Saturday, March 14, 2009

I'll Be Damned if Charlton Will Get Relegated on My Watch

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008-09 Charlton Athletic Starting XI:



Featuring:

Eric Traore (GK): a 22 year old Ivorian who has absolutely come alive under my stewardship
Sullivan Charlet (LB): 23 year old Frenchman. Pacey, good defender.
Brian Irish (RB): a 16 year old Irishman who is still on a youth contract (and has signed a pre-contract agreement for 90 per week) and is already worth 1m. He's been excellent down the right for us. He's mirrored on the left by Steve Perkins, a 16 year old Englishman on 55 p/w (already worth 1.4m). Perkins is currently out of the squad due to a couple sub-par performances, the emergence of Charlet and the ever harsh Stowe-tation policy.
Shane Moody (CB): 22 years old, athletic but poor in the air. Was the subject of a bidding war late in the summer transfer window (highest bid of 750k). I might have let him go were it not my first window.
Miguel Ferreira (CB): 26 years old, Portuguese, Captain. Described as a decent player for most Premier League sides and a rock at the back for us.
Yacouba Kone (LM): 18 year old Ivorian winger who is extremely explosive. On his debut this season (after a fine preseason and a trip to the Olympics), he set up a tap in for Matt Clare and scored a goal of his own. Performances have tailed off since but can be a game changer.
Allan McEwan (RM): 26 year old Scotsman playing in what is, without a doubt, our most problematic position. McEwan started the year as a starting striker, was displaced by the arrival of Clare and has since landed on the wing. The job started in the hands of our arguably our best CM Alex Foster who, unfortunately, has a bad attitude and is slower than fuck. Foster's been booted from the starting XI and this place bounces between McEwan, 17 year old Mick Austin and 20 year old John Oduro. I'd love for Austin or Oduro to stake their claim so McEwan can be our explosive super-sub.
Dragan Denisyuk (CM): 19 years old, from Belarus. Already in the senior national team setup. Mentally solid and our vice captain. Currently out for a few weeks with a hamstring tweak--Foster's been subbing in.
Zhang Hu (CM): 17 year old from China. Can play as a defensive mid or central defender. Coaches already rate him as a leading star in the Championship and believe he can be a leading Premier League DM in the future.
Matt Clare (ST): 19 year old on loan from Chelsea. Our only loan player which is a huge positive. Unfortunately, at the moment, our only attacker who looks like scoring (more on that later). Probably not the type of player we'll be able to sign permanently but taking him from a year cost us no up front fee and we're only paying half his wages (750/week). Too good to pass up.
Alexandre Marques (ST): 24 year old, Portuguese. Marques was the star of our preseason with 7 goals and 2 assists in 6 games. He's since gone cold with 0 goals in 45o minutes of competitive football and an average rating of 6.07. He's been nothing short of disappointing and I hope he can pull out of his funk soon.

Other Key Figures:
James Forrest (19 year old English CB with solid Championship potential)
Mohammed Nasir (23 year old Nigerian DM--part of our over-abundance of competent DMs)
Craig Williams (the old man of the team at 34, CM)
Joe Malone (17 year old Irish winger in the mold of Oduro and Austin)
and the aforementioned: Oduro, Austin and Foster

So that's who we are. Here's what we've been up to so far.

TRANSFER DEALINGS:

IN:
Matt Clare (see above, loan)
Fares Douillard (26 yr. old, RB from FC Sete 34, Free)
Paul Mizzi (26 yr. old, CM from Herfolge, 150K)
Abdelkrim Ben Younes (26 yr. old, CB from Cote d'Or, Free)
Chris Hutton (26 yr. old, CM from Hamilton, 110K)
Oscar Arens (16 yr. old, ST from Germinal Beershot, 180k)

OUT:
Paul Scott (28 yr. old, CM to Cardiff, 900k)

So here's how it went down. First and foremost, the Charlton board gave me no budget. 0k. Zero pounds. Any money I wanted to spend was going to have to be raised from player sales (I got back 60%) so we started scrounging around for free players. Clare was our first deal of the summer--essentially I sent one of my scouts sniffing around Stamford Bridge and he came back with Matt. Douillard was brought in on a free to fill what was thought to be our biggest gap by my Asst. Manager (RB). He's been solid but because Irish has been a rock and Charlet can play both on the left and right, we haven't seen much of him yet.

Then came Ben Younnes. We really only have once backup center back (Forrest) and he's 19. After that, it's pulling Hu back into defense from midfield and, well, no one wants that. Ben Younnes was an attempt to bring in a good, solid backup that wouldn't cause trouble and wouldn't be upset at being fourth choice. An attempt to find my very own Alex, if you will. However, what I didn't take into consideration is that he was Moroccan and would need a work permit. Which he didn't get. It was my mistake and fortunately it didn't cost any money. He's been loaned out to Germinal Beerschot and, even if he never gains a work permit, we can still sell him off for some profit.

And, finally, the Paul Scott saga. Basically, we milked a couple of offers for Scott because, while he was a strong midfielder, he didn't play very well as a winger and he was never going to displace Denisyuk in the center of midfield. I was very pleased with the 900k and got about 600k back to re-invest. I made bids on both Hutton and Mizzi as a replacement and didn't really expect to get both. I did. Mizzi is playing for the reserves while Hutton has been on the fringes of the first team. He scored on his debut.

Arens is one for the future. He's already been tearing it up for the U18s--two goals and a MOM in his first game. He looks to be a good talent.

RESULTS:

Preseason:
Essentially, the game scheduled a bunch of scrubs to which I added two decent friendlies against FSV Frankfurt and Dundee United (both at home). Scores:

@ Bournemouth 4-1 (Storyline: Marques runs riot, Charlton concede one in the 90+3)
Goals: Kone 1, Marques 5, 48, 63

@ Welling 2-1 (Storyline: We give one up from a corner, then show some character)
Goals: Marques 61, Kelly 84

@ Oxford 4-1 (Storyline: What's the deal with us giving up the first goal? We win anyway.)
Goals: Clare 49, 51, Marques 60, Oduro 90

@ Glentoran 2-1 (Storyline: Another early goal. Another Marques masterpiece)
Goals: Marques 45+1, 56

FSV Frankfurt: 1-1 (Storyline: Clare shows flashes of brilliance, smashing against bar from 28. Oduro cleans up. We give up a scrappy goal from a corner to blemish our perfect preseason)
Goals: Oduro 47

Dundee Utd.: 1-3 (Storyline: 15 minutes of shambles at the top. Then we pepper them unsuccessfully)
Goals: Own Goal 29

So, not brilliant but not bad either. For putting together a squad for the first time, I was pleased. The young players were starting to emerge, despite the fact that I was not coddling them. Marques looked like he had the chops to be the division's top scorer. Clare looked great value. Oduro and Kone had showed flashes of brilliance. It looked to be a good year.

Season:

Carling Cup:
@ Barnet 1-0 (Perkins 89)
Nott. Forest 2-0 (Clare 46, Kone 51)
Next Up: Chelsea (damn)

League:
@ Coventry 0-0 (currently 21st in the league)
@ Southampton 1-3 (11th, Goal: P. Scott 16)
Burnley 1-0 (16th, Goal: Austin 10)
Doncaster 1-1 (17th , Goal: Moody 90+1)
@ Watford 4-1 (7th, Goal: Hutton 35)

I think you can see our problem. 4 goals in 5 games won't win us many points. We currently sit 18th in the league with 5 points from 5 games. It's not terrible and we've obviously yet to hit our stride. I'm upbeat about our possibilities--we're young and we're only going to get better as the year goes on. A couple of guys have picked up short term injuries--including Denisyuk--which may make the coming weeks tough. Up next: a derby against Crystal Palace.

Up the Addicks!

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