Charlton Athletic Online

Labels: Bob Curtis, Charlton, Gillingham, Patti Smith

Yes, just ten games to go in this long old season; it seems like an age that Peter Taylor was in the dug-out in front of me, with blue skies above, and a lovely grassy surface at The Valley. My how things have changed - with the long cold winter came a change in Charlton’s fortunes, but despite all that has gone on, we are at least still hanging on to third position in the league table, and it would not be beyond the club to battle it out for second if the results over these last couple of months do yield anything like 25 points.

Of course, last week’s result will have to be well and truly banished from the player’s minds; it is easier for them, as they can get back into training and move on, but for fans it is harder. Even last night, as people started to arrive for my weekly evening course class, the first topic to mention was the scoreline at The New Den last Saturday, whether you were an Addick or not. Still, it’s in the history books now and there is nothing you or I can do about it except pray that we do better next time we play them.

So how can Charlton bounce back? How can the memory of a 4-0 thrashing be expunged from their minds? Who will Phil Parkinson drop (and therefore blame) for not being goods enough/not trying hard enough/not caring about Charlton enough (delete as applicable)? There will be changes, Parky has said so, and with another on-loan left back being brought into the club, we can at least expect Gary Borrowdale to start in place of Chris Solly. I don’t know much at all about Borrowdale, though I have probably seen him play once or twice. What he can be is available for the next six games, which may be what we need to get Kelly Youga fit again. Youga did play an hour in a friendly match midweek, so you could surmise that he might be ready for the first team in a couple of weeks (around Easter), but before then, we have quite a few games and Parky obviously doesn’t think Solly is up to the left back job on a consistent basis.

Other than Borrowdale, there are no new faces, no returnees from injury, and no star youngsters banging on the door for a game – so what has Parky got in mind? Well, at centre half, Miguel Llera had a very public spat with captain Nicky Bailey after gifting the ball to the opposition for what resulted in their third goal last weekend, so he may well pay the price for that misjudgement by being left out in favour of Sam Sodje. Sodje has had a rough and tumble last few months, starting with his Boxing Day sending off, getting back in the side, having his first child born, and then being left out in favour of Llera. He will probably be champing at the bit – which can be a worry with Sodje sometimes – but I do expect hm to start alongside Christian Dailly.

The midfield has had a worrying look over recent months, with Parky unable to work out his best combination. Desperate for a decent left sided midfielder, Kyel Reid has come into the club and done a good job, but in a weird sort of way, this has unbalanced an unbalanced side. With Reid wide left, you would hope and expect that playing Lloyd Sam on the opposite flank would simply be too much to cope with for most third tier teams, but no, it hasn’t really worked for the wide pair yet. In my opinion, this is because Parky hasn’t got the middle pairing right when playing these two wingers. He has tried Therry Racon with Bailey, and Racon with Jose Semedo, but while it may lack much creativity, he has yet to try Semedo and Bailey together with the two wingers. To my mind, if you have Sam and Reid in harness, then the creativity only need come from them, and not via the middle of the park. Playing this combination would allow two forwards to continue, but I have a hunch that we might see Parky go a little more unexpected, and recall Jonjo Shelvey.

Shelvey has had a funny season, with some good early performances and goals, but none of the boyhood swagger and endeavour that we saw from him as a sixteen year old. It is tougher in this league, and the now eighteen year old has had to pit his skill and wits against much bigger men, often getting abuse (physical and verbal) along the way. If the Addicks need one player to take the season by the scruff of the neck and haul us back into the Championship, then that player will probably be Shelvey.

Playing Shelvey means that either Akpo Sodje or Deon Burton would lead the line, and as Burton did it quite well in the early months of the season, I think he might get recalled. Akpo is a good substitute, but it seems that Dave Mooney has disunited too many fans with his honest endeavour but lack of strength and goals. With Leon McKenzie out injured for three weeks, we need a couple of options on the bench anyway, so Akpo and Mooney will get game time if the result is in the balance.

This is the side I would like Parky to pick to restore some faith amongst the Addickted –

Rob Elliot
Frazer Richardson
Sam Sodje
Christian Dailly
Gary Borrowdale
Jose Semedo
Nicky Bailey
Lloyd Sam
Kyel Reid
Jonjo Shelvey
Deon Burton

Subs from – Randolph, Solly, Llera, Spring, Racon, Wagstaff, Akpo Sodje, Mooney.

The team that Charlton have to restore pride against are Kent rivals Gillingham. The Gills are having a tough season, and have yet to win an away game in this campaign, leaving them close to the relegation places. They would like nothing better than to earn that first away victory against their near neighbours, and on paper, they have a chance to do so. Although Chris Dickson has continued his Addicks form and now usually sits warming the subs bench, he cannot play in this game under the terms of his loan; that won’t worry Mark Stimson though, as he said last week that he prefers Dennis Oli to Dickson anyway! Oli may not start, but he could come on to bolster Simeon Jackson up front if Gills are still in with a shout toward the end of the game. The Gills have only won two out of their last thirteen games, but those wins have been fairly recently against Huddersfield (March) and Bristol Rovers (February). Other than a single goal by Dickson, you have to go back to mid-January to find any player other than Jackson scoring for Gillingham, so it is pretty obvious where the danger lies.

Pedro45 can see plenty of straws dangling in the wind at the moment, and in a desperate attempt to clutch at some, I am going to forecast a 2-0 home win. It may not be pretty, it may not be nice, but any win would be good, and it would at least gather a small amount of confidence back into the team as we turn into the final long, home, straight. A defeat, and the dogs would be at our door; a draw, and the questions remain unanswered; but a win, any win, has to happen.

My one-to-watch in this game is captain Nicky Bailey. One of the few who can be sure of his starting place (bar some sort of injury or spat with Parky), Bailey has been on his longest barren spell in front of goal this season – it is six games now since his last gasp equaliser at Swindon – so it’s about time he hit the back of the net. Maybe if Deon is back in the starting team it will inspire Bailey to try to beat him in the top goal scorer stakes? You know that you will always get effort from Bailey, whether he is shoved out left, or playing centrally, but what we need in addition is leadership, desire, skill, will-to-win, and goals. If Bailey wants to be anything other than a decent lower league player, then he needs to start showing us how good he is week-in and week-out.

Ten games…eight wins and a draw would do it you know….

Come on you reds!

Labels: Charlton, Gillingham, Nicky Bailey

Gillingham 1 Charlton Athletic 1

Let’s face it, this was a pretty poor performance from Charlton, as listless as the Russian submarine currently tilting on the River Medway at Rochester, and the result must been seen as a point won rather than two points dropped. It was the complete opposite to the previous weeks game, where every player could be said to have had a good game; this week, only Kelly Youga, Rob Elliot and Jose Semedo could honestly say that they had decent outings. It wasn’t all the players fault though, as atrocious weather conditions – with first half wind and rain, followed by bright second half sun, with more wind – and an awful bumpy pitch made any sort of cohesive play difficult for both sides. Couple this with an awful referee, who simply failed to get to grips with the professional level at which this game was played; Jon Moss should go back to drumming with Culture Club and put his whistle down forthwith!

Phil Parkinson certainly picked his best team to start this game, with Semedo returning to the starting line up, and with Izale McLeod retained up front in a positive move. McLeod looked to have won an early penalty when his check inside saw his legs taken from him, but Moss waved play on astonishingly. The bizarre decisions continued soon after when first Deon Burton was scythed down from behind, with no free kick given, and then Nicky Bailey was the victim of another crude challenge. Again, the referee, way behind play, failed to whistle until he was reminded of the rules of not kicking people by a flag waving linesman. Of course, such leg-threatening challenges go unchallenged, yet when Burton complained about the non-protection he had, he gets booked for his viewpoint…

Although Lloyd Sam saw little of the ball durng the early stages, with any prolonged possession there was going to the home side, he did send a sublime forward pass into the path of McLeod, who once more checked inside, before this time curlng a left foot shot high and wide. Gillingham threatened when first a shot that skimmed off the surface brought a sharp save from Elliot and then Elliot had to be alert once more when a dangerous free kick bounced in front of him without anyone getting a touch and he had to knock it away late (top pic).

At least the foul weather hadn't dampened the spirit of the visiting fans, and the mood was enlivened when a number of spectators in home areas were ejected; whether they were home or away fans is unknown, but whoever they were, they put up a big struggle and a woman was injured as they tumbled over two or three rows in an effort to prevent stewards taking them out.

Bailey wasted two free-kicks for decent positions, hitting the balls way, way, way too long on both occasions, and Frazer Richardson did similarly when he broke forward.

At half-time, with no other major goal attempts, the weather changed, and the rain stopped and the sun came out. Gillingham had the better of early second half exchanges, with the now capped Elliot making more important saves, while Bailey curled a free-kick straight at ex-Addick Simon Royce in the home goal.

Richardson left the action after an hour, and it may be that the minor knocks that he has been carrying for most of the season have finally caught up with him. Youga switched to right back, with Grant Basey coming on to fill in on the left. Basey surged forward at every opportunity, but his crossing wasn’t the best, and good attacking positions were wasted. Elliot then made a very good save to deny Gillingham, diving to his left to push a good snap shopt around the post.

Both Sam Sodje and Christian Dailly were booked for there first innocuous fouls as the bizarre refereeing display continued.

Dave Mooney replaced the unlucky McLoed, who had run his heart out without getting any help or protection, and within minutes he was scynically brought down by Gladiator Wolf-lookalike Gowling’s none-shall-pass attitude. From the remnants of the free kick, Racon swung a leg while prostrate on the ground, and amazingly Charlton took the lead when left back Nutter capped an eventful afternoon by slicing into his own net. Already booked, he must have wished for a stronger referee at that moment, as with one, he would have been red carded for his persistent fouling much earlier and not been on the pitch to score for Charlton.

Sadly, even though there was under ten minutes left to play, Charlton’s lead didn’t last very long, and Jackson got on the end of a ball worked across the penalty area and suddenly found himself in a yard of space before burying the ball past the advancing Elliot.

There was still time for the referee to give the home team a free kick on the edge of the Charlton box, thankfully blocked by the wall, and the clock ticked down with honours even.

Crazily, home team midfielder Bentley was given the man of the match award, and I suppose the fact that he kicked anything that came near him had some bearing on this, whether it was ball or opposition player; it’s fair to say that as the ref never went near him he didn’t get kicked, though I’m sure he would if he had!

It was a shame that Charlton couldn’t have played any better, as that may have been enough to secure a win that would have seen them return to the top of the league (as Leeds lost their unbeaten record). As it is, Charlton remain second, but have company in the form of MK Dons, and Colchester, with the four clubs now clear of the chasing pack at the top.

Charlton must now recapture their away form and look to win at Carlisle next weekend; failure to take three points from such games will soon see other teams overtake them, while a winning run of any kind over coming weeks could see the Addicks break away at the top.

Labels: Charlton, Gillingham

# posted by Pedro45 : 9:06 am  1 comments

It seems a long time since Charlton’s last match, even though it was only last Saturday; I’m not sure why it feels like that, but I guess quite a lot has happened since that victory over Huddersfield.

For a start, we have had the breaking of takeover news once again, but this time the media tell us that there are two interested parties – David Sullivan and his ex-Birmingham cohorts, and another group led by Dennis Wise and Tony Jiminez, late of Newcastle. Whether either party actually comes up with an offer that the Board of Charlton consider worthy of recommending to shareholders is going to need a few weeks, I suggest, while due diligence is carried out in both directions. By that, I mean that not only will any prospective buyers want to see Charlton’s books, and make themselves happy that any debt is manageable, but also from the alternative view that Charlton fans will only want to see their club in the hands of owners who are going to continue to take the club forwards, both in the community, and on the pitch. All that is for the future though, and should not affect the lads on the pitch and certainly not in a way that had every player worried when the Zabeel offer came to the table in October last year (was it really that long ago?).

This weekend, Phil Parkinson and his team will be more concerned with winning away at Gillingham, with the potential to go back to the top of the league, a position that the club occupied after last weekends win. Leeds last minute goal on Monday night saw them reclaim top spot, but they have a tough away game on Saturday (with another tough game to follow the week after), and a win for the Addicks might be enough for the yoyo-ing to continue.

This blogster has always had a soft spot for the Medway team, having been good friends with a work colleague who followed the team in the early eighties, and also having other friends who lived close by. The Gills always seemed to be in a division below Charlton, so league matches were rare; I remember being on holiday in Scotland when the famous Powell-Peacock goal was televised to Big Match viewers in the mid-Seventies, and for some other reason, did not get to the Priestfield Stadium for the 1980 game either. That match was won by a Killer Hales goal, and the return visit in the last game of the season saw another Charlton victory and a promotion party too, meaning that the clubs didn’t meet again at first team level until five years ago. On that occasion, I did see Charlton play at Gillingham, though after the first minute goal had little to cheer about as Charlton lost 3-2 on a bitterly cold day. Nobody from that day except the fans remain to travel down the A2 once more so it will have little bearing on the fixture.

What we can be sure of though, is that the rivalry between the clubs will be at its highest, more because of the actions of Gillingham Chairman Paul Scally than any recent results. Scally has put his oar in whenever he can to put Charlton down, as you would expect from any vociferous Millwall fan (for that is what he is). Upset by Charlton’s action in offering a bus service to home matches, as well as away games, from Medway towns (and others), and latterly by Charlton’s reluctance to give them Chris Dickson for free, Scally has been on at the media for weeks bigging up this match. He’s also bigged up the ticket prices as well, so at least that aspect, and the fact that Charlton have sold out their entire allocation, will bring some sort of smile to his face. Yes, it will be a big game for Gillingham’s fans, and players, and directors, but then again Charlton have come to expect that during this League One season whoever we play.

It’s not that bad a time to be playing Gillingham either, as they have injury worries for their small squad, and even had to send back a striker (Vernon) just brought in on loan from Colchester after just 40 minutes action due to serious injury. Another loanee has also joined the club recently, Matt Fry, a young centre half from West Ham, and manager Mark Stimson is desperate to find another loan forward before the weekend if he can. Gillingham also have four ex-Charlton players on their books – Rashid Yussuf, Simon Royce, Barry Fuller and Mark McCammon, though McCammon is unlikely to be fit to play. The Gills have conceded 15 goals in their last six games, including four in a game twice, so it’s not just up front that they have issues. The team haven’t kept a clean sheet since Millwall were the visitors, well over a month ago.

For Charlton, I guess no news is good news, and hopefully after last weeks bruising encounter with Huddersfield all the team have come through unscathed. Defenders Christian Dailly and Frazer Richardson both had stitches in head wounds after the game so maybe they will borrow one of Miguel Llera’s headguards to wear this week? Presuming Nicky Bailey is also fit after the heavy tackles he took in that match, I expect Charlton to play pretty much their strongest team this weekend.

Of course, the strongest team may not be that which has played most matches this season, as it will be interesting to see if Parky reverts to the 4-5-1 formation preferred in the first dozen games or retains the 4-4-2 pattern used last weekend. In my mind, with Jose Semedo back in the team and fit for 90 minutes, it would be best to keep Izale McLeod up front, with Jonjo Shelvey, Dave Mooney, and Tamer Tuna in reserve. I am also presuming that the timing of Deon Burton’s hernia operation hasn’t been brought forward and that he is available to lead the line. It will be an interesting decision for Parky to take, bearing in mind that we have Mooney until the beginning of December, and that Burton will be out of action for three weeks when he does finally go under the knife. With seven games between now and 1st December, there is no obvious gap to be without Burton, so Parky will have to make that call when all others are fit (and not threatened with suspension as McLeod is); the recovery from the thigh strain that Clinton McKenzie had in training last week seems to be key to when Burton has his op, so it could be early next week?

This is the team I think Parky will send out to start the game being labelled as the Kent Derby –

Rob Elliot
Frazer Richardson
Kelly Youga
Christian Dailly
Sam Sodje
Jose Semedo
Therry Racon
Nicky Bailey
Lloyd Sam
Izale McLeod
Deon Burton

Subs from Randolph, Solly, Basey, Llera, Spring, Stavrinou, Wagstaff, Shelvey, Holden, Tuna, Mooney.

There is a real need for Charlton to push on and confirm that they are going to go all the way this season; the players were all geared up to get back to the top of the league last Saturday apparently, and they can play with that same knowledge again this weekend. Sure, local derbies are tough, and the home crowd will be noisy, just as they were at Orient (when we won) and at Colchester (where we lost) when Charlton filled an away section. Provided that our defence, and Semedo, can shackle the danger-man that is Canadian strike Simeon Jackson, then I can see Charlton winning this game quite easily – Pedro45 is predicting a 3-0 victory.

My one-to-watch in this match is going to be Therry Racon. I think our French play-maker was twice my one-to-watch last season and he scored on both occasions, so I’m hoping he can do so again. Playing back alongside Jose Semedo, Racon has the freedom to express himself and really drive the rest of the team forwards. While the other flair players, like Lloyd Sam, Jonjo Shelvey, and even Nicky Bailey have taken deserved plaudits, the consistency of Racon in the middle of the park has also been key to Charlton’s success this season. He played huge roles in keeping the team going while Semedo was out injured and now, back in tandem, I cannot see too many clubs in this league being able to get the better of them, as happened in the first few weeks of the campaign. Therry is still looking for his first goal of the season, and has been getting closer and closer as the weeks have progressed; hopefully, this week will see that net bulge once more for him.

I cannot finish this blog piece without a mention of some other news this week, namely that one of the other Charlton blogs is to call it a day (on a regular basis at least). New York Addict has written intelligently and well for most of the time my own blog has been trundling along, and interspersed his excellent Charlton news, views, and long-distance match reports with some biting wit (the email trails he hacked from The Valley mainframe are classics!). Coupled with an insight into the world of hedge-funds and what really happened with the banking crisis, his blog has always been a must-read for Pedro45. I wish NYA and his family a safe journey back to England and hope that his new home in The Chilterns does not prevent his attendance at The Valley too often. With Chicago Addick now based in Bermuda, and NYA coming home, will any other US-based Addicks please turn out the lights when they leave.

Up the Addicks!

Labels: Charlton, Gillingham, Therry Racon