Reid Right For Charlton's Creative Block
Posted by Jasper Reed in Charlton, Frank Lampard, Fulham, Iain Dowie | 21 October 2006
Watching the Fulham/Charlton game on Monday night, it became clear, as with the Portsmouth game before it, that we can more than hold our own with the other also rans of the league. Sadly, a couple of lapses in concentration condemned us to 7 defeats in 8 games, but there were signs that the corner is there for turning.
The best 11 seem at last to be emerging. Diawara made an encouraging return to centre half, and his partnership with Sorondo/Gibbs/Fortune should shore up a pretty tidy backline (El Kark looks too slow in thought and deed at this level now.) Carson has Kiely-like surety, and up front Bent is pure class, whilst JFH can be relied upon to be intelligent and unpredictable.
It�s in midfield where we look all at sea. Faye is clearly supposed to provide the backbone and, to be fair, may well do enough once he plays a few games. But a midfield has to do more than defend; create chances, score goals. Faye's foil should be a box-to-box worker (i.e. Lampard, Parker) or a controlling 'quarterback' (dare I say Murphy, Carrick). Hughes and Holland are neither, and its difficult to see Pouso providing it either. A glance to the opposition should exactly what we are missing. Claus Jensen was famous for never laying a tackle in 4 years at The Valley, but his creativity beside Parker's industry provided the launching pad for Charlton's early Premiership success.
One option may be Andy Reid. The ex Forest winger grew into the game on Monday, notably as the pace slowed and Thomas replaced him on the flank. Rommedahl is seemingly being given one last chance to show he can string 2 decent halves (let alone games) together, and Thomas is ahead of Reid in the pecking order as a winger. I�m sure even Dowie would agree that 3 wingers in our top 16 players is a luxury we cant afford, but Reid showed enough from dead balls and general vision to suggest he may be worth a run in the middle. Can�t be any worse than Hughes, anyway�
Whatever the solution, it needs to happen fast. Defeats against Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal are no disgrace�.but losing gallantly to Portsmouth, Villa and Fulham are signs of real trouble, and positive performances are not worth anything. Nothing but 3 points against Watford will be good enough this weekend.
