Full-Level Pass, Please Call Me The Boss Of The Three Lions

Chapter 267

The first battle was a good start for Leicester City and Ranieri.

In addition, the incident of Chelsea’s team doctor made most media have no time to pay attention to them.

This also prevented the team from being affected by too much public opinion or influence, and they were able to prepare for the game with peace of mind.

In the second round of the Premier League, the Blue Foxes came to Upton Park Stadium in East London to challenge the owner here-“Hammer Gang” West Ham United!

This season’s Hammer Gang, like Leicester City, has experienced a change of coach.

“Big Sam” Allardyce was dismissed, and Croatian Slaven Bilic took over as the new leader of the Hammer Gang.

Ranked 12th last season, the owner of West Ham United, who owns the London football market, was very unhappy.

In addition to changing coaches, the team also made a lot of signings in the summer window, introducing many powerful players.

For example, Marseille’s French international Payet, Juventus’ black central defender Ogbonna, Nottingham Forest’s center forward Antonio, etc., also loaned Chelsea’s Moses, Barcelona’s Alexander Song, and Argentine midfielder star Lanzini.

The improvement of the team’s lineup strength, coupled with the BUFF of the coach change, allowed the Hammers to beat Arsenal, who had the advantage of home court, in the first round of the league.

In previous years, Arsenal usually started to lose chain after Christmas.

Ling Feng didn’t expect that Arsenal started to lose chain in the first round of the league.

No, this is not a chain drop, but just got on the bicycle and found that the tire was flat!

It can not only beat the defending champion Chelsea in the Community Shield, but also lose to West Ham United in the league.

Too many young people and unstable state may be the biggest problem of the Gunners under Wenger!

When playing away, Ranieri continued the starting lineup of the previous round, without changing any position.

He and the Blue Fox coaching staff thought that through the first few games of the season, they would observe the players’ game status and determine the regular main lineup.

However, the progress of the game was beyond their expectations.

The Hammers, playing at home, launched waves of attacks against Leicester City, wearing away white jerseys, with the cheers of the fans.

Among them, Payet, a French international who had just transferred from Marseille in the summer window, quickly became the commander of the Hammers with his broad vision and passing skills.

His passing dispatch, coupled with the speed and impact of striker Sakho, put great pressure on Leicester City’s defense.

Ranieri’s response was to let Inler closely guard Payet and force him to move to the wing.

In this way, he could not pass the ball behind him with strong penetration, and could only use high crosses.

The way of passing that the Blue Foxes’ defense line is least afraid of is high crosses!

However, such tactical arrangements are very targeted.

However, the actual effect still depends on the players’ execution.

Perhaps it is because of his self-proclaimed identity, or because of his playing habits in the Swiss national team and Naples, as well as the decline in physical function, Inler is not willing to be a full-time defensive “blue collar”

In the last game, facing the weaker Black Cats, he often left his defensive position and joined the attack from behind.

Even in the team’s tactics, Ranieri strictly requires the two midfielders not to assist.

In this game, facing Ranieri’s instructions, his defensive enthusiasm was also average.

He interfered with Payet twice closely, not letting him lose the ball, and even accidentally got a pass from Payet.

Seeing that Payet was about to pass by him, he had to kick him down directly.

It was this set-piece opportunity outside the penalty area that gave Payet the chance to show off his superb free-kick skills.

About 22 meters away from the goal, he could just shoot directly.

Even though there were four walls of people in front of him, and even though Schmeichel Jr. had moved in advance.

But Payet’s arcing kick was of very high quality.

It barely bypassed the top of the wall, passed by Schmeichel Jr.’s fingertips, and went into the near corner of the goal!

In the 23rd minute of the first half, West Ham United took the lead at Upton Park!

Losing the ball first away from home, except for Schmeichel Jr. who looked helpless, and Inler who looked a little annoyed, no one, whether it was Ling Feng, Vardy, or Morgan and other players, had any anxiety or trepidation on their faces.

Because

, after a season of Premier League baptism, they have a clear understanding of their own and the team’s combat effectiveness.

They know very well that they are absolutely capable of equalizing the score, or even overtaking!

So, after the kick-off again, they continued to play according to Ranieri’s tactics.

Seeing that the Foxes did not have the aggressive and crazy pressing last season, the Hammers players, who thought they were scared, took the opportunity to control the ball forward, gradually pressing the formation forward, trying to score another goal and expand the score.

However, this was exactly Ranieri’s plan to lure the enemy deep!

Just ten minutes later, in a frontcourt pass, Ling Feng predicted Alexander Song’s pass to Payet, accelerated suddenly, and stretched his legs to intercept the pass.

The next second, the Foxes No. 7 did not even raise his head, and sent a soul-stirring long pass over the top, hanging behind the West Ham United defense line.

The entire formation pressed forward, so that only one central defender Reid was left behind the defense line.

Oops!

With a sweary heart, he could only turn around and chase back immediately.

However, someone was faster than him!

A blue figure rushed to the ball at a very fast speed!

Under everyone’s somewhat unbelievable eyes, Vardy used his extremely excellent core strength and speed to squeeze out the more than 80 kg Hammer center back Reid while running at high speed, and then took the lead by half a body length and got the ball first.

At the same time, goalkeeper Adrian also abandoned the goal and opened his arms to increase the defensive area as much as possible.

Facing the critical moment of being attacked from both sides, Vardy’s shooting instinct did not make him hesitate even a little, but directly stretched out his leg and poked the ball from Adrian’s left armpit into the empty goal behind him!

“The ball went in!!”

“It’s the connection between Ling Feng and Vardy again!”

“The Foxes have equalized the score!”

With this goal, the two sides continued to attack and defend each other in the first half.

West Ham United had more possession and more advantages, and Payet made many threatening passes.

Inler, who was a little slower, was embarrassed by him. After several fouls, he finally received the first yellow card of the game.

In the end, with the referee’s whistle, the two sides returned to the locker room with a score of one to one.

After the halftime break, the situation did not change much when they returned to the court again.

Seeing Payet continue to be able to calmly take the ball and pass the ball in the frontcourt, Inler, who had a yellow card on his back, could only give in step by step, and even had to let Brother Drinking Water come to help, so that there was a larger gap in the central defense.

Ranieri on the sidelines frowned, turned around without hesitation, and pointed to Kante on the bench:

“N’Golo, go warm up!”

Hearing this, Kante jumped up and ran to the sidelines to warm up.

In the 62nd minute, Kante replaced Inler again.

While standing on the sidelines preparing to play, Ranieri hugged Kante, who was like a child, and whispered in his ear:

“After you go up, keep an eye on No. 27!!”

Kante nodded seriously in response.

With Kante’s appearance, the situation on the field changed immediately.

Kante followed Payet closely, like a piece of ox-skin candy, and he couldn’t get rid of it no matter how hard he tried.

Last season, Payet had played against Kante in Ligue 1.

At that time, he was tightly guarded by this unknown black boy.

But he didn’t expect that this boy would still stubbornly follow him to the Premier League? !

Except for Payet, the three midfielders behind West Ham United, Kouyate, Alexander Song and Noble, are all engineer-type midfielders with average organizational skills.

With the team’s organizational core frozen, West Ham United’s offense instantly became like a headless fly.

On the contrary, with Kante’s terrifying sweep in the midfield, the Foxes repeatedly seized the ball and launched a quick counterattack!

In the 73rd minute, Kante stole the ball again and passed it to Brother Drinking Water.

The latter made a long diagonal pass and found Mahrez on the right.

Mahrez dribbled the ball along the right at high speed, then made a fake move with his upper body, cut inside to pass the full-back, and shot into the far corner.

1 to 2!

As Mahrez overtook the score, West Ham United’s attack became more impatient and the formation pressed higher.

This also gave the Foxes more counterattack opportunities

In the 85th minute, Ling Feng took the corner kick and passed the ball to the head of the Argentine Ulloa who came on as a substitute. He headed the ball into the goal and completely ended the suspense of the game!

In this game, Kante, who played for less than 30 minutes, contributed three steals and two clearances.

, three interceptions.

And directly froze the core of the Hammers organization Payet.

And his game heat map covers the entire midfield!

Although the best player of the game is still Ling Feng who sent two assists.

However, Kante still got the fourth highest score of 7.35 points in the game after the game, second only to the Blue Fox Three Musketeers!

The commentators and commentators who watched the whole game can see that it was after Kante came on the court that the Blue Fox stabilized the midfield defense through his own active sweep.

Only then did Mahrez counterattack to overtake the score, which gave the Blue Fox more excellent opportunities in the second half of the game.

So, after the game, many Blue Fox fans who understand football began to comment on the club’s official website, calling on Ranieri to let Kante start.

And the effect of Inler’s starting in the first two games did not satisfy Ranieri.

The Swiss captain has a good defensive position on the field, but from time to time he can’t resist the desire to attack and unconsciously leaves his defensive area.

Moreover, with many years of experience in Serie A, he has adapted to the slow pace of offense and defense in Serie A. When he came to the faster and more intense Premier League, he always felt a step behind.

In Ranieri’s defensive tactics, whether it is positional attack or quick counterattack, only four people are invested in the frontcourt.

Mainly rely on the tacit interlacing and running between the frontcourt players, and the dribbling of personal ability and a flash of inspiration to solve the problem.

Fortunately, he has Ling Feng, the most offensive midfielder who can create opportunities in the Premier League, and Mahrez, the winger who has the top five success rates in passing people in the UK, and Vardy, the striker who currently ranks first in shot conversion rate!

According to Lineker’s original words on Twitter, it is:

“This trident combination can destroy the back line of all Premier League teams!”

Although there is a component of exaggeration.

However, many people agree.

Therefore, the team’s two defensive midfielders do not need to participate in the attack at all, but stay in the midfield to form a second line of defense to prevent the opponent from counterattacking.

Therefore, based on the performance of the first two games and the strong calls from the fans, Ranieri announced the team’s starting lineup the day before the third round of the Premier League against Tottenham.

Kante replaced Inler as expected and partnered with Andy King as the defensive midfielder.

In addition to Kante, left-back Fuchs also got his first chance to start in the league for the Foxes.

Schlupp, who can play as a full-back and winger, was pushed to the position of left winger.

Although Albrighton’s performance on the left in the past two league games was obvious to all.

However, the league is a long war.

It’s about the depth of the lineup, the willpower, and the medical level of the team.

In addition, the upcoming three-line battle of the league, the League Cup, and the Europa League will definitely require lineup rotation.

Therefore, the substitutes in the team did not feel like they were sitting on the bench, but they all swore in their hearts that they must perform well in training and limited playing time, so as to strive for more playing opportunities!

Compared with the Blue Foxes, who have won two consecutive victories and continue to top the standings, beating Manchester City and Manchester United, another team in the Premier League wearing blue jerseys, is having a hard time.

Perhaps affected by the team doctor incident, Chelsea, who came to Manchester in the second round of the Premier League, lost 3-0 cleanly under the boos of the Etihad Stadium!

The defending champions have not won in the first two rounds, which casts a visible shadow on Mourinho’s third year of Chelsea’s coaching career

No one could have imagined that the favorite to win the championship before the season would be in such a bad state.

However, most people believe that Chelsea’s decline will not last too long.

After all, the team’s strength and lineup are there, and it will rebound strongly soon.

At the same time, most media and football experts also believe that Leicester City’s hot state at the beginning of the season is also short-lived.

Last season, the Foxes, who returned to the Premier League, also started very fiercely.

Moreover, the opponents in the first two rounds of the game were average in strength. Sunderland was a relegation team, and West Ham United was just a mid-level team.

Isn’t it normal that these two teams can’t beat the Foxes, who ranked fifth in the league last season?

It is worth mentioning that the early Premier League schedule this season is very friendly to the Foxes.

In the first five rounds of the league, except for Tottenham in the third round, which can be regarded as a strong team, the others are mid-to-lower-level teams.

The weak strength of the opponents at the beginning of the season also gave Ranieri time to run in new tactics and integrate new players into the team.

And everyone believes that the White Hart Lane youth team led by Pochettino is the first test of the Foxes this season!

(End of this chapter)