That last sentance sounds to me like how Oggy described it![cite]Posted By:The Official Site[/cite]Alan Pardew hailed his players' reaction on Saturday following an astonishing 2-2 draw against Plymouth Argyle at Home Park.
The Addicks boss was naturally disappointed having seen Emile Mpenza snatch a late point for the hosts after goals from Kelly Youga and Andy Gray had turned the game around in the closing stages.
Gray's 92nd-minute penalty looked set to win the points for the Londoners, but after seeing Mpenza dash hopes of a maximum at the death Pardew said: "After the pressure we were under and the criticism we took as a group this week I got the right reaction today.
"Sitting here now my reaction is of pride of my players, especially our captain, who led by example and was absolutely outstanding."
Youga had headed Charlton level with his first goal for the club four minutes before the end of 90 minutes, and when top scorer Andy Gray converted a penalty in injury time the visitors looked set for an amazing win.
But they couldn't quite hold on as Belgium international Mpenza pounced to ensure honours ended even.
Added Pardew: "I felt we controlled the game with our shape more or less the whole time, and we were so disappointed to concede the goal before half-time when [Luke] Varney slipped and lost his man.
"The reaction was so much stronger and better today, and we got the goal when we needed it. I thought we would win it from then.
"I thought it was definitely a penalty and the referee was brave to give it for a tug on the shirt. We thought we had won it but then the substitute came on."
After conceding two more goals from set-pieces, Pardew added: "We have not stopped working on set-plays this week. They put six attackers in the box which was unusual for a Championship side, but we were a lot bigger and stronger today."
Pardew also pointed to two key saves from Pilgrims custodian Romain Larrieu to deny his side either side of the break from Holland, and later Hudson.
"I thought that was our moment," he admitted of the amazing save from his skipper. "And he made an unbelievable save in the first half from Matty Holland when we should have taken the lead. Those moments have an impact on the game and gave them the chance to get something at the end."
Further assessing those frantic final stages, the Valley boss continued: "We thought we'd add Kelly's aggression in the box at the end and he was brave to dive in.
"I am disappointed as the three points would have made so much difference to us in terms of where we are in the league and the games we have got coming up.
"I have to accept a point but it was a great performance and if I was a Charlton fan that came down here fearing the worst I would think 'that's better'."
And he noted: "I look at the table today now and those two points would have made a real difference but we are not far away. We've lost another bit of ground today but we didn't deserve to. We go into the next game in much better health and I'm pleased for all my staff and players.
"They have been absolutely diligent this week and worked their nuts off. To react like that and not get three points kind of sums up the season we are having."
Comments
;o)
I don't care about managers getting all worked up - the players can't hear them anyway. I'd rather a manager stay calm, think about things and take notes - as Pards does. Don't see any reason for criticsm here although I'd agree that he shouldn't just ignore players being substituted unless they've done something really stupid.
Agree. Lennie the Legend and Curbs rarely got worked up.
How can you assess a game and project what needs to be done, if you're always jumping about ranting and spewing bile?
That's your coach's job - think Gritty, Day and Parky.
In fact Lenny usually sat up in the stands way above the dugout. Best place to be if you need to watch the shape of the game and pattern of play.
Or at least have in the stand a management team member wired up to pass observations about player performance, team shape and tactics.
I was talking about Pards saying his new training methods had been paying off. Which reading the article it's the wrong one :-(
I was referring to the one on the OS put up today...