Charlton Athletic v Peterborough UnitedSaturday 24th April 2021 ... 3pm Kick-OffReferee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire)One of three referees who are infamous in these parts of South East London, yet this is only Keith's third game below the Championship this season so must have done something wrong - Stroud took charge of two Charlton games last season which saw us pick up four points against Fulham and Bristol City.IntroductionPffffffft, where do I even start. At times you sit in front of CharltonLiveTV screaming at the screen, like many seasons before us this is a Charlton team that know how to frustrate at the best of times... After a shakey start; Tuesday night was one of those extremely rare evenings where we could sit back in relaxation and bewilderment at what was occuring on the Devon coast, six goals turning an extremely weak Goal Difference into one that challenges our rivals. Of course there is no time to rest on our laurels, defeat in any of our remaining games can undo all that good work in a heartbeat. Automatic chasing: Peterborough United are up next in South East London, if results go their way this weekend they'll be a Championship club next season.
The OppositionName: Peterborough United (2nd) |
Manager: Darren Ferguson
Ground: London Road
Previous Meeting: Peterborough United 2-1 Charlton Athletic
Right lets start by keeping things simple, if Sunderland lose at home to Accrington on Saturday and Peterborough record three points then its all over, there will be two games left for the majority of teams at this level but for a lot us there will a further game to be played. But for Sunderland and Peterborough it wont matter, the latter will be mathematically uncatchable and we're then left sorting out the four teams for the Play-Offs and relegation.
Realistically can anyone see anything differently happening? - Sunderland a few weeks ago looked destined to achieve second spot, they had an advantage over Peterborough yet found themselves running into a stubborn Charlton side who effectively caused a knock-on effect to their form, our upcoming opponents could even afford to lose 1-0 at home to Gillingham on Tuesday night, another result the Black Cats couldnt take advantage... So if, sorry I mean when, Peterborough get promotion confirmed they'll be returning to the second tier for the first time since 2013.
Darren Ferguson was sacked in 2015, it took four Managerial failures before Darragh MacAnthony realised he originally had the right man all along and Ferguson was re-hired in 2019... Some say you should never go back to an old club but this is Ferguson's third spell with Peterborough, its going to be his third promotion from League One.
Sometimes a Ferguson and a single club just fits together perfectly...
Charlton Team NewsSo it appears as though Ian Maatsen and Conor Washington have returned to fitness and will now be available for Saturdays clash with Peterborough, whisper it quietly yet along with Ryan Inniss being rested for the game against Plymouth it actually means we have zero injuries to the first team which means that this game will be the very first one this season where we have a full squad to choose from, I hope Nigel has a decent stack of headache tablets.
Ben Watson and Akin Famewo turned out to main changes from the game against Ipswich yet I'd expect Ryan Inniss to return in defence at the very least, having been injured for so long it would be sensible to rest him for the midweek games (with Akin returning to face Crewe on Tuesday night), whilst Darren Pratley could return in front of the defence and so nulify the midfield runs from Sammie Szmodics (the ex-Colchester midfielder with fourteen league goals this season) in a similar fashion to how he kept Scott Fraser quiet during our trip to Milton Keynes.
*That last part is solely my own view and not stolen from any other posters!! - Cos I wrote it first!!Amos
Matthews - Inniss - Pearce - Purrington
Forster-Caskey - Pratley - Gilbey
Jaiyesimi - Stockley - Millar
Substitutes Bench: Maynard-Brewer - Maatsen - Famewo - Gunter - Shinnie - Aneke - Watson
PredictionThis is quite an interesting Charlton game to predict in all honesty. For the large part our trip to London Road looked to be a typical away fixture, we took a deserved lead and our pressing caused Peterborough endless problems, you could (like many times this season) argue that we should have been further ahead... We also saw against Plymouth that our constant press has remained even under new Management so anything can happen; Jonsson Clarke-Harris was kept extremely quiet in the previous fixture, but with 73-goals this season, its clear that the Posh can rely on the whole team chipping in, so its important we dont put too much focus on keeping the league's top-scorer quiet.
For weeks we've talked about how these last fixtures are incredibly difficult for us, yets now spin it on its head...
None of these remaining teams will be eager to face Charlton Athletic thats for sure, not after our showing at Plymouth Argyle!!
Comments
You're right though I wouldnt, I wrote the original preview on Tuesday night before it was confirmed that Maatsen and Washington were available for this game so will amend to put Maatsen on the bench ahead of Oshilaja as agree we need more wide players than defenders on that bench.
You dont really want to have to sacrifice either Forster-Caskey or Gilbey to man mark as then we lose the best part of their game which is to build our own attacks - I'll be interested to see us press again like how we did on Tuesday as Peterborough couldnt handle that when we played at their place, I felt at the time it was only down to making substitutions (wasnt Forster-Caskey forced to come off?) that contributed to our defeat there
Some tough choices for Adkins - but a very strong bench
JFC went off for Shinnie just before we gifted them the winner.
1-2 loss, i want to expect the worse but it is there for the taking so fingers crossed
It's L1 and I don't think NA is of the motivational and tactical mindset where he will want to go into a game against somebody our level to man mark 2/3 opposition players.
0-0
0-1
Matthews - Inniss - Famewo - Purrington
F.Caskey - Watson - Gilbey
Aneke - Stockley - Washington