Fleetwood Back!

Tomorrow sees a welcome return to SE7 for the Addicks having had the luxury of a whole week to prepare for the visit of Fleetwood.

Jackson will no doubt be pleased to be back at home. At a minimum he’ll be looking for a better performance never mind result.

I’m sure that 3 games in 6 days didn’t help matters physically demanding as that was in addition to leaving little time to prepare for games. However, it doesn’t excuse some players inability to pass to teammates less than 10 yards away!

I haven’t seen us live in the flesh since before Christmas but some of the quality, desire and intensity seems to have dropped off with one or two players.

Albie Morgan has probably done enough in the last two games to retain his place in the starting eleven. To keep it he really needs to be more consistent as shows glimpses of his potential but often doesn’t maintain it.

This really ought to have been season to cement his place in the side. The remainder of the season is probably nudging towards last chance saloon for him.

The manager will be delighted to be able to have MacGillivray back between the sticks. One could argue that his absence from the last two league games has cost us at least 3 points.

The continued absence of Stockley is clearly affecting both performances and results. Until the return of Chuks we had little to no goal threat whatsoever.

Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll see Chuks and Washington start. They ought to complement each other in similar fashion to the tried and tested Stockley-Washington duo.

Chuks return to S.E.7 is most welcome and the association 3.5 year deal and transfer fee look good business to me. Aneke is a proven goalscorer at this level. I think he has time and the ability to end up top goal scorer this season.

One or two fans seemed to have a problem with Chuks returning but I don’t get that. The possibility of playing under Adkins wouldn’t have been a great pull and the chance to play in the Champ under Lee Bowyer clearly was.

In similar vein I see that rumours of Jermaine Defoe returning to S.E.7 is causing some angst amongst supporters.

Defoe is something of a bête noire with a number of the Valley faithful. I kind of get that given the West Ham academy graduate’s departure. However, given his age when he left and that he would have little to no say in the move then he can hardly be blamed.

Might he be useful as a backup striker if needed? Yes. Would he be using to have to coach our current and academy strikers? A big fat yes!

We desperately need to start rebuilding job across a number of areas on the playing side. That can’t happen too soon. Perhaps one of the blessings of knowing that we won’t be going up to the Champ at season’s end is that we can plan for 2022-23 now.

In the meantime we do need to ensure that we don’t slide any further down the league and a loan singing or two plus a long term addition of the right order would help.

The Cod Army’s new manager Steven Crainey has improved results but we should be confident of a win tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to seeing my first CAFC game of the year. I’m hoping for a great atmosphere, display and result.

Come On You Reds!