Chapter 172: Relegation? I'll fight for the championship directly! 【Please subscribe! 】
Leicester City defeated Manchester United at home and became the big news in the fifth round of the Premier League.
As the defending champion Manchester City tied with the blue Chelsea at home, the former All five rounds of league matches are declared over.
As for the situation in the standings, some people are happy and some are worried:
Topping the list is the "Blue Army" Chelsea, which was favored by the public before the season!
Thanks to the targeted signings in the summer transfer window and the tactics of "Madman" Mourinho, the Blues have been on a roll from the beginning this season!
Fabregas and Diego Costa work well together, Hazard is getting better, Terry and Cahill have built an iron-blooded defense
Four wins and one draw, with 13 points !
Mu Ernian in the second phase of Mu, the blue team with superimposed BUFF is simply invincible!
The second place is not the defending champion Manchester City, nor Arsenal, which continues to strengthen this season, but last season's dark horse, the "Saints" Southampton!
Last season, under the leadership of Argentinian coach Pochettino, Southampton, which has Lallana, Luke Shaw, Lambert, Lovren, etc., achieved a good ranking of eighth in the league.
In this summer’s transfer window, this youth army was almost dismembered!
I thought that with the loss of a large number of main players and the poaching of the coach, Southampton's performance this season would definitely plummet, and even fall into the quagmire of relegation.
Unexpectedly, under the leadership of reasonable signings and new coach Ronald Koeman, the Saints, who have undergone a major lineup change, have continued to show shocking combat effectiveness in the new season. !
Although the start was not smooth, first losing to Liverpool and then drawing with West Brom.
However, in the next three rounds of the league, the Saints, whose team was going smoothly, won three consecutive games!
Among them, winger Sadio Mane, Serbian commander Tadic, Italian center Pelle, Chelsea loaned fullback Bertrand and other new players performed well and helped the team in one fell swoop. Kill the second place in the standings.
Leicester City, the super-promoted team "Blue Fox" who has shown the status of a dark horse this season, has achieved three wins, one draw and one loss in the first five rounds of the league after returning to the Premier League after ten years. An impressive record!
With a performance that exceeded everyone's expectations and with a goal difference advantage, it ranked third in the league standings!
This season, Leicester City’s performance is obvious to all.
Especially on offense!
No one thought that Leicester City, which had swept every team in the English Championship, would dare to continue to hold high the banner of offensive football after being promoted to the Premier League!
Thanks to the aggressive tactics of high pressure and the tacit understanding of the front four, the team's offensive firepower was fierce, scoring 13 goals in five rounds!
Second only to Chelsea who scored 16 goals!
On the other hand, the other two teams promoted this season with Leicester City, Burnley and Queens Park Rangers, are ranked second and third from the bottom.
This has caused many football experts and fans to have the same doubts:
Both are newly promoted teams, why is the gap so big? !
What’s more worth mentioning is that this season’s traditional giants have had a somewhat stumbling start.
Among the top six teams in the standings, except for Chelsea at the top and Arsenal at fifth, the other four teams are all unexpected dark horses.
Southampton, Leicester City, Aston Villa, Swansea!
Of these four teams, only Southampton was ranked in the top half of the standings last season.
The defending champion Manchester City is only ranked seventh, and last season's runner-up Liverpool is ranked 11th.
Among them, the most disappointing performance among all the powerful teams is undoubtedly the "Toffee" Everton, which was ranked fifth last season!
In the first round, they were beaten 4-2 by Leicester City, and in the third round, they were beaten 3-6 by Chelsea in an away game, which almost destroyed their confidence.
The number of goals conceded in the five rounds reached an astonishing fifteen, and the average number of goals conceded per game reached an astonishing three!
The defensive end is like window paper, which can be broken with a poke.
The points ranking also directly experienced a big decline, temporarily ranking 17th in the standings, becoming the goalkeeper in the relegation zone!
Of course, there are thirty-eight rounds in the Premier League.
It has only been five rounds now, so it is not possible to draw a conclusion prematurely.
However, judging from the current performance of the three newly promoted teams, most people believe that Leicester City will have no problem relegating this season!
It can even impact a mid-to-upper position!
After surviving the devilish schedule in the first five rounds, Leicester City will usher in a relatively easy schedule:
Rounds 6 to 10 The opponents are Crystal Palace, Burnley, Newcastle, Swansea and West Bromwich Albion!
These five teams, except for Swansea who also performed amazingly this season, are basically mid-to-lower teams.
As a newly promoted team, if it wants to avoid relegation, in addition to defeating several direct competitors for relegation, it must also score as many points as possible from the mid-to-lower teams.
After the first five rounds of the league, both Pearson and the Blue Fox generals have accumulated great confidence.
Relegation?
I will compete directly for the championship!
Of course, this is just Ling Feng's little ridicule and beautiful vision in his heart.
Although personal confidence is booming, the team's condition is also booming.
However, with Leicester City's current lineup thickness and defensive strength, let alone the Premier League championship, the top six are still relatively reluctant.
What's more, the team has returned to the European competition after 53 years and is also tasked with competing in the Europa League!
In the prize distribution plan for the Champions League and Europa League announced by UEFA in September, the total prize money for the Champions League reached an astonishing 900 million euros!
The bonus is divided into two parts, a fixed part and a floating part.
The fixed part is 500 million euros, which will be distributed according to the results of the thirty-two participating teams.
The floating part is distributed based on the team's TV broadcast share.
Every team that enters the Champions League will receive a guaranteed minimum of 8.6 million euros.
In the group stage, there is one million euros for every win and half a million euros for every draw.
If you qualify from the group, you will receive a bonus of 3.5 million euros.
Continue to advance and the bonuses will increase.
A statistical agency has calculated that if a team maintains a complete victory in the Champions League group stage and can finally win the Champions League Big Ear Cup.
Then this championship team will receive a participation bonus of 37.4 million euros!
And this does not include the TV broadcast share!
Considering that the winning team often has very high ratings, the winning team will definitely make a lot of money.
This is the big cake that all teams want a piece of!
This is why teams in major leagues are fighting desperately to qualify for the Champions League, and why Wenger must compete for the top four every year!
Of course, the Champions League has nothing to do with Leicester City.
The prize money for the Europa League is not as high as imagined.
Compared to the 900 million euros in the Champions League, the total prize money of the Europa League is only 200 million euros.
Of which 120 million euros is the fixed part and 80 million euros is the floating part.
There are 48 participating teams in the Europa League, and the guaranteed bonus for each participating team is 1.3 million euros.
Compared to the guaranteed bonus of the Champions League team, it is far different.
In the group stage, the bonus for each Europa League team winning a game is 200,000 euros, and the bonus for a draw is 100,000 euros. The prize money for the first place in the group stage is 400,000 euros, and the prize money for the second place is 200,000 euros.
Roughly calculated, the championship team won from the beginning to the end of the group stage, and the final total prize money was less than 10 million euros.
Even so, countless teams are proud to participate in the Europa League.
After all, although the Europa League is not as good as the Champions League, it is still a European competition!
When two teams compete for the same player, the team that has qualified for the European competition will definitely have an advantage.
For a newly promoted team from the Premier League, being able to come to a European stage like the Europa League is a huge benefit without any harm.
In addition to making money, you can also compete with strong teams in other leagues to hone your team's combat effectiveness.
The most important thing is that it can greatly enhance the team's popularity and influence!
Therefore, Pearson confessed to the players before the start of the season that he would focus on the league and the Europa League this season.
However, even if the FA Cup and League Cup are strategically abandoned, under the two-front battle, the Blue Fox, with a weak lineup, will definitely face a huge test in the second half of the season.
Once the main players are injured, the team's strength and status will definitely fluctuate seriously.
So, we still have to proceed steadily and step by step.
As for where we will be ranked in the league in the end, we will know after the last game of the season!
. . .
Everyone at the club is excited about the team's excellent record in the Premier League.
Thanks to the team's outstanding record, both the market price of the club and the share price of the tourism group behind Vichai have experienced a surge!
After defeating Manchester United, one of the most famous and influential top clubs in the Premier League and even the world, Leicester City's fan base has also skyrocketed.
To this end, Vichai organized a luxurious dinner.
A variety of seafood feasts and Thai delicacies made the coaches, players and staff of the club feast.
Just as the atmosphere of the team was peaceful, Ling Feng also received two pieces of good news.
First, after several days of interviews, he found a suitable bodyguard as well as a personal chef.
The bodyguard is a former special forces soldier named John who served in the SAS (Special Air Service).
When he saw this old man with a big beard for the first time, Ling Feng once suspected that this old man's last name was Price.
SAS spoke up, with a big beard, named John
Perhaps it was these coincidences that Ling Feng finally chose this taciturn old man.
The private chef is a thirty-two-year-old Chinese named Jack Zhou.
What is worth mentioning is this old man’s resume!
He has been cooking for 17 years and worked as a chef at Noma, a three-star Michelin high-end restaurant known as the "ceiling of Nordic cuisine" and ranked number one in the world's restaurant rankings four times.
A variety of dishes are at your fingertips, and the delicious food is mouth-watering.
However, perhaps because he had different opinions on food with the chef, he fired the chef directly in the end.
Generally speaking, a chef of his level can find a job in any Michelin restaurant in the world.
However, he was tired of continuing to listen to the chef do this and do that, and decided to become a chef who could make his own decisions!
Therefore, during the interview, he put forward a condition of his own.
That is, Ling Feng cannot dictate what dishes he should make, but allows him to freely express himself!
Of course, as a personal chef, he will make corresponding nutritious meals according to the needs of his employer, Ling Feng.
After tasting the other party's craftsmanship, Ling Feng accepted the condition without hesitation.
Compared with Lao Zhou’s delicious and healthy delicacies, he suddenly felt that the food in the base canteen was nothing!
With bodyguards and personal chefs in place, and Sofia as his life assistant, his personal team has reached three people.
Of course, the cost of a professional team is not cheap either.
The annual salary of a personal chef is two hundred thousand, and that of a bodyguard is three hundred thousand.
Coupled with Sophia's annual salary of 200,000 pounds, Ling Feng would spend 700,000 pounds a year just to support these three people!
However, for Premier League stars with an annual income of more than five million pounds, this money is still affordable.
What's more, the 700,000 is definitely worth the money.
These three people can improve Ling Feng’s quality of life off the court and make him more efficient, allowing him to focus more time and energy on the court.
In addition to the growth of the star's team, another good news is that someone has sent him money again:
Mendes called him and said that the head of Burberry I saw him at Milan Fashion Week and thought Ling Feng’s image suited Burberry very well and wanted to invite him to become the brand’s global brand ambassador!
Burberry, also known as Burberry, is a British luxury brand. Its main products are men's and women's clothing, cosmetics, perfumes, etc.
Among them, Burberry's windbreaker is the most famous in the UK.
And for such a family, the endorsement fee for Ling Feng is 1.5 million pounds!
One and a half million a year, two-year contract!
With his first appearance in the Premier League, Ling Feng’s value in the business field is also rising.
If Nike waits until now to sign a contract with Ling Feng, the price will definitely double!
It is worth mentioning that after signing with Burberry, Ling Feng became the second football player to cooperate with a high-end fashion brand after Beckham!
Using his free time after daily training, Ling Feng quickly shot a series of men's clothing advertisements and still photos for Burberry.
On September 26, after finishing shooting for Burberry, Ling Feng took a ride to the team’s hotel and met up with the rest of the team
Tomorrow, they will head to South Korea London's Croydon district started a sixth-round league showdown with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park!
Meanwhile, in a studio somewhere in London.
After six or seven hours of shooting, Barbara Palvin also completed all the tasks of shooting for a fashion magazine.
Sitting in front of the dressing table, Barbara was letting the makeup artist remove her makeup when she heard the voice of the female assistant ringing in her ears:
"Barbara, we won't be shooting tomorrow. Want to visit London?"
"Okay."
"By the way, do you like watching football games?"
Hearing this, Barbara seemed to suddenly remember something, raised her eyebrows, and suddenly asked:
"Do you mean the Premier League?"
"Yes, tomorrow happens to be the match day. , several Premier League teams in London have games, such as Chelsea vs. Villa, Crystal Palace vs. Leicester City."
Before she could finish, she heard Barbara suddenly interrupt:
“Leicester City!”
"I want to watch this game!"
(End of this chapter)