“I put breathing space between myself and the squad after Blackpool defeat” – Boss Lee Bowyer as Charlton bounce back at Wigan

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Lee Bowyer says he took a step back to give his squad time to re-evaluate after Saturday’s 3-0 home humbling by Blackpool – and it seems to have had the desired outcome as they bounced back with a 1-0 win at Wigan Athletic.

The Charlton boss had accused some of his players of not caring after the defeat at The Valley over the weekend and took the unusual step of giving his side some breathing space in the form of a day away from the training ground on Sunday – a move he says he hadn’t used before a Tuesday evening game during his time at the club.

Bowyer made seven changes for the trip to the DW Stadium and saw Charlton claim a first win in five outings thanks to Chuks Aneke’s first-half goal.

The results keeps the Addicks’ slim play-off hopes alive and Bowyer revealed that had decided to try and take the pressure off his side after a run of disappointing results – telling them not to think about the race for a top six finish.

“Funnily enough, not really,” answered the Charlton chief, when asked if it was a strong few days in training that saw his side bounce back from the weekend.

“If anything, I took a step back from them and I asked them to do the same. Sunday was the first Sunday that we haven’t been in, since I’ve been in charge, before a Tuesday game. I just felt I should let them have the day to rest and have a think – re-evaluate things. Then we came in and yesterday I said to them that I was going to take all the pressure off them.

“I’m not going to complicate things. The most important thing I wanted from them tonight, obviously with the result, I just wanted them to go and try and play football. Make the right decisions and do the basics right.

“[Telling the players not to think about the top six is] reverse psychology. Now you understand what I’m doing. I just thought the pressure of me and everybody else talking about the top six, I just felt it got to the players and some of them maybe couldn’t handle that pressure. Some can take pressure and some can’t. That’s why I decided to take the steps I have.

“Try and unload them with all that pressure and say: ‘Hold on, let’s get back to basics and go and enjoy the game.’ When you’re on the pitch, whether you’re 10 years old or a professional, everybody loves the game. So, go and enjoy it and do what we do every day in training.

“Don’t complicate it – one and two touch. We did it really well. We’re a good side. If we cut them mistakes out. Solid today. If we cut them silly mistakes out then we’ll always score goals and cause teams problems.

“We’re as good as we want to be really. Let’s not get carried away, we won against a decent Wigan side, they moved the ball well today. But we’ve got another tough one Saturday [at Oxford], let’s see how far we can get. It’s a confidence booster today. I think they needed it. Let’s hope they take the confidence into Saturday.

“We’ll still keep working hard and trying to win games. I tried to take the pressure off them and we’ll see how they go when the pressures off. It’s a good start today but it’s something to build on. It’s no good winning today and then we go again Saturday and lose.

“It’s a difficult league. No one gives you anything. You have to earn every single point. We showed that two years ago when we got promotion, it was so hard. That’s all we can do, keep working hard and trying to do the right things. Those mistakes, we’ve been giving goals away. Just giving them. That’s what has cost us, and decisions. If we can stop that then we’re a decent side and we’ll cause teams problems.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS