Blackburn Rovers v Charlton Athletic Saturday 20th December 2014⦠3pm Kick-Off Referee⦠David Webb (Lancashire) So then⦠the Christmas Period is upon us, since the foreign invasion began into the English game, many have called for a winter break so that players can enjoy a rest, Bayern Munich have been crowned Christmas Champions in the Bundesliga and after this Weekendâs fixture (along with the other power teams of Europe; Barcelona, Real Madrid etcâ¦) will take a break from proceedings until February⦠Here in England though instead of giving players a rest, theyâre put through a cauldron, four matches in just two weeks which will surely define a teamâs season⦠Can the season strugglers (i.e. Blackpool or Hartlepool) put a run together and begin to claw their way to safety or will pressure get to the surprise packages (Bournemouth or Oldham) which see them slowly fall away and down the table⦠For Charlton, last Monday they were handed an ironic Christmas present when the FA Cup Third Round draw was made pitting them against a fellow Championship side, a tie which means their Christmas period this season will begin and end against the same club, that club being this Saturdays opponents: Blackburn Rovers For the second week on the trot Charlton find themselves up against Lancashire opposition, yet on this occasion they make the trip to the North West rather than playing host to the North West⦠Last Saturday the Addicks faced the strugglers from the Championship: Blackpool and as it is with Football, things didnât go quite to plan⦠In a match which was disrupted with Francis Coquelin being recalled by Arsenal late on Friday, the Addicks would put in one of their worst performances this season, a Nick Pope mistake midway through the first half would give Blackpool a deserved lead only for Charlton to ensure the teams would go into the break level with Yoni Buyens scoring from the penalty spot⦠Charlton would improve in the second half with Jordan Cousins giving the team from SE7 the lead only for hearts to be broken in injury time once more, Nick Pope (Who will be a great goalkeeper) sadly made a second error ensuring that Blackpool would returning to their tower with a valuable point â F/T: 2-2. Blackburn Rovers on the other hand would be also be struggling in London as they faced recently promoted and in-form side: Brentford, having not won in the league since a 2-1 victory at home to Leeds United on 22nd November (and failing to win on the road since the end of October), Blackburn knew it would be a tough task if they wanted to take all three points back home with them, fortunately for the Addicks (As Iâll mention shortly), Blackburn failed to take a single point home with them, with Brentford taking an early lead, Blackburn would hit back with top-scorer: Rudy Gestede scoring just before half-time, sadly whatever Manager: Gary Bowyer said in the dressing room didnât work when the teams emerged and Blackburn would go on to concede twice within 15-minutes of the restart â F/T 3-1 THE OPPOSITION With Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff City as the only teams in the Championship yet to face the Addicks this season itâs slowly coming to the part in the season where Iâll need to amend my Match Previews to ensure Iâm not repeating myself in the second part of the season⦠Thankfully that is still a few weeks ago so for now I can concentrate on Saturdayâs opposition: Blackburn Rovers who currently sit in eighth place and just one point ahead of Charlton, a win for either team this weekend will certainly help in their push for a Play-Off position whilst defeat could see either team drop into the bottom half of the table should results go against them (Who said the Championship wasnât a competitive Divisionâ¦), this season though, Blackburn have been victorious on eight occasions, theyâve drawn seven matches (most likely about to become eight going by our season so far) whilst six matches have ended in defeat⦠Surprisingly it is Rudy Gestede and not Jordan Rhodes with the most amount of goals this season (12) whilst a match against Blackburn usually results in goals with their defence only managing a clean-sheet on three occasions this term. On to the Head to Head records between Charlton and Blackburn and to be honest I donât know why I bother with this section (Possibly because I hope that itâll be a reversal of roles for a change)⦠Of course Blackburn lead in fixtures between these two sides yet its closer than you think with Blackburn having 30 wins whilst Charlton have won 25 of these meetings, as we all know Blackburn won the last meeting which prior to our fixture with Ipswich Town two weeks ago was the last time Charlton had lost at home (3-1 in April), you have to go back to 2007 when Blackburn last won at Ewood Park between these two sides which turned out to be a 4-1 victory in what was better known as Operation Ewood (as many Charlton fans would know our operations donât work out too well), two fixtures have been played out at Ewood Park since that fixture with the Addicks gaining revenge on both occasions winning 2-1 last season and 1-0 the year before. CHARLTON TEAM NEWS Is difficult to predict the Charlton team this weekend, with Thursday usually scheduled as the Press-Day it seems as though 1pm has come and gone without any team news coming out of the club as to possible starters or injuries for this Weekendâs match⦠Despite Goalkeeper: Nick Pope conceding twice against Blackpool last week, he should keep his place in between the sticks unless Stephen Henderson has returned from injury, Chris Solly should once again deputise as Captain yet with his injury concerns it remains to be seen how much of an impact heâll have over Christmas, it also remains to be seen whether he slots back into his Right-Back slot or once again performs from Midfield, with Johnnie Jackson still out injured it remains to be seen if Callum Harriott starts alongside Igor Vetokele or in his more familiar position of Left-Midfield, should it be the latter then George Tucudean or Joe Pigott could join Vetokele up front. LINE-UP Pope Solly â Ben-Haim â Bikey â Fox Gudmundsson â Buyens â Cousins â Bulot Vetokele â Harriott Subsitutes Bench⦠Etheridge â Gomez â Onyewu â Wilson â Tucudean â Pigott â Ahearne-Grant PREDICTION Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Charlton Athletic (Vetokele)
I'll be there again, which means I must be madder than Mad Jack McMad, winner of last year's Mr Madman competition. I can't see Gomez being dropped after being one of the few highlights of the Blackpool game, but does that mean we retain Solly in midfield? I'll repeat what I said after the game - he and Buyens are both too defensively minded for it to really work. Blackburn 2-0 Charlton, Rhodes and Gestede.
Right-Back slot for the next few games - Blackburn Rovers (League): Chris Solly - Cardiff City: Joe Gomez - Ipswich Town: Chris Solly - Blackburn Rovers (Cup): Joe Gomez Before a return to normal
We need good performances from Gudmundsson and Vetokele, who were our two best attacking players earlier on. In fact on his last 2 games Igor would be dropped if we had a decent squad up front. There is also the question of Pope's confidence. Bob said after the last game that he hadn't spoken to him yet because he was so down, understandably, and who knows how he feels now? Pope; Solly;Gomez;Bikey;Fox; Wilson;Buyens;Cousins;The Harriotts; Gudmundsson; Vetokele. Would be my team, Hoping Igor and Gudmundsson get back on form.
Hope I am wrong but I think that we are going to get a thumping 3-0 to Blackburn. Peeters team set up has been far too negative recently and is not working.
3-0 to Blackburn, goals by Gestade2 and Rhodes1 . All Charlton forums go into complete meltdown. Reams offers everybody out. Apathy breaks out on CL.
I'm heading up for this one because I've decided to give the Cardiff match the swerve and the guilt is eating me up. We'll win 1-0.
Would be mine too, in the circumstances, apart from Ben Haim in for Gomez. I would feel more optimistic with someone who can defend better at LM. Would have been an opportunity to give Holmes-Dennis a try but he is getting on well where he is, so why spoil that? Maybe we will see Daniell on the bench. He can cover LB, LM and CF. Not convinced about how good Gudmundsson was earlier on. Some selective memories at work here. Drifted in and out of the game and looked classy in brief flashes. Hoped he would get fitter and more involved but has gone the other way. But again, he is the best we can do, so I would play him. Nothing wrong with Vetokele that a bit of help up front won't fix.
Charlton lose 6-0 at Blackburn tomorrow....Charlton message boards reaction as follows: Charlton Life start a thread praising Sir Chris Powell's donation of his old jock strap to their Museum Into The Valley -Reams starts a thread titled " Peeters you are a **** fella" . 10 posts on it. All from Reams. Not 606 - Eddie starts a thread extolling the benefits of Polish immigration.
That team looks good to me, but I would have Ben Haim instead of Gomez. The central defenders are going to have their hands full against two of the best forwards in the division in Gestade and Rhodes.
I will head up there thinking we will lose by a couple of goals. Which means we scrape a 1-0 and Vetokele celebrates wildly (as he does) in front of the away fans. Can we get Morro back for this game? He usually had Rhodes in his pocket.
So would I. Have edited my post above as I missed that first time round. 0-2 defeat for the Addicks. Rhodes has always been a non-entity against us.
