Charlton Athletic boss Lee Bowyer adamant Lyle Taylor is out of Millwall derby
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk
Lyle Taylor has been ruled out of Charlton’s derby at Millwall – but that won’t see both sets of fans taking that as absolute gospel until the teams are announced at 2pm on Saturday.
The former Lions striker, 29, has been out since the end of August after damaging knee ligaments while on international duty for Montserrat.
Charlton manager Lee Bowyer is adamant that the forward, who had scored in five of the opening six Championship matches, is not in contention for the trip to The Den.
But the Addicks boss has been known to throw the odd curveball into fitness updates before.
“He is not fit,” Bowyer told the South London Press earlier this week. “He was meant to be ready for Preston, that was the plan – for him to be on the bench for that one and then maybe start against Millwall.
“But he has had a little bit of a setback and has had to have an injection just to settle it down again – so it isn’t going to happen.
“Now we will have him back after the international break.”
Right-back Adam Matthews will be back available for the fixture in SE16.
But Charlton look set to still be without Jonny Williams, Sam Field, Tomer Hemed and Jake Forster-Caskey. Lewis Page got his first minutes of the season for the U23s on Monday but will not be involved this weekend.
It was obvious from the Preston match that we have to have Jonny William’s &/or Sam Field in the middle of the park. Against Preston, CAFC were clueless with no playmakers to get them going. There was no inventiveness and no bite where it counts. With William’s in particular you have movement and therefore danger up front. None of that was apparent last week.