It's sometimes difficult to remember that Oldham Athletic played in the Premiership, but of all the former Premiership sides in League 1 they are the least likely to get back. Indeed, their ambition last year was to stave off relegation which they did with the help of Pawel Abbott.
Before the start of the season I would not have predicted that this Saturday's match would be a No.2 v No.1 clash. So how have Oldham done so well, given that 4-4-2 predicted a 17th place finish? Well, Tranmere and Notts County were not exactly the most challenging teams to start the season against.
Charm merchant Paul Dickov is now in charge at Boundary Park as a player-manager and I remember him directing a shower of spittle at Charlton supporters in an away game at Blackpool. As a Lactics fan said despairingly in 4-4-2, 'We've tried everything since Joe Royle left 15 years ago - even Joe himself.' It's not easy to be a club in a less than prosperous town on the fringes of Manchester, although it would be interesting to do a compare and contrast with Bolton.
The worry for Charlton is the absence of both Semedo and Dailly. Racon will no doubt try to weave his yellow booted magic, but he doesn't have the Portugeezer's grit and determination. Llera gives his all, but he has his weaknesses.
Neverthless, I am going for a 2-1 win by what will be the table topping Addicks.
2 comments:
Great start to the season. Looking forward to Saturday. Is it too early to start judging Abbott? If he can't perform a little better against his former employees I will start to have some serious doubts. Hope he proves my initial doubts wrong and puts a away a hat-trick.
I think we should give him a chance, although he wasn't a prolific goal scorer at Oldham.
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