Also, as much as I was buzzing about the game beforehand and as much as I'm contractually obliged (as a football fanatic (c)SKYSPORTS1993) to be obsessively one eyed about everything involving MY TEAM, whilst fixture congestion is bad on one level, it's good on another two.
Level 1: More games with CJ, the Goal Machine and maybe even Big Marv.
Level 2: It's mad craic when teams run out of players and the kids have to play.
It's all so serious these days. We've got a kid scoring for fun and another lad who looks like a right wizard, plus the other two lads who were ace in preseason and the tinpot cup but we've got to do po-faced talk like rent a gob boring pundits on talksport and say sensible things like 'It's a big step up' and really, my inner Keggy Keegle* self is screaming 'just attack and stick the kids in, we'll be reet' cos actually, I think we will. What's done is done innit.
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| Exclusive insight from the Squires Gate whiteboard on the plan for the game that wasn't |
This is supposed to be a preview so I'll turn to Charlton. I thought they were really good in our last game against them and I was surprised that they've not been right up there. Their fans (who were easily the friendliest lot we've played against this year online and actually nattered on twitter and that - most weeks, I tag my blog for opposing fans and its avoided like a bag of dogshit hanging from a tree branch) said they were generally a bit crap though, so maybe I was misled by what I thought looked a good blend of youth, experience, skill and pragmatism.
Bowyer is dapper mind and a dapper gaffer is always to be reckoned with. I think he walks a good line between old school suit wearing and quirky modern fashion slags like Paul 'I'm fashion mad me' Tisdale and Pep 'I just happen to be at a football match' Guardiola. That leaves him sat, somewhere between well dressed recently promoted to deputy head level PE teacher and Graham Potter. Combining v neck knitwear with pressed slacks doesn't look too try hard, but it's better than the not trying at all, just come straight from training look. Some weeks, Larry didn't look like he'd even washed his trackie bottoms, just grabbed them from the laundry pile and sprayed a bit of fabreze on them ffs. For a more authoritative take on gaffer's clobber, see SAFCBlog
What we do know is maybe, just maybe CJ will be back. If he's stuck on the bench for a few weeks, that should help address the 'fading out after a decent start' issues we've had, in the same way Embleton injected a bit of something coming on against Pompey. If Big Gaz isn't fit and I doubt he will be, I'm tempted to start in that 4-4-1-1 shape we finished with last week. Sullay can play behind Jerry and Embleton did really well there when he came on. That does though break the rule that 'we're always shite if we don't play two up front' - which, generally, we are.
I might be falling victim to a case of Critchley's Tinkeritis - a condition that causes the sufferer to declare that next game is 'going to be an exciting game and we've prepared well', as well as mentioning being 'back on grass' a lot, with an accent that's hard to place, a twinkle in the eye and an overwhelming tendancy to perm 11 random names from 20.
That said, I don't really see the point of playing Simms to not be anywhere as near as good at doing what the Goal Machine does as the Goal Machine. It feels unfair to bring a young kid who looks great on the turn or chasing through balls and then to say 'Go and win it like Gaz does' as Gaz is one of the best at doing that whilst Simms looks about as comfortable as a target man against gnarly grizzled pros as a school kid in Paris trying out some French on a fast talking and angry Parisian.
Where I'm struggling is whether to play Demi or Sullay on the left. I bloody love Sullay. He's also coming, if not good, but a definitely a bit better of late. Demi though, is electricity and playing away against a half decent side, I dunno if I want Kaikai's potential but mercurial influence or Demi's actual, definite pace. What Mitchell will do is pick up the ball and run very fast. That's more or less it but it's pretty useful to have when counter attacking. I don't rate him at full back at all, I don't rate him wide right doing the inverted thing, but wide left, he shows a rare desire to just get at the opposition, come what may. He doesn't over think it, he just legs it down the wing or through the middle and that's exactly what we lack. I don't know if I physically can drop Sullay though. Embleton will have to sit on the bench even if in my heart of hearts, I think he made a difference on Saturday. Maybe we can sneak Sullay on as extra man cos he's quite inconspicuous...
The elephant in the room is Jimmy Husband. Regular readers (no, really, there are some) will recall I published a piece recently declaring Jimmy the best full back in the known universe. The eagle eyed among you will note that I said 'full back'
You can relive his key contribution from the last game below
He was brilliant on Saturday and getting Garbutt on the pitch as well adds further to our attacking threat but I can't help feeling that keeping playing Jimmy there is tempting fate. Omar Bogle doesn't play for Charlton any more but the point remains. He's a full back.
Enough of the doom though. We can win this and we can win plenty of games. We can build up momentum to the point where it won't matter if we've got an extra game or two, it won't matter if we have to play the under nines or Bloomfield Bear, we'll be unstoppable.
utmp
*Kevin Keegan
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