Charlton Corner - A week is a long time in football

After a very long week at work I have finally been able to return to my blog. A greatly improved performance has relieved some of the pressure on Parkinson but there are still many questions to be answered.

Defensively we are very fragile, Gary Doherty seems to come in for a lot of criticism and on recent performances it is easy to see why he was released by Norwich after their promotion. I can only think that Jonathan Fortune is still short of full fitness and that once he is ready to go he will step into Doc's role. Simon Francis also lacks popularity with the fans right now, but I feel he is growing into his role with us. If you speak to anyone at Southend they loved him last season and the fact that the management was reluctant to let him go in pre-season seems to back this up. He isn't the fastest but he is a great team player, and right now we need team spirit.

This leads me on to our confidence. Most teams when they are three nil up could concede a goal and their heads wouldn't drop. Unfortunately we don't seem to be built from this mould right now. A good run of results could change all that but it is a catch-22 situation. Confidences breeds good results, but to get that confidence you need a run of good results. If we can play against Sheffield Wednesday the same way we started against Carlisle there is every chance we could walk away with something at the end of the day. We just need to become a bit stronger at the back.

If our attacking play can continue on in the same vein as our visit to Carlisle then I don't think any of our fans will complain.

I will look at our next fixture in more detail in the coming days, but right now I will focus on the return of one of the least popular goalkeepers to play at the Valley. His antics caused a lot of damage he was never really able to fix, and although he had some good performances during his time with Charlton, Nicky Weaver will always be considered a below average keeper by most of the Addickted. To be fair to him, before breaking his leg he was considered a future England goalkeeper. Any player coming back from an injury like that struggles to regain their form, and by the time he left Manchester City he was the forgotten man. He came to Charlton looking to rebuild his reputation, and our failure to get promoted prevented him from doing that. He is probably looking forward to returning on Saturday, although I'm sure he won't mind the fact that he never had to play in the pink jersey Rob Elliot plays in now, that would have just been more ammo for the North Stand boo boys. I look forward to his return to the Valley as it is sure to create an atmosphere and hopefully our boys can use that to drive them forward!