"Very, very low..." - Danny Mills' message for Nathan Jones as he plots Charlton Athletic turnaround | OneFootball

Former Charlton Athletic defender Danny Mills believes Nathan Jones needs to turn things around quickly at his old club.

The 50-year-old has overseen one loss and three draws in his first four games as manager of the South London club.

The gap to the relegation zone is just one point, with positive results needed quickly in order to stave off the drop into League Two.

The Addicks have not won any of their last 16 league games - a remarkable run that led to a change in manager earlier this month, with Jones replacing Michael Appleton.

There are now just 12 games left to turn things around, with Charlton hoping to avoid relegation from League One.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, via 888sport, Mills has claimed that any manager that arrives after a difficult period at their previous club is always likely to find it more difficult to get his new squad to buy into his style of play.

But the 46-year-old has pinpointed one area where Jones can target to help turn things around for Charlton.

“It's always difficult when the team's struggling and I've played in teams that have struggled and the manager gets changed,” said Mills.

“Confidence with the players is very, very low. The ability hasn't changed. The ability of the players has not changed from the beginning of the season to this point.

“They've not got considerably worse as players. Obviously, they've not got considerably better, but confidence will be low. Belief in what they're doing will be low.

“The problem that Nathan Jones has is he's probably still a little bit damaged from his previous job and therefore his confidence might be a little bit low.

“So often when you get the bounce effect that everybody talks about, it's because it's a new voice, it's somebody coming in that's energised, that doesn't have the baggage and the turmoil of relative failure previous to that, sometimes it's a number two that's never managed before.

“So therefore, actually he's got a free hit and a free opportunity to impress his ideas and enthusiasm on the players.

“When you're a manager coming into this situation and you haven't been great in your previous job or jobs, the players will give you probably ten days, two weeks as a bit of a grace period and then you've got to be on it.

“And that's the problem, that coming in, you can give a bit of belief and freedom and confidence to just tell them to go out and play and not be worried about making mistakes and all that sort of thing.”

Mills has claimed Jones could look to target tactical tweaks in his setup to help the players adjust to his style of play, but believes answers are needed quickly in order to avoid relegation.

“You could tweak one of the two things tactically, but you are not going to make them significantly better players within two weeks,” he explained.

“But as we all know, footballers as individuals are incredibly selfish, are incredibly ego-driven.

“So the first few coaching sessions, the first few team talks, will be where Nathan Jones makes an impression in a good way or a bad way.

“Either the lads are having you or they're not. And if they're not having you, it's very difficult to turn that around.

“So, yeah, I mean, Charlton is a fantastic club. I was down there New Year's Day and Alan Curbishley was there and I did some work with a club very close to my heart.

“I hope they get out of it, but it's going to be tight.

“Cheltenham and Port Vale have got a couple of games in hand and have changed managers this season as well. Port Vale obviously more recently than anybody else.

“So it's going to be a tough, tough situation for him, but they've just got to keep working. But somehow, he's got to get the players to buy into his system very quickly.”

Charlton Athletic league position

Charlton are 20th in the League One table, one point above Cheltenham Town in the relegation zone.

Three draws in their last three games has given the team a slight boost in their hopes of avoiding the relegation zone, putting an end to their significant losing run.

Next up for Jones’ side is a trip to face promotion-chasing Derby County this evening in a big game at both ends of the third division standings.

Nathan Jones needs wins quick

While three draws in a row has helped turn the tide on their losing run, wins are really all that matters in the long run.

Victories are what will really put points on the board, and they need to happen soon as otherwise they risk dropping into the bottom four.

If Charlton can string together a couple of positive results in quick succession then they have the potential to fly up the table, as the gap to 14th is still just six points too.