Charlton boss Lee Bowyer doesn’t hold back as he discusses substitutions of Omar Bogle and Marcus Maddison

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Lee Bowyer has warned that any player who does not work hard will not get game time – as the Charlton chief discussed his early substitutions of Omar Bogle and Marcus Maddison in midweek.

Striker Bogle was replaced in the 34th minute by Chuks Aneke.

Maddison went straight down the tunnel when the Addicks boss switched him off for Conor Washington before the hour mark.

Bowyer said: “Everything starts from the top, for me.

“The way we press, your striker needs to hold the ball up to allow you to get out of your half.

“Omar was sloppy and it started from him with the first ball up to him, he went to pass it to Ian [Maatsen] and it went straight out for a goal-kick. It wasn’t even a difficult pass. We were breaking and couldn’t get into the game from there.

“Everything he did came off badly – for him and us. He didn’t hold the ball up, he lost everything and didn’t work hard out of possession. We put crosses into the box and he wasn’t trying to get into the right areas to score. So it was a combination of things. That ain’t acceptable.

“That’s why we made the changes. When Chuks came on it made a massive difference.

“I will point out the differences today when we are all in a meeting. It won’t be all negatives, I’m not going to be hammering everyone. Everyone has to remember we’ve lost one in nine matches.

“After the game we spoke as a group and I reminded them all that this is a great football club that you’re playing for and you have to work hard to play on a matchday. If you think you can just turn up and stroll around, that will never work. You’ll never play under me doing that.

“They are playing for a great club and some of the players we have in this dressing room were struggling to find clubs – this club took you out of that problem. The club expects you to rebound with hard work – that’s all. Everything else falls into place.

“If you don’t work hard for the team then you won’t play. Since I’ve been in charge how many have you seen go because they don’t work hard for the team? And they are good players as well. But the team is the most important thing and the club is the most important thing.”

Asked about Maddison going straight back to the dressing room, Bowyer added: “I have no problem with that. It is up to him if he wants to do that.

“It’s a private conversation I will have with him. I’ll address that this morning in the meeting. He’ll be disappointed that he came off but he had no reason to be disappointed, because he wasn’t good enough. It’s plain and simple.

“Maybe it was disappointment in his own performance and not from my decision to bring him off. More along those lines….at least I hope it is!

“I hope he understands that. If he thinks it was acceptable then something is wrong.”