In today's lunchtime press conference Kit confirmed that Amorebieta and Taggart are out injured. From that I take it that Hoogland is now okay. Kit was naturally full of praise for the youngsters in Tuesday night's team saying, "We’ve got fantastic talent, but they’re not kids, they’re talented young men". And adding that under him the team have developed, “resilience, guts and trusting in each other”. However, I'm certain he will revert pretty much to the team that started against Norwich. The only question is the one midfield place; does he stick with Stafylidis/Kavanagh ? And the decision of which between the two to play at left back - their natural position and to be frank neither is a proper midfielder. Stafylidis is the stronger of the two so he should stay at LB. And .. despite a strong case for Hyndman having another chance I think he'll again go with Kavanagh, because of the wing threat that Charlton have. So, my starting line-up is: ....................Bettinelli............. ..Hoogland...Bodurov..Burn.......Stafylidis... ......Christensen...Parker.......Kavanagh.. ...............Ruiz................McCormack ....................Hugo.........
I agree but Kit said that Kavanagh was a tactical choice but not sure why. I think G. Williams will get the nod over Kavanagh. Charlton are quick and strong. I hope the boys play to their strengths and play well. Although I'd settle for 3 points and play okay than play really well and get nothing.
I don't ask for to much in life, over the last few years I have taken the stick at work thrown at me from Liverpool, Palace, Hull and Spurs fans even this year the stick from Millwall fans has been hard but tomorrow I'm going to the game with three Charlton And not sure I could back to work if we lost so please please Fulham let's win this one. This game will decide our week, a win is 7 points from 3 games in a week which would be fantastic, but a defeat and 4 points from 3 games including 2 at home is very average! Can't see the back four changing, Ruiz and Parker to come back in
Gosh he's growing into this job !! PS While he doesn't really give anything away about tomorrow's team selection, think there's enough for me to stick to my original thoughts.
Been reading some articles about Charlton’s play this season. They apparently play very deep and also, are without their main striker, Vetokele, for this game. Against Norwich, as can be seen from this chart covering a slice of the game, we played an awful lot of long balls - please log in to view this image Indeed throughout that game we tended to play ‘Route 1’. Something similar against Charlton and they’ll gobble us up. Anyway, from what I’ve read we don’t need the same defensive tactics; rather we need more width. So, I’ve changed my mind and am now with you Craving - George Williams for Sean Kavanagh from my original selection.
This is a brilliant start and we're playing some nice football too, a lot of neat, quick passes and Charlton can't keep up.
I love the amount of effort we get from LVC. He has a great future ahead of him at the rate he's improving. I really hope Rodallega just has a bad cramp and it's nothing serious. Good double from him tonight.
Charlton definitely came back into the game in the 2nd half there but at no point was I worried that we'd throw away our lead, the damage had been done in the 1st half and we held on well. Perhaps the 3-0 scoreline flattered us a little bit in the end but we'll take it! Worried for Hugo, hope his injury was nothing too serious.
Hugo was rested for Rotherham because he had a niggle so hopefully this is unrelated and not a serious injury. Given the time of the game and the amount of ground he covered I'm guessing it was just cramp. This was a similar performance to the one against Norwich. Had to dig deep and battle hard. There were some very good performances out there. McCormack got MOTM from Sky, who I thought would give it to Hugo for scoring two but my MOTM was Christensen. I know all our young players are growing but he's been showing notable improvements every single game. He was so calm, skilful and hard working today. He was involved in the build up for Hugo's first and got the assist for his second. Dan Burn was immense at the back too, dealing with every high ball that came in to the box, even when Charlton stuck Bikey (who is an absolute beast) up top. The movement at times was top class so if we can replicate that on a more consistent basis we'll be challenging at the top end in no time.
Kit Symons, speaking about Hugo after the game: "He will be fine. He was a little sore. He is a nursing a couple of things which is why we rested him on Tuesday but he is in fantastic form at the moment."
Good work-rate tonight - Good to see Kavanagh doing well. Also LVC - made the 3rd goal. 3-0 did flatter us. Easy start then we had to hold-out during a critical period of pressure. Charlton had 13 corners; 23 shots but only 3 on-target - And Bettinelli was strong. COYW!!!!
We're 2nd in the form table and I wouldn't bet against us racking up another handful of points in November (Wigan away, Blackpool home, Huddersfield home, Brentford away and Brighton home). All winnable games.
That’s three back to back home wins without conceding - is there any need to say more? Well, just a little. In the first 20 minutes we were pacy, precise and two goals to the good. Then we got complacent and although we saw the first half out all right, we made hard work of getting back into the game in the second. This team has spirit though and fought for each other - which is the real transformation - and in the final 15 minutes could have properly killed the game (on more than one occasion) before the man of the moment did - please log in to view this image Thought the back four all played well and Scotty Parker was again terrific. I'd agree with FI though - my MOTM was Lasse Vigen Christensen - he was everywhere; defending, intercepting, creating. Obviously it was the team who got the victory but so much credit must go to Kit; for getting them organised, for bringing back the belief in themselves and above all helping them enjoy playing football. My wee criticism of him tonight, is that I thought he could have made the substitutions earlier - that said they were the correct ones and had an immediate impact. PS I was sitting pretty much in front of Hugo when he pulled up. From his reactions it looked like something muscular in the calf. Hopefully those early assessments by Kit are accurate.
