‘Players need to show me they want to be here next season’ – Charlton boss Johnnie Jackson reacts to Oxford loss
Charlton Athletic manager Johnnie Jackson has told his players they need to prove they should be part of his future plans after being left disappointed by their response to going behind in today’s 4-0 loss to Oxford United.
Matty Taylor scored twice in the first half for the visitors with Sam Baldock and Cameron Brannagan also on target.
Charlton were already 3-0 down when Sean Clare was shown a straight red card for reacting badly after Taylor refused to let go of his leg.
The South Londoners are nine points above the bottom four and it now looks a case of getting plans in place for mounting a far more serious promotion challenge next time around.
Jackson said: ”We have to start thinking about the future and how I want my team and squad to look like next season. The players here now have to show me, between now and the end of the season, that they want to be a part of it. I’ve got a clear idea of where I want to go and where I want to take the football club.
“They have got to show with their performance and desire that they want to be a part of what I’m doing.”
Charlton were without injured striker trio Conor Washington, Chuks Aneke and Jayden Stockley. Scott Fraser was also absent due to recently contracting Covid.
“There’s lots of work to do [in the summer] but you’ve got to remember who we’ve got missing from this team,” said Jackson. “I haven’t got three of my senior recognised centre-forwards. I haven’t lost a game in which Stockley and Washington have both started up front together. Obviously they are going to be huge misses and we can’t lose sight of that.
“If you’ve got those guys fit and available to choose from – and you add in the right areas and recruit well – we’ll have a wonderful opportunity to do something really good. We wanted to do that this season but for many reasons it hasn’t happened.
“If you took Matt Taylor, Baldock and Brannagan and a few out of their side it would affect you. To have Stockley, Washington, Aneke and Fraser missing is going to make it more difficult.
“That’s the first defeat we’ve had under myself where we’ve had a chasing. The nature of that one is difficult to take.
“We started the game really well, had a lot of joy in the first 20-25 minutes, then conceded out of nothing. Our reaction to going behind was poor. We didn’t recover and show the same level of bravery to play the way we had started the game. We went away from that after we conceded and never really recovered.
“You have to deal with setbacks in the game. They scored from a period when we were on top, that rocked us. But you need to show your character. Certainly going 2-0 felt like a mountain to climb in chasing the game. From dominating the early stages you find yourself 2-0 behind and wondering how that has happened.
“It’s time to show a bit of character now. We’re back out here on Tuesday night [against Milton Keynes] and we have to put it right. I’ll be looking for a reaction from our players in a game that we can win. In some ways it is good to have a quick turnaround. We have to look at the things that went wrong, but we haven’t got time to dwell on it and feel sorry for ourselves. No-one is going to feel sorry for you – we have to get on with it.”
PICTURES: PAUL EDWARDS