Hello! We've got another game tomorrow, these are almost becoming a regular thing aren't they? This time we're off the The Valley to face Charlton. When we had Charlton down at the Cottage in October, we won 3-0 and got out of the Relegation Zone for the first time all season and I could be wrong but I think it was the last league game we played before Kit was appointed permanently. Fast-Forward to now the shine on Kit's Reign has well and truly vanished and we're clinging on to our place in this League by a thread in the shape of Millwall and Wigan.
One advantage, or disadvantage depending on how you look at it is we're playing tomorrow meaning we've had all the results directly concerning us already. The best news for us was Derby beat Wigan meaning they didn't close the gap at all on us in 21st place, we're in 21st because Rotherham beat Brighton- and while I would have preferred a draw Rotherham winning isn't the end of the world- and psychologically the bigger gap between 21st & 22nd may play into Millwall and Wigan's mindsets for their last 6 and 5 games respectively.
Of course Bettinelli will continue in goal, throughout the season we've conceded loads of goals in games where not many have been Bettinelli's fault in any way shape or form- and Brentford's singular goal of the month competition last Friday pretty much summed that up. This is the first game that Richard Lee is eligible for so it'll be interesting to see if we have Kiraly or Lee on the bench for the game tomorrow.
The defence is interesting in that no matter what combination of players we end up using we end up conceding multiple goals. Our defence is looking even more threadbare than usual now Grimmer and Bodurov appear to be injured for tomorrow; the one thing that annoys me about the Championship is we don't always get Press Conferences before the game so we don't get the latest injury updates- but I'm working on the basis that both guys are injured. I'm not sure what Jazz Richards' injury situation is either- so basically by default Hoogland has to come in at Right-Back much to my chagrin. Again by default Dan Burn will get his chance tomorrow- while a partnership of Burn and Turner does worry me- especially with Hoogland on one side meaning any type of wing play could do us in tomorrow. James Husband should carry on at Left-Back, on balance he was our best player on Friday, I was considering playing him in Midfield because he looked really good offensively- then I remembered in the eyes of Kit Sean Kavanagh isn't a Left-Back anymore so the only alternative would be Stafylidis.
The Midfield is once again very interesting for us, I'm going to work on the basis that Parker is fit for tomorrow- and especially considering we're coming up against one of his former teams I think he'll be itching to play. Then we get on to the other two positions in the central midfield areas, I'd go for Fofana and Tunnicliffe. Without Kit admitting it I think Christensen is out for the season- and even if he were to come back soon he wouldn't have enough time to build up a head of steam before the season was over. I thought Guthrie had his moments, but he was dead on his feet by about 70 Minutes and clearly isn't match-fit yet so I'd bench him for tomorrows game. Tunnicliffe is a limited player, I think even he'd admit that- but the one thing you can't doubt is his work ethic for the team and like it or not we need a player like him in the team to keep any semblance of balance. I'd keep Fofana in the team because with his pace and energy he's more suited to away games if anything where the focus is more on counter attacking than playing possession football and passing it around. Another thing about there being no Kit Press Conference is there wasn't an update on Bryan- I knew he wasn't going to be fit for Friday with him essentially being straight off the plane from Panama, but now he's had nearly a week back I would throw him in. While Bryan isn't everyone's cup of tea so to speak he does have undoubted ability and in the type of games we're finding ourselves in now his quality could be the difference.
The Striking situation is an interesting one, if I were in charge I'd drop McCormack to the Bench- since Forest he's been average at best, yes he's popped up with a few goals but they've all been gimmes. I don't doubt McCormack's ability- but until we're safe, or at least look like we're safe without a doubt we shouldn't be picking on potential ability as opposed to actual ability at this moment in time. That said I can't see McCormack being dropped because I don't think Kit has the guts to do so, which means there's only one striking position open- and I can only hope after the impact and lack of impact Smith and Woodrow made respectively it would have made Kit's mind up.
Team for Charlton
Bettinelli
Hoogland, Turner, Burn, Husband
Tunnicliffe, Parker, Fofana
Bryan
Smith McCormack
The game tomorrow isn't our most important game of the 4 games we have coming up in pretty quick succession- and is the one we can most afford to lose out of the 4 with regard to impact on our immediate surroundings. That said tomorrows game is a chance to open up a proper gap between us and the Relegation Zone of I think 10 Points (with Millwall having a game in hand) and also for us to climb to 18th at least temporarily. It's pretty much gotten to the point where I'm going into Away Games more confident than home games and for the rest of this season I think that'll be the case because the pressure of playing in front of an increasingly agitated crowd is definitely affecting our team- and you only have to look at the body language of players when we concede first to see said effect.
Thanks for reading as always, we've got 6 Games and 18 Points to play for- Norwich and Boro are in effect write offs, so these next 4 games are vital for us. Provided we don't lose to Wigan I can see us staying up almost by default because there were three teams worse than us as opposed to doing it off our own backs. Anyway, let's hope we take a massive step toward survival tomorrow- and the review tomorrow is a positive one.
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