Chapter 290 Thank God, we succeeded in relegation!
After Depay and Lingard came on the field, Manchester United's offense improved slightly.
However, the activity and enthusiasm of the two people could not cheer up other teammates who were in depression.
Seeing that Manchester United's fighting spirit is low, their offense is becoming more and more disorganized, and they only keep making mistakes in the midfield.
Coupled with the two-goal lead, Ranieri also boldly made substitutions.
After all, there will be a double match in a row, and he must make a rotation!
Replace captain Morgan and Mahrez, who started consecutively, and replace them with Maguire and Shinji Okazaki.
Only one substitution is left in case of emergency.
And Leicester City did not start to conserve their energy, did not press, and allowed Manchester United to continue to make mistakes.
Manchester United's attack as time passes
Some fans also felt that the team's performance was too useless and couldn't stand it anymore, so they began to leave the game early.
At the 80th minute of the game, when Ling Feng was directly tackled by Lingard as he was about to start advancing, Ranieri was immediately startled and quickly ran to the sidelines to protest.
“Hey! Referee!”
“Too big a move!”
“This is a foul!”
After protesting, he turned around and quickly called Andy King to warm up in preparation for substitution.
At this time, Ling Feng, who was sitting on the ground, heard a voice ringing in his ears
"Ling, are you okay?"
Looking up, he saw Emperor Lin looked at him with concern.
After violently rubbing the calf muscles that were kicked a few times, Ling Feng took a breath of air and said, "You guy, you are so cruel."
"There is no way, the boss said, I can't let you advance with the ball. Even if it's a foul, you have to knock him down!"
As he spoke, Emperor Lin also stretched out his hands to pull Ling Feng up.
After standing up, Ling Feng was just about to say something more when he heard Emperor Lin saying to him:
"You must be tired, go down and rest!"
Hearing this, Ling Feng turned to look at the sidelines and found that Andy Jin was ready.
And his own number also appeared on the substitution card.
Seeing this, he raised his hand and patted Lin Huang on the shoulder. After saying "I will change my jersey later", he turned and walked to the sidelines.
Amidst the overwhelming applause of the home fans, Ling Feng walked off the field slowly, high-fived Andy King, and then received a hug from Ranieri:
“That foot is arbitrary. The ball is so handsome, you shouldn’t be fooled, right?”
Hearing Ranieri’s joke, Ling Feng’s lips curled up, “Guess”
"Hahaha, have a good rest! We will need you again in the next game!"
"Copy that!"
Looking at Brother Drinking Water standing in front of the ball, the home team fans in the stands couldn't help but feel Thinking:
If Ling Feng is still on the field, he can still kick the set kick at this position.
After Ling Feng, the biggest threat on the field, left the field, Manchester United players The Red Devil's DNA, which was deep in the blood and never gave up, began to awaken.
With Mata as the commander, paired with Depay, Martial, and Jesse Lingard, a few young and aggressive players, they actually produced some threatening combinations in the frontcourt.
However, in front of the Leicester City bus with all its players retreating, Manchester United, without a big center, could not attack at all.
They can only take long shots from the outside, and then create opportunities for set kicks through Depay and Martial's breakthroughs.
In the end, as Mata's free kick at the edge of the penalty area was slightly higher, the visiting team fans let out a burst of lamentation, and the referee Atkinson directly blew the whistle to end the game.
Beep~~Beep~~Beep~~~
At the King Power Stadium, Leicester City firmly defeated the Red Devils Manchester United with a score of 2-0!
Fourteen consecutive league games, remaining undefeated!
At the post-match press conference, Van Gaal, who made bold claims before the game that he could stop the Blue Fox, was "besieged" by the media
"We did stop Val. Di. But Leicester City is not just Vardy.”
“Leicester City certainly have a chance to win the championship. As I said before the game, they have excellent players and are a very strong team. team”
"Ling Feng? He is an absolute genius! He is also the best midfielder of this age group!"
"We have pursued him, but it is a pity that he is unwilling to leave"
In the end, Fan Gal couldn't bear the repeated bombardment from reporters, so he said forcefully
"I have answered enough questions. This is not a press conference for me alone."
See Van Gaal got angry, and the good old Ranieri on the side also took over the conversation and came to his rescue:
"Hey guys, don't you have any questions to ask me? Let me go then?"
Hearing Ranieri's joke also attracted the "firepower" of the reporters in the media room:
"Claudio, your team has achieved an astonishing record of thirteen wins and one draw. We have already scored forty points! What do you think?"
"Oh, it's already four. Ten points? Thank you for reminding me."
After a pause, Ranieri opened his arms and sighed excitedly:
"Thank God, we finally succeeded in avoiding relegation!"
As soon as these words came out, all the reporters in the media room, including Van Gaal who was sitting next to him, curled their lips and then complained in their hearts. Get up:
? ? ?
What about relegation? !
It’s only been fourteen rounds, and you’ve already got forty points!
Do you know that you are already 11 points ahead of second-placed Manchester City? !
The "Mirror" reporter also did not give Ranieri the opportunity to continue to play pig and eat the tiger, and directly asked a pointed question:
"According to your previous statement, since you have been relegated If successful, should the team set new goals for the season? "
Ranieri did not shout any slogans or goals such as "hitting the Champions League" or "fighting for the championship" in front of the media, but continued. He said:
“Our goal is very simple. From the beginning, we have to play every game well and strive to defeat every opponent.”
"So how important is it to get these points now? Your upcoming schedule is very intensive. Starting from the end of November until the New Year, you will play against Swansea, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, and Manchester City."
Listening to the reporter reading out the next opponents one by one, Ranieri couldn't help showing his "pain mask" and quickly stopped him:
"Oh, please stop. Oh, Stop reading it."
This look also made everyone burst into laughter, which immediately eased the tense atmosphere between the coach and reporters.
“You knew they were coming, right?”
"Yes, I know."
"As I said before, everyone on the team enjoys it and we will take every game seriously." "You guys started from the first round. Since the beginning, we have been at the top of the league. How long do you think you can stay here?”
“Sorry, how many points are we ahead of the second place?”
< br>“Eleven points.”
Pretending to do some math with his fingers, Ranieri ended the press conference with a joke:
"Then at least we can stay in this position for three more games!"< br>
. . .
The next day.
The sports pages of major media are almost all occupied by this red-blue battle.
Before the game, no one would have expected it.
Manchester United, which conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League, couldn't resist Leicester City's sharp counterattack!
Looking at the Blue Fox, who are still firmly at the top of the list and have even expanded their lead to double digits,
People who never thought that Leicester City could win the championship suddenly became confused. A thought that even he found unbelievable:
“Could it be said that the Blue Fox really has a chance to win the championship this season?!”
However, as soon as this idea came up, they shook their heads and rejected it.
Impossible!
This is just the first race of the Christmas Express schedule, and everything has just begun.
Even though they have the strongest trident in the league like Ling Feng, Vardy, and Mahrez, their offensive firepower and number of goals conceded are among the best.
However, it is impossible for everyone to attend every season and play every game, and must be rotated.
Leicester City's substitute lineup is quite far behind other giants.
Besides, even a league giant like Arsenal, which once won the championship undefeated, will fall apart in the devilish schedule in January and February.
How can the Blue Fox, whose overall player strength and lineup depth are not as good as Arsenal's, not fall behind? !
Perhaps they will lose their first game of the season in the next game against Swansea; or perhaps one of the main players in the team will be injured, leading to a collapse.
Football is round and anything can happen on the field.
Therefore, many football experts believe that if Leicester City can still stay at the forefront of the league by February, it may be able to truly qualify to participate in this season's Premier League championship battle.
. .
After the "Battle of Heavenly Kings Mountain" with Manchester United, Leicester City players only rested for three days before ushering in the fifth round of the Europa League group match.
Home game against Bordeaux!
In order to securely win this game and qualify from the group, Ranieri directly sent in most of his main players.
In this game, "Ma Dongmei" Mahrez once again dominated the game, passing and shooting, leading the team to beat Bordeaux 2-1!
After defeating Bordeaux, Leicester City secured the top spot in the group one round in advance with a record of four wins and one draw in five games.
This is also the second consecutive year that they have been able to qualify from the group and reach the knockout stage of the Europa League!
Qualifying from the Europa League group early also gave Ranieri a sigh of relief.
In this way, in the final round of the group stage nine days later, he can boldly rotate the lineup to give the main players more rest time to deal with the upcoming strong enemies in the league!
However, before they had time to celebrate qualifying from the Europa League group, just one day later, Leicester City came to the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough to challenge the British Championship team Middlesbrough.
This is the quarter-finals of the League Cup.
Since this season, Ranieri has decided to use two domestic cup competitions as a training stage to allow the substitutes to gain playing time and maintain their condition.
This one is no exception.
The Blue Fox, which has an all-substitute lineup, is still strong enough.
Even in the away game, they still defeated their opponents by a score of 1 to 2 and advanced to the semi-finals of this season's League Cup!
The other three teams that have reached the semi-finals are Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton!
Reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup surprised Ranieri.
This means that they will have two more League Cup games in January.
Coupled with the third round of the FA Cup in January, after surviving this wave of Christmas Express schedule, they still need to face a heavy schedule of double matches in a week.
This will be a continuous test for the team's current lineup depth.
Fortunately, the team's injury situation is now very good.
Except for midfielder Marty James, who is troubled by a knee injury and cannot play for a short time, the entire lineup is complete!
The good situation and excellent record in the league made the club's senior management very happy, and even asked Ranieri if he needed reinforcements in the winter window.
If the lineup can be made thicker, every head coach will not refuse.
Therefore, Ranieri readily agreed and received a winter window budget of 10 million.
The Italian coach is satisfied with the team's current situation and prospects.
In his opinion, once they survive this two-month hellish schedule, and can score some points in the league and stabilize their league ranking, they will be more comfortable in the second half of the season. to cope with various competitions.
It is even possible to compete for the championship trophy under the eyes of many powerful teams!
Of course, before that, he hopes that the team will continue to maintain the unbeaten record in the league as much as possible!
In football matches, the morale and fighting spirit of players are very important and are also key factors that affect victory or defeat.
Often it is by holding a breath or a burst of energy that the team can maintain the focus and momentum of the game.
Once this sigh of relief is released, the energy and spirit of the entire team will most likely plummet and collapse.
Of course, that’s what I thought in my heart.
But Ranieri will always relieve the players during training and tactical meetings, telling them not to care too much about the team's unbeaten record.
Just asking them to go out on the field, play and enjoy football is enough.
As for the result, it is acceptable.
With Ranieri, a head coach who is very good at personnel management and understanding, the mentality of the Blue Fox soldiers is as stable as an old dog.
They have not been affected by too much public opinion, and they do not have many distracting thoughts about competing for the championship or impacting the Champions League.
These foxes wearing blue jerseys just go to work, train and compete step by step every day.
Of course they feel that the current record is indeed good, and the scenery at the top of the league is also good.
Of course it would be best if we could sit at the top of the list for a little longer, until the end of the season.
If it doesn’t work, that’s okay.
At least they enjoyed the feeling of reaching the top of the Premier League!
With such a peaceful mentality, Leicester City came to the cold and humid east coast of Wales to visit the "Swan" Swansea here.
This is also Leicester City's fourth game within a week.
The Blue Fox, with all its main players on the field, continued to take a good stance, waiting for Swansea to attack.
But Swansea may be afraid of the Blue Fox's counterattack and did not take the initiative to attack.
In the first 80 minutes, neither side created a good chance to score.
Until the 83rd minute, Mahrez broke through from the wing and created a corner kick opportunity in the frontcourt.
It was at this corner kick that Ling Feng assisted captain Morgan to score a header, scoring the only goal of the game!
(End of this chapter)