POST-MATCH THREAD: Charlton Athletic v Derby County: Tuesday 20th January 2026: KO 19:45

soapy_jones said:

It will be absolute Charlton if we finally break the hoodo at the Toolbox AND manage to go down...

Confidence is one thing, but we could play those fuckers in any sort of form and still get a gigantic kick in the nads.

So that's all I got.

mayoboy said:

Our corners and free kicks were much better today...Saturday is a free hit...do something they aren't expecting us to do...play from the first minute Apter, Fullah and TC and just go at them at speed on the wings with Kelman and Dykes up front. We have nothing to lose. Attack is the best form of defence.

No free hits no. Every point we fail to get, is one step more to relegation. 

queensland_addick said:

I feel that something has to give, whilst we still have a reasonable chance of staying up. That "something" is Nathan Jones. He has to break out of his negative bubble and start playing creative players such as Fullah, JRC and Apter and give them the freedom to play their natural games.

We finally saw the best of TC, but only because there was nothing to lose, he didn't give a f*CK and just went for it. If the game was still at 0-0, he'd have probably passed back to Kaminski, rather than going for goal !

But Jones has apparently surrounded himself with "yes men" so isn't getting the benefit of critical thinking, or constructive criticism, from outside of his own negative bubble, which then results in players playing to his negative instructions, and being frightened to express themselves on the ball.

Where the hell is Bell BTW? He told us that the injury wasn't as bad as first thought!

We can stay up, there were some good signs in the second half, but NJ needs to change his game plan, starting Saturday.

That means he is only out until the start of next season, not Christmas. 

PWR .. I thought that was absolute dog 💩.  ‘Kin ‘orrible. Roll on Saturday 😬

Garrymanilow said:

Sword65pf said:

fenaddick said:

Sword65pf said:

daveydanger said:

I thought TC was excellent both going forwards and tracking back. Do I wish he could consistently have a bit more killer instinct and end product…yeah, but last night for once our big problem wasn’t really that position imo.

I’m also in the minority it seems by thinking Dykes looked really decent and the Leaburn Dykes pairing, while not amazing, was literally the least of our problems.

Our defence, usually our foundation, was a disaster zone. I guess he was injured but Jones made mistake after mistake, misplaced passes and got bossed by their massive number 7.

Ramsay was absolutely awful, scuffing 10 yard passes and looked completely devoid of the confidence we know him for. Offered almost nothing for most of the game and looked like an accident waiting to happen.

Not made my mind up on Clarke, he seemed full of enthusiasm but made some pretty weird decisions and just looked like a CB that had somehow found himself on the wing. Crossing wasn’t too bad.

Macca just isn’t at the level.

Why would he not play JRC in a game where Derby packed their own half and we needed a bit of cleverness to unpick it? Anderson is literally a body in that midfield and offers so little going forward. It’s a shame, but I think League 1 or even 2 will be his level.

Are we forgetting the time TC didn’t track back and the whole defence and keeper were pointing the finger and he just shrugged his shoulders?

I've popped it as a spoiler because it's long but that chance was not on TC (can't comment on the argument with TK as the TV only showed TK shouting, not who it was at. Co-comms said it was GIllesphey but they weren't very reliable all night!)

That chance was 100% on Gillesphey & Anderson if we're talking defensive errors. Gillesphey is challenging for the ball in line with Sonny Carey, Brereton Diaz is in space in line with where the LCB should be and Anderson is running in the wrong direction

Once the pass is made by the player Gillesphey is challenging TC is covering the Derby RB and Anderson should pick up Brereton Diaz in lieu of Gillesphey



I can't quite stop it on the right frame but once the pass is played TC is still covering his man and actually looks over his shoulder to see where he is. Gillesphey is jogging at best, Anderson gets out paced and Jones doesn't have enough faith that Burke will cover the striker so is shouting at him instead of getting across quickly 



TC is the only player there who actually tracks his man. Maybe he should have left the RB alone in an attempt to reach Brereton-Diaz but there were other players who were closer, in better positions or should have been in better positions

Well the fact jones and kaminski were getting stuck into him would suggest he didnt do his job, with respect I’m in the family stand and everyone around me saw him just stand there and not track back, don’t mind being told I’m wrong by someone that was at the ground to see the bigger picture, but a few snaps off the telly isn’t really enough. I’m saying what I and many others saw on this one.

'Yeah I know the video evidence shows what actually happened but the keeper yelled at someone else so I'm going to disregard reality in favour of the shouting thanks'. 

Well I’m not fucking blind mate, or am I just making things up so I can have a pop at TC, fuck me the let’s blow smoke up TC’s arse brigade are out this morning. He scored a lovely goal by the way, just for balance.

Thought we started okay, but without a lot of guile up front, and the build up is so so laboured. Then we conceded andvwerevluckybthey didn't get a second. Second half we changed the system a bit and began to push them back, but they escaped and scored a second. A great goal gor us but we never really rested their keeper again. 
Anderson played better last night but really isn't at this level and would look better coming on in the last ten minutes if we were defending a lead, to harry the opposition. Ramsay was poor last night, and some of the fouls were gifts to the opposition.
Fullah looked great when he came on and had confidence to try stuff the others were too afraid to. I know he's young but why hadn't he been on the bench for so long?
Our forwards get terrible service. Nobody will score the goals we need without better quality (Apter) providing crosses or passes.
There's still hope, but last night was winnable but we blew it.

Another reminder that this is a bloody tough division to play (survive) in. Derby were solid enough with a good away record but they were nothing special. Unlike Southampton and Middlesbrough they were pretty average  in most areas of the pitch, apart from the outstanding Agyemang, and their goal keeper was a last second replacement. It was also CBT's first appearance of the season in the starting 11.

Yet we handed them complete control of the game in the first half. Apart from a couple of forward surges from Carey, we were woeful. At around the 36th minute we had possession of the ball for over three minutes without one forward pass. Side pass to side pass with no movement up front - worrying echoes of the form of November 24.

Strangely the Jones injury had an unintentional positive impact as the defence went to a back four and Clarke injected energy and balance whilst Fullah linked up with Campbell again to start making inroads on the left wing. Their second goal was a bit against the run of play and came about because of the youthful ebullience (naivety) of Fullah in refusing a simple pass and running into traffic, although then the Diaz first time through ball was top quality.

Campbell then finally made a mazy run across the area which, after a one two with Anderson, he finished with aplomb. After that we huffed and puffed but to no avail.

This time last year we were just getting on a winning roll but sadly we appear to be going the other way now.  Our summer signings are again on the treatment table or carrying injuries and it's worrying that our stalwart players - Jones, Coventry and Ramsey - appear to be running out of steam. I don't know if it was the challenge of facing CBT but Ramsey was all over the place last night and Coventry currently couldn't see a forward pass if it slapped him in the face.

Campbell is playing a role which wastes his talent to drive at defenders with the ball (until Fullah arrives anyway) and Anderson still needs some rough edges knocked off him probably with a stint on loan in a lower division.

The January window is fast disappearing and reinforcements are urgently needed in several positions. If that means selling on a certain young forward to Brighton to get some funds in, then get on with it fast.



   
   

Braziliance said:

Seen this coming for a long time unfortunately. 

Too many League 1 players in key positions not replaced and not enough championship quality signed. 

The writing has been on the wall for months, we were scraping results playing poor.

The stats don't lie. Worst team on the ball travelling, posession and passing. Now it's starting to catch up to us and we could be in the relegation zone in 2 weeks time. 

If only we had beaten Norwich, Pompey, and Blackburn. We would be on 40 pts bang on mid table, and they'd all be on, 27, 25, and 26 respectively. Plenty of breathing room, and results like this wouldn't feel too terrible. 

Let's just hope we turn up next time for the games against the teams around us, as that will truly decide our fate.

Subject to rearrangements coming through 4 of our next 5 are away, our home game is QPR.  Its going to be a terrific effort not to be in the relegation zone.

Last season after Crawley Jones hit on a formula and a structure to get us promoted.  This season, albeit with the injuries, Jones seems to be scrabbling around with incoherent selections.  The start with two big men up front without players to supply ammunition was bizarre, and whilst Fullah did well coming on to add energy, the logical replacement for Leaburn was Kelman, a proven goalscorer, albeit feeling his way at this level, Fullah could have come on for someone else.  As for Aptor, he seems to be being billed as the new Kirk by Jones, without obvious justification, at least have him on the bench.

msomerton said:

mayoboy said:

Our corners and free kicks were much better today...Saturday is a free hit...do something they aren't expecting us to do...play from the first minute Apter, Fullah and TC and just go at them at speed on the wings with Kelman and Dykes up front. We have nothing to lose. Attack is the best form of defence.

No free hits no. Every point we fail to get, is one step more to relegation. 

All 'must win' games now.

Chunes said:

NJ seems to have developed a style of football called tiki-whacka. We play short, slow passes that allow the oppo to press easily, inevitably run out of options, and then whack an aimless ball forward. It's tiki-whacka. 

At least in the second half we passed the ball quicker and showed we can play a bit. But so many first-half performances this season have this awful style. And worse, it doesn't seem to be doing anything for us. 

Also, NJ's decisions feel random. Leaburn and Dykes, what was that about. Starting Berry for three games in a row.  Gillesphey playing no matter how many times he lets us down. Subbing Coventry for Kelman when we've finally got a foothold in the game. What is he doing? Only he knows. 

We need to win 5-6 out of the next 18 games. And we've only won 2 of the last 13. Big trouble. 

Leuth said:

Algarveaddick said:

PWR. I thought TK should have come out and cleared the ball to snuff out the danger before their second. 

He should have magicked it into their goal as well, and brought about world peace, and cured cancer. We have a lot of problems right now and TK isn't one 

Except he should have come for it. One of his key weaknesses. It should have been saved.

cabbles said:

I’m still upbeat and positive this morning because of the amount of points on the board.  

The lack of cutting edge and for want of a better term here, conservative approaches to games is definitely of concern, as is the ongoing problem of the left side of our defence, both at LWB and LCB.

I do genuinely believe if we can address that by window end, it will improve the performance of the whole team.  Quite rightly, our midfield three has come into question recently, but I think there’s an apprehension about how to play to compensate for the gaps down the left.  

We’ve seen how quickly things looked a bit more balanced when Bell was there and if we can just get that sorted, I think it will put the balance of the team back into a much better position.  

It’s frustrating not to have it sorted by now, but you have to imagine it’s the thing keeping NJ sleeping at the training ground or however he puts it.

If we don’t get that cover in (and decent cover as well), then we’re really touch and go as to whether or not we’ll have enough in the tank.  

My worry is that because of it, NJ is trying all these different line ups, ie one week JRC, the next week Anderson etc, and it’s because he genuinely doesn’t have an answer until it’s solved.  Like every human he’s also reverting to habit and what he knows with how entrenched we play.  I think as has been pointed out, it was working in the opening part of the season when spirits and confidence were high and our top end league one players were performing okay, but now there’s a bit of nervousness and confidence that has been sapped.

These months of the season really can take their toll.  One or two more new bodies of quality down the left could really make the difference.  Fingers crossed

'Quite rightly, our midfield three has come into question recently, but I think there’s an apprehension about how to play to compensate for the gaps down the left'

Absolutely agree with this. If there was a fit back 5 playing in their true positions the midfield could advance more. As it is they sit back to protect the defence.
Shockingly, with Jones injured and Bree gone we are back down to two fit defenders, Clarke and Gillesphey,  two half fit ones, Burke and Ramsay, and two untried ones, Mitchell and Gough..
God help us against Millwall.

arny23394 said:

Anderson & Gillesphey are closer to league 2 level than the championship. Shambolic footballers - barring 3 or 4, the rest aren’t much better. 

I love Jones, but if he takes us down playing this ghastly football, I’d want him replaced by someone that plays football which doesn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out. 

Can’t see the point of getting rid of him if we get relegated because he’s proven that he can get us back up again.  If you change manager after relegation then who can you attract that you feel confident of getting top two? I would only feel confident in NJ. Johnny Jackson would be my only other choice but we don’t really know if he can do it.

I don't want to sack him for this reason.  However if I were to hear from someone itk that NJ will be sacked if we go down, I’d say get rid of him now because that's the only way I see us staying up. Atm, he just seems so brain dead to me.