Zola: ‘A lot of things didn’t work’

Gianfranco Zola pulled no punches in his post-match assessment of Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic, admitting that ‘a lot of things didn’t work’.

The Italian changed the shape of the team, from 3-5-2 to 3-4-3, making three changes to the side which lost 1-0 to Blackpool in their last Championship fixture before the international break.

Yann Kermorgant put the Addicks ahead from the penalty spot just two minutes after the re-start, before Daniel Pudil equalised from close-range.

Speaking to BBC Sport afterwards, Zola said that not everything had gone to plan.

‘There are obviously a lot of things that didn’t work as I wanted and I know exactly what those things are and we’re going to be addressing them tomorrow and working a little bit on that.

Zola continued: ‘The expectations were different for today’s match and things didn’t go the way we wanted.

‘But it is a good point considering we went [1-0] down and it wasn’t easy, so I take it as a positive thing.’

Charlton boss Chris Powell was disappointed his side did not come away with three points after taking the lead.

‘Obviously taking the lead, you want to try and see it out and try and take three points but I think it was a well earned away point,’ said Powell.

‘It’s a tough place to come, a decent team and we had the victory in our last game and we wanted to build on it.

The former Hornets’ defender continyed: ‘It was quite a heated battle at times but of course it was definitely a penalty.

‘They obviously got their equaliser, it was a little bit nip and tuck and they put us under pressure towards the end but our players stood up to it.’

Yesterday’s match report can be read here and yesterday’s match stats can be viewed here.