Karl Robinson frustrated following Charlton’s goalless stalemate

Posted Sunday, March 18, 2018 by PA

Charlton manager Karl Robinson questioned the decision-making of his players following the goalless draw with Fleetwood at The Valley.

The Addicks were booed off by home fans after being held to their first scoreless game of the season, denting their play-off ambitions in the process.

Some of that flak was aimed directly at the boss both during and after the game, with Charlton now down to ninth in the table and five points adrift of the play-offs.

But the under-fire Scouser claimed there was only so much he and his coaching team can do in training before the players take to the pitch come 3pm on a Saturday afternoon.

Robinson said: “We’ve had 60% possession, 17 shots and two on target – that’s the crux of it.

“We can sit here and talk about different shapes and systems, whether we play 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 the outcome was the same.

“That’s not coaching, management or motivation – that’s decision-making in the final third.

“Someone from behind shouted at me after a corner ‘Do you not work on them?’ Is he that stupid to think that we don’t work on corners and we told Tariqe Fosu to hit the first man? We work on them every day.

“I just think sometimes our decision-making and our quality is poor when we are asked to go on to do something in the final third. We choose the wrong option.”

Substitute Nicky Ajose did have the ball in the net, only to see the effort chalked out for offside – a decision Robinson contested afterwards.

“The goal that Nicky scored he was onside by a long way,” the Addicks chief added. “That was frustrating.

“Our balls in the box weren’t good enough and that is just our own personal decision-making when it comes to that.”

For struggling Fleetwood the point lifted them out of the drop zone ahead of Northampton on goal difference.

Manager John Sheridan believes the relegation scrap will go down to the wire and was delighted by the effort shown by his side at one of the division’s big names.

He said: “I can see this going to the last game of the season because it is so tight down there.

“It was a real battling performance. Not many people thought we would get anything here because Charlton are a decent team, but for us it was a valuable point as we head towards the end of the season.

“We have to keep chipping away. It was good to get a clean sheet as we haven’t had too many lately.

“It was a workman-like performance. We’ve had three draws but they’ve been three solid performances.”