to the mobility of the two Bristol Rovers strikers, Oshilaja might get his first start in 2 months as he is far quicker than Pratley and Pearce. Bowyer has lots to think about, but I would be tempted to try and have as close to the second half team on Saturday, on the pitch from the start as possible.
(This team is not necessarily the one I would start, or expect to start)
Subs: Maynard-Brewer, Matthews, Purrington, Levitt, Forster-Caskey, Gilbey, Aneke
We now need to follow up the performance and result with another good run of form heading into the very busy Christmas and New Year period. Even though we face a Bristol Rovers side who are growing in confidence themselves, I think the confidence we will take from Saturday's emphatic win will be enough to see us through. We are going to want to start keeping clean sheets again. After the run of 6 without conceding, we've kept 1 in our last 7. Getting back to being solid will be a target everyone will want to aim for.
Charlton Athletic 2-0 Bristol Rovers
Maddison
Aneke
Comments
2-1
Maddison, Aneke (off the bench)
Theirs will involve a predictable switch off or walkabout from our defence.
Our last half dozen games have baffled me with both their performance and results.
Hopefully we can go on another run like we did before the international break.
2.1 Charlton and we can start to believe.
Both Purrington and Maatsen can play on the left if needs must. Bogle will have to keep playing, and Gilbey needs to find the form that made him highly rated at his other clubs.
Given his track record he is unlikely to return soon if the 'apparently' is true.
https://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=62456
How the fuck can you get injured in the warm down?!
The yellow cards in The FA Cup don’t count. Chuks is now one away from a suspension.
His yellow card on Saturday was a joke anyway, right in front of me and he clearly won the ball.
The last team we put 5 past before this week was Bristol Rovers*
The omens all point to us hitting 5 again on Tuesday
*These facts are off the top of my head and may be wrong