Four takeaways from Charlton’s loss at Wycombe: The Addicks have not turned up this season

Charlton fell to their fifth defeat in just seven league games as Wycombe Wanderers secured a first ever league triumph over the South Londoners. A brace from former Bromley man Garath McCleary saw off Nigel Adkins side, who were frustratingly poor again.

Sam Lavelle pulled a goal back in added-time at the end of the second half and the Addicks may even have nicked an unlikely point after a couple of goalmouth scrambles late on but the Chairboys were able to hold on and Charlton ended the day joint-bottom of League One. Here’s Louis Mendez’s four takeaways from the clash at Adams Park.

POOR, AGAIN

Simply not good enough. Charlton were not anywhere near the same level as Wycombe Wanderers today, until an added-time rally. They’ve been so far off it all season. You can’t win a play-off place in the opening seven games of the season but you can almost lose one. The Addicks are joint-bottom of League One – nine points outside the top six already. You’d feel confident that could be clawed back over the remaining 39 games if Charlton played their part in games but they don’t do that for anything other than 10-minute spells here and there. Really concerning.

PRESSURE ON ADKINS

The pressure is undoubtedly building upon Nigel Adkins’ shoulders after the terrible start to the season continued. Large pockets of the travelling support sang songs calling for a change in manager at Adams Park which will have been heard by owner Thomas Sandgaard, who was in attendance. Adkins will be well aware that he needs to stamp some sort of identity on this side that can allow them to control games. He’ll be frustrated that the slow transfer window the Addicks had is playing a part in this poor start but he’ll also be mindful that he is the man who has to sort this out and fast.

LONG BALL

Charlton aren’t confident on the ball. They give up trying to play the ball through the lines too easily and pump it long to Jayden Stockley. Adkins knows it and has mentioned it before, but again he will be the one who needs to set the team up in a way that they can play to their strengths. Would that even be what was before unthinkable and dropping his top striker? I don’t know if that is the answer, but he might need to withdraw that easy option to force his side to play.

HOW LONG CAN YOU ALLOW A SIDE TO TAKE TO GEL?

One clear fallout from the slow transfer windows is that there’s a bunch of new players who need to reach full fitness and start to play as a team. The question is how long that takes? Jonathan Leko and Pape Souare were both withdrawn early as they can’t last 90 minutes yet – Leko in particular cleary fading after a decent 20 minutes or so. If they can somehow all reach full fitness and gel before Tuesday’s trip to Gillingham, that would be nice.

PHOTOS: PAUL EDWARDS