Charlton Athletic fell to a home defeat against Bristol City after conceding early in both halves, and Nathan Jones said the slow starts cost his side a game they should have been able to draw or win.
Jones said the pattern began almost immediately, with Charlton “mess[ing] about” in the first 50 seconds, giving away a corner and setting the tone for the afternoon. He told Radio London that the team were poor at the start of both halves, that the start “killed us,” and that the side did not show enough quality in the final third. He also said some of the defending was “so un-Charlton like that it was crazy,” a verdict that cut deeper than the result itself.
The defeat was Charlton’s third home loss in four, and it left them 18th in the Championship, still eight points above the relegation zone before the day’s match. That cushion means the table is not yet threatening, but the performance suggested a side failing to pull further clear and instead rubber-stamping another season of Championship football.
Jones said Charlton work every week on starting fast and being front-footed, but added that they were not learning from the last few home games. He said that when they are in the match they normally expect to be strong late on, yet the poor opening phases keep taking that chance away. For Charlton, the next concern is not the gap below them but whether they can stop repeating the same script at The Valley.
