Birmingham C.- Charlton Athletic [r]

[RobtheAggie]

Originally posted by TheFallen29
If Dean Kiely played anywhere else, he may not have had to retire from international football...Given's good and all, but this is a guy who's been consistently good even when he hasn't had much in front of him.

I agree completley. Kiely is as good or better than Given. I guess Given being younger works for his benifit though. The same thing about Scott Parker. This guy is amazing. He had lots of oppourtunities to leave Charlton this summer for bigger clubs, but he chose to sign a five year deal with the Addicks. He should be on England's national team.

[hartley]

Parker was truly amazing. Yes, he should get a nod for England.

And though I support the Addicks, I thought the goalkeeping on both ends was fantastic.

Now if Curbs can get his strikers to finish. No offense to anyone, but that should have been 4-1. Chances wasted by the strikers. I know there have been injury problems.

So, who is coming back that I should keep my eye on as far as strikers go?

Also, did anyone see the foul on Fish when the Frenchman scored on that header for the Blue? Another Blues player ran interference and clearly held Fish down on the leap.

And since I am a newbie, can someone tell me how many teams from the EPL get into Champions League and how many into the UEFA Cup? I think Charlton, if they continue to play this well, will have their first run in the UEFA Cup next year.

[TheFallen29]

I disagree. Dugarry's goal was good...there's always some jostling and pushing in the box when a cross is sent in...this IS a physical sport.

That said, I believe 4 go to the Champions' League (though the 4th place team has to go through a qualifying round), and I believe 5-6-7 get automatic places into the UEFA. Also, the FA Cup winner (or runner-up, if the winner is going to the Champions' League) makes it in, as well as the Fair Play League (least yellow/red cards) winner.

Striking-wise, they're missing Shaun Bartlett (former South African international), Kevin Lisbie (had a fantastic hat trick against Liverpool before getting hurt), and Carlton Cole (promising youngster). They're seriously working with their 4th and 5th-choice strikers at the moment.

As for the Addick thing, the story I heard was that it's a reference to the fish and chips sold around their old ground (The Valley is actually only a few years old)...Haddock is the most common fish used for that, and with the English pronounciation, it's becomes 'addick. So, you get the Addicks.

[sandro710]

Welcome to bigSoccer hartley!

Despite being a Charlton fan all my life I am not completely sure about the derivation of "Addicks" although I'm pretty sure it comes from "haddocks" as someone else mentioned.

Also someone mentioned people in Kent supporting Arsenal. This is a curious assumption since Kent is southeast of London and Arsenal are in North London. In fact, people in Kent who are close to London could support any of the London teams although Charlton would be the closest team. People further out may support Gillingham or Maidstone.

Charlton are looking really solid right now although they have not been getting good play out of the front line without Bartlett, DiCanio and Lisbie. Parker's performance on Monday should convince anyone that he deserves a place in Endland's squad. His stamina is phenomenal and his tackling tenacious but what really sets him apart is his ability with the ball. He looks very comfortable running upfield and making the correct pass.

[RobtheAggie]

If I remember correctly, as it currently stands, England has 4 CL spots and 2 Uefa Cup spots. The winner of the FA Cup also gets a UEFA Cup spot, unless they have already claimed another spot, then it goes to the runner-up.

Man City got into the UEFA Cup this year through the Fair Play award.

Also a club could try to qualify through the Intertoto Cup. Three teams from England can try, but none attempted last year.

[kevruth]

The Addicks name comes from one of the former owners of the club who had a fish business. The players were treated to fish dinners after every match. A cartoonist got wind of it and referred to them as the Addicks in one of his cartoons. He spelled haddock the way most Englanders might pronounce it. My understanding is that he also didn't know how to spell haddock as well. The name just stuck after that.

Now to the match and what a match it was. That midfield continues to control the game. The middle four just seem to slow everyone they face. Scotty was everywhere and with all of those tackles I'm really surprised he hadn't picked up a yellow card until so late in the game just from his reputation for picking up yellows.

Matt Holland was the missing link in the midfield. And he has really worked out well since Curbs moved him from the middle to the right. Matt and Kish have paired well down that right side. Together they are creating all sorts of problems for defenses.

With Matt moving to the right it allows Claus to go back to the middle where he is much better suited. Claus doesn't get so worn out running down the wing.

One person who has not been mentioned much is Graham Stuart. He has quietly gone about his business and has really down well moving to the left side.

The back four has really closed down attackers. Kish and Hermann don't let anyone get by them and their counter attacks have just been awesome.

The center halves have really been the best they've been all season. Fish has been known to make a few blunders and Perry made some horrible defensive decisions (think of the Heskey holding in the Liverpool match). These two have turned it around.

And what can you say about Deano. He continues to keep Charlton in every match. Kiely and Maik Taylor were putting on a goalkeeping clinic. My hat is off to both keepers.

What I'm most happy about is that Curbs could finally carry two strikers on the bench. Charlton uses their strikers to chase and hawk opponents who have the ball. This wears the strikers down. We now have subs who can come in and continue the pressure.

My only complaint was with Curbs substitution decisions. I wondered why (and so did Capital Gold's commentators) Euell came out and not Johansson. With no midfielders on the bench Euell could have dropped back into the midfield and another striker brought on to replace a midfielder. Euell was creating all kinds of trouble. The only thing I can think of is that Jonaton was making some great wide runs that Birmingham had to end up giving away corners.

Now if we can just dispose of Fulham......