Match Preview | Argyle v Charlton Athletic
Saturday's visitors Charlton Athletic are essentially the epitome of mid-table this season. They are 13th in Sky Bet League One, with it seemingly unlikely that they will challenge for the play-offs or get dragged into a relegation fight. The Addicks have 41 points from their 33 games so far.
Before Tuesday night, when they drew 0-0 at Peterborough United, Charlton had won five and lost five of their previous ten league fixtures. Wins against Portsmouth, Lincoln City, Barnsley, Exeter City and Forest Green Rovers have been intermingled with defeats against Oxford United, Bolton Wanderers, Fleetwood Town, Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday.
The last two named came immediately before the trip to Peterborough, and means that Charlton have failed to score in three consecutive games. The Addicks' top goalscorer this season is Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, on loan from Crystal Palace, who has nine goals to his name. Despite only making eight starts among his 23 appearances, Miles Leaburn in next in the goals chart, with six.
Both Leaburn and Rak-Sakyi scored in Charlton's 5-1 win over Argyle earlier this season. In just the third game of Argyle's league season, Rak-Sakyi scored the opener before James Wilson's handball meant he was sent off and Jayden Stockley, now a Fleetwood player, scored from the spot. Leaburn scored the fifth, following efforts from Sean Clare and Charlie Kirk. Morgan Whittaker scored Argyle's only goal.
In November, the sides met again, in the Papa Johns Trophy second round, admittedly with vastly different line-ups. This time, Argyle won 3-2, with goals from Sam Cosgrove, Niall Ennis and Caleb Roberts.
The last time the sides met at Home Park, in the league, was last season, with Kieran Agard scoring as Argyle won 1-0 in December.
Charlton are managed by Dean Holden, who took over after Ben Garner was sacked in December. After a playing career that saw Holden represent Bolton, Peterborough and Shrewsbury Town, among others, he began a coaching career at another former side, Oldham Athletic. He had a short stint as boss between spells as assistant manager, then left for a similar role at Bristol City. He was given the Aston Gate hot-seat when Lee Johnson was sacked, and was in charge for seven months.
After a brief time as assistant at Stoke City, in which he took charge of one game as caretaker manager, Holden got the job at The Valley.
Schumacher Says
"We will watch that game back again, to go over their players, figure out what their strengths are, what they do when they get the ball and where they go. I know they've got a different manager who is playing a slightly different style, but the players are still the players and have still got their threats.
“We're going to have to do better defensively against Charlton because if we don't defend better, if we don't play better as a team, then we'll get punished again.”
Team News
Long-term injuries continue to rule out Mike Cooper, Dan Scarr and Conor Grant, although Schumacher reports the latter two to be improving. Adam Randell will be missing for another month after a setback in his recovery from an ankle injury. Tyreik Wright missed last week's game with a calf injury, which will likely rule him out again.
Tickets
Tickets for this game are sold out for home supporters. However, returned tickets can be made available, so keep checking ArgyleTickets.com.
Turnstiles will open two hours before kick-off, from 1pm. Supporters are advised to enter through the turnstile identified on their match ticket. However, if neighbouring turnstiles have shorter queues, supporters are permitted to enter these to speed up access to the stadium.
Argyle TV
The game will be covered on Argyle TV, with commentary from Charlie Price and former Argyle Women's captain Katie Middleton.
Erin Black will host a pre-match show which will be available for free on YouTube from 2pm. She will be joined by former Argyle defender Brian McGlinchey.
Audio commentary of the game is available for £2.50 in the UK, and live video streaming is available for overseas supporters.
