Tom Rubashow reports from The Valley
Karl Robinson hailed his captain’s influence on Tony Watt who netted for the second time this week as Charlton drew at home to Walsall.
Speaking to the press post-game Robinson said: “I want to put it down to great captaincy by Johnnie Jackson. It’s not about me with Tony, it’s about him scoring goals for Charlton Athletic, that’s the most important aspect of it, he’s a unique character, I like him though.
“He (Jackson) is a good friend, a good captain, he’s strong with him, fair. He’s my eyes and ears. Jacko is a person that drives them on, he’s a support mechanism for Tony. He’s got really good captaincy skills. To be fair to Tony Watt he’s scoring goals. You can’t ask any more.
“Tony’s a special talent but it’s not just about the talent you possess, it’s about the unified group that goes out on the pitch, he’s certainly adding to that at the moment. When he adds to that, with the support of his talent, he’s going to be a threat.”
Robinson said he felt Walsall were the better side in the opening 45 minutes: “I thought first half we were way off. We dropped too deep, we showed them too much respect and they numerically overloaded in a number of areas, whether it be in the wide areas or down the centre.
“I think it is physically hard for everybody. I thought second half we looked a lot better, a lot more in control of the game. We went to a weird system. I don’t know if there is any name for it, it was just ‘you mark him and you mark him and you go one v one and stop them’ because I think in the first half we got caught with too many rotations and got overloaded in the middle of the park. Second half they were much better.”
The manager lamented his luck with so many injuries. He said Ezri Konsa, who went off injured, had rolled his ankle. He explained that Patrick Bauer is still in a recovery process and that Josh Magennis could miss up to three weeks.
Despite the injuries though Robinson said he couldn’t fault the effort of his team and their mental strength: “I will get this club right, I really will but at this time we just have to make sure we get over the line. It’s about trying to keep people motivated. We’ve got make sure these people are proud of the team they support but I think everyone has seen how hard it is at the moment.
"It’s hard but it is what it is and everyone has to be mentally strong. I’d rather have a mentally strong team than people with great legs who can run around as mental strength is part and parcel of being successful. Over the last few games I’ve seen a real difference in training.
“I didn’t want a point before the game. I thought we rode our luck only being one down at half time but the second half we were the better team.”