What a chance this game is.... I’m not sure if you are aware but as we are the early kick off a win sends us top of the table!!!! The pros.... We are at home, it’s on tv where we normally do well, we are on a 5 game unbeaten run, we have won our last 2. The cons.... Charlton are due, I have this small voice in the back of my head saying they haven’t beaten us for ages! Charlton have obviously been performing better than expected so far, they give up a lot of possession so expect us to have loads but they are organised and have been hard to break down. A big plus for us is striker Lyle Taylor is still out injured and they have struggled for goals without him. They have a very good midfield with two young loan players people may not have heard of excelling, Josh Cullen from West Ham who was there best player last season in promotion and they were desperate to get him back and Connor Gallagher from Chelsea also Jonny Williams who I have always rated when fit! I have spoken to a few Charlton friends who have said they have used 442 and 352... they seem to think they may go three at the back with wing backs! It rarely works out like this but playing a team who sits back and is hard to break down an early goal is priceless!!
They've had some practice against the way we play having beaten Leeds and playing Swansea tonight, both teams who like playing football, so it will be a tough game for us.
There left back Purrington was injured midweek and apparently they don’t really have a back up ( similar to us) so will have to play somebody out of position!
What was that first half all about. At least Parker got the subs right. Poor old Steven Sessegnon was having a nightmare, couldn't tackle or pass. Arter just wasn't up to it and luckily got injured just before HT, otherwise I think he'd have come out for the 2nd Half. Reed was again really good as a replacement, Parker shouldn't drop him for Arter, changed the game along with Reid. Second half moved the ball forward quicker with good passing. Is it planned that we have one poor half and one good half? What does Reid have to do to score, keepers keep pulling off brilliant saves, that's about 7 goals he should have scored by now.
A game of 2 halves but we probably shared the first and dominated the second. We could have well won albeit their keeper held MOTM. The inclusion of Bobby and Harrison made the world of difference, which can't be overlooked when we resume against Stoke. Onward and upward, we're doing pretty good all round.
