POST-MATCH THREAD: Charlton Athletic v Sheffield United: Saturday 17th January 2026: KO 15:00
Comments
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The bigger issue imho was that he was our only outlet and hence they doubled up on him. This has been the case far too often this season and only really improved last season when Small came in on the right. Like others, I'm surprised and disappointed that he didn't bring on Apter as well, to give us two threats from out wide.TomCAFC said:When down to 9 men they were obviously there for the taking. Campbell had acres of space down the left but time after time he slowed everything down by checking back inside onto his right foot. Let their back 3 reset and await another rubbish cross. Whatever happened to wingers going down the outside and getting quick crosses in? Absolute madness putting the fella on the left if he can’t use his left foot at all.6 -
Surprised? Not really, disappointed, yes.2
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Mate I like TC but a monster he isn’t. When he came on yesterday there was acres of space and tbh what he did was the absolute bare minimum you would expect under the circumstances. He would have been far more dangerous if he didn’t keep stopping and checking back.2121 said:Campbell is a monster when he comes on as a sub, mostly as we will be attacking looking for a goal compared to our starting tactics. Shows how good he would be if we started with a more attacking formation that suited wingers
this isn’t being negative about the fella but an awful lot of fans build him up into something he really isn’t3 -
I think one thing yesterday showed us is that TC is literally the only player likely to get game time in our squad that other teams give any form of defensive concern about.We have absolutely no one else likely to play who can beat a man.As soon as Edwards is back, TC will move to being the 20-30 min ‘game changer’ off the bench.5
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Agree.AndyG said:
Mate I like TC but a monster he isn’t. When he came on yesterday there was acres of space and tbh what he did was the absolute bare minimum you would expect under the circumstances. He would have been far more dangerous if he didn’t keep stopping and checking back.2121 said:Campbell is a monster when he comes on as a sub, mostly as we will be attacking looking for a goal compared to our starting tactics. Shows how good he would be if we started with a more attacking formation that suited wingers
this isn’t being negative about the fella but an awful lot of fans build him up into something he really isn’t1 -
Unless he reports an injury, Clarke will play 3 games in a week. I’m convinced by thatWeegie Addick said:I’m a bit puzzled by the plan for Tuesday without Bree unless we pull something out the bag against the odds there. Does Clarke have two 90s in a row in his tank, given that was his first in a year?Yesterday was the opportunity to keep Bree on the right alongside the returning Ramsay with Clarke coming on for the last 30 or so to ease him in. OK, that would have meant TC playing LWB all match or otherwise Fullah as he did (modestly successfully) at Birmingham. Bree really wasn’t up to playing on the left which was bad for him and his possible last impression here.As it is, it feels like we’ve given ourselves a proper / risky selection headache for Derby at both RWB and LWB. Really hoping we don’t end up breaking Clarke by overplaying him too soon.3 -
Clarke didn’t look to be struggling fitness wise in the slightest, I’d be surprised if we didn’t see him start.AFKABartram said:
Unless he reports an injury, Clarke will play 3 games in a week. I’m convinced by thatWeegie Addick said:I’m a bit puzzled by the plan for Tuesday without Bree unless we pull something out the bag against the odds there. Does Clarke have two 90s in a row in his tank, given that was his first in a year?Yesterday was the opportunity to keep Bree on the right alongside the returning Ramsay with Clarke coming on for the last 30 or so to ease him in. OK, that would have meant TC playing LWB all match or otherwise Fullah as he did (modestly successfully) at Birmingham. Bree really wasn’t up to playing on the left which was bad for him and his possible last impression here.As it is, it feels like we’ve given ourselves a proper / risky selection headache for Derby at both RWB and LWB. Really hoping we don’t end up breaking Clarke by overplaying him too soon.2 -
The worst midfield performance since the days of Croft and Foley.Southbank said:
Awfulkentred2 said:How did the reserve midfield three play?
Anderson was out of position most of the time and played the ball to them, backwards, or if he found a Charlton player it was usually behind the man.
I struggle to comprehend how his passing can still be so bad, with no sign of any improvement since he reached the first team. Terrible performance - L2 level.
JRC was simply very poor.
Knibbs was as usual simply missing in action.
I barely noticed him until a few minutes before he was badly injured.
I hope his injury isn't as bad as it looked.
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I agree he makes plenty of strange decisions that I disagree with (subs Leaburn at the end just before an expected long throw into the box), BUT somehow he comes up with the results (more often that not).Nicholas said:3 points is 3 points brilliant but what a fucking disgrace of a performance. Jones needs to sort this shit out some absolute shocking decisions by him today. If they would have had 10 men not 9 they would have beat us. Why the hell
did he not being apter on. Why the hell
did we still need to play 5 at the back. Weird little bloke he is.
So I have to back him.6 -
Maybe monster was a stong word 😂AndyG said:
Mate I like TC but a monster he isn’t. When he came on yesterday there was acres of space and tbh what he did was the absolute bare minimum you would expect under the circumstances. He would have been far more dangerous if he didn’t keep stopping and checking back.2121 said:Campbell is a monster when he comes on as a sub, mostly as we will be attacking looking for a goal compared to our starting tactics. Shows how good he would be if we started with a more attacking formation that suited wingers
this isn’t being negative about the fella but an awful lot of fans build him up into something he really isn’t
agreed about the checking back, i wish he would try it on more in the box1 -
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Apart from Apter giving Sheffield United something to think about on BOTH flanks, it was dubious that we had both Clarke (no 1st team football all season) and Ramsay (first game after an injury) playing the full 90.
Surely either could have benefited from a rest, with Apter playing in front of either Ramsay or Clarke.1 -
I just don’t understand the constant juggling of our midfield. Anderson hasn’t really had many minutes but then finds himself starting against a good Sheff Utd side, with 2 other midfielders that haven’t featured massively. Why? How can the spine of the team get any coherency when it’s changing. Particularly out of possession, why you need the relationship with your partner(s) on where you should be, when to press, and where the people around you should be. I saw the lineup and knew it would be a mess.Makes even less sense when you’re starting a debutant and playing someone on their wrong foot.You’ve basically got half a team that’s never played with each other, 27 games into a season!10
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I'd say his mad decisions started at 1.30pm when he put the team sheet in.Hartleypete said:Think at times NJ gets so caught up in the emotion of the game that he can’t see the wood for the trees and makes some quite frankly mad decisions.1 -
That's one of the best posts on here. Totally agree. We have some fans who expect far too much.Martinspringle said:The worst performance yesterday came from our terraces. Sheffield United fans continued to back their players even after they committed two of the stupidest head-loss moments I’ve seen at this level. Meanwhile, we booed ours while they kept their heads and ground out three points.
The atmosphere at the Valley was better when we were averaging 15,000 in League One. The extra 5,000 have brought little beyond prawn sandwiches, long queues for bovril and unrealistic expectations.
This season was always going to be tough. You do not get extra points for style. Grinding out points will keep us up, not putting 3 goals past 9 men.
When people say “remember where we were,” it only resonates with those who were actually there.
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Is it? They both look like total defensive liabilities, that we can’t afford at the moment.ForeverAddickted said:
Jones clearly refuses to play Apter and Campbell as our Wing-Backs at the same time, has done so for months, and it’s still puzzling?thewolfboy said:Puzzled that Apter wasn't given a go.2 -
I’m not one to boo, and agree we need to keep behind the team, however it’s not unreasonable to be disappointed with the overall performance yesterday.redbuttle said:
That's one of the best posts on here. Totally agree. We have some fans who expect far too much.Martinspringle said:The worst performance yesterday came from our terraces. Sheffield United fans continued to back their players even after they committed two of the stupidest head-loss moments I’ve seen at this level. Meanwhile, we booed ours while they kept their heads and ground out three points.
The atmosphere at the Valley was better when we were averaging 15,000 in League One. The extra 5,000 have brought little beyond prawn sandwiches, long queues for bovril and unrealistic expectations.
This season was always going to be tough. You do not get extra points for style. Grinding out points will keep us up, not putting 3 goals past 9 men.
When people say “remember where we were,” it only resonates with those who were actually there.
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TC and Apter in the same side could only work if we played4-2-3-1, which we could do if our squad were fitSomervilleAddick said:
Is it? They both look like total defensive liabilities, that we can’t afford at the moment.ForeverAddickted said:
Jones clearly refuses to play Apter and Campbell as our Wing-Backs at the same time, has done so for months, and it’s still puzzling?thewolfboy said:Puzzled that Apter wasn't given a go.
Kaminski
Clarke Ramsay Jones Bell
Coventry JRC
Apter Carey TC
Striker1 -
Yeah I think he played really well and seemed fit enough. Apart from Knibbs no one should be tired so in a 3 game week it has also worked in our favourSword65pf said:
Clarke didn’t look to be struggling fitness wise in the slightest, I’d be surprised if we didn’t see him start.AFKABartram said:
Unless he reports an injury, Clarke will play 3 games in a week. I’m convinced by thatWeegie Addick said:I’m a bit puzzled by the plan for Tuesday without Bree unless we pull something out the bag against the odds there. Does Clarke have two 90s in a row in his tank, given that was his first in a year?Yesterday was the opportunity to keep Bree on the right alongside the returning Ramsay with Clarke coming on for the last 30 or so to ease him in. OK, that would have meant TC playing LWB all match or otherwise Fullah as he did (modestly successfully) at Birmingham. Bree really wasn’t up to playing on the left which was bad for him and his possible last impression here.As it is, it feels like we’ve given ourselves a proper / risky selection headache for Derby at both RWB and LWB. Really hoping we don’t end up breaking Clarke by overplaying him too soon.0 -
Bollocks it was.timken said:was a 100per cent nailed on pen to them after 6 mins when anderson just pushed their bloke over in the box
It was that gobby, big girls blouse Bamford disintegrating like rice paper because he didn't back himself to score so he tried to get a cheap penalty.
Christ that tool needs a slap9 -
Great post, you've nailed it.The Prince-e-Paul said:I think the key point from NJ post match interview, is that he knows just how good Sheff Utd are individually AND as a team. And more important, all of our players know it. Man for man, I'm pretty sure their player gets picked over ours 1-11, hence the reality is, they could, should and would, beat us most times out of 10. We've been extremely lucky to play them when out of form early season, and when having a brain fart today. The result today tells us that we can compete in this league, but with expansive entertaining football, not a hope in hells chance. The result IS everything, because the performance isn't our priority, not just today, but for the entire season.
NJ is pissed off because his team brought home the bacon today (3 points), and the fans collectively said, "Not enough!"
I hate the NJ style of play, but IF it keeps us up, will most people be happy, or still be saying, "Not enough?"
Sheff Utd are a far better side than us. If we had been the team that had 2 players sent off yesterday, it would have been a cricket score.
As much as I was one of those that was screaming for us to go for the jugular after we scored, Nathan is right to say they had enough quality on the pitch to punish us if we got wreckless1 -
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Sure - but against 9 men?SomervilleAddick said:
Is it? They both look like total defensive liabilities, that we can’t afford at the moment.ForeverAddickted said:
Jones clearly refuses to play Apter and Campbell as our Wing-Backs at the same time, has done so for months, and it’s still puzzling?thewolfboy said:Puzzled that Apter wasn't given a go.1 -
But they had their sub goalkeeper warming up.Off_it said:This "timeout" thing has to stop. Everyone does it. We always do it, but they also did it in the second half when the ref went over to their keeper and called the trainer on, but he never came on. Their players all went into a huddle and the ref just stood there until eventually the keeper just got up again.
Some of these breaks last for five minutes or more. The game just stops and everyone seems to accept it. Ridiculous.
I was impressed with that at least
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Against those nine men - yes. Did you see how quickly they could counter attack. Neither of these would offer much against that. I think that’s why we played so conservatively once we had the lead. As long as we had the ball they couldn’t score. Taking risks would open us up to fast breaks, and they were fast, we’re not. Once we had the lead, this was about preserving the points, not running up the score to make us feel better.CharltonManor1966 said:
Sure - but against 9 men?SomervilleAddick said:
Is it? They both look like total defensive liabilities, that we can’t afford at the moment.ForeverAddickted said:
Jones clearly refuses to play Apter and Campbell as our Wing-Backs at the same time, has done so for months, and it’s still puzzling?thewolfboy said:Puzzled that Apter wasn't given a go.4 -
NJ first season at Luton in League 2 they played far more expansive football. The second stint in League 1 very similar to how we are playing now, according to my Luton Town supporting mate.1st year in the Championship is going to be like this. We have players who are still adapting to the league. I expect after more signings in the summer window the gameplan will evolve next season, some more Championship experience will help the squad greatly.0
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Yes exactly! Trust Jones!fenlandaddick said:NJ first season at Luton in League 2 they played far more expansive football. The second stint in League 1 very similar to how we are playing now, according to my Luton Town supporting mate.1st year in the Championship is going to be like this. We have players who are still adapting to the league. I expect after more signings in the summer window the gameplan will evolve next season, some more Championship experience will help the squad greatly.0 -
I remember reading this at HT yesterday, and it wasn't far off the truth, the way we approached the second half...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJEZ5y0h3Us
Extended highlights. They really battered us first 35 mins.0









