LIKE just about every fan, Charlton columnist MATIAS GREZ believes a takeover can’t come quick enough at The Valley with the Addicks sitting perilously close to the relegation zone.

I’M getting a bit worried now.

For 70 minutes last night against Reading, and for 90 minutes against Ipswich and QPR, the team has looked out of their depth.

The players seemed tired and uncreative, while the usually upbeat Chris Powell looked more dejected than anyone last night, arms regularly flailing in disbelief as his players continually misplaced passes.

The team and tactics were wrong.

After ten minutes it became obvious Cedric Evina cannot, and does not want to, play as a left midfielder, naturally dropping back and lining up next to Rhoys Wiggins at left-back.

Could Powell not see this in training?

We smashed long ball after long ball up to the increasingly frustrated Yann Kermorgant, a player I sympathise with more and more as the weeks go by.

As much as investment is needed, lack of it is not the reason our defenders aimlessly hoof the ball up the pitch, blindly hoping Yann will get somewhere near it.

Investment is not the reason Evina started left midfield last night, when we have a left winger by trade in Callum Harriott not even making the squad.

As much as Powell hasn’t had much to work with in terms of money and players, he needs to start working better with what he has got.

One individual error cost us a point last night, Dale Stephens gifting the ball back to Reading and allowing Billy Sharp a clear run through to smash home what proved to be the winner from the edge of the area.

There is nothing Powell can do about that admittedly.

Perhaps if he had money to spend on better players, individual errors would no longer cost us points.

With talk of a takeover picking up pace by the week, fans are becoming optimistic there may be some money to spend come January 1.

It is needed, and desperately.

Nobody can argue Powell has performed miracles over the past two seasons to take us into the Championship and to a ninth-place finish at the first attempt.

But perhaps inevitably given the shocking lack of funds made available to him over the close season, his magic touch has worn off.

He and the squad are in desperate need of new players, who in turn bring new ideas, and only serious investment will allow this to happen.

I completely agree a takeover is needed to take the club forward, but I refuse to believe the lack of one so far is the sole reason we find ourselves in a relegation fight.

Looking at the players we have and comparing them to the players of our rivals, we should be further up the table.

Not much further, but just enough that we should not be looking over our shoulders anxiously fearing the teams below might catch us up.

The amazing run Powell took these players on was bound to stagnate sooner or later, and a shot in the arm consisting of a big wad of cash is needed to spark the team, and the clearly downbeat manager, back to life.

Lack of investment was a large contributing factor in the departure of Danny Haynes and Ricardo Fuller this summer, why we never adequately replaced them, and why we have now scored a measly 14 goals in 18 league games.

I along with every other fan can only allow myself to be optimistic about a takeover happening soon, otherwise it could turn out to be a very long season.