One of the things that perplexes me about football fans is their inclination to read results off the table. Let me give an example. When we were in the Premiership we had a game towards the end of the season at Norwich.
The Canaries were the bottom club and were subsequently relegated. We were in our 'mid-table mediocrity' phase. We lost 1-0 through a second half goal by ex-Addick Matt Svenson.
Nevertheless, I thought we had given a reasonably good account of ourselves in a match where there was more at stake for Norwich than us. When I got back home, however, Addicks on line were grumbling about how we could possibly lose to the bottom club.
Simples. Football is a game of fine margins and there is that much of a gap between the bottom club and a lower mid-table club. That is particularly true in League 1 at the moment with the table as congested as the Blackwall Tunnel when one bore is closed.
So I do not think that defeat at home to Brighton on Saturday is 'on the cards'. I must say, however, that I was a bit concerned to read on the excellent Iberian Valley preview that the Seagulls have one of the best records of all visitors to The Valley.
Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the match on Saturday. As a result of trips to the States and a family wedding, I have not seen Charlton play for some time. How do Abbott and Benson play together? Is Francis as bad as many people say?
Sloppy defending does seem to still be something of a problem, and, to borrow an ice hockey term, our transition play often leaves something to be desired. There is too much lumping the ball up field, albeit encouraged by a not very creative midfield that sometimes seems to be out of position. We also seem to be incapable of delivering a good performance for more than one half of the game.
Albion will be filling the Jimmy Seed end and they seem to be relatively free of injury worries. The conventional forecast would be a 1-1 draw, less than we want, but acceptable if the alternative is a home defeat. My intuition is that we might see a rather odd result, but who knows?
6 comments:
Re games against bottom clubs, Charlton nearly always lose these matches, jst like we do well against leading clubs at home. It is the Charlton way.
I haven't been to the Valley recently after an accident on holiday, so enjoy the game on saturday, I would love to be there. I look forward to going to the new Falmer stadium, so must make sure we are promoted with them next year. It looks fantastic as you drive past it.
Crowborough Addick
Hope you on the mend Crowborough. I have driven past Falmer frequently this past year and it will easily be the (2nd) best ground in the division if they do not go up this year.
As an aside - does anyone know why Gus Poyet's son plays for us and not one of his old clubs?
Not sure what would be deemed an 'odd' result Wyn. Charlton are favourites to win, Brighton haven't scored more than twice all season but have taken advantage of a kind looking set of fixtures better than most of their rivals.
This is a very ordinary division & Brighton are certainly not an outstanding side.
What I had in mind is something like 4-2 to Charlton, but I know that sounds crazy and 0-1 or 0-0 is more likely.
It might even be 4-1. But to who? Its that sort of division.
Let's hope your right about a high scoring game. I'm taking my 7 year old son to his first game at the valley, although we went to the Huddersfield game earlier in the season(away). His remark after we were soundly beaten was " dad why do we support a team that are rubbish and boring".
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