Tomorrow

I have just checked the weather. 0° at kick off tomorrow night. Can we do it on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke?

My brother and I once went to the Potteries leaving the warmth of London Euston in our t-shirts to be met with snow when we got off the train at Stoke-on-Trent.

The game in April 1994 was almost called off it was so cold, but after two pitch inspections it was passed fit 40 minutes before kick off and we lost in a blizzard.

800 or so Addicks will travel north tomorrow hopefully with a coat as we attempt to emerge from the good old dressing down we got on Saturday.

Nathan Jones will get a welcome to match the temperature, but he and his Charlton teams do have a good record of bouncing back, but it will also be going back to doing the basics, a regular scripture of his, and that is a minimum requirement.

This week was always going to be difficult, worse in reality now than when it was first listed in the fixtures.

Jones is also a stickler for formation, but I do wonder if he will play at back four tomorrow. Whether namesake Lloyd starts is anyone’s guess, but Bree will.

Hernandez as a wing back is an experiment that has to stop. I’ll be shocked if he trusts Apter there again, but he may go with Campbell with Fullah ahead of him and Rankin-Costello on the right side.

I always wonder what Curbs would do in these testing situations and you know he would play four at the back with a deep midfield of Coventry and Anderson. A three-man midfield then behind either Tanto or Leaburn to include at Carey, Berry and Campbell.

This is the relentlessness of The Championship, but it’s another game and it quickly allows us to put a bad weekend to bed. Let’s remind others again that this is where we belong.

Sing loud and keep warm, Addicks.