Sunday, October 15, 2006
Monday Night Football
It's not the start of the Premiership season, so much as the start of Charlton's Premiership season hopefully...
Charlton travel across town for the game against Fulham rooted to the bottom of the table - one win from seven tough games is all that Iain Dowie's men can show. Is it because we are rubbish? No - we've had a tough start, lots of injuries, and now we are getting key players fit, we will start to show the real Charlton to all those doom and gloom merchants. That's it - Easy, isn't it! Three points at Craven Cottage and the season and Dowie era are both well and truly under way.
Hmmm. I do hope so, but Operation Craven Cottage or not, this is no easy game to turn round our season.
Fulham have a good home record, and Charlton haven't won there since John Pearson and co won during midweek back in April 1986, a game that took us very close to promotion to the top division for the first time in years. Fulham have also had plenty of injuries to contend with this season, and there midfield has been woefully short at times, but they too have bodies returning and we would do well to respect them. Centrally, they will probably have Papa Bouba Diop and Michael Brown kicking shins, though it is possible that ex-Addick Claus Jensen may get an outing at some point. So they are not that short of midfielders!
For Charlton, Scott Carson will continue his good form in goal, and Luke Young and Hermann Hreidersson are also certain to start in defence. Up front, Darren Bent and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink should start, but the rest of the team are by no means shoe-ins.
Of the injured players, Souleymane Diawara played in the closed doors friendly against Arsenal last week, so he comes back into defensive contention, as does Omar Pouso in midfield who has now played a couple of games recently. Andy Reid is another midfield option after playing a starring role for Ireland last week. Dennis Rommedahl also played internationally after injury forced him out of the last Charlton match, and Jerome Thomas could also feature out wide for the first time this season. Hopefully, Amady Faye and Darren Ambrose have also shaken off recent knocks, and will be fit to play a part.
Overall, Iain Dowie has a lot more players to chose from than he has at any other time this season; this is the side I expect to see take the field -
Scott Carson
Luke Young
Souleymane Diawara
Talal El Karkouri
Hermann Hreidersson
Amady Faye
Bryan Hughes
Dennis Rommedahl
Andy Reid
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Darren Bent
Subs from - Myrhe, Fortune, Kishishev, Holland, Pouso, Ambrose, and Marcus Bent.
The eleven looks a lot more competitive than it has done, and is much nearer what could be considered our best eleven (Pouso for Hughes, and Traore for El Karkouri...).
My one-to-watch is going to be Andy Reid who, having played so well for the Republic last week, can hopefully carry on his form for the Addicks.
Pedro45's score prediction has to be tainted by the fact that we would take any result we could get at present, and I'm going for a 1-1 draw. I'd like to forecast a win, but feel that unless the team play really well, they may not find Fulham as easy as some people think they are, so we'll settle for our first draw of the season.
The ticket office stopped sending out tickets last week, but did advise supporters that entry to the ground could be gained on the night. Hopefully the effort of a few to galvanise enough support to sing the boys to victory will work, and a good atmosphere can be generated.
Come on you reds!
Charlton travel across town for the game against Fulham rooted to the bottom of the table - one win from seven tough games is all that Iain Dowie's men can show. Is it because we are rubbish? No - we've had a tough start, lots of injuries, and now we are getting key players fit, we will start to show the real Charlton to all those doom and gloom merchants. That's it - Easy, isn't it! Three points at Craven Cottage and the season and Dowie era are both well and truly under way.
Hmmm. I do hope so, but Operation Craven Cottage or not, this is no easy game to turn round our season.
Fulham have a good home record, and Charlton haven't won there since John Pearson and co won during midweek back in April 1986, a game that took us very close to promotion to the top division for the first time in years. Fulham have also had plenty of injuries to contend with this season, and there midfield has been woefully short at times, but they too have bodies returning and we would do well to respect them. Centrally, they will probably have Papa Bouba Diop and Michael Brown kicking shins, though it is possible that ex-Addick Claus Jensen may get an outing at some point. So they are not that short of midfielders!
For Charlton, Scott Carson will continue his good form in goal, and Luke Young and Hermann Hreidersson are also certain to start in defence. Up front, Darren Bent and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink should start, but the rest of the team are by no means shoe-ins.
Of the injured players, Souleymane Diawara played in the closed doors friendly against Arsenal last week, so he comes back into defensive contention, as does Omar Pouso in midfield who has now played a couple of games recently. Andy Reid is another midfield option after playing a starring role for Ireland last week. Dennis Rommedahl also played internationally after injury forced him out of the last Charlton match, and Jerome Thomas could also feature out wide for the first time this season. Hopefully, Amady Faye and Darren Ambrose have also shaken off recent knocks, and will be fit to play a part.
Overall, Iain Dowie has a lot more players to chose from than he has at any other time this season; this is the side I expect to see take the field -
Scott Carson
Luke Young
Souleymane Diawara
Talal El Karkouri
Hermann Hreidersson
Amady Faye
Bryan Hughes
Dennis Rommedahl
Andy Reid
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Darren Bent
Subs from - Myrhe, Fortune, Kishishev, Holland, Pouso, Ambrose, and Marcus Bent.
The eleven looks a lot more competitive than it has done, and is much nearer what could be considered our best eleven (Pouso for Hughes, and Traore for El Karkouri...).
My one-to-watch is going to be Andy Reid who, having played so well for the Republic last week, can hopefully carry on his form for the Addicks.
Pedro45's score prediction has to be tainted by the fact that we would take any result we could get at present, and I'm going for a 1-1 draw. I'd like to forecast a win, but feel that unless the team play really well, they may not find Fulham as easy as some people think they are, so we'll settle for our first draw of the season.
The ticket office stopped sending out tickets last week, but did advise supporters that entry to the ground could be gained on the night. Hopefully the effort of a few to galvanise enough support to sing the boys to victory will work, and a good atmosphere can be generated.
Come on you reds!
