Charlton manager Nigel Adkins explains why he didn’t introduce striker Ronnie Schwartz from the bench during Ipswich stalemate
BY LOUIS MENDEZ
Nigel Adkins admitted that he did think about throwing striker Ronnie Schwartz into the fray as a substitute during Charlton’s 0-0 draw with Ipswich – before deciding against it.
The new Addicks manager only made one substitution during the goalless clash with the Tractor Boys as he swapped Darren Pratley for Ben Watson during the second-period.
The home side were looking the more likely to find a winner as the game progressed but Adkins elected not to introduce striker Schwartz from the bench as the pressure built.
The Danish striker, who arrived at The Valley during the January transfer window, hasn’t featured at all since coming on as a sub for the final ten minutes of Adkins’ first game in charge of Charlton at AFC Wimbledon.
Asked why he didn’t look to utilise an attacker from the bench, Adkins explained: “We had Ronnie on the bench. I did think about it. We had the two wide players, as the game went on it’s a great opportunity. That did go through my mind, we could go and play two up there with Ronnie off the big man but I thought that might leave us a little bit exposed in the midfield because they had the three in there.
“As you could see in the first-half, Darren Pratley had to do a lot of work and a lot of running in there to negate them. With me, I thought we were in the ascendancy and we Just needed something to drop over that period of time. Ultimately, the intention was to score, we just run out of time.
“When I turn around to the bench, we’ve got Ronnie as the attacking option. The other options we’ve got, Chuks [Aneke], Conor [Washington] and Ian Maatsen, were not there [due to injuries]. So, the options to move forward were not there off the bench from that point of view. But we’re hoping to have them available sooner rather than later. [Tuesday’s game at Plymouth?] We’ll see. We’ve got to see where everybody is at this moment in time. Every team now is going to play Saturday-Tuesday. There will be changes in the team.”
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