Charlton Athletic (Home) 26.08.2026

Managed by the raging Welshman that is Nathan Jones, the Addicks were obviously told to go out and get in the faces of the Spurs players.  As it was they got into the backs of the Tottenham players, with a number of crude tackles from behind, which the decidedly lower level referee allowed to let go when they were potentially dangerous.  .

A first minute ball played through the middle almost picked out Dominic Solanke, but Ben Davies’ pass just ran through to the Charlton keeper Brooks.  Apter had started niggling early on trying to drag the arm of Rodrigo Bentancur’s shirt off him and Sichenje went down after clashing knees with Mathys Tel.  He needed a bit of attention, but when play resumed, he made a direct run and at the end of it, tried to slip the ball through to Solanke, but it was behind him.  Only ten minutes into the game, Apter threw himself to the ground as he felt Destiny Udogie behind him, but it was never a foul and the ref gave a free-kick but failed to book him for simulation, as our players inevitably are.  He might have had the decision given against him as he fell on the ball and grabbed it, in which case it is another bookable offence.

When Mikey over-hit a cross and the ball was put out for a throw, Sichenje went down again after challenging Dom for the cross and Koumetio also hit the turf.  Sichenje had to be stretchered off with what looked like a serious knee injury and Koumetio was subbed so they had to make a double change in 15 minutes.  Play restarted and a corner came in that was headed clear, but eventually dropped to Tel, who lashed a volley at goal that his Solanke, although it didn’t look like it was going in. 

Nathan Jones outside his box grabbed a ball when it went off and when Destiny came to get it, he dropped it behind him.  Petty doesn’t quite cover it.  Apter ran the ball towards goal from 35 yards out and Bergvall crashes into him for a free-kick and a yellow card.  Interesting when you compare it to some of the tackles from behind Charlton had been making.  From the dead-ball van Hecke headed away from the giant Charlton centre-halves and it was won away, but Docherty fired an effort at goal from 20 yards out on their left corner of the box forcing Toni Kinsky to make a flying save to punch it wide.  Another corner, another clearance and when the ball was played back in Asiimwe won a header among a group of players and put it a yard wide of Kinsky’s goal.

A ball into the middle of the box produced a blocked shot from Dom, with Archie stroking the loose ball with the outside of his right boot that would have crept just inside the post but Brooks fingertipped it around the post.  It was Tottenham’s first shot on target.  There was nothing from the corner, but as play continued, Tell tried to take on Docherty, he pushed it too far, but the defender didn’t just let it go off, he shoulder-charged Mathys off the pitch and into the advertising hoardings.  A minute later, McNamara went into the back of Tel catching him on his Achilles.  All the ref did was talk to him, when he had booked Bergvall for a less dangerous challenge.

Charlton fans were so engrossed in the game, they had a ball that had gone into their section and were throwing around between them, cheering with each and every throw.  They thought it was very clever to throw it onto the pitch to stop play, but it put a stop to their childish antics, which are sooooo Championship.  Back in the game, McNamara couldn’t keep a pass in, Tel took a quick throw to Udogie, but Asiimwe tried to shield it off, but Destiny out-muscled him and got the ball into the box, where it was blocked, but Mathys got to the ball and his low ball was kicked away too.  Charlton were careless in possession, passing it straight to Spurs and Bentancur fed Fernandes to have a shot from left of centre straight into the keeper’s chest.  Tottenham had ridden the brief pressure Charlton has applied and were now back going the right way, with some better movement off the ball.

After Rodrigo had won the ball off Mbick fairly, Ouma then went into Fernandes late with a replica of Bergvall’s challenge, but again no booking.  Well, actually there was one for dissent from Nathan Jones, who thought that they should have had a free-kick for Bentancur’s tackle.  The Charlton boss just can’t help himself.  From the free-kick, spurs moved the ball right, lost it and won it again, switching play to the left for Fernandes to move it back to the right wing with a ball for Mikey Moore to run onto just wide of the penalty area.  He darted past Asiimwe and looked as though he might have a shot, but looked to square it, but once again, the ball was intercepted.  The next time he was in that position, when Rodrigo Bentancur played a ball out to him wide of the penalty area on the right, there looked little danger judging by what had gone before, with Spurs unable to break down the Purple wall.  Coming inside to leave one defender sprawling, Mikey unleashed a shot of such ferocity in his left foot shot with little back-lift that the keeper barely had any time to react as the ball rocketed through his hands above his head.  It is difficult to believe that such a powerful effort could come from such a wisp of a player, but after his misses against Brentford, the goal gave him supreme confidence and he blossomed in the remainder of the match.

A fantastic turn in midfield took Mateus Fernandes away from Ouma and he surged forward before releasing the ball to Mikey, who won a corner from a blocked cross.  In the second phase after the corner was cleared, Lucas shot, won the ball from the block on it, the ball then hit Moore, spun towards Archie Gray, who pulled out of going for it, as it might have been foot up and the ball ran past Ouma who also pulled out of heading it.  That left the ball loose for Dom Solanke to swivel on it and send a right foot shot from just behind the penalty spot low to the keeper’s right, not allowing time for Brooks to get a hand down to it.  A striker’s instinct allowed Dom to be in the right place and his quick reaction to keep the ball down was technically very good as he took a couple of little steps to give him the chance to make a good contact with the ball.

And that was the difference between the two teams.  Charlton were all muscle and force, with little technicality about their play.  It might be what is needed to beat a side like West Ham United London, but tonight, it looked a cut above a pub team.  Jones obviously doesn’t help his team, getting a booking for verbals after being told a number of times about leaving his technical area (perhaps a bit of a misnomer when it relates to him).  Consequently, there were numerous occasions when a ball was hoofed forward or a pass went astray when a player was under no pressure.  Not that Spurs weren’t guilty of playing a few short passes that gave Charlton the opportunity to return it to us.

Finally, a yellow card for a Charlton player came in added time when Apter (remember his dive earlier) cynically tripped Udogie as he borke up play and ran away from the winger.  Apter knew that he wouldn’t catch him, so did what he thought was best in that situation.

Chris Perry was the half-time guest and it would have been nice to hear what he was saying but the PA at the ground is not very good.  The two goals before the interval must have demoralised Charlton (or the half-time team talk did it) as they looked a shadow of the team of the first half.  Little closing down, fewer horrendous tackles and it being a bit of a surprise when the ball went into the Tottenham half.

Within two minutes of the second half starting, Mikey weaved past three defenders in the visitor’s penalty area with his square ball cut out, but he took a knock as he was challenged, staying down for a while, but got up to continue.  Tel tried an effort from 25 yards but the keeper gathered it into his midriff and then Moore’s cross fell for Mathys to try a scissors kick at goal, but the keeper was right behind it.  On the hour, the French winger played Gray into space in the box and his low shot forced Brooks to save with his feet at the near post.

De Zerbi made some subs with Saturday in mind, as he brought on Kevin Danso for Bentancur, Pedro Porro for Destiny and Micky van de Ven in place of fellow countryman Jan Paul van Hecke to give them their first minutes of this season.  It proved to an astute move, as play restarted with a free-kick on the right (given for a blatant block by Mesick after Mikey had nut-megged him) that Fernandes swung in with Kevin rising at the back post to power a header into the net with his first touch for his first Tottenham goal.  Unfortunately, he also headed a Charlton defender and required treatment for a cut that meant he couldn’t celebrate and also that he had to go off for a minute (as is the protocol these days, although getting penalised for getting an accidental injury that was an obvious one seems a tad harsh).  

After 81 minutes of the match, De Zerbi unleashed new signing Savio who had only completed his move 24 hours earlier.  And what an impact he made.  His first involvement was to put Pedro in to pull a ball back from the dead-ball line for Mathys to shoot, but straight at Brooks, who needed two goes to hold the ball.  While a loose pass allowed Mwamba to send Leaburn away, when he reached the penalty area his shot was at a good height for Kinsky to push away for a corner, then another two.  From the third one, the ball was headed out and played back in for Asiinwe to head at goal but Toni took it comfortably at his feet.  When Archi played a pass to his right for Savio, 30 yards out, Charlton had six men back behind the ball.  The new Brazilian moved forward to the 18 yard line, darted inside along it past three players and struck a left foot shot down to the keeper’s left inside the post to score a debut goal.  Having the ability to go either way, defenders are non-plussed as to what he might do and even if they show him one way, his pace will leave them for dead, so he offers not only an out ball, but a dangerous attacking option.

When he received a pass from Porro tight to the right side-line with a man at his back, he shaped to pass the ball back to a defender, but stepped over it and flicked the ball down the line to Pedro who had continued his run.  It was a great piece of skill and one that had the crowd gasping in admiration.  Porro’s cross was blocked for a corner, which was taken short through Bergvall and Porro before it went back to Fernandes who picked out a square pass to Savio inside the box level with the keeper’s left hand post.  Taking a touch, he took the ball past Asiimwe, shaped to shoot, sending the defender sliding to block, but he chopped the ball back onto his left foot.  Before McNamara could get to him he let go a left footed shot that beat the keeper to his left again.  There was a group of players between Savio and the goal and the big screen replayed the goal showing the ball hit Ben Davies before going past the keeper.  The purple shirts vainly appealed for offside, but there was a man on the goal-line on the other side of the goal, so the goal stood and it was 5-0.  Savio celebrated, but Ben’s hip deflected the effort in and while he was trying to get out of the way, he was pleased to be on the score-sheet.

It was disappointing not to keep a clean sheet, as an 87th minute corner was met by an unmarked run from Lloyd Jones, who headed it down and through Toni’s legs to give him something to tell his grand-children about. 

Savio still had time to torment the visiting defence, laying a ball into the path of Porro, but it was a little too far under his feet and while he dug out a shot, he could not control it and it flew too high over the bar.  There had been enough to whet the appetite of the Spurs fans to see much more of the new signing.  With Omar Marmoush’s loan expected to be announced tomorrow, it could provide a whole different attacking outlook in the months to come.  Micky also got a bloody nose from a flailing arm from Leaburn as again the referee failed to take action on it.

De Zerbi handed Savio his debut off the bench with a 20 minutes to go and to describe his performance as a cameo would be drastically unselling the excitement he brought to the THS.  Electric is a word that has been used widely to describe his play, but it should not be confined to his pace, but the wizardry that he shows on the ball.  Admittedly this was against a sub-standard team, but his movement and confidence to take players on was outstanding given his paucity of minutes on the pitch last season.  It must have been liberating for him to get on the greensward and show what he is capable of … and this after possibly only one training session with the team.  Having said that, he is probably an easy player to integrate into the team, as you just give him the ball and let him get on with it.  However, his skill and pace will probably bring him some hefty challenges in the Premier League where defenders will try to kick him out of the game.

The Charlton fans had a good night out.  Escaping the dull surroundings of South London, they chanted that their opinion of our support wasn’t very high without realising that the same could be said of their team.  However, they were quiet between the first Tottenham goal until the few that remained cheered their consolation goal three minutes from the end as their side was outclassed and in the second half, almost capitulated until the last few minutes.  They obviously are used to making their own entertainment as when the team started to concede, they found other ways of ignoring what was happening on the pitch.

With a number of players getting playing time during the match, some form of pattern to the play started to be established, with the introduction of Savio livening things up.  De Zerbi seemed happy enough with the performance except the way we gave away cheap possession and against better opposition that could prove crucial.  The pleasing aspect was the way the midfield tried to break the lines with their runs and while there were some attempts to play through passes, players running at the defence seemed equally effective.

This could be a useful exercise in team building, but with a tie away at Liverpool waiting in the next round, it will take a more solid display to progress further.

• Players wore black armbands and there was a minute’s applause for the recent death of Terry Dyson.
• Savio made his Tottenham debut and scored once.
• Kevin Danso scored his first Spurs goal.