“I’m very concerned with the lack of creativity” – Charlton Reaction To 0-0 Draw

October 10, 2022 Samuel Rowson Charlton, Lincoln City 0

Credit Graham Burrell

Charlton’s visit to the LNER Stadium on Saturday left many fans leaving the game wanting more.

A game of little chances, with the main highlight being the 30-second period in the first half which led to the referee being substituted due to injury. And a decision which left the away management team to question the level of officiating in the third tier of English football. Both sides had limited chances to affect the outcome of the game, which really lacked quality throughout, writes Samuel Rowson.

Ben Garner’s View

Ben Garner

Charlton manager Garner was upbeat in the aftermath of the game, despite the 0-0 draw extending their run without a win to eight league games. This leaves the South London team two points above the bottom four. He spoke to South London Press shortly after the game, stating that the “performance didn’t deserve to be booed”.

“If we’re not good enough, I’ll hold my hands up and say. That was not a performance today that deserves to be criticised. Players put fantastic effort in as a group. Defensively worked really hard and were really solid. We’ve had a go. Where we haven’t won games, we’re lacking a little bit of confidence in that final third. That’s all that was missing today. If we’re not good enough, if the application isn’t right then I hold my hands up. As per the first half last week [against Oxford]. That deserved to be booed. That performance today didn’t deserve to be booed.”

Garner also spoke to CharltonTV in which he expressed his disappointment with the draw and how happy he was with his side’s defensive performance.

“We never looked like losing the game. We wanted the three points, so we are disappointed with one. We had a clean sheet, which was the first in a while. Defensively a very, very good performance and between the first two thirds of the pitch we were in control. They are really dangerous on the counter-attack and I thought we dealt with that really well. We were really in control with our build-up. They have gone back five here today to try and stop us, they changed shape and tried to nullify us, so we’ve had to play like the home team.”

 

Officials

Credit Graham Burrell

 

In today’s game, managers and players have to be careful with what they say regarding certain incidents involving the officials. As I have already mentioned, and most of you reading who were at the game will already know, the most contentious part of the game came when Referee Robert Lewis collided with a Charlton player. This resulted in Lewis’s substitution a few moments later due to injury however while he was on the floor Charlton were still attacking; a shot by Miles Leaburn saw the ball squirm under Rushworth and roll close to the line. Garner had his say on the matter when speaking to CharltonTV.

“I don’t know whether it went over the line or not; my issue is the linesman is not up with play, so he can’t make the decision. If he is level and looking across, he gives himself a chance of making a decision, but he’s behind play so he can’t make a decision.”

Garner also felt hard done by with another few decisions throughout the match:

“We had a penalty shout for a handball first half,” explained Garner, “It looked a penalty to me on Miles Leaburn in the second half, when he was dragged down and rugby tackled, but we can’t change that. We’ve got to try and do it ourselves rather than rely on those decisions. Can we be a bit better? Can we be a bit sharper? Can we win the game without having to rely on those decisions?”

Twitter/ Fan Reaction

Unstoppable Force, Immovable Object

This very thought sprung into my head during the game in that Lincoln and Charlton played in a very similar manner. Both teams tried and failed to string meaningful passes through the thirds to be let down by a wayward final ball. Callum cafc with the below comment on Charlton Life Fan Forum.

“Kept a clean sheet; otherwise, the less said, the better. Lincoln the most similar side to us I’ve seen this season, so no surprise it’s ended goalless.”

 

Lewis’s Bogey Team

I wasn’t aware until scrolling through Twitter this morning that Robert Lewis has a habit of injuring himself against Charlton. As one Charlton fan in @LouisMend mentioned, he has previous as he knocked himself out while running into Josh Magennis. Funny coincidence; he must be the first referee to be injured twice against the same team.

Goal Line Scramble

@Aarongearing tweeted in response to the goal line debate. I think we were lucky that the linesman wasn’t in line with play but based on this screen grab from the game maybe Rushworth had it under control and it never crossed the line? The joys of football without the disruptive VAR; on the other hand, if it was our shot that almost crossed the line, we’d be in the same situation asking about the quality of officials.

Mandriou’s Shot

In what was Lincoln’s only real clear-cut chance of the whole game @Louismend had his say on Mandiou’s volley which was superbly saved by Wollacott.

Frustration For Charlton Fan

In a game which saw both sides lack cutting-edge and creativity it’s of no surprise that the majority of tweets were negative, with some fans even calling for Garner to be sacked, as the Addicks now sit only two points above the bottom four.