All sorts of Charlton news since our last post, I only wish more of it could fuel my self imposed optimism. By all accounts the display at Watford was by no means terrible but the reports aren't all together encouraging either. Pardew appeared to blame Youga's sending off for ruining the game but it doesn't sound like we were creating anything even when he was on the pitch. An apparent error by Fortune led to their goal and this must surely have hastened Pardew's search for a new defender (mustn't it?!). Matters were hardly helped when Thierry Racon hobbled off with what was confirmed today as a metatarsal break. Don't expect to see him back for three months.
A bit more transfer activity through The Valley exit doors with the news that Scott Wagstaff and Dean Sinclair are both heading out on loan. Wagstaff looks like a decent prospect (although he does appear to have quite a slight frame) and I can see why Pards wants to send him out to get some league action. I must confess though that I don't really understand the point of Dean Sinclair. Brought in at the beginning of last season, he spent the majority of season on loan at Cheltenham Town, where he has returned. Given the recent injury to Racon, along with Ambrose's absence, Pardew really can't rate him if he's prepared to send him out on loan at such a time. I know his wages aren't likely to be huge, but can we really afford to keep players such as this?
Meanwhile, there have been no more players heading through the door marked 'in'. I imagine Pardew is getting frustrated by the financial constraints he has on his transfer activity but there is no doubting that further additions are required. He must be pinching himself … this time last season he was paying out £2m a pop for the likes of Luke Varney and Izale McLeod, whilst Nicky Weaver and Svetoslav Todorov arrived with presumably relatively high wages. He was even allowed to splash out further in the January transfer window on Andy Gray, despite the less than impressive performances (in most instances) in the first half of the season of his acquisitions. Now he is having to operate like a modern day Arthur Daley just to get some cover at centre half.
Anyway, I'm keeping the faith (just about). Zheng Zhi is still a Charlton player (just about), we're two points better off than we were at this stage last season, Ambrose and Todorov are making their comebacks in the reserves, and there are still eleven days to go for some new faces to come and join the party in SE7. I think I also forgot to mention that Amdy Faye is off the wage bill and Jerome Thomas has gone to sulk in Porstmouth reserves for the season. Err … Great Britain are doing quite well in the Olympics too!
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7 comments:
with Ambrose and Todorov to come back, Bouazza to find his feet and a decent loan signing or two I still think we will have a decent run at it. Reading will be a good test, but even if we lose I still think we have a good enough squad to make the season interesting.
If anyone actually thinks that Ambrose adds to the side, they haven't been to Charlton for the last 3 years .
Any idea why he's the only one ( on big wages, ex premiership, still young , left footed) that we haven't been able to sell .
The answer is because he's absolutely useless and everyone knows it except the odd overly optimistic CAFC blogger
Remind me how many goals Ambrose scored last year? (and compare that to how many other midfielders - and strikers - scored)?
He had one good game last season
Ipswich when he scored 2 . The rest of his goals , Blackpool away ( lost 5-2) , Luton away ( lost 2-1) , Swindon away in cup ( won , but it was a tap in and who cares )
Cardiff away , won a penalty.
Don't remember any others ??
Go and look at the attacking midfielders for the teams who got promoted last year and compare with them, people like Lawrence at Stoke , Gera at WBA
Ambrose scoured nine goals in total last season. His tally of 7 in the league made him joint second with Luke Varney and three behind Chris Iwelumo (both strikers). A goal rate of one in every four starts is better than poor for a midfielder. He scored an equaliser at Watford, scored in the 2-2 home draw with Watford, scored our goal in the home draw with Bristol City and scored in our 2-2 draw at West Brom in the FA Cup. Gera scored a total of ten goals (8 in the league) and made more starts than Ambrose and was playing for the team that went on to win the League. As for no offers coming in for him? He's been injured all summer following an operation.
I’m not saying he’s world class, but just because you don't like him doesn't necessarily mean that he brings nothing to the side
It's fair to say that Ambrose is not unanimously popular amongst Charlton supporters and he clearly isn't a world beater. That said, his attitude generally appears to be in the right place (as opposed to Thomas for example) and he does chip in with a few goals. Unfortunately for him (and us) he was consistently played out of position on the wing last season where he never looked comfortable. Whenever he was played as an attacking central midfielder we saw a much more positive output. I think the point is that given our current situation we really have to make the most of players like Ambrose. I would imagine that he and Bailey could operate quite effectively as a central midfield combination given the chance.
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