Nathan Jones labels Charlton Athletic’s defeat to Blackpool as ‘farcical’ due to amount of stoppages in the game
Charlton Athletic manager Nathan Jones labelled the 2-1 home defeat against Blackpool as “farcical” after what he reckons could have been a “world record” number of stoppages by referee Charles Breakspear.
The Addicks slipped to a first home league defeat since February as an own-goal from Gassan Ahadme and a strike from the returning Albie Morgan opened a two-goal lead for the Seasiders before the break.
Luke Berry gave the hosts hope six minutes into 12 added at the end of the contest but Steve Bruce’s side held on for their first away win of the campaign.
The South Londoners struggled to get going before the interval, but Jones felt they improved in the closing stages and may have had two penalties.
The Charlton boss said: “Really frustrating. Frustrated with our first-half performance. Blackpool were excellent and we weren’t aggressive. We were passive and allowed them to hit us on transition so much because of how passive we were. Then frustration in the second-half because we didn’t demonstrate enough quality.
“Frustration that we didn’t get two penalties and frustration with how the game was in the second-half as the game became farcical.
“For me, certain people have got to be better. We should have had two penalties. Two clearcut penalties. I’m not taking anything away from Blackpool. They were excellent today as an away team coming here. No one has really done that to us, and they could have scored more.
“Then, after half-time, we should have had two penalties. We didn’t show enough quality in the final-third. And then every single time anyone went together it was a free-kick. There must have been 200 stoppages. It’s probably a world record. And then it became farcical.
“I spoke to the referee after about his performance. I know the referee, a very experienced referee. I’ve gone in and been very calm. The way he refereed it. He has to realise that what one team wants to do, and fair play to them they were very clever in what they done, the referee facilitated that.
“He gave a free-kick for absolutely everything. Everything. If you breathed on someone you got a free kick. It absolutely ruined the game as a spectacle. It ruined the flow. It just became 200 sporadic events. And they have to be better.
“Anytime we turned the ball over they looked like they could score because on transition we were poor, we were passive,” added Jones when asked about the first-half performance.
“Back-three were too deep. Wing-backs didn’t get to anyone. They just looked better than us. They deserved their 2-0 lead and it could have been more. Second-half we were much better, changed the shape and were much better. From 70 minutes on we dominated the game and could have got something out of it. That’s the frustration for us. We should have demonstrated more quality, got more people in and around the box. Shown more quality but we didn’t. That’s the frustration.”
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