Charlton Athletic F.C. in 2005-06
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By Bobo
At the end of last season, Charlton Athletic became the first English team to operate a youth academy in the United States. And a lot can be said for their (albeit slim) American contingent. Two of their team, former Manchester United man Jonathan Spector, and recent signing from the Netherlands, Cory Gibbs, are fully fledged US internationals.
As it happens, Gibbs was probably lucky to have garnered a place, having just gone on loan. And though he started his career at lowly St. Pauli, now in the third tier of football, he has overcome his prior position with good skill.
Charlton's top scorer this season, the 18-goal hero Darren Bent, has carried them through this year, 18 being nearly half the goals haul of the entire team. The young English striker has therefore outscored every player in the Premiership this season with the exception of Thierry Henry (27) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (21).
Sadly, Charlton's defensive record against the big teams speaks for itself. Over the two games against each club this season, they have let in seven against Manchester United, eight against Arsenal, and yet only one against Chelsea. (In fact, Chelsea's slide at the end of the season consisted of four post-Christmas losses, and two in consecutive games at the beginning of May). Charlton's final match was a 4-0 whipping at the hands of the Mancunians.
Elsewhere, the second-highest scorer of this season's team is former Liverpool boy Danny Murphy, who joined in August 2004. Sadly, neither Charlton's finishing position nor their league form reflects their ability to perform in competition, having got to Round Four of the Carling Cup, the competition in which they knocked out Chelsea on penalties. They also got to the sixth round of the FA Cup, the same round which saw Liverpool beat Birmingham at home by seven goals to zip.
Next season Charlton need to perform to their full potential, otherwise another season of mediocrity awaits. To garner any kind of good result means victories against the biggest of teams, and, Liverpool aside, that honestly didn't happen this year.
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