Rochdale boss change not a factor to Charlton manager (From News Shopper)

Rochdale boss change not a factor to Charlton manager

4:22pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Charlton Athletic By Paul Green

VALLEY boss Chris Powell says he isn’t convinced drafting in a new manager makes a side harder to play against ahead of this weekend’s game with Rochdale.

Saturday’s opponents drafted in John Coleman from Accrington before last Saturday’s home game with Rochdale, a decision which produced instant dividends for the strugglers with a 3-0 home win over Bury at Spotland.

Powell admits he is a big admirer of Coleman but wasn’t convinced a team can be galvanised just by appointing a new boss.

He said: “It doesn’t matter really, there are positives and negatives with regards to the new manager coming in because it doesn’t always work.

“They got the result against Bury, it was a home game and a local derby so they could have responded like that anyway.

“Rochdale are coming to a tough place and I’m sure John will tell them that.

“We’ve got a record we are proud of at home and we want to maintain that. We want to bounce back so they will know they will be expecting a hard game against us for sure.

“They are all going to be tough now, trust me.

“Whoever the teams are or wherever they are in the league they are all going to be tough games for all different reasons.

“It is up to my 11 or 16 on a matchday to overcome that and come out the other end with three points.”

Powell added: “They had a fantastic result in their first game under a new manager.

“I’ve watched John Coleman from afar, he did terrific at Accrington and always played decent football with the players he had.

“The reports we had were they were very strong and got out of the blocks very quickly against Bury and I’m sure they will be thinking the same here.

“They will be thinking positively, about getting on the front foot and it is up to us to make sure we are ready for that.

“But equally we’ve got to get on with what we do best.

“We done that at times on Tuesday and I want us to do that again and get the end product.

“I think we need to start scoring goals and get in the right areas, which we have been doing, and delivering and getting on the end of crosses and through balls because we’ve certainly got the players to create and we’ve certainly got the players to score them.

“It will be a tough game, regardless of where they are.

“They are looking for points to get out of the bottom four but I know John, he will be looking to nick something and impose their own game. If they do then they could make it tough for us, but it is up to us to make it hard for them.”

With a sudden dip in temperatures and more hard frosts predicted before 3pm on Saturday, there remains a chance the game may not go ahead.

Charlton confirmed to News Shopper at 4pm today the pitch is playable at the moment but that didn’t stop the manager heading to the ground for a personal update.

“I’m going there this afternoon to have a look,” said Powell.

“We know the forecast isn’t good for Thursday and Friday night, so we will have to wait and see on that one what a local ref and Paddy Powell say.”

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