Nottingham Forest v Charlton Athletic
7:45pm Kick-Off
Referee: Darren DrysdaleIntroductionFollowing on from a hard fought 1-1 draw against promotion favourites Derby County, it’s once again time for the Charlton faithful to travel back up the M1 and to another Championship club in the Midlands,
Nottingham Forest The Addicks look to continue their early season form and tally up another three vital points in what could help determine whether we are to be promotion challengers ourselves, or once again nearly men. Should it be the latter then we could see history repeat itself from twelve months ago when we managed a win on our opening match at the Valley and a draw in our first away opener. Of course, should this be the case then three points and a bit of déjà vu wouldn’t be too bad, would it?
The OppositionThis Tuesday night we find Charlton up against one of England’s historic clubs with Nottingham Forest (under legendary Manager:
Brian Clough) being the only English side to ever win back to back European Cups. Sadly, they also hold the record of being the only European Champions to end up in the third tier of its National League. With a transfer embargo in place, it’s hard to see Forest making a promotion challenge themselves this time around.
Last Season: Ironically, Nottingham Forest and Charlton had very similar campaigns in 2014/15… they were the last teams to be unbeaten in the Championship with both being beaten for the first time on the same day, both sacked their managers with Stuart Pearce being replaced by
Dougie Freedman and despite late season pushes for the Play-Offs, both sides had to settle for mid-table obscurity.
Pre-Season: With a transfer embargo in place it didn’t help when they lost two of their main players from last season in Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles when they finally made their moves to Newcastle following season long loan. In terms of friendlies, they only won one match which was against Stevenage (3-0) although draws did come against Premier League opposition in Swansea City (1-1) and Aston Villa (3-3).
This-Season: Well it hasn’t been the best of starts but by all means we shouldn’t take Forest lightly; defeat against Brighton on the opening day of the season was followed up by a 4-3 defeat against Walsall in the League Cup. Forest finally got points on the board last Saturday coming from behind against Rotherham United to win 2-1. The fact they made hard work of a relegation candidate doesn’t bode too well for their fans though.
Key PlayerAs always I start this section with a look back at reunion between the two sides… Of course for Nottingham Forest there is the creative: Andy Reid who had a successful (but sadly short) stint at the Valley, and whilst they are no ex-Forest players in the Charlton ranks, i'm sure the Forest fans may give a warm welcome to
Johnnie Jackson who spent six months at their City rivals: Notts County
My player to watch though is someone who terrorised Lawrie Wilson in the last match between these two sides, yet was someone who was tamed on the other flank by our own Morgan Fox… Michail Antonio who signed from Sheffield Wednesday is one of the quickest wingers in the Division, having started out his career at Reading he failed to make the grade in Berkshire and only managed 28-appearances with a long list of loan spells.
Signing for Forest last summer he managed 14-goals in a full Championship season as he would go on to appear in every match last season… Rumours of a £5m bid from West Bromwich Albion was rejected and with Britt Assombalonga still out injured, Forest will need to keep their danger man under lock and key until September to stand any chance in the Championship this season.
Possible Line-UpPope
Solly – Bauer – Diarra – Fox
Gudmundsson – Kashi – Ba – Cousins
Watt – Makienok
PredictionCharlton to bounce back after barely being contained on Saturday against Derby:
Nottingham Forest 1-3 Charlton Athletic
Comments
Confidence is very low following the loss at Brighton and scraping three points against Rotherham.
We can beat them if we play to our potential and I think we will.
0-2 (Bauer, Makienok)
0-3 to Charlton for me.
Forest are struggling with injuries and a transfer embargo forcing them to use players out of position. Lichaj at Right Back and Mancienne/Fox at left back, are both weaknesses, with no protection in front. Attack those areas and we'll open them up.
If we can replicate the performances against QPR & Derby, I fancy all three points.
1-2 to the Addicks, Watt and Makienok
1-1
If we can contain Antonio, im not sure they have much to offer going forward.
Watt with both our goals, so we can all have a good panic over keeping him past August 31st. ;-)
We all scratch our heads and wonder if we really are as good as we think.
I will be picking up from the match thread from a steaming hot Philadelphia so if we can pin it for the evening so I don't run the risk of seeing thread title spoilers that would be great.