Michael Appleton feels Charlton are showing they are no longer a “soft touch” after responding to adversity in their 4-1 victory over Exeter.
The Addicks have taken 11 points from a possible 15 to move within striking distance of the League One play-offs and are unbeaten under their head coach, who was appointed last month.
Charlton had to fight back from going a goal down in the 23rd minute. The hosts were opened up by Reece Cole’s pass, with Exeter striker James Scott slipping his finish past Ashley Maynard-Brewer.
Charlton levelled just before half-time through the in-form Corey Blackett-Taylor, his third goal in the last four fixtures.
Alfie May’s poacher instincts bailed out Chuks Aneke after his 65th-minute penalty was pushed onto the base of the post by Exeter keeper Viljami Sinisalo, racing into the box to hammer in from close range.
Exeter’s cause was not helped by captain Will Aimson’s dismissal for a challenge on May. Substitute Miles Leaburn then emphatically drove home Charlton’s third before May took his goal tally for the campaign to five after Blackett-Taylor once again caused City huge problems.
Appleton said: “There was a little bit of a lapse in concentration for their goal. But we keep responding, which is really, really pleasing.
“I said it in my programme notes – there was a question mark over them as a group, maybe being a bit of a soft touch. It was something I wanted to eradicate and make sure it doesn’t happen.
“When we have been asked questions over the first four games they have responded really, really well.
“We were good second half. The worry when the opposition go down to 10 men is that they are going to take an extra touch and slow it down a bit but we did the opposite and that was great to see.
“We camped for long, long periods in their last third. We can still be a bit more patient but it is very difficult for me to be critical of the team tonight because they gave me everything they had.”
Grecians boss Gary Caldwell was critical of referee David Rock over both Aimson’s dismissal and the penalty decision.
He said: “If you get the ball, how is it a red card? It’s clear he wins the ball.
“Alfie May does what clever players do – he buys the foul and rolls around to buy the red card. That’s football – I’m not having a go at him – but the ref has been conned.
“I got a reaction from my players all night – I don’t think the players got any help in the game. The gameplan was working to a tee in the first half and we had opportunities to go 2-0 up, that was frustrating.
“If the penalty for Charlton is a penalty then we have a penalty in the first half. They are identical actions and we don’t get it.
“We are not getting any big moments and tonight we didn’t get anything from decisions – it went strongly against us when you need it to go in your favour for big games.”
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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