POST-MATCH THREAD: Charlton Athletic v Bristol City: Saturday 10th October 2026: KO 12:30

jimmymelrose said:

NabySarr said:

th0rryy said:

On the face of it, yes, it's an OK point in isolation against a team that should be there or thereabouts in the playoff picture at the end of the season. I'm pretty sure I saw several predictions across the interwebs for this game to end up 1-1 and thus did it end that way. Grant's goal was very well taken and, for my mind, it was a penalty - a tired TC miss at the end probably would have represented some points stolen rather than earned if it had gone in.

However, we're at home and we need to take games like this and turn a few more in to wins. I just don't think we have the quality to do so in either midfield or in creative/wide areas. Echoing the point from earlier in this thread, Coventry and Skipp isn't a combination that will create anywhere near enough. Skipp is better than say, Docherty, but having 2 CDMs is making us play this brand of hateball NJ loves so much. It really doesn't matter who plays in the 10, up front or on either wing when these two together are your engine room. They are too similar, attempt to occupy the same space and are not progressive enough. You need ONE of them, not both. However, NJ is not brave enough to play without both - he won't gamble on results when he knows he could lose his job if it goes wrong. So, he plays the percentage grindy football that means more draws and less losses. Another manager would at least attempt Carey/JR-C/Knibbs/Mwamba in that 8 role, but he's playing to inch us over the points line. It's horrific to watch, imho.

Defensively, Billy was a massive, massive difference-maker today. First time I have got to see him play in person and the lad was a colossus. However, the less said about Josh Edwards today, the better. Hirakawa beat him so many times and he looked completely off it. We can't risk him starting games, and I genuinely hope that NJ felt forced into playing him due to the fitness of the other players. Mesik gave us so much, and just more action and endeavor.

I dunno. We've got two huge away games now. Burnley found something against the insanity that is Watford today, so they'll see us as the opportunity in the week. Prepare for more parking the bus. Then at Watford, we have to at least try and contest the game, but it'll be a nailbiter decided by more inches and moments. I'm so concerned we get dragged into this dogfight again. We look like a promoted L1 team, still. I can only pray that we have some pennies put aside for January to try and fix the holes.

Until NJ gives up on Coventry and Skipp, every game will be a coin flip at best. The formation around that is irrelevant - it's that combo causing us to look so toothless.

The problem is that these are our other options. I think playing any of them back there would make us a worse team than playing Skipp-Coventry, yes we’d be better on the ball but off the ball much worse so we’d probably lose more games. Mwamba looks great but starting in that role at West Brom he struggled. Knibbs and Carey are not number 8s, and Costello just isn’t mobile enough to play there for us. I don’t think putting any of them in there improves things 

Chalobah transforms this team, but until he’s fit again we will have to make do with Skipp and Coventry because unfortunately we don’t have anything better. Jones clearly wanted to transform our midfield this summer and the owners haven’t delivered for him, Chalobah on a free and Skipp and Ouma on loan just isn’t anywhere near what we needed this summer 

So you don’t think Knibbs, Carey, Costello or Mwamba are good enough. Why have them in the squad then? We only have to ’make do’ with Skipp and Coventry because we play not to lose. We never play to win. Choose one of those two + one other. You get 5 subs these days so why not 30 minutes with each of Carey, Costello, Knibbs, Mwamba. The reason they now don’t look good enough is because they get no game time, and then it’s a vicious circle. They probably aren’t comfortable in their roles either. Tell each of them what you want from them (realistically within their skill set), tell them the position is theirs to prove themselves in, and let them show what they’re made of, each playing to their strengths.  I’m sure that you’d see a big reaction from them all.

I think our team has players greater than the sum of its parts. They’re not brilliant but I’m sure that we could do better. Sure, we’d let in more goals and lose more matches,  but I think we could have far more energy and inventiveness going forward so we’d win more too. Instead of drawing five matches, we’d win 2 and lose 3 for example. Some fans on here seem to want to force us to bow down and hail NJ the saviour. I get that appreciation of what he has done but @th0rryy was right calling it ’hateball.’ Everyone, bar a few obstinate NJ diehards, hate it. I reckon most fans go out of a sense of duty, and get no pleasure from it at all. 

Hex said:

fenaddick said:

Hex said:

Penalty or dive ?

https://x.com/Astro1102/status/2108890215624446105/video/1

It’s so obviously a penalty, he runs into Coventry’s leg. He anticipates the contact for sure but that’s what any good forward does. 

The barometer here is always would we be annoyed if we didn’t get a penalty for that? The answer is obviously yes 

For me it's a perfectly timed dive.  Coventry's leg is stationary and I don't think there is any law that says he can't do that.  The attaker is certainly looking for it (doesn't make it a penalty) and by the position of his legs, before impact, he is already going down.  So, in my opinion, it was perfectly timed (well done attacker) to fool the ref and players but not slow-mo video.

LargeAddick said:

jimmymelrose said:

NabySarr said:

th0rryy said:

On the face of it, yes, it's an OK point in isolation against a team that should be there or thereabouts in the playoff picture at the end of the season. I'm pretty sure I saw several predictions across the interwebs for this game to end up 1-1 and thus did it end that way. Grant's goal was very well taken and, for my mind, it was a penalty - a tired TC miss at the end probably would have represented some points stolen rather than earned if it had gone in.

However, we're at home and we need to take games like this and turn a few more in to wins. I just don't think we have the quality to do so in either midfield or in creative/wide areas. Echoing the point from earlier in this thread, Coventry and Skipp isn't a combination that will create anywhere near enough. Skipp is better than say, Docherty, but having 2 CDMs is making us play this brand of hateball NJ loves so much. It really doesn't matter who plays in the 10, up front or on either wing when these two together are your engine room. They are too similar, attempt to occupy the same space and are not progressive enough. You need ONE of them, not both. However, NJ is not brave enough to play without both - he won't gamble on results when he knows he could lose his job if it goes wrong. So, he plays the percentage grindy football that means more draws and less losses. Another manager would at least attempt Carey/JR-C/Knibbs/Mwamba in that 8 role, but he's playing to inch us over the points line. It's horrific to watch, imho.

Defensively, Billy was a massive, massive difference-maker today. First time I have got to see him play in person and the lad was a colossus. However, the less said about Josh Edwards today, the better. Hirakawa beat him so many times and he looked completely off it. We can't risk him starting games, and I genuinely hope that NJ felt forced into playing him due to the fitness of the other players. Mesik gave us so much, and just more action and endeavor.

I dunno. We've got two huge away games now. Burnley found something against the insanity that is Watford today, so they'll see us as the opportunity in the week. Prepare for more parking the bus. Then at Watford, we have to at least try and contest the game, but it'll be a nailbiter decided by more inches and moments. I'm so concerned we get dragged into this dogfight again. We look like a promoted L1 team, still. I can only pray that we have some pennies put aside for January to try and fix the holes.

Until NJ gives up on Coventry and Skipp, every game will be a coin flip at best. The formation around that is irrelevant - it's that combo causing us to look so toothless.

The problem is that these are our other options. I think playing any of them back there would make us a worse team than playing Skipp-Coventry, yes we’d be better on the ball but off the ball much worse so we’d probably lose more games. Mwamba looks great but starting in that role at West Brom he struggled. Knibbs and Carey are not number 8s, and Costello just isn’t mobile enough to play there for us. I don’t think putting any of them in there improves things 

Chalobah transforms this team, but until he’s fit again we will have to make do with Skipp and Coventry because unfortunately we don’t have anything better. Jones clearly wanted to transform our midfield this summer and the owners haven’t delivered for him, Chalobah on a free and Skipp and Ouma on loan just isn’t anywhere near what we needed this summer 

So you don’t think Knibbs, Carey, Costello or Mwamba are good enough. Why have them in the squad then? We only have to ’make do’ with Skipp and Coventry because we play not to lose. We never play to win. Choose one of those two + one other. You get 5 subs these days so why not 30 minutes with each of Carey, Costello, Knibbs, Mwamba. The reason they now don’t look good enough is because they get no game time, and then it’s a vicious circle. They probably aren’t comfortable in their roles either. Tell each of them what you want from them (realistically within their skill set), tell them the position is theirs to prove themselves in, and let them show what they’re made of, each playing to their strengths.  I’m sure that you’d see a big reaction from them all.

I think our team has players greater than the sum of its parts. They’re not brilliant but I’m sure that we could do better. Sure, we’d let in more goals and lose more matches,  but I think we could have far more energy and inventiveness going forward so we’d win more too. Instead of drawing five matches, we’d win 2 and lose 3 for example. Some fans on here seem to want to force us to bow down and hail NJ the saviour. I get that appreciation of what he has done but @th0rryy was right calling it ’hateball.’ Everyone, bar a few obstinate NJ diehards, hate it. I reckon most fans go out of a sense of duty, and get no pleasure from it at all. 

I assume you’re looking forward to the Norwich City game then? Why bother if you hate it so much?

fenaddick said:

PeterGage said:

Henry Irving said:

Frustrating day.

Frustrating that after starting well and taking an early lead we didn't score again, allowing City back into the game. 

After they worked out our 442,  Bristol were well on top, probably should have had a pen and red card for Arthur before getting a locked on pen.

2nd half City were still all over us until some very early subs.

The game see-sawed between us being on top and then City but we had the better chances, their keeper making a good save from TC, who should have netted the rebound, and a great save from Knibbs.

Probably a draw was fair but we could have nicked it.

Our football, especially our two centre mids, was often pedestrian. How we miss Chalobah!

Twine and City looked much slicker and will wonder how they didn't win.

Good to see Billy K, Ramsay and Bell back.

Mbick still has a lot of development to do and Edwards needs more games to get fully match fit, at least I hope that is all it is.

Still unbeaten at home but a long time since we won a game.

Tut, tut Henry. Law 12 is quite clear. A penalty is awarded against a goalkeeper fouling an opponent in the area, but if the referee believes the goalkeeper made a genuine attempt to play the ball, the keeper is yellow carded; in my view. Arthur did attempt to play the ball and not the player.

 You are not Terry whatsisname on Charlton TV are you  😀 . You would find it hard to find somebody whose knowledge of the laws is so poor as his is.

It was outside the box so becomes DOGSO and a red. The only saving grace is the player got a shot off and the ref clearly decided he wasn’t going to catch it up 

jimmymelrose said:

NabySarr said:

th0rryy said:

On the face of it, yes, it's an OK point in isolation against a team that should be there or thereabouts in the playoff picture at the end of the season. I'm pretty sure I saw several predictions across the interwebs for this game to end up 1-1 and thus did it end that way. Grant's goal was very well taken and, for my mind, it was a penalty - a tired TC miss at the end probably would have represented some points stolen rather than earned if it had gone in.

However, we're at home and we need to take games like this and turn a few more in to wins. I just don't think we have the quality to do so in either midfield or in creative/wide areas. Echoing the point from earlier in this thread, Coventry and Skipp isn't a combination that will create anywhere near enough. Skipp is better than say, Docherty, but having 2 CDMs is making us play this brand of hateball NJ loves so much. It really doesn't matter who plays in the 10, up front or on either wing when these two together are your engine room. They are too similar, attempt to occupy the same space and are not progressive enough. You need ONE of them, not both. However, NJ is not brave enough to play without both - he won't gamble on results when he knows he could lose his job if it goes wrong. So, he plays the percentage grindy football that means more draws and less losses. Another manager would at least attempt Carey/JR-C/Knibbs/Mwamba in that 8 role, but he's playing to inch us over the points line. It's horrific to watch, imho.

Defensively, Billy was a massive, massive difference-maker today. First time I have got to see him play in person and the lad was a colossus. However, the less said about Josh Edwards today, the better. Hirakawa beat him so many times and he looked completely off it. We can't risk him starting games, and I genuinely hope that NJ felt forced into playing him due to the fitness of the other players. Mesik gave us so much, and just more action and endeavor.

I dunno. We've got two huge away games now. Burnley found something against the insanity that is Watford today, so they'll see us as the opportunity in the week. Prepare for more parking the bus. Then at Watford, we have to at least try and contest the game, but it'll be a nailbiter decided by more inches and moments. I'm so concerned we get dragged into this dogfight again. We look like a promoted L1 team, still. I can only pray that we have some pennies put aside for January to try and fix the holes.

Until NJ gives up on Coventry and Skipp, every game will be a coin flip at best. The formation around that is irrelevant - it's that combo causing us to look so toothless.

The problem is that these are our other options. I think playing any of them back there would make us a worse team than playing Skipp-Coventry, yes we’d be better on the ball but off the ball much worse so we’d probably lose more games. Mwamba looks great but starting in that role at West Brom he struggled. Knibbs and Carey are not number 8s, and Costello just isn’t mobile enough to play there for us. I don’t think putting any of them in there improves things 

Chalobah transforms this team, but until he’s fit again we will have to make do with Skipp and Coventry because unfortunately we don’t have anything better. Jones clearly wanted to transform our midfield this summer and the owners haven’t delivered for him, Chalobah on a free and Skipp and Ouma on loan just isn’t anywhere near what we needed this summer 

So you don’t think Knibbs, Carey, Costello or Mwamba are good enough. Why have them in the squad then? We only have to ’make do’ with Skipp and Coventry because we play not to lose. We never play to win. Choose one of those two + one other. You get 5 subs these days so why not 30 minutes with each of Carey, Costello, Knibbs, Mwamba. The reason they now don’t look good enough is because they get no game time, and then it’s a vicious circle. They probably aren’t comfortable in their roles either. Tell each of them what you want from them (realistically within their skill set), tell them the position is theirs to prove themselves in, and let them show what they’re made of, each playing to their strengths.  I’m sure that you’d see a big reaction from them all.

I think our team has players greater than the sum of its parts. They’re not brilliant but I’m sure that we could do better. Sure, we’d let in more goals and lose more matches,  but I think we could have far more energy and inventiveness going forward so we’d win more too. Instead of drawing five matches, we’d win 2 and lose 3 for example. Some fans on here seem to want to force us to bow down and hail NJ the saviour. I get that appreciation of what he has done but @th0rryy was right calling it ’hateball.’ Everyone, bar a few obstinate NJ diehards, hate it. I reckon most fans go out of a sense of duty, and get no pleasure from it at all. 

BigDiddy said:

It was a good point against a very good opponent. We are a bottom 6 team in this league [with this squad] and we need to see that the club cannot compete with the best in this league.

I agree with many of the comments, good and bad, but let’s keep in context . We spent very little in the window compared to other teams and it will take a few seasons to up our spend on better players.

COYA

DaisyEdwards said:

It could have been a lot worse. 
Uundoubtedly ref should have sent Edwards off. 
Yet another terrible watch. Not looking forward to watching this kind of football throughout winter. 

Covered End said:

golfaddick said:

All in all a fair result. Neither team did enough to win it & second half we dug in before 5 at the back gave us some solidity.....even if meant we lost any attacking threat. 

Big problem is that it's another home game we didn't win. 2 away games coming up - if we lose both our good start to the season could be up in smoke.

And if we win both we’re in the play offs.
You said you had quit CL, but straight back to the ultra negativity.

NabySarr said:

jimmymelrose said:

NabySarr said:

th0rryy said:

On the face of it, yes, it's an OK point in isolation against a team that should be there or thereabouts in the playoff picture at the end of the season. I'm pretty sure I saw several predictions across the interwebs for this game to end up 1-1 and thus did it end that way. Grant's goal was very well taken and, for my mind, it was a penalty - a tired TC miss at the end probably would have represented some points stolen rather than earned if it had gone in.

However, we're at home and we need to take games like this and turn a few more in to wins. I just don't think we have the quality to do so in either midfield or in creative/wide areas. Echoing the point from earlier in this thread, Coventry and Skipp isn't a combination that will create anywhere near enough. Skipp is better than say, Docherty, but having 2 CDMs is making us play this brand of hateball NJ loves so much. It really doesn't matter who plays in the 10, up front or on either wing when these two together are your engine room. They are too similar, attempt to occupy the same space and are not progressive enough. You need ONE of them, not both. However, NJ is not brave enough to play without both - he won't gamble on results when he knows he could lose his job if it goes wrong. So, he plays the percentage grindy football that means more draws and less losses. Another manager would at least attempt Carey/JR-C/Knibbs/Mwamba in that 8 role, but he's playing to inch us over the points line. It's horrific to watch, imho.

Defensively, Billy was a massive, massive difference-maker today. First time I have got to see him play in person and the lad was a colossus. However, the less said about Josh Edwards today, the better. Hirakawa beat him so many times and he looked completely off it. We can't risk him starting games, and I genuinely hope that NJ felt forced into playing him due to the fitness of the other players. Mesik gave us so much, and just more action and endeavor.

I dunno. We've got two huge away games now. Burnley found something against the insanity that is Watford today, so they'll see us as the opportunity in the week. Prepare for more parking the bus. Then at Watford, we have to at least try and contest the game, but it'll be a nailbiter decided by more inches and moments. I'm so concerned we get dragged into this dogfight again. We look like a promoted L1 team, still. I can only pray that we have some pennies put aside for January to try and fix the holes.

Until NJ gives up on Coventry and Skipp, every game will be a coin flip at best. The formation around that is irrelevant - it's that combo causing us to look so toothless.

The problem is that these are our other options. I think playing any of them back there would make us a worse team than playing Skipp-Coventry, yes we’d be better on the ball but off the ball much worse so we’d probably lose more games. Mwamba looks great but starting in that role at West Brom he struggled. Knibbs and Carey are not number 8s, and Costello just isn’t mobile enough to play there for us. I don’t think putting any of them in there improves things 

Chalobah transforms this team, but until he’s fit again we will have to make do with Skipp and Coventry because unfortunately we don’t have anything better. Jones clearly wanted to transform our midfield this summer and the owners haven’t delivered for him, Chalobah on a free and Skipp and Ouma on loan just isn’t anywhere near what we needed this summer 

So you don’t think Knibbs, Carey, Costello or Mwamba are good enough. Why have them in the squad then? We only have to ’make do’ with Skipp and Coventry because we play not to lose. We never play to win. Choose one of those two + one other. You get 5 subs these days so why not 30 minutes with each of Carey, Costello, Knibbs, Mwamba. The reason they now don’t look good enough is because they get no game time, and then it’s a vicious circle. They probably aren’t comfortable in their roles either. Tell each of them what you want from them (realistically within their skill set), tell them the position is theirs to prove themselves in, and let them show what they’re made of, each playing to their strengths.  I’m sure that you’d see a big reaction from them all.

I think our team has players greater than the sum of its parts. They’re not brilliant but I’m sure that we could do better. Sure, we’d let in more goals and lose more matches,  but I think we could have far more energy and inventiveness going forward so we’d win more too. Instead of drawing five matches, we’d win 2 and lose 3 for example. Some fans on here seem to want to force us to bow down and hail NJ the saviour. I get that appreciation of what he has done but @th0rryy was right calling it ’hateball.’ Everyone, bar a few obstinate NJ diehards, hate it. I reckon most fans go out of a sense of duty, and get no pleasure from it at all. 

Yes that’s literally what I said, I don’t think any of them are better than Skipp and Coventry are at playing in midfield 

Knibbs and Carey are number 10s, neither of them are good enough in the championship playing in the Skipp/Coventry positions. There’s plenty that debate whether they are good enough in their actual position let alone playing deeper 

Mwamba looks great but I’m not sure chucking him in from the start is wise, it didn’t go well at West Brom, I’m not sure he’s quite ready for that yet. I’d like to see him in the 10 where there’s less damage if he does give the ball away 

Costello I just don’t think is mobile enough to play instead of Coventry and Skipp. Maybe in games where we have more of the ball he’d be ok but that almost never happens. 

Coventry and Skipp are too similar, but until Chalobah is fit again they are definitely our best midfield 2 unfortunately