Green Journey

Chapter 189 Once again declared failure!
On September 9, the whole team of Leicester City went to the Britannia Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England for an away game against Stoke City.

This team is definitely not too unfamiliar to fans who are familiar with the Premier League. They have a very resounding title, 'City in the Sky'.

Moreover, the holder of the longest goal record in world football is the goalkeeper Begovic who just transferred from Stoke City to Chelsea this year.

In the 2013-14 season against Southampton, Begovic scored a 91.9-meter ultra-long-range goal from inside the penalty area.

Founded in 1863, Stoke City is the second oldest football club in the world after Notts County.

In the 151-year team history, Stoke City has not achieved too many honors.

The 2008-09 season was Stoke City's first Premier League season.

Since the 08-09 season, Stoke City has stayed in the Premier League and has become one of the many relegation teams in the Premier League.

However, in the past two years, Stoke City's performance has shown an upward trend.

In the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, Stoke City scored in the top ten of the Premier League standings, ranking ninth.

Especially the 2014-15 season, which can be said to be Stoke City's greatest season.

A 3-2 home victory over the sought-after Arsenal and a 6-1 sweep over Liverpool discredited the giants and made the outside world realize that this ancient team is constantly rising.

But so far this season, Stoke City is hard to find a win.

After 5 rounds of the Premier League, they have achieved 2 draws and 3 losses.

But even so, no one dared to underestimate this team that has always adhered to the traditional British bombing tactics.

Because if you are a little careless and don't pay attention to air defense, you will be blown to death by this city in the sky!

Now in the Premier League, even the giants are frightened when they encounter Stoke City, especially those teams with a lower average height in the team.

But after the start of the game, what made countless Leicester City and Chinese fans dumbfounded was that the old man Ranieri acted like a monster again.

Ranieri didn't know what to think in this game, and he didn't play the double midfielder 442 formation that seems to be the best at present, but played a single midfielder 433.

Kanter's midfielder, Drinkwater's left midfielder, and Chu Zheng appeared in the right midfielder position.

The consequence of Ranieri's demonization is that the fans on the side of Leicester City were collectively beaten by Stoke City.

In the 12th minute of the game, Mahrez made a high pressure press in the upper right corner of the Stoke City penalty area.

Stoke City left back Eric Peters quickly turned around before Mahrez approached him and sent a 30-meter-long direct pass from the side.

On the left side of the middle circle, Anautovic with his back facing the ball galloping close to the ground, he used his tall body as a cover, and suddenly turned around when the ball was close to him, and let the ball pass.

With such a simple action, Draet, who was closely behind him, was caught off guard.

After a successful breakthrough, Arnautovic made a long-distance attack along the wing, directly maxing out Stoke City's offensive speed.

After coming to the left side of the offensive third zone, Anautovic changed the line to the ribs and continued to advance with the ball.

Draet chased back in time and slammed into Anautovic.

In the end, however, he was bounced back and almost lost his center of gravity and fell, while Arnautovic just wobbled a little.

After entering the rib area, Anautovic, who was running laterally, directly hit the ribs.

His kick not only penetrated the defenses of Reed Linkwater and Kanter in the rib area, but also penetrated the defense of Leicester City.

The ball jumped from Kanter and Drinkwater impartially, and went straight to the penalty spot in the middle of the penalty area.

At the moment of passing the ball, Bo Yang followed up in the middle at the top of the arc. While Morgan's attention in the top area of ​​the arc was attracted by Stoke City striker Walters who was running from the ribs, he rushed past Morgan.

On the left of the penalty spot, Bojan received a pass from Arnautovic.

Facing Schmeichel who went out to the end line of the small penalty area, Bojan calmly pushed a shot from the near corner and rewritten the score to 1-0.

"During this period of time, it can be seen that the players of Leicester City seem to be a little uncomfortable with Ranieri's 433 formation!"

"Yes, the players' positioning is a bit loose. When Leicester City faced Stoke City's offensive battle, it gave people the feeling that any direct pass could easily be torn apart."

"Stoke City is similar here, and it also leaves a lot of space for Leicester City behind!"

"Chu Zheng also sent two very beautiful through balls. It's a pity that the striker trio of Vardy, Mahrez and Shinji Okazaki haven't found the shooting feeling today!"

In the voice of Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu's commentary, Chu Zheng quickly launched a beautiful offensive organization against Stoke City's goal.

In the 15th minute of the game, after Chu Zheng deliberately slowed down the offensive rhythm, Leicester City's panic after losing the ball was relieved to a large extent.

Chu Zheng retreated to the center circle area of ​​his own half and got Morgan's diagonal pass from the center.

Chu Zheng took a glance and found that Stoke City's right back Glenn Johnson was out of the back line and a bit forward, so he raised his foot without saying a word and kicked a precise through ball.

The ball started from the center line, and like a sharp knife, it went obliquely to the left side 30 meters away.

The moment Chu Zheng passed the ball, Glenn Johnson, who was belatedly aware of his mistake, turned around quickly.

But it was too late.

Schlupp was right in front of him, taking advantage of Glenn Johnson's turn around time, Schlupp sped up and rushed over.

After meeting with the ball passed by Chu Zheng at the front of the offensive third area, he waded the ball vigorously with his first touch, throwing away Glenn Johnson with speed.

However, what left Chu Zheng speechless was that Schlupp, who entered from the left sideline of the penalty area, directly chose to hit the goal.

Although the quality of Schlupp's close-angle shot was good, it was easily blocked by Stoke City goalkeeper Butland in the end, allowing central defender Geoff Cameron to clear the siege in time.

Chu Zheng's face turned dark when he saw this scene.

He doubted very much that Schroop had muscles in his head.

It is obvious that Vardy and Mahrez are outflanking the middle and the back point. It is not better to sweep the ball directly in front of the goal or the back point. Why do you have to force the goal when the opponent's central defender blocks his right foot?

That angle is really not a big threat to the goalkeeper.

Witnessing this wonderful attack, Leicester City fans are rejoicing.

Soon, Chu Zheng surprised these Leicester City fans again and shocked the more than 2 home fans of Stoke City.

In the 19th minute of the game, the central defender of Stoke City used a long pass in the backcourt to launch a direct attack.

The ball skipped the transitional midfield process and hit the left rib area of ​​the third attacking area directly.

Huth won the header competition with Stoke City forward Walters on the landing point, and he headed the ball to Chu Zheng, who was two or three meters in front of him.

Chu Zheng's back was facing Stoke City for half the time.

Seeing the ball falling to his left, he quickly turned halfway to the left, swung his right foot over and made a volley pass.

The ball landed on the arc of the middle circle on the left side of Stoke City's half. After touching the ground, it quickly bounced forward and bounced from the left side of Stoke City to the left side of Mark Wilson.

But it's a pity that Vardy didn't expect Chu Zheng to pass it on like this.

He was slow to start, and could only watch as Mark Wilson, who was half scared to death with the ball, turned and chased back and passed back to the goalkeeper.

Chu Zheng's long-eyed pass on the back of the ball once again made countless fans in the stands shout wonders.

On the sidelines, Stoke City coach Hughes broke out in cold sweat from Chu Zheng's pass.

If Vardy and Chu Zheng formed a tacit understanding just now, then with Vardy's speed, it would definitely be a one-shot goal.

Ranieri next to Hughes frowned at this time.

Ranieri was disappointed that his experiment had once again failed.

Playing a 433 formation today, he actually wanted to see if he could liberate Chu Zheng in another way.

As a result, Chu Zheng's side seemed to be fine, but Vardy, Mahrez and other players showed discomfort.

The 433 formation was once popular in world football in the 70s and 80s.

Countless giants have used this formation.

For a long time, the 433 formation was widely regarded as the most powerful offensive formation ever in world football.

However, with the continuous development of football concepts, tactics also pay more attention to the balance of offense and defense. 433 has lost its former style in today's world football.

But the teams that dare to adopt this formation generally have extremely good players.

Ranieri also thinks so, but the result seems to be very different from his expectations.

However, when Ranieri was preparing to switch back to the 442 formation in the second half, the cruel reality gave him a stick.

(End of this chapter)