Blackburn

Let's hope for better oop north on Saturday !

I know we are a friendly club and we all like Chris Powell but we didn’t need to lie down and have our belly rubbed on Tuesday. Especially so after the poor result against Rotherham.

Some disappointing performances and odd decisions from Tuesday night.

·         I’m led to believe that Diarra was “ rested “. Er, why after an international break ? In any case Diarra is a lean and fit player and as a centre half doesn’t do much running. Goalkeeper aside, the central defenders do the least running in a football team.

·         Why didn’t JBG take that free kick in the first half. Just outside the area and to the right surely it was tailor-made for him.

·         How did Tony Watt stay on after such an insipid performance ?  It is even more baffling that the Great Dane came off. Ok he wasn’t doing that well but come the last 10  to 15 minutes when we were banging balls into the box then he was needed……….odd !

·         Why is Cousins still starting on the left ? I fail to see what Ba does that Jordan couldn’t do and better. Surley Bergdich could start there although I suspect our Everton loanee may do so on Saturday. The absence of a natural left sided player resulted in Watt drifting out the left many times meaning there was little chance of him linking up with Simon.

·         How did Sarr get selected ahead of Lennon ? He was shocking.

Many questions and mysteries and we will probably never know all the answers !

I can’t believe that the players are getting caught up in all the hype ahead of the Palace game. That is looking like a real disaster waiting to happen…….I hope I’m wrong.

On to Saturday and Blackburn away. Being my usual pessimistic self I can’t see us doing anything other than us continuing to help kick start another team’s season. Again, I hope I’m wrong.

Good luck to anyone going on Saturday especially Ketts…….enjoy those pies !

Come On You Reds !

Friends Reunited

Chris Powell but not as we know him

There aren't too many ex-Charlton bosses still in gainful employment and those that are certainly wouldn't receive the warm welcome that Chris is assured of tomorrow night.

Last season we got it dead right in applauding the Valley legend  just prior to seeing off his Huddersfield side and later giving him a good send off. A repeat scoreline would be most welcome although one does fear for our former boss if so. Naturally we wish him all the best after tomorrow night.

If we are to avoid a repeat of Saturday's frustrating match against Rotherham then we need to be more incisive and clinical. If fit, then the Great Dane deserves to start ahead of Igor who seems a long way off from the player who started last season.

I hope that Tony Watt can get back to scoring. We've seen glimpses of his talent again this season and on his day he has real quality. He'll have been disappointed at not finishing his chance when through on goal at the weekend when only a good save from Camp denied him.

Hopefully it's not too much to ask that we get a decent ref for this one. Stroud was awful and to say got rather angry with him is only hinting at how I reacted to some of his decisions. 

It's pleasing to see that we've got a striker in on loan as Conor Mcalney has joined us from the Toffeemen. I understand that he had a good pre-season especially away at Swindon and ought to score goals in the Champ my source tells me.

I'll have to make the most of tomorrow's game as I'll not be at the Fulham game now that's been moved to the Sunday....don't get me started on that ! As a result I'll have to wait until the visit of Preston for next home game if you'll forgive for not knowing when the date of the fourth round of the league cup should we get a home tie.

Come On You Reds !

Jeremy Corbyn

There was a delicious irony on the day that Jeremy Corbyn was celebrating a victory, Charlton were left to rue their lack of an out and out left winger that might have secured one for them. That position was largely filled by another JC, Jordan Cousins. I always like to see him in the team but he really needs to be in centre mid.

For large parts of the game The Addicks attacked well down the right with Solly and JBG linking up well. However, Fox lacks Wiggins attacking prowess and fails to deliver the same quality of cross. Things altered slightly in the second half when Bergdich came on and last season's player of the year moved inside.

The addition of the great Dane ( I can't spell it off the top of my head ! ) also improved our attacking intent. Igor seems still to be struggling to regain the form and impact of early last season. I hope that is entirely down to fitness or the lack of otherwise our striking cupboard looks very bare.

For the first 15 to 20 minutes we looked good and moved the ball around well but didn't trouble debutant Camp too much. As ever, the seasoned Addick will have had a sense of foreboding and the sucker punch duly arrived.

Referee Stroud, who had an absolute shocker, awarded a corner instead of a free kick and of course The Millers went on to score from that. Whilst a sense of injustice was appropriate we only had ourselves to blame for defending the corner so poorly.

Fortunately our changes in the second half and general all round improvement saw us garner an equaliser. That left Steve Evans ( below ) looking really fed up but to be fair even from high up in the East Stand he looked REALLY fed up !

Evans may not have to worry about the fortunes of Rotherham for much longer as he is currently being linked with the Peterborough job. It is felt he may take it as it nearer his home in Sodor.

Had we lost yesterday it would have been unfair but whether we deserved the win isn't that clear cut. After all Pope was called upon to make two fine saves with the one from the header being an outstanding piece of goalkeeping.

There's little doubt that Rotherham came for a point but we can't be too uptight about the time-wasting etc as we've done it many times ourselves when the need arises and wouldn't be complaining ourselves. We'd probably cite it as a professional performance.

The last two matches have slightly taken the edge off our fine start to the season. To be successful we really do need all our players to be fit such is the thinness of our squad. I'm not convinced the midfield is what it should be and the left sided player would go some way to addressing that.

Up front we lack fully fit players and options too. I feel that Watt and the Great Dane can form a successful partnership given time. Igor and Ahearne-Grant remain very much back up options.

Post match there was time for a couple of beers in Crossbars and I couldn't help but notice how worn and dull the sign on the Jimmy Seed stand looked. In fact, when viewed from that end of the ground one realises how outdated and tired the stand looks and it isn't in keeping with the rest of the stadium.

In fact so tired, lethargic and out of place does it appear that it wouldn't be stretching things too far for it to be renamed the Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink stand. Hopefully the powers that be will at least consider a new sign.

Huddersfield up next on Tuesday then and whilst one would naturally welcome a repeat of last season's scoreline it could be a nail in Chris Powell's managerial coffin. Of course, a win for us on Tuesday followed by an upturn in fortunes for the Terriers after would be the ideal scenario.

The Millers

Windy Miller - he wasn't called Windy because he owned a windmill.......that was a cover to obscure the fact that he suffered from extreme flatulence. He once tried it on with Miss Lovelace who told him in no uncertain terms to " get off me you smelly bastard ! ". Appropriately Windy lived in Trumpton.

Roger Milla - no he didn't ! Even the Cameroon footballer wasn't shagging the whiffy one !

Arthur Miller - despite his slightly geeky looks Arfur married Marilyn Monroe. United could use someone who could score like that !

Jon Miller - see here on bottom left with the other members of How. For youngsters viewers in How the team used offer answers to some difficult questions although even they'd struggle to explain how Steve Evans is still employed as a football manager.

Glenn Miller - with an uncanny resemblance to Arthur, Glenn had an impressive slide technique. Could he have arrested United's slide down the table ?

Jacob Miller - the rugby player has an impressive tackle (oh err ! ) but even he would struggle to bring down Steve Evans. The Rotherham manager will probably manage that himself. 

Charlton play Rotherham United on Saturday.