Bradford v Charlton: Clarke returns

Clarke impressing for Charlton – zimbio.com

When Mark Marshall and Billy Clarke swapped West Yorkshire for South London this summer, the former was tipped to be more important to Charlton Athletic’s promotion hopes. In fact, Marshall has only played 37 minutes of football due to injury, while Clarke has only missed 67.

Karl Robinson’s decision to drop the latter to the bench for the first time on Tuesday caused controversy, which says a lot about the impact he has made in SE10. Clarke doesn’t quite have the pace to play wide but, when fit, he excels at finding pockets of space behind the midfield and creating for others, as we saw in last season’s play-off final.

That narrow defeat to Millwall was Clarke’s last game for the Bantams, who have used a 4-3-3 this season. Their main source of creativity has since, ironically, been their right-back, Tony McMahon’s pinpoint deliveries from corners being key to a lot of their goals. When McMahon didn’t play against Bury on Saturday and Oldham three days later, the team missed his dead ball proficiency. Stuart McCall will hope to find players with similar technical accuracy on Saturday and in the coming weeks.

Defensive midfielder Romain Vincelot had been a frequent beneficiary of McMahon’s set pieces, netting four goals already. He though is suspended, so Stuart McCall will hope to find another midfielder with his strength and discipline, perhaps Timothee Dieng. The ex-Oldham man, if he plays, will need to hold his ground to free up Jake Reeves to control things in the middle third and the energetic Nicky Law to link play together.

That trio will have to duel with Ahmed Kashi. The 28-year-old is not as aesthetically pleasing as some of Charlton’s other midfielders, but at times he can disrupt the opposition’s play and offer a platform for those ahead of him.

The in-form magician for Robinson’s side right now is Tariq Fosu-Henry. The winger has clearly benefited from a loan spell under John Coleman at Accrington Stanley a couple of years ago and his career has steadily progressed since. He is a confident player, unafraid to take people on and his hat-trick at Fleetwood proved that he can score all manner of goals – seven now in the league now.

Fosu-Henry and others create for a powerful striker in Josh Magennis, who got past the likes of Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng to score for Northern Ireland against Germany just two weeks ago. The one concern for the Addicks is that they don’t have anyone who can do quite the same job, having let Lee Novak go to Scunthorpe on deadline day.

Equally, Bradford don’t always look the same team when Charlie Wyke isn’t around. With the ex-Carlisle man on the pitch this season, the Bantams average one goal every 46 minutes – without him, it’s one every 84. He has all the qualities you’d want from a target man who holds the final third play together, but with the added bonus of having a knack for goals himself.

If key men can stay fit – including the returning Clarke for the visitors – both teams will expect a top six finish.

The Football Lab’s Verdict: 1-2