View attachment 12309 vs Charlton kick off their easter weekend with an away trip to Boundary Park to take on Oldham Athletic. Charlton got back to winning ways last weekend with a 2-0 win in the london derby against Leyton Orient with goals from Wagstaff and N'guessen. Oldham travelled to Griffin Park to take on Brentford in midweek and were beaten 2-0 with goals from Bean and Mcginn. When Oldham travelled to the Valley in mid December many Charlton fans including myself thought it would be a walk in the park and an easy 3 points although Oldham always make it difficult for us at the Valley I still believed this season we were far too good for them and when Russell put Charlton 1-0 up in the 60th minute I believed the 3 points were ours. I was however wrong and Oldham popped up with an equaliser in the 84th minute courtesy of Morais to make the game finish 1-1. Oldham are currently 14th in the league with 48 points from their 40 games. Oldham has an incredible 9 games in march winning 3 and losing 6. They have already played and lost one this month and are currently on a 3 match losing streak, with Charlton and Sheff Wednesday as their next two matches you can only see this run without a win extending further. That being said they still have some quality in their ranks and their main threat in my opinion will come from either Shefki Kuqi and Chris Taylor. Chris Taylor has also stated that with his contract up in the summer that he wants to test himself at a higher level. Charlton's Away Record - W14 D4 L3 GF32 GA14 PTS46 Oldham's Home Record - W8 D4 L8 GF23 GA23 PTS28 Top Three Goalscorers- Charlton Athletic - Oldham Athletic 21 Wright-Phillips - 16 Kuqi 13 Jackson - 7 Simpson 9 Kermorgant - 6 Reid Previous Meetings Charlton Athletic 1-1 Oldham Athletic 17/12/2011 Oldham Athletic 0-0 Charlton Athletic 09/04/2011 Charlton Athletic 1-1 Oldham Athletic 21/08/2010 Oldham Athletic 0-2 Charlton Athletic 08/05/2010 Charlton Athletic 0-0 Oldham Athletic 10/10/2009 My team to play against Oldham Athletic- Hamer Solly Morrison Cort Wiggins Wagstaff Stephens Hollands Cook Wright-Phillips Kermogant Subs Sullivan Taylor Pritchard Green N'guessan Kermogant is back in my starting line up as we are away from home and will have to go long at some point during the game. I'd like Stephens to push up and like Hollands to play infront of the back four. I'd also have Cort man mark Kuqi as he is immense in the air this would allow Morrison to mop up. Looking at our previous matches against Oldham a draw looks like the most likely outcome, however I don't see why we can't win here and hopefully the boys can take some momentum from the Orient game and bring home all 3 points.
.........................Hamer................... Solly......Cort..........Morrow.........Wiggins .....................Taylor....................... Wagstaff........Stephens............Cook ..........Kermit...........BWP............ I have returned Hamer in goal because his last two performances have deserved it and I have put Taylor into midfield as I feel he could carry out the holding midfield duties with ease.
Don't buy the Taylor in midfield thing. Sorry. Equally contentious, how about: Hamer Solly. Cort. Morro. Wiggy Stephens Green. Wagstaff. Cook Kermit. BWP Won't happen cos Hollands appears to be undroppable. Two games in three days. Should be some rotation. Thing well see n'guessan at some point and I hope we see Green. Six points would be fantastic and should be achievable.
Nah, Taylor in midfield?, no way. CP is obviously a creature of habit and wont change a winning team, so Hamer,Solly,Cort,Morro,Wiggy,Waggy,Hollands,Stephens(against old team),Cook,Kermy,BWP - although maybe he might not play Cook as he is likely to be by-passed in the play ooop there . This is probably the biggest game of our season so far, 3 points and i think we are on our way boys. Just imagine if we had lost one of the Sheffiled games, how we would be feeling now ?!
Never at our best against Oldham and we really must blot Kuqi out - I know he's coming up to drawing his pension, but IMO he remains one of the best target men in this league and this season, he's also added a fair number of goals. 1-1.
I asked the question the other week as to why Cort should be getting ahead of Taylor - Last weekend against Leyton Orient people proved why Cort should be ahead of Taylor. Oldham are big and physical if they get the first goal its gonna be difficult to go on and win the game for me - For that reason I'd use the physicality and experience of Cort above Taylor again this weekend As Dick says - Why change a winning side
CP has indicated he will rotate to rest some players before the difficult away trip to Carlisle. Those who "deserve" a rest are Solly, Morrison, Wiggins, Hollands, Kermorgant and BWP, just because they have all played in most games, but it follows that they are the players we can least afford to be without. Taylor is already being rested and the others have been in and out of the team so don't need a rest. Solly may have to keep soldiering on because there is no obvious replacement. Even our very good Juniors do not seem to have a specialist right-back as they play Ajayi (a centre-back) or Cousins (a midfielder). We could bring back Taylor to rest Morrison, but I don't think Cort and Taylor are an ideal partnership as they do much the same job, and CP might think that, at 32, Cort is less capable of playing 3 games in 8 days so Morrison might be asked to play on. Wiggins has shown some sign of fatigue lately so CP might give Evina another chance in one of the Easter games, but that might work better with a fit and in-form Jackson ahead of him. Would Cook give him enough defensive support? Hollands and Kermorgant definitely need a rest and Hughes and Hayes could slot in nicely for one match. I suppose Haynes is the nearest thing we have to BWP but is he fit enough to start? I think BWP will start both games and be taken off in both to be replaced by Haynes or N'Guessan, though N'Guessan could start at home to Walsall. But should CP rest a couple of players against Oldham and a different two against Walsall? I think he will play his strongest team at Oldham, then if we do at least as well as the Sheffields, rest several players against Walsall. But if we need to make up lost ground after Saturday, play his strongest team again against Walsall.
Is there anybody out there??????? Quiet on here! Can't believe we are all at Oldham. I see big Mig has just scored for Sheffield Wed. Not good news. Was kinda hoping for Udders to do us a bit of a favour today. Looks like we are just going to have to be responsible for our own fate and keep winning!
Typical of my old mucker...but its in our own hands win today and once again it dont matter what the blades or wednesday do
Charlton: Hamer, Solly, Wiggins, Morrison, Cort; Cook, Hollands, Stephens, Wagstaff, Kermorgant, N’Guessan subs: Sullivan, Taylor, Jackson, Pritchard, Wright-Phillips
I'm always reluctant to see bWP rested but he was very poor last week so probably fair enough. Sad not to see any sign of Green. Maybe he starts on Monday at home. Wednesday 2 up. Pooo!
Cheers Jeff. I didn't know that. Hope he'a better for Monday. Paul Hayes must wonder why he'a been recalled. Suppose n'guessan merits a shot so long as he keeps scoring. Not convinced by him to say the least though!
I agree about n'Guessan and Hayes. n'Guessan may have got a couple of goals but his all round play hasn't particularly impressed me, but I suppose I've only seen him play twice, so would be unfair to make a judgement.
Hi Jimbob - i'm here mate. N'Guessan for BWP - exactly as i predicted , sorry, suggested, earlier this week - i am CP's mouthpiece !! Makes sense, keep him fresh for Monday when he will have more chances rather than more chasing.
Hi Jimbob - i'm here mate. N'Guessan for BWP - exactly as i predicted , sorry, suggested, earlier this week - i am CP's mouthpiece !! Makes sense, keep him fresh for Monday when he will have more chances rather than more chasing.[/QUOTE] Wotcha Stu. It's the team I thought he'd pick too. Let's hope n'guessan keeps the run going. Sheffield wed result is a blow, but in a sense nothing has changed. We need 3 wins and if we can't get them from our remaining fixtures starting today then we wouldn't deserve to go up automatically anyway!
Looks like long ball today against a physical team that will do the same... lets hope we have a decent referee this week, first time in a while. Any other news...anyone see the boat race?
