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POST-MATCH THREAD: West Bromwich Albion v Charlton Athletic: Tuesday 24th February 2026: KO 19:45
Comments
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We literally played with wingers for a decent chunk of the game yesterdaygolfaddick said:
Ah......wingers eh ? Those clubs are so outdated. They need to get with the times and employ the wingback system. 2 for the price of one then 😀killerandflash said:Bizarrely Mikey Johnston hadn't started the previous 3 games for WBA. I'd read various comments from WBA fans baffled by that, and after last night I'm also confused, as he easily looked their best player.
Indeed we've played a number of excellent wingers in recent weeks in Johnston, Scienza, Fatawu and Azeez.1 -
I'm pretty sure Burke is fine, but can't make the bench.peterreeves said:It makes you wonder if they knew they were on borrowed time with Lloyd hence Collins signing.... But he looks more than capable but relying on Gillispey is a little troublesome. Has anyone got an update on Burke coming back?2 -
I thought I read that Coventry has been carrying an injury which is why he has been a sub for the last few games. Looked good when he came on5
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I thought both could easily be VAR reds_uptheaddicks said:Ramsay and Bell got very bad fouls yesterday and just jumped straight back up. Not saying go all Portsmouth/Arsenal style, but look after yourself and the team.9 -
Obviously the aim for this season was to stay up and last nights point goes along way towards that but Im preying that there is a plan for next season as these performances are turgid and in no way enjoyable to watch. Often the 2nd season in the Championship is the one that catches teams out and this style of play with no ambition will fail next season Im sure as teams will know we carry no threat. Plus importantly I cant see attendances growing if the product your selling is shite !5
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Genuine question, what could Kaminski have done differently for the goal, I have watched the corner a few times and it's headed into the bottom corner with pace and is somewhat blocked by Sichenje. The fact that the player is completely unmarked and let through by Ramsay is a bigger question imo.
You can see (just about) here Ramsay and Campbell are battling on the edge of the 6 yard box, Campbell pulls away wraps round the back of the big cluster of players and Ramsay runs round the front of them.
Campbell gets into the flight of the ball quicker as he can see it all the way and Sichenje blocks Kaminski.
Even as the player connects Sichenje is still in front of Kaminski
Kaminski was ready for it to come at him chest height but it bounces in front of Sichenje and past Kaminski.
Now I don't particularly like Kaminski but Sichenje made that much harder for him (Sorry Kenyan fan base) and Ramsay made it too easy for Campbell to get a good header onto the ball.3 -
Don't buy into the negativity at the moment. Points on the board is all that matters. Staying up is all that matters. The management team and board know where the weaknesses lie and they will be addressed in the Summer. As for WBA a lot of posters feel that they should have simply rolled over and have their tummies tickled. Again, that doesn't happen in the real world. They are in desperate straits, so making it a tough ask for the Addicks was an absolute given. They even managed to recently pick up draws against Derby, Birmingham and Stoke, so winning there was by no means a given. All in all I'm very happy with a point, regardless of the quality of our play.12
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I think as Lloyd had only just gone off there was confusion as to who was marking who at that post.Dazzler21 said:Genuine question, what could Kaminski have done differently for the goal, I have watched the corner a few times and it's headed into the bottom corner with pace and is somewhat blocked by Sichenje. The fact that the player is completely unmarked and let through by Ramsay is a bigger question imo.
You can see (just about) here Ramsay and Campbell are battling on the edge of the 6 yard box, Campbell pulls away wraps round the back of the big cluster of players and Ramsay runs round the front of them.
Campbell gets into the flight of the ball quicker as he can see it all the way and Sichenje blocks Kaminski.
Even as the player connects Sichenje is still in front of Kaminski
Kaminski was ready for it to come at him chest height but it bounces in front of Sichenje and past Kaminski.
Now I don't particularly like Kaminski but Sichenje made that much harder for him (Sorry Kenyan fan base) and Ramsay made it too easy for Campbell to get a good header onto the ball.5 -
Very despondent during the match as my posts on the match thread show. However in retrospect we rode our luck and scraped the point we needed.
Hope we can find a win somewhere and somehow.5 -
I understand your sentiment here but if games were decided by squad value, it wouldn’t be worth playing the games would it? And that’s the point of football it’s 11v11 and everyone has the chance to win, draw and lose. We would never have got to the premier league if you stuck to what you are saying, like I say I get where you are coming from but you explain as though it’s fact a will and can’t be any different. As a club for as long as I can remember we’ve done things against the odds and as a fan I’m pretty proud of that because it makes us charlton fans what we are. That’s why I don’t use budget and values as an excuse for bad performances, potential finishes in the league, it’s got harder no doubt but not impossible to compete at the very least.fenaddick said:WBA are undoubtedly one of the worst teams in the division, there's no argument there and it is frustrating we couldn't beat them or play more aggressively but some context about their squad is needed. Trasnfermarkt values their squad at €68.53m and ours at €29.05m. That, of course, means they have some players capable of playing better than the team performances suggest. I think their two best performers last night were Campbell and Johnston. Campbell was a genuine bargain, he cost about €1.3m last summer. That is still more than we spent on a defender in that window, Sichenje has cost more. If you include loan fees, Johnston has got WBA a total of €4.7m which is more than we have spent on any single player this season and probably for a decade. He's also played a decent number of games for Celtic, European football and nearly 100 Championship games and is 26. We don't really have players of that age, with that pedigree. The 26 yr olds in our squad are Knibbs and JRC.
Was our football turgid and uninspiring? Of course it was. Should we be regularly beating teams with squad value over double ours? Of course not3 -
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We're going to the circus on Saturday!soapboxsam said:According to some wise posters on CL ?
We have to go to the cinema📽️ or circus 🎪 for entertainment and don't expect it from Cafc 🤦🏻♂️6 -
bugger me that was terrible
West Brom are the poorest side I've seen all season apart from us first half at home against Saints.
If half the team from Saints away on Saturday had turned up we'd have spanked the Baggies big time
LJ's buggered and that unravels almost everything else
Dykes & Leaburn from the start hasn't worked, yet. Whoever plays up front requires service and there was none at all last night bar that one pass from KR which Dykes duly despatched.
What impact NJ expected from the poor imitiation TC dossing about in the no7 shirt is beyond me and obviously beyond said imposter.
Clarke reminded us that Ramsay is the best RWB we have.
Chambers is still little boy lost
Doch ran his legs to stumps, again, covering all the ground exposed by hide'n'seek champion Carey.
Coady and Coventry were barely noticed but that's to be expected in their spoiling roles.
Dykes did what he could with the miserable fare he was served and thank funk he did!
Sichenje and Ramsay in the middle remind us how dependent we are on a broken LJ
Even Amari Bell was dragged down to the dismal level, he didn't make a successful forward pass of more than 5 yards, was indecisive and tentative throughout, repeatedly declining the easy ball and turning into trouble.
Fevrier is no Thierry Small - not even close - is hopelessly out of position on the right and can't run at all, he looks like he's carrying a rucksack full of bricks
IF last night's performance is repeated on Saturday we're getting a shallacking - even last Saturday's standard won't trouble Wrexham.
As it stands we're reliant on sides below us not picking up points if we're to remain 21st or higher, especially as Leicester may get some of their deduction cancelled or suspended. We've absolutely burgled 3 points from WBA this season and that's now looking critical.4 -
Sword65pf said:
I understand your sentiment here but if games were decided by squad value, it wouldn’t be worth playing the games would it? And that’s the point of football it’s 11v11 and everyone has the chance to win, draw and lose. We would never have got to the premier league if you stuck to what you are saying, like I say I get where you are coming from but you explain as though it’s fact a will and can’t be any different. As a club for as long as I can remember we’ve done things against the odds and as a fan I’m pretty proud of that because it makes us charlton fans what we are. That’s why I don’t use budget and values as an excuse for bad performances, potential finishes in the league, it’s got harder no doubt but not impossible to compete at the very least.fenaddick said:WBA are undoubtedly one of the worst teams in the division, there's no argument there and it is frustrating we couldn't beat them or play more aggressively but some context about their squad is needed. Trasnfermarkt values their squad at €68.53m and ours at €29.05m. That, of course, means they have some players capable of playing better than the team performances suggest. I think their two best performers last night were Campbell and Johnston. Campbell was a genuine bargain, he cost about €1.3m last summer. That is still more than we spent on a defender in that window, Sichenje has cost more. If you include loan fees, Johnston has got WBA a total of €4.7m which is more than we have spent on any single player this season and probably for a decade. He's also played a decent number of games for Celtic, European football and nearly 100 Championship games and is 26. We don't really have players of that age, with that pedigree. The 26 yr olds in our squad are Knibbs and JRC.
Was our football turgid and uninspiring? Of course it was. Should we be regularly beating teams with squad value over double ours? Of course notI would agree that squad value/budget is not an excuse for the sort of individual match performances like last night, Pompey last week, and especially the Millwall game - compete, commit and if we lose we lose.But over a season the squad value and budget are pretty much the only objective metrics that can be used as a comparator, however crude that may be.4 -
Expert pundits like Neville and Carragher say top teams can grind out a result when they play badly. The boys did that in the last two games. Charlton are playing at close to the limits of their potential this season as they did last season. Comments on here indicate that many don’t understand football. It is a business. If you want entertainment, go to the circus!1
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BaileyHintonTocknell said:Expert pundits like Neville and Carragher say top teams can grind out a result when they play badly. The boys did that in the last two games. Charlton are playing at close to the limits of their potential this season as they did last season. Comments on here indicate that many don’t understand football. It is a business. If you want entertainment, go to the circus!Many don't understand you say?Fans do not follow a club for entertainment value (as nice as that is), they follow a club for life based on so many other factors. It may be a business for the majority of owners, is it bollocks just a business for fans.12
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Is there a correlation that because we have the 3rd lowest budget, we have to use the tactics we saw last night against a WBA side that were struggling with confidence ?
We still had the 3rd lowest budget when we won 3-0 at Ipswich and managed 2nd half to attack in transition.
I have never wanted Nathan to be sacked or expect him to stop biting his nails but the decent points total over the last 8 games has been helped enormously by the red cards received by the opposition and we have won only one game of 11 v 11 in '26'.
Getting a 1-1 draw at WBA was a positive result in a negative display.
I didn't see the Southampton game only the highlights but they are a better side than the Albion so can understand if we played a rear guard action against them after seeing the 5-0 thumping of QPR.
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Point on the road is always a positive.Thought we lacked cohesion, especially in midfield. BFK looked ok,TC needs to run on to the ball and not standing with his back to goal when he receives the pass.Leaburn worked hard first half and made a great tackle at the back covering a lot ground to make it.Think we can get a point from Billy Smarts and Brum NFL.
But might have a tonking coming from Boro.As for the journey home, nearly got run off the road by a foreign trucker who I think was falling asleep.Still the motorway closures put about an hour on the journey home.0 -
Just been reading the comments on the BBC website report of the game. A West Brom fan messaged "If I was sentenced to death, I'd want our players to be the firing squad"14
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Lots on here knocking NJ's tactics but they've been used for many years - with some success!
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Fair point, but for me there are a lot of things to go into the mix, I won’t bore people with loads of examples, but one in my mind and I’m not saying I know everything is, say a team have paid £20m for a player and he plays like a £2m player and vice versa, that can’t be measured with any certainty. Obviously there is more chance of it being a good guide, but not a definitive thing.bobmunro said:Sword65pf said:
I understand your sentiment here but if games were decided by squad value, it wouldn’t be worth playing the games would it? And that’s the point of football it’s 11v11 and everyone has the chance to win, draw and lose. We would never have got to the premier league if you stuck to what you are saying, like I say I get where you are coming from but you explain as though it’s fact a will and can’t be any different. As a club for as long as I can remember we’ve done things against the odds and as a fan I’m pretty proud of that because it makes us charlton fans what we are. That’s why I don’t use budget and values as an excuse for bad performances, potential finishes in the league, it’s got harder no doubt but not impossible to compete at the very least.fenaddick said:WBA are undoubtedly one of the worst teams in the division, there's no argument there and it is frustrating we couldn't beat them or play more aggressively but some context about their squad is needed. Trasnfermarkt values their squad at €68.53m and ours at €29.05m. That, of course, means they have some players capable of playing better than the team performances suggest. I think their two best performers last night were Campbell and Johnston. Campbell was a genuine bargain, he cost about €1.3m last summer. That is still more than we spent on a defender in that window, Sichenje has cost more. If you include loan fees, Johnston has got WBA a total of €4.7m which is more than we have spent on any single player this season and probably for a decade. He's also played a decent number of games for Celtic, European football and nearly 100 Championship games and is 26. We don't really have players of that age, with that pedigree. The 26 yr olds in our squad are Knibbs and JRC.
Was our football turgid and uninspiring? Of course it was. Should we be regularly beating teams with squad value over double ours? Of course notI would agree that squad value/budget is not an excuse for the sort of individual match performances like last night, Pompey last week, and especially the Millwall game - compete, commit and if we lose we lose.But over a season the squad value and budget are pretty much the only objective metrics that can be used as a comparator, however crude that may be.0 -
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It's worked previously when I have asked in post match threads about loyalty points being added so I shall try again;
I haven't had my points added for Saints yet or WBA last night. Has anyone had theirs put on yet? Last time I asked mine appeared within about 20 mins so I am hoping this has the same effect.0 -
Horrible game to watch
We were awful in midfield and made it much harder work than that gane needed to be, naive, too much distance between players and Coady had one to forget too
Campbell needs a piece of dynamite put under him, he has moved beyond the raw pace and materials when he first came into the team and needs to engage his brain more often else his next move will be as a last 20 minute roll of the dice player down the leagues. He also had one to forget
I really hope Jones' injury isn't as bad as it looked, he doesn't cry off games so I worry it will be a bad one. BFK looked decent apart from a couple of notable moments of chaos, one in our own 6 yard box that I think I'm just going to accept will come with him. Clarke got torn a new one by Johnson hopefully he gets that out of his head as Johnson is capable of doing that to anyone. I'm angry at our set piece defending and what I think was a lack of desire to attack the ball and learn from 3 lessons of not picking up Campbell which we paid for
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I think we're broadly saying the same thing, we are and have historically punched above our weight. I'm just saying sometimes the expectation of how far we exceed where we should be is too highSword65pf said:
I understand your sentiment here but if games were decided by squad value, it wouldn’t be worth playing the games would it? And that’s the point of football it’s 11v11 and everyone has the chance to win, draw and lose. We would never have got to the premier league if you stuck to what you are saying, like I say I get where you are coming from but you explain as though it’s fact a will and can’t be any different. As a club for as long as I can remember we’ve done things against the odds and as a fan I’m pretty proud of that because it makes us charlton fans what we are. That’s why I don’t use budget and values as an excuse for bad performances, potential finishes in the league, it’s got harder no doubt but not impossible to compete at the very least.fenaddick said:WBA are undoubtedly one of the worst teams in the division, there's no argument there and it is frustrating we couldn't beat them or play more aggressively but some context about their squad is needed. Trasnfermarkt values their squad at €68.53m and ours at €29.05m. That, of course, means they have some players capable of playing better than the team performances suggest. I think their two best performers last night were Campbell and Johnston. Campbell was a genuine bargain, he cost about €1.3m last summer. That is still more than we spent on a defender in that window, Sichenje has cost more. If you include loan fees, Johnston has got WBA a total of €4.7m which is more than we have spent on any single player this season and probably for a decade. He's also played a decent number of games for Celtic, European football and nearly 100 Championship games and is 26. We don't really have players of that age, with that pedigree. The 26 yr olds in our squad are Knibbs and JRC.
Was our football turgid and uninspiring? Of course it was. Should we be regularly beating teams with squad value over double ours? Of course not0 -
The Baggies fans will be disappointed at losing two precious points last night. We were worse in the first half than against Pompey last week. A very fragile home side were allowed to play themselves into the game and come in one nil up.NJ had to change up front because the big two don’t work. Leaburn can’t make the ball stick so hit and hope is just a waste of time. TC didn’t have a decisive impact but it was noticeable that when he moved forward with the ball, three opponents scurried back to cover him. This offered more space for others and we gradually gained a foothold in the game (although they had some good chances).
Shout out again to Ramsey who has had a good month so far. He battled away with their most dangerous player throughout the game and provided the pass of the night (great duck by Fev) for Dykes to slot home.3 -
Before that corner kick was taken, Campbell took two handfuls of Ramsay's shirt and threw him two yards away. Surprised NJ didn't complain in the post-match.1
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We have seen this in a few games, this being an inability to make a 6 yard pass. Now our players may not be the best passers in the league but they are professional footballers so they are going to be better than they are showing. It has to be to do with how we are set up and the fact that our passes are under more pressure than other teams. This is probably to do with our defensive mindset. But that defensive mindset does make us a tough nut to crack. We were playing that better at the start of the season where after about a quarter of the season you could argue we had the best defence in the league. Of course a fair bit of water has flowed under the bridge since then.
We are not as good defensively as we were but we are still effective in terms of limiting what our keeper has to do. That will probably see us through this season and the realistic objective, given our budget and circumstances was to stay up. We are on course to achieve this so we have to be satisfied. Watching last night's performance and indeed the Portsmouth and Millwall games was torturous and we have responded positively only to fall into the same pattern soon after. If Jones is going to be out for a few games, we have to find a more offensive way of playing as the defence is going to struggle to hold out teams like Wrexham and Birmingham and if they score one we lose or draw.
Jones is pragmatic and I hope he gave the players the day off today and is sitting down with his coaches to work out a path forwards. I back him 100% but we have to work things out. The way we set up against Southampton was sensible but sitting back against WBA wasn't. They are fragile and when a team is fragile you have to test that fragility.3 -
I see Ramsay has been sacked ?0
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An ugly point in an ugly season, football-wise. But two years ago it was "just keep us up, I don't care how", last year it was "just get us promoted, I don't care how", and this season back to "just keep us up, I don't care how".
No, I won't put up with this indefinitely, but I'm not going to get too shirty if we survive this year. It would be our highest league finish for 11 years. Anything (and I mean anything) is better than a trip back to League 1.24 -
Absolute dog of a game to watch, but as we're now in the business end of the season, results and points count a lot more than performances. Normally the two come hand in hand, but to our credit, we were very sloppy and yet we managed to come from a goal down to get a point away from home that we probably didn't really deserve, having only had two shots of actual note.
I appreciate that we're in a transition season and the only thing that matters is staying up. Between our good early season form and the grinding out of points post-January recruitment, we should be able to get to the points total we need and watch two other teams capitulate more than us over the last couple of months of the season. Oxford are getting a little cut adrift, then it's probably either Leicester, WBA or (maybe a little less likely now) Blackburn to join them. Pompey and Norwich have both had relative uplifts, so I suspect 19th is probably where we'll end up.
I saw nothing really that new last night I didn't already know - we park two double-decker coaches to aim for the clean sheet, we can barely string 2-3 passes together, we hoofball a lot from the back and we rely on the minimal chances we're given to be taken. It's unattractive slop that serves a purpose while we are trying to stay up - and honestly, I'll begrudgingly take it, but it's tough medicine to swallow. We're not the type of fan base that has ever desired champagne football - it's just the fact that this flavour of direct, long ball, cagey football isn't particularly enjoyable to watch.
Provided we stay up (and of that, I'm hopeful), it's going to need a lot more investment again - and it won't be cheap. Quality that can make a difference and improve us will mean we need to get the board to spend as much as (if not more) than last summer. Other clubs will start sniffing around the few that have shown they can play at the level too, and there may have to be some outgoings to match the incomings. How sustainable is another significant rebuild? Are there books to be balanced? The squad investment hasn't shown any real slow down yet, but we are reliant on it continuing. At the very least, we're going to need a midfield rebuild and it won't come without a big price tag.
It's a solid point away from home, but it really highlights our weaknesses again. Just one or two more wins would probably just seal our safety. I'm sure NJ would take drawing every game from now on if that meant we'd stay up. It is relentless, as he always says, and the banked points already are huge.
Forget it happened, be thankful for what we have and try to focus on that end goal of staying up, regardless of how we did it. Could be A LOT worse.6
