Charlton's 4 point Survival Plan
Posted by Jasper Reed in Charlton, Premiership | 31 December 2006
New Year, new manager, new belief. Rip roaring games against Fulham and Villa has done more than just bring 4 points to The Valley; the passion and fight are back. The body language displayed by Pardew has been outstanding, and exactly what the club needed after the more cerebral approach from Reed, suited more to mid table stability than a relegation dogfight.
Is it truly on? Can Charlton escape relegation? Let’s not get too excited yet: it is going to be very tough. In honour of the 4 points achieved since Christmas, here are 4 more points that will go some way to achieving that aim.
1. Find back-ups for Bent and Carson – everyone is pointing to the midfield as our area of concern – frankly, we have 8 or 9 areas of concern – but I’m not too sure. We have abundance of midfielders and with Ambrose showing some real energy, Reid creativity and Kish and Holland providing the steel we have performed well in recent games. Throw in the likes of Thomas, Hughes and Faye, we may be OK…for now. What worries me is if Carson is recalled to Liverpool, Bent is (dare I say it) sold or either is injured. Marcus Bent and JFH look ill equipped to score the goals needed to stay up, and Thomas Myhre is our only back up keeper. Pards should be looking to the lower leagues with the limited funds available (maybe Rowan Vine at Luton?), or bringing in Bobby Zamora from West Ham. As for the keeper, given that there is little chance of signing Carson up permanently we should break the bank for someone like Craig Gordon at Hearts for some goalkeeping insurance
2. Stop losing games – not as facetious as it sounds. ‘Not losing’ is a whole lot different to ‘winning’. Charlton have lost the ability to shut up shop when out of form. It’s a skill that is keeping Watford (only 1 win but 8 draws) in touch when they really should be adrift. The weak surrender of points, especially away from home, is giving our relegation rivals the advantage of the extra point in 3 rather than a share of the spoils, and worsening our horrible goal difference. Even 2 or 3 points at places like Fulham and Reading would have improved our position immeasurable more than the 1 point earned on our travels.
3. Get rid of the deadwood – much has been made of Dowie’s rash purchases in the summer. The chairman in particular seems to blame him for all or Charlton’s current ills but who was signing all those cheques? Regardless, Pardew should use the next few games to sort out who is up for the fight. Those who are not, don’t play them…ever. Send a message to the highly paid mercenaries masquerading as stars that there is no place for them at The Valley. I would rather see Charlton go down playing their youth team than see the spiritless, passionless performances that were the hallmark of the Dowie/Reed eras.
4. Keep positive – I notice in this morning’s press that Curbs is quoted as saying ‘I’ve only been here 2 weeks’….to me, that sounds suspiciously like ‘Don’t blame me if we do down….’ He was quite happy to celebrate the victory against Man Utd, but is already sounding defeatist.
Pardew, like Curbs, knows what he is getting into. If he needs time to assess things fine, but don’t use the past as an excuse when it starts going wrong. Again, to his credit Pardew has not bleated about the appalling referring decision against Fulham; he has just moved on to the next game. He has spoken about using his skills to get his team mentally right, and prepared for the battle. This positivity should be applauded and maintained, especially after our next away day reverse.
There are 51 more points up for grabs. With 40 commonly agreed as being the pass mark for Premiership safety, Charlton need 24 of them. In looking at the coming fixtures I predict 31 points are genuinely possible, and home games against Sheffield United, Wigan, Boro and West Ham will be the deciding factor. Having lost away to each of these teams, it is important to square the ledger.
Next up, Arsenal. Given their recent results against The Blades and The Hamsters, this is almost a 6 pointer for us. I’m not tipping a result but it would be a major boost to nick a point at the Emirates….
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