Nathan Jones was pleased with his side’s performance in midweek, as they fought back to secure a point at Turf Moor courtesy of Ivan Mesík’s 96th-minute equaliser. However, the gaffer is demanding more on Saturday as his side travel to Vicarage Road to take on Watford (12.30pm BST).
“I think the level of performances have been there. We can see the evolution statistically, but we should be better. Our points tally should be better,” Jones said.
“It was a very even game; but we had the best chance to win it. It’s been an unbeaten week, which is very difficult in the Championship, but we’re disappointed our points total isn’t a bit better.”
“We’re trying to have more possession and control games with the ball. By doing that, you open up slightly, so it’s about getting the balance right between defence and attack. We’re not going gung-ho; we still want to keep moving forward. We’ve had a lot of draws lately, and those games could have gone either way. We had a clear-cut chance against Bristol City, and the other night we had four clear-cut chances. We should have been in a better position going into the last six minutes. It’s a learning curve. We want to evolve and get better; we just have to transfer that into points.”
Jones made headlines on Tuesday evening as his ecstatic celebrations attracted media attention.
“People can’t judge me on my celebrations, because sometimes something just takes over you!” he laughed.
“On the dugout, I was making it known. I was getting abuse from one individual behind the goal, and I had to take it for 95 minutes. It was a little bit of payback. When we score, I don’t know what I’m doing half the time!”
The Addicks’ have recently been boosted by the return of Billy Koumetio, Josh Edwards and Charlie Kelman. Nathaniel Chalobah and Matty Godden are nearing a return to fitness.
“They’re all getting there. Billy [Koumetio] quickly has that to adapt because he’s played, but he was probably further ahead. [Charlie] Kelman is fine. Josh [Edwards] is going to take time. He looked a bit rusty against Bristol City, but we’ve got to get him through that because he’s a big player for us. They’ve all come through, which is good. [Nathaniel] Chalobah and [Matty] Godden are very close as well. The squad’s in a good position health-wise.”
“With Josh [Edwards] there was no injury or anything; it was just managing his time. He looked tired the other day. We could have put him on the bench, but we had to leave him out. You open up the possibility of an injury or a supplementary injury if you put him back into a game three days later. We also needed to give him time around the group and time to rest. Today he looked a lot fresher.”
“We targeted that area in the market because this time last year we had a makeshift situation. We didn’t want to be in that position again. Amari’i [Bell] is here, Josh [Edwards] coming back really gives us a boost, and Ivan [Mesík] gives us a dual role on both sides. We’ve considerably strengthened that area.”
“We can’t affect what anyone else does. It’s been a while since we won a game. We started like a house on fire and then slowed up a little bit. Performances have been there because we’ve been in every game—apart from Stoke, if I’m honest. The Cardiff game could have gone either way. Stoke was a performance that let ourselves down. The main thing is to keep improving. We did a lot of good things the other night, but there were things we could have done a lot better. If we keep improving, the points and wins will come.”
Jones lauded the effort from the travelling supporters in midweek who were out in their numbers to back the Addicks in Lancashire.
“Taking 1,000 supporters to Burnley on a Tuesday night is fantastic. The fans have been fantastic because they can see a team that’s evolving, trying to get better and competing. They see an honest group and an honest club. We know what we do well, where we want to go and how we want to get there. The fans are a massive part of that journey, and they’ve been magnificent through tough times. I was genuinely proud of them the other night. They never grumbled, even when we went behind again. They could see the level of performance, they kept with it, and they were a massive help. They got what they deserved.”
Charlton are back in action at The Valley on Saturday, October 24th for the visit of Norwich City. Click here to purchase your tickets now.
