Mark Newbury has been speaking on the latest instalment of the Charlton Live podcast, where he shared his concerns over Chuks Aneke.
The 27-year-old striker has helped the Addicks to eighth place in the League One table this season, with a spot in the play-offs still within reach.
Aneke’s 14th goal of the season in the 95th minute against Accrington Stanley last time out kept the capital club’s promotion dreams alive, but it wasn’t enough to convince Newbury that he deserves a starting berth against Lincoln City in midweek.
He said: (28:10) “Yeah, I mean, all you get is people saying, ‘Oh, he’s got to start. He’s got to start.’ But, you know, I don’t know how many 90 minutes he’s got under his belt this season, but I’d be surprised if it was more than two.
“It’s not good being an impact sub, every player wants to start every game, I’d have thought, you know. But, you know, if you’re better as an impact sub, it’s what I thought DJ when he was coming to us, would be good for the second half, half-hour, where you can run at a tiring defence.
“I mean, I think if you look at a lot of Chuck’s goals, they’ve come in the second half where he’s come on, and he’s almost bullied his way through and slammed it in, and he’s scored some good goals. But he’s used his physicality, he’s used his power against a defence, which is, you know, tiring.
“Now, if you start off, is he going to be doing the same runs and movement and work if he starts from the beginning? Or is he going to be trying to conserve a bit of energy for making those runs?”
TIF Thoughts on Aneke…
The Arsenal academy graduate, who is valued at £360k (as per Transfermarkt), has a respectable scoring record at virtually every club he has played for, and hitting 14 league goals from just 11 starts is a solid return.
However, Aneke’s lasted the 90 minutes on just one occasion in League One throughout 2020/21 and whether he can be depended upon week in week out remains to be seen.
Charlton need two wins from their final two games of the season to stand any chance of reaching the playoffs, and some big performances from Aneke may be the perfect way to silence his doubters.
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