Charlton Athletic shouldn’t hit panic button in January - Stoke City were stung last season in the same way | OneFootball

Charlton Athletic have a couple of gems on loan in League Two

Charlton Athletic have a couple of young, talented frontmen taking League Two by storm this season.

Daniel Kanu and Micah Mbick, two products of the Addicks academy, have scored at least a goal every other game throughout the opening months of their spells at Walsall and Colchester United, respectively; Kanu with eight in 15, while Mbick has seven in 14, including a stunner in last weekend's win against Cheltenham Town.

This is 19-year-old Mbick's first real opportunity in senior football, while Kanu comes into the season having made 59 League One appearances for the Addicks before their promotion to the Championship.

Meanwhile, in the second tier, Charlton are undergoing a bit of a rough patch of form, losing each of their last four games with an aggregate scoreline of 12-2. Their attack was never outstanding, but their recent defensive struggles have highlighted the necessity for potent frontmen.

With Matty Godden yet to feature this season after undergoing knee surgery in the summer and Charlie Kelman, Miles Leaburn and Tanto Oloafe not impressing when given the opportunity, some Addicks fans are looking at their loan stars and wondering if they could do a job in the second tier.

However, if last season is anything to go by, Stoke City know that taking an exciting youngster out of a position they're thriving in to have a go at the Championship doesn't always work out.

Last season, the talk of League Two was Nathan Lowe, excelling in his first loan spell away from Stoke with Walsall, scoring 15 and assisting five in just 22 games during the first half of the campaign.

That form perhaps warranted a recall and a move to a League One side, or perhaps even a run out for a struggling Potters side in the Championship.

Lowe's recall did come, and despite scoring in his first game back, he struggled to get into the Stoke side under Mark Robins, and after a 3-1 defeat to Middlesbrough in late February, the young striker only made three more bench appearances in the final 12 games of the campaign.

At the same time, Walsall underwent their famous collapse from champions-elect to play-off final losers, and come the end of the campaign, both parties were wondering why the recall was made in the first place.

If Lowe had been allowed to play out the rest of the season for Mat Saddler's side and scored another 15 or so goals en route to a fourth-tier title win, perhaps the 20-year-old would have been ready to hit the ground running back at the bet365 Stadium this season.

As it is, Lowe is back out on loan, this time with Stockport County in League One, where he has three goals in 15 third-tier appearances.

Momentum is a big thing in football, and while it is often attributed to teams, it can often be credited to players too, and with Mbick and Kanu in incredible form for two sides battling for promotion out of League Two, Charlton should be wary of taking them out of that and throwing them into a squad two divisions higher.

Patience should be the key for Charlton Athletic regarding potential recalls this January

Charlton have conceded 82 shots over their last four games, which is an incredibly high number for a side that prides themselves on not giving much in terms of chances to the opposition.

Because of this, some Addicks fans may believe that they need to start attacking more frequently and bring in proven scorers to help combat this and almost look to outscore their opposition.

There shouldn't be much cause for panic, though, as Charlton have run into three of the better attacking sides over the last three games, and have had to deal with injuries to key men at both ends of the field, which has affected the effectiveness of Nathan Jones' set-up.

Being patient and waiting for the likes of Amari'i Bell, Reece Burke, and Josh Edwards, plus Godden and Kelman up front, will see the Addicks through this season, you'd feel.

And even if Kelman struggles to get going again, or if Godden doesn't show the goalscoring prowess he exhibited last season, and the other frontmen at The Valley don't contribute to goals, bringing back Kanu or Mbick to rarely feature shouldn't be the decision Charlton makes this January.