Green Journey

Chapter 416 Manchester City Did It!

December 12, Leicester King Power Stadium, London time at 10:16.

There is still an hour and a half before the 15th round of the Premier League, the game between Leicester City and Manchester City, but at this time, a large number of fans are already gathering outside the King Power Stadium, and then enter the stadium through various channels.

At 16:20, the buses of Leicester City and Manchester City appeared successively.

Sitting on the bus, looking at the familiar street scenes outside the bus window, Chu Zheng felt both familiar and unfamiliar.

Although he only stayed in Leicester City for one year, Chu Zheng gained a lot in this short season.

Premier League assists leader.

The creator of the Premier League assists record of 30+ in a single season.

One of the creators of the miracle of Leicester City.

Premier League champions.

Champions League Cup.

In addition to these honorary titles that have already been obtained, what Chu Zheng remembers most is the unique dressing room atmosphere of Leicester City at that time.

Chu Zheng has never felt that kind of atmosphere, whether in Wolfsburg or the current Manchester City.

Chu Zheng still remembers that day in the tactical room of Leicester City, when the gentle Italian old man with glasses blushed and called out the target, the terrible morale of everyone burst out instantly.

At that moment, Chu Zheng could feel the high fighting spirit from every Leicester City player, and felt that he was among a pack of hungry wolves.

It was a strange atmosphere that was hard to describe. The combination of unity, harmony, and selflessness formed a unique dressing room atmosphere, a buff that belonged exclusively to Leicester City.

"Chu!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Welcome back!!!!!!!!!!"

Chu Zheng was wearing earphones, chewing gum, and carrying a shoulder bag. As soon as he got off the bus, he heard a burst of cheers.

Chu Zheng stopped immediately, followed the sound, and saw a group of fans wearing Leicester City home jerseys outside the guardrail holding up banners and waving at him.

Seeing this scene, Chu Zheng felt warm inside.

After Chu Zheng and Arteta said hello, they walked towards the group of fans, signed autographs and took photos together. They stayed for six or seven minutes before they were able to leave.

Just as he was about to turn right into the visiting team's locker room, several familiar figures appeared in Chu Zheng's sight.

Seeing Vardy, Mahrez, Morgan and Simpson, Chu Zheng smiled even more intensely.

The next few people stood in the passage, chatting and laughing, until the staff of Manchester City and Leicester City found them and then separated.

At 11:01 am on the 15th, BJ time, the live broadcast signal was connected to the LeTV Sports live broadcast room on time.

Seeing the director's gesture, Zhan Jun immediately looked at the camera, and said with a smile out of script: "Welcome to the 2016th round match between Leicester City and Manchester City in the 17-15 Premier League..."

After the words fell, all the live footage appeared in the player channel.

As soon as the camera cut, Zhang Lu and Zhan Jun saw Chu Zheng, who was standing at the front of the Manchester City queue, turned around and said something to Bravo behind him, then turned around and ran away.

"What's wrong?" Zhan Jun froze for a moment.

It was still Zhang Lu who had poisonous eyes and was overjoyed, and said, "Chu Zheng probably forgot to wear the captain's armband. Bravo should have reminded him just now."

"Haha!!!" Suddenly Zhan Jun burst into laughter.

It took a while to continue explaining with a smile: "Chu Zheng was elected as the fourth vice-captain of Manchester City last week. Today, because of Fernandinho's yellow card accumulation and suspension, David Silva did not start, so Chu Zheng wore Manchester City captain's armband."

After a while, when Chu Zheng reappeared in the camera, he had already worn Manchester City's blue captain's armband on his right arm.

"Chu, you are the first captain I have ever seen who forgot the captain's armband in the locker room!" On the right, Leicester City captain Morgan teased Chu Zheng.

Chu Zheng rolled his eyes and ignored this guy.

After a while, players from both sides appeared on the stage under the leadership of the referee team.

The camera jumped, and Leicester City's starting lineup appeared.

Leicester City: (442)

Goalkeeper: Ziller

Guards: Danny Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fox
Midfielders: Mahrez, Andy King, Amatey, Albrighton

Forwards: Vardy, Slimani

Reporting the starting players of Leicester City from the back to the front, Zhan Jun said with a smile: "The defending champion's life is not easy this season."

"So far this season, although Leicester City has won the first place in the Champions League group, after all, it was achieved when the overall strength of the group was not strong, and they have just won the last round of the Champions League group stage. Porto was conceded 5 goals in the game, creating the record for the largest loss of a Premier League team in the Champions League."

"As for the domestic league, the performance of Leicester City, who was the Premier League champion last season, is also surprising."

"As the defending champion, Leicester City's record in the first 14 rounds of the Premier League was 3 wins, 4 draws and 7 losses, and only scored 13 points. This embarrassing score is not even half of what it was in the same period last season."

"Yes, last season Leicester City scored 14 points in 27 rounds, ranking second in the Premier League!" Zhang Lu answered with a smile.

Zhan Jun nodded and continued: "Leicester City is now ranked 16th in the standings, fifth from the bottom, only two points away from Sunderland and Hull City, which are 11 points away from the relegation zone."

"Also because of its poor performance, many media in the Premier League recently believe that Leicester City may be relegated if it continues to be in such a downturn."

"And the relegation of the defending champion in the second year is not without precedent in English football."

"It was Leicester City's opponent tonight, Manchester City, who created this embarrassing record of winning the championship and being relegated!"

"Haha!" Hearing Zhan Jun's words, Zhang Lu burst out laughing, "Manchester City did do this, but it was in the late 30s."

Zhan Jun also laughed, and said: "So this is not a joke. If Fox City does not exert its strength or exert its strength in the second half, they may become a laughingstock from a hero."

"Ranieri is also a smart woman who can't live without rice. The performance of many new players who spent a lot of money on transfers this season is mediocre." Zhang Lu shook her head, "The departure of Chu Zheng and Kanter has created a crisis for the Leicester City midfielder. A huge hole comparable to a crater, not only the defensive strength of the midfield fell off a cliff, but the team's offense also had huge problems."

"The problem lies with Vardy. This last season's Premier League Golden Boot has played a total of 13 Premier League games so far this season, but he has only scored two goals. He has not scored in the Premier League for 741 minutes."

"Of course there is Chu Zheng's departure. No one in Leicester City can feed the ball into Vardy's mouth like Chu Zheng, and there are also Vardy's personal reasons."

"Yes, Ranieri also talked about Vardy's recent scoring shortage in the pre-match media interview. He said that Vardy worked hard in training and had a good mentality, but he lacked a little luck."

Zhang Lu shook her head, disagreeing with this, and said: "After a season of lessons, now the Premier League teams are much more honest when facing Leicester City, they will avoid pressing the defense too high, which makes Vardy There's not a lot of space to run around, to develop his individuality."

"After all, in a narrower space, a striker needs more spirituality and better technical ability to create more opportunities, but Vardy is not this type of striker at all."

"When it comes to skills, this is an area that Vardy is not good at, so this is the fundamental reason why Vardy's data has fallen off a cliff this season."

After the words fell, Manchester City's starting lineup appeared.

Manchester City: (451)

Forward: Aguero
Midfielders: De Bruyne, Yaya Toure, Chu Zheng, Gundogan, Navas

Defenders: Kolarov, Stones, Sagna, Zabaleta

Goalkeeper: Bravo
"Although Manchester City's recent performance is not good and they have won many consecutive draws, Guardiola still relies on the luxurious offensive lineup in the midfield to barely stabilize the ranking in the standings."

"Chelsea are currently at the top of the Premier League table with 32 points, followed by Manchester City and Arsenal with 31 points."

"In the last round against the Celtics, Otamendi suffered an injury and is expected to rest for more than a week. In addition, Kompany's old injury has relapsed, which makes the defenders Inadequate Manchester City is adding insult to injury."

Zhang Lu next to him saw Manchester City's starting lineup, and the corner of his mouth twitched immediately.

Sania is 33 years old, Kolarov is 31 years old, and Zabaleta is 31 years old. These three masters plus a sticky Stones, the picture makes Zhang Lu feel horrified.

Zhang Lu felt that Guardiola underestimated Leicester City a little too much.

Although the departure of Chu Zheng and Kanter this season has caused Leicester City's offensive and defensive strength to be much lower than before, the two main players, Vardy and Mahrez, are still there.

So the state of Leicester City's striker is poor, but it is complete after all.

Football is not afraid of ten thousand but just in case.

In addition, in Guardiola's tactical philosophy, high-pressure defense is a necessity, so once Manchester City's defense is over-pressed, it will inevitably give Leicester City enough depth.

Leicester City under Ranieri likes this kind of opponent.

At that time, Vardy and Mahrez will use this large depth of space to get their status back, so it is estimated that it will be difficult for Manchester City's defense line to defend.

At 01:30 BJ time, with the whistle of the referee Oliver, the game officially started.

After the game started, Zhang Lu was dumbfounded when she saw the positions of the Manchester City players, and the idea of ​​Guardiola's self-inflicted evil came to her heart.

On the field, after the kick-off of Manchester City, which attacked from right to left, the player's position is obviously a 3-back formation.

In the backcourt, Stones is in the center, Kolarov and Sagna are on the left and right sides, and Zabaleta ran to the right center midfielder.

In the middle, Yaya Toure is in the position of the midfielder, Chu Zheng is in the position of the midfielder, and Gundogan is in the position of the left midfielder.

On the other hand, De Bruyne and Navas went up to the front line, thus forming a 343 strange formation of a flat diamond-shaped midfielder.

As for Leicester City, the 442 formation is very clear, exactly the same as last season.

Manchester City has the ball in the backcourt, and Leicester City's formation shrinks its own half, and the striker moves back and forth around the center line, occasionally grabbing Manchester City's defense in the center circle area.

But this does not mean that Leicester City completely gave up the press in the midfield and the frontcourt today, and focused on defense.

Fans who are familiar with Ranieri know that this is just a tactical illusion, and Ranieri's real purpose is often hidden under this appearance.

At 1 minute and 30 seconds of the game, Leicester City got a throw-in from the left side of the center circle.

Fox directly threw the ball forward to the rib area more than ten meters away, but the ball couldn't pass the tall and long-legged Yaya Toure.

The ball was kicked by Yaya Toure and returned to Manchester City's backcourt.

Stones' ribs started, stuck Vardy in time, chased to the top of the arc to get the ball on the left rib, and quickly shifted laterally.

In the top area of ​​the arc, Kolarov took the ball, and at this time Leicester City's frontcourt pressure appeared.

Mahrez took every step, always stuck in the line of Kolarov's forward ball.

In a blink of an eye, Kolarov brought the ball laterally to the upper right corner of the penalty area.

Seeing that Mahrez had already pushed forward, and Yaya Toure still hadn't returned in the middle, Kolarov had no choice but to kick a long pass to the midfielder.

On the arc of the middle circle of Leicester City's half, Huth and Aguero advanced and retreated, and arrived at the landing point almost at the same time.

In the next second, the ball was pushed forward by Huth behind Aguero without any surprise.

The landing point is at the front of the 30-meter area on the left rib of Manchester City's half.

Mahrez was the first to arrive, and crossed directly to the right without stopping the ball.

In the middle, Slimani turned to face the top of the arc and stopped the ball perfectly.

At the same time, on the right side of the top of the arc, Vardy is between Stones in the middle and Kolarov in the rib, and he is not offside.

Vardy, who looked sideways at Slimani, turned quickly to the right, facing the Manchester City penalty area.

At the moment when Vardy started, Slimani rushed behind Yaya Toure and approached, his left foot went straight to the right rib of the penalty area.

Vardy did not stop the ball, gave the ball to the front from the left, and then used speed to throw Kolarov on the right directly behind him.

On the right side of the penalty area, after Vardy caught up with the ball, he faced Bravo who was attacking, and made a round with his right foot, directly hitting the lower corner on the far side of the goal.

In a blink of an eye, the ball crossed the goal line and entered the Manchester City goal, hitting the side net trembling.

"Boom!!!!!!!!!" The next second, the King Power Stadium erupted instantly, and the sudden sound wave even dispelled the light rain that kept falling in the night sky.

"The ball went in!!!"

"Just 2 minutes into the game, Jamie Vardy broke his 741-minute scoring drought!"

"Incredible! Leicester City have made a fantastic start!"

In the LeTV live broadcast room, Zhang Lu and Zhan Jun's faces were full of surprise.

They obviously didn't expect that Leicester City would score so early, or the goal of Vardy who was in poor form they just mentioned.

On the sidelines, Guardiola was a little confused. He didn't pay attention to the ball. He was chatting with Arteta just now, but he turned his face and scored.

Next to him, Ranieri, who was wearing a down jacket and buckled the hat of the down jacket to keep out the rain, stood in the rain and raised his arms in celebration.

On the field, Chu Zheng was more confused than Guardiola at this time.

Chu Zheng was really tired of his own defense line.

Did the defense make a mistake just now?
No!

Really do not have!

Kolarov had already seen Vardy in advance and started to block this gap.

But in the end, Kolarov, who was old and frail, was still stuck behind him with his starting speed by the young and strong Vardy who was in his prime.

There is also Mahrez's perfect pass with a stop and pass, which really grasped the timing of the attack just right.

Slimani did not hesitate, and directly sent a scalpel through, coupled with Vardy's speed, formed a typical Leicester City-style goal.

Chu Zheng is too familiar with this kind of goal, because he also played like this last season.

If you really want to find someone to take the blame for this conceded goal, it can only be the goalkeeper Bravo.

Chu Zheng saw it quite clearly just now. Although Bravo came out early to intercept Vardy's one-handed goal, this guy didn't completely seal the far corner.

(End of this chapter)