Oxford United v Charlton Athletic | Saturday 14th August | Match Preview

addick1956 said:

ForeverAddickted said:

Oxford United v Charlton Athletic
Saturday 14th August 2021 … 3pm Kick-Off
Referee: Thomas Bramall

Introduction
A goalless draw against Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday wasn’t the worst start to a league campaign in the world but wasn’t exactly the best either – Hopefully it’ll end up being a hangover from pre-season with sharpness still lacking for a few weeks, but it’s an “excuse” that can’t last for long. August will throw up some tough fixtures, whilst promotion / relegation can’t be decided as yet; it’s not ideal playing catch up.

This Saturday the Valley faithful head to Oxford, the transfer window may be open for a few more weeks, but we can’t be sitting on our hands, hoping that new bodies will come in – The season has started so let’s not get left behind where it truly matters

The Opposition
Name: Oxford United | Manager: Karl Robinson
Ground: Kassam Stadium
Previous Meeting: Oxford United 0-0 Charlton Athletic

Unfortunately the Kassam Stadium is for many where our dreams of the Play-Offs ended last season and to an extent they have a point – A penalty in the dying moments, Ronnie Schwartz with a chance of redemption… Well in true Charlton fashion we know what happened next and what transpired.

Our opponents last week (with their off the field issues) may not be a threat this season, but you’d certainly expect to see Oxford challenging again this term.  Evidence of that is the reminder that this appears a team that starts a season slowly (they’d only obtain four wins before the end of November last year), yet get stronger as the season progresses, a 1-1 draw on the opening day of the season at Cambridge, although not in the middle of the River Thames for once, is potential proof of that.

Just four permanent signings have been made by our opponents along with three loans, perhaps evidence of where others are struggling to find the right targets as well as ourselves…

My pick of those to watch is firstly Billy Bodin, still only 29 yet released from Preston in the summer… Whilst the left winger struggled in the Championship he knows where the goal was at this level, scoring 13-goals for Bristol Rovers in his last full season in League One – Gavin Whyte on the other hand is their loan signing to watch, and another International team mate that Conor Washington will know well, a threat when Oxford played us at the Valley in 2018/19, scoring an impressive solo goal in what would be a 1-1 draw.

Charlton Team News
Until we see new bodies it’s unlikely that we’ll see huge changes to the starting eleven – Something that was probably stressed by the performance last night when the Addicks once again disappeared from the League Cup just as quickly as they entered… next year will be our year I’m sure of it.

So with the squad picking itself it’s on to those currently absent, well sadly there isn’t much to report there either, for those who didn’t see the article yesterday, it’s likely that Ben Purrington, Alex Gilbey and Ronnie Schwartz will remain out of the team for a little longer, that’s if the latter is ever seen amongst the first team again.

MacGillivray
Matthews – Inniss – Famewo – Gunter
Clare – Dobson
Morgan
Jaiyesimi – Stockley – Washington

Substitutes Bench: Harness – Pearce – Elewere – Watson – Clayden – Davison – Ghandour

Prediction
If there has been one positive from this last week it’s the fact that against Sheffield Wednesday, our defence for the most part looked impenetrable… Ryan Inniss and Akin Famewo at the very least have picked up where they ended last term, provided those two stay fit (a concern for the whole team) it’s likely that we’ll be able to record a clean sheet.

Unless Jayden Stockley’s gorgeous head can be found in the box, it’s likely that we’ll be looking at another stalemate – For those making the journey, I really wouldn’t expect this to be a classic, but what do I know.

Cheers, wanna buy a ticket to this match ?