Green Journey

Chapter 169 The Hammers help West Ham United!
On August 8th, Leicester City went to London, more than 15 kilometers away, to play against West Ham United, their opponents in the second round of the Premier League.

From the 20s to the early 70s, the team had its ups and downs in England's top league, League One, and the second division.

Therefore, West Ham United is also dubbed an elevator by fans in the Premier League, but their well-known nickname is the Premier League Hammers.

In addition, West Ham United has also been hailed as the "Football Academy" by the English media. Over the years, West Ham United has continuously sent many talented young players to national teams at all levels.

Although West Ham has a long history, their glory days can be traced back to the early 60s.

At that time, Ron Greenwood took over the coach of the team, and then he led West Ham to the 1964 FA Cup and the 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup.

But this is not the pinnacle of their glory.

It was 1966 that really made England remember the name of this team.

In the World Cup final, three West Ham United players became the heroes of England's first World Cup victory.

However, this brilliance only lasted for a short ten years. In the next few decades, the Hammers helped West Ham United sink and recover.

But in the past two years, West Ham United has been an ordinary member of many small clubs in the Premier League, fighting for relegation every year.

However, this year seems to be a little different.

In the first round of the Premier League, West Ham United played away against the Premier League giants Arsenal.

Before the game, the Premier League media and fans generally believed that Arsenal won the game without any difficulty.

However, the result was Arsenal 0-2 West Ham United, which was a super upset and shocked everyone's eyes.

Therefore, this game made Ranieri, who returned to the Premier League, attach great importance to it again.

At 21:50 p.m. BJ time, the live broadcast signal was connected to the LeTV Sports live broadcast room.

Immediately, the spirits of countless Chinese fans waiting in front of the computer were lifted.

"Fans and friends, good evening everyone, welcome to watch..."

"This game will be commented on-site by Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu!"

In the live broadcast room of LeTV Sports, Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu have entered the working state of explaining.

"In today's game, Leicester City has an overall advantage in terms of player value."

"Hey!" Hearing Zhan Jun's words, Zhang Lu grinned happily, "Chu Zheng alone can match half of the players in West Ham United."

After the words fell, the live broadcast camera suddenly cut to the coaches of both sides on the sidelines.

"It can be said that the head coaches of the two teams have made a fantastic start in the first round of the league!" Looking at Ranieri's kind old face on the screen, Zhan Jun grinned.

"West Ham United can win against Arsenal. On the one hand, they ordered and banned them on the field and showed top-level organization and discipline. On the other hand, it was actually caused by Arsenal themselves."

Zhan Jun nodded and continued: "West Ham's defensive formation of three central defenders and double defensive midfielders is indeed difficult to break through, but Arsenal's midfield performance in that game was really unprecedentedly bad."

"Old problem! After Vieira left, Arsenal has not found a suitable successor in the midfield!"

"Arsenal will have a headache when they meet a team like West Ham United, which is tall and burly, likes to hold high and play with a rough style of play!" Zhang Lu laughed.

Not long after, the starting lineups of both sides were displayed on the live broadcast screen.

West Ham United: (433)

Goalkeeper: Adrian

Guards: Jenkinson, Winston Reed, Obonna, Cresswell
Midfielders: Noble, Oxford, Kouyatt
Forwards: Zarate, Diaf LS Co, Payet

"In the summer transfer window, West Ham United invested 2000 million pounds to buy Payet and Obonna from Marseille and Juventus respectively to strengthen their defense and offense."

"Payet and Obonna both played very well in the first leg."

"Especially Payet, the French striker. This player is quite comprehensive and can play multiple positions such as attacking midfielder, avant-garde, striker and center."

Hearing Zhan Jun's words, Zhang Lu nodded, "The most important thing is that this player can perform well in multiple positions!"

Leicester City: (442)

Forwards: Vardy, Shinji Okazaki

Midfielders: Albrighton, Drinkwater, Chu Zheng, Mahrez
Defenders: Schlupp, Morgan, Huth, De Laet

Goalkeeper: Schmeichel

"As expected, after Chu Zheng had an excellent performance against Sunderland in the first round, Ranieri put him in the starting lineup."

Hearing Zhan Jun's words, Zhang Lu chuckled and said, "Actually, I don't think there is any need for Ranieri to do anything extra."

"When Chuzheng was in Wolfsburg, Dieter Heiking told the media many times that Chuzheng was very fast in understanding tactics and had a smart brain that was different from ordinary players. Let Chu Zheng go!"

"Is he still called Ranieri if you don't keep it?" Zhan Jun asked back.

"Haha!" Zhang Lu immediately jumped up and down with joy.

At 22:[-] BJ time, with the whistle of Anthony Taylor in this game, the game between West Ham United and Leicester officially started at the London Olympic Stadium.

On the field, Leicester City, wearing a white jersey, attacked from left to right.

After the kick-off, whether it was Leicester City or West Ham United playing at home, they played very cautiously.

But not long after the game started, West Ham United played a good-quality attack.

At 1 minutes and 09 seconds of the game.

After West Ham United hit from the right side a little bit to the wing area 30 meters away from Leicester City's goal, it was directly blocked by Chu Zheng, Morgan, Schroop and Albrighton. .

West Ham United did not insist on this wing attack, and the right winger Zarate quickly returned the ball after taking the ball.

The ball was passed all the way back to West Ham's right central defender Winston Reid on the sidewalk of West Ham's backcourt, and then quickly transferred to the left flank through left central defender O'Bonner.

After West Ham United left back Cresswell took the ball, he directly made a low-altitude long pass over 40 meters.

At the front of the left rib at the top of the arc, Huth, De Laet and West Ham United striker Sakho among them sprinted side by side.

But Sacco is obviously much faster than Huth and Draet.

But defense sometimes doesn't need to be fast.

Since he couldn't get the ball, Huth seized a position that was conducive to defense, and he followed Sakho from behind.

De Laet is also very tacit, he received protection on the sideline of the penalty area to prevent Huth from being broken through.

On the wing, Sako was completely unable to turn around by Huth.

Soon Sako gave up the idea of ​​turning around, started to bring back, and then gave the ball to Noble, the right midfielder of West Ham United who came to the front of the ribs.

At the same time, Cresswell also came along the wing, and quickly established a three-on-three situation in the rib area with Sacco and Noble.

Seeing Mahrez and Drinkwater standing in the left and right positions in front of him, Noble did not catch the ball, but hit the ball to Creswell on the wing, and then quickly slanted into the wing.

There was a small pause after Cresswell received the ball, and then passed the ball forward.

A simple cooperation between the two penetrated Leicester City's rib defense.

On the outside of the penalty area, Noble received the ball again.

But Drinkwater has a way to learn, and he is also so strong that he can't turn around and face the penalty area.

Yet Noble is no Sacco.

This player is also a representative figure in the fairy tale of one person, one city in world football.

Noble has been in West Ham United for more than ten years, and he is familiar with every plant and tree in West Ham.

On his own court, he is fearless!

Drinkwater was afraid that if he stuck too close, Noble would take advantage of the loopholes, so he pushed Noble to the front and rear of the sideline and opened up some distance.

As a result, this gave Noble room to display his abilities.

Soon, Noble looked as if he was being forced by Drinkwater to turn back and pass Cresswell back along the touchline.

As a result, in the next second, Noble suddenly dialed the ball back, turned to face the baseline, and then squeezed past Drinkwater abruptly.

Seeing that Noble was about to enter the penalty area from the middle of the sideline of the big penalty area, Drinkwater had to stretch out his foot and trip Noble.

Seeing his own captain being brought down, the Hammer fans booed all over the sky at the London Olympic Stadium.

Chu Zheng, who was standing on the left side of the top of the arc, felt helpless.

If the defense was replaced by Kanter this time, Chu Zheng believed that Noble would have no chance of breaking through.

Kanter is the best player Chu Zheng has ever seen in his professional career, comparable to De Bruyne.

It's a pity that Kanter is sitting on the bench.

(End of this chapter)