Church and Ben Haim look forward to international clash

Israel and Wales play in a Euro qualifier in Haifa, Israel tomorrow. Charlton's Tal Ben Haim and Simon Church engage in some banter before they oppose each other: Opponents

Rotherham win brings new bout of doom and gloom

Rotherham's 4-2 win over Bolton last night has brought a new bout of doom and gloom among some of the Addickted. If Derek from Dymchurch wasn't occupied with campaigning for Ukip, he would have gone into overdrive.

Bolton were no doubt affected by their exertions in securing a draw at Liverpool. As for Rotherham, although their confidence will have got a boost, they may now be over confident and Charlton may be able to grind the Millers down.

After last Saturday's draw at Wolves, there were a lot of gloomy comments about individual players. However, if you look at the Football League Paper scores, a different picture emerges. The lowest score was 6 for Veljkovic on his Addicks debut. Tal Ben Haim got a rare 9 for single handedly dealing with every ball Wolves threw into the box. Everyone else got a 7, apart from the much criticised Morgan Fox who 'dealt well with La Parra, one crucial second half block epitomising a solid display.' So perhaps things aren't as bad as everyone thinks.

Top fan Jonathan Acworth doesn't think so. He has been in touch with Britain's wealthiest man, the Duke of Westminster, whom he proclaims to be a Charlton fan and ready to invest in the club.

However, this may be a smoke screen. Now identified as a royal descendant, and in receipt of a letter from the Queen, Acworth's real target may be the Duke of Edinburgh. It is a little known fact that among his many titles is Baron Greenwich. He just has to be an Addick.

Visionary coach or shameless nepotist?

That is the question posed by the Football League Paper in their profile of Guy Luzon. The picture emerges is a rather mixed one, but it looks like being a bumpy ride.

Perceptions of him in Israel are influenced by the unpopularity of his Libyan-born uncles Ami and Amos who control top flight club Petah Tikva. Journalist Alon Sinai told the FLP, 'his image in his homeland remains that of a master manipulator who owes his status to his connections rather than his talents.' Luzon himself said, 'I met with senior sports writers who told me they know how much I mean to my uncles - that's why they did hatchet jobs on me.'

After Luzon had a short and unspectacular career in Israel's lower divisions which was ended by injury uncle Amos appointed him manager of Tikva at the age of just 26. He led Tikva to second in the table and secured European qualification. He then went to fallen giants Happel Tel Aviv, but was sacked after just five months. He then joined Briei Yahuda and secured consecutive top three finishes and qualification for the group stages of the Europa League.

'The criticism of Luzon is not always right,' said journalist Ron Amikam. 'He was very close to his players at Tikva and they all liked him.'

Luzon is a fan of rotating players, Tal Ben Haim commenting, 'I've never seen anything like the amount of rotation Luzon uses, even at Chelsea.' [That's all very well if one has a squad with the depth and quality of Chelsea, but carries considerable risks at Charlton.]

According to Amikam, Luzon has a volatile temperament: 'He does not always communicate well, especially with the media. He can be very arrogant and does not stand criticism. In additional, he can be very emotional.' So we can expect some interesting press conferences and a few touchline incidents.

Shell shocked

That's the only way to describe my reaction to yesterday's defeat at Watford. I didn't feel able to write anything yesterday. Needless to say, we are now bottom of the form table.

I didn't expect to win at Watford after the events of last week, but what was evident was that the players were completely demoralised. Earlier in the season we had a rock hard defence, but Bikey and Talal Ben Haim both had poor games. Ben Haim has, of course, been associated with rumoured moves to Israeli clubs and to Celtic.

The last 5-0 defeat was at West Ham on Boxing Day in the Premier League. According to Matt Wright in the last Voice of the Valley Curbs couldn't be stopped writing about it in the programme for months afterwards, so humiliated did he feel.

'Luzon: I'm no Valley Fall Guy is the headline in today's Football League Paper. He says, 'In professional football you must get results and if you don't have the ability and the quality to bring the result, you must go home. Football is my life, it's my passion and I will do everything I can to bring a lot of passion to create a result. I hope that when every game has finished, the fans know that Charlton have worked 100 per cent and given everything.'

Unfortunately, it may need a bit more than passion but also some strengthening of the squad from outside the network. Hopefully, Roland will have realised this while watching the live stream in his bunker.

Fans are understandably demoralised and, unfortunately, divided. We have had some dark days at Charlton, but all we can do is try and rally round.

Tal Ben Haim scores for Israel

Tal Ben Haim scored for Israel in their 2-1 victory over Cyprus last night. He weaved his way into the penalty area and slotted the ball into the net: Tal Ben Haim

Simon Church played for 65 minutes in the 0-0 draw between Wales and Bosnia-Herzegovinia. He got a score of 6 from Wales Online for giving the Bosnian defence work to do without ever really threatening. That sounds like Simon Church: Simon Church

Away point at Brentford

Most Addicks would take an away draw at Brentford as a decent start to the season. Igor Vetokele, who joined the Addicks from FC Copenhagen in the summer, headed his side ahead at Griffin Park. Unfortunately, George Țucudean and substitute Callum Harriott wasted chances for Charlton. They were made to pay as Smith's late deflected shot ensured Brentford a share of the spoils.

England manager Roy Hodgson was in the crowd at Griffin Park as was Football Association chairman Greg Dyke, the former Brentford chairman. And they witnessed a hard-fought London derby. Midfielder Alex Pritchard, on loan from Tottenham, went close from 20 yards in the opening stages before Judge forced Addicks keeper Henderson into a fine 40th-minute save. It was 0-0 at half time.

But Charlton created the better chances and will likely rue those missed opportunities. With the game goalless, Țucudean was clean through but Bees keeper David Button stood his ground to make a fine save. However, Tucudean's second touch could have been better and already some fans are denouncing him. Charlton, in their first competitive match under Belgian Bob, took the lead when Vetokele struck with a header from a corner shortly after the 22-year-old had been denied by Button. Rhoys Wiggins went close with a drive, but the Addicks then squandered a good chance to double their lead when substitute Callum Harriot hit the bar with an open goal gaping after Vetokele had beaten Button to a back pass.

But Smith equalised six minutes from the end with a shot that hit Charlton's former Chelsea and Manchester City defender Tal Ben Haim before finding the net. Some Addicks were puzzled by his selection over Morrison and thought that he was too inclined to argue with other Charlton players.

It is therefore interesting that on the Football League Show, where we were the featured match, Leroy Rosenoir and David Kitson gave particular praise to our defence, arguing that we had one of the strongest back fives in the league. From what I saw, Henderson looked up to the job. It could be argued that Rosenoir and Kitson don't know what they're talking about, but they pointed out that they had both played against the centre backs and they were formidable. However, I think that the argument of some Charlton fans is that they lack pace.

In his post-match interview, Peeters rued our failure to take our chances.

The Bee who wrote our preview commented: 'Charlton look a disjointed side, but we struggled for most of the second half. I was impressed by your two left sided players - Cousins and Wiggins.'

Tal Ben Haim rumours

Rumours are circulating on the internet that Tal Ben Haim could join Charlton from the mother ship. I can't find any independent verification of this and no sightings have been reported at Bruxelles Gare du Nord. However, I suppose it was just about plausible that the centre/right back could be sent across, so in case this comes to anything his career details are here: Tal Ben Haim