They Call me Monica....

Sitting down to tea last night, Mrs Monica has the Team Sheet for Saturday's game all ready, but our Head Coach is somewhat pensive and upset at something.

"What on earths the matter, Iain dear? You look as if you've had a hard day"
"I've just been told what they call me."
"What who call you?"
"What they call me."
"Who are they?"
"Our bloody so-called supporters"
"Well, and what do they call you?"
"Monica - they call me Monica."
"Oh, that. I thought you knew"
"No, I didn´t. And who told you?"
"Oh, I was just surfing, Iain dear and I saw it on Wikipedia."
"Wiki-what."
"Wikipedia, Iain dear. Its sort of an encyclopedia."
"What! You mean I´m in some sort of encyclopedia as "MONICA"
"Oh, don´t fret so Iain. Its bad for your positives ions."

ID grabs his Charlton mug and downs another gulp of tea.

"Whose idea was it anyway? I 'd like to sort 'em out"
"Well they had a poll, Iain dear, a sort of virtual poll, to decide what to call you."
"And they choose MONICA!!. And me going into management thinking I had a head start with the perfect name. There´s Sparkie, Lawrie, Harry, Jolly, and I thought I was already there with Dowie."

"It is perfect, Iain dear. But no-one in football is called by their real name. Wouldn't be right, would it?"
"So tell me. How can I give 'em me upper-cut at the end of a game when I know they call me Monica?"

Mrs Monica reflected for a second.

"Be positive, Iain dear, and try to look on the bright side. I'll tell you the reason for it. Remember that song by Johnny Cash, 'A Boy Named Sue.' About a father wanting his son to be tough and grow up strong. Well, thats want they want, Iain dear. They're tired of being nice and pretty, they want a tough guy. So that's why they called you Monica, so you would come out fighting."

ID looks surprised but impressed by Mrs Monica's reasoning, and then jumps to his feet.

"Give me that Team Sheet. We'll show 'em who's boss around here!"

Mrs Monica smiled to herself, reached for the teapot and poured them both another cup of tea.

Should We Be Worried?

Perhaps the artificial lull in the season caused by international games is to blame but only three games into the season and the fans are already anxious at the amount of money spent during the summer.

And with the uncertainties of new management not helped by 2 early season defeats against West Ham and manure with 6 goals conceded some of us are clearly expecting the worst. Not only that but the new manager, sorry coach, has seemingly dispensed with our legendary spending restraints and outlaid a cool £12m on new players. Even Richard Murray, himself, during a recent interview, expressed just a little tension when asked about the outlay and confirmed that some of the budgeted sum earmarked for next summers transfers has already been spent.

This has clearly upset a lot of people. For those of the fans that have put greater emphasis on Charlton´s financial management skills over the years rather that the footballing prowess this is a surprising occurence, but he´s clearly told Monica to keep us in the Division, whatever you have to do and Monica has obliged. And in any business, a manager has to have people, in this case players, that he can work with. The players may all be professionals but a managers methods and success will depend on him having players that he can motivate and get to perform adequately.

And whilst the quality of the agruments written have been noticeably high perhaps we should instead be applauding the management for at least showing action rather than doing nothing while Rome burns around us and patiently wait to see where we are at Christmas before we start to question Monica´s dealings.

For Monica's part, he has always been anxious to emphasize that he appreciated the squad he inherited and has given them all a generous try-out during pre-season before his subsequent spending spree tells us that he wasn´t entirely happy with his inherited squad. Like most of us, he clearly thought that, whatever he may have said, the performances against West Ham and manure were clearly not good enough. Since then he has blown the budget by the acquisition of Diawara and Pouso.

We have already seen new-boys Carson, Traore, Faye, Reid and Jimmy-Floyd in Premier action and although there may still be doubts over the attributes of Traore and Faye the others look better than the ones they have displaced. We even have Pouso and Diawara in the wings yet to show us what they can do so it seems a little premature to be worrying what the management are up to. Whatever we may think, they know their jobs better than we do and the question about whether we are good enough or have the money to belong to this Division will be answered on the pitch and nowhere else.

With 9 (nine) new signings and with only Jason Euell leaving for a fee we´ve spend a cool 12 million although the wage bill has been eased but the departure of Spector, Jeffers, Johansson, Perry and Bartlett. Loan deals have also been made to give some players more experience and to cut the bill even further. But with more internationals arriving its a good bet that the wage bill will also be significantly higher than its ever been and perhaps people would worry even more if they knew what it was.

And with 34 players now in our numbered squad we´re in danger of running out of numbers although any injury problems will be easier to handle. Its odds on that quite a few of the old names will be finding new homes in the January transfer window. Lets hope that by then Monica will have proved to us that his transfer dealings were based on depth of knowledge rather than Richard Murrays obliging pocket.

So perhaps its time to see where we are at the moment with 3 games played.

The worst performance has to be the one against manure. Or is that me. Still hoping for something against that lot maybe I failed to appreciate someones contribution, or maybe not. It was the usual predictable defeat – seems we need a Jorge Costa or dare I say it a Shawn Bartlett to get even a point out of them. It appears that even the players have given up believing they can win as well as the fans. But, nevertheless it was disappointing with 2 defensive howlers gifting them 2 goals just when 3 shots hitting the woodwork appeared to suggest that lady luck was on our side.

In our other 2 games the final results were perhaps the reverse of what had been expected. We usually get something from games against the Hammers with only 1 defeat in the last 6 played. And while we have the excuse of the sending off to explain the defeat perhaps we should be thankful that we have played them before the argies arrived.

The games against Bolton has been getting harder of late and its been 8 games since we beat them. Ironical then that the game should turn our way after the Herminator was sent off and we were down to 10 me.

In similar fashion to the manure game we once again rode our luck early on with 3 good opportunities being spawned by Bolton in the first half before the sending off strangely turned things around. We definitely played better with 10 men. Maybe it was Kish that made the difference. Faye had been largely anonymous during the first half-hour but then stepped back into central defence as if he belonged there. The relationship he had with Traore in the second-half was clearly one of the highlights of the second period.

But rather than worrying about the results from the first 3 games with only 3 points to show, perhaps we should be thankful that the fixtures have allowed the management to immediately see our shortcomings and act before the transfer window closed. It was obvious that the Bolton result, although earned by our resilience, illustrated the fact that the defence needed strengthing urgently. The arrival of Diawara and Pouso is Monica´s answer.

The Herminator scores but Kish Doesn´t!

Whilst the rumours remain unconfirmed, ie the article is awaiting translation, it would appear that Iceland put the English well in the shade by showing how it should be done by overwhelming Northern Ireland 3-0 in Belfast in a Group F European Championship game.

And it was our very own Herminator, after a corner by Gudjohnsen, who found himself unmarked at the far post and put the visitors 2-0 up with a left-footed shot, the only known time that HH has scored with his left foot.

Kish was also in action on Saturday, playing the first half in a 2-2 draw in Group G away to Rumania. And no, he didn´t score!

Far From Us Farinos

If there´s anyone out there who remotely cares what happened to our 28 year-old spanish Trialist Francisco Xavier Farinos who played for us against Welling, Germinal Beerschot and FC Utrecht, he´s been spotted on spanish TV patrolling the midfield for second division Hercules Alicante.

If you remember this is the man that after over a 100 games in his 4 years at Valencia, moved to Italy and has been with Inter for the last 6 years and made 76 appearances in the League, Cup and Europe. During this time he spend a year on loan at Villareal and for the last two years he's been on loan at Spanish club Mallorca. He's played twice for Spain but however couldn´t convince Monica to give him a contract.

He finally seems to have found his level and has turned up at minnows Hercules where he starred in a 3-0 defeat over the reserves of Real Madrid in a second division game yesterday. Before a "crowd" of 3200 people ( the spanish second division teams can only dream of english second tier crowds) he made the last hercules goal winning the ball in midfield and chipping the last defender for Sendoa to score.

He earned himself the maximum 3 stars and along with ex-Valladolid star Tote was voted man-of-the-match by AS the Real Madrid fanzine, sorry "sportspaper". While displaying all the usual spanish ball skills that obviously attracted Monica, I can´t say that he send the game alight although after his english training sessions he was one of the few players who seemed determined to stay on his feet.

Mrs Monica's First Eleven....

No sooner has the transfer window slammed shut than we are getting out pen and paper, not only to remind us of all the riches we now have at our disposal but to analyse the squad and design our "Perfect Eleven".

No doubt Monica is sitting down at home right now with a nice cup of tea discussing the pros and cons with Mrs Monica. He sat down yesterday discussing the players with Les and Mark and digested all the options on the way home last night but now he wants Mrs Monica's help to get the whole thing organised.

"You have a nice easy day, Iain dear, you've been working too hard these last weeks. Put your feet up here and have some more toast. The Team? Yes, of course, Iain dear, you must stick with the 4-4-2. Alan had a thing about a 4-5-1 didn't he, but you know how cautious he always was. You're not that way inclined at all, Iain dear. Besides he was too pretty to be a football manager, you're different Iain. And I'm so glad you took my advice and got that nice Mr Pouso, Iain, he's just the rugged player the ladies will like"

How are you going to pick the best 11? That's easy, Iain dear, just like baking one of your favorite cherry cakes. The goalie of course is that young Scottie Carson, a good shot stopper though not as experienced as Deano used to be but with Myhre's form slipping last season, he's a young keeper that can only get better. And it might sound strange but I like the way there's no "number 1" in the squad makes them both work harder.

The full-backs will be captain Luke Young and dimmy Djimi - Young still gets caught in possession at times and Djimi sometimes seems to have left his defensive awareness at home, but then nobodys perfect.

Central defence will be your new-boy Souley Diawara and the Herminator. What language they will use to communicate is still a bit of a mystery. Perhaps you need a Language Coach, Iain dear, just teach Souley the english for "out" and "mine" pretty smartish and in his turn perhaps he can teach Hermann to keep his elbows down.

The midfield is the heart of any team. Its got to be strong but creative. Able to stop the opposition and win back the ball. Able to see the perfect through ball or a chip into space but also to provide the first line of defence. So what better duo could we possibly have than the new double-act "Andy and Omar". An fat Irishman and a rugged Uruguayan , what better combination could you wish for?

Backing up the heart of midfield will be a role for the tricksters. Jerome Thomas on the left and Dennis Rommedahl on the right are our two wingers but you can't play them both at the same time. One on the pitch and the other on the bench. Which leaves one midfield place left and here there's no clear leader. And that's exactly how it should be - fool the opposition by using Kish, Faye, Ambrose, Holland or even that nice Brian Hughes as and when it suits.

With two up front the strike force picks itself - Darren Bent and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink. Jimmy's 34 now and no spring chicken so a reinforcement will be needed in this area before long but for the time being its Darren and Jimmy.

And the bench will need reinforcing with the weight of some many internationals. Myhre, El Karkouri, Marcus Bent with two midfielders from Ambrose, Rommedahl, Kish, Faye.

So, is that all clear Iain dear, just remember that you have to make the cake bearing in mind who's coming to tea. Except that in my case I have to give my guests what they like, lots of cherries. In your case you have to give your guests what they didn't like. Do you follow, Iain dear. Would you like another cup of tea?

So you can see that even Mrs Monica has no "Perfect Eleven". Its not even a matter of opinion. Its all a case of having a steady, firm base and then mixing in the spices according to who's coming to tea.

Feeding Frenzy Over

At long last, with the dawn of September, the frantic market of buying, selling and loaning has come to an abrupt end. Like a mad feeding frenzy of people desperate to fill their stomachs before an enforced fast, so the managers, and coaches, are anxious to get "bodies aboard" to ensure that they have enough to survive the hardships of the Premier ship season.

In our case, and no complaints directed towards Curbs, Monica had to instigate an urgent re-building program, not only to produce a team good enough for the new season but also to create a side that was his own. We told him to get himself a team because we were all having nightmares with the one we had and in 3 short months he would have appeared to have achieved both objectives.

The last day of transfer dealings always sees a large number of last minute transfers as fear and anxiety forces its way through and value for money is promptly thrown out of the window. But in the case of Pouso, Monica appears to have done his homework. He's seen him several times and our midfield is definitely an area of the team where we needed more "drive".

He's spent, by my reckoning, £11.5M which, even ignoring inflation, is a lot higher than Curbs ever spent. Some we're heard of and others are complete strangers to everyone. We can only begin to imagine how a football club sees and keeps tabs on all the players out there. There's obviously a lot of behind-the -scences activity that we never get to see. Perhaps its all in Curbs' book but maybe there's a real-life "Championship Manager" that we don't know about. But, although we're yet to see Gibbs, Diawara and Pouso in action, the other 6 newcomers have definitely, despite our shaky start to the season, brought an improvement to the team.

To remind everyone, the nine new boys are: Cory Gibbs, Simon Walton, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, Amady Faye, Djimi Traore, Scott Carson, Andy Reid, Souleymane Diawara and Omar Pouso. Assuming Walton is best suited to midfield that's: one goalkeeper, 2 full-backs, a central defender, 4 midfielders and surprisingly for an ex-striker, only one forward. I guess you could argue its only 8 new bodies as Simon Walton has been packed off to Ipswich till Christmas.

Scanning the squad now we can only speculate at what Monica sees as his best team. But the influx of arrivals over the last week now makes the prospect of predicting our favoured 11 very mouth-watering. Roll on Chelski!

Sadly, we have to reflect that to compensate for the money spent and the lack of forthcoming opportunities, we have had to say goodbye to our biggest ever transfer purchase and leading goal-scorer for 3 of the last 5 seasons. Old favorite Jason Euell hasn't done it for a couple of seasons now and we can only wish him well at Middlesbrough. I bet he scores the winning goal in December at the Riverside. Also moving away is Stephan Andersen, who has joined Leeds on loan for the season.

Omar Pouso Pulls on the Addicks Shirt

Busy until the very last, Monica has completed ( I assume) his rebuilding with the season long loan of Omar Pouso from Penarol of Uruguay. The deal will cost £337K with an option to buy after one year.

The boy is 27 and is mostly famous for the goal he scored against England in March. A strong midfielder with a distinct hard-man appearance who was Penarol's captain, his arrival doesn't bode well for the fortunes of midfield duo Holland and Hughes.

Pouso is our second Uruguayan and will give his fellow country-man Sorondo someone to chat to as he hobbles around the training ground. Judging from his mugshot on cafc he looks like someone that will get stuck in and stir things up a bit and even Monica says he is "very, very combative", and I can already hear the cries of "Omar, Omar" ringing in my ears. In fact he does seem like an ideal replacement for Hughes, really.

He becomes Monica's 9th signing during the summer marketplace and reflects Monica's desire to completely revamp Charlton into a team of his own and Monica's already got back his money by persuading Middlesbro to cough up £300K for Jason Euell.

Monica lands a "Big Fish"

Whilst Curbs tentatively tipped his toe into unknown waters with the acquisition of a Moroccan, a Uruguayan and an irratic Italian, new kid-on-the-block Monica seems determined to sail further out into the world and trawl the dark depths of foreign waters to snare previously unheard-of gems.

And while adventures into Costa Rica waters have sadly been thwarted, another journey this time into the uncharted depths of Eastern France, where for some reason several African players are currently playing, Monica has toyed with and finally landed another unheard-of jewel.

Our latest signing is the wonderfully named Souleymane Diawara, purchased yesterday for £3.712 from the team currently lying sixth in the French league, Sochaux. He was born in far-off Gabou in Africa and is a companion of our recent signing Amady Faye in the Senegal national team.

Although boatloads of illegal immigrants land in Spain every day from Senegal having paid a small fortune to the African Mafia to get them there before being sent straight back by the Spanish government, it's somewhat heartening to see that its none other than our very own Monica who is providing two Senegalese with steady work down at the Valley.

So, our new boy is 27 years old and is a right-sided central defender and although born in Senegal has dual French Nationality so therefore doesn't need any of those nasty Work Permits things. He took part in the 2006 African Cup of Nations where Senegal finished in fourth place. This season he's played in three out of the 4 games that Sochaux have played without tasting defeat and we can only hope that he brings similar good fortune to his new team.

Full details of the latest purchase are here.

Its a "No" to Bolanos

Looking forward to marvelling once again at the skills of Christian Bolanos in a Charlton shirt? Well, think again because the Home Office has deemed that he is not good enough to work in the UK and have refused him a Work Permit. Monica at cafc looks on the bright side and doesn't rule out another go in 12 months time but of course by then another club in another country will be earning the benefits of Christians skills.

As wyn grant had already forewarned us last night, its not always easy to get a Work Permit but that will not lessen our disappointment.

With Curbs reluctance to employ exotic foreigners, perhaps our knowledge of these affairs was limited but as Wyn has already pointed out in his article Charlton are not the only ones to have suffered. Even the experienced Sam Allardyce had been refused when his attempt to sign Sergei Rebrov from Spurs fell through when denied the necessary paperwork in time to finalise the deal last summer.

Given more knowledge of these murky matters, perhaps we should have been suspicious when no numbers were forecoming from Deportivo Sarprissa on the number of appearances he had made and on Liverpools' decision not to offer him a contract. Did they know he would be refused a permit?

But one wonders if we are suffering from being a "small club". How can a young player voted the 3rd best in the World Club Championships last December deemed not be good enough? He played in 2 of the 3 Costa Rica World Cup games during the summer and his country is currently ranked 47 but at 22 he's obviously not going to be used in every international game by Costa Rica. The official Home Office rules state that players are supposed to be "of the highest calibre and able to contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in UK”. Judging from reports at all the games that Bolanos played it does seem ludicious that this decision has been made. Perhaps we should have employed a witness in David Pleat whose opinions of Bolanos last year were very high indeed.

So we're back again to 17 full internationals in the squad and with the number 23 shirt up for grabs. Will there be any more additions before things close tomorrow?

West Ham 3 Charlton 1

With a predicted defeat the Addicks made a disappointing start to the new season . Monica surprised us all by selecting new signing Scott Carson in goal and leaving Myhre as sub and included Andy Reid on the bench.

After an early 15th minute lead scored by Darren Bent from the penalty spot we suffered another first game dismissal. And as happened in the opening game last year away to Sunderland where Darren Ambrose was dismissed so it was a another new signing that was shown the red card.

With 2 yellows in a matter of 3 minutes left-back Djimi Traore left the field in the 26th minute for an early shower. Changes were immediately made to correct the shape of defence and ironically it was Darren Ambrose that left the field to be replaced by Gonzalo Sorondo while HH moved to left-back. A brave decision by Monica to pull off a midfielder rather than one of his strikers as would be the norm away from home.

A save by Carson from Harewood and a booking for Young but the score at half-time remained 1-0 to the Addicks.

Facing 10 man West Ham came on strong and on 51 minutes our old-boy Lee Bowyer's said thank you with a cross from the right that Zamora tapped home the equaliser at the far post.

And it got worst 20 minutes later with Zamora once again involved. His miss-hit volley deflected off Hreidarsson, hits the right hand post and goes in under the foot of El Karkouri to make it 2-1 to the Hammers.

As Charlton tired another reject Carlton Cole fired home a third in injury time to make it a miserable start for Dowie and it doesn't get any easier as that red lot from up North are due at the Valley next Wednesday.

Charlton: Carson; Young, Traore, Hreidarsson, El Karkouri; Ambrose (30mins Sorondo), Faye, Holland, Hughes, (72mins Reid); Hasselbaink (64 mins M Bent), D Bent.

Subs: Myhre, Sorondo, Reid, Rommedahl, M Bent

West Ham Preview

So its here at last, the Hammers away and the first chance to see how we are going to perform post-Curbs. Its a complete new coaching set-up on stage with Dowie, Reed and Robson on the touchline but with the stability of the all-important Richard Murray behind them. Murray and Monica at their first press conference promised more entertaining football but perhaps that's too much to expect at the start of a very difficult 4 game spell. With Man. U, Bolton and Chelski to follow, I would hope that Monica sends out a team to get a result rather than entertain.

The History

If past history is your thing, and to lift your spirits a tad, we usually do well against the Hammers, at least in the League, where the Totals to date are: P30 W13 D10 L7, while the figures at Upton Park are P 15 W6 D3 L6. Last season saw us win 2-0 at the Valley and get a goalless draw in May at Upton Park. And it seems that Monica is unbeaten here in his three games as a manager against his old-team the Hammers and in fact enjoys a 100% record with the best being on the last occasion he played them in the Championship Play-offs at Cardiff in 2004, winning his ex-employers a place in the Premier no less.

What the Experts Said

In an article in the guardian on Wednesday, Dowie looking forward to the game says "It is very important to get it right at West Ham. There will be another 10%-15% more tired bodies after the first Premiership match than there would be after any pre-season game. That is just the nature of it. If I am going into a boxing ring to spar with someone and have a headguard on, then my adrenalin is probably 15% down on when I am going in there for real. When it is for real, there is always that extra edge."

Monica added yesterday "I want us to be an ultra-competitive side that plays with honesty, integrity and no mean amount of enjoyment by getting the ball down and playing. That is our minimum requirement, that we are competitive in every game and hopefully that will get us some results. This division is very, very tough. The top six are away and clear but it's about being a match for them on any given day. Where that leaves us we'll see. I don't think you should ever limit your ambitions because you have to aim high."

And if anyone cares lawro has either got up late or has thankfully stopped his game predictions but does instead give us his blessing on the BBC site with a "They'll be finishing in the middle to lower half of the table. It's the start of a transitional phase, but if they are struggling in the first half of the season, they'll be able to address that in January, because they're a very well-run club. They'll be finishing in the middle to lower half of the table." I think that's what they call damning praise.

And talking about good reports, an added boost was noticed this week when we apparently received some good comments from last weeks opponents FC Utrecht. Utrecht Manager Booy, who had also faced Wigan Athletic during the close season, suggested that the men from The Valley offered his side a sterner test, commenting: "I got a good impression from them."

The Opposition

For the Hammers out through injury are Dean Ashton, Matthew Etherington, Jonathan Spector, Robert Green and George McCartney, and out through other reasons our old favorite Shawn Newton. But they'll probably have Konchelsky at left-back and Ian Bowyer in midfield, two players who are incidentally 2 of 4 biggest transfer deals out. And they'll probably also be a place for old-boy Carlton Cole up front although surely the old war-horse Sheringham, now 40, wouldn't be around to bug us again.

The Team

With 5 new recruits having arrived so recently and without them having a real run in the team its hard to read Monica's intentions. However, it seems fair to assume that two of them, namely Djimi Traore and Amady Faye, can be expected to start after the improvement that they gave the team in the second half against Utrecht last Friday. He's also stuck to a 4-4-2 for almost every minute of the pre-season so it should mean seeing Jimmy-Floyd and Darren together.

Its so important these days to get off to a good start, so for the first game of the season I can't see too many surprises. I don't think he'll throw Carson in at the deep end and so I expect Myhre to be in goal, with a defence of Young, El Karkouri, Hreidarsson and Traore. With a 4-4-2 the forward line is also straight-forward: Hasselbaink and Darren Bent. The only real headache for Monica is his middle. Who to play at the heart of the team? Going on the pre-season games and with Bolanos still awaiting his Work Permit and with Reid needing more time to get match fit, it looks like a familar Rommedahl, Holland, Faye and Hughes.

Predictions

Can't find it now but I'm sure that frankievalley was dreaming of a 3-1 win on Thursday while pedro45 goes for a conservative 2-2. james down floyd rd also goes with a 3-1 win and cynicathletic has gone for the neutral 1-1.

So prediction via West Ham - Myrhe, Young, El Karkouri, Hreidarsson, Traore, Rommedahl, Faye, Holland, Hughes, Hasselbaink and Darren Bent.
Subs: Anderson, Ashton, Fortune, Ambrose, Marcus Bent

And the result : West Ham 2 Charlton 1

International Duty

So, you ask, how did our 18 ( sorry, forgot Cory Gibbs yesterday ) international stars do this week playing for their countries? Eager to find out I've surfed, dug and otherwise investigated to see how our wide variety of talent and nationalities got on.

Darren Bent and Luke Young were there for England but only Darren made it off the bench and played for palty a 12 minutes. You know better than I if he made any impact whatsoever or even touched the ball.

For Eire, our new recruit Andy Reid is currently injured or should it be unavailable, possibly a euphemism "for sorry I can't make it, busy getting transferred" and did not play in Dublin and of course Matt Holland has retired a couple of years back.

Their opponents in Dublin, Holland, had no need for the services of the 34 year-old Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink cruising to a 4-0 win on Wednesday. The worst home defeat for Eire, or Repubic of Ireland as they seem to be known now, for more 20 years.

On Tuesday, Kish played 73 minutes of the 0-0 with Wales in Cardiff, while Hermann Hreidarsson performed heroically in both midfield and then defence while captaining Iceland for the full 90 minutes in Reykjavik in their 0-0 against Spain.

Meanwhile, Dennis Rommedahl featured in Denmark's 2-0 win over Poland and apparently after receiving a pass from midfielder Thomas Gravesen "sewed up the match up in the 62nd minute." Of Stephan Andersen I can find no mention.

Thomas Myhre, seemed to enjoy himself in Oslo starring in a 1-1 draw with Brazil. The sportinglife reports that the "inspired Myhre preserved Norway's lead by stopping a close-range effort from Elano and an extraordinary free-kick by Daniel Carvalho, but the CSKA Moscow playmaker soon had his revenge with the equaliser from Fred's assist. More heroics from Myhre kept out great strikes from Fred and Alex."

Costa Rica didn't appear to have had a game so new star Christian Bolanos was kept busy trying to persuade Immigration to give him his work permit so that he can play football as soon as possible, please.

Talal El Karkouri was in the Moroccan squad for the game against Burkina Faso but the report in the Morocco Times doesn't mention him and there's no team sheet given so he probably sat on the bench dreaming how to stop Marvin Harewood on Saturday.

And what about our new stars from Mali Djimi Traore and Amady Faye of Senegal? Well the dark continent is still proving hard to penetrate and short of asking them or I suppose waiting till CAFC tell us I can't find any news although both Mali and Senegal had games.

And of course, Cory Gibbs and Gonzalo Sorondo both still have their injuries so I suppose stayed at home.

No sign of Jamaica having a game so our duo of Jason Euell and Kevin Lisbie failed to get a game. No change there then.

Monica's Marvels Take Shape

So another player, Spurs Andy Reid, joins the club, are rather limps in, as the Independent yesterday reports he´s currently injured. His best position seems in doubt but notes on the web says that "he usually plays left side of midfield but can also operate down the right side or just off the striker, he's 5 feet, 7 inches tall and of chubby build". I do recall him sending some wicked curling crosses from the right wing when we beat Spurs 2-0 in March 2005 and he did look more dangerous than our Dennis down the right. He has played 22 times for Eire which can't be bad for a 24 year old.

Having said that, £3m seems a bit over the top for a player with 27 appearances in one season with only 1 goal and who is obviously surplus to Martin Jol's requirements. But at some point we´ve got to start trusting Monica's taste and the deal has some history as Curbs was also after Reid in the January of 2005 while he was at Notts Forest but the asking price was too high and he eventually went to Spurs for £4m.

After the long drawn out deals for Faye and Traore this one has rather been a bit of a surprise but not when you think about it. The only position in the team without cover was Rommedahl´s, unless you paid any attention to Curbs´s use of Marcus Bent on the wing last season. So with Dennis failing to impress in pre-season its not really surprising that Monica should swiftly pounce, apparently beating Man.City into the bargain.

Thats the 8th new player for Monica this summer, after Gibbs, Walton, Hasselbaink, Faye, Traore, Bolonas, Carson and now Andy Reid all for a total of £7.5 million handed over and with 2 loan deals. An impressive total but we´ve spend more on 3 occasions, Curbs having spent a tidy £10.8 in 2001. And with 6 internationals and an Under-21 among them I can't remember a time when we had so many internationals in a Charlton squad. I make it a total of 17.

Bloody hell, we're in danger of becoming a "big club" after all!

Fighting Talk From Monica

For all the conservatives out there and those that haven't had time to read their papers yet, there's an article in the guardian about Dowie and the boys this morning.

Some quotes from the Boss read "It is very important to get it right at West Ham. There will be another 10%-15% more tired bodies after the first Premiership match than there would be after any pre-season game. That is just the nature of it."

"If I am going into a boxing ring to spar with someone and have a headguard on, then my adrenalin is probably 15% down on when I am going in there for real. When it is for real, there is always that extra edge."

New boy Carson is also mentioned with a footnote about Stephan Anderson.

Herman Upsets Raul

We're still a small club. All this talk of moving up and challenging for Europe, its just to entice the players and make us seem progressive. Even most of the players aren't fooled - over the last few years we have had people leaving or turning us down so that they can join what they see as "bigger clubs". You know the names as well as me. Just recently goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson agreed a deal but then Man. City got involved and he was tempted away. A "bigger club", well, thats a bit debatable, they finished 15th last season.

But we the fans know who we are. We don't want no big foreign investor splashing his money about on us, making us big and important. If we wanted to support a "big" team we could have done it ourselves without anyone's help. No, we actually like being the underdog, snapping at the heels of the big boys and turning them over whenever we can.

So once again its especially pleasing to turn on the TV and watch us upset someone else and put another nose out of joint.

Iceland 0 Spain 0

I told myself that HH must be there somewhere even though Gudjohnsen was nowhere to be seen. On Spanish TV, of course, all the camera work was on their own players and nowhere in the commentary was their mention of a Hreidarsson. He wasn't anywhere in defence, where could he be. Then I spotted him - wearing Number 7 - in midfield! And wearing the captain's armband no less. His job apparently was to mark Raul, the Spanish captain and prevent him enjoying his 100th cap for his country.

During the second half he moved back into defence and marshalled his team well, getting Spain offside on many occasions, getting in clearing headers and giving the full-strength opposition very few chances. He played the full 90 minutes and was a rock. And it became obvious that the reason I'd failed to spot him was that I'd forgotten one of the peculiarities of the spanish language - the 'H' is not pronounced so the commentor was calling him Capitain Rayyson!

Anyway the game finished goalless with the home side unable to capitalize on a poor Spain side. After the game the hapless Spanish captain Raul, was interviewed. No change of shirt, dripping wet and the picture of someone who obviously had not enjoyed winning his 100th cap.

Roll on the next biggie!

WHAT ! - Blackburn 5 New Zealand 0

We're all just dying to know what the future holds for us.

No, I don't mean how long we're going to live or how many kids we're going to have that will be ignoring us in our old age anyway - no, nothing as mundane as that. We just want to know what sort of a year its going to be. And I'm not referring to how much money our tight employers are going to give us in our pay rise or how our spuds are going to be this year.

What I'm dying to know is - what kind of a season are we going to have? Are we going to be safe? Satisfied? Depressed? Frustrated? Relieved? Miserable? Who the hell knows?

And as always any optimistic feelings that I may have gleamed from the Utrecht fight-back didn't last long and over the last couple of days have dissipated almost completely. I recalled someone saying our performance was inept against New Zealand and then I realised we're still giving bad goals away and besides how good can Utrecht be anyway.

So to try to allay my sense of growing doom I turned the Sunday papers to the results section and there under the previous day's league results I found what I was looking for; the "other results" section. With all the other teams having already started, all the results were , of course, our Premiership rivals. With fearful thumb but with a thought process carefully analysing the meaning of the result and keen, or is it desperate, to find a weakness, I scanned the lines:

Bolton 1 AZ Alkmaar 3

- thats not so bad although Alkmaar are good and finished 2nd last year in Holland and made the UEFA Semis

Everton 0 Athletic Bilbao 1

- thats better, Bilbao finished 13th and are usually crap away

Fulham 1 Boavista 1

- Boavista were 6th last year but with lots of changes during the summer - looks a reasonable result for Fulham

Man. City 0 Porto 1

- to be expected, Porto were double winners in Portugal last year

Man. U 3 Seville 0

- Who cares

Middlesbro' 0 Chievo 0

- getting better - Middlesbro still can't score; 4 goalless pre-season games

West Ham 1 Olympiakos 1

- Greek Champions, looks a good result from the Hammers

FC Groningen 2 Aston Villa 2

- Despite dire rumours from Villa Park, a result very similar to the Addicks, Groningen finished 5th last year, one above Utrecht

And then the one that I knew would be there somewhere - the one that confirms all my fears and tells us how good we really are and will doubtless add to my sleepness nights;

Blackburn 5 (FIVE) New Zealand 0

PS - Look on the bright side Mrs Nelson says - at least we're not playing them till December, they'll have peaked by then and besides Blackburn have even trashed Olympiakos 5-0 in a tournament in Germany so we're no worst than West Ham.

Pre-Season Analysis

With nothing to do but sweat profusely on a Spanish August afternoon, thought I'd do a Colin Cameron impression and see exactly what Monica' s been doing these last few weeks. In Spain every season they go into minuscule detail on every game played ( especially pre-season ) and let everyone know how many minutes a player has played so I decided to play the numbers game with Charlton's pre-season to see if I could fathom out what Monica is going to present us with on Saturday at Upton Park (ignoring any last minute additions of course).

So with 7 games played (W2 D2 L3 F12 A12 - scorers - Walker 3, Hasselbaink 3, Marcus Bent 1, Sorondo 1, Hughes 1, Ambrose 1, El Karkouri 1 and Youga 1) the details are below:

Goalkeepers
Myhre 270,
Anderson180
Randolph 180

Charlton had talks with Andreas Isaksson but he wanted a "bigger club" and there has been rumours about Robert Green of Norwich but at the moment the Number 1 slot is still vacant and it seems that Myhre is going to be first choice.

Defenders
Young 405
Hreidarsson 405
Ashton 360
El Karkouri 328
Walton 305
Fortune 301

Youga 215
Sorondo 136
Traore 45

As can be seen from the numbers, with the exception of Traore taking over at left-back from Ashton, the preferred back-four at the moment seems clear-cut, Young, El Karkouri, Hreidarsson, Traore.

Midfield
Holland 347
Rommedahl 337
Hughes 337
Sam 302
Euell 223
Ambrose 210
Kishishev 206
John 180
Farinos 180
Bolanos 173
Thomas 59
Faye 45

Midfield - there's a few surprises here. Most people assumed that the first to go under the new management would be the duo of Holland and Hughes. Well, not so. Holland has amassed more time on the pitch than any other midfielder. In fact, only Young, Hreidarsson and Ashton has played more in pre-season. While it's expected that Faye will walk into the team, it is debatable who he's going to replace. My guess is it wouldn't be Holland or Hughes, who both partnered Faye during the second half in Utrecht on friday. Our away midfield, assuming we play with only one wide player, looks like being Holland, Hughes and Faye with either Bolanos or Thomas on the left or Rommedahl on the right.

Strikers
Hasselbaink 334

Walker 244
Marcus Bent 215
Darren Bent 145
Gislason 61
Lisbie 57
Fofana 45
Dja Djedje 45
Diomande 26
Carvill 19

Tanska 10

The attack will be Hasselbaink and Darren Bent in a 4-4-2 although Jimmy-Floyd's 34 years may become a factor when we hit 2 games a week mode. There's been no experiment with any other formation except for 45 minutes when Hasselbaink played up front on his own. Monica's bent is obviously to play with 2 strikers and with Hasselbaink and Darren Bent available who can blame him. of the alternatives, Walker's been hitting in the goals and has amassed more minutes played than Marcus Bent and Monica has said that he has much to offer and there's even rumours of a rejuvenanted Lisbie frightening defences (!).

So prediction via West Ham - Myrhe, Young, El Karkouri, Hreidarsson, Traore, Holland, Hughes, Faye, Rommedahl, Hasselbaink and Darren Bent.

Subs: Anderson, Ashton, Sorondo, Marcus Bent, Bolanos

FC Utrecht 2 Charlton 2

Don't know about you but this morning I'm finding it very hard to be a pessimist. Another fighting performance against good European opposition saw our boys peg back a 2 goal deficit and after goals from Brian Hughes and Jimmy-Floyd ended with a 2-2 draw. After years trying its beginning to look like we can handle ourselves in European after all.

After giving a goal away after 9 minutes and having the deficit doubled in the 14th minute when a bad pass-back by Farinos was intercepted by the the Utrecht forward Fortune who rounded Myrhe and scored easily we made changes at half-time and finished the game more strongly than our Dutch opponents.

Although a little upset at again giving early goals away Monica continues to impress with his interpretation of the game but is at the same time still conscious of everyones role in the team: "We have been waiting on a few new bodies and Djimi and Amady made us a lot more manly, a lot more strong and lot more powerful. That's not a criticism of anyone in the team though."

And he's still on form in making-up key phases to emphasize a point : "Darren Ambrose has played a part and we've given people who haven't played games time."

Other plus points were the first games in Charlton colours for Djimi Traore and Amady Faye both coming on at the start of the second half. At predicted Bolanos took no part after his trip back home this week. Farinos was again in the starting line-up before being replaced at half-time and after 4 games with us it seems that the Boss likes what he sees. Can it be that Charlton will soon have their first-ever Spaniard on their books?

It may surprise a few people to realize that once again Brian Hughes played the entire game, scored a goal and has even earned a nickname from Monica of the rather obvious "Hughesy" while other players have to be content with a Darren or a Jimmy. In fact he's been one of the players that has started all 4 of the "important" friendlies. It appears that we will have to start looking for and appreciating his attributes to the team.

Charlton: Myhre, Young, Ashton (Traore 46), El Karkouri (Sorondo 76), Hreidarsson; Hughes, Farinos (Faye 46), Holland (Kishishev 89), Ambrose (Rommedahl 75); Hasselbaink (Lisbie 89), D Bent (M Bent 75).

Subs (not used): Andersen, Walton, Euell, Sam.

Goals: Hughes 37, Hasselbaink 81

Utrecht: Vorm; Tiendalli, van Steensek, Broerse, Somers (van Buuren83); Kopteff Douglas 75), van Dijk, Kruys, Caluwe, van der Gun (Rossini 89); Fortune (Nelisse 65).

Subs (not used): de Jong, Grandel, Braafheid.

Goals: van der Gun 9, Fortune 14

Missing Number One?

Looks as if the Addicks have lost out on the possible signing of Swedish international goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson.

Reports in the guardian this morning confirm that David James has moved to Portsmouth and as a consequence "City are expected to sign the Sweden international goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson, currently at Rennes, once James completes his move to Fratton Park. Isaksson's agent Roger Ljung told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet yesterday: "I am on my way to a meeting to negotiate in Manchester. We would not be here if we didn't think it would be sealed."

FC Utrecht Preview

On Friday evening Charlton play their last pre-season game by travelling to Holland to face Dutch team FC Utrecht. For those of an historical bent, and lets hope we see one of those on view, Utrecht is more famous for the hosting of the conference in 1713 that produced the famous "Treaty of Utrecht" signed at the end of the Spanish War of Succesion leading to the cession by Spain of Gibraltar to Great Britain.

More recent history tells us that, like our previous Belgium opponents Germinal Beerscholt, FC Utrecht is a club formed by an amalgamation when in 1970 there was a merger of three clubs from the city of Utrecht: DOS, Elinkwijk and Velox. One of the three clubs, DOS, managed to win the league in 1958 and FC Utrecht recently won the Dutch Cup in 2004 and then beat Ajax 4-2 in their version of the Charity Shield.

They finished 6th in the Eredivisie (First Division) last season after 11th place in 2004-05. Last season they lost both games against Champions PSV but did the double over Ajax and beat 3rd placed Feyenoord at home. But like the Addicks they seem to have a few problems towards the end of the season and not only lost their last three games of the regular season but then compounded their misery by losing both Play-off games, deciding who plays in Europe, to lower-placed opposition FC Twente.

After Charlton's slightly unexpected victory on Tuesday 2-1 against Germinal Beerscholt with a combination of first-teamers, bench-warmers and triallists, we can only expect that Monica ( sorry, Addicks Head Coach Iain Dowie) has again done his homework and will field a team to get a result against a stronger Dutch side. Not that a result will be paramount in his mind. As he has demostrated in all the pre-season games his priority has been to have a good look at all his players, even the youngsters, and to arrive at West Ham with his best team fit and ready to go.

Perhaps the high proportion of away pre-season games is an indication of his willingness to sort things out without the inconvenience of trying to satisfy home fans. In any event I'm sure he arrives in Holland in a more secure frame of mind with this weeks three signings under his belt. As far as the fans are concerned, although there have been some concern voiced about the first two signings, its been obvious that everyone is very relieved that new bodies have finally arrived.

As for fridays team - its not clear if Bolanos has yet received his work permit and as he has been back to Costa Rica this week to bring his family to England it has to be doubtful that he will play. However, if travel problems can be resolved after Thursdays terrorist threat its expected that both new signings Djimi Traore and Amady Faye will feature in some part in the game.

There's been no more news on the still vacant Number 1 shirt since early this week when Andreas Isaksson was reported as saying he's reached an agreement with Charlton but is awaiting to hear what Man. City have to say although City were then rumoured to be chasing the West Brom Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak who signed for Man Utd yesterday. So confusion reigns.

Apart from Tuesdays game against Germinal Beerscholt, where the team had a distinctly reserve feel to it, Myhre has started every game between the sticks and the defence will probably be the usual first-choice Young, El Karkouri, Hermann and Ashton, before Traore takes his place in the second half. Matt Holland and Hughes will be holding midfield together although Kish may feature in the first half before giving way to his obvious replacement Amady Faye. There's been no more news on spanish midfielder Farinos since he played the second half on Tuesday so its possible that with the arrival of 2 new midfielders this week he not be seen again.

Rommedahl, who returns to the country where he spent 6 successful years with PSV and will be keen to show what they are missing, seems a fixture on the right with Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink enjoying an appearance in his home country alongside Darren Bent or namesake Marcus. So an attacking 4-4-2 seems on the cards with the left wide position probably filled by Darren Ambrose in the absence of Jerome Thomas and new signing Bolanos.

Christian Bolaños Signs On

By now we all know about the midfielder cum winger from Costa Rica, Christian Bolaños, who has just become Monica's third signing of the week. The impressive Bolanos played in the friendly against Welling and again in the home game with New Zealand and according the the CAFC notes "was the architect of the Charlton goal, clipping a glorious ball over the All Whites rearguard for Marcus Bent who lashed a terrific low drive past Paston and into the bottom left corner."

Bolaños, who has 18 caps and one goal for Costa Rica, first came to prominence last December when he featured for Deportivo Saprissa at the FIFA Club World Championship in Japan. His club had qualified by being CONCACAF champions of North and Central America. In the first match he scored the only goal of the game against Australia's Sydney FC which set up a semi-final date with Liverpool, and despite the eventual 3-0 defeat to the Champions League holders in Yokohama received rave reviews.

The Deportivo Saprissa team notes at the time described him as "direct and dangerous". None other than David Pleat confirmed his skills and added "The signs are that he can also track back, a vital requirement in the Premiership. Against Liverpool and in the third-place game against Al Ittihad he looked to be a worker. Pleat then gave him marks out of 10 of : Speed 8/10, Crossing 7/10, Skill 8/10, Team responsibility 7/10, Shooting 8/10. Full report is here.

Also impressed by his performances against them were Liverpool and he subsequently spent a 10-day trial at Anfield but without getting being offered a contract and he returned to Cost Rica.

During this summer he played in the World Cup in Germany and took part in 2 of the 3 Costa Rican games.

He looks very exciting and works hard too, strange that unlike other available "stars" we didn't have to fight off any opposition for his signing. I have to wonder why Liverpool didn't offer him a contract during the winter? Maybe winter in Liverpool was not really up his street or perhaps his wage demands at the time were thought too high. Or perhaps he did not fit into Benitez plans. And whatever people think of Benitez talents as a manager nobody would call his old Valencia team "exciting".

Whatever the reason, anyone who inspires the description "exciting and dangerous" is definitely someone we need and we have to say he appears a great signing for Charlton. And the risks, if any, are kept to a minimum with a one-year loan deal with the option to buy after one year.

It only remains for Monica now to show his skills in moulding his ever increasing squad into a unit fit for the coming fray.

Djimi Traore and Amdy Faye

The much awaited, and badly needed, Charlton additions have at last arrived with the aquisition of two African players with exotic names. Its all very well having a couple of Bents, and a mixture of Young, Hughes, Holland, Thomas but in the modern game its obligatory to sign players from the dark continent with appropriately difficult names.

First to arrive then is defender Djimi Traore, the 26-year-old Mali international from Liverpool. Traore was a member of Liverpool's Champions League winning side against AC Milan in Istanbul in May 2005 after being signed by Gerard Houllier from Laval for £550,000 in February 1999. According to the Liverpool website he played a total 141 first-team games for the reds.

His career at Liverpool has had some ups and downs — he played for most of the 2002–03 season, deputising for the injured Stéphane Henchoz, having been on loan with French club Lens the previous season. He spent the 2003–2004 season, Houllier's last at the club, in the reserve team, of which he was captain, and almost left Liverpool for their Merseyside neighbours Everton on the 2004 transfer deadline day but remained at Anfield, where he has mostly been employed at left back.

Traoré career seems to have been revitalised by new manager Rafael Benítez since the summer of 2004. Rather worryingly the defender had been continually exposed for being poor positionally, and seemed reticent to attack. Now he shows more willingness to support the left winger as well as improved positional play.

Unfortunately for us, rather than his Champions League medal he's better remembered for his bizarre own-goal that gifted Burnley a 1-0 victory over Premiership giants Liverpool in the third round of the 2004–05 FA Cup. This however did solve the problem of how to pronounce his name in Scouse and has reputably earned him the nickname of "Bambi" among the Anfield faithful. He has 5 Mali caps to his name, can also play at centre-back and has reputable scored only one other goal apart but the famous one.

The long-running transfer saga, where a vital sticking point has obviously been that Traoré still has two years left on a lucrative deal at Liverpool which means that we were pushing for a loan deal rather than having to revert to that drastic last resort, and to be avoided if at all possible, the handing over of readies. Well, readies it was, £2 million. Is he worth it? We''ll have to wait and see.

Easier on the tongue is the second new player Amdy Faye a 29 year old Senegalese international from Newcastle United although the spelling of his first name seems in some doubt. Faye began his career at French Ligue One club AS Monaco FC, and then had spells with ES Frejus and AJ Auxerre where he played 80 games and gained a French cup-winners medal in 2003. He played for Senegal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, before transferring to Portsmouth for £1.5 million in August 2003.

He made his debut for Portsmouth in a 2-1 home win over Aston Villa and soon proved to be an excellent buy for the club playing 27 games and helping Portsmouth to a mid-table position. The Senegal international made the most tackles (132) of any Portsmouth player that season and only Steve Stone attempted more passes than the central midfielder although another player who finds goals hard to come by, only scoring 3 in his 8 years of first-team football.

Faye's combative style throughout the season often brought him to the attention of the league's officials, as well as opposing clubs, who pulled him up for 54 fouls and seven yellow cards in his 27 appearances. In January 2005 after having impressed Graham Souness he was transferred to Newcastle United for about £2 million and he's played 45 games in his eighteen months at St. James Park. A change of management however has restricted his appearances as new manager Roeder seems to prefer Parker and Emre in his midfield so recent games seem to have been scarce.

As is sadly commonplace in many of our transfers deals we don't seem to have could out of it too well. Newcastle have recovered the money they paid eighteen months ago for a player unloved by the fans and currently relegated to their reserves. We can only hope that Monica has done his homework.

Amdy Faye

According to the Newcastle website, the Addicks have had an offer accepted for the 29-year-old Senegal midfielder, who now only needs to agree personal terms and pass a medical for the move to go through.

Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder told his club's official website: "Amady Faye is in a situation where we have allowed him to talk to Charlton. Now we have to wait and see if he makes the move to London."

Amdy Faye is a defensive midfielder, and in a previous report is a man blessed with bountiful physical and technical attributes although the spelling of his first name seems in some doubt. Not a creative player then, nor a goalscorer, but someone to play in front of the defence a la Kish.

But while the papers suggest that its Roeder that is preferring to keep Faye out of the team, Newcastle bloggers are suggesting otherwise. The following quote in from November last year.

"When Newcastle fans don't like or rate a player there is no convincing them, their minds are made up and can't be changed. And for poor Amdy Faye, he is one of those players. There isn't a week that goes by on our own forum where he is the topic of ridicule or the proverbial punch bag for the boo-boys out on the stands.

Souness recently confided that he has had to console Faye and deliberately leave him out on one or two occasions so his fragile confidence doesn't get shattered further by the boo-boys."

Well, thats good enough for me. Not wishing to cast dispersions, but fans from that area have never been close to my heart nor their footballing opinions. All that bare-chesty stuff doesn't impress me. How can you expect someone from the heat of Senegal to perform in the frozen wastes of the dreary North-East. Faye's obviously the boy for us, he just needs a warm family environment, just ask those Pompey fans they even sold him for a profit. From his season at Portsmouth the Senegal international made the most tackles (132) of any Portsmouth player that season and only Steve Stone attempted more passes than the central midfielder.

And what the hell, he even looks like Makelele.

New Zealand Preview

Saturday sees Charlton welcome New Zealand to the Valley for a game that will hopefully feature more first-teamers than Tuesdays runabout against Welling. Thankfully Monica has promised as much.

Ricki Herbert's All Whites 20-man New Zealand squad were there at Park View to see the "reserves" lose 1-0 after their long-haul flight from down-under and despite their obvious jet-lag I'm sure they were suitably impressed. Saturdays game will be different of course and is their European tour opener followed by a game against Blackburn Rovers on August 16.

New Zealand captain Danny Hay is one of the few players with experience playing outside New Zealand having played 4 games for Leeds several years ago and then a season at Walsall although the 31-year-old central defender rates himself just a 50-50 chance of being fit for after straining his right calf muscle during a training run in Auckland last week. Other players include Halifax Town striker Shane Smelz, midfielder Tim Brown, who plays for the US Richmond Kickers and Fulham youngster Chris James. But the star of the team will undoubtably be midfielder Ivan Vicelich who has played for Dutch club Roda for the last 5 years and has over 50 appearances for New Zealand.

One player definitely not playing for New Zealand will be Blackburn Rovers defender Ryan Nelsen who ironically has been dogged by injury problems since the end of last season, having suffered a hairline fracture of his leg during Rovers' win at Charlton on April 29th.

A scan of their recent games has seen them enjoy ( if that's the word for it ) a 4-1 defeat to Brazil in Switzerland on June 4 although in May they beat Georgia and drew in Estonia. However the aim of Saturdays game was rather put in context by captain Hay explaining "We've already shown we're capable of competing with very good European teams. There are no ranking points on the line so these are practice matches as they are for the clubs, it's all about giving players experience." They'll all set for a thumping then.

For Charlton it'll be the first home game of pre-season and therefore the first time we'll see Iain Dowie patrolling the touchline since he watched Jonathan Fortune's late header relegate his hapless team in May 2005. On this happier occasion, I assume he'll be keen to impress his home fans and therefore play a full strength side. Its even rumored that Darren Bent will at last leave his knife juggling antics in the kitchen and be available to assist Jimmy-Floyd in slicing apart the New Zealand defence. Not for the full game of course as he's not match fit but at last we will enjoy the mouth-watering prospect of at last seeing them together.

For the remainder of the side it'll be much as we left it in May. El Karkouri has returned and seems to have taken over Chris Perrys role alongside Hermann H with Sorondo as another option while Monica seems more than happy to maintain young Nathan Ashton at left-back. In front of Luke Young, Dennis Rommedahl seems set to continue on the wing. After that its guess-work time as Matt Holland, Brian Hughes, Kish, Darren Ambrose and Lloyd Sam "battle" it out for the 3 remaining places.

Nothing further has been mentioned of the four "triallists" at tuesdays game and although that doesn't usually mean much we can only hope that we have another chance to see Spanish midfielder Xavier Farinos, Costa Rican winger Christian Bolanos and young Ivory Coast striker Ismael Fofana.

Meanwhile new squad numbers have been allocated to youngsters Myles Weston, Alistair John, Michael Carvill, Jani Tanska and Rurik Gislason for the first time. Intriguingly the Number 1 is currently vacant......

Welling 1 Charlton 0

Its quite obvious that Monica pays no attention to any advice offered, as least from any armchair fans, however dedicated. He's still trying out people, and this game against annual opponents Welling was going to be NO exception. Whilst understanding the embarrassment of London-based fans at losing to such inferior opposition, I suppose, like Monica we should look at any positives, however few, that may have come from the game.

So, with absolutely no first-teamers in action, he used the game to try out 4 complete newcomers - two of which played the whole game and the others came on in the second half. They were combined with players from the bench such as Euell, Marcus Bent, Fortune, Walton and Sam. But it was the "trialists" that were most interesting. We're all in favour of a strengthened midfield and we should be pleased the manager is still actively looking at midfielders.

According to CAFC, the two players that played the whole match were Spaniard Xavier Farinos and Costa Rican Christian Bolanos. The only Spaniard I can trace called Farinos is 28 year-old Francisco Xavier Farinos, born in Valencia and currently on the books of Inter Milan. After over a 100 games in his 4 years at Valencia, he moved to Italy and has been with Inter for the last 6 years and made 76 appearances in the League, Cup and Europe. During this time he spend a year on loan at Villareal and for the last two years he's been on loan at Spanish club Mallorca. He's played twice for Spain and is now apparently out of contract.

The second player on for 90 minutes was 21 year old left-winger from Costa Rica Christian Bolanos. He played for Saprissa in the FIFA Club championship against Liverpool last year and spent some time at Anfield on trial but without getting a contract. Report at that here. He then played in the World Cup in Germany and received some very good reviews here.

Young striker Michael Carvill and Icelandic prospect Rurik Gislason made the bench alongside two more trialists from the Ivory Coast, Ismael Fofana and Me Aboucar Diomande who are a bit more mysterious. Ismael Fofana played in the Under 17 African World Cup last year and was the leading scorer with 4 goals, and received rave reviews when playing in the World Under 17 Championships in Peru last September. An article in Ussoccer says about him, "Called the “Star of the future in African football,” the bar has been set high for Ivory Coast’s Ismael Beko Fofana. So far, he’s wooed onlookers, scoring four goals in qualifying and already one in the world championship. A product of Asec Abidjan's Mimos Sifcom academy, Fofana may not be the most powerful forward, but he’s got a knack for finding the goal."

So he is obviously "one for the future" as Monica calls them.

Charlton: Randolph; John, Youga, Fortune, Walton; Sam (Carvill 81), Euell (Gislason 64), Farinos, Bolanos, M Bent (Fofana 46), Walker (Diomande 64).

Welling: Turner (Hyde 72); Goodfellow, Guest (Moore 81), C Moore (Vines 66), Perkins; Rowland (Green 52), Boateng, Day, Holmes (Beazant 81); Kedwell (A Sam 72), Stadhart (Lovell 72).

Goals: Walton og 46

Welling Preview

Make no mistake tonights game in Massive for both clubs. Charlton have to get back to winning ways after 2 away defeats and only 3 points to show from the opening three games of the season.

Seriously though, tonights game is important as we set to recover from conceding 6 goals away from home, a statistic that was all too frequent last season. After the awesome proportions of the Mestalla it's definitely going to be a trip down-market as we wing down to the homely Park View ground to take on Welling United.

The local Conference South lost their only home pre-season friendly to Grays 2-1 but have beaten Herne Bay 2-0, Erith 5-0 and Folkstone 1-0 on the road. Lucky we're playing them at home then.

A game that surely demands an attacking formation from Charlton with Marcus Bent partnering Jimmy-Floyd up front as Darren is still resting that injured finger. Anything less than 5 goals will be seen as a relative disaster so perhaps an attacking 4-2-4 will see us solve our mid-field problems in a stroke.

Has Monica seen enough of the youngsters by now? Nathan Ashton seems to have claimed the left-back spot, playing all 90 minutes in the heat in Valencia with Luke Young and Rommedahl set to hold the right-side positions. Everything else seems up for grabs, with no clear candidate for first-choice goalkeeper being made while the centre of defence seems between El Karkouri, Hermann and Sorondo.

And the Midfield? Dowie praised Holland for his non-stop effort in Valencia but the changes made at half-time seemed to lift Charlton. So let's see Kish and Sam together again as we did at the Mestalla in the second 45 minutes and stick Euell up-front for a decent runaround. We need goals as well as training ground barbis to lift our spirits.

Meanwhile the injury list seems to be building alarmingly. Apart from Darren B and Jerome Thomas already out, we have after Valencia, Darren Ambrose with a jarred knee, Sorondo's tightening hamstring and El Karkouri with a severe case of dizziness. We can only hope that the promised "one or two bodies" materialize rather quickly to strength the squad and that they are capable of more than hard work.

Valencia 3 Charlton 1

A less than full-strength Valencia side that only contained 4 first-team regulars were far too good for Charlton last night. A completely reserve defence without Canizares, Miguel, Ayala, Marchena and del Horno and without the prolific David Villa in attack they never had any trouble from a Charlton team that only had one real attack in the first half. Perhaps they didn't know they were playing the reserves.

The game started very late, around 22.45 after various entertainments for the crowd of 35000 with the temperature in the mid-twenties being a major factor. First half goals from Morientes and captain for the night Baraja gave Valencia a comfortable 2-0 half-time lead and although Sorondo got away from his marker and pulled one back from a corner early in the second half we never looked likely to get a second. Six minutes from the end Silva had the chance of a free header and wrapped up the win.

Monica played a 4-4-2 with Marcus Bent appearing alongside Jimmy-Floyd up front and a midfield of Holland and Hughes with Rommedahl and Ambrose on the flanks. Myhre and Anderson each played half a game. Young, Ashton, Rommedahl, and a defender that the commentator laughingly referred to as Hermann were the only players to last the full 90 minutes. Kish and Sam came on for the second half and Charlton saw more of the ball as the heat began to tell. Obviously, Monica is at least getting the boys fit.

Charlton played this game with a more settled line-up with 19 players getting on the pitch but unfortunately the lack of chances created against a team of Spanish reserves will not serve to put the fans painful sensitivities at rest. And with Monica's starting eleven beginning to take shape it can only add to the consternation of the faithful that it still contains many of the old favorites.

Valencia: Butelle, Curro, Moretti, Albiol, Cerra, Pallardo, Baraja, Vicente, Angulo, Regueiro y Morientes. Subs: Mora, Silva, Gavilán, Edu, Jorge López, Aaron Ñiguez, Nacho Insa y Córcoles.

Charlton: Myhre (Andersen 46), Young, Hreidarsson, El Karkouri, (Sorondo 34) (Fortune 66), Ashton, Rommedahl, Hughes (Euell 73), Holland (Walton 80), Ambrose (Kishishev 46), Hasselbaink (Walker 80), M Bent (Sam 46).

Goles: Morientes (16), Baraja (29), Sorondo (47), Silva (84).

Valencia Preview

Saturday sees the Addicks fly to Spain for a serious test against highly-rated Valencia. League winners twice in the last 5 years, in 2002 and 2004 they finished last season in 3rd place behind Barcelona and Real Madrid. In recent years they have twice made it to the Champions League final in 2000 and 2001 losing both times to Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively and in 2004 won the UEFA Cup. Clearly then one of the top teams in Europe.

Like ourselves they've had two pre-season games, both in a tournament at Emerlo in Holland. They beat the Dutch Second Division side Go Ahead Eagles 2-1 and then beat the Turks from Fenerbahce by the same score. That's typical Valencia - score 2 goals and close the game down. Always hard to beat, they have one of the best defensive records in Spain last year with solid centre-backs Ayala and Marchena and a dependable goalkeeper in Cañizares. The whole team always work hard but they don't score many goals.

They've surprisingly disposed of goalscorer but ugly geezer Mista and replaced him with Morientes, who as Mrs Nelson tells me is much better-looking and, of course, del Horno returns to Spain after his unhappy year at Chelski. They also welcome back skilful left winger Vicente from a season long injury that kept him out of the World Cup. So Morientes and David Villa as strikers. Villa's very good and will give our boys a real testing but personally if I was a Valencia fan I'd be envious of an attacking line-up of Hasselbaink and Bent. Hasselbaink had a very good year in Spain in 1999/2000 with Atletico Madrid scoring 24 league and he's well remembered. Shame Darren won't be joining him!

So a Valencia team that won't give Charlton as many chances as Hibs did on Tuesday and they'll be more than content to play keep-ball for long periods of the game. Ten-Thirty kickoff but it'll still be up in the 20's with lots of humidity as well. 25000 tickets sold ( well, probably given away more like ) but it shows the importance of a meaningless kickabout to a Spaniard.

So who is going to be in the Charlton line-up? Darren B still seems to have problems holding a knife so we'll still not see what form of cutting edge he makes with Jimmy-Floyd. Monica has certainly shown that he wants to see what the youngsters can do and he's already making some excuses for them after the Hibs game and showing how he wants to give them some experience while at the same time saying he doesn't expect the earth. Looks like good management to me. Bringing back James Walker after he had been supposedly released shows he's not afraid to follow his own instincts or maybe listen to advice from people he trusts.

The twenty-two players that were used against Millwall and Hibs would be quite a plane full but with the heat in Spain maybe a good idea. But we'll need to be at our best to handle this lot and its possible that because of that we'll get a better idea of Monica's first 11. However, with Monica proving full of surprises and seemingly determined to give as many players a game as possible, maybe we'll even see Lisbie make a showing?

Monica's interviews have emphasized the number of positives coming out of last Tuesdays game despite the defeat, and with end-of-week barbis creating the right atmosphere we seem to be getting half-way there. Unfortunately he's joined a team, not only of a couple of dozen players, but of several thousand pessimists and right now I just wish we would splash out a bit and get that creative midfield player that everyone wants. I'm getting to the stage that I don't care who it is. We do seem to have created lots of chances against Hibs and we did score 4 at Millwall I hear someone say but I remember Hughes, Kish and Holland from last season and I'm still having nightmares about it.

Likely Prediction : Valencia 2 Charlton 1

Mistaken Identity - It was Jimmy Floyd

Always check your sources. Seems I was wrong to trust someone that was there to know who scored Charlton goals at Hibernian. Probably the truth being that the Scottish reporter was still in the bar while Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink scored after 3 minutes. People are clearly not used to seeing us score after 3 minutes, especially in an away game. When was the last time that happened?

The Hibs report gave the first Charlton goal to Thomas but of course it was Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink that was on the mark again. I knew I should have trusted Inspector Sands or even the bbc who have a short report here.

A goal after 3 minutes, perhaps our usual apprehensive approach has come to an end?

Hibernian 3 Charlton 2

So our first 3 goal defeat of the season but instead of one where we only wake up at the end of the game here we went 2 goals up through Thomas and James Walker (once again) before finally going down late in the game to a Hibs winner in the 75th minute.

Contrary to anything I believed, Monica choose to take not 22 but 24 players to Easter Road with 2 distinct teams being fielded in each half and lots of substitutions as well. As well as the 22 players on display at Millwall there were second half outings for 18 year old forward Michael Carvill and the 17 year old Finnish defender Jani Tanska as well as the 18 year old Icelandic midfielder Rúrik Gíslason that we signed from Anderlecht last August. Monica is certainly giving the youngsters a try out.

Myhre returned to the action for the first half at the expense of Anderson while Randolph was between the sticks for the second half. I wonder if that means anything.

Of the rumoured Salif Diao there was no sign and of course both Bent's were left on the sidelines. And once again Lislie was missing.

As far as the play was concerned it appears that Hibs were fortunate to win with their 3rd goal coming in the 75 minute. We had the best of the first half and scored in the 3rd minute when Rommedahl crossed for Thomas to control the ball on his chest before slotting the ball home. Rommedahl then missed a chance created by Hasselbaink and Ambrose, the keeper being quick off his line to save. Midway through the half the second goal came. Similar to the first, Rommedahl crossed again this time for Walker to score. Rommedahl then missed a one-on-one chance with the keeper after outpacing the defence but pushed the ball too far and the defence cleared.

Before half-time Hibs pulled one back with a 30th yard strike from Scott Brown.

The second half saw Charlton create further good chances with Gislason and Euell missing sitters before Hibs equalised on 62 minutes. There was time for an unmarked Sam to miss a sitter before Hibs finally when ahead.

So it seems our worries about not being able to create chances seem unfounded as we appeared to miss several easy opportunities. Overall its hard to tell what Monica's ideal first team will be but the first half 11 look more the part and now its off to Spain for a juicy encounter with Spains' third best team.

First Half: Myhre, Young, El Karkouri, Hreidarsson, Ashton, Rommedahl, Hughes, Kishishev, Ambrose, Thomas, Hasselbaink . Subs: Fortune, Walker, Walton, Sorondo, Ewell, Holland.

Second Half: Randolph, Walton, Sorondo, Fortune, Youga, Ewell, Holland, Sam, John, Gislason, Walker. Subs: Tanska, Carvill.

A full report can be found here hibernian.

Hibernian Preview

Tuesday night sees a trip across the border to play against Hibs in Edinburgh. This will be a much tougher proposition than the game against Millwall and will be for Hibs their last pre-season friendly before they take on Aberdeen in the Scottish League this Saturday. They will obviously field a full-strength side ( no place for kids) in preparation for the league game and after having played 4 Intertoto games are clearly fit and ready.

After hammering Dinaburg of Latvia 8-0 on aggregate in their first Intertoto round they eventually lost to Bruce Riochs' Odense of Denmark at the weekend on the away goals rule, so they'll clearly be wanting to put the disappointment of going out of Europe behind them.

With a game in Spain against Valencia at the weekend it's seems unlikely that a repetition of the Millwall game where 22 players were on display will be tried again. The toughest test of the two games may well be the Hibs game particularly as Valencia are calling Saturday a "Partido de presentación" ( a Presentation Game, eg showing off Del Horno and other new signings to the fans ) rather than a "Amistoso" (friendly). They will probably do as we did against Millwall and give as many players as possible a run-out in front of their fans for the first time this season.

As I can't see 22 Charlton players catching a flight to Spain for one game and Monica's wanting to give people a game it may well be that the stronger Charlton team will be against the Scots with the Spanish game one for the second string and youngsters to enjoy. Whatever happens it's clear that neither Bent will be on the pitch come Tuesday but will we see more of young Franck Dja Djedje ?

More news on the surprise inclusion of European U19 Championship winner Dja Djedje for the Millwall game comes with Dowie giving us some behind-the-scenes thinking: "I thought he did well. He's had a week's training with us and he's coped with it very well. He's showed great hunger and desire - that's the one thing I've been pleased about. He showed one or two little tricks and he was a bit unlucky with his chip in the first few minutes of the second half. He would have liked to have got a goal but we'll keep monitoring him. It's work in progress, we'll take a little time and reflect on it. We won't act in hast. It's just one of those things that we thought he was worth looking at especially when Marcus and Darren were going to miss the game.”

News of Marcus Bent is that he was injured for the Millwall game, while the manager is nursing Darren himself.

Of Darren, who sliced into his finger whilst attempting to make a sandwich, Dowie said: "We don't think it's going to be long, but we'll see how it heals. I would think by the end of the week he'll be starting contact training but we're going to take precautions with it. He's been training with me - non-contact training is fine - and his level of fitness is excellent.”

Before the actual contact training can start, its rumoured that Ainsley Harriet has been asked to provide a few one-to-one sessions, with slicing and chipping techniques the first items on the list.

Millwall 1 Charlton 4

An excellent start by Monica's finest, combining experience with lots of youngsters. Two completely different teams were put out separated by half-time and included old favorities such as Holland, Hughes and Euell, along with a 20 year-old Ivory Coast triallist striker,Franck Dja Djedje, borrowed for the afternoon (!) from Paris St Germain.

People returned who we thought had left ( El Karkouri and youngster James Walker ) and a couple or three were conspicuous by their absence ( Mhyre, Lisbie, Marcus B ).

Anyway a very good start to the season and we've still got Darren with his dicky finger itching to play a part.

Teams were:
Charlton (first-half): Andersen; Young, Youga, Sorondo, Fortune; Ambrose, Hughes, Holland, Lloyd Sam, Alistair John, Hasselbaink.

Charlton (second-half): Randolph, Simon Walton, Nathan Ashton, Hreidarsson, El Karkouri; Kishishev, Thomas, Euell, Rommedahl; Franck Dja Djedje, James Walker.

Goals: Hasselbaink 11, (the impressive) Marvin Elliott (Millwall) 42, Ambrose 45, El Karkouri 56, Walker 60

New Era Begins at the Den

Our boys have been back in training for a couple of weeks now and from the things that are being said they're pretty impressed with the new management. Luke Young, after at last signing his contract, comes out with what a captain is supposed to say, "I can't speak highly enough of how myself and everybody else have been impressed with the first couple of weeks of training.
It's been bright and forward-thinking and it feels as though everything is moving in the right direction."

Darren B. added "Training has been hard but good. The gaffer's come in and brought some new ideas and it's really exciting. I've loved every minute of it. All the lads are buzzing even though training has been really hard. It is as if everyone has had a massive weight lifted off their shoulders because we've got a new manager and everyone is starting out afresh."

So the players at least seem to be in the right frame of mind which, after the usual turgid end to the season can only encourage the fans. But we're not Charlton fans for nothing and there'll still be that nagging doubt that what we have is not good enough. Our Murray has tried to reassure us after Darren signed a new improved contract with "We'd like to get, ideally, another five players of which at least three will be fairly senior players,” said the Addicks chairman.
"We're working very hard on it. I know the season is still two or three weeks away but Iain would like to get them in as soon as possible so he can get them training with the other players. So we're working on it, I can't give you any promises, but the aim is still to get five.”

So that's the plan. Although he's no youngster at 34, the signing of Jimmy-F clearly demonstrates that the management think we belong in the top half of the table and gives us a true strike-force worthy of the name. But the main worry has to be the midfield. There's paper talk of Djimi Traore and Emerson Boyce, both defenders and Matt Oakley, a midfielder but surely not going to set the place on fire. We need that "Big Signing" that can create and influence the play - could it be Sidwell ? Its all gone very quiet for several weeks but that is after all how we operate.

Perhaps we'll see a completely new style of play. In all of Curbs years we never had an attacking duo of the likes of Darren Bent and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink. Curbs liked to have good centre-backs but always seemed to want to fashion a team that played as he played with intelligent, creative midfielders that could make things happen. Over the years he had Jenson, Di Canio, Murphy, Smerton, Parker - all players that could create something but unfortunately this somehow meant that the team seemed to be built around them. The problem, of course, was that, for various reasons, they all walked out on him and he had to revert to Plan B, a play safe 4-5-1.

Darren B also tells us ""With him ( Dowie ) having been a striker as well it helps me out massively. "
And with the Chairman wanting more entertaining football perhaps having a former striker in charge will bring pleasant changes.

I don't think we won't get any idea on Monica's final team selection or formation from tomorrow's game. "It's far too early to give my cards away,” the Addicks boss told the club website. "In my mind I'm slowly forming my starting XI but all the players have come back in fantastic shape and there are about 20 players who could force their way into it.

The New Era starts here!