Milton Keynes v Charlton Athletic | Tuesday 17 August 2021 | Match Preview, Prediction, News & Views

Milton Keynes v Charlton Athletic
Tuesday 17th August 2021 | Kick-Off: 19.45pm
Live on Valley Pass

Referee: Charles Breakspear (Surrey) - Previously officiated Charlton in our 2-2 draw away at the real Dons, AFC Wimbledon in March.

Introduction
Not the start anyone at the club would have wanted, but it can't have been a surprise to many with the squad available to Adkins at this time. New signings will continue to arrive between now and the window slamming shut, and we are yet to see whether we will get the required quantity, and quality. A poor showing away at Oxford at the weekend has shown we have a long way to go, and with no options on the bench to come on and positively change the game, it's causing a bit of trouble early on. Thankfully, we are able to welcome Charlie Kirk into the squad. The new winger from Crewe was left out due to not being quite ready but he will be hoping to be able to make his debut against our opponents on Tuesday night, Milton Keynes.

Opposition
Manager: Liam Manning (46.4% win rate)
Stadium: Stadium MK

Milton Keynes played Sunderland at home in their previous league game, losing 2-1, their last line-up was:

I am going to do this preview a little different to my usual style. Due to the start of the season, not a lot happened across the league and writing two previews on MK last season, there's not a lot of different things to include...

Key arrivals:

Scott Twine - an attacking midfielder who came in to replace the anticipated departure of another Scott, this time Fraser, who went to big spenders Ipswich Town. Fraser was influential for MK last season, as we saw at The Valley in December 2020, so much pressure will be placed on the shoulders of Twine. Signed from Swindon early in the summer window, he has the ability to score from distance and create with equal measure.

Mo Eisa - the striker who Posh owner claims will score 20+ goals in this division with the right service and amount of games. Eisa was loosely linked to us over the last couple of years after growing up in SE London, starting his football career at Dartford and scoring for fun at Greenwich Borough. His rise through the leagues have been impressive, and his pace will cause our central defenders problems on Tuesday evening.

Troy Parrott - On loan from Tottenham, the Irish youngster has already opened his account for MK, scoring against Sunderland at the weekend. Parrott is highly regarded at Spurs, and has already had a taste of League One, with a loan at Ipswich last season, but failing to impress too much, scoring only twice in 18 appearances.

Key departures:

Cameron Jerome - the 34 year old scored an impressive 15 goals last season and has since moved on to a level he has played the vast majority of his career at, signing for Luton Town in the Championship. Jerome was the focal point for MK last season. Although they played through the thirds and passed the ball more than any other side last campaign, with Jerome they had the ability to go long if they wanted to as well.

Matthew Sorinola - A player I have had an eye on for a little while, the right footed wing back often plays on the left, causing all sorts of problems when he drifted into a midfield who dominated the game. He has since moved to newly promoted Union SG in the Belgian Pro League and is one to watch out for in future. At the tender age of 20, the Lambeth born wide-man has room for development and wouldn’t surprise me if he came back to the UK and played a good level in a few years.

Russell Martin - although not a player, MK losing their manager only 6 days before League One kicked off would have been a blow. His style of football and philosophy should be admired for attempting it at this level. That approach is fundamentally the reason why he was in demand for Championship Swansea who also aim to play attractive possession based football. 

*I haven’t included Fraser in this section due to briefly mentioning him before

Charlton Team News
With Forster-Caskey being a long term injury, Gilbey still recovering from the effects of COVID, Purrington to return to training at the end of this week, and Schwartz building his fitness up, it's not expected that we will have anyone other than new signing Charlie Kirk available to come into the squad. With players like Inniss not quite ready to be playing two 90 minutes in quick succession, you'd expect at least one change to the team that's started the last two league fixtures.

Another possible change we could see would be the experienced and more calm on the ball, Watson, coming in for Dobson. In a game away at MK who keep the ball well, this is likely to be a much more footballing game. It wouldn't surprise me to see the defensive midfielder drop into that position.

There is a case for Kirk to start. We need someone able to carry the ball forward, create chances, to get us playing and be threatening going forward. However, with Washington getting off the mark at the weekend and could count himself unfortunate not to have put us ahead in the early stages, I think Kirk is likely to start on the bench and enter the fray as more spaces open up.



Prediction
A tough game against a side who will be wanting to impress their new manager. On a big pitch, we would do well to make the most of the spaces available to us - it's actually a game I can see Clare doing quite well in. We'll see. Third game into the season, third time lucky, 3 points comes back to SE7. Just.