Case for the defence

So basically you want to know why I deserve to play for Charlton? I will tell you exactly why I should play for Charlton.

Where to begin...well okay that last match I feel was terrible, no doubt about it but everyone has bad games sometimes.

Anyway for starters I should be playing because I can make things happen. I have the potential to win games. Case in point but when we played I believe it was Mottingham and the game was one all for the whole match and even with 2 minutes left as both teams were settling for a point each I snatched the ball and dribbled past two players and was calm enough to find a teammate who was in a better position than me to score the winning goal and I unselfishly squared him up.

You see, goals and assists means very little to me as it doesn't mean you had a good performance nor does it mean you had a bad one. So while I may not be leading the goals or assist charts, I feel the contribution I bring to the team is irreplaceable. The team we have now are unsure, rash and cannot use their heads more often than not so I feel what I bring is calmness and assurance to the team. I will seldom panic when on or off the ball and always use whatever I can to make the most of a bad situation.

My passing and especially my link up play is a whole lot better than the majority of players in the team. I can dribble comfortably and while I may be criticized for holding onto the ball for too long, there are mainly two reasons for this. The first being that no-one else makes the right movements meaning I have to hold onto the ball a bit longer as I cannot pass it to them because they are in a terrible position that passing it to them is pointless (case in point, last game in the second half I had the ball and yet two people were making exactly the same run directly into the penalty box with no attempt at a diagonal run to draw defenders away if not for me but for themselves thus I had to hold onto the ball a while longer and eventually resulted in a weak strike at the goal but the only shot in the second half).

The second reason why I may hold onto the ball slightly longer is because I don't trust certain people to not lose the ball or waste it even under absolutely no pressure. Yes this sounds arrogant but I don't believe I am because the facts speak for themselves.

What else? Oh yes finishing, it may not be evident due to not scoring many goals but if given the chance I have the calmness and can finish off chances that I get. Case in point, when we won 7-0 or something like that recently before the new year and I had a hamstring injury in the match and yet I still managed to control a cross, dribble pass 2 players and have the composure to slot the ball in the back of the net for my first goal and control another cross and rifle the ball in the back of the net. It also speaks volumes that even with an injury restricting me heavily I was still able to put in a better performance than many others.

I could go on and on really especially as I haven't even begun to mention my intelligence, vision, my wiliness to pass it backwards or sideways which some people just cannot do, my ability to create space for myself.

Sure you can mention the weak parts of my game but they are only weak because I do not have the proper support or anything like that. The common one I hear is getting back to defend and I grow tired of hearing that. I will work on that no doubt but two things to remember about that and the first is that, if we knew how to hold on the ball a lot better I and whoever else is playing in the middle or on the wing wouldn't be caught out of position so often because someone cannot play a simple pass or hold onto the ball better. The other thing is, I try and drop back if someone else is pushing up forward but undoubtedly I believe that most of the times because of my traits and skills the person who should be attacking most of the times should be me anyway especially as I'm an attacking midfielder and not a box to box one. My style of play is like a number ten and while I don't wish to seem arrogant again but asking me to drop back and play like a defensive midfielder is like asking someone like Jack Wilshere, Andreas Iniesta, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney to a lesser extent to play defensive midfielder. They can do that and they can do a decent job of it as well but it's a waste of their skills when they could be contributing so much more to the team.

Yes this was long but you asked me to justify why I should be playing for the team. You don't have to agree with it or not but everything I've said is the truth. I have no purpose to lie and deceive about this matter. If we were professionals and if we were on Match of the Day, I've no doubt the exact same things would be said.