boyutpedia Chapter 261
Chapter 261
The new season is coming.
Chapter 261 New players arrive, first meeting Rogo
The Leicester City team brought surprises to Ranieri, not only Ling Feng.
After initially seeing the strength of the players of this team, Ranieri finally understood why Leicester City was able to enter the top six of the league last season as a newly promoted team in the situation of fighting on two fronts!
In his opinion, the team’s offensive system is very mature and the offensive routine is extremely smooth.
Especially the front trident composed of Ling Feng, Vardy and Mahrez, the cooperation is very tacit, and the division of labor is clear.
As the team’s frontcourt tactical core, Ling Feng is impeccable in both organization and dribbling;
Mahrez has excellent footwork and can make sharp breakthroughs with the ball on the wing, and can also share some organizational tasks, thus liberating Ling Feng’s forward offensive ability.
Vardy, who is at the forefront, has the sharpest attacking force and shooting skills in the team!
As for other players, they all have their own strengths and distinctive characteristics.
What surprised Ranieri the most was that the relationship between the players was very close, and the atmosphere in the locker room was positive and upward. It was a team full of momentum and passion!
Soon, he found that he didn’t need to worry about the team’s offensive problems at all.
As the top three offensive firepower teams in the Premier League last season, Leicester City’s offensive system and tactics are effective and there is no need to make any changes.
Changes will make the players uncomfortable or resist.
Therefore, Ranieri also solemnly promised at the first team tactical meeting that he would not change too much, especially things that everyone is already accustomed to and familiar with.
He plans to take it slow, and then combine some of the Italian football concepts with English football to achieve a balance between offense and defense as much as possible.
At the same time, Ranieri also made it clear that he would pay more attention to the team’s defense.
Because, as the fifth in the league last season, Leicester City’s number of goals conceded was only in the middle.
This shows that the team still has a lot of room for improvement on the defensive end!
If the number of goals conceded can be reduced while ensuring that the team’s rapid offense is not affected, the Blue Foxes this season will definitely have a lot to do!
While Ranieri and the coaching staff were discussing how to instill Italian defensive concepts into the players’ heads and improve the team’s defense, the team received bad news:
Last season’s main midfielder, Argentine veteran Cambiasso, rejected the club’s new contract!
Originally, Cambiasso and the club only signed a one-year short contract.
Last season, the former Argentine superstar provided the team with the top league game experience that the team lacked in the midfield, as well as the midfield and long pass dispatch in the midfield and backcourt.
However, his physical fitness and confrontation made the team lack hardness in the midfielder position.
As the season progressed, Cambiasso, who was already 34 years old, found it difficult to adapt and his physical function started to show signs of weakness.
Many times, he could barely run after playing for 60 or 70 minutes.
Therefore, in the second half of the season, many teams used him as a breakthrough point.
Especially after the season-ending injury of Drinkwater, Pearson could only let Andy King or Matty James team up with Cambiasso to sweep the midfield.
However, although Andy King and Matty James have good running ability and can cover a certain defensive area, their technical level and ball intelligence awareness are only average.
This resulted in the team’s backcourt being unable to calmly pick up the ball and hand it over to the frontcourt players under the opponent’s pressure.
This is also why the team lost to Napoli and lost a lot of goals in the second half of the season.
Cambiasso also realized that his physical condition could no longer adapt to the rhythm and confrontation of the Premier League.
In order to avoid dragging down the team and becoming a weakness for opponents to exploit, and to continue to enjoy the joy of football at the end of his career, he decided to refuse the team’s contract extension and transfer to the Greek Super League giants Olympiacos.
In addition to Cambiasso, Knoket, who served as a substitute for the right winger last season, also expired in the summer.
In order to play the main position, he also rejected the team’s new four-year contract and decided to leave.
Although the time they served was long or short, both of them contributed a lot to the Foxes.
At Ling Feng’s suggestion, the players spontaneously organized a farewell party to bid farewell to the two.
In addition to these two people, the team’s fifth central defender Upson
Also left the team as a free agent.
With the departure of these people, the team’s relatively weak lineup suddenly became more streamlined.
Fortunately, the transfer department of the Blue Foxes acted quickly.
Just the day after Knocket and Cambiasso bid farewell to the team and fans, Leicester City officially announced the second and third new players in the summer window:
They first spent 7 million euros to buy Harry Maguire, the young English central defender who was loaned from Hull City in the winter window last season!
Then, they spent another 10 million euros to buy the small-time striker Shinji Okazaki from Bundesliga Mainz!
Maguire’s deal was a natural outcome.
And Shinji Okazaki was a transfer that had been “planned for a long time”.
As early as April and May, Walsh had taken a fancy to this small striker who played well in the Bundesliga.
At that time, both the coaching staff and the scout department believed that the player’s tactical execution and defensive enthusiasm were very consistent with the team’s high-pressure tactics.
The team has three forwards, Vardy, Ulloa and Chris Wood.
Except for Vardy, who is a forward, Ulloa and Wood are both slow center forwards.
Especially Wood, whose strength is not enough to gain a foothold in the Premier League.
The joining of the small forward Shinji Okazaki will definitely provide more lineup depth and changes for the team’s forward line.
Ten million euros is not expensive to buy a striker who has scored more than 10 goals in the Bundesliga for two consecutive seasons.
Shinji Okazaki, who joined the team, also quickly won the recognition of the coach and teammates with his positive attitude in training.
The fans are waiting and watching this deal.
What they care more about is who will replace Cambiasso?
As the saying goes, a strong waist makes a strong body!
Among the three areas of front, middle and back in modern football, the midfield is the most critical area.
Control the midfield, and you can control the game!
And the back waist is the most important position in the midfield area.
A good defensive midfielder can not only be the offensive and defensive hub of the team, but also the booster of the team!
Of course, there is more than one type of defensive midfielder.
In the past two decades, there have been many famous defensive midfielders in football. Different defensive midfielders have different roles and responsibilities on the field.
There are defensive midfielders who focus on defense, such as Makelele, Gattuso, Mascherano, Matic, etc.;
There are also defensive midfielders who drag back and organize, such as Pirlo, Busquets, etc.;
There are also all-round B2B types, such as Vieira and Yaya Toure!
Most teams have different requirements for defensive midfielders according to their own tactical needs.
However, the most basic requirement for a defensive midfielder is defensive ability!
In the 4231 tactical formation commonly used by Leicester City, the offensive pass of the four front court players is very concise and efficient, and often a few passes create shooting opportunities.
Therefore, in addition to positional warfare, the two defensive midfielders do not need to participate in the offense too much.
Their main task is to protect the midfield space left by Ling Feng after his forward run, so as to prevent the opponent from easily advancing to their backcourt and directly facing the back line.
As the ball-passing point in the team’s midfield, Drinkwater has good passing and vision.
However, his defensive awareness and interception ability can only be said to be unsatisfactory.
In Ranieri’s tactical concept, the defensive midfielder is the last barrier before the back line, and it is also the hub for the team to switch from defense to offense.
Therefore, Ranieri and Walsh both hope to find a defensive midfielder with outstanding defensive ability and certain advancement ability to form a defensive midfielder partner with the drinking brother.
In the list of signings provided by the scout department, Ranieri took a fancy to the Swiss captain Inler of Serie A Naples.
This tough player who has fought in Serie A for many years can attack and defend well, and has a long shot.
The key is that the price is not expensive, only 4 million euros!
And Napoli did not have a place for Inler in the lineup, so they directly agreed to the offer from the Blue Foxes.
The two sides are actively negotiating and should be able to make an official announcement soon.
As for Walsh, he thinks that Caen’s French Ligue 1 steals king Kante is more suitable for the team’s tactics.
After watching Caen’s warm-up match and public training, Walsh’s intuition and experience told him that this ugly and thin black guy can definitely become an excellent defensive midfielder!
Knowing that Kante was also coveted by many teams, Walsh, who was afraid that Kante would be snatched away, first asked the club to offer Caen.
Caen asked for 10 million euros, and the club returned 800 euros, and the deal was made directly!
After settling the club, the player’s willingness became the key to joining or not.
So, Walsh
He took a flight to France and planned to persuade the French Ligue 1 steal king to join the Foxes.
Ling Feng, who was far away in Portugal, learned that the club was contacting Kante through media reports.
“The Foxes are competing with Marseille for Caen’s Kante.”
Just as he was flipping through his phone carefully, a voice suddenly sounded in his ear:
“What are you looking at?”
Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw his girlfriend Barbara looking at him curiously.
And her hands were each holding a glass of wine.
Putting the wine on the table, Barbara, who was dressed in a light yellow floral dress, sat down next to Ling Feng, and raised her mouth slightly:
“Are you chatting with some beautiful woman?”
At this moment, the pair of blue eyes, under the reflection of the setting sun, seemed even more brilliant and glamorous, making people linger.
The next second, Ling Feng casually put his phone on the table, then leaned forward, approached his girlfriend, and smiled brightly:
“You found out, I am indeed chatting with the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Hearing this, Barbara was stunned at first, then met Ling Feng’s slightly playful eyes, and immediately reacted.
Smiling, Barbara raised her hand and gently pinched his face, saying with a little pampering:
“Why is your mouth so sweet.”
“Hehe.”
Pick up the wine glass, shake the wine glass like those pretentious men, and then carefully watch the wine slowly flow down the wall of the glass.
Then, Ling suddenly realized that he didn’t know how to read the wine foam.
So, without saying a word, he directly put the wine in the glass to his mouth and drank it all.
Then he smacked his lips and savored it for a while, expressing his feelings with a lack of adjectives:
“It has a strong fruity aroma and tastes a bit sweet. This port wine is a bit like grape juice, and it tastes good.”
Seeing Ling Feng’s unconventional way of drinking, Barbara also smiled brightly.
This man is sometimes mature and steady in front of her, but sometimes he is like an innocent child.
However, he always shows his truest side in front of her.
This is also her favorite point!
This is outside a tavern next to the famous Luis I Bridge on the Douro River in the old town of Porto, Portugal.
The reason why he suddenly ran from England to Portugal is very simple:
Mendes’ wedding is tomorrow!
Therefore, Ling Feng and his girlfriend took a private plane to Porto in advance.
As the second largest city in Portugal, Porto is known as the “Wine Capital”.
The name of Portugal and the famous port wine also come from this city.
Of course, for Ling Feng, a football fan, the most famous thing about Porto is naturally the “European black shop” Porto Club, which has the same name as the city!
Whether it is the wonderful story of Mourinho leading Porto to win the Champions League, or the stars such as Pepe, James Rodriguez, Falcao, etc. who left here to play in the top five leagues, Ling Feng is familiar with them.
Mendes’ wedding will be held in the largest and most luxurious hotel in Porto.
The next afternoon, Ling Feng, who changed into a black suit, and Barbara, who changed into a black lace dress, arrived outside the hotel in the Bentley specially prepared by Mendes.
As soon as he got off the car, Ling Feng saw all kinds of luxury cars parked outside the hotel.
Many security guards in black suits were alert to the surrounding situation while maintaining order.
The groom Mendes, wearing fireworks on his chest, stood outside the main entrance of the hotel to welcome the guests.
Seeing Ling Feng, Mendes smiled even more and gave him a hug:
“Hey, man, did you have a good trip?”
“Very good, I even tried the port wine you always mentioned.”
“I knew you would like it!”
“I think this is Miss Parvin you always talk about? Nice to meet you”
“Hello, Mr. Mendes.”
Just as Ling Feng introduced his girlfriend to Mendes, a tall and straight figure walked out of the hotel quickly.
“Jorge, we may not have enough wine”
Looking at the sound, Ling Feng saw a handsome guy with a very shiny hair, walking over here.
Although he had expected that he might meet him at the wedding.
However, Ling Feng did not expect that he would come so quickly.
The person who came was Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the two heroes of the world!
My brother Ronaldo is still as handsome as ever!
Just as Ling Feng’s heart was filled with ripples, Ronaldo also saw the black-haired young man next to Mendes.
“Chris, you’re just in time. Let me introduce you.”
As soon as the words fell, Ronaldo frowned.
He interrupted Mendes confidently:
“I know who he is!”
After a pause, Ronaldo took the initiative to reach out his hand, showed Ling Feng a crooked smile, and then said in very standard English:
“You are Ling Feng, right?”
(End of this chapter)