Derby V Charlton

[Rammy]

Will the top of the table curse strike once again?

We really should be winning this, and we need to take advantage of the run of games we've got before the likes of Norwich, Boro, Watford, and Brentford come along.

Derby 2-1 Charlton

 

[Mr Elmo]

Hoping for a score to nil, and McClaren has said a lot recently we need to change it, but saying it isn't enough. Hopefully they got some work done over the last few days, because we don't need to focus on attacking play at the moment.

2-0

 

[ChelloRam]

Massive game, which will be close IMO. Rams 2 - 1 Charlton

 

[Haddock]

Derby 4 Charlton 5

Bent with 4 for you

 

[RavenBish]

North North North Standers.

Looking forward to seeing my boy I-gor Ve-to-kele, he's my irrational favourite player in the football league for this season.

 

[Bobbin']

Based on our last two performances, there is no reason why we can't nick something here.

We probably will lose but if Derby's defence is a concern, then we do have a chance, we have not been as clinical or as ruthless going forward as we have been in our last two games. We've tightened up at the back too and have not conceded soft goals, like we had been doing the 3 months previous.

Looking forward to seeing how we set up, I would be disappointed to see us go negative but realistically, it's our only chance of grabbing anything, the way we played against Brentford and Wigan will probably suit Derby.

And Bent is bound to score.

3-1 Derby.

 

[Luke_1884]

Race against time to get back for this.
Sat in Toulouse airport, flying into Birmingham at 6... We shall see.

Defence worries me. Charlton on the back of two 3-0 wins won't be low on confidence either. I'll take any win! Think it'll be another high scoring game, 3-2.

 

[markwwfc1992]

I think Derby's complacency might be their downfall here, going for a 2-1 to Charlton

 

[ChelloRam]

There will be no complacency tonight, the Management will have hammered the players after Saturday. They'll be looking for a reaction.

 

[Bobbin']

@CAFCofficial: CHARLTON: Henderson, Solly (c), Fox, Ben Haim, Johnson, Gudmundsson, Buyens, Wilson, Bulot, Vetokele, Watt. #CAFCLive

A possible 4-3-3 there but would guess it's a 4-4-2.

Looks like we're going with the intention of getting something, which is pleasing to see although I still think it could be our undoing and we'd be better trying to frustrate Derby and hit them on the break.

 

[Bobbin']

Aaaaannnnnnddd we're back.

 

[Haddock]

no shame. Big one is Saturday. Take some of the lads off give them a rest.

 

[Bobbin']

To be fair, heads haven't dropped and Wilson has now been taken off too.

If all the other scores stay the same, there is no harm in losing this one and as you say, certainly no shame in it.

 

[RavenBish]

Charlton fucked themselves over there, far too negative in the first half, sat far too deep and it just gave players like Hughes too much time and space on the ball. Second half was fairly even once Charlton decided to press and they forced a lot of mistakes - Gudmundsson looks a terrific player. Watt did a monumentally shite job at trying to hold the ball up though which meant Vetokele never really got a chance to run onto anything.

Scoring twice was too much an ask against a team who like to keep possession like that - George Thorne was absolutely outstanding, you'd never guess it was only his second game back from such a big injury, bossed the middle of the pitch. The wide players never really got going, shocked to see Morgan Fox look so competent compared to the 'meh, Charlton will probably release him and a League 2 team will have him' player we had on loan. Had to laugh at Kwame Thomas being Derby's next striker in line, they're fucked if something happens to Bent, Thomas isn't even League 1 standard at present.

I still don't understand why Hendrick starts either and Derby's back-line needs serious work if they went up - no chance players like Christie and Keogh are Prem standard.

 

[Mr Elmo]

I thought Hendrick did quite well today in all fairness, much better than previous games anyway. Had a good first half almost grabbing a second near the end, but the bar blocked him.

We were never really in trouble, Charlton had their moments but didn't do anything special, although Grant had to pull a good save out for that free kick. The second half was quite crap though, nothing really happened as we passed the ball around the back all the time.

Still, a solid win and no goals conceded so can only move on to the next game, could do with Bournemouth dropping points to put us more than 3 points clear of 3rd.

 

[Ossie]

Today was all about winning and trying to keep a clean sheet. Charlton came with no real ambition and even at 2 down kept 2 banks of 4 behind the ball whenever we were on the ball. The keeper was even time wasting in the first half at 2 down.
We started lively and looked as though we could rip them apart at will and scored 2 good goals and then took the foot off the pedal. Charlton played better in the 2nd half without really threatening to get back into the game.

 

[Rammy]

George Thorne

 

[ChelloRam]

I feel sorry for the 311 Charlton fans at the iPro tonight. To have your team willing to sit back and not attack when losing 2-0 was crazy. It was like a pre-season training match for us in reality. Shame we didn't convert the multiple chances in the first half, would have made far more accurate reading than it is.

Professional performance from us - on to Fulham.

 

[Rammy]

I like your manager...

"They deserve to be in the Premier League and I think they are the best team in this league."

 

[Mr Elmo]

George apparently took a hit to the knee before coming off

 

[Bobbin']

I like your manager...

"They deserve to be in the Premier League and I think they are the best team in this league."

He's right, you were the best team last year too imo and even though we won the game, I still think you're the best side to visit The Valley this season.

Not too disheartened about yesterday's result, as nice as it would have been to showcase some of the attacking threat we had shown in the last week and a bit, from what I hear we were just blown away in the first 20 mins by a much better side, just pleased heads didn't drop and we didn't capitulate like we did at Watford.

As it turns out, the Brighton result aside, all teams around and below us lost so we're still 8 points clear and 1 game closer to the end. Big game on Saturday against Huddersfield when it should be close to a sell out.

 

[ChelloRam]

George apparently took a hit to the knee before coming off

He quoted on twitter last night that his knee is fine and Mac said in his interview that they took him off to protect him. I did worry when he was struggling after the challenge he made though.
He showed last night just how good he is, in the first half, he controlled the game completely. His composure, strength and vision is sublime.
Just hope he stays fit until the end of the season as he is the one player that will make a difference for us.