West Brom Preview

Not much positive energy flowing around the Charlton blogging community right now and it’s not difficult to understand why. Down to 10th and confidence shot to bits by three defeats on the spin. It had to happen eventually. We couldn’t expect to remain in the play offs places given our current form and only stayed there for so long thanks to the teams around us failing to put any kind of decent run together. Unfortunately everybody else seems to have decided to put their foot to the floor with the end in sight and we’ve been left in their slipstream.

What has gone wrong? Or was it ever right in the first place? This is something that has been covered in depth and extremely well by a lot of blogs and I won’t depress myself by saying much more. Some things are pretty obvious though; an overly bloated squad, no settled starting XI, huge expectations and no consistency. The question now is, what can be salvaged from this season? Unfortunately Pards doesn’t have the luxury of time to sit and ponder this for too long. We are only 2 points outside the play off places, but if we want to remain in sight of them then points (9 would be nice) out of all our next three games against promotion rivals is an absolute must.

First up is West Brom on Friday. They are the best team in the division to my mind, added to which we haven’t beaten them in three attempts this season and they will be smarting from the 4-1 beating they were served up by relegation threatened Leicester on Saturday. The match is live on Sky, presumably as they thought it would be a battle of the promotion contenders. Unfortunately only one of the two teams can justify that tag right now and it isn’t the men in red.

I’ve given up trying to second guess the XI that takes to the field each week, but one thing is for sure; it won’t be the same as it was at Ipswich. Bypassing the certainty of Weaver playing in goal, the back four offers Pardew his first dilemma. In the absence Madjid Bougherra, Sodje and McCarthy are shoo-ins at centre back but the full backs pose more of a problem. Halford came in for a lot of stick at Ipswich (some justified, some not) and I would give the woefully under used Moutaouakil a run out. At left back, Youga offers a bit more attacking flair but Thatcher’s ‘no nonsense’ approach should mean he keeps his place.

Midfield has been a dilemma all season and it’s no clearer now who should be starting than it was in August. Ambrose is not winger though and given that he is unlikely to displace ZZ or Holland I would put him on the bench with the much maligned Thomas and Scott Sinclair on the wings. Up front, Gray looks out of form and playing Iwelumo encourages the kind of route one football that is both unattractive and ineffective. Lita’s touch looked good at Portman Road and I would retain him with the addition of a much needed strike partner in the shape of Luke Varney. Accompanying Ambrose on bench warming duties, I would have Elliot, Gray, Semedo and Cook (if he still exists, failing that Fortune).

I’ve never been one for making predictions and I’m not about to start now. Suffice to say though, I am less than optimistic of our chances against Baggies. There are still a few straws that I’m clutching at however and I’ll be there trying to put any kind of pessimism to one side when the team runs out. Let’s just hope that come the final whistle, Good Friday hasn’t turned bad for the Addickted.