The Fosse Way

The realisation will have occurred to many over the last week that this squad, in its current guise, is not capable of promotion unless attitudes change. Regardless of their footballing ability. By departing with those who are discontented, the overall goal of promotion might take longer but the foundations would be stronger.

It was put to me that repairing the relationship between players and fans could be solved by just winning football games. Yet this first league win at the Valley since 1996, left more questions than answers.

City’s efforts and resolve were tested. A lot. The effort was visible. However, we were thankful to Jakub Stolarczyk’s saves, a referee decision and some terrible finishing from Charlton. Stolarczyk getting Sky’s Man of the Match is telling.

Upon leaving the Valley, there was a collective feeling that it wasn’t a very good win but we will take it anyway.

Retrospectively, it’s difficult to reflect on what to make of the performance. If you look at things with a more positive outlook, you might say it was a victory that represents resilience and the foundation to build on. But those more gloomy fans amongst us would highlight the fortune required.

There was a sense of nostalgia visiting The Valley which for many brings back memories of the FA Cup victory in 2005. A fine stadium established in between the houses of South London and lending itself to a natural bowl atmosphere. It was once home to the largest terrace in the country and capable of housing crowds of sixty thousand.

There was also the uneasy nostalgia that you can no longer be guaranteed that Leicester City are going to be good, bad, indifferent, dreadful or superb.

Growing up as a Leicester fan often felt like we were the football world equivalent of a bag of Revels chocolate. More chance of getting the dreaded flavour than your favourite. But as we progressed in recent times, you could at least be assured that we had players capable of quality and effort.

The clue from that tells you realistically when this balance between the fans support and the players efforts will level off. As the expectations lower and the quality of the players reduce, the likelihood is a natural bottoming off will occur. The issue is that it could take years, not months. The sobering sight of the starting line-up from Charlton might accelerate that though.

This feeling no more evident when five minutes before kick-off, within the away end, there was no buzz or anticipation. That apathy should be concerning in how it manifests. At least, the origin of ‘toxicity’ is that comes from people caring and largely they want that mirrored on the pitch. How flat the side looked at kick off didn’t help either.

The reason why the game hasn’t even been mentioned yet is because the first half was uneventful in the extreme (ed’s note for extra context – Sky cut to a pigeon at one stage). Particularly in terms of Leicester City’s attacking prowess. Jordan Ayew hit a shot wide but overall, Charlton had perfectly planned their press against Leicester’s possession based build-up.

City were thankful for Jakub Stolarczyk’s superb one handed save from a Conor Coventry rocket to keep the scores level at half-time. The half pointed out two tactical issues for the Foxes.

The left hand side of the pitch is lacking athleticism and general drive. Twice Luke Thomas got caught drifting inwards to the centre of the pitch but this was largely a symptom of his colleagues.

To his right, he has Vestergaard, who does not want to engage higher up the pitch. Oliver Skipp in front of him, constantly found himself in the wrong place and Sonny Carey, his opposite number, was able to keep running off him. Jeffrey Monga on the left wing, didn’t provide much help defensively either. Therefore you have a triangle of space which can be exploited; as per Preston’s opening goal last weekend.

The consequence of Jordan Ayew playing upfront is that opposition defences have no one attacking the space behind them. Without midfield runners, our possession game was played in front of Charlton. Ayew is interested in hold-up but it’s too near our goal.

Louis Page on debut was often doing the same. The ball went into our two highest players but returned to the defence. The two Charlton full backs seemed to enjoy just booting the wingers for ninety minutes without much punishment. Hence stalemate in our attacking part of the game.

That physical edge was enhanced by the home side in the second half. They went longer and they went more direct. Nathan Jones sensing that soft centre that Foxes fans know particularly well.

But quality. Abdul Fatawu is quality. Bouba Soumare broke out into more than his early Saturday stroll and fed into Fatawu. His brilliant left-foot strike bent late into the net.

In the aftermath of the goal, there was a slight improvement at breaking the press upon Patson Daka’s arrival and Ayew slotting in at the no.10. Vestergaard was unfortunate not to get something stronger to a bundled effort from a free-kick.

To quickly define it, Fatawu was the difference. Charlton, worked harder, created more but did so without the quality or the finesse of finishing. The last twenty minutes exhibited plenty of defensive grit which will heal scars. Blocks, headers, goalkeeping saves.

Charlton had a goal disallowed for a foul which Nathan Jones fumed on the sidelines. His jack-in-the-box nature appears to be permitted because he’s just a nutter and he’s just him.

The issue with those defensive actions was that there was often a misplaced pass, a foul giving away a free kick or losing a 50-50 tackle which occurred before.

Still, as Liam Rosenior went viral this week for his Strasbourg post match team talk: ‘1-0 is the best result’.

As I was told, City just need to win games, and they’ll get clapped off like they did at the Valley. However, there are still plenty of posers amongst it all and with Birmingham the visitors to the King Power on Friday, they represent opposition of an alternative billing.