Inside View with Charlton defender Miguel Llera
It’s been great to be back in the
Charlton starting line-up over the Christmas period and I’m looking
to take further strides in 2010.
I’ve had a mixed time since joining in
the summer and I’ll admit I’ve been up to see the manager since
I’ve been out the side.
I got the call on Saturday morning
after Christian Dailly was ill ahead of the Swindon match and
although it’s not nice when one of your team-mates misses out
through injury or illness I’ve waited patiently for my chance
and
am determined to play a big part in the second half of the
season.
Our fans certainly can’t complain of a
lack of entertainment over the season, particularly in the past few
weeks.
And although we have drawn each of our
last three League 1 games, they have all been different
occasions.
Against Millwall there was a real
feeling that it was two points lost having played against 10 men
for so long and held the lead going into injury time.
While there was plenty of frustration,
we were also keen to look at the positives. Remember, we were two
goals down in that game before turning things round.
Of course I will always remember the
Boxing Day game against Swindon after scoring a late equaliser to
earn us a point.
I was in the box in the closing stages
and I pleased with the finish. I managed to get behind the defender
as the ball came in and the reaction of the players and the
supporters was amazing.
That was like a point gained after
going 2-1 down against a team with two extra players and playing so
long with nine men, we probably felt the effects of that a little
on Monday at Brentford.
It was a hard game against a good
team.
We were disappointed after the game as
we had the better chances to win and perhaps should have got a
better result than the 1-1 draw. Supporters would probably not have
expected me to be partnering Jose Semedo in central defence a few
weeks ago but I’m enjoying playing with him.
He doesn’t like to play there but
Semedo plays well wherever he plays and we’ve been able to talk in
Spanish and it makes life a little easier.
Sam Sodje will miss another three
matches through suspension so I’m hopeful of maintaining my place
at Walsall on Saturday.
The gaffer said after the game on
Monday that we have lost just two matches in 24 in the league and
that’s pretty impressive.
But we can’t be complacent as only
half the job is done. Norwich’s game at Walsall was called off on
Monday so we stretched the gap in second spot to three points.
And supporters travelling to the
Midlands on Saturday can rest assured me and the players will be
aiming to make it a happy new year all round in the first match of
2010.
Wednesday, December 30 2009