tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-224064422024-03-08T02:03:28.983+01:00Views From an Iberian ValleyNews and Views on Charlton Athletic Football Club as seen from Spainnelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.comBlogger520125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-24905615328383153412012-03-22T08:53:00.001+01:002012-03-22T08:53:48.937+01:00Who's Going to Keep Their Nerve?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Just 45 days left of the football season, a little over 6 weeks and which team, and manager, will be better at keeping their nerve?</div>
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We are still in a dominant position, 9 points clear of Sheff. Utd and 11 clear of Wednesday and they don't even talk about us now as they battle among themselves for the second automatic spot. So are we worried or not? Well, that will depend as much on you as the team so lets do our best to help you enjoy these last few weeks of a memorable season.</div>
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Everyone is calculating how many points we need to get the Championship/automatic promotion. Will we need 90, 95 or whatever? But the Number One priority is, of course, to stay above the third placed team, currently Wednesday although Huddersfield could equal their points total if they win their game in hand.</div>
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The good news when comparing the Addicks, the Blades and Wednesday is that we have all fallen below our best over the last 8 games. Over the whole season so far the Addicks have averaged 2.16 points per game, United 1.92 and Wednesday 1.87 whereas over the last 8 games, both ourselves and Wednesday have dropped to 1.75 and United are down to 1.37. So everyone is suffering from bad nerves with 4th placed Huddersfield also down to 1.62 points per game.</div>
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So we ask ourselves, will the next 8 games be any easier than the last 8 - well, probably not as the Play-off and relegation battles hot-up - so it would seem obvious to calculate how many points both Sheffield clubs would get if they continued at their current rate. That's easy - United would add just 11 and Wednesday 14 to give them totals for the season of 84 for United and 85 for the mighty Wednesday compared to our current Addicks total of 82.</div>
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Now, you can see some daylight. At those averages the Addicks only need four more points to be certain of grabbing hold of the silverware. But I can see you're not convinced, you want it to be harder than that don't you? </div>
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OK, lets see how easy are the 8 games of our opponents to see whether or not they may improve on their current averages. United look to have an easy run-in and face the 3 bottom teams, Chesterfield, Rochdale and Exeter; 2 more involved in the Play-off race, MK Dons and Stevenage and 3 others in mid-table, Hartlepool, Bournemouth and Orient. OK, I hear you say - any team that puts 5 past Notts County could well win at least 6 of those games against such iffy opposition giving them at least 18 more points and a grand total of 91 even if they lost to the Dons and Stevenage, and that's 9 more than we currently have, so we would need at least 3 more wins plus whatever else they pick up.</div>
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OK, then lets look at Wednesday. They, on the other hand being in 3rd place, we only have to match game for game to keep them below us and what better than to play the same teams which is almost the case. No less than 6 of our own opponents - Huddersfield, Orient, Preston, Wycome, Carlisle and Oldham also play Wednesday. Annoying thing is we play 4 of them before they do so we won't know what their result would be.</div>
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So all in all then we're got no idea what going to happen and I'm sure Sir Chris is only planning on winning as many games as possible until he can relax - hopefully in about 4 games time.......</div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-23879645508527654452012-03-15T08:30:00.003+01:002012-03-15T10:40:09.219+01:00The Complete Run-In Guide<div style="text-align: justify;">
As I was saying only a couple of weeks ago, the Addicks are not usually very good at run-ins.</div>
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But we are still on top, eleven points clear of third placed Wednesday and need 19 more points to ensure automatic promotion. Of course we won't need all 19 as games become harder for everyone and not only for us as Sheff Utd found out on Tuesday. Looking at our last ten games, we can divide them neatly into 5 homes and 5 aways. Our away form is by far the best in the Division and would appear, if you believe Yann, to be where our players feel most at ease. </div>
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But, sorry Yann, the 5 aways would appear to be much more tougher that the home games. They are in sequence: Scunthorpe, Huddersfield, Oldham, Carlisle and Preston, so lets have a closer look to see our chances.</div>
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<strong>Scunthorpe</strong> are the first this weekend. They are currently 18th, only 6 points from safely so need the points badly and they are showing a fighting spirit to avoid a second successive relegation as they demonstrated on Tuesday with a 90th minute equaliser at Yeovil . Their long trip to Yeovil may work to our advantage but they are still 9th in current form over the last 8 games with a record of W3 D3 L2. In contrast their seasons record at home is not good reading as they have a total of 7 home defeats and only Orient have won less home points although they are fighting as a record of W2 D1 L2 over the last 5 homes shows. On the bright side they are not renowned for their exploits against the top half and are 17th in those games with only 2 wins against the best in the League. However, they did drew 1-1 at the Valley and another draw as we dig our heels in after our two defeats does looks likely.</div>
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<strong>Huddersfield</strong> are the next away game. Lying 4th but only 11th in current form with a record of W2 D5 L1 they lie 3 points behind Wednesday.They only have 2 home defeats and might want revenge for their record breaking defeat at the Valley. They also lie 3rd in getting points against the top 12 teams with 7 wins. Another draw....</div>
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<strong>Oldham</strong> are next. 14th in the table and currently 8 points from safety. 15th on current form with 4 defeats in the last 8 games and another team with 7 home defeats.They also have the same home record as Scunthorpe over the last 5 with W2 D1 L2. Their record against the top half is also bad with only 3 wins recorded. A Win surely.</div>
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Six games from now in Game 43, and <strong>Carlisle</strong> await us on April 14th. Currently 7th and only 1 point off the Play-Offs they are fighting for the 6th place with Notts County and Stevenage. Eighth on current form with 4 wins in the last 8 games and with only 3 home defeats all season and one of the 6 teams to record more than 10 home wins. Also with 4 home victories in the last 5 home games and a record of 5 wins against the best in the League. But we have a good record against Carlisle with 7 wins in the last 9 games and have already beaten them twice this season at the Valley scoring 6 and conceding none. Draw</div>
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And lastly there's <strong>Preston North End</strong>. Slowly sliding down the League and currently in 15th but are 22nd on current form with only 1 win in the last 8 games. Six home defeats and a record of W1 D3 L1 in their last 5 at home add to a sense that the Addicks can get the three points. But, like Carlisle, they do have a good record of 5 wins against the best in the League. Trouble is by the time we play them they may need the points desperately so a Draw.</div>
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The five home games are against Yeovil, Orient, Walsall, Wycombe and Hartlepool. An easier set of teams you couldn't imagine surely in 13th, 17th, 20th, 22nd and 11th place respectively and a record of 39 away defeats among them. Nobody going for promotion but there are three teams looking to avoid the drop.</div>
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The first to arrive for the expected slaughter in just 5 days time are <strong>Yeovil Town</strong>. As we said they are currently 13th with a total of 7 away defeats, but as is common among the bottom teams at this time of the season they are fighting for survival and are currently 2nd in the form table with a record of W5 D1 L2 over the last 8. More to the point perhaps is that they have won 3 of their last 5 away games at Oldham, MK Dons and Wycombe. And they know how to score goals at the Valley with 5 in their 4 visits. They beat us 1-0 in a league cup game in August 2008 in their first ever visit to us and had a 2-3 loss in Novenber 2010 when they twice came back to equalise goals from JJ and Racon before JJ got his second goal from the penalty spot 5 minutes from time. So expect a fight. A Draw.</div>
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After Yeovil come <strong>Leyton Orient</strong>. Currently lying a worrying 19th, 6 points above Exeter and safety. They are also 19th in current form with a record of W2 D2 L4 so are not showing much of a fight to stay in League One. But this is a derby and their away form shows 2 wins in their last 5 games at Bournemouth and Preston and a good total of 4 wins against the top half although we have the question of revenge for over 1-0 defeat in December. A Win</div>
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Game 42, just 5 to go, is at home to <strong>Walsall.</strong> Currently lying 20th, one place above Exeter and just 3 points from safety. But again with a record of W3 D3 L2 over the last 8, including a 3-2 win over Sheff. Utd, they too are fighting the drop and have only lost one game in their last 5 away. We play them in 5 games time on Easter Monday but they play 6 games before then so their fate could be a lot clearer as they have to play both Chesterfield and Rochdale. Moreover, they have a good record against the Addicks with 2 wins and 2 draws in the last 4 games and even won 1-0 at the Valley in December 2010. Their complete record at the Valley is good with 5 wins and 2 draws in the 14 games. On the plus side they only have 3 wins against teams in the top half this season. A Draw.</div>
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With just 3 games to go <strong>Wycombe Wanderers</strong> arrive at the Valley. Currently a fighting 14th on current form with 3 wins in the last 8, they are still languishing in 22nd spot, four points away from Walsall in the coveted 20th position. And its their away form which is letting them down with 12 away defeats and 5 in their last 5 aways. A Win..</div>
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As we all know, the last game of the season is against <strong>Hartlepool</strong> on May 5th. Currently stuck in a midtable 11th, 10 points off the Play-offs and an enormous 12 above the drop zone they will be happy to look forward to another League One season. An end of season Win then unless the trophy is already won in which case we'll probably lost. </div>
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So forecast for the Away games - 1 Win and 4 draws, 7 points</div>
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Home games - 3 wins and 2 draws, 11 points</div>
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A grand total of 96 points, enough for the Championship?.....</div>
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</div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-19243254735367442912012-03-01T09:46:00.000+01:002012-03-01T09:47:33.404+01:00The Final Countdown<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Season run-ins have not been a Addicks speciality in recent years. Apart from the epic Lennie escape act in 1987 and the Curbs-lead charges in both 1998 and 2000 its all been pretty desperate stuff. And everyone can remember the fear that seemed to affect everyone during the Curbishley years as soon as March arrived. </div>
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But this is 2012 and with March dawning we can't let the current situation go un-noticed or uncelebrated, even if there are still 13 games left to play. We are top of the Division with 75 points from 33 games, an average of 2.27 per game. There's a gap of 13 massive points before second placed Sheffield United appear on the horizon while the team in 3rd, Wednesday, are 15 points behind us. We have an enormous goal difference of plus 40 (forty), 11 more than the next best, Huddersfield. We have scored the most goals, 63, and conceded the least with 23. We have the most wins, 22 and the fewest defeats, 2, in the Division.</div>
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We have the most clean sheets with 14 out of 33 games and the fewest no-score games with just 2. While we have easily the best away record with our Addicks record equalling 12 wins, we don't have the best Home Record on points with both Sheffield clubs winning more games at home than we have, and with United winning more home points but both have lost twice at home whereas, of course, we haven't, so I personally prefer our record to theirs.</div>
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But are we chanting victory too early? There's still 13 games and 39 points to play for and who knows? They may talk of Champions Elect but this is the Addicks we are talking about and we will always fear the worst. So lets try to reassure ourselves a bit. Automatic promotion is clearly the number one target for everyone. Let's get out of this poxy place, three years is quite long enough. Huddersfield Town are currently our nearest challengers that can deny us that goal. They are currently 4th but have a game in hand on Wednesday in 3rd and are only 1 point behind them so their maximum points haul is greater than the Massives. Huddersfield currently have 59 points from 32 games, 16 points behind us.</div>
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Looking at the current form table over the last 8 games, they are notching an average of 1.87 points per game. But new manager Simon Grayson has had a win and a draw in his two games in charge so is currently achieving 2 points per game. So what exactly am I getting at? Well, if Huddersfield continue on 2 points per game over their remaining 14 games they will reach the heady total of 87 points for the season. So for me that's our target, just 12 more points, 4 more wins to ensure the goal of Automatic Promotion.</div>
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The month of March brings us: Bournemouth (A), Colchester (H), Notts County (H), Scunthorpe (A), Yeovil (H), Huddersfield (A) and Orient (H). Of course, we still can't celebrate even when we reach 87 points because its just possible that Huddersfield, or even Wednesday, could go berserk and win every game they have left. After their game against the Addicks, Huddersfield have only 8 games remaining so even then, on March 24th, we would need a gap of 24 points to be certain of an automatic spot. </div>
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So maybe that should really be our aim - forget the 87 points total but increase the gap over Huddersfield in the next 5 games from 16 to 24 and a trip to Huddersfield to win the point that would ensure promotion on the ground of our nearest challengers. But that's a tough call for even if we win all 5, 15 points, Huddersfield would need to get only 7 for us to be 24 in front come March 24th. And Huddersfield's next 5 games all look winnable with home games against Hartlepool and Rochdale and away against Bury, Colchester and Chesterfield especially when you see their recent record of only 1 defeat in their last 12. One thing working against the Terriers can be understood when you look at one of the few tables that we are not top of; the score first table. Only Huddersfield have scored first in games more times than we have, their 24 to our 23 but a more damning statistic could not be brought up in front of Lee Clark for whereas the Addicks have won no less than 20 of our 23 games having scored first, the Terriers have only won 14 and drawn 10. </div>
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So all in all we may have to win at the Galpharm to force the issue and reach that 24 point gap and here we come to another happy statistic. Not only have we already beaten Huddersfield 2-0 at the valley, ending their record breaking run, but the Addicks are currently the best, the very best, in games against the top half of the table in League One. An amazing 13 wins in 16 games, an astonishing 41 points against the cream, with 30 goals scored and only 5 conceded and the only blot being that defeat at Stevenage on October 15th. <br />
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And if we can win all the next 5 and Huddersfield kept to their 2 points per game we'll be 21points in front when we play them and a win there on March 24th will move us to the magic 24 with them only having 8 games left and leave Promotion almost assured.</div>
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Ah, but wait a minute - you clearly haven't noticed ( points out my brother, Hardy ) that only 2 of our next 5 opponents are in the top half of the table.........</div>
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Once an Addick, always an Addick.......</div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-34431851291501085342011-11-02T08:11:00.003+01:002011-11-02T08:43:42.389+01:00Table Toppers - But will it Last?<div align="justify">No time these days for match reviews and with other good blogs around its been a pleasure to read rather than write. And with the levels of euphoria around at the moment its just been a pleasure to be an Addicks fan wherever you live and to enjoy wallowing in it all. The mishap at Stevenage a couple of weeks ago is looking more and more like a bit of a blip and we must all be pleased at how the team has reacted to their first defeat. Three wins since then have kept our place at the top and has now given us equal most-goals in the Division with Huddersfield and the biggest goal difference to boot.</div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>But</strong>.....</div><br /><div align="justify">Now I'm not normally a pessimist but being a Charlton fan I do tend to look on the black side after all those years of suffering. Which means that lying quietly there at the back of my mind there's always an tedious itch endless searching for the banana skin that will prove fatal. So, after another long look at the Table and a feeling that a total of 37 points after 16 games was pretty good going I nevertheless wanted something to reassure me so I began to wonder what had happened in the past to teams at the top of Tier Three after 16 games. </div><br /><div align="justify">Well, only one team in the last 10 years has managed more than 37 points in the first 16 games and that was Leeds in 2009/10 who had 39 points and, of course, got promoted in May in second place behind Norwich. And only one other team managed 37 - Brentford leading from Brighton in 2001/02 - so 37 is indeed good going but there's a long way to go yet so, of course, you all want to know what happened at the end of the season to all those number 1's that were leading the Table in those past 10 years.</div><br /><div align="justify">Well, of those 10 leaders, only two failed to win promotion, Forest in 2006/07 with 34 points after 16 and Brentford with their good total of 37 in 2001/02. Of the rest 4 (Plymouth (30 after 16 games), Luton (35), Southend (33) and Brighton(34) ) finished as Champions, 2 (Leeds (39) and Forest (30)) finished in the second automatic spot and 2 (Cardiff (34) and Scunthorpe (33) ) went up via the Play-offs. </div><br /><div align="justify">So the only ones that missed out on promotion were Brentford in 2001/02 finishing 3rd and missing the auto spot by just a single point whereas the worst failures were clearly Forest in 2006/07 who ended up 4th, 3 points behind 2nd place, although they were promoted the following year. Both teams lost in the play-offs. </div><br /><div align="justify">So it all looks pretty good doesn't it but before you think that its all over bar the shouting, I should remind everyone that the Addicks have been in second place in the table for the last two years after 16 games played with totals of 32 and 28 points respectively only to fall away in both years. </div><br /><div align="justify">Of course, it won't happen this time, will it, but I'm just going to check another couple of years to settle me down a tad.</div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-89836943487760741812011-02-25T11:35:00.006+01:002011-02-25T11:48:32.339+01:00Notts County Preview<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">We live pretty high up, 600 metres above sea level, and because of the mountains, sometimes in winter I wake up in the middle of a cloud and you don't know where you are. And right now thats how it seems with Charlton. Forgive me my apparent ignorance, I am after all 1000 miles away, but I was beginning to see some light at the end of our Tier Three tunnel and beginning to imagine that we would soon get to the end of a nightmarish period that we are clearly not used to. </div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Of course, others closer to home have been constantly trying to divert me from my fantasies and delusions and have tried everything to shake me out of my dreamy state by repeating over and over again that we were just very lucky to be in 5th place, and that one day lady luck would desert us.<br />I laughed, we always think we know better than the others, but now, of course, it seems that the majority were all correct in their pessimism. Its now been two dreary defeats after 4 wins in a row and we find ourselves out of the Play-off places again. Not that that should surprise us really, 'cause thats where we have spent 15 of the 29 games so far this season and we are now back where we were when Sir Chris took us over.<br /><br />And, after giving Exeter their first ever win at the Valley after 14 failed attempts we can move onto the other foot this time because at Notts County we face a similar picture - after 16 visits we've won only one with 7 draws and 8 defeats. The only victory took place in May 1977, a 1-0 win in the last game of the season with the goal coming from Flanagan. Overall its an embarrassing 11 wins each with 12 draws. And perhaps we should mention that although we may not think we should be superior, in fact Notts County and the Addicks just about share equal success in the history of the Football League. We've each won the FA Cup once with a 4-1 win and their best finish was a 3rd place compared with our 2nd in the 30's. We've enjoyed 26 years in the top flight and they 30, although most of theirs was a long time along, and while the Addicks are 33rd in the all-time top flight rankings, County are just behind in 34th.<br /></div><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">The Opposition</span><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Paul Ince took over on October 28th last year after the dismissal of Craig Short when the club was sinking towards the relegation places after 7 defeats in their first 13 games. Perhaps highlighting their early successes in the previous century, County had a very sensible and conservative total of 7 managers in their first 51 years, which is in stark contrast to recent years where Ince is now their 13th manager in the last 10 and can by all the reckoning be expected to be sacked during the summer. Lee Hughes and Craig Westcarr and leading scorers with 12 and 11. Hughes it was of course that scored the Valley goal that saw us relegated to Tier Three back in April 2009 with an injury time equaliser in the 2-2 draw with Blackpool.<br /></div><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Form<br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">County are currently 18th, twelve points behind the Addicks and only 4 above the drop zone.</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"> </span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">Overall their home record is the similar to the Addicks with 8 wins in 15 but with 6 defeats to our 4. Over the last 8 games both teams are pretty equal with the Addicks getting 13 points to County's 12 but whereas Huddersfield, Orient and Rochdale are unbeaten over the last 8, nobody has conceded less goals in that time than Notts County whose defence has only been beaten 5 times. In comparison, the Addicks have conceded 13!</span><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">And to emphasize the difficult task open to Powells boys, after a dismal October/November with the</span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">ir 4 defeats in a row, County have now had a run of only 2 defeats in their last 12 League games.</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"> </span><br /></div><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br />Whats Their Secret?</span><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Not letting in goals and keeping clean sheets have become a passion for Mr Ince. County only kept their opponents out 3 times in their first 13 games before he joined but after an initial learning curve have now enjoyed 7 clean sheets in their last 12 games. In fact over that last 12, they have accumulated 22 points out of a possible 36 from 6 wins and 4 draws which is exactly the same record as leaders Brighton over the same period. Take note, Chris. </div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">But while keeping the opposition out has been Plan A for Ince, down the other end you could say he's not been so productive. After climbing to 13th on January 3rd after 4 wins out of 5, there followed 5 games without a win and with only 2 goals scored. That was rectified in a midweek game at home to Colchester where a 2-0 win was the result. Last weekend, of course, saw a 0-5 away defeat at the hands of Man. City in the FA Cup.<br /></div><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">The Team</span><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Its at this point that a bit of encouragement is needed. For those bloggers who see 7th place as the best we can achieve, perhaps we can give supply them with some reasoning for their anxieties and at the same time encourage the rest. Because, rather surprisingly, and although we've only had 12 games against the top half of the table, we are the team to have got most out of those 12 at an average of 2 points per game. That's better than anybody else. Meanwhile, however, in proof of our inconsistencies we have failed to beat any of the bottom four at the Valley, losing 2 and drawing the other 2 and while only losing twice against the beat half of the League we have lost 6 times against the supposed crap, ie Exeter twice, Hartlepool, Brentford, Swindon and Walsall.<br />As for the team on Friday night it'll be interesting to see if Sir Chris makes any changes. A howler from Doherty and a lack of goals despite lots of chances created could prompt some movement off the bench by Joe Anyinsah perhaps.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Verdict</span><br />With our record at Meadow Lane of one win in 16 and County's form to date, another defeat is to be expected. County have only conceded 2 goals during the first half in their last 12 games so don't expect us to score in the first 45 again and it all points to few goals being expected. </div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">0-1 to County, then? </div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-19425921210788968972011-02-04T10:40:00.004+01:002011-02-04T10:46:07.033+01:00Yeovil Town Preview<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">Maybe it was a fortunate three points on Tuesday but for sure Chris isn't complaining. Two clean sheets, six points and a three game unbeaten run now... </span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"><br />But after the changes in ownership, management and players its still hard to see exactly where we are. Are we improving from a bad run in December or has Sir Chris just been lucky? And its not helped by looking at the table, because after a winter of frost and disruption, the League One table is looking a bit of a shambles. Five teams - the Addicks, Carlisle, Orient, Notts County and the Daggers - have all played 25 games while the likes of Plymouth have played 4 more. And its all meant that the Addicks now have twenty-one games left </span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">until the end of season and, as of Saturday, only have 91 days left to play them all. </span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">That's an average of one game every 4.3 days<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> </span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">and with only 14 Saturdays</span></span> left that means they'll be a midweek game every other week between now and the 7th May. Saying goodbye to all those cup competitions doesn't seem to have helped us and we can only help that we stay clear of major injuries between now and the end of the season.<br />All of which means that though we have slipped to 8th we have games in hand over all the 7 teams above us, with three games in hand over Bournemouth and MK Dons and two over Huddersfield and Oldham.<br /></div><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br />The Opposition</span><br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">After 108 years in non-League football, Yeovil have only been in the Football League nine years and after two years spent in Tier Four this is now their sixth year in Tier Three with 5th place in 2006-07 their highest placing. Last season they finished 15th just 3 points away from the drop zone and this season didn't start too well either with only two wins in the first nine games which took the Glovers down into the relegation places. Worst was to follow with a disastrous run of 6 defeats in seven games in October and November, conceding 3 goals in 4 consecutive <em></em>games including losing 2-3 at the Valley, all of which meant a second from bottom placing for six weeks and into the New Year.<br /></div><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Form</span><br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Due to the weather, the Glovers only played one game in December, a 0-0 away draw at Colchester and they followed that up with another useful away point at Plymouth on New Years day. But those two games meant that they had failed to score for 42 days and were still in 23rd place. Something had to be done and during the January transfer window four new men joined the club - ex-Southampton midfielder Paul Wotton, 18 year old German midfielder on loan from QPR Max Ehmer, goalkeeper Richard Martin and ex-Exeter midfielder 37 year old Alex Russell.<br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">And much to Terry Skiverton's relief, there was an immediate improvement. After the leaky defence of November, as witnessed at the Valley where they have been the only club to concede three, they continued the goalless draws with Colchester and Plymouth with a further three shut-outs against MK Dons (h), Brentford (h) and Swindon (a) and won all three games, 1-0, 2-0 and 1-0.<br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">So after starting the year in 23rd spot with only 4 wins in 20 games and 5 points from safety, the Glovers, even after a disappointing 0-1 defeat to Rochdale at home on 22nd January, but with a 2-1 win over Brentford away last weekend and another 1-0 home win over Plymouth on Tuesday night, have now lifted themselves into 17th with 5 wins in their last 7 games<br /><br />And perhaps more to the point, the Glovers now find themselves one of the Form Clubs of the moment with a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and only that one Rochdale defeat in their last 8 games. Seventeen points have been grabbed from those 8 games, 7 more than the Addicks have managed with only a couple of wins, and all with only 4 goals conceded, a complete turnover after leaky November with only 4 goals conceded.<br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">So on to the good news. Only one team has suffered more home defeats than Yeovil's total of five this year and that's bottom of the table Walsall with eight and that helps to give the Glovers the 3rd worst home record. And the list of teams taking away all three points must give us hopes of continuing our good away record - Hartlepool, Exeter, Wednesday, Rochdale, and even Dagenham and Redbridge have all won at Huish Park this season.<br /></div><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">DangerMan<br /></span><br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">Number 10 Dean Bowditch is the Glovers top goalscorer with 8 League goals and is just two behind his last seasons tally.</span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"></span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"></span></div><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br />What's Their Secret?<br /></span><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">The Glovers and the Addicks are both pretty useless when the opposition score first </span><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">w</span></span><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">ith Yeovil earning just 2 points from the 12 occasions when they have let in the first goal and the Addicks only a point better from the eight games where we have conceded first.</span></span><br />But we finish our games much the stronger because while the Addicks have scored no less than 10 times in the last 5 minutes plus added on time, the Glovers have done the opposite and conceded 8 times in the same 5 minutes.<br /></div><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"></span></span></div><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">History<br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">Only our 6th game ever against the Glovers and so far we have won 3, drawn 1 and lost 1 of the previous five. Four games have been at the Valley with only the single draw, a 1-1 affair last season, being at Huish Park. That was the game that saw Sam Sodje get his 13th red card of his career and we had to play over a hour with 10 men. Luckily, his brother Akpo, saved our blushes with a cracking 56th minute equaliser. </span></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying?</span></strong></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Bradley after his move to the Addicks, "<em>I failed a medical at Reading because they just didn't want to take a risk but Charlton are my local club, although I supported Arsenal, and I couldn't turn Charlton down. I feel good and my knee feels good. I think I'm going to need a few more games but I should be all right. "</em></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;">And the Glovers man Terry Shiverton had this to say after Yeovils' 5th win in 8 over Plymouth on Tuesday,<em> "A lot of teams were saying before Christmas that we had a soft underbelly and that were a good footballing side that could be turned over, but now they're having to come to Huish Park and work really, really hard."<br /></em></div></span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"></span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)"><br />The Team<br /></span><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">Chris Powell made his second Charlton signing on Monday bringing in </span>Federico Bessone on-loan from Leeds. He's a left-back, Argentinian, 27 years old and has played in the same team, Barca Reserves, as Leo Messi. He also knows Miguel Llera from their year together at La Liga side (in 2007-08 anyway ) Gimnastic before moving on to Swansea. He would appear to be a bit famous for his errors but I somehow can't see Chrissie Powell making a mistake with a left-back - a striker maybe but not a left-back and his first game on Tuesday showed just why Sir Chris had brought him in.</div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">As for the second newcomer, only time will tell whether our taking on Bradley Wright-Phillips was a mistake or not. And Reading, who decided it was a risk not worth taking, may be watching his progress.</div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /></div><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Verdict</span><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">So we've never lost at Huish Park and can point to a four month unbeaten away run in the League. On the other hand the Glovers are enjoying themselves at the moment with 5 wins in the last 8 to earn 2nd place behind Bournemouth in the Form guide over the last 8 games. A draw looks likely but Chris needs to bear in mind that although our home form has now improved to 9th best, we have slipped to 5th best away team although we have outscored everyone with our 26 away goals. Southampton have now won 6 away from home while the leaders Brighton are on 5. The Addicks have done well at Brighton, Colchester and Wednesday recently but are still stuck on 4 away victories, the last one being at Peterborough in the middle of November. We need to start winning again. </div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">But three wins on the trot in your new job may be asking a bit much against a team in form, a 1-1 draw then unless we can take advantage of their tired legs in the last 5 minutes to snatch a winner. </div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-81294175020241578052011-01-28T11:06:00.005+01:002011-01-28T11:18:23.629+01:00Rochdale Preview (a)<div align="justify"><a href="http://kappa.ecommzone.com/lz/CAFC/004ZTK/0/images/story3teaser.gif"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 140px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 140px" alt="" src="http://kappa.ecommzone.com/lz/CAFC/004ZTK/0/images/story3teaser.gif" border="0" /></a>Saturday was a giant step in the right direction in the search for Fortress Valley and after no less than six 1-0 home wins in all competitions, Saturdays 2-0 win was unbelievably our biggest home win of the season and even then we had to wait until the 90th minute for the 2nd goal to go in. </div><div align="justify">But that 2-0 win over Plymouth couldn't have come at a better time as Chris Powell needs, desperately, to get rid of the sense of foreboding that appears to attack the players on home soil. It's becoming a bit of a millstone around our necks and although 6 wins out of 12 at the Valley isn't disastrous its worth pointing out that its a worse record than say Orient although on the plus side it is better than our next opponents Rochdale. </div><div align="justify">But perhaps we could argue that its because, whatever we may think, Charlton are still seen as a Big Club as far as League One is concerned. So lets compare it with the only teams above us on attendances, Southampton and Wednesday. Both have lost the same number of home games as we have, three, and both have around the around the same points per home game as we have, 1.78 for the Saints, 1.75 the Addicks and only 1.69 for the Owls. So perhaps it's the away teams we should be blaming and not our players as our opponents seem to be raising their game when they play in the bigger stadiums. Compare the rating of the best home teams, Bournemouth, Brighton, MK Dons and Peterborough, all with over 2 points per home fixture. Whereas the Addicks home gate now averages 15,400, MK Dons only average 8,000, table leaders Brighton only 7,000 and Bournemouth and Peterborough a distinctly average 6,500. </div><div align="justify">Anyway, this week its back on the road again where in the same period that we've lost to Brighton, Walsall and Swindon at home, we are unbeaten in seven games with our last defeat away from the Valley being on October 2nd at Brentford.<br /></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Not that it should worry us but surprisingly, Rochdale have a better <strong>away</strong> record than we do with 18 points against our 17 but then we have played against 6 of the top 10 home clubs already and have only lost to two of them. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">But at home, Rochdale have only the 17th best home record in League One but then again are on a run of 6 games without defeat which equals their best run of the season which took them up to 4th place back in September. In fact, over the last 8 games their share top spot with unlikely company in the shape of Notts County, both teams having a record of 4 wins, 3 draws and just 1 defeat in the last two months. In Rochdale's case it was a 1-2 defeat at Peterborough back on December 10th that makes them unbeaten this year. </span></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Whats Their Secret?</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Both teams have only 6 clean sheets, but Rochdale have had exactly half of theirs in their last 4 games whereas the Addicks clean sheet against Plymouth was the first in the 8 games. Rochdale also have the 5th best defence in League One with only 30 goals conceded, five less than the Addicks.</span></span></div><p align="justify">One point in our favour though, is the results against the best teams in the Division for while the Addicks have the best points and goals pergame of anyone in Tier three, with a record of 5 wins, 4 draws and only 2 defeats against the top half of the table, Rochdale have the 14th best record. But, Chrissie a word of caution - the top teams don't score many goals against this lot and in fact only Brighton, Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday have conceded less that Rochdale have.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong> </p><p align="justify">We've only played up there 4 times - two cup ties in 1955 (won 3-1) and 1961 (0-1 defeat) and two League games when we were in Division Three in 1972 (2-0 win) and our last visit there, 34 years ago, in 1974 (1-1 draw).<br /><br /></p><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#000000;">This will be Sir Chris' first away game as a manager after Saturdays 2-0 home win and a previous 3-1 win over Scunthorpe when caretaker manager of Leicester last October. After only one win in 9 games that had meant the end for Paulo Sousa, Leicester were, in fact, rock bottom of the Championship and Powell may see this weekend's visit to Rochdale as a bit of a relief after those two stressful games.</span><br /><a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSUeV_UluGgD0xn-FprmTKSlekxWc7PFGrzPwsAYIwl9wkzGxWNlTRzZ6E"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 85px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 116px" alt="" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSUeV_UluGgD0xn-FprmTKSlekxWc7PFGrzPwsAYIwl9wkzGxWNlTRzZ6E" border="0" /></a> Meanwhile, the arrival of new recruit Bradley Wright-Phillips means that we now have three of the top 24 strikers in League One, more than anyone else, of course, with Bradley top scorer on 13, Johnnie Jackson on 12 and Paul Benson on 8. As well as Scotty W. one behind on 7. All Sir Chris has to do now is find a place for them all as well as including Nathan and Joe of course.<br /><br />Its unlikely that Wright-Phillips will start this weekend due to lack of fitness after his knee problems and the disruption of his non-sale to Reading because of a failed medical. The Pilgrims reported in mid January that he had seen a consultant who advised him to do a bit of rehab for at least a month and in fact he hasn't played since his 90 minutes against Bristol Rovers on January 4th.<br /></div><div align="justify">As far as the manager is concerned, we will at least see how he views our number 17 with the return from suspension of Paul Benson. He has so far favoured Joe Anyinsah as lone striker with a five man midfield and this could continue with Scotty enjoying another outing. In fact, we'll probably see the same eleven as against Plymouth.</div><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong><br /><div align="justify">Things have moved on quite a bit since December when this game was postponed. The Form Book back then said a clear away win with the teams being 1st (the Addicks) against 21st over the last 8 plus the always helpful fact that we haven't lost at Spotland for 49 years. Now of course its almost the reverse with the Addicks languishing in 14th spot over the last 8 while Rochdale are in equal top with Notts County. </div><div align="justify">So, it could be a difficult day for Sir Chris and he'll need to be patience with his team and remember that although the Addicks are the League One top scorers away from home with 26 goals, six more than anybody else, we face a team that have only conceded more than 2 goals in a game once, in a 3-3 draw with Swindon, whereas the Addicks have conceded more than 2 goals on five occasions plus another two in cup competitions.</div><div align="justify">Verdict then, a close 1-0 away win to the Addicks. </div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-52066643264478502942011-01-21T12:10:00.004+01:002011-01-21T12:25:43.152+01:00Plymouth Arygle Preview<div align="justify"><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:qerDrY1uyOkuwM:http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50422000/jpg/_50422054_powell_getty.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 108px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 81px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:qerDrY1uyOkuwM:http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50422000/jpg/_50422054_powell_getty.jpg" border="0" /></a>Extra workload, two broken computers and all those new year celebrations have all served to cut down on things recently but there was no way that time cannot be found to herald the beginning of a new and special era at the Valley. There's been a vast outpouring of views over the last few days, some pessimistic and full of foreboding, but you won't see any of that here. </div><div align="justify">His lack of experience seems to influence many into forecasting problems ahead or is it a sentimental desire to keep our memories of Sir Chris as one of our biggest heroes from being tarnished? Of course it will all end in tears, this is a business that these days demands results and sooner or later he will be replaced in an attempt to improve things. Because its seldom that a manager retires from his club, only Ferguson probably stands out there, why, even Jimmy Seed was sacked in the end. But will Sir Chris fail after one year or after 10, we just don't know but where better place for him to get his first experience of management than at his spiritual home, the Valley. For me its a great opportunity for us that we can't possibly reject and clearly the new owners feel the same way. You only have to feel the buzz around this football club at the moment that shows what the appointment means to many. </div><div align="justify">And perhaps we owe it to one of our own to furnish the opportunity that he would sooner or later be looking for as we did with Curbs in 1995 when he took sole control of the Addicks as the age of 38. Did anyone give Curbs a hope in hell of getting us into the Premiership and keeping us there for 7 long years? Clearly, in these doldrums that we find ourselves, we need somebody special and from what I have read and seen over the years from the East Stand, Chris Powell could well be that man.<br /></div><div align="justify">And as far as experience is concerned, perhaps its worth remembering that Seed, whose success all those years ago at Charlton means his name appears over the South Stand, only had two years in management at lowly Clapton Orient before joining the Addicks as manager in 1933. His first year at Orient they finished 16th and the second they had to be re-elected - not a great success rate there then but he was to lead us to unimagined success.</div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">It was starting to look a nice easy fixture for our new man as Plymouth slipped 3 places last weekend down to 17th after the dismal 0-2 showing at home against Oldham, who clearly had a point to improve after their embarrassing 0-6 home defeat to the Saints the previous week. The other Athletic now have exactly the same record as the Addicks, 9 wins, 8 draws and 6 defeats and sit right behind us in 8th. </span></div><div align="justify">That Oldham defeat added to Peter Reids problems, and meant that they were having their worse run of the season with three straight defeats to Bournemouth (a) 0-3, Huddersfield (a) 2-3 and Oldham (h) 0-2. But like Oldham, a bad result or a dismal run can somehow force an improvement and that duly came on Tuesday when the Pilgrims enjoyed their 4th away win of the season in beating MK Dons 3-1. This was only Plymouths 2nd away win since September and came as a surprise to everyone and was also achieved without top scorer Wright-Phillips who is the subject of serious transfer talk from several clubs including us apparently.</div><p align="justify">So with the Pilgrims only two points behind us although having played three games more, a win at the Valley could propel Reid's men above us and into the fringes of the Play-off positions even though they have suffered nearly twice as many defeats, which now number 11.<br /><br /></p><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">As for the Addicks form, it doesn't make happy reading with Arygle having a point more than us over the last 8 games, with 11 to 10 respectively, but not very respectable coming from 24 available. Chris needs to make an improvement and quickly before the leaders vanish over the horizon.</div><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong><br /><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">After the crazy years of 59/60 and 60/61 when an astonishing 37 goals was scored in just four games, things have calmed down a lot and only once in the last 20 games between us has anyone scored more than twice and that was the Addicks in a 3-1 home win in 1976. </span></div><br /><div align="justify">In recent history over the last 20 years, there's been nine games home and away with the honours pretty even with 3 win, 3 draws and 3 defeats. But of the 4 games played at the Valley the Pilgrims have won twice with the Addicks only winning once, in the last game here, on Valentines day 2009 with a 2-0 win, our second home win in a row after beating Palarse to end our 18 winless run three weeks earlier.</div><br /><p><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Stats Can We Give the New Gaffer?</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">The Addicks are 6th in goals scored but as far as the defence is concerned have only 5 clean sheets (exactly half the number of Brighton and Southampton) but we do tend to score first doing it 15 times out of 23 games. As a consequence we have only been losing three times at the break, less than anybody else, although we currently share the record with such strange bed fellows as Oldham and Hartlepool.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Unfortunately we then tend to relax a bit thinking the jobs done and give the game away. Five times now we have drawn after scoring first and there's only 3 teams more generous that us in that respect - Colchester, Bristol and Exeter. And despite all those late goals - a total of nine in the last 5 minutes - we have only come out top in the second period a meagre 5 times with only two teams, Bristol Rovers and Yeovil, having worse records in the second 45.</span></p><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong><br /><br /><div align="justify">Only 8,337 fans were there when the Addicks returned to the Valley on December 5th, 1992 and it was a close fought 1-0 victory over Portsmouth, from a 7th minute Colin Walsh drive, that send us all happy. Saturday seems to me a very similar experience and the gate threatens to be a big one. But that day back in '92 everyone was full of nerves, desperate to get off to a winning start back at our home and somehow this time round I don't think we'll see any desperation just a determination to win. So this time its a 2-0 home win, that nothing is going to prevent.</div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-87177748116798348952010-12-17T11:25:00.010+01:002010-12-17T11:36:10.298+01:00Hartlepool Preview<div align="justify">Whether or not you consider a 0-0 draw a defeat there's a second consecutive 'L' in our results column and it was also our first two non-scoring games in a row since the loss at Colchester and the draw at Leeds in October last year. And the last time we had two defeats in a row last November the sequence was lengthened by another defeat against Southampton in last years JPT. Parky can't allow that to happen this time, of course, because not only is there a vital three points on offer at Victoria Park but there's the potential takeover in the air and Parky needs to establish firmly that he is the man needed to get us promotion. </div><div align="justify">Before Brentford there was the terrible display against Walsall which left Parky sounding rather like Capello during the World Cup. Of course, its not the first time Walsall have won at the Valley, they've won 2 of the last four there including cup games, and 3 of the last 6 counting Sainburys. Put the blame on Manager of the Monthitis which strikes again although there were a few banana skins mentioned before the game. And, of course, we should be aware of top (well, nearly) v bottom games and there was never a better one than March 2000 when, after 12 successive wins, along came hard-up Swindon who beat us 0-1 thanks to a Dean Kiely own goal after 5 minutes, our first League defeat of the century. </div><div align="justify">And maybe the situation was like that at Dean Court last Saturday where Bournemouth produced a 140 page progamme to celebrate 100 years at the ground. Hartlepool took note of the possible distractions and made sure that it was going to be their day instead with a 1-0 victory.<br />And its worth noting that the Walsall game highlighted one of major failings, apart from being able to pass to ball to each other, that, forgetting our cup games, we are still one of a decreasing number of teams, 8 now in Tier Three, that have failed to win a League game after falling behind. Its happened seven times now and we have lost 5 of them including Walsall and we are the only promotion chasing team with this dismal record.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">There's not much history between the Addicks and the Pools with a total of only three games played and due to our current lapse in fortunes and one of Hartlepools rare visits to Tier Three last year was the only season we have spent together. We won the game at Victoria Park 2-0 in August 2009 thanks to goals by Burton and Bailey in the first 30 minutes and we also won the return game at the Valley in January by 2-1. The only other game against them was a League Cup tie at the Valley in 2005 which we also won 3-1.</span></span> So 3 games and 3 wins for the Addicks but will this perfect score continue on Saturday?<br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Hartlepool became founder members of the Third Division North in 1921 and they share with Rochdale the unwanted record of enjoying 89 years of League football without ever reaching the headly heights of Tier Two. But one thing they share with the Addicks is that our baptism in League football began in the 1921/22 season with both of us being in the regional Third Division, the Addicks in the South and the Pools in the North. But whereas we only stayed eight years before being promoted into the Second Division in 1929, the Pools had to wait 46 years to get that first promotion by finishing third in 1967-68. Sadly Tier Three football only lasted only one season and they were relegated back to Division 4 where they had been since the 4th Division was created in 1958.</span></div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">However, this is the 4th straight season in Tier Three which is a bit of a record for the Pools although they only survived last season by the skin of their teeth finishing just above Gilllingham on goal difference with a last day goalless draw at Brentford while the Gills were losing 0-3 at Wycombe.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong><br />Down in 12th place but they managed to struggle into the top half of the table for only the second time this season with a surprising 1-0 away win last weekend at the number one home team in Tier three, Bournemouth who were on a 5 game unbeaten run. As for their home form and its only the 19th best with only 3 wins and 2 draws from 8 games with a couple of serious hammerings from Wednesday 0-5 and Carlisle 0-4. BUT two of those wins have been against Brighton 3-1 a month ago ( Poyet's first defeat in 13) and the Posh 2-0 before that and they have improved with only one defeat in their last 5 home games.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong><br /><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:7keSXw55QZ0y_M:http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/nejournal/oct2010/7/4/mick-wadsworth-893074506.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 77px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 116px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:7keSXw55QZ0y_M:http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/nejournal/oct2010/7/4/mick-wadsworth-893074506.jpg" border="0" /></a>The 60 year old Mike Wadsworth is currently caretaker manager of the Pools and a more varied managerial life than his can't be imagined. After working for the FA including a coaching role in the 1990 World Cup and FA's Excellence Programme he's moved into management and has managed or been assistant manager at a total of 15 teams including both the Congo and St. Kitts and Nevis national teams and at club level, Oldham, Carlisle, Colchester, Huddersfield, Southampton and Newcastle and many more. So a man with a wealth of experience. He joined the Pools in June as First team coach and has been caretaker manager since Chris Turner left in August.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Dangerman</span></strong><br />Midfielder number 15 Anthony Sweeney is doing a Johnnie Jackson and getting the goals. He's got 4 League and 4 cup goals for a total of 8.</div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Whats Their Secret?</span></strong><br />The Pools are a first half team and have only been behind at the interval on two occasions this year. Only the ultra conservative Oldham with 11 first half draws can better that record. The Addicks and Brighton have been on the losing side three times at the 45 minutes. </div><div align="justify">And they are another team apart from the Addicks whose favorite score is 1-0 - they've had 3 of them. But although only 3 teams have scored less than their 21 goals, they do have a better defence that the Addicks having conceded one less goal than the Addicks.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying?<br /></span></strong>Manager Wadsworth after last weeks win at Dean Court said: "<em>We were looking forward to this for a while and we've been talking to the players about building momentum and spoiling their party and we managed to do that. It was a very good result for us. We are putting a run together away from home, that's three good displays away from home now. We have a good group of players here and they have some belief now."<br /></em><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong> </div><div align="justify">After a 0-0 90 minute scoreline against the best in-form team in Tier 3 Brentford ( 6 wins in their last 8 League games) with a weakened team, perhaps Parky was secretly pleased with the result and losing the potiential headache of extra injury-provoking cup games.</div><div align="justify">With Jenkinson, Reid, McCormack and Abbott getting rare starts there may be a call to start with the first two against the Pools but I fancy that Parky will be reluctant to introduce Jenkinson into such a crucial game and with top scoring Sweeney playing out left. Francis no doubt took note of the treat from the 18 year old and will want to be on top of his game this weekend. </div><div align="justify">Christian Dailly at last returned on Tuesday after his ban and got a full 90 minutes in and will be keen to captain the side to another away win in similar fashion to his last away game at Peterborough where we won 5-1. </div><div align="justify">The only other possible change may somehow involve the return of Reid in place of the recently disappointing Wagstaff although its hard to see how Parky can fit our top scorer Jackson and Reid into the same team without pushing JJ back to full-back where his chances of a goal will be seriously reduced.<br /><br />Elliot; Francis, Dailly, Doherty, Fry; Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon, Jackson; Anyinsah, Benson<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong><br />Despite the Pools recent home wins over Brighton and Peterborough, we do have a 100% perfect history against them, a desperate need to get back on track after slipping to fourth and Parky's desire to prove himself to our new owners all of which point to a 2-0 win for the Addicks. But then I won't put any money on it.</div><div align="justify">And then there's the weather. Friday night in Hartlepool is forecast to be minus 6 with temperatures on the Saturday not rising above -2 but with clear blue skies. Pack them gloves Parky. </div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-34596077877276252082010-12-01T09:00:00.006+01:002010-12-01T09:14:20.348+01:00Rochdale Preview<p align="justify">A dismal 2-2 home draw with Luton, where the desire if not the skill was with the Hatters, at least preserved, and lengthened, our current 9 match unbeaten run and means just 2 defeats (Brentford and Brighton) in the last 18 League and Cup games. But while we can all have good feeling about that, perhaps we should spare a thought for Luton where the number 18 conjures up a quite different feeling, it being the number of years since they were a Tier One club. And perhaps the three thousand Hatters fans had that in mind as they made the short trip to the Valley, perhaps to remind themselves what it was like in the good old days. And, of course, its up to them now to encourage their players to get them a game that'll really put their memories in gear with the prospect of an away game at White Hart Lane beckoning.</p><p align="justify">Quite what we'll be doing in 15 years time to push back the memories is anyones guess. And whether we'll have a team with enough passion and skill to get a result in the replay, so as to avoid a second sucessive defeat to a non-league team in the FA Cup we won't have long to ponder. But before moving on, can anyone remember how many of todays Tier Three were in the old Division One 18 years ago? Well, there's four, Wednesday, Southampton, Oldham and Notts County.<br /><br />Meanwhile, League game 19 approaches and there's now just 5 games left to the half-way point. We had 47 points at the cut last year so we'll need to win all 5 to reach last years haul but a less strong second half of the season saw us ending on 84 at seasons end.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong><br /><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:lPU8WAh5vZIcRM:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9d/Spotland2.png/250px-Spotland2.png"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 111px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 83px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:lPU8WAh5vZIcRM:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9d/Spotland2.png/250px-Spotland2.png" border="0" /></a><br />It used to be that having to play Barnsley was a step down for the Addicks but now its little old Rochdale that are Saturdays opposition. But while you may not be impressed by the fact that Rochdale play their games at the 90 year old 10,000 capacity Spotland Stadium, its rumoured that the away fans are graced with the newest stand being the Westrose Leisure Stand, in Willbutts Lane, whose facilities are said to be "second to none". Sadly then, we've only played up there 4 times - two cup ties in 1955 (won 3-1) and 1961 (0-1 defeat) and two League games when we were in Division Three in 1972 (2-0 win) and our last visit there, 34 years ago, in 1974 (1-1 draw). </p><p align="justify">After finishing 3rd in League Two last season, Rochdale managed promotion for the first time in 41 years having spent the last seemingly endless 36 years in Tier Four. And to add to that dismal record they also share with Hartlepool United the dubious distinction of having played the most seasons in the Football League without ever reaching the top two tiers, 82 years.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong><br /><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:YPYxt8wrkKYMzM:http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/12/8/1260278782385/Keith-Hill-Rochdale-manag-001.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 128px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 77px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:YPYxt8wrkKYMzM:http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/12/8/1260278782385/Keith-Hill-Rochdale-manag-001.jpg" border="0" /></a>The man that Rochdale have to thank for that once in a lifetime promotion in manager, the 43 year old, Keith Hill. After a playing career at Blackburn, Plymouth and Rochdale, he took over as caretaker manager of Rochdale in December 2006 after the departure of the previous incumbent. Rochdale were then in 22nd position in Tier 4. He got things working and they finished the season in 8th position. His first full season they got as far as the Playoff final before losing to Stockport and the next year they lost in the Playoff Semis before finally getting automatic promotion last season by finishing 3rd behind Notts County and Bournemouth. So 3 and a half successful seasons for Mr Hill.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Dangerman</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Number 8 is the 33 year old Rochdale legend and captain Gary Jones. He's been with the Dale for the last 8 years, plus three years before he played for Barnsley, and holds the record for Dale appearances with 390. He's also the current top goalscorer this season with 10.<br />Therry can have a few words in French with number 14 Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, thats as long as he gets off the bench. Akpro is an ex of Grimsby, where he was a part of the disappointing 25 game winless run that finished with Grimsby being relegated to the Conference last season.<br />Rochdale are also the only team in the UK to have two Kennedy's in the team. Left back Tom takes the penalties while number 7 Jason has played in the Prem in 2005 for Middlesborough while 18 years of age. No, not against us.</p><p><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>Form</strong></span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">The Dale made a very good start to their new life in Tier Three with 4 wins and only a single defeat in their first nine games reaching a heady fourth place in the table. But then the oxygen ran out and three consecutive defeats to the three yokels from the West, with only a single goal being scored, against Exeter, Yeovil and Bristol Rovers and they have now only won 1 game in the last 9. </span></span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">So its been a steady slip down from 4th to the current 15th place and with a home record that is now only 17th best in Tier Three, although they have managed to score three times in three of their last five home games in beating Huddersfield 3-0, the Daggers 3-2 and drawing with Swindon 3-3. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">But on overall form there's no-one to beat the Addicks with 17 points from the last 24 while Rochdale are 21st with only 6 points from their last 8 games. And we are the 2nd best away team, after Gus, but with 4 goals more than anyone else with 20 in 9 games. </p></span><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying</span></strong><br /><p align="justify">Gus Poyet, after being booed off at half-time by the Withdean crowd during their 1-1 draw with non-league FC United, was very upset after the game, "<em>I was very disappointed with the fans and I invite all those who booed us at half-time to stay at home, because I don't want that and I don't accept it. Proper supporters are the ones who support their team during every single minute</em>. And it sounds like he already given up any chance during the replay by saying he'll field a reserve team.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Whats Their Secret</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Whereas the Addicks have twice as many score-first games as Rochdale, 12 to 6, the Dale have a much better record of coming from behind. There remain only three teams in the top half of the table that have not yet won after going behind, the Addicks, Carlisle and Exeter whereas Rochdale have clawed back seven points after falling behind.</p><p align="justify">They are also the 12th highest scorers in Tier Three with only 5 goals less that the Addicks and are the only club in the bottom 13 that have a positive goal difference.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Two home draws after 5 straight wins won't please Parky but after only 9 goals scored in our first 9 home League and cup games we at least have 6 in the last three, even though non-league opposition are included. And its highlighted in our goalscoring charts which nobody could have guessed back in August. Johnnie Jackson, fresh from another appearance in the Football Leagues Team of the Week, leads the list with an impressive 8 - one more than his previous best season with Colchester - while Benson, chasing 22 from 50 games last season, now has 7 but only 2 at home, while Waggy has already gone one better than last seasons efforts and is on 6. Joe Anyinsah, still struggling with his fitness and with only one full 90 minutes to his name (524 minutes in total ) already has 4, while Therry Racon with 4 from his previous 3 seasons and 66 Addicks games has already equalled that in his 20 games this season.<br /></p><p align="justify">As for the team, Christian Dailly serves his 3rd of 4 matchs out, and with the cup replay counting as his 4th will be back for the game against Walsall. Matt Fry returns after his one match suspension and Doherty should be back after his dead leg suffered against Bristol, while Martin returns after being cup-tied but may be too lightweight for an away game at Rochdale. </p><p align="justify">The real doubt perhaps rests on Jose Semedo's hamstring "complaint" and whether he has recovered enough to put McCormack back on the bench. Jose, meanwhile, is dying to play remembering that his last, and only, goal for the addicks was a few miles, well 32, away from Spotland at Tranmere in August 2009 and with Therry racking them up he's feeling just a tad jealous.<br /><br />Elliot; Francis, Doherty, Fortune, Fry; Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon, Jackson; Anyinsah, Benson.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">The Form Book says a clear away win with the teams being 1st against 21st over the last 8 plus the always helpful fact that we haven't lost at Spotland for 49 years. And for the Addicks its vital we make the most of the next two away games at the Dale and Hartlepool, and the Walsall home game between, before a difficult sequence of games begins on December 26th with the arrival of Southampton. </span></p><p align="justify">Bearing in mind the weather theres's some doubt that the game will go ahead but if it does, 2-1 to the Addicks.</p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-3975554053860553192010-11-23T09:20:00.011+01:002010-11-23T09:44:31.203+01:00Bristol Rovers Preview<p align="justify">So its deja vu time, as exactly a year after playing Yeovil at Huish Park in a 1-1 draw in which Sam Sodje was sent off for a professional foul in the 29th minute we again face Bristol Rovers at home 3 days later. The score last year on 24th November against Rovers was 4-2 to the Addicks and perhaps its a good time to give Parky some credit for what he has achieved because of the 18 players who took part against Rovers one year ago, there's only 6 (Dailly, Llera, Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon and Akpo Sodje) still at the club. And just 5 weeks after his head was supposedly on the block at Carlisle, we sit comfortably (at times) in 2nd spot just as we did this time last year and after 5 wins on the run. We have 2 less points this time round but exactly the same number of goals scored and its been achieved with the loss of 20 players during the summer.<br />As for the game last year, we took an early 2-0 lead through Mooney and Burton and after Rovers had scored twice to equalise, further goals from Bailey and Akpo won the game.</p><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>History </strong></span><br /><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Rovers are the poor relations of Bristol and unlike their neighbours City have never played top flight football with their highest position ever being 6th in Tier Two twice in the 50's.</span></span></div><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">But there's good news for you if you believe in all that history crap because its extremely likely that the Rovers have ever beaten us in home games in your lifetime. In fact, you would have to be over 52 to have been born when it last happened and in your 60's to be conscious of the fact. Sad to say I was probably there when it last happened on 29th March 1958 in a 2-3 defeat.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">All in all in home games at the Valley ( and elsewhere) its a very pleasant score of 16-4 to the Addicks with 6 draws and in only 1 of the last 9 games have the Pirates avoided defeat and that was in a 2-2 draw ten years ago in our last season at Sainburys. </span></p><p><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Other Stuff</span></strong><br /></p><p align="justify">Bristol Rovers have a strange sponsorship deal. Faced with the prospect of having no shirt sponsor for the 2009-10 season, the club came up with the idea of a raffle to raise the funds required. Tickets were sold at £1,000 with all 96 available being sold meaning the club raised £96,000 for one season of shirt sponsorship. First prize in the draw went to local training and recruitment company N-Gaged whose logo appeared on the home kit. Second prize went to Bristol based solicitors Stevens, Hewlett & Perkins whose logo appears on the away kit.<br />The raffle proved so successful that the club replicated it for the 2010-11 season with Smart Computers becoming the new home kit sponsors and Stalbridge Linen the away sponsors.</p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>Are They Dangerous or Not?<br /></strong><span style="color:#000000;">On the face of it, and before the Yeovil result, you would think that there's not a lot to worry about as the Pirates form at the moment is very similar to that of Yeovil. </span></span><span style="color:#000000;">Their last win was on October 16th, the day of our last defeat to Brighton, but whereas in the 5 League games since then, we have won 5 the Pirates have only had 3 draws to get excited about, along with 2 defeats. However, as you may have noted, we have a chance to compare ourselves with the only team above us, Brighton, as that last draw was at Withdean last Saturday, a 2-2 affair with Rovers getting an equaliser in the 93rd minute. </span></p><p align="justify">After that precious point on Saturday, the Pirates are currently in 16th place, 10 points behind the Addicks. But they are slipping down the table as they are 17th over the last 8 games, and 22nd on November results.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition<br /></span></strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Boss</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Rovers boss is 42 year old Paul Trollope who has been there for 5 years, 2 in Tier Four and the last three in Tier Three.</span><br /><br />The Players<br /><span style="color:#000000;">One player not appearing</span> <span style="color:#000000;">on Tuesday will be the scorer of Rovers first goal against Brighton, defender Bryon Anthony, who received his 5th yellow of the season and will be suspended.<br /></span><br /><strong>Who's Fortune Got to Worry About Then?</strong></span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">With the absence of Christian Dailly, its likely that Jon Fortune will step in even though Parky has signed Dutchman Marcel Seip on loan from Plymouth. He's been out of favour under Peter reid and hasn't put his boots on since the 0-4 home defeat to Swindon in the FA Cup on November 6th so may not be fit to play a full 90. </span></p><span style="color:#ff0000;"><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Definitely appearing at the Valley will be all three of the following. Top Pirates scorers are Will Hoskins 8, Jeff Hughes and Jo Kuffour with 6. Hoskins injured himself in the FA Cup first round clash with Darlington on the 6 November when he suffered a sprained ankle, but he returned on Saturday playing 12 minutes and he could start on Tuesday. They also have ex-Arse and the Bees 29 year old Ghanian Kuffour who was last seasons top goalscorer with 14. He's apparently got an impressive 28 in 96 games for the Pirates. </span><span style="color:#000000;">Meanwhile, ex-Palarse and number 11 Hughes has an impressive 23 goals from 99 appearances for the Pirates. </span><br /><br /><strong>What Are They Saying?</strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Brighton boss Gus Poyet after Saturdays draw with the Pirates, "<em>We have not been ourselves for the last three or four games. We need to get back to the way that we play and make sure we are in control of the game. If we'd played them two months ago and we were 2-1 up with eight minutes to go I can promise you they wouldn't have touched the ball. We got punished and we got what we deserved."</em></span><em> </p></em><p align="justify"><strong>Whats Their Secret?</strong><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Only tenth in the table in away form with 2 wins (at Dagenham and Huddersfield - the Terriers first home defeat of the season), 4 draws and 3 defeats <strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">BUT</span></strong> they like to attack away from home as Brighton can testify and only three teams (the Addicks, Wednesday and Swindon) have scored more away from home than their 13 goals. And they don't give up a lost cause either, for a very impressive 6 of those 13 have been scored in the last 5 minutes.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">But down the other end, whilst the Addicks have had 5 clean sheets in their last 7 League and Cup games, the Pirates haven't kept a clean sheet for 9 games. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">And you may have noticed that they don't like losing to top teams, with good results against Huddersfield and Brighton and they only have suffered 2 defeats in 7 games against teams in the top half of the table.<br /></span><span style="color:#000000;">Another secret comes from the boots of Rovers' captain Stuart Campbell, a player that Lennie Lawrence made his first signing at Grimsby. Seems his corners are worth planning against and this is what happened in the dying seconds last weekend "<em>Another superb corner was delivered in by Campbell and with the Brighton defence being put under additional pressure by Rovers goalkeeper Anderson, defender Bennett powered a header past his own keeper for the goal that gave Rovers a deserved point</em>"</span></p><p align="justify"><strong>The Team</strong> </p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Two more yellows ( and a red) after t</span><span style="color:#000000;">hree yellow cards in both of the previous two games, (although one of them was seems to have been on purpose), means we are returning to our old habits as we continue to lead the table on fouls. Doesn't matter you say, but sometimes these games are won by very slender margins and its worth pointing out that we've collected more yellows in total than any of Brighton, Bournemouth, Colchester, Carlisle, Huddersfield, Southampton, Peterborough, MK Dons and Sheffield Wednesday, all of the top 10 in fact.</span></p><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">After October's problems with bottom of the table teams, and Yeovils</span> <span style="color:#000000;">determination to get a result on Saturday you'll be pleased to see that we now face another six games against similar teams before we can return to a bit of tranquility on Boxing Day with the arrival of Southampton.</span> <span style="color:#000000;">The next six</span> <span style="color:#000000;">are Bristol, Luton (h), Rochdale(a), Walsall (h), Brentford (a) and Hartlepool (a). </span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">However, looking at the three League games after Bristol, and with our impressive away form, they all look difficult but winable. Rochdale went 4th at the end of September but have been in a hopeless deline ever since with just 4 points from their last 7 games, but have only lost one of their last 6 home games, beating Huddersfield 3-0 in the process. Walsall currently prop up the Division and only have 2 points from last 5 away games, scoring just twice.</span><br /><span style="color:#000000;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Meanwhile, Hartlepool have been hovering just above the drop zone from the last 10 games but after losing two of their first three home games have tightened up at Victoria Park with three wins over Walsall, Peterborough and Brighton, a draw with Bristol and only a disappointing 0-4 to Carlisle in the last 5 there. The 3-1 win over Brighton on November 13th was their first defeat in 12. And that defeat to Carlisle has had a similar effect on Hartlepool with 3 wins, 2 draws and only 2 single goal defeats in the 7 games since then. </span></div><div align="justify"><br /><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:blnx7Q1X6UN6oM:http://www.cafc.co.uk/uploads/charlton36242news1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 116px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 116px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:blnx7Q1X6UN6oM:http://www.cafc.co.uk/uploads/charlton36242news1.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="color:#000000;">Whilst Dailly's composure at the back </span><span style="color:#000000;">will be sorely missed,</span><span style="color:#000000;"> there's no denying that the presence of Johnnie Jackson at left-midfield is proving a bonus for Parky. Pushed up since the injury to Reid against Brighton he's netted six times in the 8 games since then and in the 4 games he's scored he's always been first on the scoresheet.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">A favorite of Parky, he's signed him twice (while at Colchester as well), he's already equalled his most successful scoring season at Colchester 3 years ago and he's now the Addicks leading scorer.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Elliott; Francis, Fortune, Doherty, Fry; Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon, Jackson; Martin, Benson</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>Verdict</strong> </span><br />The history over the last 50 years is rather against Bristol but our stuttering home form could even things out. And against our 5 match winning League run is their confidence-boosting 2-2 result against Brighton at the weekend and they now have leading scorer Hoskins returning from injury. Plus they don't like losing against the top teams and were determined not to lose last weekend at Brighton and they even threw the goalkeeper up for a corner in the closing seconds and won a point.</div><p align="justify">And if you are hanging on to a one goal lead in the 85th minute, hold on to your hats because the Pirates have scored in the last 5 minutes in 5 of their 9 away games.<br /><br /></p><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">But what the hell, we've turned a corner and scored three for the first time at home this season and with 1-point-from-6 Brighton facing the top team over the last 8. the Saints, a win could leave us one point off top spot. But, of course, this is the Addicks we are talking about and any six wins in a row need a lot of luck and we used up a lot on Saturday so it looks a draw, 2-2 for me.</div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-62747137839279886522010-11-19T10:55:00.014+01:002010-11-19T11:18:39.752+01:00Yeovil Town Preview<div align="justify">To believe or not to believe that is the question. For, although Parky and his players may not have been overly surprised by Saturdays 5-1 result, the fans certainly were. To be honest we just can't get used to all the discrepancies in our home and away form and perhaps its time to get a bit of counselling because with this Jekyll and Hyde stuff we just don't know whether we're coming or going. Thank you then to the Guardian who supplied us with a timely and storming report on Monday morning helping to quell our doubts and hinting, only hinting, at possible good times to come. </div><div align="justify">It harkened back to our last 5 goal away haul, eleven years ago at Grimsby in 1999, a promotion year, and went on to award the Addicks with several choice phases unknown around these parts for a few years. "<em>Steely new mentality</em>" was one that I really liked and the "<em>zippy, slippy play"</em> of our front two, Martin and Benson, seemed to roll off the tongue like sweet nectar at an oasis. "<em>Acute promptings</em>" was liberally applied to our midfield while the central defensive duo of Dailly and Doherty was labelled with the reliable tag of "<em>67 years of experience". </em></div><p align="justify">So, with such superb eulogies, what are we worried about? Well, the details are hidden away further down in an attempt to conceal the truth but the crux of the problem is a distinct sense of confusion. Because, forgetting our away form where we manage an average of 2.22 goals per game, it has to be said that our players don't seem to like the Valley too much. In the nine home games so far played in League and Cup competitions only nine goals have been scored and 6 of the 9 have been 1-0 victories. We'll take the victories, of course, but can we have just a couple of goals to help us enjoy it a bit more please. Starting with Yeovil.</p><p align="justify">In optimistic fashion we have to present the plus side to raise the mood and we now have nine clean sheets in our total of 22 games and are now 4th in League goals scored in Tier Three and nobody can better our number of wins (5) against the top half of the table. And we're back where we were a year ago at second place in the table, ( although back then we did have 4 points more) and 4 wins in a row, and a 4 week surge from a lowly 14th up to automatic promotion, something that seemed a dream after that defeat on October 16th. Its not the first time that the Posh have let in 5 of course, Bournemouth enjoyed themselves too at their expense, but can we convert our Acute Promptings into Home Goals starting with Stingy Yeovil.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Boss</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Its tempting to wonder what</span><span style="color:#000000;"> managers talk about in the bar after games.</span> </span><span style="color:#000000;">Perhaps they avoid each other but its clearly an opportunity to find out a thing or two not least how other teams<br /></span><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:MMBG3iRheeQqmM:http://i.thisis.co.uk/275589/article/images/2448635/1691423-vlarge.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 119px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 79px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:MMBG3iRheeQqmM:http://i.thisis.co.uk/275589/article/images/2448635/1691423-vlarge.jpg" border="0" /></a> </p>are faring. So, just perhaps, would Parky have asked Peterborough boss Gary Johnson how his old Yeovil captain is making out down at Huish Park. Johnson was in charge at Yeovil and Terry Skiverton (left) the centre-half and captain when Yeovil won the Conference in 2003 and were promoted to the Football League for the first time. Perhaps Parky showed concern about Terry's future as Yeovil fortunes sink, hoping that Gary, not thinking clearly after the days events, would maybe spill a few beans, not knowing that Yeovil would be next up for the Addicks. Unlikely, of course, but you can't blame Parky for trying.<br /><br /><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Yeovil are 23nd in the table with only 4 wins and 15 points in 16 games and with only a single point in a 3-3 home draw with Swindon in the last 5 games. Away from Somerset this season its 2 wins (at Walsall and Rochdale) and a goalless draw at Oldham and only MK Dons and the Daggers have suffered more than their 5 away defeats.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">And after taking 4 points away from neighbours Exeter last season the Glover fans are certainly not happy after two defeats already this season in the League and JPT and to rub salt in the wound they've also lost to another local rival, Bristol Rovers. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">But its best not to underestimate anyone in any League particularly in a League where we are perceived to be one of the Big Boys which sometimes tends to up the stakes just a bit in our opponents favour as they seek to prove a point. And although this weekend we face a team down there in 23rd it should be pointed out that a 1-0 away win is becoming one of their little specialities and although they have lost both their most recent away League games at Brighton 0-2 and MK Dons 2-3 before that they beat Walsall and Rochdale 1-0 ( Rochdale's first defeat in 7) on their own ground and last weekend dispatched Rushden and Diamonds in the FA Cup by the very same score with all three goals coming late on in the game.</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Who Are Yeh?</span></strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Unlike the Peterborough defence last week, Yeovil will arrive with a more experenced back line containing the following three good players.</span> <span style="color:#000000;">Twenty three year old <strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Paul Huntington</span></strong> started his career at Newcastle and during the winter of 2006/07 started eleven times in the Premier all before his 20th birthday. During the summer next year he moved to Leeds and played a major role in their central defence during their first season in League One under Gary McAllister. But after serious hernia and groin injuries and the arrival of Simon Grayson, chances at Leeds Road disappeared and Huntingdon now finds himself at Huish Park on a 2 year contract. He's played 15 and scored once</span><span style="color:#000000;">.</span><br /><br /></p><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Another player with Premier League experience is <strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Andy Welsh</span></strong> who played for Sunderland in 2005 during the Black Cats dismal campaign. </span><span style="color:#000000;">Number 19 is ex-Brighton <strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Adam Virgo</span></strong> and is another that has experienced life at the top spending three years at Celtic. He plays central defence but has already scored 4 times. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">And they also have internationals in the obvious Welshman <span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>Owain Tudur Jones</strong> </span></span><span style="color:#000000;">in midfield.</span></div><br /><p><strong>Dangerman</strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Top scorer last season with 10 in his first season with the Glovers even with three months out with injury, number 10 is the 24 year old ex-Ipswich Dean Bowditch. He's managed 6 already this season and Parky, has to be watched.</span></p><div align="justify"><strong>Ex-Addicks</strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Only one this week, goalie Ben Roberts who played just once for the Addicks back in May 2003 when he came on against Fulham in our last game of the season when we finished a glorious 12th in the Premiership. We lost 0-1 and Roberts didn't save the penalty, the concession of which had had Kiely sent off. And he's only played once this season and is now the same age as his manager.<br /><br /></div></span><p><strong>What Are They Saying?</strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Lee Martin on his having to wait his turn, "<em>The main thing is for me to go out there and enjoy myself and the three points were massive for the boys because they've put us in a good position and confidence is sky-high right now</em>"</span> </p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">And Parky, reflecting on tomorrows game, "<em>It is important our supporters do not turn up just expecting an easy win. They have a big part to play on the day in creating an atmosphere and I’m sure they will</em> <em>do that</em>.”<br /></span><br /><strong>Whats Their Secret?</strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Unlike our last opponents, Peterborough, who fare so well against top half teams, poor old Yeovil have not won a single game against the cream in 7 games.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">They are listed 21st in goalscoring in Tier Three and only last weeks Peterborough have conceded more, both of which mean that their goal difference of minus 13 is the worst in the Division. But beware Parky, there are 6 teams with worst away records than Yeovil and they have only conceded one more goal away from home than we have.<br /></p></span><span style="color:#000000;"></span><br /><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Meanwhile, facing the Glovers will be a team showing distinct Jekyll and Hyde tendencies. Because the Addicks are the Divisions highest away scorers with 20 goals, seven more than anybody else in Tier Three and in fact the highest in the country. However, you all know whats coming next because, our home form, and although our points are split equally, 12 home, 12 away, is not nearly so convincing. In fact, a paltry seven League goals have been scored, the lowest in the Division along with the likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol Rovers. Four 1-0 wins and draws against Oldham 1-1 and the 2-2 against the Daggers and we still haven't scored more than once in 90 minutes in eight home games so far (including the Cup win over the Daggers) as it took 91 minutes to score twice against Dagenham in the League.</span><br /></p><strong></strong><br /><p align="justify"><strong>History</strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">History or is it nostaglia? Just four games played, all in the last five years. We won the first 3-2 at the Valley, an FA Cup fourth round game in January 2005 when Yeovil were 4 Divisions lower than the Addicks, with goals from that controversial trio of Hughes, Jeffers and Bartlett in an otherwise forgettable season in which we finished an average (sic) 11th best in the country. Dumped out of the Premiership the year before and on the slipperly slope to Tier Three in August 2008 we lost the next game, again a Cup affair this time a 1st Round home League Cup tie, at the Valley by 0-1 with present boss Terry Skiverton in defence. Only 6,000 hardy souls attended and perhaps they hadn't been told what everyone already knew because they witnessed the first defeat in a dismal season that would see a further 24 defeats before the seasons end.</span></p><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">So after being 4 Leagues apart in our first game against them 4 years and 10 months ago we somehow achieved parity last season and met Yeovil in the League for the first time. The first encounter was a 1-1 draw and we won the return in February this year 2-0.</span><br /><br /><strong>The Team</strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">In a strange week that saw the Football League team of the week include three Orient players and two from the Daggers the Addicks performance was rewarded with another duo from the Addicks, this time two goal Johnnie Jackson and Therry Racon. </span></div><br /><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">The Addicks League form of 5 wins and a draw and top scoring with 17 goals over the last 8 games make us 2nd best form team in Tier Three being equal to Southampton and only behind leaders Brighton. A settled team is taking shape and this week there's really only the question of who will partner Benson up front, 2 goal Lee Martin from last week or Joe Anyinsah.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Elliot; Jackson, Dailly, Doherty, Fry; Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon, Jackson; Martin, Benson.<br /></span><br /></p><strong>Verdict</strong><br /><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">After 4 straight wins over teams currently lying in 4th, 8th, 9th and 13th positions how can we possibly fear a team slipping down to 23rd? Well, its quite possible that Yeovil will perform more like Barnet than Peterborough and will remind themselves that before the 4 wins we failed to beat such lowly teams as Tranmere, Dagenham and Brentford in a 2 week span back in September, suffering one defeat and scraping two draws. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Skiverton's first ever game at the Valley with Yeovil was a 1-0 cup win just over 2 years ago and he'll be trying to do the same on Saturday. </span></div><div align="justify"></span><span style="color:#000000;">However, Yeovils favorite scoreline this season is also mine ie 2-0, or in Yeovils case 0-2, and what better result could there be than that.</span></div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-58540906308603178582010-11-11T09:00:00.003+01:002010-11-11T12:25:50.968+01:00Peterborough United Preview<div align="justify">Failure to score against the League's bottom club on Saturday didn't impress Mrs Nelson very much and its not so long along that she commented that we must be bad if we're playing Seaford. And a lacklustre performance against Barnet it apparently was, although one that Curbs would be proud of. Just three games after conceding nine goals in three games, we made it three clean sheets in three tricky games. Parky wheeled out the professional tag and pointed out its 4 intact wheels and after last seasons dismal performance at Northwich, welcomed the appearance of our name in the FA Cup 2nd Round hat. </div><div align="justify">And then there was Tuesday and a game against Southend in the silly Paint Pot job that after another goal from Therry Racon isn't looking so silly. Again we rode our luck at times but gained a fourth clean sheet and its now 6 hours 13 minutes since we conceded.</div><div align="justify">Meanwhile, in the League, the number three featured several times in the Swindon offering "<em>Its all a question of 3's</em>" and so perhaps it was no surprise to see the scoreline at 3-0. But it was left to young Wyn Grant to actually forecast a 3-2 win. But after hauling ourselves back into contention and a nice 5th place are we all optimistic this week for the trip to Peterborough?<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Boss<br /></span></strong><br /><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:TvaYVMA9XD1LoM:http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_03/GaryJohnsonPA_468x379.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 128px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 104px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:TvaYVMA9XD1LoM:http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_03/GaryJohnsonPA_468x379.jpg" border="0" /></a> Whilst our last League opponents Swindon's Danny Wilson can be proud of taking Barnsley into top flight football for the first time, the Posh boss Gary Johnson is another manager with a famous credit to his name. After years of non-league giant-killing to its name, Yeovil Town at last reached the Football League in 2003 after winning the Conference with Johnson in charge.<br /></div><div align="justify">But it hasn't been all plain sailing for Johnson because he didn't have much success at his first 2 clubs being sacked by both Cambridge and Kettering and a rather strange tenure as manager of Latvia for 2 years which didn't improve his CV although 4 wins in 14 games for such a small country would seem some sort of achievement. But he obviously learned something in Latvia if not the language and success at Yeovil soon followed. He arrived at Yeovil in 2002 and took the FA Trophy in his first year and then took giant killers Yeovil into the Football League for the first time in 2003. </div><div align="justify">After 5 years there he moved on to Bristol City and took them into the Tier Two Play-off final in 2008 and then lead City to their first win at the Valley in 40 years with a 2-0 win in October 2008, hammering another nail into the Charlton relegation coffin. He lasted another couple of years at Bristol but the spark of 2008 had died and in March 2010 "<em>he left his post as manager of Bristol City FC by mutual consent." </em>Three short weeks later he was snapped up by bottom of table Posh, 14 points away from safety with 5 games remaining, and relegation a certainty.<br /></div><div align="justify">As for Peterborough's recent history, after 2 successful years under Darren Ferguson, who got the club back to back promotions from League 2 to the Championship, he was finally given the axe in November 2009 after just 2 wins in 16 League games. They are now on their third manager since then which at least is in keeping with the club, now on their ninth in the last 5 years since the days of Barry Fry.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong><br />So how do they like Gary down at London Road? Well, very nicely thank you, for after a miserable total of 46 goals scored over the 46 games last seasons they've so far got 32 this year from 15 games. </div><div align="justify">So not surprisingly, the Posh are the highest scorers in Tier Three and especially at home where they have notched 21 goals in their 7 games and its earned them the fourth best home record in the Division with 5 wins - to the Addicks 4 - but with twice as many defeats, ie two, to Notts County and Brighton. So after four opening home wins against Bristol Rovers 3-0, Huddersfield 4-2, Oldham 5-2 and MK Dons 2-1, those two defeats have come in the last 3 home League games with an entertaining 5-4 win over Swindon sandwiched between them. </div><p align="justify">So are the Posh tailing off a bit? Only 2 defeats in their first 8 games, they have now lost 4 in their last 7.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>Who Are Yeh? </strong></span><br />There could be a battle of the 20 year olds on the right flank as six goal Waggy comes face to face with "Nana" from Accra. Left-back and number 22 is Seth Nana Ofori-Twumasi, a bit of a mouthful, but was once on Chelski's books and after captaining their reserves but failing to learn Russian, upped and left joining the Posh last July. But as Waggy scatches his head planning how to get past all those syllables, manager Johnson could have the answer as he has moved Nana into midfield and got himself a new left-back in Bristol City loanee Lewin Nyatanga, not from Ghana but a 22 year old Welsh international from Burton on Trent.<br /></p><p align="justify">But as Parky eagerly casts his eye over the Posh watery defence he'll notice that beside ex Shrewsbury hardman 25 year old Kelvin Langmead there's another 20 year old at the heart of the Posh defence. This is number 16 Ryan Bennett, Peterborough's most expensive player at a quoted 500k, and after captaining Grimsby at age 18 was another Ferguson buy. Said to be "comfortable on the ball", - and a note for Parky - he's also said to be good at set pieces and has scored twice already this year. </p><p align="justify">In fact, Parky may not be alone in thinking that its the age of Peterborough defenders that may be the key to their abysmal defensive record, for at right-back is another 22 year old Mark Little. </p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Dangermen - Two Ex-Teammates Clash</span></strong><br /><a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:HuIxWQ-e6hfLMM:http://images.teamtalk.com/08/03/800x600/Craig_MackailSmith_Peterborough_734177.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 143px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 107px" alt="" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:HuIxWQ-e6hfLMM:http://images.teamtalk.com/08/03/800x600/Craig_MackailSmith_Peterborough_734177.jpg" border="0" /></a> In games against the Divisions top goalscorers, we couldn't stop Wright-Phillips (Plymouth) or Madine (Carlisle) scoring against us but more recently the defence kept Charlie Austin quiet at the County Ground. But can they do the same against Peterborough's finest? He sounds Scottish, but twenty-six year old Craig Mackail-Smith hails from Watford. He's been at London Road since January 2007 when he was snatched from Dagenham and Redbridge by Darren Ferguson, where he had been playing alongside Paul Benson, just as the Daggers were gearing up to win the Conference.<br /></p><p align="justify">With only 38 goals in his three years at Victoria Road he was in Bensons shadow but has blossomed since then with a reported 61 goals in 152 games for the Posh. He clearly likes life in Tier Three and and after 11 League goals last season, he already has 8 goals so far this season, although he hasn't scored in five.....<br /><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:8NpMjleDVEe-kM:http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/resources/images/1415669/%3Ftype%3Ddisplay"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 100px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 122px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:8NpMjleDVEe-kM:http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/resources/images/1415669/%3Ftype%3Ddisplay" border="0" /></a> </p><p align="justify">Down the other end will be our own Paul Benson currently on 6 goals for the season. Four years older than MacKail-Smith, and a late starter he was 26 before he made his Football debut in August 2007. Benson notched a reported 70 (although he claims <a href="http://www.charlton-athletic.co.uk/newsview.ink?nid=36778&newstype=p"><span style="color:#ff0000;">85-odd</span></a>) in 174 appearances for the Daggers.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying?</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Peterborough United boss Gary Johnson after their last League game against Walsall, a straightforward 3-1 away win, Walsall's third defeat in a row,"<em>We tinkered with the shape a bit to have an extra midfielder in there and I thought the boys put in a really good shift. Walsall got the ball forward very quickly, they had a few big lads in there, our three defenders had to deal with it and I thought generally they dealt with it well. When they didn't, our goalkeeper was there</em>."</p><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Whats The Secret?</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong><span style="color:#99ff99;"><span style="color:#3333ff;">The Posh</span> </span></strong><span style="color:#000000;">The rather bizarre statistic of being this Divisions highest scorers with 32, three more than anyone else, but they also field Tier Three's worse defence (although shared with Yeovil and the Daggers ) on 28 goals conceded.</span><br /></span></div><div align="justify">They also have the best record of anyone in their games against the top half teams in the table with 5 wins ( Bristol Rovers, Huddersfield, MK Dons, Oldham and Carlisle) in 7 games. </div><div align="justify">And although the Addicks are the only club to score as many as they concede in the second half with 12 goals scored and conceded, the Posh score twice as many as they let in with 20 scored and 10 let in. </div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">The Addicks</span></strong></div><div align="justify">Of the 15 games, we've scored first 10 times but of the 5 others we have only gained a single point - at Plymouth - all the others have been lost.</div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#000000;">A strange history totalling 12 games, six of which have been cup ties. Three cup games at London Road and we've lost the lot but this the League and things are a bit different. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">In the total of 6 League games, home and away, we won 3, drawn one and lost one and you'll be pleased to learn that we are unbeaten at their ground with two 1-1 draws in 1975 and 1992 and a 1-0 win in November 1993 when that man Nelson scored his 9th of the season. That was our 2nd of 4 seasons with Curbs and Gritt in charge and we flirted with promotion with just 1 defeat in the first 14 but 5 defeats in a row in March (including the spanners and Palarse) finished a disappointing season. We all went to Old Trafford in March, FA Cup 6th Round - the first time we had got that far since 1947 - but lost 1-3 after Schmeichel had been sent off, and somehow that really started the rot, we also lost 3 times to Palarse and finished the season in midtable, with Gary Nelson on 15 goals, with Leaburn and Pardew on 10, while Peterborough finished bottom and were relegated. </span></div><br /><p><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Discipline</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Not something we want to read perhaps but as well as being high goalscorers, the Posh and the Addicks are way ahead in putting it about as well. The Addicks continue to set the pace in fouls committed with 210 but close behind in second place are Peterborough with 191. The Posh are also after the red card gong with 3 send off, although they are way behind Plymouth currently with 6. </p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong><br /><a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:VMdFsk2zQJAdVM:http://img.skysports.com/09/12/218x298/Scott-Wagstaff-celeb-Stockport-v-Charlton-200_2396426.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 85px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 116px" alt="" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:VMdFsk2zQJAdVM:http://img.skysports.com/09/12/218x298/Scott-Wagstaff-celeb-Stockport-v-Charlton-200_2396426.jpg" border="0" /></a> In the news at the moment is Scotty Wagstaff. Named in the Football League team of the week, along with Rob Elliott after the win over Sheffield Wednesday it follows the naming of Johnnie Jackson and Paul Benson in the previous weeks team for the win over Carlisle.<br /><br />And there's more good news on Paul Benson. After scoring four goals in October, Charlton striker Paul Benson has been nominated for the League One player of the month award. The winning player will be announced on Thursday, November 11th.</p><p align="justify">Meanwhile the Addicks have been unchanged for 4 games, apart from Tuesdays Paint Can effort against Southend. Memories of last seasons 6 game storming start are perhaps still fresh in Parky's memory as we topped the table and went 8 games unchanged, a club record. Only four players remain from that run - Elliott, Dailly, Semedo and Racon - but has the team improved?</p><p align="justify">After 15 games last season we had 4 more points than now on 29 points; from 8 wins and only 2 defeats away at Colchester and Carlisle. Away from the Valley even after that great start it was still only 3wins, 3draws and those 2 defeats. The goals stood at 12 goals for 10 against. </p><p align="justify">But at the moment away from home its almost as good with an encouraging 3wins, 2draws and 3 defeats at Huddersfield, Exeter and Brentford, ie only a single point worse off than last season. And the goals for column has grown to 15, with 13 conceded.<br /><br />Another unchanged team then with:</p><p align="justify">Elliot; Francis, Dailly, Doherty, Fry; Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon, Jackson; Benson, Anyinsah.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong><br />As far as the League is concerned its a meeting of the goalscoring giants of Tier Three. In the 10 games played at London Road this season, 8 League, 3 League Cup, the fans have seen an amazing 48 goals, 28 by the Posh, 20 by the opposition. And in the red corner is the Addicks with 10 away games, 38 goals scored, 20 for us, 18 against. So its the highest home scorers against the highest away scorers.</p><p align="justify">And then there's the added conumdrum of the Addicks' fourth clean sheet in a row after Tuesday. We needed a bit of luck to keep that going but its doubtful it will continue at London Road against Peterborough and the only team to stop them scoring at home this season has been Brighton although that was in their last home game and they might have their doubts. And then there's the dual between Paul Benson and MacKail-Smith. The two ex teammates will want to prove to themselves that they is the best so expect them both to get on the scoresheet. </p><p align="justify">Meanwhile, we have never lost at London Road in the League although the number of games played have that lucky ring to it again, ie 3. Whether that means a 3-3 draw or a hat-trick for Paul Benson we can only guess. </p><p align="justify">Verdict, for me a 2-2 draw but do I see Gyn again forecasting another 3-2 win?</p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-57274198156875059262010-11-02T09:07:00.011+01:002010-11-02T11:12:07.480+01:00Swindon Town Preview<div align="justify">An unchanged team and a sparkling performance that kicked all the Parky-out talk into the rubbish bin as least for a couple of weeks. And I hate to say I told you so but although the forecast 3-2 scoreline was only correct as far as yellow cards are concerned it was a somehow predicted three points that carried us up 4 places into sixth place and back into the Play-offs positions for the first time since August, 12 games ago, and now just a single point off Huddersfield in 2nd. </div><br /><div align="justify">But, as the actress said to the bishop, its still very tight, with three points covering eleven clubs from 2nd down to 12th. And this week its Rochdale and MK Dons that have dropped down four places whilst surging up the table and jumping 5 positions are both Oldham and those 5-wins-in-the-last-7 boys from the coast, Southampton.<br /><br /><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:mdZeJfAacudEDM:http://v4admin.sportnetwork.net/upload/84/EMP-3878128.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 131px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 87px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:mdZeJfAacudEDM:http://v4admin.sportnetwork.net/upload/84/EMP-3878128.jpg" border="0" /></a> Meanwhile its another midweek game and the start of a crazy programme of 7 games in 25 days. Tonights opposition manager at the County Ground is, of course, Danny Wilson. For a 50 year old he's managed quite a few clubs starting with Barnsley and Wednesday and both of them in the Premier. He it was that in 1997 got Barnsley promoted to top flight football for the first time in 110 years but, sadly, they lasted only one season and they missed out on safety by just 5 points with the perennial Palarse finishing bottom as always. After Barnsley he spent 2 years at Wednesday but when it all finished sadly, it was famously said of him: "Lovely fellow, but he couldn't do it."<br /><br />Moving on to Swindon and in complete contrast to our last opponents Wednesday but strikingly similar to Carlisle and Barnsley, Swindon are another team that has spent just one season, 1993/94, in top flight football and it all finished exactly the same as Carlisle, for unfortunately Palarse were not around that year so they finished bottom with 30 points and 100 goals conceded and 13 points away from safety.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong><br />15th best home record with 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats against seasiders Brighton and Plymouth. Quite the reverse to last opponents Wednesday, Swindon had a bad start to the season with no wins in their first 5 games which contrived to carry them down to 2nd from bottom. Wilson proceeded to give them a kick them up the kursi and they brilliantly revived with three straight wins over Southampton, Walsall and Huddersfield which, of course, is something the Addicks have not <strong>yet</strong> achieved this season. However, Swindons miracle cure has proved to be a bit of a flash in the pan because they are slipping once again with only 1 win, and 3 defeats, in the 6 games since then and have the worst defence in Tier Three over the last 8 games with 17 goals conceded, 16 of them coming in their last 6 games. </div><br /><p align="justify">So while we finished last season practically level pegging with the Robins, at the moment, despite Parky having to rebuild his team, there's a bit of a stark contrast because while only a single point ( OK, plus goal difference) keep the Addicks from the automatic promotion spot, the Robins are but a single point off the relegation zone, down there in 16th place in the table, five points off the Addicks.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong> </p><div align="justify" href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:zyj2zwoFbIxebM:http://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/javaImages/37/81/0,,10361~7569719,00.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 118px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 118px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:zyj2zwoFbIxebM:http://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/javaImages/37/81/0,,10361~7569719,00.jpg" border="0" />Joe Anyinsah will met up with an ex teammate in French U21 international, but Cameroon born, Vincent Pericard (left) because they played together last season at Carlisle and were both in the Cumbrians team that beat us 3-1 in October last year. And this Pericard is an interesting character; He's played for St. Etienne in the French Division One and Juventus in Serie A and also in the Chumps League for the Italians.<br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">A wandering career has then taken him to Portsmouth and Stoke both in the Premier before finally sinking into Tier Three after spells at Sheffield United, Plymouth and the spanners. He wears number nine but after injury was only on the bench at the weekend.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">And talking of the spanners, some bad news just in is that the Robins have secured centre half Andy Frampton from Millwall on a months loan. Spanners Player of the year in 2009 he was last seen at the Valley in the absorbing (sic) 4-4 draw last December. And the spanners ex started his first game for the Robins last weekend earning his first yellow card as expected.</span></div><span style="color:#000000;"><br /><div align="justify">There's been changes at the County Ground as well as at the Valley and there were only four players in last weekends draw at Yeovil that played at the Valley in May and as the <a href="http://www.charlton-athletic.co.uk/newsview.ink?nid=36894"><span style="color:#ff0000;">official</span></a> site will tell you there's some serious problems with the Swindon squad injury-wish especially in midfield and full-back Sheehan is still serving a three match suspension.<br /><br /></span></div><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Dangerman</span></strong><br />One man that will need stopping at the County Ground will be the former brickie, twenty one year old Charlie Austin, who is still knocking 'em in for the Robins and now has seven to his name this season. He scored the first goal at the County Ground in May but the man who scored the other two Swindon goals in the tie, 18 year old Danny Ward has been signed by Bolton and has now been sent to Coventry.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Ex-Addick</span></strong><br /><br /><p align="justify">Charlton Legend Peter Shirtliff is assistent manager at Swindon for just over a year. He only played for us for three years and 124 appearances before heading back to Sheffield but his nine goals included those two precious ones that he scored in the last 7 minutes at St. Andrews on 29th May 1987 against Leeds that kept the Addicks in the top flight.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Whats Their Secret?</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Although the Robins have the same minus one goal difference as the Addicks they have scored 4 more and are the 5th highest scorers in Tier Three scoring eleven in their last 4 games. And although lying down in 16th, they can raise themselves in the big games and 3 out of their 4 wins (Huddersfield, Southampton and Bristol Rovers) have come against teams in the top half.<br /></p><p align="justify">Despite what you may think about the Addicks fraility in giving leads away, its the Robins who remain one of only five teams down here who have lost more than once after scoring first. The Addicks, in contrast, despite several close calls and ignoring League Cup results, remain one of 12 still unbeaten after scoring first. </p><p align="justify">And there's a bit of a contrast in the social behaviour of the two teams. Whilst the Addicks continue to lead the field in fouls committed, currently one shy of the 200 mark, our opponents from Wiltshire have less than half our yellows with only an amazing 12 in 14 games.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong><br />Swindon should be one of those rare teams that we really shouldn't have to worry about. After 89 years, overall its 26-13 to the Addicks. Home and away in the last 24 League games, since we last graced this Division in 1980/81 the Addicks have won 13, the Robins 5 and the remaining 6 have been draws. In the 12 games at their place in those 30 years the Addicks have won no less than 7 with only 2 defeats and 3 draws. However, one of those painful defeats was at the County Ground in our last visit back in May when we had high hopes of departing these troubled waters. </p><p align="justify">And talking about forecasts, I did rather shoot us in the foot last May by pointing out that "<em>Swindon are one of only 4 teams ( in the august company of the likes of the Gills, Tranmere and Oldham) in this neck of the woods that have not won a game after going behind</em>". Well, although I believe Mr Mourinho may disagree, I would say that even though they lost 1-2 at the Valley they definitely came from behind to secure a Wembley spot on that dismal night back 5 months ago.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong><br />Its all a question of 3's as the Addicks expect to line-up with an unchanged team for the third consecutive game with Lee Martin not in contention because of his 5 yellows. But Swindon fans will see a completely different team to the one that they beat 2-1 last May with only three players - Dailly, Semedo and Racon - remaining from the starting line-up that night when two Swindon goals in 8 minutes sealed a defeat even though Deon Burton pulled one back with his first goal for three months. </p><p align="justify">And continuing the number three theme - when was the last time we won three in a row? Last December in fact, when Bristol Rovers 4-2, Brighton 2-0 and Southend 1-0 were all beaten and we then made it 4 in a row by beating Stockport County 2-1. Can we made it three this time? </p><p align="justify">I was thinking a touch of revenge after last seasons disappointments might be in order but with only a total of 4 players involved last May (Wagstaff came on in the 79th minute while Elliott and Llera sat out the game on the bench) its maybe a little unlikely that that game will have any impact and Parky doesn't seem the kind of guy to hold a grudge. </p><p align="justify">Fact time - Our favorite scoreline, double that of any other, is the Arse's favorite, 1-0, but only Brighton have scored first more times than we have. Wagstaff is now leading scorer with 6 and dreaming of another strange celebration on scoring Charlton 5000th goal tonight, and currently leaving Benson trailing still on 5 whilst the Doc is the player with most minutes under his belt, to the surprise of many. </p><p align="justify"><br /><a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:qhRX6BN6RsypSM:http://images.teamtalk.com/09/12/640/TherryRacon_2395967.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 137px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 103px" alt="" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:qhRX6BN6RsypSM:http://images.teamtalk.com/09/12/640/TherryRacon_2395967.jpg" border="0" /></a> But the key player tonight could well be Therry Racon. Starting his 10th game in a row, after effectively changing places with Alan McCormack at half-time against Notts County, we've won 4 of those last 9 games and his performance next to Jose Semedo last Saturday won him MOM according to <a href="http://blackheathaddicted.blogspot.com/"><span style="color:#ff0000;">blackheathaddicted</span></a>. Maybe driven on by seeing his ex-team moving away at the top of the table although one scribe attributes it to the added motivation of becoming a father but whatever the reason we need more of the same from T, tonight.<br /></p><p align="justify">Elliott; Francis, Dailly, Doherty, Fry; Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon, Jackson; Benson, Anyinsah<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong> </p><p align="justify">There's been nineteen goals scored in Swindon's last 3 games, (a 4-5 defeat to the Posh, 2-2 at home to Orient and a 3-3 draw at Yeovil) so we should perhaps expect a few goals and I'm going for another 2-2 draw.</p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-82208235415246274552010-10-27T09:05:00.016+02:002010-10-27T10:07:09.283+02:00Sheffield Wednesday Preview<div align="justify">Well, are we happy? If you've been reading everyones views, seems not. A 4-3 win where nobody gave us a dogs chance doesn't seem to have had the desired effect on the fans and if we're not happy you have to wonder if Richard M is. And forgetting the games fluctuations, which had people tearing their hair out, its that goals against column that will do for Parky unless he sorts it out. Last season we had conceded 12 goals after 13 games, right now its 20, 15th worst in Tier Three. </div><div align="justify">And just when Parky wanted a few days to sort out our defensive failings, ie nine goals conceded in last three games, along come the highest scoring away team (equal to the Addicks of course) on a visit to the Valley that they must be relishing.<br /><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:Qc68oEUY5chcvM:http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/22/article-1087357-02BC11E6000004B0-241_306x423.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 91px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 126px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:Qc68oEUY5chcvM:http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/22/article-1087357-02BC11E6000004B0-241_306x423.jpg" border="0" /></a>Manager at Wednesday is the Scot 52 year old Alan Irvine who knows all about Charlton as he was playing at Sainburys for the other lot when we were suffering those long years of exile in the eighties. He then went on to play from Blackburn where he retired in 1992. He became manager of Tier Two Preston in 2007, saved them from relegation and then lead them into the Play-offs the following season before being sacked the following December after only one win in 10 games. Memories are short in this business, aren't they Alan.<br />He then took over at Wednesday in January this year with the Owls in 22nd place in the Fizzies and two points clear of safety. But unlike at Preston he couldn't save them and they were relegated and he's now having his first taste of life in the Third Division.<br />With a massive 66 years in top flight football, 40 more than the addicks total, what the hell are a team like Wednesday doing down here. Its even harder to explain when you remember that they've won the League 4 times with back-to-back championships in the years 1903 and 1904 and again in 1929 and 1930. They're also FA Cup winners three times, all pre-war as well, and have a trophy room with 5 Division Two championships to complete the list. </div><div align="justify">It took them two years to get out of Tier three last time (2003-05), and they then managed to last 5 years in Tier Two before last seasons relegation where they had to beat Palarse to avoid the drop. They didn't. So Irvine's trying to cure past mismanagement and although he's enjoying high gates it seems that previously they've been spending too much as well because now they are currently experiencing severe money problems and received a winding up petition from HMRC last July and another two more since then, all of which have been staved off with bank loans and investments from "a consortium." Looks like they need promotion as much as we do.<br /></div><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong><br /><div align="justify">What you might call an inconsistent start with 3 wins and a draw in their first 4 games that took them to the top of the table, followed by 4 defeats in a row to Brentford, Carlisle, Plymouth and Southampton and a slump down to 16th. But the alarm bells went off and it was back to another 3 wins and a draw before last Saturdays 1-1 home draw against Bournemouth. After a poor first half another run of defeats looked like beginning again until Preston loanee Mellor saved their blushes with a late 82th equaliser.</div><div align="justify">So they're now in 4th place with 21 points, 2 more than the Addicks, and with, discouragingly, the second best away record in Tier Three after the leaders Brighton with 3 wins (Hartlepool, Notts County and Yeovil), 1 draw (at Colchester) and two defeats to those stinging Bees from Brentford and to Plymouth.</div><p align="justify">As for the Addicks - when was the last time that we conceded 7 times in two games? Well, rather ominously you have to go back to November 2008 to Pardews last two games in charge when we lost away 2-3 to Birmingham and then a week later the cruncher for Pards, a 2-5 home defeat to Sheffield United.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong></p><p align="justify">One player that has managed to escape our attention is the captain Darren Purse although perhaps not as he supported Millwall in his youth. Born in Stepney thirty-three years ago and apparently played in the same Sunday team as Lee Bowyer. He started his career at Orient and has spent most of his career at Brum but has now been at Wednesday for the last two years. Much like the Doc he's started to slow down and as <a href="http://www.doctorkish.com/cgi-bin/clinic/display.pl?month=201010&date=20101026&time=0924"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Ketts</span></a> has already pointed out, Darren may find the pacy Anyinsah a bit of a handful.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Ex-Addicks</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">As you all remember,</span> </span>Sheffield born Nicky Weaver played two years with us in 2007/09 playing 70 times but lost his place in December 2008 to youngster Rob Elliot and never got it back and finally returned to his roots this summer.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Dangerman</span></strong> </p><p align="justify">After two seasons with Deon Burton as top scorer, the last two years its been Marcus Tudgay with 14 and then 10 and he's close to becoming a Wednesday legend with 48 goals already to his name. This year number 33, Neil Mellor, on loan from Preston, is leading their charts with 5 but close behind is number 7 Marcus Tudgay, with 4 to his name.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Nostaglia Never Done Me Any Harm</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">If like me you've been knew to check the Prem teamsheets to see how our top class ex's are doing and have been heard to quietly utter the plaintive words of "he used to play for us" then you'll understand the reason behind this pathetic paragraph.</span></span></p><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Across our screens last week were another couple of reminders of days gone by. <strong>Jonjo Shelvey</strong> played his first competitive game for the Reds last week in Naples, starting the game and playing the full 90.</span></span><br /><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:bDOKm8tjDysj4M:http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2006/writers/luis_bueno/06/08/costa.rica/p1_bolanos_0608.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 111px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 118px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:bDOKm8tjDysj4M:http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2006/writers/luis_bueno/06/08/costa.rica/p1_bolanos_0608.jpg" border="0" /></a>And, going a bit further back, another player that appeared briefly for us in the summer of 2006, when we were all blissfully and innocently unaware of what was to befall us, was <strong>Christian Bolaños</strong>. He's now at Copenhagen and appeared in last Wednesdays Chumps League game against Barcelona.<br /></div><div align="justify">Back in August 2006, however, when the sun was always shining and with the redoubtable Iain Dowie at the helm ( or should it have been paddle), Charlton announced that they had clinched their third new signing in the space of 24 hours by snapping up Costa Rica international Christian Bolanos.<br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Having completed the £4m joint capture of Djimi Traore and Amady Faye the day before Addicks sealed a one-year loan deal the following afternoon with an exclusive option to buy the player before the loan expires. But there at the end of the report was the phase that nobody noticed - <em>The signing is subject to a work permit being granted</em>.</span></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">But, as we all remember, after appearing for Charlton in pre-season matches against Welling United and New Zealand, and creating a goal for Marcus Bent in the latter, it was announced that he had failed to get the required work permit. Oh dear, what a pity that the other two didn't need one.<br /></span></span><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong></div><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Just like Carlisle its a s</span><span style="color:#000000;">hame this is not a cup game because we've had three cup games, all in the FA Cup, and we've won every time including a 4-2 win at Hillsborough in 2006.</span><br /><span style="color:#000000;">But Wednesday have beaten us 4 times in the last 5 games League games played at the Valley including sending us down to Tier Two in May 1999 with a 0-1 defeat. In fact, they have done the double over us in 3 of the last 5 seasons spent together over the last 20 years. </span>Overall, at the Valley, its 9-6 to the Addicks with 5 draws although in total its level pegging with 15 wins a piece with 10 draws.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What's Their Secret?</span></strong></p><p align="justify">A mean defence, equal best with Brighton, with only 8 goals conceded. And with so much emphasis on defence, down the other end they have failed to score 4 times in 13 league games, twice as many as the Addicks, and have lost 3 of them. But, completely unlike the Addicks, they are the only club in Tier Three that have not conceded a goal after scoring first and Wednesday have done it 6 times and of course have won every one of them. Meanwhile the Addicks, although scoring first twice more times( ie 8), have now conceded 8 and that's if we forget another 4 at Shrewsbury in the League Cup. </p><p align="justify">So first things first. It would appear paramount then we stop them from scoring, and especially scoring first. A big, big problem this with our current defensive record. But don't be surprised if we've managed it to half-time because Wednesday have failed to score before half-time in their last 6 games.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying?</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Parky <strong>before </strong>last weekends game at Carlisle "I<em>t's important to remember it's our fourth home defeat in 34 games which is a good record. The manner of the defeat creates a lot of unrest but the home record has been good."</em> Lets hope it improves even more this weekend.</p><p align="justify">While Wednesday's Irvine had this to say after his teams 1-1 home draw with Bournemouth, "<em>It was a game of two halves. Bournemouth controlled the first half and were much the better side while we were the better side in the second.</em> Take note Parky, the first 45 currently seems to be a bit of a problem for Irvine's lot. </p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">The Defence.</span> <span style="color:#000000;">We all know who its going to be - unless Parky surprises us and gives the hard-done by Fortune a game - and thats why we'll all be a bit apprehensive as we take our seats on Saturday. Only twice in the last twelve League games have we kept a clean sheet</span> </span><span style="color:#000000;">and it was a miracle in one of those that Notts County failed to score. What on earth is Parky going to say that will make any difference this weekend as we face the biggest away scorers in Tier Three?</span></p><p align="justify">One player on top form last weekend was Scotty Wagstaff but I even have a doubt about that for how important was the loss of left-back Sean McDaid to Carlisle? Ever-present McDaid is now out for the season with a knee problem and was replaced in the Carlisle lineup by Robson, a winger who just couldn't cope with Waggy. Carlisle then lost two other important ever-present players in the first half-hour of the game in defender James Chester and then midfielder Francois Zoko. Could all these disruptions explain the 3 goals we scored in the first 47 minutes?</p><p align="justify">Putting all that aside, there's no denying Paul Bensons hit form with 5 goals in his last 5 League games and alongside him Parky seems to have picked up a gem, if he can keep fit, of Joe Anyinsah. These two, barring injuries, will be up front but behind them there may be alterations as the boss seeks to convince Murray that he can solve the lead weight of 20 goals conceded thats threatening to derail our season. </p><p align="justify">But don't forget Parky, this lot have a tendency to start slowly and then build up steam with nearly half their goals coming in the last twenty minutes. So start with Semedo/Racon and try for a goal before getting McCormack on the field to tie things up. </p><p align="justify">On another theme, its almost a year ago since we suffered the embarrassment of three defeats in a row and surprisingly for all the talk of Parky's imminent departure we haven't suffered two defeats in a row since then. OK, the League is the most important thing and two of those defeats were cup defeats, and all away as well at Carlisle, Northwich (FA Cup) and Southampton (Painting job) and we put it all right with a 5-1 home hammering over MK Dons. What a funny game is football.</p><p>Elliot; Francis, Daily, Doherty, Fry; Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon, Jackson; Benson, Anyinsah.</p><p><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">A game between the Tier Three's two highest away scorers each scoring 12 times but with a fragile home defence with 9 goals conceded in the last three games. An Addicks team thats scored just 6 times at home against a team with the most clean sheets in Tier Three (7) and that hasn't conceded a single goal after scoring first. You would think that maybe a 0-0 draw would be worth a bet as Parky seeks to bring some calm to our troubled brows but no, I won't if I were you - this is Charlton we're talking about. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Forecast- I just don't know why, but 3-2 to the Addicks.</span></p><p align="justify">One final thought. After 13 games last season, the spanners were lying 9th with 18 points from 4 wins, 6 draws and 3 defeats, one point worse than the Addicks right now. </p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-68588768380171530192010-10-21T11:40:00.011+02:002010-10-21T11:54:01.880+02:00Carlisle Preview<div align="justify"><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:gNFmC9ZS30HuyM:http://www.knowledgereform.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Arthur_Schopenhauer_daguerreotype.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 80px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 114px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:gNFmC9ZS30HuyM:http://www.knowledgereform.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Arthur_Schopenhauer_daguerreotype.jpg" border="0" /></a>Its at times like this that you turn to philosophy for an answer. Stendhal, (no, that's not him on the left) our french romantic, realised that the pain of a defeat, especially a 0-4 hammering, stays for days and who said "<em>If you need a thousandth proof that we are not fashioned by a benign being, it is that pleasure produces only about half as much impression upon our being as pain does</em>". </div><div align="justify">OK, he said it a few years ago now and it needs reading a couple of times before the meaning sinks in but it does explain my beliefs exactly, ie that the pleasure of a win is only followed by a desire for another one next week whereas it seems almost impossive to shrug off the memory of our weekends 0-4 demise. I just didn't know until now that they played football in his day. And here's a picture of the glum Arthur Schopenhauer to let you know that its not going to get any better.</div><div align="justify">Of course, its at this point that we usually stroll out with all the excuses. Like "its been coming", "Reid got injured", "we were never four goals worse than them"; but that would just be a load of cobblers because its really not true and we are down in 14th because we deserve to be and the sooner we get used to this Division Three stuff the better. Because not only are we 14th in points but also 19th in current standings over the last 8 games, 12th in goals scored, 14th in goals against, and 22nd in October results. All of which makes our next game a bit crucial.</div><div align="justify"><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:IDtsBWFcOGoUCM:http://images.football.co.uk/Dynamic/News/400x400/GregAbbottNew.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 124px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 124px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:IDtsBWFcOGoUCM:http://images.football.co.uk/Dynamic/News/400x400/GregAbbottNew.jpg" border="0" /></a> Parky's already demanding a response from the players, and what better place to begin than Carlisle this weekend. So another pic for you, this time its good old GA, manager of the Cumbrians. Its Greg Abbott, 46 year old ex Bradford City defender and he's been there since November 2008, and he's no relation to our own Pawel.<br /><br />The Cumbrians are not a team with any great history behind it but they have done more than Plymouth for example by enjoying - well that's a bit debatable as they finished bottom - a season in top flight football back in 1974/75 and we all know what happens to teams that finish bottom. Since then they've had a topsy-turby 21st century with eventual relegation to the Conference in 2004 but like their stay in Tier One they didn't stay long and they had an immediate return the year after by winning the Play-offs. They then won Tier Four the next season and have now spent 5 years in Tier Three making the Play-off semis in 2007/8 but losing to Leeds. They finished 14th last season.<br /></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong><br />Unbeaten in their first seven league games, a run which took them up to 2nd a week ago but they slipped up last weekend with a 1-2 defeat at Exeter and now have exactly the same home record as the Addicks with 3 wins, 2 draws and a single defeat against the Posh 0-1. But they have conceded the least home goals in Tier Three (along with Wednesday) with only 2 goals let in in nine hours of football. </div><div align="justify">Eight places above us in the table but only three points away and have only scored one more goal than we have and have only scored seven times at home in the 5 games with 4 of them coming in one game when they thumped MK Dons 4-1. The other two victories were against Brentford on opening day 2-0 and in their latest home game 1-0 against Notts County.<br /></div><div align="justify">Only one team has more clean sheets than the Cumbrians six while the Addicks have exactly half that with 3 but, although it may seem a bit obvious, it seems that the only way to get something out of the Saturdays game is to stop them from scoring because they have had two 0-0 home draws with Swindon and Brighton.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong><br />One constant about the top two teams is that they have quite a lot of ever-presents. The Cumbrians have a small squad and currently have no less than 8 ever-presents so there should be no excuses this week about unexpected triangles because barring any injuries its hugely possible that we'll see goalkeeper Adam Collin, defenders Simek, McDaid and Chester, midfielders Berrett, Taiwo and Zoko and striker Madine. </div><div align="justify">And to help out the regulars in midfield Abbott has bought in on loan 19 year old Oliver Norwood from Manure and he's played 5 games now.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Dangerman</span></strong><br />We couldn't stop McGleish, Harley or Wright-Philips - all top 20 goalscorers in Tier Three - so how will we do against the enormous 6' 5", 20 year old number 19 Gary Madine. He's currently the Divisions second top scorer with 6 goals behind Craig Mackail-Smith of the Posh.<br /></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Whats Their Secret?</span></strong><br />Second in the table in clean sheets with 6 and second in the table of goals conceded with just 8 goals let in - the Addicks have now conceded seventeen..</div><div align="justify">But if you think that defence is their forte, well maybe but they also have had with more shots on target than the Addicks and over 50 less fouls (the Addicks still top of the league here, 8 clear of Notts County), 7 less yellows and half the number of players sent off so they are clearly more efficient and disciplined that the Addicks. Shame then that they don't attract the numbers to appreciate this style of play because while the two big S's battle it out for top spot, the Addicks sit comfortably in 3rd place on average attendances with nearly 15500, while the Cumbrians lie in midtable with less than 6000 a game..<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong><br />First thing to regret is that it isn't a cup game, 'cause we had four against the Cumbrians and won them all, three at the Valley and one up there. As for the League we lost our first ever game at Brunton Park 1-3 on New Years Day 1966 and almost exactly a year ago lost the last one by the same score. In between we've won just two of the other 13 league games, the first in 1981, 2-1 and then in 1986, 3-2. But that last one won't be forgotten quickly as it was the one that got us promoted to the top flight, still called Division One in those days, after 29 years away.</div><div align="justify">So overall up there its a meagre 2 wins in 15 league games but we have forced a draw six times over the years and there's only 7 defeats in the 15 games.<br /></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying?</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Parky</span><strong> </strong><span style="color:#000000;">appeared in no doubt where the fault lay last weekend,</span></span><span style="color:#000000;"> <strong>"</strong></span><span style="color:#000000;"><em>two goals from set plays and another where we gave the ball away at the edge of our box. We can't concede sloppy goals like that and expect to get anything from the game."</em></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong><br />We should have a strike force up for it this weekend as not only is Pawel on a high after seeing his goal at MK Dons in the last 10 for the Paint competition goal of the round but Joe Anyinsah will also be going back to play against his mentor and ex-manager Greg Abbott. Our 26 year old number 23 had his best ever spell at Brunton Park scoring 13 goals there last season and how he performs, for he's sure to see some action, could be key to our hopes.</div><div align="justify">After getting a player in the Football League team of the week after the Plymouth game - Paul Benson - it was no surprise that none made it into this weeks team - and as Parky casts an eye over his players this week he must be seriously wondering what or who can be expected to put things right. That's assuming that he thinks there are things to put right because some of his comments aren't clear on that. But if the job of a football manager entails seeing whatever positives there are and getting to work then Parky only has to listen to Gus who tried to help him out by saying that it may have looked easy but it wasn't.</div><div align="justify">As Parky scratches his head, its possible that our only League ever-present, Gary Doherty, may be "rested" and find his place taken by Matt Fry. Unless, of course, Parky remembers Curbs' answer to a problem by putting-up shop and fielding a defensive formation, perhaps of Fry at left-back and Jackson in midfield or will we see a return of McCormack.</div><p align="justify">So in taking Gus's line all we can do is do our bit and raise the spirits by pointing out that a couple of weeks ago Hartlepool, after a recent 0-4 home defeat at the hands of Carlisle, had a long trip to Plymouth four days later and won 1-0. And its not unusual to see Brighton win at the Valley, even the spanners with only 2 wins in their last 10 visits can't get anywhere near Brightons record of 5 in their last 10.<br /><br />Elliot; Francis, Dailly, Doherty, Fry; Martin, Semedo, McCormack, Jackson; Benson, Abbott.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong> </p><p align="justify">After last weekends pounding, Curbs would have engineered a goalless draw or three. Can Parky do the same? With Reid missing, and facing a settled side, a crowded midfield prepared to do battle seems in order but where are Holland and Kish (not to mention Parker) to do it for us. Will Parky drop Racon and recall McCormack?</p><p align="justify">A rather surprising eight out of 38 punters on CAFCPicks saw a win back in the summer and they do include the leading man Major Ken with nine forecasts right so far. A 0-0 draw is all we can hope for but I doubt we can achieve it. A 0-2 defeat for the Addicks and more doom and gloom on the northern horizon.</p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-73270808460637499852010-10-13T08:48:00.018+02:002010-10-13T09:10:41.762+02:00Brighton Preview<div align="justify">Eleven games in now and how are we doing? Well, a midtable 10th place and six points behind the leader was not what we had in mind at the beginning of August. And after three away games in 8 days, although two of them weren't all that distant, they've left me feeling a bit detached and indifferent especially with the results neatly arranged at a average 1 win, 1 draw and 1 defeat. I must admit to a little tad of indifference creeping in but that could be due to the arrival of winter. </div><div align="justify">I suppose you have to look at the facts and ask yourself whether we are improving or not. One defeat in the last 6 league games and 2 defeats in the last 9 if you want to include cup games. 14th best at scoring goals and 11th best at conceding them in Tier Three. 5th best home record and one of only 6 teams still unbeaten at home with an average attendance of 14, 700 - over double that of leaders Brighton. Crap against the bottom half teams but a cracking 6th in points won against the top half. Oh, and we never give up - or maybe just wake up late - with 6 of our 14 league goals coming after the 85th minute. </div><div align="justify">And for those hopeless pessimists out there we now face a bit of a lift. Because now that all the difficult bottom of the table teams are out of the way we now face 5 easy games in sucession, namely Brighton 1st (h), Carlisle 2nd (a), Sheffield Wednesday 5th (h), Swindon 14th (a) and Peterborough 3rd (a). If you are one of those with a pessimistic nature, five defeats in a row wouldn't be a surprise but I fancy we can get at least a point leaving us on a total of 17 with a slip down to 19th come the middle of November. And funnily enough, that's exactly where Brighton were last November when Gus Poyet took over as manager.</div><div align="justify"><br /><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ob0AuiRmAOKEgM:http://images.sportinglife.com/09/12/330/Gus-Poyet_2398276.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 119px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 89px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ob0AuiRmAOKEgM:http://images.sportinglife.com/09/12/330/Gus-Poyet_2398276.jpg" border="0" /></a>He's had plenty of grooming as they say. Swindon, Leeds, Spurs, all as assistant manager and <a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ob0AuiRmAOKEgM:http://images.sportinglife.com/09/12/330/Gus-Poyet_2398276.jpg"></a>then came his chance with the sacking last November of Brighton's Russell Slade. He was given the job and steered Brighton away from relegation and has obviously impressed a few important people down there as recently he's been rewarded a 4 year extension to his contract, an almost unheard period in his line of work.<br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>Form<br /></strong><span style="color:#000000;">Six points in front of us and top of the table with 22 points and unbeaten in their last 8 with the 4th best away record in Tier Three from 2 wins (Swindon 2-1, Plymouth 2-0), 2 draws (Carlisle 0-0, Tranmere 1-1) and only a single defeat at Sheffield Wednesday 0-1.</span> </span></div><div align="justify">And in the latest form guide, home and away over the last 8 games, the Seagulls take top spot and are way in front of us with 18 points against our rather pathetic 10, leaving us in 18th place.<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;"></span></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">As far as goals are concerned, they are 7th highest scorers in this league with just one more than the Addicks but have only scored once in each of their last three games, </span></span><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">but on the other hand are graced with the 3rd meanest defence in Tier Three behind the surprisingly highly 2nd placed Carlisle and the now 5th Wednesday, with only 7 goals conceded in 11 games.<br /><br /></span><strong>The Opposition </strong></span></div><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Number 14 is Iñigo Calderón</span> <span style="color:#000000;">who will be disappointed that Miguel Llera is not playing because the two of them played together at Alicante in 2004/05 before Miguel moved to Gimnastic Tarragona. </span><br /><br /><strong>Ex-Addicks</strong></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">There's only two this week, but what a couple of ex's. </span></span><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">First there's a respected member of the Wembley Play-off team who played with his heart on his sleeve and always sweated blood for the team. His name - Stevie Brown. He played 228 games plus 55 sub appearances for the Addicks over eleven years from 1991 to 2002 scoring 11 times and Carles Puyol, capt of Barca and Spain always reminds me of Steve's head first style, except that Brownie hasn't got a World Cup winners medal. Steve's now returned to his roots and is Youth team manager at the Seagulls.</span> </span><br /><a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:WChHLpHSM_m8LM:http://www.charlton-athletic.co.uk/uploads/Kishishev_R-04.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 79px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 120px" alt="" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:WChHLpHSM_m8LM:http://www.charlton-athletic.co.uk/uploads/Kishishev_R-04.jpg" border="0" /></a>The other ex is, of course, Kish. Immoralized by the blogging world we can only wonder what his reception will be like. Now 36 and in his first season at Brighton, he's started 8 games this season for the Seagulls. He joined us in 2000 and stayed for 7 years before playing his last game in Jan 2007 and moving to Leeds.<br /></p><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Pi**ed off with relegations at Leeds and then Leicester to moved back to Bulgaria before Poyet enticed him back to the UK with a promise to let him play at the Valley. Capped 88 times for his country he played 167 plus 33 sub games for the Addicks in the Premier scoring twice and prior to that won two Bulgarian league titles in his time at Litex Lovech. </span><br /><br /><strong>Dangerman<br /></strong><span style="color:#000000;">Top scorers are twenty year old number nine Ashley Barnes and number 17 Glenn Murray who have now been joined on 3 goals each by Kazenga LuaLua, on loan from Newcastle. And, no he's not the famous one, thats his brother Lomana.<br /></span><br /><strong>History<br /></strong><span style="color:#000000;">Brighton have a good record at the Valley with 9 wins in the twenty-four games played at the Valley, all in the League, with 13 Addicks victories and 2 draws. And their last victory was on a wet night last February with Llera's mate right-back Calderon scoring the first on 36 minutes. Bennett added a second with 78 minutes gone and we only had a Sodje goal in the dying seconds to show for our efforts.<br /></span><span style="color:#000000;">In fact, you could argue that they have one of the best records at the Valley of anyone for of the last 10 games at the Valley over the last 37 years they have won 5, the Addicks only 4 with a single draw.<br /></span><br /><strong>What Are They Saying? </strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Parky was pleased after Saturdays game, "<em>We are very pleased. Today was a good all-round performance with the second half very, very good."We conceded an early goal from a long throw which was disappointing, but football's all about reactions and you need character out there to make sure the team reacts in the right way and I felt we did that."<br /></em></span><br /><strong>Whats Their Secret?<br /></strong><span style="color:#000000;">Especially clinical against the bottom half of the table with 4 wins and a draw and as we said before the 3rd best defence in Tier Three. But there does appear to be a lack of staying power present in the Seagulls. Because in complete contrast to the Addicks who have scored 6 out of our 14 in the last 5 minutes, the Seagulls do completely the opposite and have conceded exactly half of their 8 goals conceded in the last 5 minutes. And its a problem that sadly is getting worse for the Seagulls. Goals conceded last week at home to Bournemouth (in the 92th minute) and the week previous at Tranmere in the 87th have cost them 4 points in the last couple of weeks. Previous to that they lost another two points at home to Rochdale with a 92th minute penalty and the only time it didn't matter was a late consolation earned by Walsall in a 2-1 win. </span></span></div><div align="justify">And surprise, surprise, guess who else has gifted 6 points to the opponents due to conceding after being in front? Why the Addicks, of course, against Oldham, Tranmere and the Daggers. </div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">They have what appears to be a settled team with 5 players who have started all 11 games whereas in comparison the Addicks have only one - Gary Doherty.</span><br /><br /><strong>The Team<br /><br /></strong><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:PY1Y7CZITvYM3M:http://images.football.co.uk/Dynamic/Players/227x227/players_113012.jpg"><span style="color:#000000;"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 108px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 108px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:PY1Y7CZITvYM3M:http://images.football.co.uk/Dynamic/Players/227x227/players_113012.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="color:#000000;"> For Addicks</span> <span style="color:#000000;">strikers a brace of goals doesn't come along very often so we must heap praise on those that achieve it. Apart from Pav Abbott's couple in the League Cup against Shrewsbury in August, the last time anyone scored twice was Deon Burton's two, both penalties, in the 4-4 draw with the spanners at the Valley in December last year. Prior to that Lloyd Sam got two against Tranmere in our 4-0 win there in August last year but the last time a striker scored more than one in the League and not from penalties was Deon again on May 3rd against Norwich in our Tier Two 4-2 swansong, 57 league games ago. So it may have been a long time coming but at last we can say well done Paul.</span></span></div><div align="justify">As for the team at the weekend, Parky first of all has to decide who to play in central defence. With Francis failing to stop Brentford winger Weston the previous week and then being sent home at Andover for the Plymouth game, Christian has had time to fill in at right-back with a stirring performance that brought accolades from Parky. His class apart, perhaps we take this little gem for granted and as Parky discovered at the weekend there's far more to Christian than we normally see. At sixteen years of age in 1990, he became Dundee United's youngest ever player and, playing as a striker, scored in his first 3 games and as well as his 67 Scotland caps he's also played 34 times for the Scotland U21's, which is a world record for the U21's. </div><div align="justify">So its fair to assume that Dailly will be in the team for Saturday but will he be back in his normal role or flying down that wing again. With Gary Doherty being our only ever-present and Jon Fortune starting in the last 3 league games what will Parky do about new father Francis?</div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">As for the rest of the team, with the second half performance last weekend reported by many to be the best of the season, it would be reasonable to expect the conservative Parky to start against Brighton with same players than started the second half with Francis replacing Fortune.<br /><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;">Elliott;</span> <span style="color:#000000;">Francis, Dailly, Doherty, Jackson; Martin, Semedo, Racon, Reid; Abbott, Benson</span></div><p><strong>Verdict</strong></span> </p><p align="justify">Brighton's only defeat so far in the League was away at Hillsborough in front of 18,000 fans and with gates at the Withdean averaging just 6,800 maybe they are just not used to a little bit of noise. There were 10,000 at Swindon when they won 2-1 but perhaps our only chance will be to get behind the team, make a lot of noise and encourage them to attack until the very end especially in the last 5 minutes when Brighton are prone to concede. </p><p align="justify">All in all, Parky, its time for a Leeds-type performance to kickstart the season and bring these Seagulls down to earth. But as mentioned before, optimism is a bit lacking in this neck of the woods and for me its a 1-1 draw unless Benson can pop up with another late, late winner.</p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-65057653774050729202010-10-07T09:05:00.003+02:002010-10-07T09:05:01.091+02:00Plymouth Argyle Preview<div align="justify">An away win in a cup competition doesn't happen very often for the Addicks but full marks to Parky for fielding a full-strength side at the stadiummk and Waggy and Pav for getting the goals. And its our first come from behind win since the 2-1 victory at Roots Hall in February when Reid was again the star, scoring one and making the other. But you have to ask yourself, how will that result affect our game on Saturday? Have we turned a corner, or were MK missing a few regulars?</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">So with expectations again showing signs of sprouting forth how will the team perform after our ignominous defeat at bottom club Brentford. There's not a lot of time to dwell on the answer because unlike the cream of English football we don't have a break this weekend and its on to Home Park, Plymouth and what will be our third away game in 8 days. <a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:QF32ZVRPPI7f-M:http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1068329569942_2003/11/11/240peter_reid,0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 100px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 113px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:QF32ZVRPPI7f-M:http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1068329569942_2003/11/11/240peter_reid,0.jpg" border="0" /></a>Manager there these days is Peter Reid, now 54, and ex-manager at Man City, Sunderland, Leeds, Coventry and Thailand. His list of honours as a manager number two, the Tier Two championship in 1996 and 1999 - the second one with a then-record breaking 105 points - with the Black Cats. Of course, he is most remembered as the opposing, and losing, manager at the greatest Wembley game ever where his side lost on penalties to the promoted <span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>ADDICKS</strong></span>.<br /><br />Mr Reid was appointed manager of the Pilgrims in June this year when former manager Peter Mariner was demoted, after just six months in charge, to the Pilgrims coaching staff.<br /></div><div align="justify">Plymouth's current claim to fame is a rather unwanted one, for after Hull earned promotion to the Premier League, the city of Plymouth is now the largest in England never to have hosted top-flight football. They're currently down there in 17th position in Tier Three with 12 points and not looking likely to reach the Premier any time soon.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong><br />So, after failing unsuccessfully to prevent Brentford from scoring their first goals in 5 games, almost akin to giving the Daggers two goals after they had also failed to score in any of their three previous away games, what better team to face now that Plymouth who have failed to score at home in their last three. Or to put it another way, the feeling of relief at Home Park must be massive at the pending arrival of so generous a team as Charlton who, as everyone knows, have not been good enough to beat three of the bottom of the table teams in the last 2 weeks. Perhaps we should consider the possibility of turning ourselves into a registered charity to gain the tax benefits or maybe rename ourselves Oxfam Athletic.<br /><br />So how do Plymouth match up to our recent failures. Well, they're a lowly twenty-first best in home form in Tier Three which admittedly doesn't sound very threatening with just a single win, 3-2 over Sheffield Wednesday - the Owls third defeat in a row - in five home games. They did manage a 1-1 draw against Carlisle with an equaliser in the last minute in their first home game but most recently suffered two non-scoring defeats against high-climbers Peterborough and Brighton by 0-3 and 0-2 respectively. </div><div align="justify">But it all got even worse last weekend with the arrival of the less challenging 19th placed Hartlepool who, contrary to expectations, had rather a good away record, and had previously only conceded a single goal on their travels. And a single goal it was that decided it and of course it wasn't Argyle who scored it, it was Hartlepool in the 87th minute. </div><br /><div align="justify">So following on neatly from last season when they were the Championships second lowest scoring team with only 2 wins out of last 13 home games last season which means only 3 wins out of 18 home games in 2010. Not surprisingly they're not happy bunnies down at Home Park. </div><br /><div align="justify">As far as scoring at home is concerned, you'll be surprised to see that the two lowest scorers at home so far this season in Tier Three are the two pre-season favorites to be promoted - Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday - with just three goals each in 5 games with close behind, or should it be in front, are the boys from Devon with four. Of course, the second worse home scorers last week were Brentford; who aren't any more.<br /></div><div align="justify">And if you want another pointer to the result, its another team (just like Brentford before the weekend) whose only previous home league win has been against Sheffield Wednesday. </div><br /><br /><p><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong></p><p align="justify">A crazy mix of approximately 13 nationalities in their squad plus scouser Reid must make their training sessions a bit bizarre and there were eight different ones in the last defeat against Hartlepool. </p><p align="justify">And, of course, foreigners come with attitude as demonstrated by Dutch defender Marcel Seip who on 5 April 2008, refused to be a substitute in a league fixture against the Addicks, after having made four successive starts. He was subsequently fined two weeks wages, and placed on the transfer list, by manager Paul Sturrock. Obviously not one to forgive and forget, it took Seip 3 months before on 4 July, Seip apologised to Sturrock and his team mates over the Charlton affair. As a result, the club removed him from the transfer list. He's number 30 and so far there's no news of him refusing to play at the weekend. </p><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Ex-Addicks</span></strong><br />Only one this week, although another player who never kicked a ball in anger for us. His name, forever associated with the Dowie era, is Simon Walton. He was, in fact, Monica's first signing for 500k as an 18 year old from Leeds. He came on in the second half at the Valley in the 1-1 friendly against New Zealand but was soon sent out of loan to Ipswich. A year after he arrived he was sold to QPR for 200k. He spent last season on-loan at Crewe and then suffered a cruciate knee ligament when playing, on-loan, for Sheffield United in a pre-season friendly this summer so he's not one you see on saturday.<br /></div><br /><br /><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Dangerman</span></strong><br />Current top scorer at Home Park is Bradley Wright-Phillips, younger brother of Shaun, with 4 goals.<br /></p><br /><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Nostalgia Corner</span></strong></p><p align="justify">At this point in the boring proceedings of a Tier Three preview, I thought you would appreciate a little bit of nostalgia brought on by Blackpool's startling 2-1 success at Anfield, aided and abetted by an ex-Addick. Good luck to the Tangerines but the enthusiastic celebrations by the same ex caused by Derby's second late, late equaliser in the 2-2 draw at the Valley back in December 2008 prevents me from offering any congratulations to Mr Varney. Instead, I thought it would be nice to remember that the Addicks are currently unbeaten on their last two visits to Anfield (2-2 and 0-0) and have only one defeat in our last four games there which include our memorable 1-0 win in April 2004. That win with just 6 games remaining of the season, left us just 2 points behind 4th place Liverpool with a game in hand - we finished 7th, of course but completed our first double over the reds for 50 years. And that Blackpool result shouldn't surprise anyone really because they have now won 4 of their last 7 visits to Anfield and only lost once. </p><br /><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong><br />Things have sobbered up recently in games against the Pilgrims with nobody scoring more than a couple of goals in the last 12 games. In previous years it was all a bit different culminating in the amazing 20 goals scored over two days in 1960 with both teams winning 6-4 on their own patch. It was Christmas after all.<br /><br />In recent form, a total of eleven games both home and away over the last 30 years have been pretty even - we've won 4, they won 3 and there's been 4 draws. Of the total number of games at Home Park we've won 6 out of 32 with 19 defeats but the last two games there have been pretty dramatic. The season before last was a 2-2 in November 2008 where, after being behind for nearly an hour, we scored twice in 4 minutes through Youga and Gray with a penalty in the last 5 minutes before conceding an equaliser in added on injury time. </p><div align="justify">And previous to that in April the same year Leroy Lita was the hero when we won 2-1 with 10 men after losing Weaver, sent in the 3rd minute, going behind to a goal on the hour before on-loan Lita scored his last two goals for us in the second half.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying?</span></strong></div><br /><div align="justify">I have to say that I see the same attitude in the Pilgrims website as seen in Addicks blogs, a sense of expectant doom and lack of hope. We're not happy with our financial problems and lack of consistency and maybe its past history but perhaps we didn't give Parky enough credit for our record-breaking start last year after finishing bottom the previous season. In comparison, Plymouth seem to be suffering a serious case of relegation blues and manager Reid can't figure it out, especially after last weekends defeat to Hartlepool.</div><br /><div align="justify">"<em>Our best player against 'Pool was our 16 year right back Stephens",</em> said Reid<em>. "They had a nine hour journey yet it looked as if my team had had a nine hour journey. They were sharper and came with a defensive game plan."</em></div><br /><p align="justify">If you really want to give yourself false hopes of a result (not recommended) the full interview is<em> </em><a href="http://www.pafc.co.uk/page/Post/0,,10364~2172884,00.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><em>here</em></span></a><span style="color:#ff0000;"><em>.</em></span></p><p align="justify">Parky after Tuesdays win at MK, "<em>I thought we got stronger as the game went on tonight and with someone like Scott Wagstaff, who is probably the best athlete I've worked with in my time in football, it's no surprise he's popped in at the back stick to get the winner</em>.”<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What's Their Secret?</span></strong><br />As you can judge by their home defeats to the Posh and Brighton they don't have a good record against the top teams in the table. However, it may not have passed your notice that they enjoy beating BIG teams, ie Southampton and Wednesday and also last seasons Play-off losers Swindon who were on a run of 3 straight wins when they lost to the Pilgrims 2-3.</p><div align="justify">As for the Addicks, we continue to confuse everyone. Do we start well or not? We've scored first in 7 out of the 10 league games but then again nearly half of our league goals - five of twelve - have come in the last 5 minutes plus added on injury time. We've been in front three times and let the opposition equalise (Oldham, Tranmere and the Daggers) whereas in the three games where we've conceded first (Huddersfield, Exeter and Brentford) we've got nothing out of the game. Unless, of course, you count Johnstone Paint games.</div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong><br /><br /><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:FgyQbGsuyqMm7M:http://img.skysports.com/10/08/218x298/Abbot_2485019.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 85px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 116px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:FgyQbGsuyqMm7M:http://img.skysports.com/10/08/218x298/Abbot_2485019.jpg" border="0" /></a> Man of the Match, apparently, (for the Addicks anyway) against Brentford was sub Pawel Abbott or was it Kyel Reid. Whatever, but I really can't see the point of putting a team in this section if Parky's not going to take any notice. Clearly impressed by Johnnie Jackson's goal against the Daggers and ignoring Reid's perfect cross for Benson first ever goal for the Addicks against MK he failed to see my recommendation to play Abbott and Benson together while the Anyinsah is injured.<br />OK, he did include goal machine Waggy, currently making our strikers look a bit sick, whilst they continue to remind us all of prolificity of Leaburn and Varney, who duly fired home his 4th of the season. As for Abbott and Reid, Parky had clearly forgetten about their contribution to our win over MK and they again started on the bench although at least this week the changes were made earlier - at half-time.</div><br /><p align="justify">All in all we achieved the impossible against Brentford. A home team, scoreless in the last four, with not a single goal scored in the 2nd 45 minutes against a team that hasn't conceded a goal in the first 35 minutes in any of the eleven games played so far. Far from giving them just 10 minutes then in which to score a goal we gave them their first on 13 minutes and giftwrapped a second just 17 minutes later. Disaster, Parky. Our "solid" appearance of just 4 days previous had become jelly and all we could do at half-time was the same we did on Tuesday to get the result that we got then. Might I suggest Reid and Abbott to start this week. </p><p align="justify">As pointed out last week Francis was key to the team last Saturday so its regretable that he proved not to be good enough against ex-Addick Weston. What a shame it's probably the only position that we don't have a ready replacement now that Chris Solly is out injured. </p><p align="justify">And something else which can't be ignored is the lack of goals coming from the boots of our twin strike force, whether it be any combination of Abbott, Sodje, Martin, Benson or Anyinsah. In fact, we have the crazy situation where three defenders (Solly, Fry, and Llera) have scored the same number of league goals as the our strikers (Sodje, Anyinsah and Benson) with all of them only having scored once, while a winger Waggy has 4 League goals to his name and now 5 overall. What chance a 20 goal striker this season? Rather remote, I would say.</p><p align="justify">But what will Tuesdays win do to Parky's team selection? Reid is a clear starter as probably is Wagstaff and apart from Doherty's touch of flu which saw him replaced at half-time by Jon Fortune the only other question mark is who will be our strike force. On Tuesday, Pav Abbott played in place of Benson and scored his first goal since August and it was Benson who then replaced Martin on 78 minutes. Will we see Martin or Benson reduced to the bench? </p><p align="justify">The team- </p><p align="justify">Elliot; Francis, Doherty, Dailly, Jackson; Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon, Reid; Martin, Abbott.<br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Maybe you've read the interview with their Mr Reid mentioned earlier and perhaps its made you think that this could be an easy game. <strong>BUT, </strong>you could read it differently and perceive what a thoughtful manager Peter Reid is and see how Hartlepool came good after a 0-4 home pasting to Carlisle. These two clues, for me, point to a team and a manager that won't want to disappoint their own fans twice in 6 days. Like Hartlepool, expect a reaction from Plymouth. Oh, and maybe he still wants to put one over us after that Big Disappointment in 1998. </span></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">So, don't know about you</span> </span><span style="color:#000000;">but I'm so confident of the result this weekend that I'll be probably be searching for a bookmaker come Saturday morning.</span> Pilgrims 2 Addicks 1</p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-21486085279974212252010-09-30T12:07:00.013+02:002010-09-30T12:28:54.740+02:00Brentford Preview<div align="justify">Just when everyone was beginning to despair at the widening gap up to 1st place, plus our inability to beat the bottom clubs, it all came together on Tuesday in a solid performance to beat the new Dons. A rousing evening with a first goal from striker Paul Benson in the 86th minute in his 6th game for us lifts the Addicks up 4 places to 7th, equal on points with 6th placed Colchester and only two behind Bournemouth in second place. And we are now in front of all three of the seasons favorites for promotion, Huddersfield, Wednesday and Southampton.<br /></div><div align="justify">Next up its another derby against Brentford who fell to 24th and bottom on Tuesday after narrowly losing 0-1 away to Brighton.<br /><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:4OYYYWBfToTXXM:http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/27ascott_415x454.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 117px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 128px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:4OYYYWBfToTXXM:http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/27ascott_415x454.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div align="justify">Andy Scott's the manager and he's now in his 3rd year in charge and that makes him the longest serving Bees manager in the last 13 years. And that may give you some idea of the rapid turn-over rate at Griffin Park as they have had 10 in charge in the last 10 years. Scott is an ex-Bees player who started out as assistant to Terry Butcher but was given the job after Butchers dismissal in 2007 so this is his first managerial job and he's already given the Bees their first trophy in 10 years by winning the Tier 4 championship in his first full season 2008/09.<br /></div><div align="justify">But after last season's credible ninth place finish in Tier Three (although a hefty 18 points behind the Play-offs) they have slumped now to bottom place and after last seasons average gate of 6000, crowds are now down to 4800. And after only two home defeats in each of their last two seasons they have already lost their first two home games.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong></div><p align="justify">Brentford are finding it hard going this season in the League and sit down there in 24th spot with only one win, and 3 goals scored, in 4 home games. They've first lost to Walsall and Rochdale, 1-2 and 1-3 and then amazingly defeated top of the table Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 in what was the Owls first defeat of the season. And although they kept another clean sheet in their last home game against Hartlepool they couldn't score either and the game finished 0-0. So only three goals scored in 6 hours of play in league games at Griffin Park.</p><p align="justify">Away from home its even worse with only two points won in draws at Swindon and Bristol Rovers and defeats at Carlisle, Orient and Brighton so overall its not looking very good with just that one win in 8 games. <strong>But, </strong>before you get too carried away perhaps we should mention their fine League Cup form where in a similar three games, all at home, its been three wins out of three against Cheltenham and Hull, both 2-1, and then Everton on penalties after a 1-1 draw.</p><p align="justify">But overall if you think we have hard luck in front of goal, then you should feel really sorry for Brentford fans with just 4 league goals scored in 8 games making them Tier Three's lowest scorers. And their current run of two draws followed by two defeats have all come without a single goal scored and after only losing a total of four home league games in the last two seasons things are not looking good for Scott with two home defeats already. </p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">In contrast, the Addicks are on a run of 4 games unbeaten with two draws and two wins and after our only non-scoring game at Exeter, a 0-1 defeat, we have scored 5 in the last 4 games.</span><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong><br />The voting took place last week in the PFA player of the month for September and rather surprisingly included in the 5 shortlisted was the Bees skipper Irishman Kevin O'Connor - the others are Jamie McCombe and Gary Roberts (Huddersfield), Aaron McLean (Peterboro'), and Josh McQuoid(Bournemouth). </p><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Ex-Addicks</span></strong><br /><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:cK9u7RRQH8AU0M:http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/javaImages/a7/a6/0,,10421~6858407,00.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 118px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 118px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:cK9u7RRQH8AU0M:http://www.brentfordfc.co.uk/javaImages/a7/a6/0,,10421~6858407,00.jpg" border="0" /></a> Its a real home from home down at Griffin Park these days because there's no fewer than four ex-Addicks in the Bees ranks. Chief man has to be Charlie MacDonald who only scored one for us in his dozen or so appearances from the bench but it was an important one against QPR in a 1-0 victory back in 2000. He's now 29 and after a few years in non-league football with Crawley and Gravesend he's clearly found a good home at the Bees where he's been now for two years scoring a total of 37 goals with 17 coming last season. And Charlie it was that scored the only goal in the defeat of Sheffield Wednesday back on 5th September in a top versus bottom clash that saw Brentford win for the first time in seven league games. And it was an all ex-Addicks moment as it was Myles Weston who supplied the cross. </div><p align="justify">They also have Nicky Forster who has yet to score for them but got two for us last season in his 8 games for us as well as <span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Myles Weston and 39 year old Simon Royce who played nine games for us and after Forster came on in the 87th minute against Orient last weekend all three outfield Addicks were on the field. And our ex-boys can take penalties as well as was proved against Everton. All three outfield players, MacDonald, Forster and Weston all scored in the shootout before Phil Jagielka missed for the Toffees.</span></span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">And if you're looking for even more connections with the Addicks, Hermann Hreidarsson is very close to Bees fans hearts he being their most expensive player back in 1998 when they paid 750k for him before he inevitably became their most expensive sale as well a year later for 2.5m in a move to Wimbledon. </span></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong></strong></span></p><br /><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><strong>Dangerman</strong></span></p><p align="justify">So with only 4 League goals to their name how is it that they have a top scorer with more than ours. Well, thats because of their successful Cup exploits. He's 25 year old Robbie Simpson, on loan from Huddersfield Simpson who's previously played for Coventry. He joined the Sky Blues at the start of the 2007–08 season along with a host of other new players, and was immediately touted as a future star by the man who bought him, manager Iain Dowie. That sounds familar, didn't that happen to us? </p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying?</span></strong><br />Meanwhile, Bees striker Gary Alexander, who scored the goal against Everton (Myles Weston again supplying the cross ) looking for excuses after failing to score, and losing 0-1 at Orient 3 days after beating Everton, says they are not creating enough. "<em>When we are creating chances we are missing them but we are not creating an awful lot"<br /></em></p><p align="justify">Someone else was also discussing missing chances and it was Paul Benson yesterday: "<em>In my head I can put it [lack of goals] down to switching clubs and the unrest that comes with that, plus getting used to a different style of play. I've been playing a slightly different role for the team and for the gaffer. I've been playing a little bit deeper than what I'm used to but I was right up top on Tuesday which is where I want to play and I managed to get the goal."<br /></em></p><p align="justify">And early in the week manager Scott told the London Evening Standard, "<em>My job is on the line if we keep losing games. There is no point playing well and then losing every week</em>." </p><p align="justify">Meanwhile, the Sporting life were not very impressed by midweek football standards in Tier Three, "<em>but a shocking lack of quality from both sides ensured real chances remained few and far between until Jonathan Fortune headed just over in the 78th minute."<br /></em><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong></p><p align="justify">We've had a total of 40 games against Brentford and managed 5 wins out of 19 games at Griffin Park but we've lost two of our last three visits there and haven't won since 1980 when we won in this seasons favorite scoreline, 1-0 with a goal by defender Peter Shaw. That year, thirty years ago, was the year we got out of the Third Tier by finishing third behind Rotherham and Barnsley. Could that scenario be repeated on Saturday? </p><p align="justify">Last seasons encounters were a 1-1 in Brentford with Nicky Bailey equalising with a penalty in the 58th minute after Carl Cort had put the Bees ahead 5 minutes earlier. At the Valley it was a record breaking 6th win in a row with Burton and Sam scoring in the first half to put us clear at the top of the table.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What's Their Secret?</span></strong><br />At last we face a team that's even worse than we are during the second half. But surprise, surprise, despite the doom and gloom over our current poor second half performances, we've now managed to score more during the second 45 than the first, 6 goals to 5. But whereas we at least have scored during the second half, poor old Brentford have failed completely to score a single goal during the second half in their 8 league games. Incredible but true.</p><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong><br /><div align="justify">There's rumours that Rob Elliot and Christian Dailly will be back in contention for the weekend and we'd all feel a little happier if that were the case. Worner is clearly a good shotstopper but his lack of height is a bit of a worry while the steadying presence of Christian will be a particular perk even though we kept our third clean sheet of the season on Tuesday. And once he returns there'll be a real contest for the two centre-back places with the assured return after 20 months away of Jon Fortune playing his 196th game for the Addicks in Tuesdays win. </div><div align="justify"><br /><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:wOW-Rw3nomXQIM:http://www.cafc.co.uk/uploads/charlton36341news1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 116px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 116px" alt="" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:wOW-Rw3nomXQIM:http://www.cafc.co.uk/uploads/charlton36341news1.jpg" border="0" /></a> But, the most important player this week would appear to be Simon Francis who has the job of keeping the Bees main supply line, Myles Weston, quiet. Weston, still only 22, left the Addicks in 2007 and arrived at Griffin Park in 2009 via Notts County. Francis has met Myles before and will remember his last game at Brentford last season and although his team Southend lost 1-2 to a penalty in the 95th minute, he it was that put the shrimpers in front from a free-kick in the 9th minute. Weston also played that game and it was a foul on him by another ex, Osei Sankofa, that gave Brentford their first goal also from the penalty spot.</div><div align="justify">And they both met again in the return at Root Hall in April with Francis robbing Weston to set up Southends first goal in a 2-2 draw.<br /></div><div align="justify">Meanwhile, in the Addicks midfield 20 year old Alex Stavrinou was again named as sub on Tuesday and there was no sign of Alan McCormack. Also on the bench on Tuesday was 18 year old Tamer Tuna. Stavrinou has already played for Cyprus' U17's and Tuna has already scored his first goal for the Addicks against Barnet last year. If we can hold on to all these promising youngsters we could see the benefit in a couple of years. Just look at Barcelona who last weekend had 7 of their team come through their academy.</div><div align="justify">But will we see another defender taking a cue from Shaw thirty years ago? Its been 9 months since Jon Fortune last scored but he came close on Tuesday. His last goal was in his home debut for Sheffield United last January when, after going up for a corner, he controlled the ball with his thigh before volleying past the Reading goalkeeper. As for Gary Doherty its time for him to prove his usefulness with Christian about to return and its been 8 months since he last scored for Norwich at Brighton in February. </div><div align="justify">But what will Parky do with his attack? The introduction of Abbott on 70 minutes and Reid on 75 changed the game on Tuesday with Kyel supplying the cross for Benson's goal. Will Abbott's cameo be enough to see him start at the expense of Scotty Wagstaff and will Reid's crossing - vital to Benson's scoring - be enough to displace Johnnie Jackson from his midfield role?</div><br /><p>Worner; Francis, Doherty, Fortune, Fry; Martin, Semedo, Racon, Jackson; Benson, Abbott<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Our third game</span> <span style="color:#000000;">in 3 weeks against a team in the bottom three and having failed to despatch the first two what are our chances of completing an unwanted hat-trick. Very high actually. Thirty years since a win there in what is a London derby</span> </span><span style="color:#000000;">and with so many ex-Addicks just champing at the bit to get a win under their belt at our expense. And their home form against such teams as Wednesday and Everton should give Parky some food for thought. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">The fact that they are bottom of the league may change peoples ideas but back in the summer only 4 punters out of 38 on <a href="http://www.members.shaw.ca/cafcpicks/"><span style="color:#ff0000;">cafcpicks</span></a> saw this as an away win which shows how difficult a game it was thought to be. Local derbies often end in draws and this could well be the likely scenario with Charlie MacDonald getting a goal in a 1-1 draw. With twelve players already on the Addicks goalscoring charts after a total of 10 games played, who'll get the equaliser is anybody's guess.</span></p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-84981080377545457692010-09-28T08:45:00.016+02:002010-09-28T11:48:50.762+02:00MK Dons Preview<div align="justify">All those unimpressed by our draw with the Daggers need only take a brief look at the bottom of the league table to get even more irritated. This, despite Parky's assertions that our first half performance was our best this season, will serve to remind you that apart from giving the Daggers their first away league goals after 315 scoreless minutes, we've now managed two draws against the bottom two in our last two games. </div><div align="justify">And we have to thank our young goalie Ross Wormer for even that, after making 3 excellent saves in the second half.<br /><br /></div><div align="justify"><a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:m8qRnTAzQu95iM:http://images.teamtalk.com/10/08/402x210/Karl-Robinson-MK-Dons_2495728.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 124px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 65px" alt="" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:m8qRnTAzQu95iM:http://images.teamtalk.com/10/08/402x210/Karl-Robinson-MK-Dons_2495728.jpg" border="0" /></a> But there's no rest for the wicked as after the youngsters from Dagenham come another club with next to no history being been born in their present guise in June 2004 after having absonded from SE25. Leading out the Dons these days is the youngest manager in the Football League, 30 year old Karl Robinson, and he is also the youngest person to ever acquire a UEFA Pro Licence at the age of 29. If you are impressed enough to read more, its <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2010/09/karl_robinson.html#254292"><span style="color:#ff0000;">here</span></a><span style="color:#ff0000;">.</span> </div><div align="justify">But if you think the apparent inexperience of their manager in any way implies a pushover and perhaps another 5-1 like last season then it's probably best to think again as they are currently 9th in the table and with a home record thats the best in Tier Three. In fact Robinson is in that select group of managers who were either useless at playing or had to retire early because of injury - he's in the second group - and he started in a coaching role at Liverpool in his early twenties before following Paul Ince around at MK Dons and then Blackburn where he also experienced life working for Sam Allardyce. </div><div align="justify">And don't expect to see the same style of play from the Dons this season. Robinson was in charge for the last four games of last season and although they drew one and lost three of those four fixtures, "<em>Robinson's attempt to introduce a less direct and physical style of play was appreciated by a large section of supporters</em>." In fact, they like to pass it around and play possession football.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#000000;">So top of the table, in home form, with 10 points from 4 games so its fortunate that they're coming to the Valley because away from home its been quite the reverse with only one win from the 4 games with a 2-1 win at Walsall on opening day being their best result, followed by a bit of a pasting at Carlisle by 1-4, another defeat, 0-2, at Brighton and then another reverse 1-2 last weekend at Peterborough. </span><br />So we can only hope that we won't see them at their best and perhaps we can take encouragement from the fact that all of their 4 wins have been against teams below us in the league a<span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">nd the fact that this will be their third away game in a week</span></span><span style="color:#000000;">, after Birmingham last week in the League Cup where they lost 1-3 and then Peterborough at the weekend.</span><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Top scorer is number 10, 21 year old Sam Baldock with 4 and he looks to be a rising star having being been chosen for the England U-20 team to play at the FIFA World Cup last year in Egypt.</span> He missed the Rochdale game with an ankle knock and was an unused sub against Peterborough where up front were Jabo Ibehre and Jermaine Easter, both with two goals each this season. </div><div align="justify">Meanwhile, our Christian is not the only old boy around these parts as the Dons have Dietmar Hamann, currently 37, of Liverpool fame. He it was who scored the last ever goal at the old Wembley in a game that Germany won 1-0 and forced the resignation of Kevin Keegan. Hamann was on the bench against Rochdale but started against Peterborough.</div><div align="justify">And Luke Chadwick and Lee Martin may have a few memories to discuss after their similar playing experiences. Both, obviously guilty of sinning in a previous life, started their career at Man U ( OK, Martin was at Wimbledon before that) and both were then loaned out to Belgian side Royal Antwerp. Although 6 years older Chadwick hasn't travelled so far or as much as Martin with 8 club stickers on his luggage whilst our Lee has already seen the inside of 9. And both Martin and Jermaine Easter know each other from Plymouth in 2007.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying?</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Dons chairman Pete Winkelman said: "<em>Karl (Robinson) is a young man with enormous ambition who has the talent to build on the momentum our club is building."</em> </span></div><div align="justify">Daggers boss John Still on why Paul Benson is still not finding the net, "<em>You have to cross it early. The wide players here come inside too much. As soon as you don't cross it, defenders get tight to him."<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></em><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Following on from the Daggers an even shorter history if you conveniently forget the confusion with Wimbledon. Only two games played, both last year of course, and we won both. A pulsating 5-1 home win in November followed by a 1-0 win in April. </span></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Whats Their Secret?</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong>After our two goals on Saturday we have at least reached double figures with 10 goals scored even though in doing so we have slumped to 19th in the most generous league table having gifted 6 points now after having gone in front. This can be explained, partly, by our early game prominence, because we've scored first in 6 of our 8 league games. Only Bournemouth have more first-to-score games that us and we are one of eleven teams who have all failed to score just once. </div><div align="justify">And perhaps we should ask the League if we can play shorter games. Say 35 minutes which would suit us fine. We haven't conceded a single goal in that time in 9 games played whilst scoring 8 times. And its our second half performances that perhaps should be worrying Parky far more.</div><div align="justify">As for the Dons we face a team that are more ruthless than we are. They have only scored first in three games but have won them all whereas the generous Addicks have won three and drawn three of our 6 score first games.<br /></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong><br />Parky has some injury worries for todays game with both Anyinsah and Reid picking up hamstring injuries on Saturday while Abbott and Solly were both already in the treatment room. </div><div align="justify">But will he learn from last weekends failures. Perhaps stealing frequent goalscorer Tosan Popo from the U18's, especially since he turned 18 on Sunday, might serve to shake up the strikers even more and while we'll at it why not partner him with Tamer Tuna, unused sub on Saturday, who'll be 19 next month.</div><div align="justify">Meanwhile, bearing in mind we have so much trouble with our strikers who have once scored once (Anyinsah) in our last 8 games, he'll be very surprised to learn that we have the most scorers in Tier Three (including cup games). Yes, no less than eleven addicks have found the back of the net this season although close behind come the Dons with 10 scorers. Shame that Paul Benson is not among our eleven.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">Wormer; Francis, Doherty, Fortune, Fry; Martin, Semedo, Racon, Jackson; Benson, Sodje.</div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">This will be a tough game and I can't really see a win here unless you manage to take heart from the Dons fragile away record. Their 1-4 defeat at Carlisle, where they also lost 0-5 last year, was because of the agressive Carlisle tactics where the Dons were hurried and hassled and never given time to settle on the ball. This is the only approach that may unsettle them and prevent them enjoying possession for long periods. Perhaps a return for MacCormack would improve matters here.</span></div><div align="justify">But unless the team continues its first half performance from last weekend, a 1-1 draw is probably the best we can hope for.</div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-82120524802717627952010-09-22T09:06:00.009+02:002010-09-22T09:24:44.133+02:00Dagenham and Redbridge Preview<div align="justify">A disappointing result at Tranmere, where our first half dominance didn't see us get the goals we deserved, leaves us languishing in 10th and now 3 points away from Huddersfield in top spot. But its early days and we can only regret having been relegated a year too soon because if we had last seasons form we would be five points clear at the top.</div><div align="justify">Anyway, two home games coming up to see out September, a month whose results sees us currently 15th best, and we begin with the second to bottom club Dagenham and Redbridge.</div><div align="justify">And what an awful bees knees mess is this Tier Three league. Two weeks after playing the oldest team in the world John Still brings his young 18 year old team to the Valley. Although maybe that's a bit unfair as Dagenham and Redbridge are in reality four teams rolled in one, being an amalgamation of Ilford, Walthamstow, Leytonstone and Dagenham, and who can blame them if it gets them into League football. This they achieved in just 15 years when, after winning the Conference, they played their first League game in August 2007 just as we dipped out of the top flight.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong></div><div align="justify">Second bottom of the league and with the worst away record as well, where they have played three, lost three and all without scoring at Wednesday, Notts County and Bournemouth by 0-2, 0-1 and 0-3 respectively. And in their cup exploits they have fared no better with a 2-1 away League Cup defeat at MK Dons as well as that forgetable 0-1 exit at the Valley in the Painting jobbie which all makes it look rather easy for Addicks come the weekend.<br /><br />As for their home games, they drew 2-2 with 4th from bottom Tranmere and had a amazing 2-0 win over the hapless Orient while coming unstuck again last weekend against Bristol Rovers 0-3.<br />But they did manage a draw against Exeter this week to lift them off the bottom so its a total of seven league games, 4 without scoring, and only 5 points to show for their total of 5 goals scored; come back Paul Benson.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong><br />Number nine for the Daggers is Jon Nurse from Bridgetown, Barbados who in 2008 became the Daggers first ever full international when he played 55 minutes of Barbados' World Cup qualifying match in Dominica on the 16 February 2008. The forward then played 69 minutes in the 2nd leg against Dominica on 26 March 2008. </div><div align="justify">Alongside Nurse we may see the 6' 3" Basir "Bas" Mohammed Savage, just signed from Tranmere. He's big, black, with an extravagant style of play and is famous for his moonwalk celebrations whenever he scores. Lets hope we remain as ignorant of their style as we are now.<br /><br /><a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:nkBNgsYPM0cniM:http://img.skysports.com/10/08/218x298/Romain-Vincelot-Dagenham-and-Redbridge_2488351.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 85px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 116px" alt="" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:nkBNgsYPM0cniM:http://img.skysports.com/10/08/218x298/Romain-Vincelot-Dagenham-and-Redbridge_2488351.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div align="justify">But the man to watch is surely the number 20 Frenchman Romain Vincelot (left). He's a midfielder but that doesn't stop him being the Daggers leading scorer with 4 goals including the equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home on Tuesday against Exeter.<br /></div><br /><br /><p align="justify">And one aspect that Manager Still will be pleased about is the number of shoots last weekend, for while the Addicks managed 10 shots in total at Tranmere with only 3 on target, the Daggers had 22 shots in all with eleven on target. This may be a result of their being more adventous playing at home where they have managed to score all of their 5 goals. Looking back to their Painting efforts at the Valley it was the Daggers who hardly excelled with only three shots on target against the Addicks 6.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><br /><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Just about the shortest history lession this season ( no, MK Dons will be shorter) with only three previous games. A Third Round FA cup tie in January 2001 with John Salako equalising in the dying moments saved our blushes and a Shawn Newton goal at Victoria Road got us through to the 4th round. </p><p align="justify">And then there was the nondescript Painting contest evening on August 31st when a 57th minute Therry Racon goal put an end to our embarrassment.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What Are They Saying?</span></strong></p><p align="justify">After the Painting game at the Valley, Daggers boss John Still: "<em>I didn't think we deserved to lose. I was pleased with the performance. I think we've got some very good players and I expect us to start winning games soon.”</em></p><p align="justify">While Gary Doherty adds, <em>"We've got two massive home games coming up and our last two results have given us a boost. We're feeling confident."<br /></em><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong></p><p align="justify">After our staggering 3 goals at Orient, we have inconceivably dropped back into our goal-a-game mode. Not surprisingly our customary one goal proved not to be enough at Trenton Park and our 4 goals in our last 5 League games places us in 14th spot in the table for most dangerous attack in Tier Three. Even Orient and Rochdale have scored goals than we have and Parky must be rather embarrassed by the lack of exercise that we are giving the opposing goalkeeper. In fact, since that crazy 4-4 draw with the spanners back in December last year, although we've only failed to score 5 times in the 33 League and Play-off games since then, we've only scored more than once on <strong>10 occasions</strong>. So, like the Arse of old, our favorite chant is clearly becoming <em>its</em> <em>1-0 to the Addicks</em> with no less than seven 1-0 games in the last 19 fixtures.</p><p align="justify">And Parky won't be too happy either to learn that - after our impressive 23 fouls at Tranmere - our appalling tackling is setting new heights as we now have a clear lead in the table on fouls committed - now a huge 109 from our 7 games, one every 6 minutes - and only Bristol Rovers can beat our 16 yellow cards received. Won't be long before suspensions start hitting us hard, although it must be said that the cards are evenly spread with eleven players having been carded.<br /><br />So while Parky emphasizes the need to stay on ones feet at the training ground, at home he'll be going over his endorsing the horses-for-courses approach, as he seeks to remedy our goals-for column and push it into double figures at least. Two goals needed, boys.</p><p align="justify">Last time out against the Daggers we played: Worner; Francis, Fry, Dailly, Llera; Martin (Reid 85), Semedo (McCormack 86), Racon, Wagstaff; Sodje (Abbott 67), Benson. So we can expect at least three changes from that team with new boy West Bromwichs' 22 year old Luke Daniels likely to start in place of 20 year old Russ Worner in goal. Christian Dailly will still be missing with his cracked eye socket (I hope they didn't make him watch the operation) and with the Daggers playing similar to Tranmere it looks like Miguel will retain his place. </p><p align="justify">Up front Paul Benson is still looking for his first Addicks goal after 4 games and this would be a good time to start Paul because despite all our efforts at signing a striker to end our distressing attacking problems, top goalscorer is none other than Scottie Wagstaff with three as many as anybody else, in league games anyway. He's one of five players that have now played more than 600 minutes but then again so have Lee Martin and Pawel Abbott.<br /></p><p align="justify">Which strikers will Parky choose this week? After a total of nine games, with admittedly new additions coming in, we've tried five different combinations of starting strikers and none of the strikers who started the game have scored for the last seven games! </p><p align="justify">Looks like its becoming a bit of a problem then or do we put the blame on the support they are getting? Maybe its time to look back to our early success last season with a 5 man midfield and a single striker and play Racon and Martin together in midfield with Wagstaff and Reid on the wings and Benson on his own up front.</p><p align="justify">Anyway, probably supporting two of Anyinsah, Sodje and Benson, Parky must again decide who to play out wide with Scottie, Martin and Reid all available. Reid has still to score this year although Akpo will argue that it doesn't do you any good as he scored in his only League start of the season against Bournemouth and has been the perennial League sub ever since. Although he'll had to pay attention to more of what promoted-last-season Gary Doherty has to say "<em>We've got competition for places and you need that if you want to go up. You need people fighting to keep their place and to get into the team."</em></p><p align="justify">Daniels; Francis, Doherty, Llera, Jackson; Wagstaff, Semedo, Racon, Reid; Anyinsah, Benson. </p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">With our</span> <span style="color:#000000;">recent goal a game run matching exactly what we have managed in our three previous games against the Daggers, you'd think a 1-0 win was on the cards.</span> </span><span style="color:#000000;">But after snatching three points from the jaws of defeat in the last home game against County, Parky's</span><span style="color:#000000;"> gonna be really embarrassed if we don't do the same and more against a team stuck at the bottom. A 2-0 home win then with Benson getting his first goal, although you may not see any celebrating. </span></p><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Meanwhile over at <a href="http://www.members.shaw.ca/cafcpicks/"><span style="color:#ff0000;">cafcpicks</span></a>, of the 38 players there a massive 26 see a home win, 11 eternal pessimistics suffer a draw, while the one nigger in the woodpile is our dear old Frankie Valley who is really thinking outside the box once again and forecasts a defeat....... </span></div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-39977371910019194542010-09-15T09:00:00.165+02:002010-09-15T09:12:34.521+02:00Tranmere Rovers Preview<div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">A very lucky three points last weekend, when outplayed, outshot and outcornered as well, against a County side that are reportedly gutted at the way things ended up. But after scoring one goal in our customary fashion we also did the business in what is fast becoming another trait of ours, winning in fouls committed and yellow cards. Parky clearly has some thinking to do on the long trip north to the Wirral. Dare he start with the same team again (surely not) and with what striker duo will he play, that's if he still believes in 4-4-2.<br /></div><div align="justify">Anyway, Tranmere Rovers. That's the team that drew with Scunthorpe on the last day of the 2008/09 season therefore handing their Play-off place to the Irons so they decided to sack Ronnie Moore and employ John Barnes in an attempt to go one better. As we all know the plan backfired last season and after 14 games Barnes was sacked soon after a 0-5 loss to the spanners, Tranmere's worse result for 5 years. And it was that win, with the spanners languishing in 15th place and 12 points behind the Addicks that arguably turned their season around and propelled them up into 3rd place. Come on Parky we have score to settle.</div><div align="justify">After Barnes, the current boss at Tranmere is 52 year old Les Parry, ex physio, a rather strange choice but beggars can't be choosers and when Barnes was sacked last October with Tranmere 3rd from bottom, Parry it was. And just like Exeter, they survived, just, by winning their last game. Tranmere were at already relegated Stockport and they won 3-0.<br /><br /><a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:hCXTfGLSLsIaSM:http://images.sportinglife.com/10/02/330/Les-Parry-Tranmere_2418030.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 119px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 89px" alt="" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:hCXTfGLSLsIaSM:http://images.sportinglife.com/10/02/330/Les-Parry-Tranmere_2418030.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong><br /><div align="justify">Only 4 teams outside the top six won more games at home that Tranmere last season and the season before only Leeds won more home games. So it was all a bit of a shock when this year things once again failed to go to plan because they've started the season with four straight home defeats with two league defeats to Oldham 1-2 and Bournemouth 0-3 followed by losing to Swansea 1-3 in the League Cup and they also lost to the infamous Accrington Stanley on penalties in the Paint thingy which all in all didn't make it the best of starts at Prenton Park.<br /><br />So on to September and the visit of Peterborough with Tranmere down to where they started under Parry at third from bottom with just 2 points from 4 games and with the lowest league crowd figure down to 4600 so clearly Parry's job was on the line. Thankfully for him the game was won 1-0 with 19 year old midfielder Frenchman Arnuad Mendy making amends for their bad start in his first league game for Rovers since his on-loan signing from Derby with a 44th minute winner.<br />But then last weekend away at Yeovil they once again came unstuck by conceding 3 goals in the first 27 minutes and this against a team that had scored only three times in their 5 League games. The final score; 3-1.</div><p align="justify">So one win then and 2 league defeats at home gives them the 21st worst home record in Tier Three and they are now 4th from bottom with just 5 goals scored in 6 league games. Not that we are much better currently with just 4 games scored in our last 5 games.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Nine different players have scored for the Addicks this season while only 5 players have scored for Tranmere but they do have a top scorer with 3, number 7, the Nigerian from Kilburn, Enoch Showunmi ( surely a windup) but he's a tall and bustling striker and possesses pace, so clearly Miguel will be on the bench once again.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Trenton Park was opened in 1912 so its nearly a 100 years old but with a capacity of 16789 was obviously built when Tranmere was bigger than it is now for the latest census shows a population of only 11668 and crowds are already falling to 4,600.</p><p align="justify">Last time at Trenton Park we had a team of Elliot; Richardson, Dailly, Llera, Youga; Sam, Semedo, Racon, Shelvey, Bailey; Burton and after 4 wins in a row a draw looked on the cards, to me anyway. But this is how the game was reported on the official site "<em>Clearly superior in midfield, where Sam was a constant thorn in Tranmere's side, the gulf was evident all over the pitch. This was a side, remember, that was relegated rock bottom of the Championship last season. But Parkinson has instilled a spirit and quality within the ranks that certainly looks likely to result in a sustained promotion challenge."</em> Oh, if only we were able to say the same come the weekend and repeat our 4-0 win that saw Sam get a couple, Semedo score his only goal for us and Bailey get the other and complete a record breaking 5th league win in a row at the beginning of a season.<br /></p><p align="justify">There's only been 12 long league seasons spent in the company of the likes of Tranmere and with two cup games thrown in during the very first season we played them leaves the honours in all games depressingly even with both teams having home records of 5 wins, 6 draws and only 2 defeats. Our massive total of two wins at Tranmere then in 13 games were last season's spectacular 4-0, our biggest win ever there and a 1-0 back in April 1975 during our promotion season. </p><p align="justify">You remember it, we failed to win our next 4 games after the Tranmere game, losing to Bury(!) and Chesterfield(!) and drawing with the Posh and Hereford - heady times, uh - so we had to win our last game at home to Preston to clinch 3rd place ahead of Swindon. Curtis missed a penalty and we conceded after 10 minutes. There followed 40 minutes of torment before Bobby Goldthorpe scored his last ever goal for us on 52 minutes and then Killer finished them off with two goals. Goodbye to the Third Division after 3 long years.</p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">So What Are They Saying?</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Confused? While the Addicks were falling asleep and checking their emails at the weekend, Magpies boss Craig Short was seeing it all quite differently, "<em>I'm really disappointed, but I'm pleased with the way we've turned around the way we're playing. I thought today was a good advert for League One football. </p></em><p align="justify">Parky, trying to hide his embarrassment<em>, "We've got a new team and there was a little bit of tentativeness in our play"</em> but over in the Prem, <em>"Considering several visiting players signed for Blackpool only last month, the sophistication of their regular positional interchanging was impressive, "</em> against Newcastle that was, which just shows that it can be done<em>.</em></p><p align="justify">Meanwhile, over at Tranmere, manager Les Parry is thankful it's half-time at Yeovil. "<span style="color:#000000;"><em>We were abysmal in the first half hour. I was quite happy to go in at half-time 3-0 , thats how bad we were. We could have been five down and that wouldn't have been flattering for them."</em> And that was after Yeovil had scored 3 times in 30 minutes when its taken them 5 previous league games to score that exact number. </span></p><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong></div><p align="justify">Only 9th in the table and heading for mid-table obscurity but on the plus side we're definitely getting stuck in because only one team, Oldham, have conceded more than our 86 fouls and we're in equal 5th place on yellow cards and share top spot on reds. And we've already given away 2 penalties.<br /><br />But after last weeks gift of 3 points Parky will be keen to press on and get some points with two games against 2 teams in the bottom four. And with only 2 points covering the top nine its looking like the most competitive division there is. But after celebrating our first three goal league game for 27 games at Orient back in August perhaps it shouldn't surprise us that Leyton are currently second from bottom having let in 10 goals while Peterborough and Bournemouth are the two highest scorers with 16 goals ( while we have a grand total of 7 ) but then again only three teams (Plymouth, Brentford and the Daggers) have scored less than Tranmere's 5 goals. </p><p align="justify">And as we found out last weekend, its goals that win games. Perhaps Parky should look back to Trenton Park last year and remember our 5 man midfield and Burton up front on his own. Although any thoughts that you might have of seeing Johnnie Jackson in a 5 man midfield seem out of the question with Fry's pace needed at the back again to cope with Enoch, so Jackson seems stuck as left-back especially with the reported injury to able substitute Chris Solly.<br /><br /><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:z1Todaq5wJBMCM:http://www.charlton.vitalfootball.co.uk/resource/teams/charlton/355_a.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 82px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 82px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:z1Todaq5wJBMCM:http://www.charlton.vitalfootball.co.uk/resource/teams/charlton/355_a.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />So defence looks set to be the same as against County but what will Parky do with the midfield. With the change at half-time improving things and with Racon the only player to miss our two League defeats it would seem certain that the man on the left will start, but will Parky be content with that one change. Because the real improvement came when Abbott and Benson were taken off and replaced by Sodje and Anyinsah. </p><p align="justify">Sodje must have seen his prospects of replacing Abbott dip somewhat after a poor showing in Tuesdays closed doors reserve game against the Daggers. Missing a penalty and a one-on-one he could only watch from the dug-out as 18 year old Tamer Tuna scored the equaliser from a pass from 17 year old Tosan Popo. The replacement of Joe Anyinsah by Popo, after an hour, tempts the thought that Parky could be getting him ready for a starting place at Trenton after becoming only the 4th player in Addicks history to score on his debut. </p><p align="justify">And there's the ongoing question of what to do with the wandering Lee Martin. Our Phil from <a href="http://cafcandnothingelsematters.blogspot.com/2010/09/knotts-county.html"><span style="color:#ff0000;">nothingelsematters</span></a> suggests that Martin be moved inside behind a single striker but Martin and Racon together in the middle seems a bit too radical for Parky who does like a settled team.</p>Parky's team then:<br /><p align="justify">Elliot; Francis, Doherty, Fry, Jackson; Martin, Semedo, Racon, Reid; Benson, Sodje<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">Both teams that a recent combined goal record of 10 goals scored </span></span><span style="color:#000000;">in the last 1080 minutes, at an average of one goal every 108 minutes. (tranmere 6 in 7; addicks 4 in 5 ) so unless things are changed around goals may be at a premium even remembering last seasons success. But this is a game that the Addicks, if they are to mount any sort of promotion challenge, must win. Its therefore a 1-0 away win but thats more my heart talking than my head.</span></p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-55383849926174981402010-09-08T08:35:00.010+02:002010-09-08T08:59:12.675+02:00Notts County Preview<div align="justify">Many people are comparing this season with last and finding excuses for our midtable position. Well, this time last season we were of course top on goal difference on 15 points and look where it got us. And after 5 games, the spanners you'll be pleased to learn were 8 points behind us with exactly the same points as we have now, a meagre 7. Last year it was game 15 before we saw our second defeat at Carlisle and we followed up that result by losing to a non-league club in the FA Cup for the first time ever at Northwich Victoria and then went on to make it three in a row by losing at Southampton. Lets hope we can recover faster this time round because a revitalised Notts County are next up.<br /><br />Notts County, the oldest "professional" football club in the world, apparently, with the honours for the oldest club seemingly going to Sheffield fc who play in the Northern Premier. County were born in 1862 which makes them an amazingly 148 years old. And it hasn't all been spent in Tier Three either. Like ourselves they've won the cup once and recorded a 3rd place finish in Division One when it was the real Division One back in 1891 and again in 1901, but that was all a very long time ago.<br /></div><div align="justify">Unlike ourselves then, their glory day memories are a bit distant although they did enjoy 3 years in top flight football in the early 80's and they also had the debatable privilege of finishing 23th out of 24 (after only one years stay) in the death knell of the old Division One in 1991-92 in the last season before it became the Premier thingy. And if you think we've hard done by, also there that year were Southampton, Wednesday and Oldham. As for history, oldest club or not,they sit just behind us in the Top Flight League Table in 33rd place with more seasons but less points. </div><div align="justify">Craig Short is now manager and has returned to his roots for he started his playing career with County before moving to Blackburn, Everton and Sheffield United. But his first coaching and mangerial job was with Ferencvaros of Budapest although he didn't stay too long there after receiving death threats once he became manager. </div><div align="justify">He was there for 22 months and for the majority of that time he was employed as a coach, but when Bobby Davison was forced out as manager in October, he found himself looking after Hungary's most famous club amid growing supporter unrest. </div><div align="justify">His first match as caretaker did not even finish. "<em>We were 3-1 down and the fans just emptied the kop and disappeared. The next thing rioters came through the family stand to try to get to the players and the match had to be abandoned. I remember we were in the boardroom afterwards and there was an SMS to one of the Hungarians, saying: 'We will hunt you down. There will be no hiding place.</em>'" </div><div align="justify">And then after three games as caretaker they offered him the job fulltime and thats when he received a picture of himself in a Everton shirt with a sickle in the back of his head saying, 'Go home Englishman.' But he stayed on and Ferencvaros finished seventh in the League. </div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong><br />County didn't enjoy their return to Tier Three after 6 years away and lost 0-3 to Huddersfield at home on opening day and then by the same score at Oldham away next up. Things improved with a 1-0 home win over Dagenham, closely followed by a very stirring performance at Dean Court where after conceding 3 goals in the first 28 minutes they then fought back to draw 3-3 with the last 2 goals coming in injury time. And game 5 was convincing won 4-0 at home to lowly Yeovil.<br /></div><div align="justify">And they have been enjoying themselves in the League Cup, winning away at Plymouth 1-0 a few days after the Pilgrims had beaten Southampton 1-0 and then in the next round they caused the shock of the night in putting out Watford at Vicarage Rd 2-1. And in the Paint job they had another difficult away fixture at Hillsborough and again after conceding early they only lost 1-2. <strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">So they're in 12th spot, one below us again, unbeaten in their last </span></span><span style="color:#000000;">3 League games scoring 8 goals in the process and although only a couple of teams have conceded more than their 9 goals, they have twice as many clean sheets as we do.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong><br />After encountering one Harley last weekend we come across another one in the only member of County's squad that you've probably heard off in the shape of former Chelski and Fulham star Jon Harley. Fulham actually spent 3.5m on him back in 2000 but his career since then has been on a slippery slope through Sheffield United, Burnley and Watford. He joined County in the summer on a free transfer and wears number 26. </div><div align="justify">And another player we're sure to notice is number 11 Ben Davies. He plays on the left wing and he's County's leading goalscorer with 4 goals having got a total of 16 last season. Along with right-winger Craig Westcarr, who's now on 3 goals, he was named in this weeks League One Team of the Week after their performance against Yeovil.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Ex-Addicks</span></strong></div><div align="justify">There's no ex-Addicks playing for County that I can find but we do have another ex player with us in Johnnie Jackson. He only had a year at County last season but played 24 times scoring twice. Perhaps not what he had in mind to see his old mates just a place behind us so perhaps he'll be set on helping us to pull three points clear of them. Lets hope that his Achilles problem from last week has gone away.<br /></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong></div><div align="justify">Notts County have won twice at the Valley in Cup games (FA Cup in 1978, and League Cup in 1984) but only once (in August 1975) in 15 League visits. The Addicks have won 9 with 5 draws. We've also won the last 5 League games dating back to 1984.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">What are they saying</span></strong> </div><div align="justify">Craig Short "<em>It will be difficult at times. That's the nature of the job. But if I have a problem, I won't have people coming through the back of the dugout, like they were with Bobby in his last game in Hungary. If that happens here I'll have failed badly</em>."<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong><br />The first thing to note is that we've hardly started with just 5 games played. Last season after 5 games behind Leeds and the Addicks and in the Play-off spots were Colchester, Bristol, Brentford and MK Dons who finished 8th, 11th, 9th and 12th come May time. And as we said the spanners were 8th with 7 points and Norwich 19th with just 4.</div><div align="justify">And the first thing to do after losing 2 in a row is not to panic. We usually lose in Exeter and our previous managers Walter Raynor, Alex MacFarlane, Albert Lindon, Jimmy Seed (played 3 - lost 3) and Mike Bailey have all lost in Exeter over the years so there's no shame there Parky, its the norm. The only one to triumph was Alex MacFarlane in 1929 in a once in a blue moon win by 5-2 when Wilson Lennox (44 goals in a total of 78 appearances - where is he when we need him?) became the first Addicks player to score 5 in one match. </div><div align="justify">So a defeat not unexpected then as history usually has a lot to answer for but both Ketts and Deepest Darkest, amongst others, have already noted that our midfield is starting to prove a bit of a problem with a distinct lack of depth in the squad and more seriously a bit of a dearth in creativity. Ketts was rather enthusiastic about Johnnie Jackson providing this spark and after two defeats in a row we may see some changes this week. </div><div align="justify">And after enthusing about our attack after our two 3 goal games against Shrewsbury and Orient we have now gone 4 games scoring only 3 times and failed to score for the first time this season at Exeter. Pawel Abbott has still failed to score in any of our 5 league games (406 minutes played) and its two full games played for Paul Benson and no goals yet but if you're looking for precedents, and we all are, you'll remember that Super Clive himself didn't score in his first two games for the Addicks either back in that beautiful late summer of 1997. </div><div align="justify">But the biggest problem perhaps is Cristian Dailly who'll be out be the next 5 weeks. Jon Fortune was on the bench against the Daggers and Exeter without playing while Miguel Llera has chalked up nearly 400 minutes of play so far. There was a behind doors win for the Reserves against Palarse on Tuesday which saw Fortune play 70 minutes and Anyinsah 65 with a goal and an assist so it could be that both see some action on Saturday. Billy Smart also got a goal in a 2-0 win.</div><div align="justify">So Parky has some selection problems this weekend and we may see a more crowded midfield as he searches for an answer to a sudden lack of goals.<br /><br />Elliot; Francis, Doherty, Llera, Fry; Martin, Semedo, McCormack, Jackson, Reid; Benson</div><br /><div align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong><br />Its been thirty five years since County's one and only win at the Valley in 15 League attempts but they have recovered from their bad start to the season, have beaten Plymouth and Watford away in the League Cup and know how to score with 8 goals in their last three games . Another tough game then and a draw may be the best we can hope for.</div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-13621394872890398712010-09-01T10:14:00.009+02:002010-09-01T10:30:58.619+02:00Exeter City Preview<div align="justify">After forecasting something of a result last weekend, I find myself on the wrong end of a bad mood after our first League defeat of the season just 4 games in but the arrival of Benson and Anyinsah and the signing of Jon Fortune has helped restore my confidence as has last nights Paint win over the hard-working daggs.<br /><br />So its back to the League. Don't know about you but I daydream a lot especially where the Addicks are concerned so when I saw that our next game was at St. James Park there was no holding my moment of fantasy. A return to St. James Park for our 5th game of the season where we've unbeaten on our last three visits and have only lost once in our last 8 games against them................but no, get a grip, this is League One and its not Newcastle we're off to, its the other St. James Park and home of little old Exeter City.<br /><br /><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:b3lMi8PmNVHURM:http://images.football.co.uk/Dynamic/News/400x400/PaulTisdaleNew.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 124px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 124px" alt="" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:b3lMi8PmNVHURM:http://images.football.co.uk/Dynamic/News/400x400/PaulTisdaleNew.jpg" border="0" /></a> And believe it or not we've into our third youngster in a row with yet another 37 year old geezer in charge of the opposition, this time its Paul Tisdale. And another one with a good win ratio of 86 out of 211 for the Grecians. Five years younger than Parky they both started as trainees at Southampton but missed each other by a couple of years with Parky moving on to Bury 3 years before Tisdale arrived.</div><div align="justify">And as perhaps you can tell from his Wenger like appearance, this eulogy has been found on the net, "<em>Tisdale's neat footballing style was warmly welcomed at St James Park, with his side's patient approach and desire to pass the ball in all areas of the pitch catching the eye amid the rough and tumble of the Conference. "</em> OK, several years ago and he may have changed his spots but ...... </div><p align="justify">Exeter have had a checkered past over the last few years, with a spell under administration in the mid 90's while in Tier 4 being closely followed by definitely being in the wrong place at the wrong time. 2003 it was, when City finished 23rd, and second to last, in Tier Four but were unluckily relegated to the Conference with the timely introduction of a new rule that decreed that from now on the bottom 2 clubs are automatically relegated instead of only one. Exeter won its last game but to no avail as Swansea City's victory over Hull City left the Grecians one point short of safety. </p><p align="justify">But they were more successful last season when they again needed a win on the last day of the season, at home to Huddersfield, to leapfrog the Gills to safety. They did it with the winner coming from Ryan Harley with 8 minutes remaining. </p><p align="justify">After coming out of administration in 1996, the club remains owned by its fans, through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.</p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Three very strange games at home for Exeter have all had exactly the same format. Two home 2-2 draws in the League with Colchester and Bristol and a 2-3 loss to Ipswich in the League Cup (after 2-2 at 90 minutes) and in every game they have scored first, conceded twice and then equalised, so its looks odds on a 2-2 draw I suppose. </p><p align="justify">And that may be all we can look forward to as they don't lose very often at St. James and its now 9 League games without defeat going all the way back to February 20th when they lost 0-1 to Stockport County, which was a bit of a shock to everyone as it was Stockports first win in 17 League games. As for last season, only two teams - the spanners and the Gills - conceded less than their 20 goals at home and they only lost 4 times. And none of the top 10 teams last season won at St. James.</p><p align="justify">Their only away League game, after the postponement of their game against Dagenham after the death of 31 year old striker Adam Stansfield, was last weekend when they went down 0-3 to Orient but they did get their first win of the season in the local derby at Yeovil in the Paint thingy where they won 3-1 with two goals from Jamie Cureton. </p><p align="justify">So they are in 21st spot with just two points but with a game in hand and much like Huddersfield last weekend are in need of a League win.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="color:#000000;">They'll be</span> <span style="color:#000000;">no number 9 playing for Exeter on Saturday, nor for the next 9 seasons as the Grecians have retired the shirt as a mark of respect for the striker Adam Stansfield who died on Aug 12 with bowel cancer. He was 31.</span> </span></p><p align="justify">Leading scorer is number 7 Ryan Harley with 3.<br />Captain and centre-half Matt Taylor, midfielder Marcus Stewart, and striker Daniel Nardiello are all out injured for the game at Orient and none of them played last night either.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Let's start by reminding ourselves that Exeter is the 3rd smallest ground in League One and that we have our second worst away record there in this league (after Colchester) with just .5 points average per game.</span></p><p align="justify">This is Exeter's 46th season in the third tier of English football. They have played more seasons in the third tier than any club who have never reached the top two tiers and as recently as 2008 was in the Conference. As for the Addicks, this is our 16th in Tier Three with fully half of those being when we started out in the Third Division South in 1921 until 1929. So this is our 90th year in the Football League, 16 in Tier Three (18%), 48 in the Second (53%) and 26 with the cream(29%).</p><p align="justify">So, anyway, our 12 seasons together with Exeter have always been in Tier Three, the first 10 as Third Division South, then Division Three and now League One and to add to your creeping depression, let me tell you that we haven't won at Exeter since 1929, a healthly 5-2 win in our Championship winning year, but now 81 years ago. And what's more its our only success there as well, with only 3 draws and 8 defeats in the 12 League games. And, if you need more, we've been there 5 times since 1929 with 4 defeats and only last season's 1-1 draw to show for it. In fact, we've had more success in our 33 League visits to the other St. James Park (where we've won 20%) than the Devon one.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Rumours are that Parky's getting a big cake as this is his 300 game as a manager and naturally he wants to celebrate it with a win.<br /><br />And we've got a couple of new players in the Daggers 30 year old Paul Benson and Carlisle's Joe Anyinsah. Both are forwards with Benson being leading Daggers scorer for the past 4 years and getting 21 and 17 in the last 2 seasons and, if you believe his old boss, we're assured of 20 goals a season if we can get some decent crosses in. As for Joe Anyinsah he's 25 and has scored a total of 15 over the last two seasons for Carlisle and he scored in 3 out of the last 4 Carlisle home games last season. And his signing this week after being on trial for some time could be significant as Exeter have only lost twice this year at home - once to Stockport as mentioned and once to Carlisle in January whose dangerman on a cold night in Devon was Joe Anyinsah. He duly scored twice in a 3-2 win. </p><p align="justify">So we've bolstered our defence a tad with taking on Jon Fortune till the end of the year, and Parky's decided to get another couple of strikers. If you count wingers as attackers thats 10 forwards we have now, fighting for 4 places. Meanwhile, we've been lacking ideas in midfield recently and only have Semedo, McCormack, Racon (who's rumoured to be off to Greece) and an untried Stavrinou as backup. OK, Jackson can play in midfield but it does seem that the engineroom as everyone likes to call it is a bit short on stokers.</p><p align="justify">But at least this week team selection is not going to be the clearcut choice of recent weeks and we also have the nagging doubt about Elliot's back as well. Its all a bit of an unknown, which I suppose will at least throw a spanner in Tisdale's week as he does pride himself on playing teams that are designed to counter the oppostion. </p><p align="justify">Worner; Francis, Dailly, Doherty, Jackson; Wagstaff, Semedo, McCormack, Martin; Sodje, Benson.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong><span style="color:#000000;">A home team without a home defeat for 6 months and a ground where we haven't won for 81 years. Can our two new strikers improve our goals for column and get us the three points or will we see another team like Huddersfield determined for a win. </span><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Over at <a href="http://www.members.shaw.ca/cafcpicks/"><span style="color:#ff0000;">cafcpicks</span></a>, the 38 punters shaped up with 6 wins, 10 defeats and a massive 22 draws. I was in the second category and I'm not going to change my mind. The good news is that I've only got one right so far.</span></p>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22406442.post-81635682170397015562010-08-25T08:45:00.006+02:002010-08-25T09:04:27.121+02:00Huddersfield Town Preview<div align="justify">Much like our difficult start in our Premiership swansong in 2006/07 with Monica, our first four games this season are similarly difficult. An awkward promoted team first, an away derby next and then a revitalised Oldham lead by their new man Dickov. But we remain unbeaten and share top spot on 7 points with Carlisle, Oldham and Sheffield Wednesday.</div><div align="justify">And our next game this weekend gives us our second <a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:3Q-_X7FWYvWw8M:http://www.htafc.com/javaImages/cb/74/0,,10312~5665995,00.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 118px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 118px" alt="" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:3Q-_X7FWYvWw8M:http://www.htafc.com/javaImages/cb/74/0,,10312~5665995,00.jpg" border="0" /></a>37 year old opposing manager in successive games although the Terriers Lee Clark has been at it a bit longer than Dickov and has an even more impressive record with 40 wins in his 86 games in charge of Huddersfield, whom he took over in December 2008 after the Terriers had sacked Stan Ternent after a brief 6 month reign.</div><p align="justify">Clarks's boss is local businessman Dean Hoyle who took over as chairman in June 2009 and has apparently made money available. </p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Form</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Not quite the start that was expected of several teams this season, and that includes Huddersfield Town. An opening day 3-0 romp at the home of promoted League Two Champions Notts County <span style="color:#000000;">was followed by a disappointing goalless draw at home to Tranmere, the first time since January that the Terriers had failed to score at home in a League game. And then after going 2 goals up away to the Posh last weekend that let in 4 goals in 23 disastrous minutes.</span><br /></p><p align="justify">Their only other game was a 1-0 away win over Carlisle in the Carling which means they are still searching for their first goal at home and they'll be looking towards 22 year old winger Pilkington, currently on two goals and leading scorer Jordan Rhodes on 3 to get them come the weekend. </p><p align="justify">And apart from scoring the most goals at home last year, they only lost once, 1-3 against Norwich back in the middle of March. </p><p><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Opposition</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Clark has been busy during the summer persuading the 30 year old Burnley Icelandic international Joey Gudjonsson to move to Tier Three. He only played 14 of Burnley's games in the top flight after 54 the season before, but after criticizing manager Laws on the internet back in April the only way was out. Clark's also snapped-up 31 year old full-back and Scottish international Gary Naysmith from Sheff. U. And with a policy geared towards youth he's also bought 21 year old Scott Arfield from Falkirk who is their third key signing during the summer. They also have 22 year old striker Joe Garner on loan from Notts Forest, who paid Carlisle over a million for his services in the summer of 2008. And up front in the last two games its been Garner and last seasons top scorer with 23, the 20 year old Jordan Rhodes.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">So What Are They Saying?</span></strong></p><p align="justify">Clark after their 0-0 home draw with Tranmere, "<em>The team was poor - average at best a plus point it was a clean sheet. The two fullbacks played to their normal level. The team didn't enhance their reputation much. I didn't think we played with any intensity or any tempo. Tranmere came and did a good job. But with purpose we look a good side when we don't, we bring the opposition into play and give them a result like they did today."</em> </p><p align="justify">And it gets better when you hear his remarks after last weekends defeat to Peterborough, "<em>We stopped doing what we'd done previously to get us into a 2-0 lead, in total control, we stopped the intensity and tempo. We gave 4 absolutely disastrous goals away, we were very very poor. We lost our discipline, people weren't keeping their shape, weren't making decisions properly</em>."<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></strong></p><p align="justify"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">History</span></strong></p><p align="justify">A little bit of history for our Parky who, on 4 April 2007, was due to be announced as the new manager Of Huddersfield Town. A press conference was scheduled to announce the appointment but just before the announcement Parky phoned the Club and told them he was staying with Charlton Athletic. Andy Ritchie was then appointed Huddersfield Town manager on 11 April 2007 but only stayed a year before being replaced by Ternent and then Clark.</p><div align="justify">And just to confirm his worth to the Addicks, Richard Murray added: "<em>While Alan Pardew has done a fantastic job and grabbed most of the headlines, the role played by Phil since he joined the club in January shouldn't be under-estimated. He's played a key role in our recent good form, and I know he is determined to see that job through and ensure we remain in the Premiership</em>." Well, we didn't but he's still here.</div><p align="justify">With 36 seasons together, we've played Huddersfield more times than anybody else in League One. And consequently we've had plenty of defeats up there, namely 16 in total. But with ten wins and 10 draws, there's other places we fear more.</p><p align="justify">The place now is a bit of a mouthful it being called the Galpharm Stadium after some healthcare company. Built in 1994 it was known as the McAlpine Stadium for the first 10 years after its builder but rather like selling your soul to the devil its name now is open to the higher bidder. How lucky we are to have the dear old Valley. In a nice, rather old fashioned way, most of the stadiums in Spain are named after people, although not often the name of the builder. Anyway, in our only game at this "new stadium" last season it finished a 1-1 draw, Kyel Reid equalising a Jordan Rhodes goal. The game before that at the McAlpine in 1999 we won 2-1 in the second win in our 12 game winning run having beaten Palarse 2-1, 3 days earlier. A injury to one of my favorites, Eddie Youds, at the McAlpine meant that it was his final game for the Addicks.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Team</span></strong></p><p align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">Another game against a former club for Pawel Abbott as it is for Akpo Sodje. Pawel only had a year at Oldham scoring 13 times but he had rather more success at the Terriers, playing 111 games and scoring 48 times in his three years there. As for Akpo he only played 7 games there before going out on loan but he'll remember Pawel as Akpo made his Terriers debut away at Port Vale on the day that Abbott got a hat-trick. </span></p><p align="justify">We'll see the return of Christian Dailly and Jose Semedo with Miguel Llera and Therry Racon standing down and the rest of the team will surely remain the same as there's really nobody else good enough to come in.<br /></p><p align="justify">But there's one thing about last season that we need to improve. Our record against the other sides in the top 6 last season wasn't very encouraging with only 1 win (home to Huddersfield) in the 10 games although there was 7 draws and only 2 defeats whilst our away record against the top teams was also suspect with only 1 win, at MK Dons, against the top half of the table.<br /></p><p align="justify">Parky only made one substitution against Oldham, Akpo on for Racon after 75 minutes and somehow didn't trust himself to make further changes. Against Peterborough, Huddersfield's young side - average age was 24, with seven players aged 23 or under - lost 4-2 after going 2-0 up. Perhaps Parky could have warned him because against Shrewsbury, when we lost 4-3 after being 3-0 ahead, our average age was very low at just 22.7, with 6 players 21 or under.</p><p align="justify">As for our chances, that may depend on how the Huddersfield full-backs cope with our two young wingers. The experienced 31 year old Naysmith will return at left-back after a one game suspension to give Wagstaff a hard game so perhaps its time to give more balls to Reid. But he'll be up against 23 year old Lee Peltier, ex of Liverpool for whom he's played in the Champions League against Galatasaray.</p>Anyway, here's the team, with ages<br /><br /><p align="justify">Elliot24; Francis25, Dailly 36, Doherty30, Jackson28, Wagstaff20, Semedo 25, McCormack26, Reid22, Martin 23, Abbott28. Average age 26...</p><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Verdict</span></strong><br /><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;">A home team that have</span><span style="color:#000000;">n't scored at home yet but were last seasons highest home scorers and they welcome us to the Galpharm thing having let in 4 goals in their last 46 minutes of football away at Peterborough. Maybe its that fact, or is it that the Galpharm doesn't sound particularly threatening but I just can't see a defeat on the horizon. Yes, I know that I thought we were going to lose the first two of the season but a draw against Oldham was an obvious outcome so this week the verdict is at worst a draw, say 1-1, but I'm hoping for a bit more. </span></div>nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466995245789436415noreply@blogger.com3