Match Day Thread Charlton V Shrewsbury (11 Aug 2018)

Here we go then, our first home game of the season...

1. Squad

As far as I am aware Charlton have 14 outfield players available for today's clash with the Shrews...

Defenders
Solly
Bauer
Sarr
Page

Midfield
Maloney
Aribo
Marshall
Pratley
Lapslie
Mascoll

Forwards
Grant
Ajose
Taylor
Hackett-Fairchild

That means 5 players on the bench again, unless Blumberg or others who do not currently have squad numbers are drafted in.

2. Form



Charlton have won 6, drawn 1 and lost 6 games.
They have scored 15 goals and conceded only 9 - not a bad record overall.

however, 9 of the 15 goals Charlton have scored under Lee Bowyer were scored during the first three games he was in charge.
Those 9 goals were scored by the following players;

Page (1)
Zyro (2)
Reeves (1)
Fosu (2)
Magennis (1)
Aribo (2)

Of those players, only Lewis Page and Joe Aribo are (presumably) available to play against Shrewsbury Town today.

After the initial three wins, Charlton have scored 6 and conceded 8 in their most recent 10 competitive games.
Those 6 goals were scored by the following players;

Reeves (1)
Pearce (2)
Magennis (1)
Ajose (1)
Taylor (1)

Of those players, only Nicky Ajose and Lyle Taylor are (presumably) available to play against Shrewsbury Town today.

So the players who could play today have scored 5 goals between them in Charlton's last 13 competitive games.
The other 10 goals scored in that time were by players who are currently injured or have left the Club.

That is a worrying statistic in my opinion.
If Charlton are to be competitive this season we must improve that goal scoring ratio.

3. Prediction

My prediction; 1-3 defeat today.

Hope I am wrong, but with all our injuries I think only way we will get anything this afternoon is if Shrewsbury have a bad day at the office.
The Shrews have signed a large number of players, and these will take time to gel together as a team. Also some Charlton fans believe that Shrewsbury 'shot their bolt' last season, and will struggle even to remain in the top half of the table this season.

Shrewsbury did lose their opening fixture 0-1 against Bradford last Saturday, but early season results are not often reliable indicators of future form, and Bradford themselves have been busy in the transfer market in their quest for promotion.

 

The highlight today will be bosom buddies Mr van Gerwen and Ivor having a beer and a giggle in the White Swan before today's blockbuster.

 

Unlikely, as I am boycotting the home games this season as you know

Shrewsbury have sold less than 350 tickets - pathetic - today’s attendance is going to be a shocker hopefully.

#Target5000

 

Excellent preview @lardiman

 

Boycotting two years too late.

Max 7,000 bums on seats.

 

Definitely- a lot of ST holders will still be on holiday.

4500 ST max
1500 walk up max
350 Salop

 

The Club will announce an attendance of 10,362

 

They will have been dishing out comps like Elfs dishes out VD.

 

I think you are right though ...Keohane will be keen to massage the figure today to ensure the attendance doesn’t look stand out awful.

 

Keohane flying over Woolwich High St this morning ...

 

Are there any 606 regulars going today ?

SIG maybe ?

Or @lardiman ?

 

I wondered whether the final defeat might take its toll on the Shrews morale. Much more worrying is our own squad weakness. The plus side is that Bowyer seems able to get tge best out of our players, and grabbed a couple of good free signings. The negatives are endless, but a lack of subs, plus Bowyers unwillingness to bring on Ajose and Sarr last week was poor. I'll go for a 1-1 draw but literally anything could happen.

 

With Willy Hills - £10 bet

Charlton to win and Joe Aribo first goalscorer

Returns £253

Lyle Taylor anytime goalscorer … 8/5

 

The apologist/miserable c*** that is CLB74 will be using his season ticket today.

Chippy inboxed me and said that he is attending today and wants to give Mr van Gerwen his £20

 

Good preview, Lardi. This opening game at The Valley has taken apathy to a new level. Ironically, the level of apathy is one of the most interesting aspects of the game. Apathy gone mad.

 

Not so long ago fans were itching for the opening game.

Talking about the football still continues to be secondary to the off field shenanigans, that is sad.

Fans of a well run club would not know the names of the board.

 

First opening home game I reckon I have missed in over 20 years. I hope there are thousands like me today.

 

I think I’m going today, should be plenty of leg room

 

There will, but not thousands like you fortunately.

 

Quite right Elfs. Remember back to the tail end of last season when Bowyer got the team ticking and we were all discussing whether we could beat Portsmouth away. FFS thats what most of us want. But with the owner we have, we're back to the usual discussions about what will go wrong next. A good owner should be invisible and let his manager and team do their job. But RD has taken invisibility to a destructive new level. Pathetic where we are now.