Charlton Athletic v Bradford City
Tuesday 13th February 2018 … 7:45pm Kick-Off
Referee: Nicholas Kinseley (Essex)
IntroductionFor the second time in two weeks, Charlton went into the final stages of a match looking to clinch three points. From those two fixtures, just a solitary point has been gained. Saturday saw the Addicks dominating against Doncaster Rovers yet once again, the inability to kill off a match meant that the points were shared… This Tuesday night will see a crunch Play-Off clash against Bradford City, can Charlton finally hold out and take maximum points… We’ll have to wait and see, and pray!!
The OppositionName: Bradford City |
Manager: Simon Grayson
Last Result: Bradford City 2-2 Bury
On paper you’d have to say that Charlton are the favourites ahead of tomorrows tie, yet as fans we know that won’t be the case… Valley Parade is one of the hardest grounds to visit at this level, with a strong fan base you know that the locals will make an atmosphere worthy of any side here in England
That so, when Charlton visited Yorkshire in October, we witnessed one of the better moments of the season… Despite being under pressure for the majority of the match, the Addicks held firm – Jake Forster-Caskey popping up with a goal, midway through the second half to settle the tie… More recent results have been disastrous for the Bantams; five defeats on the row earnt Stuart McCall the sack, leaving Bradford in danger of missing out the Play-Offs altogether.
As is the way with being a Charlton fan; Bradford have appointed a new man just in time for the match tomorrow… Simon Grayson has a reputation and is someone who knows how to get out of this Division (the right way) having taken: Blackpool, Leeds AND Preston up to the Championship from this level – It remains to be seen if he can work his magic at his new club, yet you can guarantee his players will be eager to prove their place when they visit the Valley!!
Charlton Team NewsIronically despite dropping five points these last two games; Charlton as a squad have been playing relatively well – Patrick Bauer announced his return to the First-Team on Saturday with his first goal since August, whilst Tariqe Fosu and Josh Magennis appear to be hitting a spell of good form.
With Stephy Mavididi joining the injury table, it was Ben Reeves who replaced him in the squad… Reeves who squandered a good opportunity on Saturday, has struggled to settle here in South East London with fans only getting glimpses of what the creative midfielder can do – With Mavididi out for eight weeks, it’ll be a surprise if Reeves is dropped tomorrow night.
Amos
Solly | Konsa | Bauer | Dasilva
Kashi | Forster-Caskey
Fosu | Reeves | Marshall
Magennis
Substitutes Bench: Phillips | Lennon | Pearce | Aribo | Zyro | Ajose | Kaikai
PredictionOn the back of Bradford’s form, you’d hope that Charlton can inflict more misery on our opponents – With Simon Grayson incoming, it’ll be a whole different type of Football match with Karl Robinson no doubt having to guess (more than usual) as to the tactics and players used in his first game… A draw is the best both teams can hope for, with both continuing recent habits by conceding in injury time!!
Comments
Groundhog day .
Sums our season up.
https://castrust.org/2018/02/617082/
Marshall may also need a rest, although I suspect Karl will stick with him as he protects Solly arguably more than Zyro or Kaikai would. Or perhaps that's something they've looked at in training, or on a whiteboard or whatever they do these days.
Zyro for Mag? I'd be interested to see how that would go. But Robbo won't try that in a million years.
New manager syndrome makes this another difficult one to predict.
2-1 Charlton?
Amos
Konsa Bauer Pearce DaSilva
Aribo Kashi
Kakai Fosu Magennis
Zyro
Bath tubs; Marshall, JFC, Solly, Jackson, Dijksteel, Lennon, Phillips
Big game this, I fancy us to nick it.
with that, the fact that Bradford have a new manager & that we can't seemingly get "up" for big games then this has defeat written all over it.
3-1 to the Bantams.
I'd try Zyro, and I'd probably try 442, but I wouldn't be worried about a bit of pressure. Bloody namby pamby footballers!
Tense early start but i think we can win this comfortably in the end. Im a Robbo fan but the DaSilva/Lennon sub was poor on Saturday.
When comfortable keep it that way!!
I would add, however, that Grayson has also taken Leeds up from League One to the Championship (in our previous stint in League One, I believe. I seem to remember we could have gone up on the last day of the season, and results were briefly going our way before Leeds clinched second spot) making it an impressive four teams he's got out of this league.
I fear for new manager bounce syndrome, and given Grayson's experience Bradford won't be no mugs. Lets hope he hasn't had the chance to organise his boys effectively.
A "must win" game, lest we fall out of touch with the play-offs, heart says win but head says draw.
I've got more time fore Reeves than most, but I'd probably try either Kaikai or Zyro on one of the flanks from the start, and Fosu in the middle. Without Mav to link up play both with his dribbling and his willingness to run behind Josh, Josh looked very isolated on Saturday. Some are saying he was poor but I don't think it's that as much as the attacking three were often two far away from him, and we didn't get the ball down and build through midfield well enough in the first half in particular. Zyro or Kaikai could both potentially help with that by getting closer to Josh, and allow for more interchange from that front four. We had Reeves playing as a false 9 at times on Saturday in the second half and it sort of worked alright, but player more comfortable shifting into the 9 role is preferred.
Bradford's form is dreadful, but Grayson is a good lower league manager and as mentioned, new manager bounce is a risk. I think this game could play out any number of ways.
Lastly, I think Solly has looked jaded in the last couple games. He looks like he's running in slow motion at times. He's still a good enough defender that he's able to do alright, but he seems to be relying a lot of his experience to get him through and far less on his ability. I wonder if he's carrying a knock, or if his knee pain is flaring up. If he needed a rest we could bring Lennon in to center back and Konsa in to right back, but I don't think Lennon should be anywhere near the team at the minute. The other option is bringing Dijksteel in but I'm not fully convinced by him as a right back, his 1v1 defending is good but positionally he's sloppy at times (not being a RB, obviously), and he seems to have an error in him in addition to not being great in the air. Hopefully Sarr trains this week and is available for Saturday to give us more options in defense.
........ Amos
Solly Konsa Bauer DaSilva
........ F-Caskey Kashi
Marshall Fosu Kaikai
............. Magennis
On the other games - SCP is away to table prop er upper Bury, can he make it four from four and be only 5 points behind us......
0-1
Like that young manager that came from Leicester's set up did for us...