Injuries to centre halves Collins Sichenje and Billy Koumetio left Nathan Jones frustrated after the Addicks were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening.
Lloyd Jones netted a consolation goal, for his third in as many games, as Charlton lost 5-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Sichenje was carried off in the 15th minute and Koumetio limped off at the same time. Speaking post-match, Jones said: “I’m really disappointed. The goals we’re gutted about because they are from set plays, allowing people to come inside and shoot – that’s bread and butter for us, we don’t do that.
“I’m disappointed with the goals but it’s a disappointing night for so many other things as well. We picked up two injuries which kills us, we lose two centre halves during the first 10-12 minutes against a top Premier League side – what do you do? Then we’ve got a young team, with players that haven’t played and we’ve come up against a top side – we’ve been nowhere near but that’s not a massive surprise.”
Despite the injuries the Addicks played with bravery with Greg Docherty forcing an excellent save from Spurs' goalkeeper Antonín Kinský and Nathan Asiimwe coming close with a header. However, the home side took the lead in the 41st minute and didn’t look back.
“Up until about 40 minutes, we could have kept the ball better but our keeper didn’t really have to make a save,” Jones said, “their keeper had to make one or two saves. We were ok and we were in the game. When you give them those two goals in quick succession then they play with freedom. They are a world class team, they have players they are bringing on and it’s really, really difficult.
“This was a game tonight that was great for the fans, great for the club but from a squad perspective, coming out of a Championship game and preparing for another, it’s a real tricky one. There are very few upsets now, Premier League sides are too good, they have too many resources, they have too big a squads, they have world class internationals right throughout them and then when you play them at their place it is very, very difficult. We’ll dust ourselves down because our bread and butter is Saturday.
“If I’d played my first team today then we’d have been up against it physically to go into the game against Preston at the weekend and we can’t do that because this game will be quickly forgotten about, while our Championship season is something that is day in and day out. I feel a little bit down and sick for the injuries because if we lost 5-1 but had no injuries it would not have been that problem. The injuries – there is a knock-on effect from that.
“It’s dusting ourselves down [over the next two days]. We managed to rest a load of players tonight. We left a number of them at home, it’s just in a certain area where we’re struggling a little bit. We’re going to have to work very hard in the next few days.”
