I know it's only Monday, but Hotspurs play today. It will be Fulham visiting White Hart Lane this evening. Time for us Addicks to do some scouting to set up our strategy for Saturday. Of course, since it seems Mr. Jol rolls the dice for his lineup each week, who knows who will start tonight or even Saturday. I have heard that Tottenham supporters have been disappointed not only in their club's performances overall, but with Mr. Jol in particular. Jol is in a sense a tinker man. And some believe he has sold and given away some of their better players. I see at least one weakness to our advantage. Hotspurs left side of the midfield is not as strong as it was last year. This should give Rommedahl a chance to run and attack on goal and with crosses. And with strength in the middle, we will need to attack out to the wings more. Thomas and hopefully Ambrose could be very important. Thoughts?
Tottenham did win at home last night, but only 1-0. And Defoe was offsides. I couldn't believe the commentators had any doubt about it at all. And Mido's presence helped the offsides. It might have affected the side judge's call. I know it would never be called that way, but since Mido made it look like he might try to play the ball, he interferred. Zat Knight hesitated and Defoe was gone. Bocanegra had no chance of catching him. I will repeat, though, that Defoe was definitely offsides. We will have to watch Defoe and Mido. They work well together.
Oh, and by the way, this game will be a delayed telecast on FSC. With my usual busy Saturday coming up, I will not be posting or tracking during the actual time of the match. I will wait to watch. This sets up as a good battle.
On a sad note, the main sponsor for Charlton has gone into protection from its creditors. While this is a negative, what a great time to lure new sponsors. 2nd in the Primership and flying high.
Mr. Varney has assured everyone that he will handle the all:sports situation as quickly as possible. I was thinking we should do a Barcelona thru December. Then we can pick up a new sponsor at the beginning of the calendar year. We could be the first top five team to have three different shirts in a season. And I agree. What a great time to be courting a new shirt sponsor. Go Addicks.
I read somewhere that league rules prohibit uniform changes in the middle of a season. If it was correct, can't change uniforms until next year.
Even if that is true, and the club will lose money on that, I would think that a new sponsor can be obtained and used for everything but the shirt. So the all:sports logo should be disappearing from the Valley at least. And I wonder if the FA/EPL will grant a special compensation here since the company is defunct. I don't think this has ever happened before. This is a special situation. But back to the game. This is a special game -- a London derby. And we Addicks truly dislike Hotspurs. The double was nice last year. It would be even better this year. Tottenham is playing well -- at home. They weren't that impressive against Fulham. The Cottagers should have at least equalized. I look to see Murphy continue his run and Bent to get another goal. Thomas and Rommedahl dangerous to start. Ambrose comes on in second half to feed Bent for a nice one.
I too would love to see a sponsorless jersey. If I could pick a sponsor though... I'd have to go with something fun like.... The Onion, or perhaps Preparation H or something like that
I assume it's because he knows so little about football No, he went to a spurs game when he visited london and was hooked by the atmosphere.
Doubt it. Curbs sticking with his winning side. If we get any kind of a lead, I would expect him to come on. That seems to be the way right now. Lost in the shuffle of the last match -- Spector became the first American to make an EPL appearance for Charlton. There have been other Americans who made first team appearances and league cup competitions, but never in the Prem. Spector is the first. Let's hope that is an omen for him staying with the club. I would also expect to see Rommedahl come off with possibly Bothroyd coming on late. Bent moving to right wing or a little 4-4-2 feel at that point. With Ambrose hopefully healthy, he will come on for Thomas at some point in the second half. We have to make sure we don't wear out our wingers. Last season was Jerome's first full season getting a lot of first team action. He wore down and seemed gassed every game near the end.
Lawro of the BBC predicts a Charlton victory 2-1. At: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/4277986.stm Jol again pegged as a tinker man. He must settle on his lineup. He's got so many midfielders, how can they all be happy?
The uniform itself can't change but the sponsor could be replaced or removed untirely from the face of the shirt. That rule was put into place a couple of years ago to keep teams from adding a third or even fourth kit to rape their supporters who have to have all of the shirts. It was starting to get out of control. I believe Charlton will be given a reprieve by the league when it is confirmed that Allsport can't pay.
While I see this one as a home win, they must be very careful at the back. They don't dare give Defoe any space or it will be a long afternoon. One other side note, I read today in the BBC Football Gossip column that Kiely may get the start on Saturday. I certainly hope not. You can't remove a keeper that is playing well nor one that the back four is having good communication. We don't need any confusion back there. Let's hope Alan doesn't lose his head and doesn't make this change. My guess for a score, 2-0. But I'm hoping for more. Add another to Bent's totals as well.
Just a reminder for those that didn't know. The match will be on FSC at 3:00PM Eastern on tape delay. I will be doing my best to avoid seeing results after 10:00AM.
I've come to some conclusions from this match. First, and most important, we are doomed once Darren Bent is removed from the lone striker role. Once Bartlett came on the attack through the middle died. Balls sent towards Bent were flicked forward. Balls in Bartlett's direction were headed twenty yards in the opposite direction killing any fast attack. With Bothroyd out with injury there is no halfways decent replacement for Darren. Of all of our other stikers the only one that comes close is the injured Jason Euell and we all know Curbs has soured on him. Another problem appears to be the defense's switching off after halftime. I don't get it. It looks like last season all over again. They can't seem to keep up with the opposition. My final complaint seems to be Kishishev. While he plays great defense he's given away too many bad passes some of which have lead to the opposition scoring. While I know I've complained in the past about Alan tinkering with people's playing positions his late substitution of Spector into the holding midfielder role looked very good. Spector was amongst the attack and his passing was on the mark. He's now my choice for midfield substitute over Hughes. Hopefully, Alan sees it, too. I was critical of Alan starting El-Kharkouri. Couldn't understand why you mess with a good thing. Then last night I found out that Hreidarsson had picked up a thigh injury on Friday. Talal did well. He does pump balls forward. I think where the game got out of hand was once they scored the second goal they just started hitting a lot of speculative long balls forward and got away from the short passes and possession football that dominated the first half. It just lead to them giving Spurs more opportunities. All in all, I'm just flat gutted. Had they not had the two-goal lead I might not be so upset but they gave it away and didn't finish them off a lot earlier.
It was a total let-down on my weekend as well.. sorta made my day gloomy Bent really should have picked up the hat trick with the sitter he missed in front of goal from Smertin's cutting run deep. All he had to do was stick out his other foot, and goal! But he chose to go with his preferred foot (is the only guess I have) and a 3 goal cushion would have crushed the spirits of Spurs for sure. Oh well, he still played a good game, and overall the Addicks played well, but didn't have the same drive that Spurs did in the 2nd half. PICK IT UP ADDICKS!
