Got 2 tickets today for myself and my son. Nice to see the online ordering system working efficiently (although it was not up until after 10.00). I had tried to phone but it appears that I cannot use the 0871 number from my overseas office!

I'm looking forward to this game as it will be the first time I have visited Scunthorpe. Last visit was at their old ground back in 1973 which I missed.

Hopefully a lot of Charlton will be getting tickets for this one ... at the start of the season, it was certainly a game in which many showed interest.

I was also hoping to get to the Blackpool game later in February but will now be away. Hopefully for those who are going, it will be better than the time I last went quite a number of years ago. One of the coldest days I can remember with gale-force icy winds. Most of the shops and bars were shut and the ground was rubbish. Interestingly a group of Blackburn fans turned up as their game had been postponed and proceeded to support Charlton ... at that time I didn't realise that they disliked each other so much.

As for Blackpool at home this weekend, I feel rather optimistic ... at least I did until I read Iberian Valley. The stats do not make good reading!

According to the OS, Blackpool new signing Stephen McPhee may be playing and, if so, it will already be the third time he has faced us this season having scored for Hull in October.

Up-front I have a feeling that Big Chris will be on the bench for this game with Varney and McLeod or Dickson replacing him in a 2-man attack.

Moo2, Youga and ZZ should give us a lively presence and it is only to be hoped that we can overturn the recent doldrums at the Valley. A return to the form displayed in the first half against Ipswich would be ideal!

Check out Blackpool Mad for a review of a game in 1952 that ended up 8-4 to Blackpool (although Sam Bartram wasn't playing!). And no ... I wasn't there ... I'm not quite that old!

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4-5-1 ... at home ... to the team that is bottom ... and as far as I am aware have not won in about 14 games.

Pards ... change the tactics ... it ain't working! And before he loses his recent confident scoring touch, try Dickson. He may end up being as ineffectual as some of our other strikers but at least give him a go before he gets disillusioned.

Having read a number of blogs today, there's no point in my repeating the comments. Suffice to say, most agree how bad we were ... although Blackheath Addicted has a different perspective to most ... maybe he is right , but it's difficult to feel that way this morning.

For other good reports check out Wyn Grant (I fully agree with his final match analysis), Inspector Sands (very good points about a number of the fans at the Valley ... also being in the East Stand, I can confirm he is absolutely right ... there are fans around me who seem to go not to support, but to complain!), Frankie Valley (always entertaining and pertinent), Drinking during the Game (entirely right about the formation), Pedro (same old, same old ... yup!), and Chicago Addick (he wasn't there but felt it just as much!).

Where do we go from here? Well, from a cup perspective, it doesn't look good with the Baggies coming to town ... but perhaps trying out a few new players (Dickson, Youga ?) may bring us some good cheer.

More importantly, what about the League? We are apparently in our 'easy' run of games at the moment. Mid-January onwards looks tougher with Watford (twice), Stoke, Palaarse, Bristol City, Burnley, Ipswich and Albion.

If previous seasons are anything to go by, the transfer window will be critical in deciding who can move onward and upward. Albion look a good bet for the top spot, but it is no foregone conclusion with 2 other teams on the same points. Despite some abject displays we are still very much in there. Contrary to my pre-season confidence, I'm not convinced that we will make an automatic spot (but hopefully will be proved wrong), but play-offs should definitely be attainable ... this is not a particularly good division.

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In a way, we should have expected this.

i) A very physical Hull side ... in fact, at times, becoming very dirty. Well, their manager was number two to Sam Allardyce so no surprise. But how can their fans enjoy watching that crap every week?
ii) Rubbish ref ... seem to say this most weeks, so what's the point? We knew they were not that great in the Premiership, and these are the refs that cannot make it to that level - 'nuff said.
iii) A bag-load of injuries and suspensions ... although, surprisingly, ZZ and Ambrose were back despite being tipped on the OS as being out with injury.

What we should not expect is the abject display put on by Charlton ... there were times during the first half when I felt I was watching a team playing up on Charlton Park. They were awful! My son pointed out that Hull were one of the worst teams he had seen ... I reminded him that, on the day, we were no better!

No-one came out of this display looking good ... I can't even be bothered to give ratings to the players ... suffice to say, they would all be low. Yes, they can say that certain players were still not fit, but if that were the case, they should not have been playing. We all expected a few of the kids to play yesterday and they didn't. That doesn't mean that the score would have been any different but at least we may have departed from the Valley thinking ... well, they tried under difficult circumstances.

I'll be glad never to play Hull again ... but we have to do a bit more to ensure we are not in the same division as them next year.

And I can't finish this post without mentioning Danny Mills. He had a chance to leave the Valley as a hero ... and instead left as a prat. Surely he should know that we hate play-acting at the Valley, and yet he tried it on 3 or 4 occasions. And then to swear at the ref and get sent off like a petulant kid ... what an idiot! And this guy apparently earns something between 30k and 40k a week ... a good week's work then Danny, eh?

Mills has been a revelation for us this season and I so hoped that Charlton could somehow do a deal and keep him for at least the rest of the season ... now, I'm not so sure.

Two away games coming up, so we should get at least 4 points ... but when are they gonna bring it together at home? Apart from one half against Ipswich and other short phases, we are not seeing a promotion winning team - Maybe that will change on New Years Day.

I have been one of those on Charlton Life stating how much I have been enjoying this season. Not sure why at the moment, but I still am ... however it's getting closer to the time when certain individuals in the red shirt need to stand up and be counted.

Have just read the OS .. good to see that Pards agrees about Mills - quoted as saying it was 'inexcusable'. 'We have been discussing the situation with Man City, in terms of keeping Danny ... I feel it's a difficult time to reflect on that decision right now, so I will absorb the decision over the next few days' said Pardew. Bloody hell Danny, you could have well and truly screwed this one up for everyone including yourself!

Good match report from Wyn Grant, and player ratings from Charlton North Downs - he is far more generous that I would have been and his marks are low already!

Blackheath addicted says much of what I would have said ... but in a far better fashion ... if I could have been bothered to write a proper match report on this turgid display, although I also think his player ratings are too generous!

Have a great Christmas everyone, and enjoy the New Year!!!

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Excellent game to watch for the neutral and showed a few Premiership sides that there are at least 2 teams better than some of the dross in the lower half of the top division.

Overall, Albion deserved the result, but if Izzy had made more of his chance this may well have been a 3-3 game .. possibly we may have won, even though against the odds.

This is a strange division ... a couple of weeks ago after the Burnley game, I was so annoyed that I could not be bothered to post ... and then we go on to win away at Cardiff, and demolish Ipswich in a superb first half.

Not many teams will win at the Hawthorns when they are in that type of attacking form ... a point mentioned by a few Baggies fans on their message boards ... this was one of their best displays of the season. We had a number of injury / suspension issues, some of our team were not on top form, we picked up even more injuries ... on another day under different circumstances, who knows!

As for my thoughts on the team:

Weaver - could have been a little more forceful at times, but had a good game despite conceding four
Semedo - not one of his best, but was not playing in his preferred position for a lot of the game
Powell - it seems wrong having a go as Sir Chris, but he was definitely not up to it yesterday, same as in the 2nd half against Ipswich last week. Maybe not fully fit yet, but I think time is beginning to tell
Sodje - I'm a big fan of Sodje, but today was not one to shout about
Bougherra - he's a tough player but needs to develop more of his game
Ambrose - after finding that he can play inside, we were forced to push him out again. Almost a cliche nowadays, but he will probably always remain an enigma for Charlton fans
Holland - been well up for it in last couple of games but tended to fade in and out for a lot of the game
Zheng - has been getting better and better and still signs that we have a lot more to see of ZZ
Reid - up and down game let's hope his injury is not bad
J Thomas - looked very dangerous against their inexperienced right-back
Iwelumo - scoring a goal whilst injured from a very difficult angle. No need to say more!
McLeod - maybe he just needs confidence but I keep shouting for him to shoot! Albion were doing it all the time
Varney - will he succeed or not. My vote is still out on this one

The main worry has to be the injuries to Big Chris, Reidy and Dazza - could be tough next week with this lot out as well. Key injuries gives Pardew Hull headache.

Ref was not bad this week but he should have a least given Pele a booking for his trip just outside the area on ZZ. Possibly a key, incorrect, decision at the time.

A few newspaper links from Iberian Valley.

Good reports from Chicago Addick , New York Addick - who blames the shorts ;-), and Blackheath Addicted.

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Should be an interesting game Saturday.

We definitely need a result at the Valley and Pards knows it. Hopefully the players will all follow Danny Mills example and be ready for the game with no complacency.

But Iberian Valley has some revealing stats on Burnley's away form.

Basey would appear to be out with an injury so there will definitely be some juggling around. Perhaps we will see the return of Moo2 ... which I would welcome.

May well be that this time we start with 2 strikers.

My prediction, 3-1 to Charlton, scorers Zheng Zhi, Sodje and Varney.

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Great gig by Ian Brown at Brixton last night.

Support were Paul Ryder's (ex-Happy Monkeys) band, Big Arm, who made a good sound.

When Brown entered the stage he immediately launched into a Stone Roses classic 'I wanna be adored' - one of the best starts to a gig I have seen.

Lots of excellent stuff from his solo albums and even brought on Andy Rourke (ex-Smiths bassist) for a few songs.

His band are superb as always, and he has re-mixed a number of songs such as 'My Star' which was much harder and sounded great live.

Two highlights of the evening were an amazing version of 'I am the Resurrection' which got the whole place going crazy and a finale of F.E.A.R. which was brilliant.

Ian Brown has not lost his touch and is still far more classy than anyone else around in the music business.

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What a rubbish referee ... Halsey got it wrong so many times, and was it really a penalty? I couldn't really tell, and the 2nd goal which he seemed to disallow and then allowed ... what was going on there!

And he never booked any of the SheffU players when they got over-physical, yet he booked Danny Mills when it should have been Bryan Robson.

And .....

But what am I talking about, these are all excuses which I am using to find out why we lost. The simple and obvious truth is that we were utter rubbish.

Can you believe we had the chance to go within 2 points of Watford and not only blew it but fell apart.

The crowd played their part and were terrific, but the players ? I don't know what went wrong, and according to the press interviews, nor does Pards!

Basey did fine, and he cannot be blamed for inexperience. Sam was well off his game and deservedly got taken off. Millsy as always got stuck in and no negatives from him.

Reid has been a hero all season, but Pards ... rest him! He looks like he needs a break. Thomas had some good spells as did Zheng although it was unforgivable the way that ZZ missed and shot the ball over the bar when all it needed was a simple tap-in.

We spent too much of the game, especially 2nd half shooting up high balls to Big Chris ... not attractive and it didn't do anything to win us the game.

On to Burnley at the Valley ... can't see them winning 2 away games on the trot but if we play again this way, then they will !

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