MacGillivray
Matthews
– Inniss – Famewo – Gunter
Clare
– Dobson
Morgan
Jaiyesimi
– Stockley – Washington
Substitutes
Bench: Harness – Pearce – Elewere – Watson – Clayden – Davison – Ghandour
Oxford United v Charlton Athletic
Saturday 14th August 2021 … 3pm Kick-Off
Referee: Thomas Bramall
Introduction
A goalless
draw against Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday wasn’t the worst start to a
league campaign in the world but wasn’t exactly the best either – Hopefully it’ll
end up being a hangover from pre-season with sharpness still lacking for a few
weeks, but it’s an “excuse” that can’t last for long. August will throw up some
tough fixtures, whilst promotion / relegation can’t be decided as yet; it’s not
ideal playing catch up.
This
Saturday the Valley faithful head to Oxford, the transfer window may be open
for a few more weeks, but we can’t be sitting on our hands, hoping that new
bodies will come in – The season has started so let’s not get left behind where
it truly matters
The Opposition
Name: Oxford United | Manager: Karl Robinson
Ground: Kassam Stadium
Previous Meeting: Oxford United 0-0 Charlton Athletic
Unfortunately
the Kassam Stadium is for many where our dreams of the Play-Offs ended last
season and to an extent they have a point – A penalty in the dying moments,
Ronnie Schwartz with a chance of redemption… Well in true Charlton fashion we
know what happened next and what transpired.
Our
opponents last week (with their off the field issues) may not be a threat this
season, but you’d certainly expect to see Oxford challenging again this term. Evidence of that is the reminder that this
appears a team that starts a season slowly (they’d only obtain four wins before
the end of November last year), yet get stronger as the season progresses, a
1-1 draw on the opening day of the season at Cambridge, although not in the
middle of the River Thames for once, is potential proof of that.
Just
four permanent signings have been made by our opponents along with three loans,
perhaps evidence of where others are struggling to find the right targets as
well as ourselves…
My pick
of those to watch is firstly Billy Bodin, still only 29 yet released from
Preston in the summer… Whilst the left winger struggled in the Championship he
knows where the goal was at this level, scoring 13-goals for Bristol Rovers in
his last full season in League One – Gavin Whyte on the other hand is their
loan signing to watch, and another International team mate that Conor
Washington will know well, a threat when Oxford played us at the Valley in
2018/19, scoring an impressive solo goal in what would be a 1-1 draw.
Charlton Team News
Until
we see new bodies it’s unlikely that we’ll see huge changes to the starting
eleven – Something that was probably stressed by the performance last night
when the Addicks once again disappeared from the League Cup just as quickly as
they entered… next year will be our year I’m sure of it.
So
with the squad picking itself it’s on to those currently absent, well sadly
there isn’t much to report there either, for those who didn’t see the article
yesterday, it’s likely that Ben Purrington, Alex Gilbey and Ronnie Schwartz
will remain out of the team for a little longer, that’s if the latter is ever
seen amongst the first team again.
Comments
We might get a draw, but I suspect another 1-0 defeat
This is going to be the second of many, many 0-0 draws
I have very little confidence if we need to make an attacking substitution as we do not possess a single player with any proven first team prowess on the bench.
1-0 to us, Karl Robinson own goal.
Just don't think we have enough quality to give Stockley any service at all.
Defense will be tested for most of the game and let's see if we can keep them out for 90 minutes.
Season starts Saturday - 1-3 to the Addicks
I have also stated we could draw every League game in August because of the way we are set up and the players we have available.
0-0 or 1-1; edging to 1-1 as we score from set piece and a mistake at the back leads to their goal.
I wonder if we will have a 4-2-3-1 stalemate as the Mersey boys cancel each other out ?
Or a 4-3-3 stalemate.
Please.
Same starting 11, and we can only hope we manage to bring in some players soon because we simply don’t have the players on the bench to change a game or to replace with similar quality.
With the type of side we have right now, I think we are suited to playing away. With that in mind, we pick up our first 3 points of the season.
Oxford United 0-1 Charlton Athletic
Inniss