A tough fixture on a cold, wet night, combined with a terrible amount of pressure on Charlton’s beleagured manager (and the club as a whole), provided the backdrop for mid-table Northampton Town’s visit to the Valley. Michael Appleton looked to redeem himself with his new look squad after a long poor run of results in front of what looked to be a low crowd devoid of any hope in what was billed as a must-win game.
The first half went back and forth with both sides trading blows at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, within seven minutes Charlton gifted Northampton a goal when Lloyd Jones tried to play offside, leaving Northampton’s Simpson through on goal to put his side ahead. Heads dropped, but Charlton regrouped and found an equaliser some fifteen minutes later, even if it was an own goal. Northampton then pushed ahead when given too much space, Hoskins rifled one in from near the penalty spot, with Lloyd Jones a veritable spectator. Moments before half time, a combination down the right saw Tennai Watson blast on in at an acute angle to level things up. Charlton’s defending had let them down once again, but they battled back to keep themselves in it for the second half.
Changes were made, with Lloyd Jones being replaced by Terell Thomas. We looked more solid in the second half and worked Northampton around to fashion decent opportunities. Charlton were largely in the ascendancy when Edun found himself lunging into a challenge—a challenge in which he won the ball and was himself the recipient of a high and reckless tackle—the referee brandished a second yellow card that saw him off and Charlton down to ten men.
Down to ten men, Charlton nevertheless pushed on. But controversy continued to follow the referee as the Northampton striker pushed into the box on the counter and was seemingly brought down by Ashley Maynard-Brewer. Curiously, the referee awarded a free kick and booked the player for diving. On replay, perhaps that was actually right, in the sense that the player left his feet to drag into Maynard-Brewer, but it did look a clear penalty and would probably have been given nine times out of ten. Maynard-Brewer made a couple of quality saves throughout the game, including after the near penalty to keep us in it. Having survived the late pressure and the potential penalty, don’t fear; true to form under Appleton, Charlton still found a way to concede in the final minutes of added time and throw away all the points.
Charlton 2 Northampton 3
Boos rang out at the final whistle, with the defeat—and the manner of the defeat—piling pressure on the hands-in-pockets manager. A run of tough fixtures ahead as we teeter above the relegation zone only adds to the dire situation. Something has to give!
Over to you.
Stop the presses: Charlton TV reports Appleton has been relieved of his duties.
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Comments
How do you start a game with 3 centre backs, 2 full backs, 2 maybe even arguably 3 defensive midfielders and 1 forward who tracks back all the time and STILL get opened up like a tin of beans every time an opposition of any calibre attacks?
I said it many times on here, Andy Scott is spot on with his diagnosis that we have a real loser mentality at this club, how do we stop it? When does it end? What’s to say after we sack MA (which I’m okay with btw) we don’t still carry on like this?
Appleton was hung out to dry and we threw away a game for what?
Now 3 points closer to the drop.
Andy Scott has a lot to answer for and I have no faith he'll be able to sort this out.
FUCK OFF
Review over.
Garner
Holden
Appleton
What a waste.
I'd be shocked & disgusted in equal measure if he's still in charge at the weekend
Sorry I can't say that to your ugly fucking face but trust me given the chance I would.
Wanker
Can't fathom the absolute misery I would have endured watching this bollocks (years of it!) as a kid.
They're most of the reason we're in the mess that we're in.
Dressing room is rotten.
Football ought to be about passion, excitement, tension, joy and hope.
Supporting Charlton in recent times has been all frustration, anger and despair.
We have the defensive capability of a non-league side. Individually, they cant be that bad but collectively they are all over the place.
The three in midfield, again individually decent players, were all too similar. We were crying out all game for a creative attacking midfielder and then Appleton eventually brought Fiorini on, only for him to demonstrate that he lacked any kind of creative spark or energy. I don’t know what Appleton has against Louie Watson but it’s a huge waste of attacking talent.
Ladapo must be a good player but he was another who looked totally off the pace, failing to get on the end of decent passes on multiple occasions and then running out of steam completely at least 20 minutes from the end. And with a raw yet energetic option available in Daniel Kanu, Appleton just let’s things drift and slide.
Another injury time goal conceded. Another game lost. We are simply appallingly bad and anyone saying we cant go down are living in cloud cuckoo land.
Appleton just has to go, now. He and his team are an embarrassment. We can’t change all the players so we just have to change the guy who is training, coaching and supposedly motivating them. He is managing to make the sum of the whole less than the individual components, a negative overall impact that we can put up with no longer.