POST-MATCH THREAD: Charlton Athletic v Bristol City: Good Friday 3rd April 2026: KO 15:00

Tell you what... I used to live a 15-minute Lime bike ride from The Valley, but moved down to Surrey before Christmas. Now it's a 3-hour round trip and the poor performances are a lot harder to take. 

Feel we could do better away from home than at The Valley starting at Watford Monday, with all the added expectancy at home currently, I feel seems to be our achilles heel at the moment, 
We have had some great away wins this season, Ipswich, Leicester, Middlesborough and a few good draws on the road as well...

Only good thing about today was that it’s Friday and we’ve still got the weekend to come!

PeaksAndValleys said:

golfaddick said:

PeaksAndValleys said:

Another frustrating and disappointing game. We looked completely asleep for the first fifteen, so open. Got a bit better from there but if Jones has an off day it's a real problem for us.

As so often the case the midfield looked so overrun both in and out of possession. Acres of space for BC to run through and then when our defence have the ball there is no one within fifty yards ahead of them - not surprising they then pass it sideways before hoofing it.

Absolute shocker from Mannion, don't see how anyone can try to defend that. Kam has had his share too but if you give Mannion a pass today you're just biased. 

Similarly, others have said it but the hammering TC gets compared to other misses is just the clearest example of the unfair bullsh*t that is directed at him. Matt Godden is a outright striker who specialises in poaching and he's missed from a yard out. He's one of my favourite players but anyone talking about TC and not mentioning that is a moron.

Thought we looked much better in the 4-2-3-1, obviously BC were sitting back and defending then but even so I'd like to see us try that from the off.

Ibby looked class and Fevs and TC were also dangerous on the wings 

Godden didn't miss from a yard out, the keeper saved a goal bound shot ffs  !!!

TC's effort was high, wide & not very handsome.

I'm all for not bashing TC but at least tell it how it was  

It was a good save no question, but Godden hit it basically straight at him. If he puts it almost anywhere else it's a goal. And if you ask him there is no chance he is saying he shouldn't be doing better.

I'm not saying TC's wasn't a bad miss, just saying to only call out his miss in that game is crazy. If he'd missed Godden's people would not be talking about the keeper making a good save

Godden's chance had almost 3x the xG of Campbell's, and Dykes had two chances in front of goal each with a higher xG than TC, both of which he shot off target. It's pretty clear the comments about misses are not an unbiased reflection of the chances

BigDiddy said:

Bristol City were miles better.

We made chances, but they could have been several goals up before we equalised.

They were simply better than us and had the best player on the pitch, in Twine.

We need 6 points to guarantee safety, in my opinion.

Preston and Sheff Wed are now vital games as I think we will lose the other games.

BC were miles better……errrrm I disagree; in truth they were fortunate to come away with all 3 points and they certainly rode their luck at times.
IMHO we deserved a draw.
Not saying we were great by any means but then again neither were they……we gifted them their second goal and their keeper had an absolute blinder. Several times he made saves where the ball frustratingly didn’t fall for us to get a foot to it and it was cleared……whereas the one time it happend to Mannion the exact opposite occurred.

In his post match NJ says that Bell got a slightly earlier flight than TC which meant TC didn’t get to train at all at Sparrows Lane. How bizarre is that? I can’t think of a single reason why that would happen 

My partner took ill so I missed the first 25 or so minutes caring for her.

Thought we looked alright apart from the first 15 minutes of the second half.

Kidding. Well, kind of. I did manage to see their opener but sounds like I missed a lot of us being very flat. 

Our midfield is not good enough in possession. This is a known issue. It's one that needs to be resolved in the summer. If we don't get more ball playing midfielders in, we're going to really struggle next season. I'm thinking of Doc in particular, but honestly, Sonny Carey does work hard and takes a good set piece and scores goals but he also shouldn't consider himself an automatic starter going into next season either. His passing and composure on the ball aren't always good enough (but seriously, thanks for the goals, they've been massive).

As others have said, Jones and Bell looked off it today, Bell that's understandable, Jones I think it was due to the space we gave them in the midfield over the first 60 minutes and the fact that he was dealing with runners coming at him from different angles. He's not as good defending on the deck, we know that, but we're usually able to keep him from looking exposed with our midfield depth, letting him engage higher up the pitch, or with the defenders next to him having pace. Bristol's movement caught us out today. I thought we would set up somewhat similar to how we did against Soton or Boro, let them have the ball and challenge them to break us down. Instead, we tried to press, got caught out/outmanned/out thought in midfield. Credit to Hodgson and staff because they beat us tactically for the first 60 minutes until we changes personnel and formation.

To the positives: Dykes scores again, I believe that's six goal involvements plus the flick on for Kelman to score against Birmingham (I think it was). He looks a force to be reckoned with, and it should be noted none of his goals have been headers, which I find interesting. He did have a chance to remedy that late on and it looked like it took a deflection off the Bristol player but it was given as a goal kick. Good movement in the build up to the goal from Kelman, who was otherwise anonymous really. We're just not set up to play to his strengths most of the time. That ball for Twine's opener is exactly what he thrives on, and we just don't have that in us right now. 

More positives, I thought Fullah looked good, but I think we need to be cautious with him. He looks good in cameos and in flashes, but I still don't think he's ready to start with the way we play this season (at least until we're mathematically safe). Fevrier looks like he's a Thierry Small re-gen with a bit less quality and a bit less defensive ability. It's funny how we ended up with him though, and he takes his man on, which we needed in the end. Nice option off the bench atm, clever bit of January business, needs an upgrade in the summer.

End of the day, we probably deserved a point for our last 30 minutes but didn't put them away. On another day, Godden scores that. On another day, TC and Carey hit the target. On another day Dykes' header is down and not over. And one of JRC's or Fullah's chances either go in or are scored on the rebound. But it didn't happen.

Lastly, on Mannion, I'm a bit of a Mannion doubter the way many doubt Kaminski. I don't think Mannion's reflexes are as good, he's not as good with his feet (TK isn't great at kicking either, but very good at saving with his feet), and I don't feel that his coming for crosses necessarily makes up for his lack of ability in other areas. I thought the second today was a mess. It's a tough save because it takes a deflection going through but it needs to be palmed away by hook or by crook. He doesn't quite get his whole body behind it, he doesn't quite push it away, and instead it deflects off him and in. If Jones feels TK is the better 'keeper, as I do, then I think Mannion could be dropped. It'd be a bit harsh, but it's one area where we currently have competition for places. If we had that quality in depth elsewhere on the pitch, I think we'd see a lot of rotation for Monday. As it stands, I suspect rotation will be based solely on tiredness.

I'm not as down today as some, but I think missing the first 25 minutes helps that. I thought we played them pretty evenly and they took their chances and we didn't. Vitek had a very good game again for them, and as on the second day of the season there wasn't much to separate the sides. 

Watford will be interesting. I think we'll sit deep, look to soak up pressure, and then hit them on the counter/from set plays. I think it's a style we're better suited to, which in part is why we've had better results/performances away from home recently.

I think we're safe, so I'm not overly fussed, but I think we need a strong end to the season to build on for next year. Plus, the sooner we're mathematically safe, the more I'm hoping we can see of Miles (hope his injury isn't too bad), TC, Fullah, Collins, and maybe JRC in Doc's roll--he's not as tenacious as Doc, but he is tidy on the ball, can carry it a bit, and looks composed in the final third, all of which Doc, bless him, is not.

Hopefully not but survival might be more challenging than many think. When you look at Twine, Bird and Knight in their midfield we're miles away. Godden coming back could be really important by the time everything is decided. 

I am amazed by the lack of movement today. Yes, we lack players who will pass forwards, but there is no one moving to pass to. People saying that we obviously worked hard were watching a different game from me - moving to make space for others should be a basic level of effort.

PWR.. to score more than one goal at home in only two games this season is appalling. Also our first first half goal since Southampton in November!

It was abysmal. No excuses.  If both sides had finished their chances we’d still have lost by a margin.  Not good enough by a long chalk.

NabySarr said:

Laddick01 said:

Matt Godden has to finish that. 

Campbell has to finish that. 

Score 1 of those and it’s an Ok day instead of a horrible one.

Vitek is so good but I bloody hate him - made an absolute worldie to cost us earlier in the season too.

Quite a difference in crowd reaction to the 2 missed chances. Embarrassing from our supporters signing fucking useless at one of our own 

Wasn’t there and I wouldn’t have sung that if I were but people pay their money and are entitled to their opinion.

Rothko said:

LenGlover said:

In my opinion we need a minimum of 6 points to guarantee safety 

Yeah cause all the teams below will
win 5 of their remaining 6 games if that’s the case. Christ on a bike.

we seriously lack a proper number 8 who can pass through the lines, the biggest
miss in the summer is looking like Galbraith

Said this multiple times now, he had the ability to be transformative for us. 

AberystwythAddick said:

Rothko said:

LenGlover said:

In my opinion we need a minimum of 6 points to guarantee safety 

Yeah cause all the teams below will
win 5 of their remaining 6 games if that’s the case. Christ on a bike.

we seriously lack a proper number 8 who can pass through the lines, the biggest
miss in the summer is looking like Galbraith

Said this multiple times now, he had the ability to be transformative for us. 

I’m starting to worry it will be like when we last got relegated, we won’t be in the bottom three until the last 10 minutes of the final day 

I think you, and a couple of others are slightly high on the teams below, Portsmouth run in is horrific, Oxfords isn’t wonderful, and they’ll all be taking points of each other.