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POST-MATCH THREAD: Charlton Athletic v Oxford Utd: Saturday 20th December 2025: KO 15:00
Comments
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I've just seen Kelman's goal back on the highlights. In the stadium I sensed the ball popped out to Kelman, and he took advantage by shooting. But there was more to it than that.
Watching it back, he rolled his man with his first touch, and shot smoothly with his second. The ball didn't sit up for him in a stroke of good fortune; there was no improvisation to set up the shot. He must have practiced that turn-and-shot thousands of times - muscle memory kicked in. The weight and placement of the pass to him from TC gve him options and made it possible.
A superb goal for the understanding shown between the two players and the precision and calmness in what they did in the moment. Beautiful stuff.36 -
I would say we played okay, better in the second half.
Carey quiet, apart from when he should have put Tanto in.
Leaburn played well, although the press wasn’t that evident in the first 45.2 -
Great day out even if we got stuck on the M11 for over an hour. Then saw 2 other accidents on offside lane after this. Madness on the roads.Got to the Valley 30 mins before kick off in the end, but had to park further out.Missed passes and nearly moments throughout the game. A bit of confidence in the final third missing, as has been said TC and Kelman changed the game for us. I really hope Kelman goes on a run and that relationship develops between them. Shout out to Leaburn, often double marked on set pieces and even though he made mistakes early on more than made up for it afterwards, his work rate was high and won most of the aerials battles. Just need Olafe or Carey to pickup those flickons.Left feeling happy and a smooth drive home, still a tough watch at times.5
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Thanks to our Great Western railway didn't get back to plymouth until 1am but worth it, met Lloyds dad on the train back too. lovely chap.11
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Lloyd Jones was beaten in his first aerial challenge, then he absolutely bossed it. Kayne Ramsay also made an early uncharacteristic error but then turned in a superb performance. Both of these guys seemed to take those initial errors as a personal affront and were determined to re-assert their authority. Fantastic attitude from fantastic pros. What brilliant signings they have been.
Great to see Miles Leaburn putting himself about with great energy and confidence too.
When I saw we had TC and Kelman on the bench I said that they would get 20 minutes or so to terrorise a tiring defence and so it proved. The real meaning of the words "game changers".16 -
Really good performance against an Oxford that was a very different Oxford United from the last time I saw them play when Buckingham was their manager.
They seem pretty low on ideas and quality to be honest, we matched them up physically and special shout to Miles Leaburn. He had a great game, ran himself into the ground and was dominant in the air. Us getting around him helped. Perfect game for Karoy Anderson and then Doherty.
Ramsay injury is worrying he is neck and neck as my player if the season with Sonny Carey so far. Gough is not an idiot though and showed good energy and a football brain when he came on.
Kaminski is never going to dominate his penalty box like Mannion, Dillon, Amos did and whilst I get he is a good goalkeeper I thought he got away with it again today. As a keeper you must cone with violent intent when dealing with crosses and I don't think he has that in him which puts us under from set pieces. Still a clean sheet so take the win
Nobody had a bad game, decision making was decent. Sonny remains our x factor and does what I want midfielders doing in getting in the box and not being disheartened after 5 failed runs, we made a decent midfielder in Brannagan look slow and average, which he isn't so credit to our midfield.
Charlie Kelman dipped his bread today, that goal he has scored 10 times last season for Orient but its his intelligence when pressing and the runs that have created a lot of space for Sonny.
More goals would have been nice but I don't think it was like the Leicester gane where we should have had 3 or 4.
Good performance and sets us up nicely aside from Ramsays injury for a hard game in east anglia9 -
Brannagan didn't play 😉Carter said:Really good performance against an Oxford that was a very different Oxford United from the last time I saw them play when Buckingham was their manager.
They seem pretty low on ideas and quality to be honest, we matched them up physically and special shout to Miles Leaburn. He had a great game, ran himself into the ground and was dominant in the air. Us getting around him helped. Perfect game for Karoy Anderson and then Doherty.
Ramsay injury is worrying he is neck and neck as my player if the season with Sonny Carey so far. Gough is not an idiot though and showed good energy and a football brain when he came on.
Kaminski is never going to dominate his penalty box like Mannion, Dillon, Amos did and whilst I get he is a good goalkeeper I thought he got away with it again today. As a keeper you must cone with violent intent when dealing with crosses and I don't think he has that in him which puts us under from set pieces. Still a clean sheet so take the win
Nobody had a bad game, decision making was decent. Sonny remains our x factor and does what I want midfielders doing in getting in the box and not being disheartened after 5 failed runs, we made a decent midfielder in Brannagan look slow and average, which he isn't so credit to our midfield.
Charlie Kelman dipped his bread today, that goal he has scored 10 times last season for Orient but its his intelligence when pressing and the runs that have created a lot of space for Sonny.
More goals would have been nice but I don't think it was like the Leicester gane where we should have had 3 or 4.
Good performance and sets us up nicely aside from Ramsays injury for a hard game in east anglia18 -
Thats why i thought the guy where he normally plays was slow hahasouthamptonaddick said:
Brannagan didn't play 😉Carter said:Really good performance against an Oxford that was a very different Oxford United from the last time I saw them play when Buckingham was their manager.
They seem pretty low on ideas and quality to be honest, we matched them up physically and special shout to Miles Leaburn. He had a great game, ran himself into the ground and was dominant in the air. Us getting around him helped. Perfect game for Karoy Anderson and then Doherty.
Ramsay injury is worrying he is neck and neck as my player if the season with Sonny Carey so far. Gough is not an idiot though and showed good energy and a football brain when he came on.
Kaminski is never going to dominate his penalty box like Mannion, Dillon, Amos did and whilst I get he is a good goalkeeper I thought he got away with it again today. As a keeper you must cone with violent intent when dealing with crosses and I don't think he has that in him which puts us under from set pieces. Still a clean sheet so take the win
Nobody had a bad game, decision making was decent. Sonny remains our x factor and does what I want midfielders doing in getting in the box and not being disheartened after 5 failed runs, we made a decent midfielder in Brannagan look slow and average, which he isn't so credit to our midfield.
Charlie Kelman dipped his bread today, that goal he has scored 10 times last season for Orient but its his intelligence when pressing and the runs that have created a lot of space for Sonny.
More goals would have been nice but I don't think it was like the Leicester gane where we should have had 3 or 4.
Good performance and sets us up nicely aside from Ramsays injury for a hard game in east anglia
Cameron Brannagan, I apologise6 -
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Kaminski is a good shot stopper but doesn't dominate his box and his goalkicks barely reach the halfway line. Still not clear if he is an upgrade on Mannion. Seems to stay rooted to his line on too many occasions.
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He seems to like staying on his line and watching the ball come to him so he can move and adjust rather than going after it.hoof_it_up_to_benty said:Kaminski is a good shot stopper but doesn't dominate his box and his goalkicks barely reach the halfway line. Still not clear if he is an upgrade on Mannion. Seems to stay rooted to his line on too many occasions.1 -
I was lucky - my Twat Nav gave me first warning of these as I was approaching the services on the Newmarket bypass. When I stopped there I had a look at the traffic map, thought "here we go again" (my journey to the Pompey game was similarly disrupted) and meant that instead if joining the M11 at the end of the A11 I took the scenic route through the various villages alongside the motorway before joining it at J8 Stansted. It added about 20 minutes to my (already too long) journey.fenlandaddick said:Great day out even if we got stuck on the M11 for over an hour. Then saw 2 other accidents on offside lane after this. Madness on the roads.
Still managed to get parked at Charlton without too much trouble, bagging the last spot in our usual place at about 1:30pm.
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So here is a puzzle. Say the Leaburn/Kelman partnership works and we play with those two up front. Say Bell/Edwards recover or we buy another proper left wingback. Say Bree signs.
Do either TC or Apter have a starting role in that case? Neither are proper strikers or strong enough to be defensive wingbacks. Are they destined as makeweights to cover injuries? I cannot see a system which has them in their proper role, as wingers.6 -
GoalkeeperShootersHillGuru said:Jones post match interview he mentions “we need reinforcements “. This I think is critical to how our season pans. Let’s be honest that we’re still at least half looking over our shoulders. Easy in The Championship to get sucked in off even a short bad run. We’re deficient in I’d say three areas. I’ll be disappointed if all of those deficiencies are not addressed. LWB, Advanced midfielder and striker.
Outfield
Subs
😉
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Just glad we won....Did choke a bit when the ref (who I thought was awful) put 9 mins on the clock but we held out. Well done.7
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We all know the importance of the win, but it's worth a look.
Table now..
P 22 Pts 28 Wrexham
P 22 Pts 28 West Brom
P 21 Pts 27 Charlton
P 22 Pts 26 Sheff Utd
P 22 Pts 26 Swansea
P 21 Pts 25 Blackburn
P 21 Pts 21 Portsmouth
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P 22 Pts 19 Oxford
P 22 Pts 18 Norwich
P 21 Pts -9 Sheff Wed
If Oxford would have won..
P 22 Pts 28 Wrexham
P 22 Pts 28 West Brom
P 22 Pts 26 Sheff Utd
P 22 Pts 26 Swansea
P 21 Pts 25 Blackburn
P 21 Pts 24 Charlton
P 22 Pts 22 Oxford
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P 21 Pts 21 Portsmouth
P 22 Pts 18 Norwich
P 21 Pts -9 Sheff Wed
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After that I’d like to see Kelman and Leaburn get a run together as our front two. As said that was one of Leaburn’s best performances in terms of the target man role. Keep that up and I’m sure he’ll grab a few goals along the way. Kelman clearly has goals in him at this level if we create the right type of chances for him.
Anderson deserves to keep his place. Great to see him look tidy on the ball and keep possession, when he gets that right I think he offers a more all round game than Docherty.
I can see all three having a good second half of the season, hopefully they do and make those spots their own.
I feel for most games we need one of TC/Apter/Fullah as an attacking wing back to give us the right balance (and I’m less keen on Hernandez in that role). None of them would be in their best position though, so not sure how that’s going to play out over the rest of the season.We definitely need a wing back or two in the window, so it’ll be interesting if Bree signs permanently/extends his loan (if not he’ll need replacing) and what type of LWB comes in.
Good to see Gough make his league debut, it showed real faith in him, especially when he usually plays DM at u21 level. The easy option for NJ would have been to move Bree to RCB and put JRC on at RWB. Yet another promising youngster from the academy who’s signed up long term, ideal for easing him in to the first without any worry he’s got a contract running out.13 -
We definitely kept brannagan quiet as he didn't play.Carter said:Really good performance against an Oxford that was a very different Oxford United from the last time I saw them play when Buckingham was their manager.
They seem pretty low on ideas and quality to be honest, we matched them up physically and special shout to Miles Leaburn. He had a great game, ran himself into the ground and was dominant in the air. Us getting around him helped. Perfect game for Karoy Anderson and then Doherty.
Ramsay injury is worrying he is neck and neck as my player if the season with Sonny Carey so far. Gough is not an idiot though and showed good energy and a football brain when he came on.
Kaminski is never going to dominate his penalty box like Mannion, Dillon, Amos did and whilst I get he is a good goalkeeper I thought he got away with it again today. As a keeper you must cone with violent intent when dealing with crosses and I don't think he has that in him which puts us under from set pieces. Still a clean sheet so take the win
Nobody had a bad game, decision making was decent. Sonny remains our x factor and does what I want midfielders doing in getting in the box and not being disheartened after 5 failed runs, we made a decent midfielder in Brannagan look slow and average, which he isn't so credit to our midfield.
Charlie Kelman dipped his bread today, that goal he has scored 10 times last season for Orient but its his intelligence when pressing and the runs that have created a lot of space for Sonny.
More goals would have been nice but I don't think it was like the Leicester gane where we should have had 3 or 4.
Good performance and sets us up nicely aside from Ramsays injury for a hard game in east anglia8 -
This is a good way of looking at things, should we win another three games I would imagine third from bottom would not win six more games this season.stoneroses19 said:Huge win!Now a healthy 8 points from relegation.
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EugenesAxe said:Thanks to our Great Western railway didn't get back to plymouth until 1am but worth it, met Lloyds dad on the train back too. lovely chap.
Remember to apply for the refund.
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I think that he looked dangerous at times, worked hard and got stuck in.Karim_myBagheri said:I didn't see the game today as I was too busy recovering from my Xmas party last night to even get up in time.
How did Tanto do? Was he playing alongside Leaburn?
Really want him to be able to play TCs position and then the two swap over later in the game. Super sub like.
He needs to improve on his finishing and learn to stay onside. I think that he will get there.2 -
You and my Dad would get on. Thomas comeoffyourlinski as he calls him.hoof_it_up_to_benty said:Kaminski is a good shot stopper but doesn't dominate his box and his goalkicks barely reach the halfway line. Still not clear if he is an upgrade on Mannion. Seems to stay rooted to his line on too many occasions.6 -
Yet when he goes forward to take a free kick or clear up field if we're chasing a game he stays stranded in no mans land and i worry he will get chipped. Maybe he's one of those people who needs a white line in reach, and gets fixed to it on those occasions, but then without one he just wanders around until the next time the line comes in to view.cafc_se7 said:
You and my Dad would get on. Thomas comeoffyourlinski as he calls him.hoof_it_up_to_benty said:Kaminski is a good shot stopper but doesn't dominate his box and his goalkicks barely reach the halfway line. Still not clear if he is an upgrade on Mannion. Seems to stay rooted to his line on too many occasions.0 -
Back to winning ways, OK it's a different class of opposition , nevertheless well done the lads it still has to be won!
Enjoyed watching Miles, did very well against a very decent centre back. I don't think I'm looking through the rose-tinted when I say there's a noticeable improvement in his game, for me it's especially in his headed flick-ons, his running and covering and his hold-up play.
Have to mention Kayne too, he's just so good on the ball and at getting out of tight spots when he's being pressed, he's back to the KR we know and love.
Also thought Robbie Apter gave a very competent display.7 -
We were the better team overall, but I thought the game turned when their player shanked it wide from 8 yards in the 2nd half. It was such a poor attempt it looked as if it must have diverted by the defender (Bree?), but there were no appeals.
Looked a golden opportunity, but fortunately it seemed to wake us up and we enjoyed our best spell of the game, culminating in the goal.
Classy goal, with TC delaying perfectly for Kelman to find a yard of space, and the finish was outstanding.
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Yes, was Bree I'm pretty sure, he did enough to make his presence felt, and make it hard for their No3 without risking a pen. No fuss from him afterwards - all part of the job! I'm going on memory, so stand to be corrected, but I think their No3 may have just bombed up the field so it may also have been a tired effort from him.mid_life_crisis said:We were the better team overall, but I thought the game turned when their player shanked it wide from 8 yards in the 2nd half. It was such a poor attempt it looked as if it must have diverted by the defender (Bree?), but there were no appeals.
Looked a golden opportunity, but fortunately it seemed to wake us up and we enjoyed our best spell of the game, culminating in the goal.
Classy goal, with TC delaying perfectly for Kelman to find a yard of space, and the finish was outstanding.0 -
Throught Oxford were by far the worst side we have seen this season they look a league one side already terrible tactics .. playing for the long throw there only danger .. we grew into the game never going to be a classic , up top Tanto and Leaburn caused no end of problem's for their defence , Tanto had a great chance but the ball
just seemed to run away from him at the vital time .. little reminder to fans who think our striker should score every chance they get not even Haaland does that but difference is he gets 10 chances a game ours they have to live on one .. again the mid struggled this moving Carey back and dropping Doc does not work , Doc comes on and Carey finally gets forward that led to Kelman goal … fantastic finish by Kelman the body movement to create the space for himself too drawer and that’s the difference between 1 point and three if he Kelman had played last week
we would be celebrating two wins in a row ..
Good 3 points but I have seen the second relegated team this season in Oxford
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Carey quite.EastTerrace said:I would say we played okay, better in the second half.
Carey quiet, apart from when he should have put Tanto in.
Leaburn played well, although the press wasn’t that evident in the first 45.
Not having that.4 -
I think Cameron Brannagan is fine about it, Carter, the bloke you called slow may take a little bit of work, sleep like a crocodile fella, one eye open.Carter said:
Thats why i thought the guy where he normally plays was slow hahasouthamptonaddick said:
Brannagan didn't play 😉Carter said:Really good performance against an Oxford that was a very different Oxford United from the last time I saw them play when Buckingham was their manager.
They seem pretty low on ideas and quality to be honest, we matched them up physically and special shout to Miles Leaburn. He had a great game, ran himself into the ground and was dominant in the air. Us getting around him helped. Perfect game for Karoy Anderson and then Doherty.
Ramsay injury is worrying he is neck and neck as my player if the season with Sonny Carey so far. Gough is not an idiot though and showed good energy and a football brain when he came on.
Kaminski is never going to dominate his penalty box like Mannion, Dillon, Amos did and whilst I get he is a good goalkeeper I thought he got away with it again today. As a keeper you must cone with violent intent when dealing with crosses and I don't think he has that in him which puts us under from set pieces. Still a clean sheet so take the win
Nobody had a bad game, decision making was decent. Sonny remains our x factor and does what I want midfielders doing in getting in the box and not being disheartened after 5 failed runs, we made a decent midfielder in Brannagan look slow and average, which he isn't so credit to our midfield.
Charlie Kelman dipped his bread today, that goal he has scored 10 times last season for Orient but its his intelligence when pressing and the runs that have created a lot of space for Sonny.
More goals would have been nice but I don't think it was like the Leicester gane where we should have had 3 or 4.
Good performance and sets us up nicely aside from Ramsays injury for a hard game in east anglia
Cameron Brannagan, I apologise0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7jWsCXKsro
