boyutpedia Chapter 215
Chapter 215
The new season is coming, and the new season is coming.
Chapter 215 Winter transfer plan!
Time: January 1, 2015
Location: Anfield Stadium, Liverpool
Amid the loud singing of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, the entire stadium turned bright red.
The score displayed on the big screen was a bright three to zero!
The home team was in front, and the visiting team was behind.
“Wow!”
“Coutinho’s long shot helped Liverpool expand the score again!”
“At the 80th minute of the game, Liverpool led Leicester City by three goals at home”
“Leicester City hardly organized a very effective offensive in this game. They must miss the creative No. 7.”
Accompanied by the commentator’s narration, the live camera was very timely aimed at Ling Feng who was sitting in the stands behind the visiting team’s bench.
Wearing a woolen hat and a black windbreaker, Ling Feng had a calm face.
Witnessing the team’s defeat, he couldn’t help but raise his hand and pull the collar of his mother’s hand-knitted sweater, wanting to let the cold wind blow in and cool down his inner restlessness.
After spending a warm New Year’s Eve with his family, on the first day of the new year, they came to Liverpool without stopping and ushered in the 20th round of the league!
However, due to a muscle strain, Ling Feng needs to rest for a week.
Therefore, he, Vardy and Schmeichel, who were already injured, were not included in the squad and could only watch from the stands.
At the beginning, the three of them were still chatting and laughing, signing autographs for the fans next to them from time to time, taking photos and so on.
However, as the game started, the ease on the faces of the three suddenly disappeared, replaced by a solemn look.
No other.
It was because after the absence of Ling Feng, Vardy and Schmeichel, the three absolute main players, Leicester City had almost no ability to fight back against the Red Army’s offensive!
Liverpool almost pressed them to the ground and rubbed them crazily throughout the game!
In the end, they lost 3-0 at Anfield!
After the game, Ling Feng also came to the away team’s locker room and shook hands and hugged his teammates one by one.
Although this defeat was very frustrating.
However, the inability of the three main players to play made the strength gap between the two teams more obvious, and losing was also a foreseeable result.
When hugging Cambiasso, the former Argentine superstar said very directly:
“Ling, if you and Jamie were in this game, we might not lose!”
This sentence is enough to prove his teammates’ trust in him, and also indirectly shows Leicester City’s reliance on him.
Indeed.
Leicester City with Ling Feng and without Ling Feng are completely two different teams.
Without Ling Feng on the court, they don’t have a backbone at all, and they don’t even know who to pass the ball to.
In this game, Mahrez is the most threatening point in Leicester City.
However, under Rogers’ special tactical arrangement, he was focused on defense, and both the ball and the pass were double-teamed by two people.
Mahrez is not like Ling Feng, who has the burst and speed of an instant acceleration.
In addition, Nick Powell, who replaced Ling Feng, can’t give him much support at all.
So he seems to be alone on the court.
However, with the substitute lineup and in such a prestigious away game as Anfield, losing is not something difficult to accept.
In Ling Feng’s opinion, Leicester City does not have to worry about relegation this season because of his presence.
However, judging from the strength and thickness of the lineup, it is still very difficult to compete for a ticket to the European war.
With Leicester City’s current lineup, if they only focus on the league or the Europa League, they have a chance to rush to the top six of the league or the quarterfinals of the Europa League.
The key is that they plan to fight on two fronts!
Even if Pearson did not say it clearly.
However, Ling Feng can also guess that he and the club’s top management focus on the Premier League and the Europa League.
Anyway, with Leicester City’s current record and points, it is basically unlikely to be relegated.
Staying in the Premier League means that they can continue to enjoy the high broadcasting share of the Premier League next year.
However, European wars are not available every year!
It is rare to participate in a European war. The club owner and senior management will definitely pay more attention to this great opportunity to expand the club’s brand influence in Europe and promote their own travel group.
The income and influence brought by the Europa League are intuitive!
Every time you win a game and advance to the next round, you can get a lot of bonuses and broadcast points.
.
From the perspective of the club owner, the further the team goes in the Europa League, the more helpful it will be for the stock price of its own travel group, and the more money it will make.
From the perspective of head coach Pearson, going further in the Europa League may be more realistic.
The league season is too long.
It is a very big test for the depth of the team and the stability of the team.
After all, even a giant team like Arsenal, which has been fighting in the Premier League for many years, will repeatedly fall behind at the critical moment of the top four because of the depth of the lineup.
For their Leicester City, how easy is it to compete with Arsenal, Tottenham, West Ham, Liverpool, Southampton and other teams for the European qualification? !
Therefore, if Leicester City can rank in the top eight at the end of the season, it will be a great achievement worthy of opening champagne.
Compared with the long league season, the cup competition is more accidental and the possibility of upset is higher.
If he can lead Leicester City to the quarterfinals or even the semifinals, Pearson, as the head coach, will surely be famous throughout Europe!
As a player, he doesn’t have so many ideas.
Most of these players know how much they are capable of.
Premier League champion? Champions League quota?
In fact, it has nothing to do with them as a newly promoted team.
Most players are thinking about taking one step at a time and playing every game well first.
Then let their value increase, or sign a better contract with the club.
As for the final league ranking, it will be revealed at the end of the season, and there is no point in thinking so much.
And this is also Ling Feng’s idea.
However, no matter whether the team focuses on the league or the cup, or both, they must strengthen in this winter window!
. . .
With the official opening of the winter transfer window, the head coaches, scouts, and agents of major European leagues have become busy.
And Leicester City’s head coach Pearson is no exception.
The day after losing to Liverpool, he immediately convened the football director, coaching staff and scouts to hold the first signing meeting.
Everyone sat in the meeting room and first reviewed the team’s data for the past half season.
Number of goals, number of goals conceded, average number of opportunities created per game, average running distance per game, number of steals, number of saves, etc.
And through intuitive data, looking at the past half season, Leicester City’s advantage in offensive firepower is visible to the naked eye.
However, many goals and many goals conceded are also the biggest problem of their team.
Obviously, their frontcourt offensive firepower is already one of the best in the entire Premier League.
However, they still have many shortcomings on the defensive end, and there is a lot of room for improvement.
How to improve the team’s poor defense and reduce the number of goals conceded?
There are two ways!
One is to build a defensive system; the other is to buy stronger defenders!
And these two can complement each other.
You can buy stronger defenders while building a defensive system to achieve the goal of reducing goals conceded.
The defensive position that needs to be strengthened urgently is, of course, the central defender!
Considering that the central defender Moore is impatient, and both Wasilewski and Upson are too old and too slow, the central defender position is really stretched except for the captain Morgan who is stable and reliable.
Moreover, they will face a double-line battle in the league and the Europa League in the second half, and the personnel rotation will definitely be more frequent.
Whether it is the partnership between Morgan and Moore or the partnership between Morgan and Wasilewski, the effect is not good.
Their top priority is to find a suitable partner for Morgan!
Pearson immediately looked at his old friend, Steve Walsh, the chief scout who brought Vardy, Mahrez, Morgan and other core players to the team, and was known as the “Eagle Eye”:
“Steve, do you have any suitable candidates for the central defender position?”
Walsh, who was wearing reading glasses, took out his brown notebook and said:
“After the investigation and analysis of the scout department, we selected several candidate targets.”
As soon as the voice fell, a young scout pointed at the projection screen and pressed the remote control.
“Shua”, a detailed scout report appeared in front of everyone:
“First, Stoke City’s German central defender, Robert Huth!”
“30 years old this year, was selected for the German national team and played in the 2006 World Cup.”
“Height 1.9 meters, weight 80 kilograms, the advantages are strong body, strong frontal interception ability, excellent air defense”
“The disadvantage is”
After a detailed introduction, Pearson looked at the scout report in his hand.
He then asked:
“Is this our first choice?”
“Yes.”
“But he seems to have just recovered from injury. Will he have any injury problems?”
“This should not be a big problem. As long as he can pass the physical examination, he can play for us. Since he has no playing time in Stoke City, he also hopes to leave Stoke City and change to a new environment. Now is the best time for us to get him!”
“We can rent him for half a season, see the effect of his partnership with Morgan, and then decide whether to buy him out.”
After hearing Walsh’s words, Pearson nodded, “Well, it sounds like a very economical deal.”
“Let’s ask Stoke City for their opinion first. If they are willing to rent, that would be the best. If not, then see how much we need. Only money can get him!”
“Understood.”
“Next one!”
“Hull City’s local central defender, Harry Maguire!”
“Maguire?”
Hearing this name and seeing Maguire’s half-length photo on the projection screen, Pearson suddenly remembered something and asked:
“Is he the tall guy that Ling talked to in the player’s tunnel?”
“That’s him!”
“Ling and him seem to be friends.”
“Yes, they seem to have known each other in the FA Cup last season.”
“Maguire’s playing style is somewhat similar to Morgan’s. And his footwork is obviously better than Morgan’s without any offense.”
“Last season against Sheffield United, his performance was impressive.”
While talking, the projector played some of Maguire’s game videos and highlights.
“Of course, he is still very young and has many shortcomings, such as lack of experience and slow turning speed. However, this is definitely a good seedling.”
“The schedule in the second half of the season is relatively dense, and as the opponent studies us, the defense line will inevitably face greater pressure. So we must strengthen the defense line!”
“So, what is your suggestion?”
“We can adopt the same strategy as Huth, rent him for half a season to see how he performs. If he performs well, it will not be too late for us to buy him.”
“Well, then send an email to Hull City and ask them!”
“Next.”
The entire signing meeting was carried out in an orderly manner.
In Leicester City, the owner Vichai is basically a hands-off boss, not asking about the team’s tactics and transfers.
And the excellent performance in the past half season has given Pearson the full support of the owner Vichai.
His position in the club is almost rock solid.
As the director of football, Rudkin also has certain decision-making power.
Therefore, the team’s transfer power is basically in the hands of Pearson, Walsh and Rudkin.
Who to buy and who to sell, basically after the three of them discuss, they will hand it over to the boss for review, and then they can decide.
In the football world, there is a huge difference between the head coach and the manager.
The former eats according to the food.
It is none of his business what players the club gives and what players it introduces.
His task is to formulate tactics according to these players;
The latter is a one-size-fits-all.
He can recruit players and formulate his own lineup system according to his own wishes!
Strictly speaking, Pearson is the only manager in the entire Premier League who can participate in transfer decisions, except Wenger.
In addition to the most critical central defender position, at the meeting, the scout department also provided the head coach with some options for the reinforcement plan for other positions.
For example, on the striker, they took a fancy to Kramaric, who was exiled to Rijeka because of his rebellion against the Croatian devil Mamic.
This Croatian international has performed well in the Croatian First Division team Rijeka. He played 34 times in all competitions last season and scored an amazing 27 goals!
And halfway through this season, he has scored 14 goals in 20 games, and his goal efficiency can be called efficient!
Of course, the Croatian First Division and the Premier League are two completely different leagues.
Killing all sides in the Croatian First Division does not mean that he can score a lot of goals in the Premier League.
And Kramaric is worth 5 million euros.
If they want to get this Croatian international who is on the rise and is the team’s top scorer in the winter window, the transfer fee they have to pay is definitely not less than 7 million!
7 million euros to buy a rotation striker?
This does not conform to their transfer strategy of Leicester City to spend little money to do big things.
In the goalkeeper position, they also took a fancy to Chelsea’s old goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, and planned to let this Australian legend who has played more than 500 games in the Premier League come to play a short-term job.
Work, enhance the experience of the goalkeeper position.
After the meeting, head coach Pearson, chief scout Walsh, and football director Rudkin also met with the son of the team owner Vichai, the club’s vice chairman Ayawat.
Ayawat was delighted with Pearson’s recruitment plan and told them a good news:
This winter window, they have a transfer budget of 10 million pounds to operate!
(End of this chapter)