A great result, tbf to Jones even though this is his first win if we look at the last three games and see we have taken five points, that is a cracking effort.
Good away win. Got away with a poor first half, then took advantage of a Derby team who had a crap day at the office for a side in the automatic promotion places. They sure didn't get there playing like that. Does it boost our chances of avoiding relegation? For sure. Does it make any difference to a truly ****e season? No.
Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, this season can only be called disasterous. Mary, Mungo and Midge need to trot on and we have an overhaul throughout the gaff.
Fantastic result, but completely deserved. So many immense performances. Kanu and Anderson. Coventry played out of his skin. And Aneke causing problems. Every one s hero, and especially Nathan.
I wouldn't go as far as to say anyone at Derby this evening was a hero. The team played well enough to beat an off-colour opponent. That one victory after sixteen games without a win hardly qualifies any of them as heroes in my book. None of these players will be getting anywhere near the CAFC hall of fame based on this season's performances.
Chalk and cheese halves. And results elsewhere changed, to make it a perfect evening in the end. Table looks a lot better now. How on earth are Derby 2nd.
Granted it feels good to get a win. And the big step towards 3rd tier survival is another reason to feel good. It may be that a corner has now been turned. Regardless of how off-colour Derby County were in front of their own fans, we could not ask any more of our team than what they delivered last night. But I'm not going to credit anybody for what they have not achieved. Charlton are four points above the relegation zone today rather than just one. Credit is due for that. The fact that our team was ever that close to the relegation places (indeed just goal difference above them quite recently) is not something that the feel good factor of one win is going to make me forget. Nathan Jones has now taken 6 points from 5 games, and under him the team is unbeaten after three straight games against opponents who on season form should all have defeated us. Good reason for optimism that CAFC can escape the abject humiliation of 4th tier league football for the first time ever in its history, and being moved out of the Valley sooner rather than later. Maybe in the Summer Jones will be able to build something better than the awful season we have had in 2022-23. But I won't be lauding anybody for going above and beyond the most basic expectations until I see something we have not seen since before the Pandemic. A Charlton Athletic team competing purposefully to gain promotion from this 3rd tier, where we have spent far too many recent seasons failing miserably to compete.
Someone on CL has pointed out that our team was transformed at H/T by getting rid of our only two loan players, Ladapo and Camara, who were the weak links. Coincidence? I think not.
I’ve never understood anyone who thinks Camara was a good signing. We should never have signed him in the first place given that he had only played two games in the previous year due to his surgery. And whenever I have seen him play since then, he strikes me as a headless chicken or Bambi on ice. His first touch is very poor and he has a habit of running into blind alleys. Another Scott masterclass I’m afraid. And before anyone tells me how good he was for Ipswich in 2022 - I don’t care. I’m only interested in how poor he’s been for Charlton. Ladapo was signed out of desperation. Clearly unfit when he arrived and we are forced to use him as a hold-up forward, which he is not. He needs to play alongside Chuks not instead of him, but of course that isn’t possible.
Curiously, Camara started in both of the only two away wins Charlton have enjoyed in the league this season. Not a bad record, as he has only started in 5 games altogether. Presumably just a coincidence. Both our away wins had more to do with subs than our starting XI I expect.
