QPR are riding high after Saturday’s win against Coventry but now face a Nathan Jones Charlton team being led from the front by Lyndon Dykes and Charlie Kelman - Louis Mendez (@LouisMend @CharltonLive) takes us through the Addicks’ bid for Championship survival so far.

How's the season been for Charlton?

Top six in early November, 19th by early December. Charlton seemed to have belied the gap between League One and the Championship in the early stages of the campaign. But as the season has worn on they’ve reverted to what could be seen as a par year for a team who are back in the second tier for the first time in six seasons and are working with one of the lowest budgets. Results early on, such as the opening day win over Watford or the memorable 3-0 walloping dished out to Ipswich Town at Portman Road reset expectations – but reality has hit in the intervening months.

Charlton in the league so far…
Charlton 1-0 Watford Knibbs 90
Bristol City 0-0 Charlton
Charlton 0-1 Leicester Fatawu 48
QPR 3-1 Charlton Smyth 8, Saito 84, Kone 90 – Apter 54
Charlton 1-1 Millwall Carey 40 – Bangura-Williams 88
Sheff Utd 0-1 Charlton Olaofe 90
Charlton 3-0 Blackburn Gillesphey 31, Carey 78, Bree 90
Derby 1-1 Charlton Clarke 79 – Bree 37
Preston 2-0 Charlton Small 67, Jebbison 80
Charlton 2-1 Sheff Wed Carey 17, Burke 45 – Lowe 69
Ipswich 0-3 Charlton Carey 52, Gillesphey 55, Leaburn 64
Hull 1-1 Charlton Gelhardt 46 – Berry 90
Charlton 1-1 Swansea Kelman 46 – Idah 64
Charlton 1-0 West Brom Carey 90
Wrexham 1-0 Charlton Windass pen 77
Charlton 1-5 Southampton Jones 45 – Manning 14, Armstrong 16, Jander 20, Azaz 22, 43
Stoke 3-0 Charlton Thomas 3, 34, Manhoef 5
Coventry 3-1 Charlton Eccles 40, Simms 44, 76 – Knibbs 13
Charlton 1-2 Boro Edmundson og 81 – McGree 33, Whittaker 45
Birmingham 1-1 Charlton Klarer 28 – Campbell 67
Charlton 1-0 Oxford Kelman 78
Norwich 1-0 Charlton Makama 61
Portsmouth 2-1 Charlton Shaughnessy 69, Min-Hyeok 90 – Knibbs 90
Charlton 1-1 Coventry Rankin-Costello 69 – Simms 3
Blackburn 2-2 Charlton Baradji 37, 77 – Kelman 28, pen 34
Charlton 1-0 Sheff Utd Carey 46
Charlton 1-2 Derby Campbell 67 – Gillesphey og 16, Clark 60
Millwall 4-0 Charlton Ramsay og 7, Taylor 81, Cundle 90, Emakhu 90
Leicester 0-2 Charlton Carey 36, Dykes 45

A strong start gave way to a really poor run up to and through Christmas - why?

Key injuries have played their part – in turn emphasising the frailties in the side. Left wing-back Josh Edwards was ruled out for the season after picking up a knock against Blackburn in September. This in turn meant that Amari’i Bell – who had excelled on the left of a back-three – was shoved out to the wing-back role which soon played havoc with his hamstrings too. That left Charlton completely exposed in the left wing-back berth, with winger-turned-striker-turned-hole-plugger Tyreece Campbell asked to slot in there. They’ve look completely imbalanced since then – clean sheets became much harder to come by. And they haven’t scored enough consistently this year so results were much harder to come by suddenly.

Saw Nathan Jones getting a bit of grief for some of his comments post Millwall, where you looked really poor, where's his stock at the moment?

He needed that win at Leicester over the weekend. It’s always been a love-hate relationship between Jones and the Addicks supporters. The defeat at Millwall tipped quite a few over the edge – the manner of the performance against the most local rival we have and off the back of a run of just two wins in 14 – whipped up a lot concern about Charlton’s chances of staying clear of trouble. But the win at the King Power Stadium, coupled with a public apology for the result the week before in an impassioned post-match interview, cleansed the palette nicely. The board have always made it clear that they back Jones and Charlton are performing within the realistic ambitions set this term.

How are the deadly duo - Kelman and Dykes - getting on?

Charlie Kelman has had a stop-start beginning to life in SE7. He wasn’t fit when he joined and took a while to kick on. When he finally bagged his first goal during a 1-1 draw with Swansea on November 1 – he immediately had six weeks out injured. He then scored a winner against Oxford on his return and went on a run of four goals in six games. But he’s been used sparingly since then with the arrival of Dykes. Lyndon grabbed an assist with his first touch in a Charlton shirt in the win over nine-man Sheffield United as he came on as a half-time sub. He grabbed his maiden Addicks goal with a quality, deft, volleyed finish at Leicester over the weekend and looked like he’ll do a job so far.

A very hectic January for you guys - what was done, what was left undone?

Jones has looked to plug the left-sided gap with Luke Chambers on loan from Liverpool – a youngster who has had his own injury concerns over the last few months but he’s looked good thus far. Conor Coady being brought in as a defensive midfielder is probably the surprise of the window, but he did the role well during his debut at Leicester. Right-sided defender Harry Clarke has come in from Ipswich on loan to replace James Bree who returned to Southampton.

The departure of two of the summer’s big money signings – Rob Apter (loan, Bolton) and Tanto Olaofe (loan, Stockport) – has raised some eyebrows – particularly the former as fans don’t feel like Apter has been given a fair chance after winning the player of the month award at the club for August.

I still think further depth at left centre-back and central midfield would have been nice but hopefully there’s enough in the building to get to the summer.

Summer Ins >>> Charlie Kelman, 23, CF, QPR, £3m >>> Rob Apter, 22, RW, Blackpool, £2m >>> Harvey Knibbs, 26, AM, Reading, £2m >>> Tanto Olaofe, 25, CF, Stockport, £1.5m >>> Thomas Kaminski, 32, GK, Luton, £1m >>> Joe Rankin-Costello, 25, RB, Blackburn, £800k >>> Amari’I Bell, 31, LB, Luton, Free >>> Sonny Carey, 24, CM, Blackpool, Free >>> Reece Burke, 28, CB, Luton, Undisclosed

Winter Outs >>> Jerome Roussillon, 32, LB, Amiens, Free >>> Ashley Maynard-Brewer, 26, GK, Dundee Utd, Undisclosed >>> Rob Apter, 22, RW, Bolton, Loan >>> Tanto Olaofe, 26, CF, Stockport, Loan >>> Karoy Anderson, 21, CM, Blackpool, Loan >>> Onel Hernandez, 32, LW, Released

Where is the team strong and weak?

Endeavour is in no short supply. Defensively, Charlton were one of the best in the division in the first third of the campaign but that hasn’t been the case in recent weeks. There is a hope, though, that a balanced back-line will mean they will be able to return to that structured rearguard.

It’s clear that the Addicks haven’t scored enough goals this season – only four sides have found the net less freqquently. They don’t create much. It wasn’t an issue when they were keeping more clean sheets but has hamstrung them a lot in the middle third of the campaign.

Revised expectations for the rest of the season?

Staying up. Hopefully with a relatively comfortable end to the campaign but 21st or above is the only thing that matters now.

Links >>> Charlton official website >>> South London Press — Local press >>> Charlton Live — Podcast >>> Into The Valley — Message Board >>> Forever Charlton — Blog

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