CharltonTV’s Steve Brown was impressed with what he saw from the Addicks this afternoon, as Nathan Jones’ side drew 1-1 at Crystal Palace.
“I think Nathan will be over the moon with how that panned out,” said Brown. “From a manager’s perspective, you and your staff are just looking to make sure that everything that you’re trying to work on, everything you’ve discussed, everything you’ve analysed is being fulfilled by the team and the individuals – whether that be a defensive unit, midfield unit or the entire team.
“There’s always things you can improve, but as a base performance I thought that was terrific today.”
In particular, Brown appreciated the squad’s work rate: “You’ve got an industrious team here. Kanu will start from the front, then you go into midfield and that looks it’s got an engine, like it can cover a lot of ground.
“Pre-season is horrid. You’re feeling everything, you’re tired all the time and then you’ve got to pull out a performance. So in terms of a player’s perspective, you can’t ask a lot more than what they’ve shown today.
“I just think the attitude of the players has been first class. Particularly those coming on for half an hour. It’s not an easy thing to do – you’ve got to get into the pace of the game. I thought the attitude from everybody was first class – which you’d expect it to be, but having been in a dressing room, it’s not always the case!”
It took until the final minute for Palace to find an equaliser, and Brown was delighted with Charlton’s defensive work.
“I thought the team performed very well, particularly out of possession,” he said. “They worked very hard to deny Crystal Palace any space. They did have a lot of possession, Palace, so there was a lot of work to do and a lot of ground to cover.”
The Addicks were just as smart going forward. “From an attacking perspective today, we had to pick our moments because we were out of possession so much,” said Brown.
“In the moments we did pick, we strung together a couple of really good moves. There was some very good movement off the shoulder, which I think is going to be important during the league campaign.
“Ultimately, we’ve come away to a Premier League club and looked comfortable at times.”
(Photo: Tom West)
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