Chapter 438 I finally played center once, but you made me lose so completely!
After finally returning to Leicester, Ling Feng also specifically asked Mourinho for leave and did not return to Manchester with the team.
And Mourinho was also very generous. With a wave of his hand, he gave the whole team a day off.
Staying in Leicester, I invited my former teammates to book a Chinese restaurant for a good meal, and shared life in Manchester City with friends such as Vardy and Mahrez. , he drove back to his home in Cheshire by himself.
My girlfriend Barbara, who had arrived home early, was wearing a slightly loose sweater and was sitting on the sofa, watching Netflix's popular TV series "House of Cards"
"Baby! I'm back!"
As soon as Ling Feng finished speaking, he saw Barbara getting up from the sofa, and then rushing towards him with bare feet.
Then, I gave myself a big hug!
"Why did you come back? I've been waiting for you for a long time."
"Are you waiting for me, or for the midnight snack I gave you?"
Hearing this, Barbara put her arms around her boyfriend's neck, blinked her blue eyes, and said with a smile:
"Of course it's your midnight snack!"
said After that, she kissed Ling Feng on the cheek, then took the take-out bag from Ling Feng's hand, quickly returned to the coffee table in the living room, and eagerly opened the take-out bag.
The next second, a seductive fragrance floated in the living room, as well as Barbara's excited voice:
"Wow! It's my favorite shrimp fried noodles!"
"And Kung Pao Chicken."
Looking at his girlfriend, whose eyes were shining like a big foodie, Ling Feng deliberately asked:
"Aren't you going to do a pictorial next week? ? Dare you have a late-night snack? "
"Hey, that's a picture of winter clothes. The clothes are thicker, so you don't have to worry about being seen!"
As she spoke, Barbara was already familiar with it. He broke his chopsticks and picked up a takeout box
After taking a sip of the fragrant fried noodles, Barbara remembered and turned around and asked:
"Do you want to go to bed first?"
"The team has a holiday tomorrow, I can Stay with you for a while longer.”
“Great! Then watch the TV series with me for a while longer!”
“It’s my pleasure, my lady!”
When she is not working, this Victoria's Secret supermodel is no different from an ordinary girl who likes to watch dramas and study outfits.
The team has a day off, and Ling Feng can finally spend time with his girlfriend. Have a nice walk around Manchester.
As one of the most important international cities in England, Manchester's population is far smaller than that of London.
However, it is the earliest industrialized city in the world and has a long history.
Since joining, due to competition and work reasons, the two of them have basically not really visited the scenery of this city.
So, after the two had a hearty breakfast the next morning, they started a "one-day trip to Manchester"
Everywhere in the city, you can see the remnants of the capitalist industrialization era, and Manchester cityscape.
Salford Quay, Lowry Arts Center, Albert Square
Ling Feng still underestimated his popularity in Manchester City.
Even though both of them were wearing sunglasses, Ling Feng was also wearing a peaked cap and was recognized by many loyal Manchester United fans while shopping!
You know, in a certain ranking list of an authoritative media, he and Barbara, a young couple of superstars and international supermodels, are the most famous celebrity couple in the UK besides Beckham and Victoria!
The height, body shape, and appearance of the two have been reported time and time again by The Sun.
Any fan who knows the Premier League will recognize these two.
It just so happens that Manchester is a football city!
Among the population of 500,000, there are 490,000 fans!
After wandering around for a few times, people will come up to ask for autographs and photos.
Regarding the fans' enthusiasm, Ling Feng just explained that he was enjoying a rare vacation with his girlfriend, while also quickly accepting the fans' autograph requests.
The funniest thing is that a girl wearing a Manchester City uniform, after recognizing the star of the rival city, actually took out a marker and asked him to sign her Manchester City uniform.
In response, Ling Feng declined the other party's request.
Had he not been sure that the other party was just too excited to see him and not deliberately causing trouble, Ling Feng would definitely have walked away.
Finally, at the strong request of this female Manchester City fan, he used a marker pen to leave his signature on the white northern hemisphere.
And in doing so, I also got a look from my girlfriend and an instruction:
“Next time you are not allowed to sign on other women’s breasts!”
“Yessir! ”
Looking at more and more fans coming forward to ask for autographs, Ling Feng and Barbara naturally realized that it was not appropriate to stay here for a long time.
As a result, the two immediately ran back to the car and set off to the next tourist location.
For today’s date, Ling Feng even borrowed the bodyguard’s car.
Even so, they will be recognized wherever they go.
No way, this is one of the side effects of becoming a celebrity
Although, there were repeated interruptions from fans midway.
However, Ling Feng and Barbara still had a very good time roaming around Manchester City.
That's enough.
. . .
The next day.
Ling Feng returned to Carrington Base and was immediately ridiculed by his teammates:
"You went shopping with your girlfriend yesterday? What a romantic man!"
"I heard that you even signed a name on the chest of a female Manchester City fan?"
In response, Sitting down In front of the locker room, Ling Feng was changing his sneakers and was not surprised at all.
In fact, as early as yesterday during the date, the taciturn bodyguard brother had reminded him that there were paparazzi following them.
Sure enough, the "Sun", which was published early the next morning, reported in detail the romantic date between himself and his girlfriend in Manchester.
How detailed is it?
From the moment they got off the bus, where they went throughout the whole process, how many fans signed autographs, and the scene where the two kissed openly on the street were all photographed one by one.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the two of them did not deliberately disguise themselves.
If they really want to avoid being discovered by the paparazzi, the two of them can wear scarves, wigs, masks and sunglasses to cover themselves tightly.
In that case, the probability of being followed by the paparazzi can be greatly reduced.
Just as Ling Feng was being "tortured" by his teammates, Mourinho appeared and rescued Ling Feng:
"Okay, guys, it's training time!"
After arriving at the training ground and completing the routine warm-up program, Mourinho called Ling Feng to his side, and then said:
"Ling, when Zlatan is not here, I hope that You try playing as a lone forward. What do you think?”
Due to Ibrahimovic’s absence due to injury, and Martial’s effect as a center in the last game was not very good.
Therefore, the team must find a way to choose a solution before Ibrahimovic returns.
Either choose to change the formation, or choose a more suitable candidate to play center.
In fact, there are two players in the team who can temporarily replace the center position.
For example, Rooney and Rashford. However, with age, Rooney's physical function has declined seriously, and he is no longer the bulldozer striker he once was.
Neither the reaction nor the impact force can bear the heavy responsibility of attacking the bridgehead!
Rashford’s problem is the same as Martial’s.
He has speed and space on the wing and can take advantage of his speed and breakthrough characteristics.
But once he got into a struggle with the opponent's central defender in the middle, Rashford couldn't pass the test in terms of physical confrontation and back-up skills.
The team's forward manpower is severely lacking, which made Mourinho curse the club's transfer department in his heart again:
Stupid management!
If the team gets Andre Silva or a backup center in the winter window, he doesn't need to worry so much.
However, the words of the assistant coach inspired Mourinho:
"How about we try pushing Ling to the front line?"
This suggestion , just in Mourinho's mind
Whether it's speed, physical confrontation, shooting skills, back-up skills, and all the skills necessary for a forward, Lingfeng has them all!
Moreover, with Ling Feng's vision and passing ability, he can also retreat to organize, and after distributing the ball, he can go forward to grab points!
Of course, such tactics rely heavily on Ling Feng's personal performance.
Once Ling Feng is restricted by the opponent, or gets caught in a struggle with the opponent's central defender, the team's offense will
After all, whether it is Mata or Rooney in the attacking midfielder position Their effects are definitely not as good as Ling Feng's.
However, their team's offense originally relied heavily on Ling Feng's performance.
Besides, if Ling Feng was so easy to be restricted, then he wouldn't be the number one player in the Premier League!
So, before the next round of the league match, Mourinho also planned to let Ling Feng adapt to the role of forward in training.
Faced with Mourinho's arrangement, Ling Feng patted his chest and said:
Boss, I'm a great forward as well!
Soon, during the 11VS11 team training match, teammates also saw that Ling Feng's position had moved forward.
The one behind him turned into Mata.
Martial was very depressed about this.
Obviously he played as a lone forward for most of the season under Van Gaal last season.
He originally thought that after Ibrahimovic was injured, he could return to the center again.
In the last round against Leicester City, Mourinho did make him the starting center.
Maybe it’s because he hasn’t played center for a long time, or maybe his back-up skills are not his strong point, but his performance in the whole game was average.
No goals and no assists.
And he has repeatedly lost the ball under Maguire's marking, which can be called an offensive terminator!
Therefore, even if he was a little dissatisfied, he could understand Mourinho's decision to push Ling Feng to the front line.
As far as he knew, Mourinho was not such a patient head coach
What left him speechless was the performance of the team's star player in training!
Especially when he saw Ling Feng directly pushing away central defender Phil Jones during the confrontation, and then calmly completing the low shot to score, Martial also swallowed his saliva.
I finally played center once, but you made me lose so completely!
Grass!
. . .
In the twenty-fifth round of the Premier League, Manchester United faced the challenge of Watford, the famous Premier League lifter, at the Theater of Dreams.
When Manchester United announced the starting lineup before the league, many people were a little surprised.
Mourinho did not continue to use the striker selection from the previous round of the league, but pushed Ling Feng to the striker and let him serve as a single arrow.
This is not the first time that Ling Feng has served as a lone forward.
But it’s the first time in Manchester United’s career!
In fact, with the development and evolution of modern football, the positions and responsibilities of players on the field have become increasingly blurred.
The midfielder can not only organize passes, but can also shoot forward and return to defend.
As a free agent in the frontcourt, Ling Feng's position in the frontcourt is not fixed. Sometimes he retreats to catch the ball, sometimes he pulls out to blast, and sometimes he grabs points in front of the goal.
His playing style on the court is like the three roles of midfielder, center and winger constantly changing at any time!
This is one of the important reasons why he is so difficult to restrict!
In the game, Ling Feng, who served as Manchester United's lone forward for the first time, scored twice and told everyone:
He Ling Feng, whether he is playing at the tenth position , No. 7, or No. 9, they are all at the Premier League ceiling level!
Three to one!
With this two goals, Ling Feng was able to surpass Ibrahimovic in the scorer list and dominate the Premier League with 22 goals!
At the same time, after winning another league victory, the "Red Devils" Manchester United unknowingly won eight consecutive league victories starting from the 18th round!
On the other side, Chelsea, the biggest league title rival, achieved a record of five wins and one loss in the six league games that started in the second half of the season.
After the 13-game winning streak was ended by Tottenham in early January, they once again won five consecutive games.
There are many strong dialogues such as beating Liverpool away from home and Arsenal at home.
Even so, Chelsea still watched helplessly as Manchester United widened the points gap to eight points!
The eight-point gap is enough for Manchester United to put the league aside for the time being and prepare for the upcoming Champions League knockout rounds with peace of mind.
However, before the knockout rounds of the Champions League, the Manchester United soldiers also ushered in a ten-day gap period.
Considering the players' physical problems, Mourinho gave the entire team two days off with a wave of his hand.
During the fifth round of the FA Cup during this period, Mourinho directly sent out a lineup of substitutes and youth team players.
Obviously, he has planned to give up the FA Cup front.
In this regard, both Manchester United celebrities and fans expressed their understanding.
They just won the FA Cup last season, so it doesn’t matter if they win it for others this season.
After all, they are not short of the FA Cup champion, and they have greater goals and ambitions!
However, what Mourinho did not expect was that the substitutes and youth team players were so competitive that they directly defeated the British Championship team Blackburn and reached the quarterfinals!
Mourinho had a bit of a headache as a result of this win.
In this way, when the league and the Champions League are more important next month, this extra FA Cup game will become a major test of the team's physical fitness!
However, this is all a story for another day.
In Mourinho’s coaching philosophy, meals must be eaten one bite at a time and games must be played one by one.
As long as you play every game well, the championship will come naturally!
What he has to consider now is how to defeat the menacing Ligue 1 leader Monaco in the first round of the Champions League knockout round!
(End of this chapter)