I'm glad that we fielded a reasonable side - injury to Fonte is just one of those things that can happen in any football match and we are bound to have injuries during the season. Havnt heard what the injury is or how bad, he was taken off on a stretcher, but Jos did pretty well at Stoke and he may well do so again at Villa Park. Dont panic.
What now? We panic, that's what! This is the worst thing that has ever happened ever. As we speak (or type, anyway) I'm booking my flights to Mexico.
Its unlikely I'll be able to see out from under my sombrero, and anyway, I'll be making a beeline for the US border.
My suggestion is to play Jos until the new lad comes in and stop having kittens about it. Villa aren't a good side and if they get to play give and go football in our final third, it aint because of Jos. Neither can we expect him (or any CB for that matter) to be in 3 places at once. If they loft the ball towards Benteke, I'm confident in Jos winning those.
If you make it over, can you sign? We could use a CB who can run and jump and has the strength to handle the air resistance of a sombrero!
I find it funny how last season Fonte made me nervous and I rated Hooiveld very highly, now it's the other way round! Hooiveld was part of our first clean sheet of the season, the 2-0 win against Sheff Wed when he partnered Yoshida so they're quite familiar with each other. Even if we sign Astori before Villa, he shouldn't be rushed back and I have faith in Jos and Maya dealing with Benteke.
It's not just Benteke though. It's Benteke AND Weimann. Benteke by himself, yes I would back Jos and Yoshida to deal with with. But they'll have Weimann too. And the two of them appear to combine quite well. Weren't Weimann's goals vs Man Utd, Liverpool and Swansea all assisted by Benteke?
All that Villa do is pump it to Benteke and try and pick up his scraps and knock downs anyway. Hooiveld will hopefully do alright in the air against him!
Villa only play well when Benteke plays well, Weimann needs Benteke to play well so that he can play well. Basically stop Benteke and villa are toast.
Perhaps we should make Bradford aware of the players we would like clattered on Tuesday. Cortese could make it worth their while
Seaborne has been back training from his loan period a week now and would expect to see him on our bench next week until a new signing comes in. He had a successful loan period but played all his 6 or 7 games at left back and helped keep 4 clean sheets.
Succesful? The fans hated him there. "He was stealing a living as a footballer", and someone even called him a joke and Charltons worst ever player. He was dropped on Boxing Day for sub-par performances. Edit: http://forum.charltonlife.com/search?Search=seaborne See for yourself.
