Charlton v Preston | Sun 03 Nov | 12noon KO | Match Preview, Predictions, News & Views

I am feeling surprisingly confident, Preston are a good team but so are we are home. A weeks rest should do us good and hopefully we can put in a strong performance! I have a feeling we might see Lyle Taylor for the last 10 minutes if needed?

2-1 Charlton - Gallagher x2

ForeverAddickted said:

Comments from Alex Neil ahead of the fixture on Sunday

https://www.pnefc.net/news/2019/october/alex-neil-credits-work-of-lee-bowyer/

Was hoping that the Charlton Press Conference would have been completed by now (hence the delay for the Preview being uploaded this morning)

Of course will update the team should one happen and Lee give anything away

LB: "I deliberately delayed my presser just to wind up that @ForeverAddickted fella on the interweb thingy. Gotta keep the bugger on his toes! That's what Jacko told me to do anyway." #cafc

Comfortable home win 4-0.

Two very well managed teams, both overachieving when you look at the budgets when compared to many of the other clubs

At home Preston are superb, unbeaten with 6 wins out of 8, scoring 22 goals. Away they're nothing special though, with only 1 win and 2 draws in 6 games, scoring 5 goals.

On that basis, it could be a draw, but I'll plump for a narrow win, 1-0 

2-0 to the Addicks - Bauer og and Bonne.

got a die hard Preston fan in the office so we often chat a bit about football, he says they are very hit and miss but when they are good they are very good.

They've got a good manager and are a decent side, looking forward to this one and reckon we'll just have enough to nick it 2-1, Bonne and Gallagher

Fair play to the 1k+ coming down with no trains and coaches leaving at 4.30am for a game live on the box.

ForeverAddickted said:

LB: “We were hoping that Lyle would train this week and maybe be on the bench, but it’s just come a bit too soon. He seems in a good place, but he’s had a bit of a setback. We can’t push him or take any risks.” #cafc

Yeah Lyle wont be fit for Millwall

on the bench hopefully, fingers crossed.

seth plum said:

Patrick Bauer deserves one of the warmest and heartfelt receptions we have ever given to an opposition player.

Well said, Seth. The man is a commensurate professional and was, in my opinion, our most consistent defender. The more so, having to forgo the wage packet dangled in front of him last season by Blackburn.

He deserves the utmost respect upon his return (and for his Achilles heel - a slight lack of pace- to be ruthlessly exploited by our pacy, split forwards)

Let's give Patrick Bauer a standing  ovation and after KO give him hell from the crowd and see Leko and Bonne running past him.
 

Far too many going for a win - banana skin here we come! 0-2.

Preston play a 4-2-3-1 formation, and to be fair to them, especially at home this season, it has worked a treat. They're excellent going forward, particularly down their right hand side where Fisher, the right back, gets forward well, and you will often find Daniel Johnson drifting out wide right to even triple up down that side, but he will cut in on his favoured left foot. Johnson is by far their most influential player, and not only because he has scored the most goals for them this season. However, as good as a team they are going forward, they don't like team running at them at all. There will often be a big gap between the centre of midfield and the centre of defence, this is a perfect opportunity for someone like Gallagher to cause them all sorts of problems. If we do that, I can see us making Bauer not know whether to drop off or come out and leave the space in behind him. It's actually a perfect game and set up for someone like Leko to exploit that space throughout. We know that Bauer is not comfortable being dragged out wide, and where they push on so far, we could be clever and have someone sit between the centre backs and where the full-backs would normally be. This will allow us to put them into areas quickly on the counter attack that they are not happy to go into. Further to this, what is actually surprising is that they're very weak in defending set-pieces, conceding a vast majority of their goals from free-kicks or corners. It could be the difference on Sunday and one where I can see Jackson and Marshall putting a training ground routine to good use. We are relatively strong in this area. Other factors to consider is that when they attack, they attack in numbers, they're often not short of getting men into the box and this is something we must be careful of. We have to win the first and second ball, we have to make sure that our clearances are clear, because otherwise with the way they play, they have the potential to put a few periods of sustained pressure on us. Preston play a different style to most teams who adopt the 4-2-3-1 formation as they are quite direct, they like to get the ball into the opposition half quickly, and play further up the pitch as much as they can. This isn't a team who is often going to play through the thirds, they want to get the ball as close to the opposition goal as they can. It's here that they will begin to get the ball out wide and look to play their football. At home it seems to work, it's the away form which lets them down. Maybe, they haven't quite figured out a way of being more counter-attacking yet.

Regarding us, as the official site says, this game comes slightly too early for some so we are probably only looking at introducing Leko back into the squad. However, I wouldn't bet against Taylor making the squad either... With the amount of players still unavailable or injured, we just have to do as best as we can. I don't want our players to treat this game any differently with Millwall the week after in the back of their minds, and I don't think Bowyer will allow that to happen. We can also hope that players like Lockyer, Pratley, and Gallagher, don't pick up another caution as that will put them out of next week, and with their importance to the side, as well as the lack of players we have fit at the moment, we can't risk that. So if we are in a good position in the game, I think we could see a couple of them taken off with the following game in mind. I think we will see Oztumer start on Sunday but Kayal will come into the side against Millwall, same with Sarr will start on Sunday but Pearce will come into the side next week.

Tough one to call this Sunday, but Preston seem to like a 1-1 draw away from home. However, with the resolve we showed last week and the fact that our home form is still very impressive, I think we could cause them some problems. Leko to stretch Bauer and do him for pace.