Speaking after Charlton’s second loss of the season, Riteesh Mishra talked through his thoughts on the team’s performance, the factors impacting recent form and the upcoming Continental Cup fixture against Brighton.
On the team’s performance…
“I think there’s an expression that goes ‘things are never as good as you think they are and things are never as bad as you think they are’, it’s another week where we’ve been in the game and we’ve not scored.
“It’s small margins, we had one cleared off the line and a couple of half chances which could have changed the game, but we don’t have the confidence at the moment to finish those off. I do think confidence is a big thing in football - if you feel confident, you feel like you can do things, and you can tell that in runs, passing, crossing, combinations, when it’s done with conviction.
“There are positives throughout generally, although we conceded two goals, we generally defended quite well. I think we were sloppy when we were on the ball, we played too slowly and we didn’t throw enough energy at the ball.
“Right now our quality isn’t enough at this level, if you want to be considered a team that wants to try and get promoted, so I think that’s what we lacked today.”
On his players’s work ethic…
“I can’t be too critical of our work ethic, I don’t think there was too much between the two teams, just that they looked more confident when they got into the final third. We’ve still got to build that confidence and confidence is hard to get when you’re losing.
“It’s my job to pick them [the players] back up, but again we’re not being outplayed by teams, we’re not being outfought by teams, it’s similar to the game against Durham. One goal sets us back and our lack of confidence means that it’s hard for us to get back int the game.”
On the upcoming fixture and recent form…
“We played them [Brighton] in pre-season and to be fair it was one of our best performances. However they’ve just drawn to Chelsea so they’ve proven they’re a tough team.
“The thing is that at this level we don’t get any rest, you’ve got to keep preparing, so hopefully this is a nice break from the league. The league has been tough for us in the last few weeks. One point from nine is not good enough for us really. We’ve got time to bring that back, I’m not worried about the points tally, my main concern at the moment is the confidence of the group, so we’ve really got to regroup this week and work hard.”
Charlton Women return to The Oakwood on Sunday, September 22 as they face FA Women’s Super League side Brighton & Hove Albion in the Continental Cup group stage.
Article by Louis Jacques