Unplayable

“Dennis Rommedahl makes his first appearance since fracturing his rib in January - and Jerome Thomas returns to the starting line-up against his former club as Alan Curbishley reverts back to the 4-5-2 system that served him so well earlier this season.” The Official Site

So that’s how we managed to win so many away games earlier on in the season, we had 12 players!
Well someone at Highbury obviously got wise to the plan before kick off, only 11 eventually took to the field, and promptly got hammered by an ‘unplayable’ Arsenal.

We started with 2 wingers for the first time in ages, but to be honest, Arsenal aren’t the sort of opponents to play that kind of formation against. We would have done better with players in the side who can tackle a little bit more. Wingers are outlets but you need to have the ball before you can utilise them, and getting the ball off of today’s opponents is often difficult when they are in full flight.
I have a feeling that Curbishley will now drop Rommedahl again next week, citing the old ‘we tried it and it didn’t work’ chestnut. It seems to me like he has engineered himself the perfect excuse just because he doesn’t want to accommodate two wingers in the same side at the moment. Hopefully he will prove me wrong with his team selection vs Boro, but for some reason I don’t hold out much hope.

From the sound of it today, 3-0 was a bit flattering towards us so there can certainly be no complaints regarding the result. It’s one thing conceding 3 at Goodison Park, it’s another thing entirely when you concede 3 to Arsenal at Highbury. They are just such a superb team when they get going. Such fluidity, fluency, grace, and power when they attack, sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say to a team “that is how football is supposed to be played”.
I’m proud of Charlton, and proud of my history as a Charlton fan, but I’ve often found myself wondering what it must be like to have a team like Arsenal to follow around the country every week. Not just for the fact that they win more often than we do, but just because the football they play is almost a joy to watch at times. Even when they lose, you know that you’re going to see them trying to play the right way. On the deck, slick accurate passing, and done at a speed which can just be devastating.

Ah well, at least the players can take comfort from the fact that they wont have to play there again.

Just as a side note following on from the telling off we received from Peter Varney earlier this week; Wyn Grant mentioned a letter he received today from the club stating how the club needs our support for the Cup game on Thursday, and that there are still 6,300 tickets remaining. Well, I got the same letter as well, despite the fact that I have already bought my ticket for the game. Surely the club could have checked their database to see who has and hasn’t already purchased tickets before they send out a letter designed to campaign for support…