Four takeaways from Charlton’s 6-0 humiliation at Ipswich: Another painful Portman Road reminder of how far the club is from challenging in League One

Charlton slipped to a humiliating 6-0 defeat at promotion-chasing Ipswich Town on Saturday afternoon. Here’s Louis Mendez’s four takeaways from Portman Road.

PAINFUL

The writing was on the wall early on. Ipswich flew out of the traps and quickly established a two-goal lead through Conor Chaplin’s brace. Charlton had a decent opening to get on the scoresheet through Macauley Bonne’s header midway through the period but that brief spell soon fizzled out as Town strolled to half-time.

The second-half capitulation was as embarrassing a surrender as you’ll see. The Tractor Boys had already spurned two through Chaplin and George Hurst before the former finally completed his hat-trick 20 minutes from time.

Freddie Ladapo was introduced from the bench and bagged himself a quickfire brace – before then being wiped out for Ryan Inniss’ fourth red card of the season.

Leif Davis struck the final blow in added-time as the Addicks slipped to a humiliating defeat at the hands of one of League One’s real promotion contenders.

NO DEFENDING THAT

An absolute shambles from start to finish. Ipswich were good, there’s no denying that. The movement of Hirst and Chaplin in particular was tough to deal with. But Charlton were dragged, kicking and screaming, out of shape at will. Ill-timed challenges, poor balls out, being caught in possession – they all kept happening.

Chaplin was afforded so much space for his first two goals. The Addicks were caught ball watching for the third. Ladapo peeled away too easily for the fourth and outfought two defenders for the fifth. Inniss caught the wrong side for his red card. Both wings hopelessly exposed for the sixth.

The way the Addicks managed to twice find themselves caught out by a set-piece that was pulled deep to the edge of the area summed it all up. They survived both of those but they never learned from the first one. Terrible concentration levels.

YEAR ON YEAR PROGRESS

The 4-0 mauling at Portman Road on the final day of last season fired a real warning shot in the direction of SE7. Town had improved during the second-half of the 2021/22 campaign and were gearing up for an assault on League One this time around.

I asked Johnnie Jackson what that result said about the gulf between the two clubs and how much work there would need to be in the summer to plug that gap.

Fast forward a year and I’m stood in the same spot and asking Dean Holden exactly the same question. Charlton once again need to rip it all up and start from scratch in the summer. Unlike the Tractor Boys of 12 months ago, they aren’t primed and ready for the new season. They aren’t one or two away from being real contenders.

They’re so far behind where they need to be. The gulf is embarrassing. An absolute waste of a season. Even if they end with a handful more points this year, edging marginally forward is effectively the same as standing still. It’s nowhere near enough.

DON’T ACCEPT THIS FATE

Nobody should be accepting that performance on the basis of it being an end-of-season dead rubber as far as Charlton are concerned.

Writing that game off as meaningless lets the players and the club off the hook. Yes, it might be hard for team to find the motivation when they’re behind by a few goals to go that extra yard to stop a poor result turning into a mauling but that is not justifiable when fans have paid hard-earned money.

The fact that this game even is a dead rubber is because Charlton have underperformed again this season. If the players are happy to celebrate after big wins against fellow mid-table sides a fortnight ago and then turn in performances like that when faced with a proper opposition, you’d want to start questioning their ambition.

Expect more. Demand more. Don’t accept mid-table in the third tier as the norm, even if it has fast become it. It’s clear that a lot of fans aren’t, because more and more are voting with their feet.

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS