Four takeaways from Charlton’s defeat against Wycombe Wanderers: Addicks suffering from frontline staff shortages

Charlton kicked off 2022 in disappointing fashion as Sam Vokes’ first-half strike secured a 1-0 win for Wycombe Wanderers at The Valley. Here’s Louis Mendez’s four takeaways from the game.

FLAT START TO 2022

A contest with very little in it that was decided by one moment of quality from Gareth McCleary. The midfield veteran, who had spells in non-league with Bromley and the Premier League with Reading throughout his career, has been a major thorn in Charlton’s side in both meetings between the two clubs this year. His smart dart into the area provided the opening for Sam Vokes to score the only goal of the game from close range on 35 minutes. It was the first moment of any note in a game that took forever to get going. The match was the Addicks’ first outing in a fortnight, and they looked every inch a side that had seen their preparation disrupted by Covid protocols in the build-up. There was an improvement after the break as Jonathan Leko helped breathe some life into the home team but despite hitting the post, the Addicks didn’t create enough for all their possession. Wycombe deployed every trick in the book to see the game out.

LACK OF FRONTLINE DEPTH

There was an air of inevitability around The Valley when Jayden Stockley’s absence was confirmed. The Addicks’ top scorer has been suffering with a hip problem this week. Whilst it’s hoped that he won’t be AWOL long-term, it’s clear that any time Stockley’s partnership with Conor Washington is broken up, the Addicks look much weaker. Josh Davison forced people to reassess their judgements with some impressive displays in a run of games when Charlton were at their lowest ebb under Nigel Adkins but since then has struggled to maintain those levels whilst finding game time hard to come by. He was hooked at half-time and Leko did provide some impetus but it’s obvious that no pairing comes close to the Addicks first-choice front two.

JANUARY SALES

Getting that striker needed in the January transfer window isn’t necessarily going to be straightforward. Anyone who arrives in SE7 is almost certainly going to play second fiddle to Stockley and Washington so will need to be prepared to wait their turn. But it is imperative that an alternative can be found who can step in when needed as Charlton are patently lacking depth up top.

PLAY-OFF RACE

Charlton now sit further away from the play-offs than they were when Nigel Adkins was shown the exit door – in terms of points if not position in the table. The 14-point gap opened up between the Addicks and sixth-placed Plymouth feels pretty much insurmountable. The dreadful start to the season before Jackson took over probably condemned the South Londoners to another season of League One football before the end of September as it would have taken a run akin to automatic-promotion form for the rest of the season to keep pace with the top six. The challenge is highlighted further by the fact it took nine games of red-hot form to close the gap from 13 points to eight but just two defeats on the spin to widen it back out to 14. There’s too many teams between Charlton and the play-offs who have to consistently slip up. You can’t judge Jackson on the Addicks not reaching the top six this season because the task was too mammoth before he even started. This season is now all about sowing the seeds for a challenge next year.

PHOTOS: PAUL EDWARDS/ KYLE ANDREWS