Lee Bowyer has spoken honestly about Charlton Athletic’s performance against Stoke City, as reported by London News Online.
What did he say?
This was a massive chance for the Addicks to build on their victory against Barnsley to begin getting some breathing space between them and the relegation zone, but it is one that they failed to take.
Ben Purrington equalised for Bowyer’s side after James McClean had opened the scoring, but it turned out to be futile, as Tom Ince and Nick Powell scored to give Stoke the victory.
Following the game, Bowyer gave an honest evaluation of what he had seen: “From start to finish, they were better than us. First-half, they took the lead, deservedly so. We changed it around a bit, put Andre [Green] up top with Lyle [Taylor]. We scored a good goal. But you can’t come out second-half and play and defend the way we did.
“There were too many players not at it today. That’s the reality. Too many that weren’t anywhere near as a good as they can play. We have a squad that have to be at their peak and best to compete in this division. Today, we wasn’t. That’s why we lost by two goals.”
Speaking truthfully
Charlton did not make enough of an impact on this game to warrant a victory, in what was a real six-pointer.
As per WhoScored, they had eight fewer shots, 9.4% less possession, four less corners, won 11 fewer aerial duels and six fewer tackles than Stoke.
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The suggestion that players were not at their best can be best summarised by the fact that their usually talismanic striker,Lyle Taylor,got the lowest WhoScored rating of any player with 5.7, having failed to hit the target with either of his two shots.
This performance was nowhere near good enough, leading to a result that leaves Charlton in a vulnerable position, just one place and four points above the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, one Charlton man has begun to turn his season around after a truly underwhelming start.