Charlton Reaction

Last updated : 21 August 2005 By Paul Farrington
Paul Jewell
Paul Jewell


"We lost Henri Camara when he was playing for Senegal so that was a disappointment. We only had sixteen players fit and so we had to change the shape a little bit. We didn't threaten their goal often enough.

"I was disappointed with some of the set pieces. We weren't as good as we were last week by some distance but it's a long season. But we've got to be better than that though."

"We got into some decent situation but didn't really make the 'keeper work hard enough. They didn't either until they scored. It was a pretty even game, it was a pretty average game to be perfectly honest.

"It was even and we were quite comfortable. Obviously when they scored we had to go and chase the game a little bit. In the second half we huffed and puffed but never really did anything to threaten."

"I don't think Murphy should have been allowed to get the cross in before the goal, but this is what we have to face week in and week out. We did have a few balls flash across the box in the first half and I'm disappointed we didn't do more with them."

"We did OK defensively but we need to score more goals, and this is the hardest league in the world to score goals in, and we need to do better. We've learnt that we can't drop our standards from one week to the next. But we have to remain positive otherwise things will get tougher in this league."

Alan Curbishley

Alan Curbishley
"Darren's had a great week, scoring two at Sunderland, then getting called up for England and scoring the winner today. But he has to realise it's not going to be like this every week and he should enjoy it while he can.

"He's appreciated that we've given him a chance in the Premiership and I'm just pleased we got him. We tried to get him last summer and couldn't.

"We've asked Darren to play differently and he's adapted to it well. I said at the start of pre-season that I wanted to bring players in with enthusiasm and he and Darren Ambrose are the first in and the last out at training.

"The squad got a bit of a shake up in pre-season; I wanted to have players here that wanted to be in the team photo - so much so that they'd had a shave and wash their hair for it!”

"Every player wants to play for his country and I didn't see anything wrong with him being called up. He's an England U21 international and he was just upgraded.

"I wasn't too unhappy about him going to Denmark but I was happy that he didn't play so he was fresh for us today.”

"It's been a fantastic start. All the things we've asked for from the players they've tried to do,” Alan said.

"There were some really good performances out there today, it wasn't all down to Benty - the same was true last weekend against Sunderland.

"The fans like to complain about playing 4-5-1, but they don't complain when we overrun the midfield and knock it about and pass like we did today.

"The three midfield players have been excellent in the past two games. They trust each other; you can see that by the way they pass it around. And we've got attacking ability too with Jerome Thomas and Dennis Rommedahl out wide."

Gary Teale
Editor - Paul Farrington

Survival is not an unrealistic prospect and the Latics have a good core to the side. However there are too many weaknesses at the minute.

Gary Teale and Andreas Johansson looked a long way out of their depth and others struggled. Alan Mahon and Steve McMillan are the two who spring to mind.

The rest of the team seem up to the job. The back four is very strong and can deal with a lot of pressure, allowing the Latics to play four in midfield and attack a bit more.

In midfield the team seems to be missing Graham Kavanagh and Lee McCulloch while Ryan Taylor is a much better player than Gary Teale who must be dropped.

Jason Roberts up front does all the hard-work and needs a foil to play up with him. Henri Camara needs to reach full fitness and Paul Jewell needs to add some depth.

Depth is the one thing that the side is lacking at the minute. For the final note I'd just like to say that had Ryan Taylor started the game the Latics may have come home with a point.

Watch the Charlton goal and Gary Teale does not even jump for the ball at the back post. Had Taylor been playing instead, it could well be a different story.

Sunderland is now a must win.