Charlton Athletic attacker yet to convince boss that he is a number nine contender in absence of Lyle Taylor
Lee Bowyer reckons Chuks Aneke has not shown any signs yet that he could spearhead the Charlton Athletic attack.
Top goalscorer Lyle Taylor is out with knee ligament damage and the Addicks boss opted to pair Jonathan Leko and Tomer Hemed together in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Birmingham City.
“At the moment Chuks hasn’t really done anything to persuade me he can play up top,” said Bowyer.
“We tried to put him up there the other day [as a substitute against Birmingham] and he didn’t do so well.
“When we brought him on at Reading as a 10 he was better. So looking at performances I think he is better as a 10.
“Tomer didn’t really do much with Brighton in pre-season so he is behind. He’s got to try and catch up as quickly as possible. But they all behind – him, Chuks and Macauley [Bonne]. They didn’t play too many minutes because the front two have been good.
“With Tomer I will just keep running him, to make him sharper. So on Tuesday and maybe Thursday he’ll do some extra running. That’s all we can do – and playing games. Saturday will have done him the world of good. You’d be surprised, two or three games and he’ll be up to speed.
“Jonathan just complicated things at times on Saturday. He probably held it up a bit too long but he’s trying to make something happen. Now he is playing with Tomer and he is completely different to Lyle, they have just got to find a way.
“I’ve got Macca there as well. No-one is nailed on to play. If Macca does well in training – looks sharper and better – then he’ll play.
“At least I have got a couple of options this season – last season we had no options.”
Charlton’s unbeaten start to the Championship campaign was ended by the Blues.
“The first goal is going to be important in every game,” said Bowyer.
“But we kept going until the end. I said to my players afterwards that I was not going to shout, rant and rave – they gave me everything. As a manager that is all I can ask. There were more positives than negatives, even though we didn’t get the result.”
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