Claim made on Charlie Kelman's Charlton Athletic situation - It's "similar" to Matty Godden | OneFootball

Last season's League One top scorer is yet to make an impact at his new club

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Charlton Athletic have been very tough to break down in the early stages of their return to the Championship. Unfortunately, though, it means that goals have been hard to come by.

And Charlie Kelman has been devoid of real goalmouth action during the beginning of his tenure at the Valley.

Signed for a fee which could rise to £5 million, Kelman arrived with a lot of promise, having burst through at Leyton Orient last season, netting 27 in all competitions. Returning to QPR after that loan spell, he was poised to make a real crack at the Championship elsewhere, after he never really reached those heights in his limited opportunities at Loftus Road.

However, so far, Kelman hasn't been able to get going at his new club, failing to score in his opening seven competitive outings, five of which have come in the Championship, a division in which he has now yet to score in 28 games.

Small alarm bells may be ringing around the Charlton fanbase, but FLW's Addicks fan pundit, Sam White, feels that the current playstyle hasn't played to the American's strengths thus far, and once he gets the taste of goals in a Charlton shirt, he'll begin to start stringing some together, just like Matty Godden did last season.

Charlton Athletic fan pundit assesses Charlie Kelman's start at his new club

Charlie Kelman was reintroduced to the starting eleven in league action on Saturday following a couple of substitute appearances, but wasn't able to break his early-season dry spell in front of goal.

"He's obviously struggling for goals at the minute," White told Football League World. "However, I do think he will come good."

"When he scores once or twice, it will start to flow for him."

White feels that, currently, the style of play in which Nathan Jones has deployed in the infancy of the Championship season hasn't played to Kelman's advantage, but he does like what he's seen from the American so far.

"I think we're playing systems and formations that aren't working towards something he can latch on to, but he is doing a lot of hard work, holding the ball up and running into channels, and that will see him score goals," he added.

"Ironically, it's very similar to Matty Godden last season, where he couldn't get a goal, but once one fell for him, it started to break the ice and click a bit."

Godden's first season at the Valley also started somewhat slowly in league action, netting just once in his first seven games, and just five times by the turn of the year.

However, between January and May, Godden scored 13 times in League One, with three separate periods of netting four in four, and then he netted the sole goal in their play-off semi-final win over Wycombe Wanderers.

White feels that the club needs to analyse how they've been playing so far, and work out how they can modify things to get Kelman firing, as he's shown that he can be a dangerous operator in front of goal.

"We need to take stock of how we're playing in these systems and try to get Kelman in and around the box, shooting on sight when possible," he said.

"Looking at the team we played against Millwall, we weren't starting a big lump up front and launching balls to him, we put them down the sides and started to play on the floor a bit more.

"So I do think things will change as the season goes on."

A firing Charlie Kelman will be a huge boost for Charlton Athletic

Conceding just five times in the opening five Championship games, Nathan Jones has managed to craft a system that makes the Addicks tough to beat. Now, it's all about building on it and making sure that the goals go in on the other end.

To do this, having Kelman getting more chances in front of the goal will be key. The 23-year-old has taken just one shot in the five Championship games he's played so far this season, which is incredibly low for a marquee striker.

Some may already be looking at the American's poor record in the past at Championship level and begin to feel that he isn't someone who can cut it in the second tier, but it's not like the frontman is being wasteful in front of goal.

Once things begin to click offensively for Charlton as the season goes on, then hopefully the Kelman who scored goals for fun last season will begin to emerge at his new club.