Lee Bowyer admitted his side weren’t good enough after a 4-0 defeat to relegation rivals Huddersfield Town.
The Charlton manager felt his side were particularly poor in the first half before getting back into the game in the second half but were killed off by Steve Mounie’s 75th minute goal to put the Terriers two goals in front.
Speaking after the game he said: “It was not good enough. The first half was bad, it was poor. I take full responsibility for it. I picked the team, I picked players that I thought would do better playing the diamond and it didn’t work. We were too soft, too passive.
“In the second half we changed it and I thought we were better, we created and got into some good areas but just the quality at the end wasn’t there. We should have at least scored to level up before they got the second. I was disappointed as their second one was handball and that knocked the stuffing out of us really.”
Bowyer apologized to the travelling 825 Charlton fans. The Addicks are back at The Valley next weekend and he feels his side will need the fans for an important game against Middlesbrough, another team involved in the relegation battle.
He said: “We’re going to need them. I apologise to that for that result. I’m the manager and I take full responsibility for that. It’s disappointing but we need them next week. We need them, they are going to play and important part.
“They [the players] are disappointed, that won’t happen again. Maybe that’s what they needed, something like that to give them a kick up the backside because they can’t perform like that and defend like that between now and the end of the season because if we do we won’t be in this league next year.
“It’s not acceptable to lose by four, ok two were in injury time, but that’s not what we are about. We have to keep working hard, stick together and keep fighting.”