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POST-MATCH THREAD: Portsmouth vs Charlton Athletic - Monday 29th December 2025 - 7:45pm Kick-Off
Comments
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Having slept on it I'm ready to post without having a rant.
We have in my opinion only about 5 players who are constantly good enough for the championship.
The vast majority of our players are league one standard trying to perform against better players.
Injuries haven't helped and trying to find the best formation that works seems to be a tough ask.
We are still 5 points above the relegation spots so I'm not throwing in the towel yet.
But if we don't bring in at least 3 players in January who are proven at this level it will be very hard to stay up this season.
As always keep the faith and back the player's12 -
As Jones knows and keeps telling us, to stay in the division the team need to be the best version of themselves for the majority of the games, as even that it appears is not good enough to prevent defeat against most of the teams.
It must be though to get 24 more points or the league one nightmare will return. 7 wins, 3 draws and 13 defeats would be one route to that. I think our home form will see us there with a few games undefeated away.1 -
If you stand still at this level then you get what’s coming to you.
This January will show the current ambition of the American ownership. Stick or twist?10 -
Still feels so so gutting. Can't let it become pivotal to the season but it feels that way.
Hopefully Chapple and NJ have signings ready to go who can bring some much needed quality and nous.1 -
I've seen a long list of performances worse than last night and many worse results, but just in terms of individual moments I think that is up there with the most painful ones I've had as a fan. Haven't felt so gutted about Charlton in a very long time but for some reason I still don't feel 'worried'. Sounds silly after our last two results against relegation battlers but I just feel like we're not a million miles away from having a squad that can keep us up.19
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Our two top league goal scorers are both midfielders with 5 and 3 goals respectively (Both on the bench last night) and we have not scored 2 goals in a league game since the away win over 2 months ago v Ipswich
We don’t have the quality up front and the killer instinct that is required at this level. That was an opposition there for the taking last night but we don’t have the personnel to be clinical enough in front of goal.13 -
Totally agree ! We need to keep the faith, no one said it would be easy, the last year has been one helluva ride, Nathan has done so much to bring us back together as a club, team & fans.Danny Addick said:
Brilliant post, glad you rewrote it!jimmymelrose said:PWR
As if I wasn't pissed off enough I spent fifteen minutes writing a long post on another thread and then when I clicked on 'Post Comment' it got lost because the thread had been closed.
So I'm going to write it again:
I'm writing my comments as if the match stopped at about 90 minutes at 1-0. Portsmouth are absolutely the worst team I've seen this season in this division. They are worse than Norwich (who I watched on TV) and they are worse than Sheff Weds (who I saw at The Valley). They are worse than us too.
Portsmouth could hardly put a good passing move together until a nice interchange around our box at about 85-86 minute mark. Prior to that they looked scrappy and blasted every chance they got high and wide.
Meanwhile we looked decent for the first twenty minutes. We played the ball around nicely and looked to be building up to something. This is because we have better players than them, I really mean it. They haven't got the quality of Bell, the guile and speed of TC, and I believe Jones to be a better defender than any of theirs. Rankin-Costello also looked like a brand new signing from Planet -well maybe not Planet Heaven - but Planet 'wow, where did he come from' - or let's just call it 'Planet Nice One.' I was pleased but also annoyed because we needed to push the boat out - to go and prove that we're better than them. We play no-risk football and as in life generally if you don't take any risks you don't get anywhere. If we'd done so, I don't believe Portsmouth would have taken advantage of any gaps we'd have left further back because I don't think thay have anything dangerous enough to threaten our still decent defense.
Another shout out here: Kelman is absolute quality but our staid, defense first, careful approach ends up in a hoofball and he is wasted, absolutely wasted in this team. It's an absolute travesty. Leaburn did well today but it's no way to play football. With a different approach Kelman would be a 20 goal a season striker.
The game goes on - and on - and on. In fact watching Charlton is like waiting a thousand years and hoping the a meteor hits between a chosen set of goalposts on a chosen planet. We play the most boring crap, we really do. If we were playing Coventry City (or in a few weeks Chelsea) then I could accept it but - and it goes on - more and more of the same stuff - repeating what never works - and then doing the same again - asking decent players to play beneath themselves. They are not allowed to be the best version of themselves, quite the opposite. We have the players to have won this game. And still the same crap goes on.
Then we wait until the 86th minute to inject some more energy with the subs. Why leave it so late? What do we do in their position, winning 1-0 with only 5 minutes to go? We fall down, waste time, take the ball to the edges of the pitch, ask the goalie to pretend he's hurt his head. So why would we expect them to do any differently? Why wait so late to take a bigger risk to get something from the game?
Watching Charlton at the moment is like watching a dear friend or a pet animal scambling to get out of a hole and they can't hear you shouting 'there's a rope ladder on the other side. You can get out easily if you use that.' But the friend or pet continues to scramble blindly, trying to grab the rocks and tree roots, and keeps falling back down into the hole.
Nethertheless I'm not going to call for anyone's head or slag any particular player off like many do on forums, or worse, at the ground. I may not like it but I've said it time and time again: 'if it keeps us in the division then so be it. I'm willing to put up with this s**t if it keeps us up'. We are in the real thick of the battle now and we need to stick together however hard it may be. The management, players and fans are one team together, and even when it doesn't look like it, they are giving 100% and are doing what they believe to be best. We may not agree with certain aspects but we have to get behind them.
Just take a breath, calm down, and move onto the next match. If we lose that, do the same again. Just continue to create a healthy atmosphere for the team and pray (in a non-literal sense) that they find their way to turn it around. If you really can't control yourself to assure doing that then don't go to the match. Go to the cinema, do the gardening or something else instead. The last thing we need to add to the woes of this team is idiots making a negative atmosphere. As I said I'm PWR yet but I bet people are doing this already on here. Just, for pity's sake, don't do it at our matches or it will be like removing the rope ladder that they still have a chance of finding.This is when Nathan & the Players will really need us the fans to reinforce Fortress Valley & back The Addicks on their travels…half a season to go Buckle up and try and enjoy the ride ! COYA’s1 -
I have gone to this fixture home and away for the past 20 years. Apart from when we were not in the same league this is the worst Portsmouth side there has been for that time, not my quote that’s from there fans. We have beaten some good Portsmouth sides and have also been beaten by some good Portsmouth sides. Last night was abysmal from Charlton. Nathan Jones is a good manager but unfortunately the players are simply not good enough for this league. I know he acquired them but I think he has realised they are simply not up to the task. They were living on the wave of promotion I think we all were but the reality is that the players are average and you can’t have average in this league. Any other manager apart from Jones would be looking over there shoulder as many have lost their jobs for a run like this. Replacing him is not the answer as some have suggested the January window will determine if we stay in this league or not. Keep the faith it has to change surely otherwise the board may have to change things. We know how boards panic.3
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It‘s good that you - who was there - inject a note of realism into this part of the fiasco. So we absolutely cannot use it as an excuse. On the other hand it always gets raised because nobody knows how the fuck it is being worked out, and we should know, we just need to copy and adapt how its done in ice hockey. I just don’t see this level of confusion on the Continent either. It’s quite common for the first half to have no stoppage time here. Last night we had a minute. For what? Then in the second half: around 80 mins Tel and Brownie ponder how much there will be and both agree there were significant stoppages, so 7-8 mins. 5 was shocking. Of course I get the irony, if there had been 8 we wouldnt be having this discussion. Except that maybe we wouldnt have switched off as we did. Knibbs goal went in on 5.50 according to Cawley. @Callumcafc said it took 10 seconds from restart for the Pompey winner.oohaahmortimer said:
stoppage time started nearly 30 seconds late they chewed up a load more and we celebrated our goal chewing up more there was no problem with the timing .... there will be a minimum of 5 mins additional timeMuttleyCAFC said:I know I have a natural bias but the ref was a bit too helpful to them. Yes, we are fragile but we have to stick with Nathan and the lads. We will come through it that way. The ref played 5 minutes when it should have been 9. There were some stopages in added time but not more than a minute and a half tops. It was like he didn't give us enough time, but when we equalised he gave more time. That goal was last gasp and should have been the end of it. Look he is not a cheat but he was a homer. There were long stoppages in normal time and he played 5 mins and he played that again for the added time. Ridiculous.We absolutely cannot blame this farcical defeat on the timekeeping per se. But we pay enough to expect clarity. How do we get it?- clear statement by the FA about what is added on for what. e.g. subs. There is this legend that its 30 secs per sub. Is it a rule? What if 3 subs come on at the same time?- give the time monitoring responsibility to the 4th officlal, or a separate one. Free up the ref to make decisions, not having to constantly recall how much time he adds on
- wire up the 4th officials time keeping device to the stadium clock. He stops, the clock stops, we all see it, in game. When it gets to 90.00, big electronic whistle blasts. No chance for the ref to “ just see what happens from this corner”.
There, I feel better now. Marginally.4 -
Agreed. My only criticism of the time keeping is that the initial 5 minutes wasn't enough. Once in added time, Pompey really dragged it out, while our goal celebrations took ages (of course)oohaahmortimer said:
stoppage time started nearly 30 seconds late they chewed up a load more and we celebrated our goal chewing up more there was no problem with the timing .... there will be a minimum of 5 mins additional timeMuttleyCAFC said:I know I have a natural bias but the ref was a bit too helpful to them. Yes, we are fragile but we have to stick with Nathan and the lads. We will come through it that way. The ref played 5 minutes when it should have been 9. There were some stopages in added time but not more than a minute and a half tops. It was like he didn't give us enough time, but when we equalised he gave more time. That goal was last gasp and should have been the end of it. Look he is not a cheat but he was a homer. There were long stoppages in normal time and he played 5 mins and he played that again for the added time. Ridiculous.
And if WE had scored a second goal in added time, nobody here would be complaining.2 -
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Maybe I am being a little over optimistic here but.We all agree we were the better team last night.If we were playing poorly with lack of commitment then I would be worried.Isn’t it simply a case of keeping going and over time we will start to win again?And we have players coming back…..when that happens, NJ can pick a settled lineup that was working very well at the start of the season.4
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I won't counter all your points @PragueAddick but if you stopped the clock matches would go on forever. The ball is generally in play for about 60 mins at the moment, we'd be at the ground for about 2 and a half hours and soft tissue injuries would rocket
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Was a tough one to take - especially in the stadium with the euphoria of the equaliser
I wake up this morning gutted
But
I still feel calm about the fact we are 5 points above relegation zone. We are clearly better than Oxford and Pompey.
Norwich mate sent me this, too:
Surprising... but I guess the number of home games we have left is a factor.
Have been supporting Charlton and following football long enough to have some hope of a crazy win vs Coventry next....
COYR1 -
I agree with NJ when he complained about the Christmas fixtures this year. I always thought it a really tough schedule.
Two away games in a row, neither London. Followed by our only home game of the 4 (against the leaders) and then a long distance away game.
That's 3 away games in 10 days.4 -
Losing was unacceptable, even more so from drawing so so late on.
However;
- We have our third choice striker/inside forward (Campbell) playing LWB
- Kelman our second choice striker has just come back from what 8 weeks off and is not fit for 90 min
- Bell last nights LCB is not match fit having come back from injury, our reserve LCB Gillespie is simply not quick enough for championship football
- Burke, last nights RCB is not match fit and is not even the first choice RCB (Ramsey)
- JRC hasn't played 90 min at all this season, has maybe played a total of 30 min in the league this season in bit parts.
- Berry last nights AM is not fit enough for 90 min and is also possible third choice in that position behind Carey and Knibs
- Bree our RWB can't seem to kick a ball properly and is clearly not fit enough to play
- Our main striker (Godden) is injured and no site of a return
- Our bench is missing any type of genuine back up or fit players
The only real gripe I have is we are playing a formation that only worked so well last year because of Small, which we stumbled upon by pure accident, we do not have Small anymore. The only formation I see 99% of our players fitting into is a 4231, or possible 442 with a narrow midfield carey on the left and Apter on the right Cov and either Anderson or JRC in the middle. But we have to go 4 at the back with 2 solid CM in front of them. We do not have enough fit defends to play 5 at the back, esp as there's no way we have anyone fit enough who can come on as a sub for any defender/defensive players0 -
Desperately trying to scrabble around for positives despite still feeling numb from that horror
but If there is one, this horrific terrible run has come early enough that there’s still time for jones to try and turn the ship and the board to do something in January and despite such a mind blowingly awful run we still have enough points that we’re in a position where a full on miracle isn’t yet needed
but it’s hard to see where anything comes from at the moment with how pathetic our attacking and possession is3 -
Six games in Jan :
H Coventry Sheff U. Derby
A - Blackburn Mwall Leicester
Need a minimum of six points having only managed 4 in December.
None of the fixtures look easy ...4 -
Wouldn't want to be in the trenches with some of our players.DOUCHER said:
Wouldn’t want to be in the trenches with some of the cretins on here tonightCovered End said:
weird & not helpful.closet_addick said:
Game against Coventry is going to be brutal. Total carnage. But my morbid curiosity will likely keep me hooked on it. Just imagine the total and utter destruction of Charlton Athletic Football Club...CAFC_boi said:Really fucked off now, serious questions need to be asked and changes made to system or personnel (manager included?). Needs to buck up his ideas. Can’t blame injuries when we have most of the squad fit now.We are going down without the above, and it will be devastating for the club, if everytime we go up, we go straight back down.Big January needed with some serious investment.Feel good factor well and truly gone and dreading getting spanked by Coventry in a few days time.Just really upset and sad right now and losing belief quickly.2 -
That looks absolutely horrible. Got to look to get points at home because those 3 aways are tricky regardless of Leicester being incredibly inconsistent.hoof_it_up_to_benty said:Six games in Jan :
H Coventry Sheff U. Derby
A - Blackburn Mwall Leicester
Need a minimum of six points having only managed 4 in December.
None of the fixtures look easy ...0 -
If that was a Charlton player I’d still back him to miss.closet_addick said:
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Of course the present situation is a worry,but we have got to somehow guts it out.to be fair,when Ramsay and Edwards play together,you wont have a better full back pairing in this league.Throw in Bell with Jones and that defence will win you points.Midfield is the problem,plenty of running with little guile,and as anyone who plays the game knows,running without the ball is a dam sight harder than running with it.So now,I would give JRC and Knibbs a run,they can both play,Carey needs a short rest,but he will come back strong,Try and get the midfield up around the box to scrap for the loose balls,which always seem to be cleared.Keep TC up on the wing,give Apter more time,he is a good player.There you go problems solved.2
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Maybe I didnt express myself clearly enough. There is a potential injury, the ref decides to stop play, as now. So the 4th official stops the clock until the ref tells him he is ready to restart. Everybody sees exactly how much time was deducted, thats the only difference.fenaddick said:I won't counter all your points @PragueAddick but if you stopped the clock matches would go on forever. The ball is generally in play for about 60 mins at the moment, we'd be at the ground for about 2 and a half hours and soft tissue injuries would rocketI think this system would reduce the amount of added time overall. It is generally uncommon on the Continent to see games to go beyond 90+4, yet here we see 100
minute games quite often now. That is a big resource problem for teams
outside the FAPL.
Tell me why that is, and whether you think its ok, and if not, whats your remedy?0 -
Isn’t it also 30 seconds per goal too? So when we scored he would have added another 30 if that’s the case.PragueAddick said:
It‘s good that you - who was there - inject a note of realism into this part of the fiasco. So we absolutely cannot use it as an excuse. On the other hand it always gets raised because nobody knows how the fuck it is being worked out, and we should know, we just need to copy and adapt how its done in ice hockey. I just don’t see this level of confusion on the Continent either. It’s quite common for the first half to have no stoppage time here. Last night we had a minute. For what? Then in the second half: around 80 mins Tel and Brownie ponder how much there will be and both agree there were significant stoppages, so 7-8 mins. 5 was shocking. Of course I get the irony, if there had been 8 we wouldnt be having this discussion. Except that maybe we wouldnt have switched off as we did. Knibbs goal went in on 5.50 according to Cawley. @Callumcafc said it took 10 seconds from restart for the Pompey winner.oohaahmortimer said:
stoppage time started nearly 30 seconds late they chewed up a load more and we celebrated our goal chewing up more there was no problem with the timing .... there will be a minimum of 5 mins additional timeMuttleyCAFC said:I know I have a natural bias but the ref was a bit too helpful to them. Yes, we are fragile but we have to stick with Nathan and the lads. We will come through it that way. The ref played 5 minutes when it should have been 9. There were some stopages in added time but not more than a minute and a half tops. It was like he didn't give us enough time, but when we equalised he gave more time. That goal was last gasp and should have been the end of it. Look he is not a cheat but he was a homer. There were long stoppages in normal time and he played 5 mins and he played that again for the added time. Ridiculous.We absolutely cannot blame this farcical defeat on the timekeeping per se. But we pay enough to expect clarity. How do we get it?- clear statement by the FA about what is added on for what. e.g. subs. There is this legend that its 30 secs per sub. Is it a rule? What if 3 subs come on at the same time?- give the time monitoring responsibility to the 4th officlal, or a separate one. Free up the ref to make decisions, not having to constantly recall how much time he adds on
- wire up the 4th officials time keeping device to the stadium clock. He stops, the clock stops, we all see it, in game. When it gets to 90.00, big electronic whistle blasts. No chance for the ref to “ just see what happens from this corner”.
There, I feel better now. Marginally.2 -
Based on Nov/Dec we get maybe one point from thishoof_it_up_to_benty said:Six games in Jan :
H Coventry Sheff U. Derby
A - Blackburn Mwall Leicester
Need a minimum of six points having only managed 4 in December.
None of the fixtures look easy ...2 -
guinnessaddick said:
Dead & buried by Good Friday, with a revival within 3 days.CharltonManor1966 said:
If he's available in January worth a cheeky bid? Might save us from the drop?ateamofcorygibbs said:I mean Jesus Christ
Worth bringing in to help Kaminski on crosses.1 -
A quick Google:
Referees are tasked with carefully tracking all instances that take time away from continuous gameplay. These include but are not limited to:
- Player injuries and their treatment on the field
- Substitutions, which require players to leave and enter the field
- Delays caused by goal celebrations
- Time-wasting tactics, such as delaying restarts or excessive delays in throwing the ball back into play
- Disciplinary actions like yellow and red cards that momentarily pause the action
- VAR (Video Assistant Referee) interventions and replays that can cause stoppages
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The answer for that is the English football adopted the 2022 WC added time approach and the rest of the continent didn't. It was actually an attempt to get better value for money for supporters with more accurate timings. I have no real issue with it, everyone knows it happens so you have to plan for it and play to the whistle.PragueAddick said:
Maybe I didnt express myself clearly enough. There is a potential injury, the ref decides to stop play, as now. So the 4th official stops the clock until the ref tells him he is ready to restart. Everybody sees exactly how much time was deducted, thats the only difference.fenaddick said:I won't counter all your points @PragueAddick but if you stopped the clock matches would go on forever. The ball is generally in play for about 60 mins at the moment, we'd be at the ground for about 2 and a half hours and soft tissue injuries would rocketI think this system would reduce the amount of added time overall. It is generally uncommon on the Continent to see games to go beyond 90+4, yet here we see 100
minute games quite often now. That is a big resource problem for teams
outside the FAPL.
Tell me why that is, and whether you think its ok, and if not, whats your remedy?
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I wouldn’t want to with some of our fans!DaisyEdwards said:
Wouldn't want to be in the trenches with some of our players.DOUCHER said:
Wouldn’t want to be in the trenches with some of the cretins on here tonightCovered End said:
weird & not helpful.closet_addick said:
Game against Coventry is going to be brutal. Total carnage. But my morbid curiosity will likely keep me hooked on it. Just imagine the total and utter destruction of Charlton Athletic Football Club...CAFC_boi said:Really fucked off now, serious questions need to be asked and changes made to system or personnel (manager included?). Needs to buck up his ideas. Can’t blame injuries when we have most of the squad fit now.We are going down without the above, and it will be devastating for the club, if everytime we go up, we go straight back down.Big January needed with some serious investment.Feel good factor well and truly gone and dreading getting spanked by Coventry in a few days time.Just really upset and sad right now and losing belief quickly.5 -
Didn’t even see their second goal, was too busy celebrating… sounds like the players were too, bet NJ is livid, and that dressing room was a picture, anyway on we go to Coventry, and a game we really do need to win… hopefully 🙏0
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It was night and day compared to Norwich.
We had some really good chances, played some nice football in the final third but we just lacked a bit of composure/luck.
It was always going to be tight this season, feels like we’ve just got to roll with it.
Harsh football lesson for the 8 year old on his first night away game but I think he gets it already…24
