How much should we read into Charlton Athletic's pre-season results and performances? Why I decided to change my feature idea when it came to assessing their 2026 friendlies
Goals have not flowed for the Addicks in their six friendly matches
So my initial plan when it came to wrapping up Charlton Athletic’s pre-season was to do a piece on the winners and losers after all of the friendlies had taken place.
Well, now I’ve changed my mind about that.
The reason?
Because the list of winners was going to be fairly short.
That’s not to say there haven’t been some positives from this pre-season. For example, Harvey Knibbs has clocked up plenty of minutes after injuries impacted his first campaign after joining from Reading. Good news.
When it comes to appearances and game time, there are quite a few that have managed to appear regularly and build up their match sharpness, which is what we always get told is the absolute priority - arguably the only priority - before the competitive action commences.
But what I had been hoping to do was focus on who had boosted their first-team prospects and who had been left in the ‘work-still-to-do camp’.
Like I mentioned already, there were a few too many in the latter bracket after Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Reading.
But let’s start with the plusses. We’ve already mentioned Knibbs, who looked energetic and purposeful in last week’s 2-0 win at Colchester United but struggled to be as effective against his former club in that behind-closed doors friendly at The Valley.
The graph a bit further down in this article shows that Knibbs has played 300 minutes in pre-season, the most out of any midfielder or attacker in the squad.
Sticking with the positive, I don’t think I’m the only one to have been encouraged by the early showings of summer signing Billy Koumetio. Not only does he look a physical specimen, strong in the air and quick, the former Liverpool and Dundee defender has produced some progressive passes - as well as putting in the pinpoint cross for Matty Godden to lustily volley home at the JobServe Community Stadium.
Billy Koumetio makes a pass against Reading/Picture: Kyle Andrews
Midfielder Alan Mwamba has also played like someone who wants to catch the eye of Nathan Jones and try to leave the Welshman inclined to keep him around instead of a loan to League One or League Two.
