Charlton v Southampton U23s | Tue 30 Aug | 7:45pm KO | Match Preview, Predictions, News & Views

Charlton Athletic v Southampton U23s
Tuesday 30th August 2016 … 7:45pm Kick-Off
Football League Trophy

Introduction
When the referee blew his full time whistle on the 7th May he didn’t just bring an end to an end, our match against Burnley. He also signalled the end of our stay in the Championship and thus relegating us back to the third tier of English Football, back to League One and back into a competition we’d hope that we’d never have to face again: the Football League Trophy. I could say that much has changed since our last outing in this competition (a 3-0 loss to Brentford) yet I’d be lying as any changes come into effect from right now:

As with our first opponents, Academy sides from category one clubs have entered the competition (many top Premier League sides refused the invitation so a handful of Championship sides have been included)… There are now sixteen groups of regionalised (I say that word loosely) teams, the top two will qualify for the knockout stage which unlike the old format, won’t be regionalised and if that doesn’t get you excited, any match that ends in a draw will go to a penalty shootout with the winners being awarded an extra point.

In the coming months we’ll find ourselves up against Colchester and Crawley, and just like the World Cup… Fail to lose your first game and you run the risk of having to endure more games in the competition later in the season.

The Opposition
Name: Southampton U23s
Division: U21 Premier League, Division One

When you look at your academy you have to ask the question: What makes it a successful one? – Is it Chelsea that have the best, hoarding all the young players, winning all the youth competitions yet never creating a star for their first team… Or is it Southampton, they don’t win much but when you look at their recent history of creating not just first team players, but stars (Bale / Shaw / Chamberlain / Lallana to name a few) then you have to consider that our first game back in this competition is against one of the hardest youth teams in the tournament!!


Of course under new rules, Southampton must play at least six players under U21 yet are also allowed to play a number of first-team players and with a handful of players not going on International Duty this could be an opportunity for the likes of Charlie Austin or Jay Rodriguez to get some much needed playing time… From the academy: Jake Hesketh and Ryan Seager are two names who have each made their debuts for the First Team.

Charlton Team News
Of course, Southampton must play six U21 players, whilst Charlton on the other hand must play a minimum of five first team players and with Russell Slade announcing that Dillon Phillips will be making his debut, which technically means five players from the Bolton team on Saturday will have to appear this evening.

Naturally: Josh Magennis / Ademola Lookman and Jordan Botaka are all now on International Duty so we shouldn’t expect to see them whilst Chris Solly / Johnnie Jackson and Ezri Konsa will no doubt be given a rest… Nicky Ajose is still struggling to find the net so may well be given a run out for his confidence, Patrick Bauer will surely be given more minutes as he steps up his fitness from long term injury whilst expect to see fan favourite: Roger Johnson back on the pitch!!



Prediction
Tonight’s result will completely depend on how seriously Russell Slade wants to take the competition, if you go by the League Cup result, you’d expect us to exit at this round so that we can concentrate on more important matters like the League.

As Charlton have found out in the Kent Senior Cup, (i.e. Dartford) isn’t as straight forward as it sounds so Southampton shouldn’t expect an easy run out… I’d be surprised if it isn’t a draw with someone winning on penalties.

Cheer up… We’re off to Wember-ley lads!!