Lee Bowyer gave his pre-match press conference this morning and the Charlton boss looked ahead to the game against Birmingham on Saturday, the international break and the fitness of the squad.
Below are some of the talking points…
On Playing Birmingham…
“It’s going to different really to what we have faced so far. They’re very solid out of possession, they get into their shape really quickly and we have to break them down.
“From the games that I’ve watched they’re very solid and they’ve got players that can hurt you going the other way. They’ve got a striker that is very good and from set pieces they’re good.
“We have to be patient. We’re going to have a lot of possession and we’ve got to move the ball quickly because if we don’t we’ll just play into their hands. If we do the right things, like we have done so far this season, then it’ll be an interesting game. Obviously the first goal will be massive. But I’m looking forward to it it’s going to be a different challenge.
As a player it’s better when you’ve got a Valley that’s bouncing, and the Birmingham fans will be singing as well. So hopefully we can have a few more turning up on the day and getting behind the lads because it’s going to be tough on Saturday, and every week’s going to be tough so we need them to keep turning out and keep singing because they make a hell of a difference.
On the international break…
“It’s good to have had the break, I think it came at a good time for us. Some have had a bit of a break, some have been away on international duty so it’s been good.
“There’s pro’s and cons to it and the most important thing is that we can’t control where the breaks are. So, for us, it would have been good if we cold have carried on playing because we were in a good place but at the same time, I think that having that break has done us no harm.
“It gives us a chance to re-group, evaluate what we have done over the first six games and look where we can improve. It’s been a good two weeks to really look at everything.”
On the fitness of the squad…
"The only concern is Lyle Taylor. He came back with a bit of a knock, so we’ve put him in a brace as a bit of a precaution, but we’ll be looking to get him back out on the pitch tomorrow, hopefully he comes back through that okay and is available for Saturday.
"Deji [Oshilaja] is training. He trained on Tuesday for the first day, so he’ll train again today and tomorrow, so he needs to catch up a little bit but he’s back training now so that’s good for us.
'Beram Kayal played for Israel which was the most important thing for him. I said to him before he went, that we needed him to play games and get some minutes under his belt and get a bit of sharpness back into him. That’s all he was lacking so hopefully when I see him today, he will have picked up a bit of sharpness which can only be a positive for us.
"Adam Matthews needs a couple more U23s games. He missed pre-season and that’s a lot to miss so slowly but surely, we’ll get him up to speed and then he can start competing for the right-back position."
