Marti Cifuentes' Leicester City side managed to make it out unscathed from another difficult outing for the beleaguered former Premier League club. With Wilfred Ndidi gone, rumours of Bilal El Khannouss and Harry Winks leaving, and the sale of Kasey McAteer, there are little options for the Spaniard and the side were lucky to escape a rough game.
Despite having a majority of the possession, the Foxes failed to adequately impact the game for large portions of the match. Charlton accumulated 20 shots, with seven being on target. Compared to the King Power's six total and two on target, and you can see where Leicester needed to do better. Nevertheless, the side got the points. That does not mean every player is a winner though.
Leicester City's losers
With a prolonged outing for youngster Louis Page in the books, the potential minutes Will Alves should be getting seems will possibly fall to the breakout starlet. Alongside Jeremy Monga, Olabade Aluko, and Jake Evans who have featured under Ruud van Nistelrooy, Page looks set to stake a claim to the possibly incoming senior spot.
This unfortunately means that Cifuentes may have chosen the youngster over Alves. In this case, the fact Alves did not even come on during the match at all whereas the expected to leave Moroccan did, makes it hard to imagine the English attacking-midfielder will get the chance to shine at the King Power this season.
However, what we also saw was a tame performance from Oliver Skipp. The former Tottenham Hotspurs man was an overpriced but decent signing, and has a lot of expectations thrown at him. The sheer and immediate success Winks illustrated upon signing for Enzo Maresca's Championship side was hoped to be emulated by a more expensive signing. Thus far, the player has not made an immense impact: he touched the ball just 21 times in the whole 74 minutes he was on.
By contrast, when Winks came on at the 74th minute for Skipp, he got 17 touches in 17 minutes. Clearly, Cifuentes needs a midfielder who - like Winks - comes on the set the tempo, get the game flowing more how we like, and link up play. If one of Maresca's best signings is going to leave, Skipp needs to get faster and more dynamic, if the player is to stay, then Winks must play every match.
The Winners
Abdul Fatawu. What a player. Sometimes excessively wasteful with unlikely shots artistically flung in the general direction of goal, and other times offering a glimpse at the perfect winger: an explosive, creative, team-playing, goal-scoring, technically expressive winger. Fatawu offers Leicester City everything they want.
Leicester has only two shots on target. One of those was the Ghanaian's goal at the 48th minute assisted by Boubakary Soumare. It was a beautiful shot at goal, well worth the ticket price to go and see a goal of the season contender: not least because it gave the eclectic East Midlands outfit something to fight for and hold onto. That winger is the identity of our club: passionate, fights hard, and party's even harder.
Soumare for one is also of note. The French midfielder has come under incessant fire from supporters due to essentially not being the Nigerian defensive midfielder we once had. 'Bouba' does not run around as much as 'Wilf' did. That much is fair to say. However, when Soumare has the ball, he does excel at carrying the ball and getting it forward without passing it straight back to the defensive line.
Partnered with a player who can move more dynamically and who's first instinct is a technical and dainty pass through lines towards a striker or forward, and Soumare could be a critical part of how the Foxes develop. This is important to consider: the Frenchman might have just staked a claim to an uncontested starting spot with 98% passing accuracy and three long balls finding their mark. We need players who can get the ball places and hold onto it, against Charlton Athletic, that is exactly what Soumare gave Leicester City.
With risks of more players leaving, Marti Cifuentes will need to look at those players who can make the most impact and either give others a chance to shine, or form his starting XI from them. This is why Monga and Fatawu are our wingers. This means playing Winks with Soumare until if and when the Englishman may or may not depart. It means not simply letting Ben Nelson rot in the reserves. It means bringing Jake Evans back into the set up and playing Alves should the Moroccan depart.