Charlton Athletic v MillwallFriday 3rd July 2020 ... 8:15pm Kick-OffReferee: Dean Whitestone (Northamptonshire) (prev games: Preston (A))IntroductionWell so far its been a restart that no Charlton fan could have even dreamt for... Seven points have seen the Addicks pulling away towards safety and are currently showing signs of a team that have shaken off any of the faults that we saw just before lockdown. Tuesday night would see Lee Bowyer's men returning from South Wales with yet another clean sheet after more than matching up with Play-Off chasing: Cardiff City, this Friday night will no doubt require a similar performance, this time the SKY cameras are in tow...
Oh and its the South London Derby!!
The OppositionName: Millwall (11th) |
Manager: Gary Rowett (37.9% win rate)
Previous Result: Millwall 1-1 Swansea City
Well we've arrived at the least eagerly anticipated game of this mini-season... The South London Derby is a date in the calendar that is certainly celebrated by our irritating neighbours more so than ourselves, its a game that has recently seen the Addicks suffering from a loss of performance regardless if the game is at the Valley or at the Den. This time though may well be different, Millwall, with no fans to drive them on have been suffering with their results since the restart, that irritating Millwall roar will be no more this Friday night, its a chance for Charlton to seriously take advantage of that fact!!
Yet our opponents (regardless of our history together) are still a dangerous proposition, the decision to replace Neil Harris with Gary Rowett appears to have been an inspired choice from the owners. As a result the Lions have gone from fellow relegation battlers to a team that sadly looked most likely to steal the sixth and final Play-Off spot, thankfully just two points from games against Barnsley, Derby and Swansea appear to have ended that season extending dream, yet as is the way the Championship, and as we've seen with this bonkers relegation battle...
If you want to see consistency at this level, you're watching the wrong league!!
Charlton Team NewsWith three games in six days and with our South London Derby coming just two days after our trip to South Wales, its no surprise that Lee Bowyer would make seven changes for Tuesdays clash - He would reveal after the game that both Adam Matthews and Tamer Hemed were enforced and were ultimately left at home after picking up slight knocks.
It meant a change of formation and a first start for Chuks Aneke who certainly impressed in what was his first start in a Charlton shirt; Chuks with his strength and impressive first touch will no doubt be pushing for a second start tomorrow evening, yet with injuries problems this season and a lack of game time, may well have to settle for another cameo appearance... Its certainly nice to see what appears to be another inspired signing from Steve Gallen after early questions were raised by the majority of fans!!
Phillips
Matthews | Lockyer | Pearce | Oshilaja
Morgan | Cullen | Pratley | McGeady
Hemed | Aneke
Substitutes Bench: Amos | Purrington | Lapslie | Sarr | Williams | Bonne | Green | Davison | Doughty
PredictionRight lets get this out of the way, for anyone predicting a Charlton win I suggest you go for a strong lie down
In all serious who knows how this one is going to play out; Bowyer made the inspired decision to have fan noise at the Valley last week which appeared to help his players against Queens Park Rangers; Millwall wont have their own fans there but local lads like: Ben Thompson will know what will be at stake and should be up for the encounter regardless of who is there or not... With our relegation rivals refusing to go away, its another game that we seriously cant afford to lose, especially with another tough London encounter to come next Tuesday night!!
Comments
If you are asking me if i will be at all surprised if we fold like a pack of cards OR the spawny twats got one of ours sent off in the 3rd minute and scored the only goal off of Phillip's left arse cheek and the crossbar in the 101st minute... I would say nah!
Phillips | Amos
Matthews | Lockyer | Pearce | Oshilaja
Lapslie | Cullen | Pratley | Field | Purrington
Really looking forward to this one.
The genious that is Bowyer will have the boys fully refreshed following 7 changes at the land of the sheep botherers.
A fully refreshed team will put the spanners to the sword and end any lingering doubts of relegation.
3.0 the mighty Addicks.
Law of averages means we're gonna win 30 on the spin soon against this scummy outfit
But I watched bits of their game v the Swans and they are gonna tear us a new one on set pieces and we're in need of some viagra for our attack , best our binary bores can hope for is 0-0 but 1-3 it is and time to smell the qwoffeeee
Phillips
Lockyer | Pearce | Redemption Man
Matthews | Cullen | Field/Pratley | Doughty
Williams
Aneke | Hemed
^^^do it Lee, throw 'em
Now while the atmosphere has an impact on the pressure of the game I think a lot more of it is the build up and hype on social media etc which will get through to the players no matter how much they insist it doesn’t.
This time around there has been very little build up, not the weeks of anticipation, sold out away ends and endless streams of chat filled with hopes and nerves.
Saying that, id like to See Aneke and Hemed start together, give their two Shrek centre halves a good game and hopefully we can pick up the pieces and win the midfield battle.
Only 5 teams have conceded fewer goals than us.
No team in the division has drawn as many games as us.
Not sure what that says but I found it interesting. Defence looks solid, midfield is hard to play through. Attack can be a bit toothless unless it's at set-pieces, which you'd expect with Cooper, Smith, M.Wallace, Hutchinson and Williams in and around the box.
I think Mason Bennett will be missing for them which is good for us, talking to my Millwall mate he seems to rate him.
1-0 Millwall, big Matt Smith 89th min header to break our hearts again.
I feel genuinely optimistic about our chances and really think there's a decent chance that we could pull something off here.
I know the history, they always beat us, blah blah blah, so feel free to call me crazy but I think this is the year when Charlton step up and surprise all of us.
Charlton 0 - 0 Millwall
'timetable nonces'
'signal box wankers'
'sex cases'
'hope they bust'
'valium wrong un c*nts' - This is a new one on me.
haha love it.
Charlton 4-0 Millwall
5" Hemed
16" Morgan
42" Aneke
88" Matthews
Our appalling record in this fixture cannot go on indefinitely - with Charlton restarting the season as a much more gritty and determined side, who are difficult to break down (let’s not forget 3 clean sheets in last 3 games - we would not have expected that had the season carried on as normal in March), I am quietly confident
I’m going for a 2 nil Addicks win - Hemed to finally come good and break his Charlton duck, and Chuks to get the other goal
One of our strikers has got to get their post-lockdown account going at some point and hopefully this is the game