Team vs Fulham: Charlton line-up: Hamer, Solly, Morrison, Cort, Wiggins, Pritchard, Hollands, Stephens, Jackson (C), Kermorgant, Wright-Phillips 4-4-2 with Stephens and Hollands in the middle and Pritchard on the right of midfield Follow game on: https://twitter.com/CAFCofficial Or http://www.player.cafc.co.uk/latest...page/0/name/Fulham-v-Charlton-LIVE-COMMENTARY Fulham take the lead. Kacaniklic beats Solly on the left and crosses through the right-back's legs and Damien Duff finishes well A delicate Yann Kermorgant cross is flicked in by captain fantastic Johnnie Jackson. It's 1-1 here at Craven Cottage And what a goal! Yann Kermorgant smashes in a half volley from the edge of the box after great work from Pritchard on the right 2-1 Charlton and they have deserved it on their second-half display
I reckon this team is CP's intended for Birmingham. We are being outplayed, though not overrun and could yet snatch an undeserved draw. Fulham not quite at full strength (no Dempsey) but still playing within themselves. I reckon they are much of a standard with Charlton when we were at our peak with Curbs in the top division though Fulham play more football on the ground than Charlton ever did. Shows up our weaknesses quite well. Bradley Pritchard is a useful all-round squad player but quite good enough at covering Solly who is getting exposed a lot and not quite creative enough in attack. Stephens not doing much to keep possession in midfield. Jackson and Holland too slow against Premiership quality but might get away with it in the Championship. Interesting point is that Hayes seems to be inching his way back into the squad. If he cannot get a deal that suits him elsewhere he may stay with us as we have no other obvious cover for Kermorgant. An hour gone and a host of subs on both sides. Dembele, who has been running the show, off for Sidwell. Might give Kerkar a chance to show what he can do in the middle as Stephens drops deeper (boo!) instead of Hollands. Jackson uses his great speed to equalise after a great pass from Kermorgant with 20 mins to go. 2 - 1 to Charlton. Kermorgant half-volley from a Pritchard pass with 12 to go.
Whilst wary of overreacting, this would be a terrific confidence booster after last week's showing at Gillingham.
Charlton on top now but hard to assess what it all means with so many changes and especially the departure of Dembele. But winning sures beats losing! Interesting that it is Wilson on to relieve Pritchard rather than either Green or Wagstaff. Shape of things to come? Finishes 2 - 1.
Wow - well pleased with that - yes, I know it was only a friendly but you're right Captain B, after last week's no-show at the Priestfield, this is a good result to take into the game with Orient and on to St Andrew's.
According to the commentators he has lost the surplus weight noticed when they first returned for training. With no signings to improve the first XI (just three to improve the squad) we are going to rely on him a lot.
It was noticable at Gillingham that he'd trimmed down - I think he donated the surplus to Martin Allen...
Excellent result. Reports seem positive, team reacted to instruction. Back to old 4-4-2 formula & Kermo came to life. Will be very interesting too see how we approach Tuesday now
Yes, indeed. I have never agreed with the idea we should "throw" League Cup matches, especially with the large squad we have. There is always a chance of a good pay day and a bit of glory not too far down the line. After the hiccup at Gillingham I reckon CP was trying out his team for Birmingham today. And it contained four "proper" midfielders and no "proper" wingers. That is a fairly defensive line-up designed to snatch a point in a tough away fixture and, apart from Stephens, I don't think it needs any more matches playing together for them to know what they are supposed to be doing. It is basically last season's most favored line-up with the substitution of Pritchard to shore up the defence at the expense of attack. So does CP use the Cup match to continue experimenting with 4-3-3 and/or 4-5-1 with mixed actual and potential first team players, or does he "protect" anyone likely to start at Birmingham, play all "stiffs", with perhaps seven "stars" sitting on the bench to try and rescue the win if the "stiffs" are struggling? Or does he play his strongest team to try and kill off Orient as easily as possible, perhaps tweaking it to give it a more attacking bias (with Green/Waggy and Kerkar on the wings?) We don't really want to be involved in extra-time with many guys playing who will be needed at Birmingham. Depending on how fit they are, and these things are measured scientifically these days now we seem to have about two hundred backroom staff, I would do the last of these, perhaps moving Jackson inside to share playing-time with Hollands. I wouldn't want Jackson to play a full 90 minutes and Hollands may not be ready for that either.
I'd like to see Kerkar given a full game against Orient, reports so far from his sub appearances have generally been positive.
I think this is the report that Captain got the Kerkar info from http://hammyend.com/index.php/2012/08/kermogant-sinks-fulham-as-addicks-spring-surprise/ For Orient I would like us to give it a go to see if we could get a 3-0 or 4-0 so I would set up a rather attacking formation .....................Hammer............ Solly........Cort......Morrow......Wiggy ............Pritchard......Jacko......... ..Haynes.............................Kerkar.. ...............Kermit..................... ..................Bradders................. Subs Hollands & Stephens dropping to bench with most of Fulham subs That should do it....... or could perhaps lead to a 0-1 loss? That's why Dr Sir Chris is in charge not me.
I would agree AllHell in general, I feel in my gut we should field an all but full side, with a max of maybe 2 replacements. At this point in the season we shouldn't be conservative, we should be thinking about having the team as game prepared as they possibly can be for Saturday, and giving them a real, full on 'London Derby' scalp competitive cup game curtain raising the Valley for the season is a great way to try and get that feel in the squad for Brum. I'd maybe play Green or Waggy, possibly Hollands if fit enough also.
