‘I made a beeline for him’ – Addicks boss impressed by Tyreece Campbell’s second-half display
Charlton Athletic head coach Michael Appleton was pleased with the way Tyreece Campbell handled a difficult afternoon at The Valley on Saturday.
The home support voiced their frustrations at the Addicks’ first-half display in their 2-0 defeat against Bolton Wanderers with young winger Campbell coming in for some flak as he endured a difficult opening period.
“It (the reaction from the stands) doesn’t (help him) but we got around him at half-time and tried to keep his belief within him – I think that showed in the second half,” said Appleton.
“There was a lot of work went into him at half-time and I tried to make a note and beeline for him as soon as the half-time whistle went. Just to get him to refocus and think about his game. I was delighted with the way he responded second half, because he was a real threat.”
Campbell could not steer an early chance in the second period on target, seeing George Dobson’s cross very late and not having sufficient time to react.
“He didn’t let that affect him, to a degree,” said Appleton. “The good thing was the amount of times he made runs in behind and looked a threat. He certainly put enough crosses in the box today to suggest he didn’t let too many things affect him that was going on, on the outside.”
Charlton had more of a focal point to their attack once Miles Leaburn was introduced.
The striker teed up a good chance for Alfie May but the Addicks number 10 could not keep his effort down.
Asked if he had been tempted to introduce Leaburn earlier, Appleton said: “Yeah, we were. But I also felt in the second half it was almost one-way attacks. They become a turnover team in the second half whereas in the first half they were a possession team – they became counter-attacking because we had them pinned in and pressed.
“It’s getting that balance right about when it is the right time. What you don’t want to do is take away the momentum we had at that time.”
PICTURE: PAUL EDWARDS