Charlton Athletic v Forest Green Rovers | Tue 13 Aug | Match Preview, Predictions, News & Views

On an advanced side note, I will be sharing the responsibilities of doing the pre match preview with @ForeverAddickted by writing up the midweek previews for this season.

Charlton Athletic v Forest Green Rovers (EFL Cup)
Tuesday 13th August | Kick-Off: 19.45pm
Referee: John Busby (Oxfordshire)

Introduction
Even the most optimistic Charlton supporter surely wouldn’t have envisioned the perfect start to the season, especially with how our squad was looking just this time last week. But once again, Bowyer and the boys continue to defy the odds and show the team spirit and quality that we possess in the team. Bowyer repeatedly said that we would surprise teams this season and we have already started doing just that. One of the only two teams in the division to still have a 100% record, we must really take a lot of confidence from this start. But now we must temporarily turn our attentions to the first cup competition of the season, the EFL Cup, or otherwise known as the Carabao Cup. Our record for this competition is notoriously awful with only managing to reach the third round once in the last eleven seasons. It remains to be seen whether we can we fare better this season, but first we must get past our opposition on Tuesday night, Forest Green Rovers.


Opposition - Forest Green Rovers
Manager: Mark Cooper (41% win rate)
Stadium: The New Lawn
Nickname(s): Rovers / Green Devils
Fun facts: First club in history to have their kits made from eco-friendly bamboo material & players are instructed to follow a plant based diet throughout the season.

Forest Green finished 5th last season, only missing out on automatic promotion by 5 points. In the play-offs they struggled to impose themselves having been reduced to 10 men in both of their semi-final games against the eventual winners, Tranmere Rovers. A positive start to this season has followed, winning their opening game against Oldham Athletic and drawing away at Walsall on the weekend. Although they were caused a lot of problems against the Saddlers and were fortunate to come away with a point. The bookies have them at 16/1 to win the league, and 4/1 for promotion. 

Rovers have started the season playing a back 3, a system rarely used in League Two, so it will be interesting to see whether they carry on with the formation, especially as Walsall’s striker, Elijah Adebayo, got in behind their defence time after time on Saturday. Since last season, they have lost their main threat up front, Chris Doidge. A player who had a 1 in 2 record with Forest Green, Doidge has since moved on to Hibernian. Instead, the eco-friendly club will now look to others who they hope can produce the goods. George Williams is currently injured, the former Fulham attacker and Welsh international would have been someone to watch out for. Instead, Aaron Collins and Shawn McCoulsky could be potential danger men if they are to play on Tuesday evening. McCoulsky is a former Dulwich Hamlet striker who grew up in Lewisham, whilst Collins has represented Wales at under age levels. In defence, Forest Green have the extremely experienced and well travelled, Matt Mills, who regularly played in the Championship for a decade with clubs such as Reading, Bolton, and Nottingham Forest. 


Charlton Team News
With the league being our main priority, I forecast there to be wholesale changes to the team we saw win at The Valley on Saturday. The fact that we have the luxury (when was the last time this happened?!) of having a squad of players that don’t rely too much on the youth, means we can get some minutes into the legs of those who need it most.

In terms of personnel, other than Lewis Page and new loanee Beram Kayal currently being injured, there are no other players known to be unavailable. Bowyer confirmed on Saturday that Forster-Caskey, Field, Bonne, and Aneke will play, making the prediction for this cup tie a bit easier. Overall, I think we will see a sprinkle of youth who may go out on loan (this is a good shop window for them to get a move to a decent club) as well as players on the fringes who need game time. Don’t expect us to be risking anyone more important to the team. Let’s put out a good side and get the job done.



Prediction
Winning is a great habit to get ourselves into and progressing into the next round will also allow us to continue to get minutes into the legs of those who might not feature as much, or players we will still be looking to bring in. At home, I would anticipate us to be comfortable.