23 of 38 - Middlesbro (home)

Pards has already called the game against Middlesbrough a Massive Game and with the Addicks 6 points away from the safety of 17th place ( and with an inferior goal difference) every home game is a must-win Cup Final especially when you have away-form like we have.

Middlesbrough arrive here without a win away from home all season but are currently 8 points in front of Charlton in the table. With only 2 wins in their last 11 league and cup games, including their 2-0 win against us in December, they're not in great form at the moment and its vital that we win today to drag them even more into relegation worries.

They are a "second-half" team that take their time to get going. Two thirds of their goals have come in the 2nd half and there's only one team, West Ham, that are worst than them on first-half results. So Pards, hit 'em hard in the first 45 and put the game beyond them. But watch out for stoppage time as the Addicks have scored more goals then (3) than anybody else in the league BUT have also conceded more (4) than anybody else in added time. Work that one out.

History

-----------

Close Encounters

Middlesbrough are the team that the Addicks have scored most victories against of all the 93 league teams played and are also one of the very few Premiership teams that we have a "plus" record over although it's very close - ( by a hugh coincidence Watford and West Ham are the others ) - In total its Charlton 34 wins, Middlesbrough 33, and draws 18.

Last season saw us win 2-1 in the Premiership with the two goals coming from Darren B after the inevitable Viduka have scored, again. The total in the Premiership shows we're also in front with Charlton 5 wins to their 3 with no less than 7 drawn games.

At the Valley we are way in front with 24 wins to their 11 with 7 draws.

The Opponents
----------------------
Zero Away Wins
After two promising away results in September with draws at Arsenal and Bolton, Middlesbro have not enjoyed themselves on their travels since then. Three successive defeats at Sheffield 1-2, Man.City 0-1, and Watford 0-2 were repaired a bit at Villa with another draw 1-1, before more defeats at Spurs 1-2 and Fulham 1-2. A goalless draw at Everton was then followed by their 6th away defeat at Blackburn 1-2. So just 2 points in their last 8 away games and only 4 draws in total away from home.

Of the player front don't expect to see Jason Euell but lets hope 9 goal Yakubu and his fellow striker 4 goal Viduka are equally quiet although Mr V always seems to enjoy coming to the Valley.

The Addicks

------------------
Who's Fit?
Despite all the speculation there's currently only one new arrival - Ben Thatcher - and he'll go straight into the team replacing Traore. Although ZZ has also arrived and despite Pards encouraging words about the fitness levels of Asian players it's another case of "acclimatization to the Premiership" scenario just like one Omar Pouso. Lets hope we get more that the 57 mins that we have got out of him so far.

There's reports on the official site that HH and Andy Reid will also be available after their injuries but will Pards chance them both? Is Faye's 27 minutes last Saturday the last we'll see of him? Will Sam return?

The one certainty it seems is that Scott Carson will return in goal but with the mistake of appealing Sankofa's sending-off, we'll be without him for another game and therefore missing our two first choice right-backs. There's been no clues from Pards other than the fact that he started with Kish there last week but ended up with the Elk who always seems to have the sulks when he plays out of position. Whatever, the defence should be El Karkouri, Diawara, HH and the Thatch.

The Midfield? Always the heart of a team, this is the area where the Addicks have struggled and it still hasn't improved. Kish will be there along with Holland and we can only hope that Andy Reid joins them to add some missing creativity. Rommers will be out wide again and there's no real choice in attack with Hasselbaink and Marcus Bent up front with the hope that Lloyd Sam will feature at some point. We can only hope that Jimmy-F will try harder against his former club and that someone has told Marcus that he's sitting on 99 league goals scored.

Predictions
-----------------

The Addicks to Win?

The good news is "Lets move on" has us down as 2-1 home winners and we all know he's always right. Pedro45 obviously has the cup game last March in his mind and sees another boring but tough 0-0 but has dreams of Dennis scoring at the Valley. How bizarre is that?

But if we can stop Viduka scoring, I see a 1-0 home win.

The Great Escape - A few Notes for Pards

Until a couple of years ago it was said that Bottom of the League at Christmas and down you go but then none other than Brian Robson proved everyone wrong when he saved West Brom from the drop. It didn't last long of course for they were relegated the following year but it proved that miracles can happen.

Over Christmas this year there was an article in the Mirror detailing the main points after an interview with Robson on how he managed to achieve the impossible and here are the key points.

1) Its All About Belief

Point number one according to Robson is obvious but it needs saying - "keep the players confidence high because the main issue is their belief. Have they got the attitude to keep going? Can you convince them that it's achievable? Thats the problem for a lot of them down there. You can't get too far adrift. Players have to have a bit of convincing that they are close enough to achieve it."

2) Rally Everyone Around The Cause

At West Brom they had the Great Escape Project dreamed up by their sponsors. It gave them a target, something to aim for, the idea that they could make history as nobody had done it before.

3) You Need Two or Three Big Characters in the Dressing Room

Robson explains "Its vital to have some leaders among the players. When results are going against you there have to be players who pick thing up, it can't only be the players and coaches. Nobody enjoys being beaten or drawing every week and you have to have a few that can rise above that and take the others with them."

4) Bring in the right players in the January Transfer Window

For Robson the key signing was Kieran Richardson from Manure - "If we got beaten on the Saturday he would come in on the Monday and all he wanted to talk about was how we would win the next game. Training was immediately twice as positive and that was the mentality that was needed. There's no point in dwelling on a bad result because you can't do anything about it, its gone. You have to just have the confidence you'll win the next one."

5) Keep the Fans on Your Side

Robson: "Our Great Escape idea helped that. It gave the supporters something to cling to, it got everyone being positive and pulling for each other. You can't believe how much easier it is for players to run and battle when they are hearing positive support instead of slow handclaps and booing."

6) Make sure You're Got a Good Physio

A settled fit side is vital. "You have to have a bit of fortune with injuries for a settled side is important and as you get a run a results they get stronger."

7) Be Convinced You Can make It

The players and coaches have to believe its's possible otherwise the players won't. They will smell any doubt. Look at the fixtures and work out what points you can make and be totally convinced that you can do it."

8) Be Lucky!

And then he saves the bummer until the end - "You need luck and you need everything to be right and the luck is the one thing you can't control."

Well, Pards has clearly read the same article and understands the basics and has explained recently that its leaders we need and people with the right attitude for a battle which probably explains the Traore out Thatcher in swap. And although we lost £1M on Traore we do seem to have got Thatcher for a good price. Now the Midfield!!

What

The news this morning from various souces eg the guardian report that, after all the hype, Stokes will not be coming to the Valley. Seems that he prefers to play in the Championship for a team going nowhere than struggle with life at the bottom of the Premiership. Or maybe Mr Keane doesn't take no for an answer, although it should be remembered that they both hail from the Republic of Ireland so they can share a Guinness of three over tactics and plan flights home together.

Meanwhile, over at the independent and with no connection whatsoever to the above story, Pards says that Darren Bent would be staying "until the end of the year" as his injury is one of 3 or 4 weeks and not 6 or 7 as previously thought. Which, of course translates to - "While Stokes was a possibility then maybe we'll sell but now hands off".

We'll have to wait and see if that's what happens, of course, mainly due to the fact that belief in the management of the Addicks is at an all-time low.

To further confuse in a time when facts are rather thin on the ground, Pards helps us out by giving us some Dowie-speak. "I will have to be clever, maybe look a little left-field to improve the team. We haven't got the funds that West Ham in particular have got, and maybe Wigan and Middlesbrough. I need anyone who will help the players here improve their confidence and ability. You can grow off certain players, that is the sort we need to give everyone a lift."

I suppose we still have Chinese super star Zheng Zhi arriving this week, although that little piece of business has also gone rather quiet over the last few days maybe suggesting that he was taken on by members of the previous coaching staff. Its possible, that maybe he too is having second thoughts although Wikipedia have him down as a Charlton player and assigned with the Number One shirt no less which should keep him happy as he appears to have a rather large ego.

And its always interesting to hear what other people think of the team ( when they're being constuctive, of course) so there's a little bit of a pick-me-up from none other than Grant Holt, scorer of Nottingham Forest's second goal on Saturday, "They don't have poor players, it's just the players they've got aren't aware of how good they are." Seems he's seen things that remain hidden to many.

Forest 2 Charlton 0

Remember the dismal days of FA Cup games back in the 60's, 70's and 80's when it was simply impossible for us to beat anyone in a higher Division? Year after year the FA Cup was always a depressing event with defeat after defeat against all-comers until finally we started to improve in the early nineties and then on 8th Feb 1994 we finally managed some giant-killing and beat a club above us with the scalp of the Premier League runners-up Blackburn Rovers 1-0 at Ewood Park with a Pitcher screamer.

Well, we've now gone to completely the other extreme - a Premiership club simply unable to match anyone from a Lower Division in cup games. After getting to our first League Cup Quarter-Final in December we surrender 1-0, at home, to lowly Wycombe of Division 2 and now a couple of weeks later do the same against Division 1 side Nottingham Forest.

The usual look at the papers and its mostly bad news. Once again the same adjectives resurface, with the favorite - abject ( of a situation or condition, extremely bad, unpleasant, and degrading [New Oxford Dict] ) - being used in all its former glory by the independent. With Charlton floundering and unable to cope from the observer and seemingly ignored by the telegraph while there is a surprisingly good report in the dailymail focusing on apparent snipes between Pards and Curbs over their respective past dealings with each others teams.

The only good news, apart from many papers including the mail again including Sheffield United in the other cup shock, we can get from this dismal situation is that the new Manager Pards has had his eyes opened at the right time to do something about it. The FA Cup doesn't really matter, its Premiership survival that we need and he now has 3 weeks left to find more able bodies to fight the fight.

There's obviously going to be heads rolling with Pards in a steep learning curve, "I learned a lot about this team today. I'm not going to be too harsh on them. They are delicate specimens in terms of confidence and need to wash away the negativity they have in their bodies. But one or two players will have to recognise that they are not good enough for this club and must respond, otherwise they will not be near the first team any more."

Speaking of heads rolling, its reported that Spurs have had a £7M bid for Darren B rejected but that this hasn't apparently put them off. Once again it would appear that January is going to bring more depressing news for the Addicks.

FA Cup 3rd Round - Forest Preview

With a manager that has experienced the excitement of an FA Cup Final, if not tasted the champagne, Charlton have just the boost they may need to edge past what is, in my book anyway, a Third Division team.

And while the game may have looked a bit difficult when the draw was made in December, a lot has changed since then. Reed has gone and old boy Pards has returned and inspired a heartening improvement, while the home team, that were clear at the top of their Division have now lose 3 of their last 6 games and have dropped to 3rd place. Their last game on New Years day saw a 5-0 defeat away to fellow promotion challengers Oldham where they finished with 9 men, 2 players, Danny Cullip and Sammy Clingan seeing red and therefore also missing today game. Their last home defeat was to the lowly boys from Brisbane Rd, Leyton Orient in a 1-3 reverse in the middle of December with our very own on-loan striker James Walker playing up front.

We've only met Forest once before in the Cup back in our Play-Off year of 1998 and finished 4-1 home winners with four of our all-time favorites Robinson, Brown, Leaburn and Mendonca being on the score-sheet. That was the year, of course, that saw Forest go back to the Premiership as Champions. Like ourselves they only lasted one year but unlike ourselves have been in free-fall since then.

The team that Pards will put out today will be without Scott Carson after Liverpool requested he not be "cup-tied" just in case they reach the final and the injuries keeping out Darren Bent, Andy Reid, Luke Young and HH. Away from home defence will come first and with Sankofa suspended it'll be either the Elk or Kish at right-back with 2 from three of Elk, Diawara and Fortune at centre-back. Traore will continue at left-back, hoping to stay clear of giving away free-kicks and penalties.

With Pards liking a 4-4-2 formation, Rommedahl looks certain to start out wide while the midfield will surely see cup expert Hughes alongside 3rd choice captain Holland with either Ambrose or Faye making up the four. With Zheng Zhi arriving next week and with Simon Walton back from Ipswich the midfield is starting to look a bit more promising while, in contrast, up front will be our only two fit strokers, Marcus Bent and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink.

Mr "Lets Move On" sees a 1-1 draw so its up to the team to show him the drastic error of his ways and see out the game as 2-1 winners. Roll on the Fourth Round.

Tough Man Zheng Zhi

So its Transfer Window Time and the promised wheeling and dealing has already started with the arrival of the Chinese captain Zheng Zhi. He was last here in October with Les Reed for a couple of days training and he's now been signed for a reported 300,000 squids ( in the Chinese press) till the end of the season.

There's been very little comment on the signing but it seems part of the current drive to bring in players with character and leadership skills. Hearts captain Steven Pressley decided not to come but the theme continues with the reported talks with old boy and Russian captain Alexi Smertin on a return to the Addicks.

Of Chinese star, Zheng Zhi, not a lot is known but it would appear that he's a bit of a tough nut in the same mould as Andy Todd. He managed to get himself sent off against Malaysia, and so was suspended for China's ultimately disastrous make-or-break Germany 2006 qualifier with Kuwait, but his more famous moment happened just before last year's World Cup in a friendly against France. Early on in the game he became notorious as the man whose tackle broke French striker Djibril Cisse's leg and therefore kept him out of the subsequent competition. Several video nasties on the web show the tackle in all its glory.

He's also received a six month ban in December 2005 for spitting at a match official during an Asian Champions League quarter-final tie with Al Ittihad.

But if its confidence in a player that you want Zheng Zhi's your man. He's been recently quoted as saying "I won't deny I'm the best footballer in China, but it's only in China," said Zheng, "At the moment the most important thing for me is to keep my feet in the Premier League first."

Variously defined as an attacking midfielder, it was therefore something of a surprise when, then China coach, Arie Haan chose to use him as a central defender. Zheng Zhi explains, "He watched me play when he first arrived and thought I was the sort of player he needed in the back-line. But he also noticed I was able to move the ball forward quickly and so I was often pushed up front at the latter stages of matches to help break the deadlock."

When asked in a recent interview "Which position do you prefer to play?", he relied "I believe I can play in more than one position but because of my physique I prefer midfield. I'm not that tall and not that strong but I'm fast and can dribble, qualities usually associated with midfielders".

We await his arrival with bated breath.

The Arse 4 Charlton 0

Whats the matter? Did you think the exciting game of catch-up was starting to look a bit of a cake-walk. New Manager, passion re-ignited, turned the corner and all that. No, no, get a grip, this year's determined to be endless roller-coaster ride so you better make the most of it.

And the papers this morning bring little New Year cheer, I'm afraid. Most of them point out that we have no chance whatsoever now that Darren Bent is injured and then go on and on about the returning French geezer. Best to start with the independent which can usually be relied upon to give us something to lift us up and in their report they do just that with a "Despite the scoreline it was no capitulation from Charlton."

The beeb is its usual unemotional self but does see the sending-off incident as "harshly dismissed" and thought that it happened just "as Charlton began to get more of a footing in the game".

There's not a lot of sympathy from the telegraph which pays more attention to the two managers than the football.

And if its consolation that you need you wouldn't find it in the upmarketmurdoch either. Here they wheel out the old "woeful" again, as if they are incapable of finding another adjective that rhythms or even begins with the same letter as Charlton and they also add the rather obvious comment that we need more than a Pards to turn us around.

The dailymail at least recognises there were other players on the park apart from Henry somebody and sees Scott Carsons giving an "excellent display" with "brilliant relex saves". And it seems that History has been made by an Englishman at last scoring for The Arse - although its been so long that several of the papers cannot agree when it last happened.

As for the guardian, its probably best avoided as it simply goes on and on ad nauseam about the Frenchman until you feel like throwing up.

Seems to me that the only answer Wenger had to the arrival of his old mate Pards and the Addicks was to usher back his captain before he was fit after 5 weeks in the stands. The last encounter with our new boss cost him 10 Big Ones and he was obviously determined to get his own back.

The Addicks: Carson; Sankofa, El Karkouri, Diawara, Traore; Rommedahl, Holland, Faye (Kishishev 77), Hughes (Fortune 33), Ambrose (Thomas 63); M Bent.

Subs (not used): Myhre, Hasselbaink.
Booked: Diawara 32 (foul on van Persie)
Sent off: Sankofa 29 (foul on van Persie)

22 of 38 - Arsenal (away)

The first game of a New Year sees us up against our former neighbours Arsenal who departed over the water in 1913 as they were so embarrassed at being relegated to the Second Division. Reluctant to rename themselves Holloway they followed the bellicose mood of the time, kept the Arsenal bit and got rid of the Woolwich just as the Great War was kicking off. They remain one of only two clubs in the Football League not named after a place ( Port Vale are the others) but have now become the only one to name their stadium after a country, or is it supposed to be an airline?

Back down to earth, however, is our new Manager, who, apart from protecting his unbeaten run with the Addicks is also planning his first Double of the season after getting his win bonus over the Gunners on Guy Fawkes night with a very late Harewood strike. That night there was a bit of a bust-up between the two as Pards seemed to enjoy winning a bit too much for Arsene liking but he's not too concerned about meeting Wenger again and assures everyone that he'll shake hands before the game. He's also famous for having the curse over the Arse, seems they have never beaten him and reading the previews he certainly seems to be looking forward to the challenge.

I was too, until I read Wyns Page where he tells us that not only is Adebayor fit again but that Darren Bent is OUT FOR SIX WEEKS with an ankle injury.....

History

-----------

Remember Nov 4th 2001!

Who doesn't! But the truth is we've only beaten this lot 9 times in exactly 50 games so wins are as valuable as gold dust. Dig that dirt, Pards.

The Opponents
----------------------
Unbeaten in their new Ground!
The last time the Arse played at home they scored 6 against Blackburn and they've enjoyed four symmetrical 3-0 wins over Spurs, Liverpool, Watford and Sheffield! But even though they've enjoyed those 5 wins at home there are another 5 teams, namely Pompey, Newcastle, Everton, Middlesbro' and Villa all of whom came away with a draw.

Perhaps it can be explained by the fact that The Arse, like Sheffield Utd, do start badly and of the 10 home games played, they've been losing at half-time on 4 occasions but then subsequently recovered. In fact the Arse are the best 2nd-half team in the Premiership and have scored a massive 16 times in the 2nd half at the Oilfields stadium. So obviously Plan A will be long balls to Darren, snatch an early lead and then defend like crazy.

The good news from the Arsenal camp, of course, is that that french geezer will still be missing and to add to Wengers Woes he's not the only one. Also missing through injury are: Theo Walcott, Alexander Hleb, Emmanuel Eboue, Emmanuel Adebayor (?), Abou Diaby, William Gallas, Johan Djourou and Freddie Ljungberg....


The Addicks

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Same Again?
Its very possible that Pards will field the same team that beat Villa on Saturday. He's not got a lot to play with. With the experience of having put one over Wenger already this season he will know what to go with. Sadly it does seem that its the physical that will upset Arsenal and that doesn't really apply to us, does it.

Once again they'll be no Reid, Faye or Young although the Beeb seems to think that all three are back in training and although Ossie Sankofa is gaining in confidence at right-back its in the midfield that we will need to hold the Gunners.

Will Pards cram the middle of the park, as many Arsenal fans predict, with the likes of Kish, Hughes and Holland or will he favour putting out two wingers to scare Arsene? Seems like a toss-up between Kish or Hughes to be honest and the rest should be the same as on Saturday.

Before we end there's a bit of a review of Pards' Tactics against Villa in the guardian to get everyone in the mood of what to expect.

Predictions

---------------

Of course predictable "Mr Lets Move On" sees an easy 2-0 home win because, of course, in his opinion we are a load of crap. But for me its a different story with a fighting 3-2 to the Arse, I'm afraid, with a stunning 2-0 half-time lead lost in the second 45 as they turn the screw.

Charlton 2 Villa 1

So its little old Hughsey to the rescue as the Addicks at last grab 3 vital points. The midfielder came on at half-time for the flagging Kish and bravely got in front of keeper Gabor Kiraly in the last minute to head the Charlton winner from a HH knock-down and rightly brought the house down.

All this after falling behind to what many saw as a debatable penalty given against HH in the 40th min for a sliding tackle on Barry somebody. After sterling words from Pards over half-time tea, many mans' player of the game Elk provided the break-through when he lifted a long punt onto Darren Bents head in the 57th min for Darren to score the equaliser with his 10th goal of the season.

As for the papers, after last weeks inept, appalling and relegation fodder we can now read such words as "tower in defence, sterling midfield work, enterprising" in the independent. Amazing what a new Manager can do. More good stuff from the Observer who made Darren Ambrose Man-of-Match with "a purposeful display".

If you are desperate to see how everyone performed then take a look at the points per player in Wyn Grant and he gives MOM to the the Elk.

The telegraph calls us "sharp", tells us Jimmy-F hugged the ref at the end and also gives M0M to Talal El Karkouri. The dailymail provides rather a emotional report entitled Lifeline of Bryan and reckons "that Pardew is likely to remain Manager so for several more weeks at least"

The times appears still to be sleeping off the excitement while there's lots of quotes and stats from the sportinglife including apparent digs at his former employers by our Pards.

Meanwhile the bbc's a bit bland ( probably written by "Mr Lets Move On" ) but gives a couple of quotes.


The Addicks: Carson, Sankofa, Hreidarsson, El Karkouri, Traore, Ambrose, Kishishev (Hughes 46), Holland, Rommedahl (Thomas 83), Marcus Bent (Hasselbaink 80), Darren Bent.

Subs Not Used: Myhre, Fortune.
Booked: El Karkouri, Sankofa.
Goals: Darren Bent 57, Hughes 90.

21 of 38 - Aston Villa (home)

After the appalling refereeing error on Wednesday nothing short of a victory against Aston Villa can be contemplated. We need 3 points from every Home Game starting today.

And as against Blackburn in early December we meet a team that are badly out of form. Plagued by injuries that are effecting their small squad, Villa are currently bottom of the "current league table" with only 2 away draws against Portsmouth and Sheffield to show from their last 6 games. They have now gone 8 games without a win but before everyone gets too excited it has to be pointed out that their away record is still impressive with only 2 defeats in their 10 away games. Althought seven of these games have been draws it remains worrying that 2 of these were at The Arse and Chelsea.

For the Addicks, we'll still be without the influential but hamstrung Andy Reid, Amady Faye with his ankle problem and Luke Young's dodgey knee ligaments while Jerry Thomas looks unlikely as well due to a virus. Presumably the defence will remain as per Wednesday night so the only expected change will probably see Rommedahl starting on the right with Ambrose moving to the left, although the return of Hughes is a distinct possibility as he definitely made less mistakes than Ambrose. The two Bents seem to be getting to understand each other at last and with no other alternative they'll be up front. The midfield will consist of the willing Kish and Matt Holland.

To improve our mood a bit, Wyn has spotted an article in the Times that reminds us that Pompey only had 14 points this time last year and due to Harry's shrewd buying in January managed to survive the drop. Something everyone else seems to have forgotten.

And if the team needs any more encouragement the good news is that "Mr Lets Move On" predicts another 1-1 draw. We should be printing his predictions on the Dressing Room Door to encourage the players to shove his words back down his throat and get another "wrong" result.

The Result? A 2-0 Home Win.........................

18 of 38 - Liverpool (home)

I'll start with the amazing and shocking news hot from the BBC Sports Desk that Mr Lawro seems to think that "looking at the Addicks from outside they seem to be everyone's favourites to get relegated."

Well, stone a crows. How does he come to that conclusion? Must be reading them Addicks Blogs I reckon.

Anyway, back to the game of football with the visit of Liverpool on Saturday. For a Champions League winning team like Liverpool, their away record in the Premiership this season has been nothing short of appalling, with only 1 win and 2 draws against 5 defeats in their 8 matches. Their results have been Sheffield Utd 1-1, Everton 0-3, Chelski 0-1, Bolton 0-2, Manure 0-2, The Arse 0-3, Middlesbr' 0-0. Of course the very bad news is that in their very last away game they managed to turn everything around and beat the pants off Wigan to the tune of 4-0. Before that they'd only managed to score 1 goal in 7 matches, then they get 4 all at once. And we're next!

Of course the Addicks at home are a different keetle of fish to them Wigan Pier folk. The Addicks take note are currently 1 of only 6 teams that have not been losing at home at half-time. Amazing. The poor old Arse have been losing 3 times at 45 minutes, Sheffield U 4 times and Middlesbro 5 times. Those poor old Middlesbro fans have only seen 1 goal at home in the first half in 9 games - No wonder they stay at home! And the Addicks have only conceded 1 goal in the first half at home, only 1 team, Man. City can beat that.

Another thing we're good at is scoring in stoppage time. We've done it twice - no other club in Premiership goals has beaten that this season. So you says we give up.

And if you believe in fairies and good omens, last seasons 3-1 defeat at Spurs back in February was followed 3 days later by a 2-0 win over none-other than Liverpool at the Valley.

History

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Three Wins out of Last Four

As for the past years we are 9 wins down with Liverpool having won 28 of the games between us and the Addicks only 19 with 13 draws.

But just recently, much like White Hot Lane!, we havn't done too bad. It doesn't do any harm to reministe on recent games, so to recap, we won last years game 2-0 with goals from Darren Bent and Luke Young in the last 3 minutes before half-time. A reverse the previous year of 2-1 after leading 1-0 at half-time through Shaun Bartlett and of course the previous year 2003 was Lisbie's day with his hat-trick in a 3-2 win. A 2-0 win was ours in 2002 as well. In 2001 we lost 2-0 ( but recovered to win 4-2 at Highbury the following week). And the previous season to that is also best forgotten with a 4-0 beating leading to Liverpool capturing the final Champions League spot.

So this century, in the 6 games played at the Valley we've won 3 and lost 3 with our three wins coming in the last 4 years. In total at the Valley is very close with the Addicks having 13 wins, Liverpool 12 and 2 draws.

The Opponents
----------------------
Only One Away Victory
Top goalscorer is Dirk Kuyt with 6 goals then Craig Bellamy with 3. And surprisingly for someone so cautious as Rafa they certainly have plenty of people who can score goals with 11 different scorers of their 23 goals in the Premiership. Shows you what lots of money can do.

The Addicks

---------------
Same Team?

There's no news on the injuries to Kish and Reid last Saturday so we can only keep our fingers crossed that at least Reid makes it. Our best player for the last 4 or 5 games, he has been the only creative spark this season. Kish had a good game for a hour at the weekend and if fit will surely make the squad. Although he'll want to return, its probably too early for Traore to return.

As for the rest, and casing a quick look at the bareness of the bench, its clearly more than possible that Lou will put out the same team, if he can.

Carson, Young, El Karkouri, Diawara, Hreidarsson; Kish, Faye, Hughes, Reid; Sam, D Bent.

Subs: Myhre, Fortune, Rommedahl, Holland and Hasselbaink.



Predictions

---------------
Home Win
Mr Lawro sees a 0-3 away win and of course he's always right as far as we're concerned. But for me its a 1-0 Home Victory against all the odds.

Total Support!

There's a lot of talk these days about the Addicks needing to prepare for the Championship. Its all going wrong they argue, irretrievable mistakes have been made, it's getting too late to save ourselves, nothing can be done, be sensible and face the facts we just ain't good enough. Plan Now for Relegation.

So it therefore follows that there's lots of suggestions and helpful hints on how we should handle the situation and plan for the worst. First and foremost seems to be the suggestion that we should cash in now on our biggest asset - Darren Bent.Now I'm not saying that that may not be a bad idea in a business sense but business sense is a quality I expect from the Board.

And if its a one-to-one in a pub I wouldn't mind but here we are broadcasting to the world ( well, OK a couple of dozen ) lots of negative views and it doesn't feel right. It implies one thing - Giving Up.

At this point I must admit to believing a lot in what the Seneca, the famous Roman Stoic had to say. Being a Stoic is defined in the dictionary as "a person who can endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining." To come to believe in that he must have a supporter of a former version of the Addicks. He understood that life was difficult sometimes and there were always things that you couldn't change and therefore it was best to accept them without making a fuss.

But he never talked about Giving Up, quite the opposite.

And the reasoning for all these arguments is not fair. Number One Rule is that we demand that the man in charge never gives up. He's always got to be there encouraging the team, trying to get the best out of them and always demanding Passion and Committment in every game. You can argue that the players are not good enough and he or somebody else shouldn't have employed them in the first place but that's irrelevant. Today that's what he's got.

But it seems that on the other hand the fans can just give up. This is hopeless, we're never going to survive, we're going down.

The main problem with airing all those thoughts is that we are in the business, not only of playing football, but of winning. Its a business of success. There's no border line. Score more than the others and you win, pure and simple. You can be crude and play like Wimbledon and Sheffield Utd or you can try to play pretty. But it doesn't matter really as long as you win. Failure to win and you go down.

And, of course, as everyone will know when they play any game against someone else be it a game of football or cricket, or even Monoploy, its not only your ability and experience that matters, its also your Confidence. Confidence and belief can win almost anything and can make up for any deficiency in skills ( just look at Sheffield ) and here we are being negative and basically giving-up and undermining the efforts of the management in trying to build up belief that we can get out of this by talking about accepting defeat and its not even Christmas yet.

Now call me simple but I've always believed that the supporters main function is to get behind the team and support them. That's it first and foremost. Reed wants to build up belief in a Fortress Valley and its part of the fans job to make it so.

So make no mistake, and my apologies to all the unfortunate people in the world who have suffer a Real War, but for the Addicks this is a war and every game is now a battle. And any defeatist talk is Out, ask Churchill. The thing that's needed now from us is - Total Support!

Superman Flies to the Rescue, Supposedly...

I'm sure there's not many people out there that bother reading the Guardian's "Clogger" section in the football pages. Its full of silly pictures, an on-going conversation between Pardew and Boothroyd ( which I suppose will now thankfully end ) and other meaningless paragraphs that appear to have wandered over from Private Eye.

So I suppose I shouldn't pass on what is probably either a complete load of nonsense or one of their little jokes about little old Charlton, that yesterday they had one tiny paragraph headed "Money Man Li Ka-shing - Charlton Athletic."

The "report" reads: "The worlds 10th richest human - one place higher than Roman Abramovich - has made a fortune out of electricity so should be able to create another shock by giving a struggling side the power to surge up the table. Should know when to pull the plug."

And that's it, no further explanation is given. Its not April 1st and I can find no other mention in any other paper so I don't know what they mean. But before we throw the story into the rubbish I can tell you that Li Ka-shing is from Hong Kong, is 72 and is called Superman.

And to prove that the report is best ignored, Li Ka-shing is not Mr Electric as stated but is into Ports, Phones and Oil with a few flowers thrown in. His conglomerate, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, is the world's largest independent port operator, with facilities everywhere from China to Panama to Britain. He has control of Canada's Husky Energy Inc. and has gained from rising oil prices. His decision to sell his stake in the British telecom company Orange PLC in late 1999 sparked a rush into European telecoms. By the time the dealmaking was complete in February, Li and other Hutchison shareholders had netted a $22 billion profit.

Like all good Chinese businessmen, Li, was a refugee from China who started out selling plastic flowers in the 1950s. The very bad news is that he is a renowned and cold-blooded asset swapper. After a hard-won battle for a German telecom license, Li backed out of the deal in August, saying it was too costly. Since then, telecom stocks around the world have tumbled.

Apparently his ability to sniff out good deals and walk away from bad ones has made Hutchison one of Hong Kong's largest companies. He won't think much of the Addicks then.

Monday Medicine - Part 17 of a Continuing Series

"General lethargy and waywardness" , "shockingly naive " and "the manner in which they crumbled was disturbing".

As we seem to spent most of our time trying different ways of cheering ourselves up especially on a Monday morning, my eye wandered to the state of our fellow strugglers in the Premiership. So you'll be gladdened, if that's the word, to read that the descriptions above not only referred to the Addicks but were also to be found in reports on West Ham and Fulham performances last weekend. In the Guardian, West Ham were termed lethargic and naive whilst losing 4-0 at Wigan while Fulham visibly crumbled losing by the same score at Anfield. And its more of the same in other papers, with the Independent telling us that Fulham's "strength, structure and spirit disintegrated".

Not surprisingly, these are the only teams below us on current form, West Ham with only 3 points from the last 18 while Fulham, like ourselves and Blackburn only have 4 to show from their last 6 games. West Ham's problems seem the greater though and stem from takeover talk affecting the players and injuries changing the lineup and don't look like improving with the visit of Manure to Upton Park on Saturday. They have now lost 5 out of the last 6 games, scoring but one goal in the process, and are also the only team to have suffered more Premiership defeats this season, 11, than the Addicks.

Blackburn are also struggling at the moment with another player sent-off on Saturday and they comfortably lead the Bad-Boys table with 4 reds and 36 yellows and more importantly have only won 1 of their last 9 games. And they too face a tough Christmas with Reading, Arsenal, Liverpool and Wigan next on their shopping-for-points list.

Elsewhere around the country there's a little bit of feative cheer as well. The Independent continues to do its best with little jokes and tell us that "The only threat posed by Middlesbrough's forwards on Saturday was to future Riverside gate receipts." But then reminds us that their forthcoming match on December 23rd against the Addicks is crucial to their season. That makes two of us..

And although the reports on Everton 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth remind us that we really should have beaten them two weeks ago it does at least tell us that other strikers apart from ours are also finding trouble scoring, "Andy Johnson's prolific spell is but a distant memory. He has not scored for 11 games."

Spurs 5 (FIVE) Charlton 1

"Hi, Doc."

"Hello Nelson. Whats the problem today?"

"Well, Doc, I'm getting these violent mood swings that I don't understand. One minute I'm up in the clouds, on top of the world, and the next I'm down in the gutter with my chin on the ground. What can you do?"

"Well, I think I know what it is. I've seen several people this very morning with the same symptoms. Its a new affliction that I'm terming CRAP - Cronic Recurring Addick Syndrome."

"But that would be CRAS."

"Yes, I know, but they all come in there mumbling 'its crap', 'its crap'."

"But do you know what causes it?"

"I think its caused by too much dependence on a single thing, in this case something called addicks. Don't know what they are, some new video game I suppose, but everyone comes in here on a Monday morning complaining about them. You need to get out more at weekends, get a life, go out for a walk in the country. No more scanning Teletext every minute on a Saturday afternoon, desperately hoping that things will change."

"But can you do anything for it?"

"Well, there's no magic formulaes, no 442 or 4312, although there's hope around Christmas, of course, January always appears to give people hope, something to do with the Sales I think."

"Can't you give me some pills, or something?"

"No, there's no pills that will solve this problem. It comes from somewhere deep in peoples psyche due to bad upbringing, lack of proper parental guidence. However, people seem to pick up a bit when I offer them one of my red and white smarties."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And if there's anyone out there with the CRAP who has the stomach for it the papers can explain everything. "Early sharpness" but then "woefully ragged capitulation" in the independent while the dailysnail calls it a "turkey shoot". The times seems strangely to have a hang-up with Rommerdahl and Dowie's dismissal while the observer simply calls it an "humiliation" and points out that Andy Reid was again our best player. The telegraph tells it like it is and calls us a "shambles" but then makes the "amazing reflection that for a third of the afternoon Spurs had been even worse than Charlton....."

The sportinglife report doesn't say much but the stats kindly supplied point out that we had earned more yellow cards that had shots on target. Says it all really.

Charlton: Carson; Young, Hreidarsson, El Karkouri, Diawara; Kishishev (Rommedahl 53), Faye, Hughes, Reid (Hasselbaink 67); Sam, D Bent.
Subs (not used): Myhre, Fortune, Holland.
Goals: Dawson og 42
Booked: Hughes 12 (foul on Lennon), Sam 86 (foul on Stalteri), Diawara 88 (foul on Lennon)

17 of 38 - Spurs (away)

This week we can offer two contrasting views of the game between Spurs and Charlton Athletic tomorrow.

First a look at the fixture from the point of view of one of them Spurs fans.

Yeh, well tomorrow we've got them fishcakes that call themselves the addicks. As you all know they're hopeless away from their little home down in SE7. Twenty-Two (22) games on the road without so much as a single win and only 5 points out of a possible Sixty-Six to show for it. What a useless bunch and with stupid fans too, for it seems they are so determined to suffer even more that over a 1000 of 'em have brought tickets to see another rout at the Lane. Nothing stranger than folk, apparently a 1-0 demolition of Blackburn makes them think they're gonna come here and win.

Well, hell'll freeze over first, I reckon. After our 8th (8) home win in a row over Middlesbrough on Tuesday, we can't wait to make it nine with a thumping 3-0 victory. Injuries to Keane and JJ and no Zokora don't worry us, 'cause we've got more than enough quality to make mincemeat of 'em. We'll wheel out Spud for a game just to show 'em what they're missing and old Edgar Davids will give us the bite to stop 'em getting uppity.

=============================================

The Addicks Viewpoint

------------------------------

Eight Straight Wins
In their home games Spurs started the season with an easy home win 2-0 over Premiership new boys Sheffield United back in August but then suffered a surprising reverse by the same score to Everton. This proved a minor set-back however as a goalless draw with Fulham followed, then 2-1 win over Pompey just as they were starting to lose games, a 1-0 win over West Ham followed and then the priceless 2-1 win over Chelsea for the first time in donkeys. ( please note: this was followed by a 3-1 reverse away at Reading ), then a 3-1 win over Wigan and finally another win, 2-1 over Middlesbrough. So 8 Premiership games at home, 6 wins, a draw and only that 1 defeat by Everton......

Also to be added to the list in are a couple of home UEFA Cup victories over Slavia Prague 1-0 and Club Brugge 3-1 and also a win over Port Vale 3-1 in the LC 4th round. So in total their record now starts at 8 home wins in a row....

They are currently 6th in the Form Table over the last 6 games with those three consecutive home victories. In fact they're the only team in the top 15 not to have won an away game, so it shows how important is their home form.

The last time the Addicks enjoyed back-to-back wins was back on 24th Sept 2005 with the 2-1 win at West Bromwich. Our last away win followed a month later at Pompey in October, now 22 games ago... But although we are without an away win so are 4 other teams and we can score away from home. There are 7 teams that have scored less than the Addicks on their travels. Our problem is that although we have had 4 clean-sheets at home, we've got only 1, at Newcastle, away from the Valley.

The History
-----------------

Only 1 defeat in last 7 at the Lane
Just to put the match into some perspective, our recent record against Spurs at the Lane is very good. In the 7 games played since our promotion in 1998 we have won 3, drawn 3 and lost only one, the lastest, last February. Overall at White Hart Lane its not bad either with Spurs having 11 wins, Charlton 8, and draws 5. In fact of all the 48 games between us they've beaten us more times at the Valley than at home. Overall totals are: Spurs 23 wins, Charlton 16, draws 9.

Last season's game saw a 3-1 win for Spurs who were 3-0 up after 46 minutes and then relaxed enough for us to bring on Jerry Thomas who scored our consolation goal. Two years ago, of course, we enjoyed one of best away days with a 3-2 win after being 3 goals up in 50 minutes. Then three years back we also won 1-0 with a Carlton Cole goal.

In December 2002 we were again 2 goals up but two goals in the last 20 minutes from Spurs meant the game finished 2-2. And in the 2001/o2 season we finished up 1-0 winners with the goal coming from the knee of none other than Chrissie Powell. And the season before that it finished a goalless draw. Even in our relegation season in 98/99 we managed a 2-2 draw with both goals coming from Andy Hunt.

The Opposition
------------------------------

Top goalscorers in the Premiership for Spurs are Kish's Bulgarian teammate, Dimitar Berbatov and the charming Jermaine Defoe with 3 Premiership goals apiece but Berbatov has plundered another 4 in other competitions to head the list with 7. Last Tuesday their midfield was Lennon, Zokora, Huddlestone and Malbranque with Spud getting on for a minutes running around at the end. Unfortunately their version of Makelele, Ivory Coast player Zokora was red-carded and will therefore be missing from Saturdays game.

Other problems for Spurs are the injuries to Keane and Jenas. Keane has a medial ligament strain and will be out for five to six weeks. Jenas took a blow to his ankle against the Arse and he'll probably be out for four weeks.

Of course, a worst case scenario would see Spud Murphy curling in a free-kick from another Faye foul and Defoe tapping in a Lennon cross while standing off-side.

The Addicks
------------------------------

Will Reed keep the team that did so well on Tuesday? It seems highly probable with the only questions being, did Kish, Hughes and Sam do enough to retain their places? With the team selection settling down at last its quite possible that the same team will face Spurs although Diawara will return due to Traore's hamstring keeping him out of the game.

So: Carson; Young, El Karkouri, Diawara, Hreidarsson, Kish, Faye, Hughes, Reid, Sam and D Bent.

Subs: Myhre, Rommedahl, Holland, Fortune, Marcus Bent.


Predictions
------------------------------

To recap then, Spurs have won their last 8 games in all competitions at White Hart lane. The Addicks have gone 22 away games without a win and 14 months since back-to-back victories. So it doesn't take a genius to predict the result in such circumstances and if Mr Lawro was not on an apparent holiday, he'd lead the way and have it down as a definite Home Banker.

After their 8 wins in a row, Spurs home confidence will be difficult to overturn, so knowing the Addicks as we all do, we'll probably revert to our normal form. It wouldn't be a 3-0 defeat as our over-the-water friend foresees but a fighting 2-1 loss. But then so obvious a home banker is just asking for someone to have a little bet, at 11/2 apparently, and it makes you wonder if we can get something out of it. Come on, you Addicks.

The Valley Exploded!

Can any other phase do justice to Tuesday night? Seconds from the end of Added Time, El Karkouri dramatically curls a 22 yard free-kick into the bottom corner to snatch possibly the most valuable 3 points the Addicks have ever earned. Its a first win for Les Reed after 4 games and it takes us off the bottom for the first time since September.

Forget the importance of the win, savour the moment for this is what it feels like to be a Charlton fan. After the appalling stomach-renching heartache of Saturday comes the absolute euphoria of a Tuesday night. Can anybody else serve-up such a roller-coaster ride? You may not enjoy it all the time but hell this is sport, this is how it's supposed to be.

I said a few weeks ago that I was felt sad for Manure fans and now doubly so. All they ever do is win for Gods sake.

And if its heroes that you want, step forward the Elk, Talal El Karkouri, our man from Casablanca, who we all thought, Mr Curbs included, wasn't good enough. That his 4 goals in a month back in Dec 2004/Jan 2005 was a fluke never to be repeated. It takes a brave man to stand up in such circumstances, in a game that had to be won and with seconds left push aside our very own Puskas and then have the coolness to curl the ball around a wall of defenders.

And Les Reed? Already taking stick after only 3 games for his team selection, choice of formation and substititions, and being accused of being too cautious by many. He also showed his metal by dropping Rommerdahl, Ambrose and Holland and in came Kish and Hughes and Lloyd Sam was handed his first Premiership start.

Perhaps we were forgetting that stressful times produces heroes and people with the stomach for hardship. And for all those still harping on about Monica, who do they think was responsible for grabbing Scotty Carson, finding Diawara, persuading Traore and Faye to come and turning Andy Reid into a midfielder? Probably the very same people who have now brought back none other than the old war-horse, Mark Kinsella, to the fold. Boot Room or what?

And after all the euphoria on Tuesday perhaps Les's most apt remark was "You don't like the pupil putting one over the teacher," he said.

The papers were also full of our spirit and good football, with "commendable spirit" and "enthusiasm" from the independent while the always pessimistic guardian calls the win deserved but refers to a series of glaring misses. Yes, that happens in football.

But the telegraph doesn't go overboard either, pointing out that we had "aggression and sporadic penetration but there were still so many sloppy mistakes", although they don't elaborate. But they do again give Andy Reid the man-of-the-match award. And a rather bland report from the times says we deserved victory over a weak Blackburn.

We said we wanted Passion last night and the sportinglife says we got it and talks about our "fierce endeavours" and "plucky showing".

So what better adjectives can you ask for in a team at Rock Bottom - Spirit, Enthusiam, Plucky, Fierce, Aggressive. But can we carry it forward to White Hot Lane on Saturday?

Charlton: Carson; Young, Traore (Diawara 26), Hreidarsson, El Karkouri; Kishishev (Holland 89), Faye, Hughes, Reid; Sam ( M Bent 72), D Bent.
Subs (not used): Myhre, Rommedahl.
Goals: El Karkouri 90
Booking: Hughes 33 (foul on Pedersen).

16 of 38 - Blackburn (home)

So with only 4 games to go until the half-way mark, the Premier League boys have given us a present at last. After a tough fixture list that set the tone for the campaign they have decided to give us a Home Fixture on our Birthday. Thanks guys, we appreciate that.

For as you all know, today's the 14th Anniversary of the day when we finally returned to the Valley, and to emphasize how important its been to Charlton, we have never lost on this day since then. After Colin Walsh's goal against Pompey in 1992 we've then won at both Millwall and Stamford Bridge on a day never to be forgotten.

We all know that today is a Big Game - when you're at Rock Bottom they all are. But to provide us with a glimmer of hope that our run will continue let's remind you that we haven't lost at home since Sept 30th in a narrow 2-1 defeat to Arsenal. Plus the all-important fact that Blackburn are currently bottom of the table on form over the last 6 games, having only got 1 win, 1 draw and 4 defeats in their last 6 games. And they haven't scored away from home since 29th October at West Ham where David Bentley got a last minute consolation in a 2-1 defeat.

Looking at their away games, Blackburn started the season badly with a 3-0 defeat at Portsmouth, followed by a 0-0 at Sheffield, a 1-0 win at Middlesbro' and a 1-1 draw at Liverpool. A 2-1 defeat at West Ham followed and then a 2-0 defeat at Villa. So only 3 goals scored away from home in 6 games and only a single victory.

Maybe their participation in the UEFA Cup is affecting their league form for in Europe they have fared much better beating SV Red Bull Salzburg in the first round 2-0 at home after drawing 2-2 away. In the Group stage they have drew away from home with Feyenoord 0-0 and beaten Wisla Krakow 2-1.

History

We've played Blackburn 58 times with total of Charlton 20 wins, Blackburn 25, draws 13. But at home we are in front with Charlton 15 wins, Blackburn 9, draws 5.

The Opponents
Blackburn are a bit of multi-national outfit with long strange names, and out of 29 players they only have 6 Englishman - the Addicks in comparison have 13 out of 32.

Top goalscorer is the well-travelled South African Benni McCarthy with 4 Premiership goals and David Bentley with 2. Four others have got a goal each. And if you thought that Sheffield was physical, let me point out that only one team has collected more yellow cards - 33 - than Blackburn and they've also have 3 players sent-off. Watch out for the infamous Robbie Savage and someone going by the name of Zurab Khizanishvili who both have 5 yellows each. The Addicks bad boys are, of course, HH ( who probably will be on bench for the first time for a long while ) and Faye with 4.

They have our old boy Francis Jeffers who's only started 3 games in the Premiership, no surprise there then. Let's hope he stays well away, can't stand the thought of that little upstart scoring against us. And of course, old favorite Andy Todd is still at Ewood Park but has only started twice this season. They've also got the other Reid, Steven, that plays alongside Andy for the Irish.

The Addicks

The defence will be reinforced by the return of Diawara, gloves and all, adding a bit of class to the defence. But today we don't really need class, today is about Heart and Passion. The Team? Choose the eleven players that are going to fight for it. Show them the Table and get them angry, these players shouldn't be down there. We want, we demand, Passion tonight. The same fight and determination that we showed against Everton in the Second Half. And Les, as soon as anyone drops their head, get 'em off....

So Carson, Young, El Karkouri, Diawara, Traore, Rommerdahl, Faye, Reid, Holland, Darren Bent, Marcus Bent.

Predictions

Whatever the result tonight we can only take heart from the standard of football that was displayed last night in the match between Man. City and Watford. Neither team could string 2 passes together, it was over a hour before I saw a shoot on goal and skill was non-evident. There was passion, however, shown by Watford, something we can only dream of.

Anyway back to tonight, one good thing about todays game is that Mr Lawro will not be giving an opinion. For me its either a shock 2-1 win to the Addicks or a 3-1 misery for Blackburn - you choose, I really can't decide......

Maximise the Opportunity

There's me thinking that there was not a lot for anyone to say after Saturday's numbing defeat at the hands of fellow "strugglers" Sheffield. Well, seems I was wrong as Les had plenty to say.

And if you're looking for a pick-me-up, by far the most encouraging thing was that he, and apparently the players "are all quite pleased we can go straight into the game with Blackburn on Tuesday and not have a week of pondering about what went wrong today." And there's most of the fans wondering what else they can do on Tuesday night to avoid the Valley....

Obviously tired of explaining away frequent flucks and wonder-goals as the reason for our constant defeats, he's now putting it down to a "a certain lack of confidence but that's because of the position we are in in the league. Our away record is bad but that's not necessarily been this team and these players."

And Monica's obviously been giving him lessions in manager-speak as Les looks forward to the coming month, "We have four games at home coming up and we'll be looking to maximise that opportunity. "

He did, however, slightly spoil his copybook by adding "We have a lot of creative players who like to get the ball down and play." I wonder who that is then.

In his defence, however, it has to explained that being bottom of the League and worst of the bunch is an obvious way of losing confidence and looking at the last 5 goals we have conceded we've not had a lot of luck, 2 have come from unmarked headers from a cross and a corner (mark the buggers!), 1 was set-up from a deflection over a defenders head, 1 was an own-goal deflection from a header and the other "a breathtaking/stunning volley".

And, at the moment, we're not getting walloped - a year ago today remember we were hammered 5-2 at home by Man. City. (Lets hope tomorrow doesn't see a repeat!) But, having said that, we have now conceded the most goals - 23 - in the Premiership (along with Fulham), have the worst goal-difference, now -12, and if Les is looking at home games to save us, it should be pointed out that we have scored less goals at home than anyone else, a meagre 5 in the 7 games. Hope springs eternal, I suppose.....

Sheffield United 2 Charlton 1

Haven't been here for a while, in fact I can't even remember when I was last here. Maybe in the dark days of 1987 or was it 1988? Its dark, miserable and depressing and not very pleasant. I'd ask someone to put on the light and give us something to see but down here as you know nothing works. I thought we have got here a couple of weeks ago but I was wrong - that was only a mere stopping point for there was a lot further to fall - and back then I really thought that things couldn't get any worse, well, they just did. For this is it, this is Rock Bottom.

And its difficult to know what to say. I expect Les or Lou, or whatever his name is, thinks exactly the same. The one result that he said couldn't be allowed to happen just did and he was powerless to stop it. Despite our good second half against Everton it appears to have been the midfield that let us down again. People will say he shouldn't have played Ambrose or Rommerdahl in such a tough, brutal encounter and maybe he shouldn't but who else does he have?

Hughes is no better liked by anyone, Pouso is still missing and obviously lacks the pace of English football. And there's no-one else except the youngsters. Maybe Kish should have started earlier but we don't seem to have enough players who can battle and from now on every single game is going to be a battle.

Come January, Simon Walton will return and we can have a look at him and the famous "wheeling and dealing" has to be done if we are to survive. And it has to be said that there are still too many of Curbs' ex-players still left. We have to do a "Redknapp" with whatever funds we can get our hands on to find some heart and determination - or its curtains.

The Addicks: Carson, Young, El Karkouri, Hreidarsson, Traore, Rommedahl (Marcus Bent 67), Holland, Faye (Sam 90), Reid, Ambrose (Kishishev 79), Darren Bent.

Subs Not Used: Myhre, Diawara.
Booked: Young.
Goals: Reid 17.