That was the judgment of Louis Mendez after Charlton went down to a 3-1 defeat at Stoke City this afternoon in front of 1,934 Addickted. A fan tweeted, 'You’ve got to feel for the fans who made the trip. Traveled to Stoke, the arse end of England, on a cold Saturday to see us get completely out played from the first minute. Embarrassing is an understatement.
Charlton have been overtaken by Huddersfield and Stoke are now 21st, four points ahead of Wigan who lost at Preston. Barnsley drew at home against the Massives.
In a poor first half, Charlton rarely troubled Jack Butland in the Stoke goal. The home side went ahead from a free kick. Then thirteen seconds of dominance and a cross from Green allowed Ben Purrington to score an injury time equaliser.
However, the hope was short lived. Charlton are vulnerable just after the break and Stoke went 2-1 ahead on 47 minutes, then scored a third on 67 minutes.
A late flurry from Lyle Taylor was little consolation.
One fan commented, 'Completely off the boil today. Some sloppy play, can't seem to keep the ball. Stoke have so much time and space in possession. No movement when we are in possession either.'
The report from Louis Mendez is here: Disappointing display on the road
Shell shocked supremo Lee Bowyer said: 'Not good enough from start to finish. They were better than us. Too many players weren’t at it today. Too many were nowhere near as well as they can play. We have a squad that have to be at their best to compete in this division and they weren’t.' Of course, the bigger question is, why?
Bowyer said that he thought the players returning from injury were not at their peak: Extremely underwhelmed
Former director Bob Whitehand had no doubt about who to blame: 'Bowyer at fault. Continues to pick Purrington and Pearce , why can he not see they are not up to it. Purrington is a shocking defender , slow, no positional sense. Pearce tries hard but too slow and can’t pass to save his life. Big mistake not to get defenders in the window.'
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