December was an interesting month for CLiCK. Charlton fans don’t need to be told that December was a disappointing month. Indeed, but for the draw at Millwall, the CLiCK Form Guide would have put Charlton near the bottom of the table.
Cardiff City continue to impress and scored 99% - their only slip up was against Peterborough, the team at the bottom of the league when they met. Bristol City scored poorly in a month where they had easy fixtures making them strong candidates for the drop.
Hull City impressed most – scoring 91.7% having played the toughest fixtures of all teams over the course of December. Ipswich Town also performed well against more modest opposition.
The worst performing teams were Blackburn Rovers and Brighton. Blackburn is no surprise, but Brighton had a disappointing month despite impressing at The Valley.
Although the league table is tight, big changes in league position are less than might be expected. Leeds United recovered from a poor November to climb six places to 9th, while the biggest fallers were Charlton, Huddersfield and Blackburn Rovers, all of which slipped five places.
The summary statistics tell much of the story for Charlton. The record of scoring in every away game up to the end of November slipped away at Millwall, but has disappointingly been followed by two more blanks. The consecutive home wins column still stands at 1 at this midpoint of the season and the games where we have scored 2+ at home only numbers 4. Barnsley, it is interesting to note, are still to score 2 goals at home this season. Charlton have managed 4 away clean sheets, which is only bettered by Leicester City with 5, but the tougher away games ahead might damage that record.
For Charlton, the four fixtures in January are against a mixed bunch of teams. Watford are in good form, while Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday have had mixed fortunes. As for Blackburn Rovers, it remains to be seen how they perform under their third manager of the season.
So, plenty to sift through as you (and hopefully Charlton) try to shake off that New Year’s Day hangover……
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