Thursday, May 13, 2010
You Put Your First Leg In…
Charlton meet Swindon in the first leg of the League One play-offs on Friday night, hoping that they win the tie and get to Wembley. More and more, we are seeing the necessity of this from purely financial reasons, with potentially a million pounds at stake. Many years ago, I knew the accountant for the then Millwall chairman, and he confirmed that the best scenario financially for any club was to finish third in its league, but then to lose the play-off final at Wembley. This maximised gate revenues, but then allowed the club not to have to pay promotion bonuses. I’m not suggesting that Charlton’s board will feel exactly the same way, but bearing in mind the support they have given, they could do with a few extra bob going into their pockets.The team that manager Phil Parkinson (left) picks to face Swindon will be strong, with everyone expected to be fit and available. The squad has actually been bolstered over the last few days as the players out on loan with other clubs returned, and Parky could also choose to include Chris Dickson, Stuart Fleetwood, Alex Stavrinou or Dean Sinclair in his squad if he wanted to. My own feeling is that he will leave those players well alone, and they would only come into contention if a large number of injuries and suspensions came to the fore over the coming weekend.
Parky has three goalkeepers from which to choose – incumbent Darren Randolph (who will surely hang on to the gloves), plus Robbie Elliot and Tony Warner. None of the three would let Charlton down but Randolph is the one in form, and I expect Elliot to continue to provide back-up from the bench.
The defence has done so well recently, and has such a stable look about it despite Sam Sodje missing last weekend’s match at Oldham after a late problem with is knee. Charlton and Sam have managed this issue quite well, as it is well known that Sodje the elder has knee-knack. In nearly every game, Sam goes down as if that is the end of his game, season, and career, but then a minute or so later, whatever is happening inside his knee has calmed down and he is able to carry on. My only worry is that one day his problem will be more serious, prevent him from carrying on, but by then Charlton will have used all of their substitutes. That hasn’t happened yet though, and with Christian Dailly, Frazer Richardson and Gary Borrowdale having vast experience, it hasn’t made much difference whether Sodje or Miguel Llera has played at centre half recently. Chris Solly provides cover for both full back slots, so he will make the bench, while Matt Fry will once more miss out as all the other loanees are fit and available.
Charlton’s midfield strength has been apparent all season, with ample and able bodies willing to come to the fore in every game. The main problem now lies with how to play this game tactically; I cannot really see Parky going all guns blazing and playing Kyel Reid from the start, so the very likelihood is that Nicky Bailey will be started out on the left again, with Jose Semedo and Therry Racon playing centrally, and Lloyd Sam hugging the right touchline. I don’t have any issue with this selection though it would be nice to see Racon take a game by the scruff of its neck and dominate the midfield some time soon; too many times frantic and hectic games seem to pass over his head and he runs around in circles trying to chase the ball. If we are losing, or need a goal, then Reid is a capable sub and withdrawing Racon allows Bailey to move inside. Scott Wagstaff can shadow Lloyd Sam’s position, while Matt Spring is another who will do a job in the centre of midfield if required.
With Dickson and Fleetwood returning, Parky has a plethora of strikers from which to choose. Deon Burton is likely to start, and I fancy Nicky Forster (a play-off hero in the past) will get the nod alongside him, ahead of either Dave Mooney or Akpo Sodje. I recent games, the introduction of this pair as subs for the older starters has worked quite well, and the running ability and power of Mooney and Sodje works well against tiring defenders.
This is the side that I think Parky will pick to keep alive Charlton’s Championship ambitions –
Darren Randolph
Frazer Richardson
Sam Sodje
Christian Dailly
Gary Borrowdale
Jose Semedo
Therry Racon
Nicky Bailey
Lloyd Sam
Deon Burton
Nicky Forster
Subs from – Elliot, Warner, Solly, Llera, Mambo, Fry, Spring, Stavrinou, Wagstaff, Reid, Mooney, Akpo Sodje, Fleetwood, Dickson, Tuna.
Swindon have labelled themselves as underdogs for this tie, which is interesting as they were above Charlton in the league until the last week of the season. Their danger lies in attack, with Paynter and Austin both capable of punishing any mistakes; they have a workman-like midfield, but I still have doubts about their defence which has wobbled on numerous occasions throughout the season (conceding 57 times). They only won one game out of their last six in the regular season, so Charlton are the form team of the two. The two games played against Swindon earlier this season (both since Xmas) were both drawn, so we should probably expect it to be tight whatever the outcome.
Pedro45 thinks this will be a cagey and tactical game, with Parky looking to get at least a draw. The home crowd will be passionate, and the worry for me is that if Charlton do concede then they could quite likely do so again quickly. The night calls for experienced heads, and nobody to get sent off, as that can have such a massive outcome on the whole tie. My gut feeling is that Charlton will hold on for a nil-all draw, though I hope we can get ahead on the night as it might be difficult for Swindon to come back at us if we do.
My one-to-watch in this match is the ultra important Jose Semedo. Our Portu-geezer has a job to do in this match, as he does in most others, and that is to protect the back four, hassle the opposition midfield into giving away possession through misplaced passes, and tackle anything that moves, especially if it is past him and bearing down on goal. I would be amazed to see Jose get through the night without being booked, and I hope that Parky is able to get him off the pitch for the last few minutes if Charlton are winning so that he can play in the second leg. When Jose is playing well, Charlton play well, and his form of late has been excellent; just a few more massive performances like his recent ones should see us all right.I hate the play-offs; they do me no good. I bite my fingernails, pull my hair out, and pick at my elbows. I cannot hold a civil conversation with my wife, my mind always strays, and I am tetchy all the time. I’m sure there are hundreds of others just like me. It’s the play-offs that do it, and I hate them.
Charlton must not lose this game in Wiltshire by giving up if they do fall behind. Recent games have been very close and we know we do not score many, nor concede many – that's OK and that must be the way at The County Ground. Swindon have the ability to score plenty, so Charlton must keep tackling, covering, chasing down, and giving it their all over the whole ninety minutes plus injury time. A lead would be great, but wouldn’t mean much I feel, as Swindon will attack whatever in the second leg, and a draw would show that Charlton can contain their opponents. A defeat would make things very difficult at a fractious Valley on Monday, and I don’t want to think about that.
It’s time for the heroes to stand up – so come on Christian, Jose, Deon and Moons, Forst and Bails, Rac, the Sodje Bros, Lloydy and Randy, Frazer, Scotty and Gary. Stand up! Stand up for Charlton! Let’s take that first step back toward the Championship.
Up the Addicks!
Labels: Charlton, Jose Semedo, Swindon
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Higher than Cloud Nine
In some ways, I’m really upset that I missed such a dramatic Charlton game at The Valley on Saturday, and I wish it had been postponed so I could have attended. I bet Phil Parkinson wishes the game hadn’t happened either, though for different reasons…Parky will certainly earn his corn over the next few matches, as he has done over the first half of the season, but possibly more so as he tries to pull together enough available players starting with the game at
When you look at the squad, and who is available, about the only player guaranteed to be playing in a easily determined position is goalkeeper Rob Elliot; I’ve probably put the mockers on him by saying as much, but he should be OK to line up between the posts.
The defence will consist of any and all of the senior players who are fit; providing there were no unseen injuries from the Swindon game, Elliot Omozusi will line up at right back, Grant Basey at left back, and Saturday’s hero Miguel Llera in central defence. With Christian Dailly still ill, Sam Sodje suspended, Kelly Youga still out injured, and Basey required elsewhere, the only option is to play Jose Semedo alongside Llera. Communication may be an issue, but Charlton have no alternative other than bringing in youngster Yado Mambo, and I doubt that will happen.
The shifting of Semedo leaves a gap in midfield, and it was a shame that Parky’s tactic of playing a narrow diamond shape on Saturday did not get the chance to work, given that the team played 90 minutes (81 minutes of normal time taking into account the ten minutes Sodje was off being stitched up, plus the nine minutes of additional time allowed for by the referee) with less than eleven men. With Lloyd Sam back after suspension, and with Semedo moved back, I doubt that Parky will want to try that formation with the personnel he has available in this match, but he could decide to switch back to 4-5-1 bearing in mind that Jonjo Shelvey made a goal scoring return to the team. The alternative of maintaining a 4-4-2 is to play an unbalanced side, and I’m not sure Parky will want that.
Up front, Akpo Sodje put in a sterling effort for over an hour on his own, but hopefully his tired legs have recovered enough to do something similar in this match, with squad strikers Leon McKenzie, Chris Dickson, and Izale McLeod (if he is still around) able to bring relief or add additional firepower later in the game as is required.
This is the team I suspect Parky may have to suit up at
Rob Elliot
Elliot Omozusi
Miguel Llera
Jose Semedo
Grant Basey
Nicky Bailey
Scott Wagstaff
Lloyd Sam
Jonjo Shelvey
Akpo Sodje
Subs from
It’s horrible to contemplate that four of the potential subs above have yet to start a league game for the Addicks, and three other have just a handful of league games under their collective belts, but such is the availability situation for this match.
Brentford are on little roll themselves, but sadly, for them, ex-Addick Charlie McDonald will be missing after being a referee victim on Saturday when he was unlucky to pick up a red card. The bees gave Charlton a tough game at The Valley (where Charlton won 2-1) earlier in the season, and played some good football, but since then they have settled into a middle of the league team, who are unlikely to get in either the play-off or relegation zones this season. The main danger on paper is on-loan Spurs man and future “star” John Bostock, though he was left out of the side at
Pedro45 is travelling up form
My one-to-watch is going to be Jose Semedo. With a stop-gap defence for this match, our Portu-geezer will need to show us that he can play in the position that he was originally bought for, and he hasn’t forgotten all he knows about playing centre half while he’s been stuck in midfield. He will have to be careful and understand that he cannot foul his man if they get past him, as that could lead to a red card (as it did at Cardiff a couple of years back), but if he remains confident that his covering defenders will help him he should be OK.
I think it is eleven games since defeat in the league for the Addicks currently, and it would be great to carry the round dozen into 2010. Charlton started this year with a draw, but they can go one better here; the first game of the second half of the season needs to be won, and I think we can do it!
Up the Addicks!
Labels: Brentford, Charlton, Jose Semedo
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Back to the Day Job
A two-week break between Charlton games that has been way, way too long will finally come to an end on Saturday, when Wolves provide the opposition.The international break hasn’t been without news, as other South London clubs have fired their managers, Charlton players have excelled out on loan at Gillingham, Cheltenham and Barnet, and plaudits have rained in for a couple of our Irish lads heroic international efforts. Cory Gibbs started another reserve game and got injured, and Izale McLeod scored his first goal in a Charlton shirt in the same match, and one of our directors resigned.
Oh, and our shirt sponsor has gone bust again! I’ll refrain from adding a spoof blog that means we are going to be subject to a 10-point deduction because of this, as it did upset a number of readers last time round (all:sports)!
So back to the league, and what can we expect from this Championship match? Wolves have started this season like they have so many others in recent times – upper mid-table, failing to fire, but not easy to beat. They sit in seventh position four points behind the Addicks and will be another club looking to close the gap at the top of the table. They are yet another side with an ex-Charlton connection, as striker Jay Bothroyd, he of the thunderous left foot shot and equally thunderous high tackles, is desperate it seems for a starting place. What us Addicks are hoping is that he doesn’t do a Lisbie and score against us…They also have Freddie Eastwood, one time reserve team player and a mooted target in the close season transfer scramble.
Alan Pardew has plenty of options on who he picks in this game, and a couple of injuries may mean he has to change to settled make up and balance of the side. Both Darren Randolph and Andy Reid picked up injuries during their time with Ireland, and both could be doubtful for Saturday. Reid injured his ankle prior to the game with Germany but was still man-of-the-match, and he also started against Cyprus last night, while Randolph it seems may have broken a rib, but he also still played on Tuesday against England under-21’s. Matt Holland is also injured and out with a calf strain - what is is with the Irish this week?!?
The goalkeeper starting position is unlikely to change though, with Nicky Weaver playing well, but we may see a first sub appearance at Charlton for Robert Elliott if Randolph does not recover sufficiently.
The defence may well be at full compliment, and Pards will need to chose four from all those available – Mills or Moutaouakil, Powell or Thatcher, Bougherra and Fortune or Sodje and McCarthy; who knows who will play except Pardew!The midfield may throw up more conundrums – it is probable that Zheng Zhi will start, as will Jose Semedo. Then it depends if Reid is fit, if Pardew prefers Ambrose to Thomas (Lloyd Sam is still suspended), and if, now that Holland is injured, Therry Racon can force his way in to the team.
In attack, it was good to see McLeod get off the mark for Charlton in the reserve game earlier this week, although he did flunk a couple of other good chances. With Chris Dickson also banging them in while on loan at Gillingham, the future looks bright! The likelihood for this game through is that Pards will chose Chris Iwelumo and either Todorov or (more likely) Varney.
All of the above presumes that our manager hasn’t been working on a fanciful 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 formation over the last couple of weeks in order to surprise the opposition!
This is the side I think Pardew will pick –
Nicky Weaver
Danny Mills
Madjid Bougherra
Jonathan Fortune
Chris Powell
Jose Semedo
Zheng Zhi
Therry Racon
Darren Ambrose
Chris Iwelumo
Luke Varney
Subs from Elliott, Moutaouakil, Sodje, J Thomas, Todorov, McLeod.
The last time Charlton returned from an international break, a slow start led to Colchester being two goals up before a Charlton fight back brought the scores level. Andy Reid didn’t start that game, so even without his injury he may have been “rested” on Saturday. With the squad Pardew has available, this will be a key part of the season – how and when he rotates the squad.
Pedro45’s score prediction is going to be the sane as we saw at Layer Road – a 2-2 draw. Wolves, as Colchester did, will see it as an opportunity to get up with the promotion front runners, while Charlton need to maintain that gap (and extend it if possible). A win would be a great result and further cement our opinion that we are too good for this league; a defeat though would bring doubt to Addicks minds, and belief to those other teams who harbour Premiership dreams.
My one-to-watch in this match is going to be Jose Semedo. A star in the making, he has had a bit of a rest recently and should be fully charged to repeat the excellent midfield controller role that he has filled over the first couple of months of the season. We will need him to be at his best and protect the back-line in this game. And don’t be afraid to shoot Jose!
This week is a big week with Wolves, Plymouth, and QPR all providing interesting opposition to Charlton; if we can walk away with seven points, I’ll be a happy man. We do have an 8-game unbeaten run to protect, and getting that into double figures would be great for the club.
Come on you Addicks!
Labels: Charlton, Jose Semedo, Wolverhampton Wanderers
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Less Means More!
Charlton Athletic 2 Leicester City 0Up to second place in the league, following another two-nil home victory, the Charlton promotion-chasing machine rolls ever onwards. This victory was nowhere near as sweet as that of Tuesday’s game against Norwich, with some of the football quite often dour and cluttered, but Charlton were still way too strong for Leicester.
The goals came from Chris Iwelumo, after 18 minutes, and a first Charlton goal for Luke Varney (left), just five minutes later. The Foxes’s only noteworthy attack came early on when Clemence’s shot was tipped onto the outside of the post by Nicky Weaver.
Alan Pardew, unsurprisingly, named the same starting team, plus the same bench, as he had in midweek. Sadly, the first twenty five minutes of glorious open football that we witnessed then was not to be repeated, as Leicester retained the ball, and stifled anything that Charlton tried to create. Ironically, whereas against Norwich Charlton had failed to score during the early period, they found themselves two goals up thanks to some generous defending in this match.
First, a long Danny Mills throw in from the right was not dealt with as Zheng Zhi challenged. The ball actually bounced over ZiZi and the defenders head and fell to Iwelumo, who gleefully thumped the ball into the net unchallenged from just six yards.
Five minutes later and a long diagonal ball in from the right wing had Iwelumo’s knock-down falling to the unmarked Varney, and he knocked home his initial Charlton first team goal into the net of the team of his birthplace.
After that, Charlton went into a lower gear, possibly wary of how the defence has gifted opposition goals earlier in the season, and mistakes were kept to a minimum.
At half time, Radostin Kishishev came on for Leicester, and he got a warm reception from The Valley faithful in recognition of his seven years as an Addicks player. He actually had a couple of shots, one of which warmed the hands of Weaver, and therefore showed more attacking intent than he did during a large proportion of his Charlton career.
Kishishev’s introduction, plus that of another defender in N’Gotty, meant a change of tactics for the away team as they engaged damage limitation mode, and less option for Charlton to play expansive football. Little of note happened in the second half therefore, as the midfield became clogged, and the two Charlton forwards were marshalled by three central defenders.
The only other really notable things from the game were bookings for Izale McLeod (on as a sub for Varney) plus, in the first half, one too for Chris Powell. It has to be said that Chrissy fully deserved his yellow card, as his foul was an absolutely shocking and atrocious piece of shirt-tugging that could have caused some serious damage to the cotton material! Luckily, both the shirt and player involved were able to finish the match.
My man of the match award went to Jose Semedo (left, congratulating Iwelumo on his goal) who really did look a classy player all day long. His work rate is exceptional, his passing generally accurate, he tackles well, and challenges at every opportunity. If I have to make one criticism of him (which is harsh, I know…), it is that he might want to think about shooting from 25 yards every now and then when he has a chance, rather than passing. If he started to hit the back of the net occasionally, we would have a very, very valuable player on our books!Others who had very good games were Danny Mills (with no nasty stuff this match thankfully!), Chris Powell (apart from that booking!), and the central defensive partnership of Fortune and Bougherra.
Those who didn’t shine were Lloyd Sam, who was marked tightly and had little chance to impress, and Andy Reid who looked like he had had a few Guinness’s too many watching the Irish rugby team the night before.
Up to second place and into the automatic promotion places, the team must guard against complacency and continue to gel and push on; they can definitely get better! Thankfully, the next match is a midweek league cup tie against Luton, and the great squad that Pardew has built will be used to the maximum. This should ensure that those currently in the starting eleven for league games cannot sit back as there is always another player pushing for their place.
The future is a rosy Charlton red, and most definitely bright!
Labels: Charlton, Chris Iwelumo, Jose Semedo, Leicester, Luke Varney
