*PITCH INSPECTION 1pm* Charlton v Gillingham | 13th Feb | 3pm | Match Preview

ForeverAddickted

Charlton Athletic v Gillingham
Saturday 13th February 2021 ... 3pm Kick-Off
Referee: Kevin Johnson (Somerset)

Introduction
Charlton return to action this weekend off the back of a 2-0 win in Rochdale last Saturday, it was the sort of performance that both the fans and Lee Bowyer have desired for so long and is the type of display that many knew we were able of, of course it could have been more but a convincing display going forward combined with a clean sheet at the back provided three points in the same way any high scoring game. Naturally any team is only as good as its last performance and as we've seen from recent wins at Bristol Rovers and Milton Keynes its important that we carry that momentum into the next game, and the next. We saw on Tuesday night that (some) teams will take advantage of having games in hand against us, it makes games on Saturday against Gillingham even more cruical that we obtain three points and keep the sword from our badge, firmly in our rivals backs.

The Opposition
Name: Gillingham (16th) | Manager: Steve Evans
Ground: Priestfield Stadium
Previous Meeting: Gillingham 1-1 Charlton Athletic

Our opponents this Saturday make the short trip up from Kent this weekend in what they like to call the Kent Derby... Charlton would make the reverse trip in November shortly after the International break which quite shortly would mark the derailment of our early season form; Ryan Inniss would be absent for his first game (he hasnt been seen since) and it would be a display that almost epitomised our run thereafter; Conor Washington would miss a penalty that would prove costly and it again be up to Chuks Aneke to step off the bench to rescue a point, the very least that the Addicks deserved that particular afternoon in Medway.

Gillingham though are a side that are typical of League One, early season form would see them temporarily in the Play-Offs albeit just for two game weeks, a poor run of form would see them drop to their customary place within midtable that typically ended around the time that the Charlton Charity Foundation rolled into town. Once again the Gills would go on a winning run that was replaced again with a losing one, and so its been a vicious cycle that'll no doubt see them finishing in a comfortable mid table position once again... 10-points from the relegation zone should stop their fans from having any concerns about a drop to League Two, but then again I thought AFC Wimbledon would avoid a relegation battle themselves this season, so what do I know.

In terms of their squad and the focus will surely be on Jordan Graham, a potential target for the Addicks on deadline day, only to be knocked back... The ex-Wolves youngster joined on a permanent basis last summer (after a successful loan deal) and has seven goals and four assists to his name this term, he'll no doubt be a threat this afternoon, Gillingham fans will have limited time to enjoy his performances, with higher clubs surely circling ahead of the Summer Transfer Window.

Charlton Team News
I start this piece with a topic that has unfortunately been discussed to death this season; Injuries!!

Thankfully on this occasion its the lack of them that we can discuss, ahead of this weekend Ryan Inniss should be the only player absent from the squad and if the reliable @Sage is to be believed, Ryan will be attending his scan on Friday and all going well could return to training on Monday... Elsewhere and it means that Conor Washington and Akin Famewo (the latter playing in a 4-3 U23 defeat at Bristol City on Tuesday) should be available this Saturday, yet you'd expect the latter be on the bench after such a long period out.

Regarding those who can keep themselves fit and the focus will surely be on the wings with Liam Millar and Diallang Jaiyesimi, the latter having had an impressive debut from the bench, and having had a week to get used to his new team mates should now in contention for a start. Whilst not injured both Jayden Stockley and Jake Forster-Caskey could be benched this weekend having had muscle tightness from the Rochdale game.

Amos
Gunter | Oshilaja | Pearce | Purrington
Jaiyesimi | Pratley | Shinnie | Millar
Schwartz | Aneke

Substitutes Bench: Harness | Morgan | Famewo | Forster-Caskey | Smith | Stockley | Washington

Prediction
When you look at the fixture list since our run of poor form then February is without doubt the month that stands out and the must win month where we really cant afford any slip ups - With the run of games against teams in the lower reaches of the table its important that we obtain maximum points, especially before we hit the run in of games with most of those games coming against those around us, each equally looking to obtain promotion themselves. With some of those sides also dropping points in the games they have an advantage in, its a chance to seriously put some pressure on.

You certainly get no rewards for choking in this Sport..

FishCostaFortune

Wouldn't be shocked if this is close to the team either. 

Harsh on JFC to miss out, but I don't see Bows dropping Pratley and for me Shinnie has to be the player to play in the centre. With Millar and Jayesimi either side of him, I can't help but feel excited. 

Would be stupid and frustrating to drop Stockley, similar to Millar at Portsmouth, but damned if you do, and dammed if you don't and he does pick up an injury I guess. 

And perhaps with those players around him we might see the best of Schwartz. 

Covered End

Our great 0-2 at Rochdale last week, doesn't seem quite so assuring after MKD won there 1-4 last night.
My heart says 2-1 to Charlton.
My head says we're totally unpredictable, very poor at home and I'm hopeless at predicting Charlton scores this season.

MrOneLung

Improve our PPG

2-1 the addicks 

Dazzler21

Easy Win or Desmond.

All depends if we play like Rochdale, closing, high pressure and with a freedom to attack. 

or 

We play like we did at Portsmouth, sitting deep and trying to counter with aimless balls forward. 

I can only see us setting up like this:

Amos

Gunter - Oshilaja - Pearce - Maatsen

Shinnie - F.Caskey - Pratley - Millar

Stockley - Schwartz

Substitutes Bench: Harness | Matthews | Morgan| Smith | Jaiyesimi | Aneke | Washington

I'd prefer we went for this:

Amos 

Gunter - Oshilaja - Pearce - Purrington

Morgan - Shinnie - Pratley - Millar

Aneke - Stockley

Substitutes Bench: Harness | Matthews | Morgan| Smith | Jaiyesimi | Schwartz | Washington

I don't want us rushing Famewo back and I can't see Bowyer doing that either. My selection allows us a different attacking approach with Washington playing short balls on the floor or over the top for Schwartz to run onto & visa versa. 

BR7_addick

I think same XI but with Schwartz in for Stockley due to slight knock, but Stockley will be on the bench.  The Rochdale performance was one of the best of the season, I know they’re crap but we kept a clean sheet against a free scoring team.

We win 2-1 with Aneke at the double.

soapy_jones

Hmmm. What would piss me off most?  Losing to the Jills... or, Penfolds face when we lose to the Jills?

C'mon Charlton, we are miles better than we have been.

3-1

ForeverAddickted

Just realised I had put six loans

Should Famewo be on the bench on Saturday it will be fun to see who gets left out unless we're on the verge of keeping Shinnie on a permanent basis

Replaced Maatsen with Morgan in my team

DOUCHER

having to nurse stockley now is a bit worrying - we haven't done something to him in training now have we? shinnie said it was the first muscle injury he had ever had - really can't be coincidence how many muscle issues our players have 

Covered End

Dazzler21 said:

Win

Desmond.

Win 2-2?

AndyG

With the size of our Squad now and the riches LB has to select his starting 11 this should be a win but who knows with the weird results this year has thrown up. I still think we will be too strong upfront for them whichever strikers we start. Comfortable 3-0 and the hopefully the 2nd of 6 straight wins

DOUCHER

line up in preview other than smith for pratley and hopefully stockley for schwarz - i know i know - we have to have a defensive midfielder and all that nonsense - no we don't - we are at home against gillingham and need a win - lets play them off the park with all guns blazing and stop pussy footing about 

Dazzler21

Covered End said:

Dazzler21 said:

Win

Desmond.

Win 2-2?

Or a loss.

Sorry I meant to type Win or Desmond.

hawksmoor

I absolutely despise Gillingham because my money-grubbing cow of an aunt supported them. Please, just turn them over for me.

Oggy Red

With very nearly a full squad to choose from, it might look like Bowyer has a selection headache.

I can't see him not having Matthews in the 18, there would be no fullback cover at all.
At least if a CB got injured, there'd be Gunter or our favourite assassin to drop back, providing he hadn't already been red carded.

It might even be Famewo who doesn't make the bench, if the Meds team advise that he gets another U23 game next week?
Needs to build up his 'minutes', doncha know?

ShootersHillGuru

They are annoyingly a bit of a bogey team and recently have had some decent results. As much as we should win at The Valley I’m going for a frustrating 1 - 1

mascot88

Absolutely no idea

thickandthin63

Dont want to sound down beat but to be honest if we dont win this then we wont go up.

Dazzler21

thickandthin63 said:

Dont want to sound down beat but to be honest if we dont win this then we wont go up.

It's a bit of a stretch, the play offs are a lottery getting out of this league, as we know after scraping through vs Doncaster after dominating them in the first leg and being beaten 1-0 in both legs vs Shrewsbury or even the 2-1 loss followed by 2-1 win vs Swindon... When Bailey planted his penalty on the moon. 

Ironically we were the only side on those three occasions to get promoted. Face us in the league 1 play offs even if you make it past us, you'll lose by a goal in the final. As Sunderland know, you might also lose by a goal in the final to us.  

johnnybev1987

Without sounding negative, but at this point i wouldn't be happy with either Prats or Pearce started. Yes i wont write them off completely but feel they should really be back up/ emergency. We need Fam/Innis back pronto if we want to get on a run that will guarantee top 6 and aim for top 3 ideally swiftly.

No midweek game, no excuses. We should be winning this one, bit Gills seem to be a bit of a nuisance of late 2-1 Charlton win Millar/Scwartz

blackpool72

Great preview as usual FA. 
It's becoming impossible to predict how we will line up and play at the moment. 
But last week's performance gives me some hope we can go on a run. 
2.1 the mighty Addicks. 

mendonca

Evan's being the tw*t he is in paragraph one. But I'll agree with paragraph two:

“I spoke to Alex Neil (the North End manager) and was in contact via messages with Peter Risdale (advisor to the club’s owner) and the reality is that we couldn’t get anywhere near the type of money that Preston expected to recover. You therefore realise his choices would be some big clubs in League 1 and he chose Charlton.

“I know from watching Charlton pre Stockley to now with Stockley, it seems to be a much more difficult opposition for us now. You need to look what he brings to the party.

Dizzle

In terms of VP for this game. I’ve spoken before about how I feel like a bit of a jinx. 

I started buying the streams in November having never bought one before. Partly due to the enticement of the raffles Range Rover, but also as we were playing relatively well to OK. There has been 17 games since then. I have paid for 14. I have seen 2 wins, 6 draws and 6 losses. The 3 games I didn’t buy? All wins. I missed watching the games vs Rochdale, MK Dons and Bristol Rovers but can’t help but feel that if I buy the stream we will draw at best. 

*I have no explanation for the two wins I did see based on the above hypothetical ‘jinx’. 

southamptonaddick

Dizzle said:

In terms of VP for this game. I’ve spoken before about how I feel like a bit of a jinx. 

I started buying the streams in November having never bought one before. Partly due to the enticement of the raffles Range Rover, but also as we were playing relatively well to OK. There has been 17 games since then. I have paid for 14. I have seen 2 wins, 6 draws and 6 losses. The 3 games I didn’t buy? All wins. I missed watching the games vs Rochdale, MK Dons and Bristol Rovers but can’t help but feel that if I buy the stream we will draw at best. 

*I have no explanation for the two wins I did see based on the above hypothetical ‘jinx’. 

My view on this is DO NOT BUY ANYMORE STREAMS please until supporters are allowed back or ever again. 

Pavoren007

I reckon Famewo will have another reserve run out before being involved, but we have more than enough now in all other areas to win through. I think Maatsen is more dynamic at full back, but his lesser experience vs Purrington has shown over the last month, so would continue to use Purrington until his form dips or he needs a rest.

Amos
Gunter  Oshilaja Pearce  Purrington
Jaiyesimi  Pratley  Shinnie Millar
Stockley Aneke

Substitutes Bench: Harness, Maatsen, Morgan, Smith, Forster-Caskey, Schwartz,  Washington 

Just look at that squad versus same time last month 👏🏻

3-2 to the mighty Addicks Aneke, Stockley and Schwartz - conceding 2 opens the door for Famewo to return next time out...

SouthWest_Addicks

2-0 Charlton - Difficult victory with two late goals. We haven’t kept a cleen sheet in last 8 home matches. 3 points and not conceding will be huge as we come towards the big run in.
Amos
Purrington, Pearce, Deji, Gunter
millar Shinnie Pratley, DJ
Stockley Aneke

Dont think we will see Famewo this week. Think we will give one more week of training.

Croydon

We need a run, and we need it now. Our upcoming fixtures are the perfect springboard for a promotion push.

Comfortable 2-0 win.

ForeverAddickted

Quotes from Bowyer's Press Conference courtesy of Benjy Nurick

JFC didn’t train with the squad on Tuesday, will have to see how he is today, “have to look at the bigger picture sometimes but you have to trust the players, they know their bodies better than anyone”. #cafc

Interesting quotes from Bowyer on the salary cap reversal: "It just shows that it should never have been put in, in the first place. That doesn’t help us though! I think we was the club that got affected by it more than anybody, that’s plain to see. #cafc

"Because we came down, lost 12 players, and we weren't able to bring in the players we first wanted to. But the most important now is, it looks like, now is we can start building again. #cafc

"This summer again, I don’t know off the top of my head, but we’ll probably lose another 12. Seems to happen every season. But then we’ll be able to do business how we want to do business with no restrictions. #cafc

"Or hopefully, we’ll be in a different division and this conversation will have been a waste of time. That’s the plan! That’s plan A. But yeah, just a shame it got brought in the first place." #cafc

Lots of salary cap talk. Bowyer on if the decision will help tie down any of the loanees: "That was never a problem anyway. We had a little bit of money left back from the cap, so we are trying to turn at least one of them loans into a permanent. #cafc

"But again, it’s not always straightforward, things aren’t ever straightforward, but hopefully we’ll get one of them over the line at least." #cafc

Bowyer on the need for rotation: "In an ideal world, we played well on Saturday, and you don’t make too many changes. Obviously, Jake’s been playing well for us for a while now. He’s stepped up, but I have to look at the bigger picture. I always try to do that.

"I always try to look after the players as best I can even if at times it might weaken us. Like I’ve done in the past with Chuks...I’ve started him from the bench knowing we’re weaker. #cafc

"And it’s paid off for us of late because Chuks is fit all the time at the moment, touch wood that continues and we keep managing him the right way. But it’s the same for all of them. If there’s any doubt, you can’t risk them." #cafc

Bowyer on his 'big man-little man' strike partnership after Saturday's success with Aneke and Stockley: "The reason why I like to have the smaller one is you still have the threat in behind. Chuks can give you that to a certain extent, he’s not slow for a big fella. #cafc

"But the reason I started them at the weekend is the one thing that stood out to me from the home game, is that they couldn’t handle Chuks, physically. So we knew that was a good outlet to have and if you’ve got two of them it makes it twice as hard for them. #cafc

"But it depends on the game. That obviously worked for us but in other games, we might need the smaller one, the threat in behind, because teams are pressing really high. My worry with just the two big ones at times is that everything is played in front of them. #cafc

"Unless your wingers are running in behind. I like to have that threat as well." #cafc

Bowyer on the upcoming run of games: "We have to win them. We have to win games if we want to close in and be in amongst it in a month’s time. Then it’s vital we pick up wins. All the others have to play Tuesday now. #cafc

"And all the teams are dropping points, apart from one or two, and they will, they will drop points. We’ve got to play them all again, so if we can just stay in around it then when we play them turn them into positive results, then we’ll have a good chance. #cafc

"I don’t doubt it. I’m not panicking, I’m not worrying. We’ve got a good honest group, we improved it in January and now we have to put it all together and win games." #cafc

Bowyer on Charlton's poor home form: "We’ve dropped too many points at The Valley. Normally that’s where we are strong. Again, I’ll echo that the fans not being there doesn’t help. But there’s no excuse. If we can do it away from home, why can’t we do it at home? #cafc

"Do teams set up differently? Try and hit us on the break which has happened a few times? That’s something we have to address. This weekend is gonna be completely different. Gillingham play the way they play and we’re gonna have to fight. It isn’t gonna be pretty at times. #cafc

"But at the same time once we win them battles we have to pass the ball. Away from home, I watched the game back yesterday, I thought we did that really well. We should have won the game. But we’re going to have to defend our box well, they pepper the box time after time. #cafc

"We’re going to need a bit of luck in terms of where balls drop and we’re going to need the officials to be strong. Because there’s no getting away from it; the penalty they got away from home was never a penalty." #cafc

Bowyer on dropped points away at Gillingham: "It was and we have to rectify it on Saturday. It’s a game we all believe we can win but we have to do the basics right. The performance at the weekend was solid, but it wasn’t anything we haven’t been doing before. #cafc

"But we cut out the sloppy mistakes. When we do that, then we’re a good side. Cut them out and we can start progressing and moving up the league again. "They know that they have to compete and do the basics. The basics are you have to earn the right to play football. #cafc

"And at times I think maybe we’re a bit soft and I’ve made that clear tot the players. You can’t go into any game, turn up and think ‘oh we’re gonna win’. Football’s not like that. Games ain’t won from names on the teamsheet. #cafc

"But lately we’ve gone back to the basics and done that well. We’re always going to create chances. Once we get that right, and we seem to have half turned a corner if you like, then I believe we will go on a run. Because we are a good side." #cafc

Bowyer on picking loans: "I like to think we choose wisely. I think our loans in the past have been good, 99% of them. You have to bring in the right person, not only football-wise who fits into the group but also to fit into the group, their personality. #cafc

"Personalities are massive and you have to pick a certain person. You can’t have someone come in from a big club and if they turn up with the attitude ‘I’m doing you a favour’ it’s not going to go down well with the group. And I think you see that. #cafc

"You saw that with Conor Gallagher. A good player, we improved him. But he fitted in, his attitude was ‘I’m here, I’m here to fight with you and I want to be part of that’. And to be fair every person we’ve brought in on loan has been like that." #cafc

Bowyer on getting his team ready for games: "I always try to get them fired up before games. I try to remind them what it takes to win and remind them that we’re a good side. I never want them to go on the pitch negative. #cafc

"I remind them that they’re a good side and good players but I’m also on top of them. You have to compete. Saturday will be no different." #cafc

jonseventyfive

Not being a fan of Steve Evans is clouding my judgement, 5-0 Charlton. 

soapy_jones

I went 3-1 to Charlton but being greedy i would also like someone to chuck a snowball full of grit and shit straight at Evans mooie...

kentred2

Gillingham first played at the valley in September 1921 and in the subsequent 100 years or so have only won once at the Valley in 2017/18, which given they did the double that season must be one of Charlton’s lowest ever points.