Clean sheet numbers HAD to go up for Charlton Athletic to have successful League One campaign
Charlton Athletic have kept 17 clean sheets in League One this season – but Nathan Jones is demanding more.
The Addicks, fourth in the table, head to Peterborough United tomorrow as one of the division’s meanest defences.
Jones told the South London Press: “Last season, as a club, we kept five clean sheets in all competitions – that is not going to achieve anything significant.
“Look, you can have an okay season with five clean sheets, but I doubt you can achieve anything. We had to address that and we did address that.
“We are not a team that sits in and defends. We are an aggressive team that goes after teams and is front-footed in every aspect.
“We have had to work religiously on the defensive structure and when we are satisfied with that is when we open up and become a more attacking and fluent unit. Evolving in that way is what we’ve done in the past three-and-a-half months.”
Jones has talked recently about his Charlton players making sacrifices on rest days to ensure they are ready for the League One run-in.
He described his comments about not shopping in Bluewater or going to Costa Coffee as “tongue in cheek”.
“Going and having a coffee on your day is a relaxing thing to do,” said Jones. “What I meant is I don’t want us to be exerting energy on our rest days when we could be doing everything in this Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday world we live in – going tenpin bowling or out walking, on your feet all day. Coming back and not resting or recovering.
“It is the same at Christmas where you get paid for what you don’t do at Christmas. I’m not Ebenezer Scrooge where I don’t want anyone to celebrate anything but you have to remember you are a professional athlete, that is what they are doing now.
“It’s is eight to 10 weeks of the season left and it is those sacrifices now that are the edges that may enable you to achieve something – that’s all we ask for.
“I quoted Bluewater because it is local, I quoted Costa Coffee because it is one of the most popular – no disrespect to any of those. We are asking them to buy in to everything and be the best versions of themselves. To recover and be ready to go again.
“It is those little sacrifices that sometimes give you big gains.”
PICTURE: KYLE ANDREWS
