Charlton Athletic boss on ‘gamble’ of not selecting a back-up goalkeeper in two recent fixtures
Regarding Charlton’s recent games, Nathan Jones has gone into greater detail about going in to two matches without a goalie on the bench.
For the Addicks’ 2-0 EFL Trophy loss to Orient and their 0-0 draw with Lincoln City earlier this month, Ashley Maynard-Brewer was their only goalkeeper.
After missing Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Mansfield Town at The Valley due to injury, Will Mannion returned as cover.
Jones was questioned about who would take over as goalie in the event of an injury and no backup on the bench.
“We have a couple that will do that, but we also have a plenty who are over six feet,” the Charlton manager stated.
We only have a young man, which is risky in and of itself, because Will isn’t available. We have added an attacker, frontman, or attacking midfield player to the bench, which is a fantastic move. That can occasionally cost you; if a goalie is hurt, you might appear foolish. It gives you an alternative if you don’t.
“All we’ve done is try to be optimistic. Now that Will is back, we will give that great consideration going ahead.
At my former club, we had Henri Lansbury, who was very talented in possession and a fantastic goalie. We don’t exactly have that kind of person. Although we won’t do it every week, we thought we could do it in the last few weeks.
We don’t want to provide any information about it (who Jones would turn to). Whoever enters is taking a chance because they won’t have had that much training.
The idea that “we have a player that can play in goal” was not taken into account. It was a risk that our goalie would not sustain an injury. We have an additional attacker on the bench if he doesn’t.
