POST-MATCH THREAD: Coventry City v Charlton Athletic: Saturday 29th November 2025: KO 15:00
Comments
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Thanks Briston... I completely forgot about you, until you said...Briston_Addick said:FAO @aliwibble and @ForeverAddickted
Not.
My.
Fault.
Now excuse me while I go back to my last rum before disembarking the ship ...
Now where is my pitchfork, ready for when you dock back home in Southampton!!
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Tc and Leaburn are not good enough sorry to say.The team worked hard but were not good enough but then should we be surprised having just come up from league one? The substitution of Armani Bell was a real turning point and it turns out that Leaburn was not the answer.0
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The Bell injury is a real problem. Proved today that when we've got him in the line-up we can cause teams problems and we look assured but as soon as we've lost that balance on the left we're done for. I think Jones got it wrong both with starting him today when he should have been saved for Pompey and with bringing Leaburn on instead of a more defensive player. Asking the whole shape to change again was an error and it allowed the best team in the league to show what they were about in a way they couldn't when we were more settled. Overall it's not that bad though; we showed that once we get these players back or can recruit replacements the system will work again, so it's not like we should be overly worried. The bubble hasn't burst completely, we just need to make the most of our December.We've had a horrible run; we've played Wrexham who are unbeaten in 6 away, a resurgent Saints with a point to prove at home and then the top two teams away. There's no-one in the division who would have fancied that run and it happened to come just as we had an injury crisis. There's a lot riding on Roussillon now. The dream is he comes in next game and is so good he gets a contract extension. At the very least he needs to be good enough to effectively plug the gap until we can bring someone in in January, ideally on the 1st. Big games coming up now against Pompey twice somehow, Norwich and Oxford. Get points from those and we will be feeling alright again, fail to push some of them back and things will be a bit more stressful. I think we can do it though, we're ok when we're balance, Roussillon has to provide that balance and the lesson has to be learned that we can't skimp on cover in that area. Bring on Saturday18
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(1) - Because they were cheap, and being injury prone was probably one reason Luton went down.Fortune 82nd Minute said:
Some fair points there.Laddick01 said:Bit of criticism today for NJ. I don’t want him out, I like him, however he needs to think about a few things.
First 25 he got spot on. Apart from that he just makes the same mistakes. Players are just shoehorned into odd positions.
System shouldn’t have changed. We removed all threat by pulling Tanto and TC back.
Leaburn up top allowed them to play their high line without worry. Less said about Leaburn the better I’m afraid.
TC as a LWB or whatever that role is has to stop. TC is not a perfect footballer, but he looks dangerous at least when he’s up top. Defenders are wary of him and he presses well.
3 tough games over - now the season really starts. We have to get it right from here or we’ll be in a bit of trouble.
I'd add a couple more questions:_
1) Burke and Bell are class defenders. They have also been in recent seasons walking sicknotes. Why sign them if they are going to be injured for long periods?
2) Why on earth not have a defender on the subs bench today? Does Jones not trust our U-21 players like Gough and Laquertabua. If so, why are they still here?
3) Replacing Bell with Leaburn was bonkers, particularly as it meant pulling Olaofe back which didn't work at all. What possessed him to do that?
All the early season optimism now fading quickly. Portsmouth next week is now vital.
(2) - Because they're not ready for this level and are there for worst case scenario, would be better to ask, why they've not gone out on loan to gain experience, even in the National League so we can recall at a moment's notice.
(3) - I reckon Jones wanted to make a positive change, and to be fair, Coventry do seem a side that focus more on scoring more goals than the opposition, and at the time of the sub, 0-3 wouldn't have been an unfair score line.5 -
Coventry look good. I don't watch, apart from highlights, other teams games but they have a maturity, a team structure and look very accomplished with what they do and you can see why they are where they are.6
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We were in the top 6 when we had a fit LWB. For 30 minutes today we had a fit LWB and looked that good again. Once we have one fit, or sign a new one in January we will be fine and comfortably clear of the drop18
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Right. I cannot understand how anyone can say that was a good performance from him today.Lincsaddick said:We gave that a right good go, indicates team spirit is still there .. Campbell's best game of the season, Knibbs scores but does nothing else (I wouldn't have picked either to start lol)
Coventry go marching on, shows what a few million to spend allied to good scouting and management can do
Onward we go7 -
Because if they weren’t injury prone we wouldn’t have been able to afford them.Fortune 82nd Minute said:
Some fair points there.Laddick01 said:Bit of criticism today for NJ. I don’t want him out, I like him, however he needs to think about a few things.
First 25 he got spot on. Apart from that he just makes the same mistakes. Players are just shoehorned into odd positions.
System shouldn’t have changed. We removed all threat by pulling Tanto and TC back.
Leaburn up top allowed them to play their high line without worry. Less said about Leaburn the better I’m afraid.
TC as a LWB or whatever that role is has to stop. TC is not a perfect footballer, but he looks dangerous at least when he’s up top. Defenders are wary of him and he presses well.
3 tough games over - now the season really starts. We have to get it right from here or we’ll be in a bit of trouble.
I'd add a couple more questions:_
1) Burke and Bell are class defenders. They have also been in recent seasons walking sicknotes. Why sign them if they are going to be injured for long periods?
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Kanu making a point again I see1
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No defensive cover on the bench3
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NJ stated after the Stoke game that Bell could get 15 mins or so against Cov.
Trying to take them by surprise, not fully recovered?
Either way, would love to know what the final score would have been had he not been injured.2 -
They were a quality side and we were playing too many from last season who aren't at that level. We needed subs earlier as at 2-1 we still had a chance to nick something.
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Missing a few things there, we went to a back four because without a wing back Gillie is hopelessly exposed to pace, when we had the wing backs on and TC up front, for twenty mins we rattled them and scored, I would ask, who would you have put in Bell's wing back position ?Laddick01 said:Bit of criticism today for NJ. I don’t want him out, I like him, however he needs to think about a few things.
First 25 he got spot on. Apart from that he just makes the same mistakes. Players are just shoehorned into odd positions.
System shouldn’t have changed. We removed all threat by pulling Tanto and TC back.
Leaburn up top allowed them to play their high line without worry. Less said about Leaburn the better I’m afraid.
TC as a LWB or whatever that role is has to stop. TC is not a perfect footballer, but he looks dangerous at least when he’s up top. Defenders are wary of him and he presses well.
3 tough games over - now the season really starts. We have to get it right from here or we’ll be in a bit of trouble.
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Because of what happened last season, many supporters are running scared of criticising Jones, despite all the evidence. Since the departure of so many people who contributed to last season's success he has assumed total control so he has to take full responsibility.
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I thought it was a much better performance compared to the last two games. The Bell injury killed us. Carey had a glorious chance to equalise, but not to be. Coventry played well, and there were periods in the first half when we could have scored more. Agree, the Portsmouth game is MASSIVE!1
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No JRC was pretty telling I thought3
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Roussillon, who we were told that was available for this game.Bailey said:
Missing a few things there, we went to a back four because without a wing back Gillie is hopelessly exposed to pace, when we had the wing backs on and TC up front, for twenty mins we rattled them and scored, I would ask, who would you have put in Bell's wing back position ?Laddick01 said:Bit of criticism today for NJ. I don’t want him out, I like him, however he needs to think about a few things.
First 25 he got spot on. Apart from that he just makes the same mistakes. Players are just shoehorned into odd positions.
System shouldn’t have changed. We removed all threat by pulling Tanto and TC back.
Leaburn up top allowed them to play their high line without worry. Less said about Leaburn the better I’m afraid.
TC as a LWB or whatever that role is has to stop. TC is not a perfect footballer, but he looks dangerous at least when he’s up top. Defenders are wary of him and he presses well.
3 tough games over - now the season really starts. We have to get it right from here or we’ll be in a bit of trouble.
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Exactly.Chunes said:They're 10 points clear at the top with +32 goal difference. They've got much better players than us. I feel frustrated watching us lose but are we supposed to go to their ground and beat them...? Rudoni alone is much better than anyone we've got. None of our strikers are fit to lace Ellis Simms boots. They'll be playing prem football next season we've just came up from League One. Can't read too much into games like this.
But people always seem to have to point fingers at someone.13 -
What would you have done differently given the players available on the bench?Laddick01 said:Bit of criticism today for NJ. I don’t want him out, I like him, however he needs to think about a few things.
First 25 he got spot on. Apart from that he just makes the same mistakes. Players are just shoehorned into odd positions.
System shouldn’t have changed. We removed all threat by pulling Tanto and TC back.
Leaburn up top allowed them to play their high line without worry. Less said about Leaburn the better I’m afraid.
TC as a LWB or whatever that role is has to stop. TC is not a perfect footballer, but he looks dangerous at least when he’s up top. Defenders are wary of him and he presses well.
3 tough games over - now the season really starts. We have to get it right from here or we’ll be in a bit of trouble.
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Keep it in perspective, fellow addicks.
Our squad is thin and cheap.
We can criticise NJ and a few of the players, but look where we were 12 months ago.
I do think, assuming we stay up, that our transfer policy needs to change and the owners will need to be even more generous - we need quality and cover across the team, not just numbers.
Coventry, Stoke and Southampton were much better than us and we can’s blame our tactics - they are better teams.
We need to get to about 50 points and I hope NJ gets some new arrivals and the injury list gets smaller.
We must beat Pompey next week5 -
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Didn't see the game, but I find it incomprehensible to sign a LWB on a short term contract to cover your most problematic position, and then you leave him out of the squad.9
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Lunacy changing formation after the Bell
injury, we were all over the shop from then till half time. Both the first half goals that we conceded were horrific defending.
At least Jones accepted the mistake and reverted to the back 5 at half time.
Don’t want to be too critical as Coventry are light years ahead of us in terms of the Championship journey. Rodoni is a ridiculously good player and will be in the Premier League next year with or without them.
From an attacking sense we have got to come up with a more measured plan. Simply hoofing it forward and hoping we win a second ball is not good enough.
Portsmouth is now a massive game, loose that and this run is rapidly becoming a tailspin5 -
Not the result any of us wanted but, for me at least, it doesn't feel as bad as the last two defeats. Southampton, Stoke and Coventry were all better teams and deserved their wins, but at least today Coventry were assisted by circumstance, whereas the other two were assisted by our complete and utter capitulation. It might not be saying much, but that's small positive and something we can build on. Here's hoping there's some respite on the injury front soon and that we can eke out some results from teams that are more our level.12
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As expected,a loss but a much improved performance and on another day we couldve easily been 2-3 goals to the good. The injury to Bell proved pivotal, a weird sub, Leaburn on and our shape changed and all our attacking play was lost. We huffed and puffed 2nd half without really threatening and you had the feeling that had we got a 2nd goal, Coventry wouldve stepped it back up. Overall, a much more encouraging display from the lads and its comes at a good time with some winnable games to come in December. Hopefully, new bloke will be up to speed next week so we can play players in their correct positions, we dont look half bad when that happens!1
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We have the same number of wins, draws, losses, points as this time last season (6/5/7/23 from 18) and we ended up getting promoted.DDOUBLEE said:I'm also failing to see how we are so much better off than the 19/20 season, while I do agree that we can at least rectify this in January and we won't be ruined by a loan signing being recalled, the parallels are definitely there
We won’t get promoted this year but the point is there’s still 84 more points up for grabs and much can still change.
There is a very long way to go before we start drawing parallels with any previous seasons.18 -
Think all things considered it was a fairly good showing. Made Cov look a bit (but only a bit) ordinary. The effort was there, that was what we needed to see more than anything.Pompey next, and hopefully either Bell was only a twinge and he'll be back, or Roussillon is ready to jump in.Three points are needed, or the natives are going to start to get restless.0
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Kanu isn’t the answer to the question we’re trying to solve. He will look more lost than TC, Leaburn and Olaofe do.panther10 said:Kanu making a point again I see13 -
I thought we did ok against a clearly superior team.
Tried hard and relatively well disciplined. Bell going off was a massive issue for us.
I don't like the song but never have the words "xxxxxx's a shit hole, I want to go home" been more apt.
That city needs something to give it hope as it has absolutely nothing going for it.6 -
I just don't see where the goals are going to come from. Campbell and Leaburn are simply not offering any sort of threat whatsoever. Olaofe isn't doing much better. Knibbs, a rare Charlton player to have scored more than 1 goal this season is now injured, Godden and Kelman are absolutely nowhere to be seen. Leko and Bonne done better in this league FFS. No midfielder wants to grab the game by the scruff of the neck, yes I get that this was Coventry but it's hard to have any belief at the moment3
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It’s easy to forget the good times this season when we’ve lost 4 on the bounce, particularly the manner in which we capitulated against Soton, and conceding 2 early goals on Tuesday.By all accounts the balance returned with Bell on the pitch today, and I hope this new chap can help with this next week.We’re still in a good position and we’ve had some real strong performances as a team this season. Next Saturday is a huge game. No disrespect to Pompey, I know they’ll be up for it, but they’re not any of the teams we’ve just faced and if we can get this new chap in on the left and we have round pegs in round holes, it will be a game we have every chance of winning.11
