Full-level pass, please call me the speaker of the Three Lions

Chapter 432 Half-time Champion, Defensive Issues

By completing the achievements of [Four assists in the Premier League] and [IFFHS Organiser of the Year] in succession, Ling Feng gained six free attribute points.

Ling Feng did not hesitate at all and directly spent four points to max out his [Endurance] which had already reached 95.

Then add the remaining two points to [Flexibility], bringing it to just 80!

The better the body flexibility, the easier it is for players to perform various difficult moves.

The reason why the 1.90-meter-tall Ibrahimovic can often perform various jaw-dropping goal-scoring moves such as "scorpion tail" and "overhead hook" on the court is largely because he is a black belt master in karate!
Years of martial arts training have made his body more flexible than most football players.

Just in the last round of the league, after witnessing Ibrahimovic score a goal with a flying kick, Ling Feng immediately found Ibrahimovic the next day and asked him to introduce him to a reliable karate teacher.

In addition to improving his body flexibility and preparing for future overhead kicks, Ling Feng also wants to improve his fighting ability in case of emergency.

Although he carries guns that are banned in the UK, he also has a professional bodyguard team composed of retired special forces soldiers, so he is guaranteed safety whether he is at home or out.

However, in Ling Feng's opinion, there will always be times when he travels alone or is alone with his girlfriend.

If you encounter any criminals or dangers, you will be able to protect yourself.

Of course, in that situation, running away is definitely the best option.

With his speed, just as the criminals were about to attack, he had already run ten meters away in one leap.

The criminals couldn't even smell his car's exhaust!

In response to Ling Feng's request, Ibrahimovic acted as if "you finally figured it out" and introduced a karate master to Ling Feng.

Just like that, Ling Feng's personal team also had a special member.
After the bloodbath at Sunderland on Boxing Day, Manchester United had their last game of the first half on the last day of 2016:
Home game against newly promoted team Middlesbrough who are at the bottom of the league!
Facing Middlesbrough, a relegation team that had drawn with Manchester City and Arsenal this season, Mourinho did not dare to make large-scale rotations for fear of a setback.

In the end, under the loud singing at Old Trafford, Ling Feng and Rashford shone, passing and shooting to each other, helping the team to secure the last victory of 2016!
With the 19th round of the league coming to an end, the Premier League is halfway through!
There was no suspense at all, the "Red Devils" Manchester United won the half-season championship of this season with a record of 52 wins, one draw and one loss in games, and points!

Ranked second is the "Blues" Chelsea, with 47 wins, draws and losses in games, and points!

From 14th place at the same time last season to second place in the league today, Chelsea has experienced a roller coaster year.

After taking over the Blues, Conte was not favored for a while.

However, after losing consecutively to Liverpool and Arsenal, two title rivals, Conte showed the decisiveness of a head coach and resolutely changed the formation to 343.

Then, there was a climax of 12 consecutive wins that broke the team’s record!

It was precisely because of this winning streak that Chelsea was not left behind by Manchester United, who were far ahead of the rest, and was able to stubbornly follow behind the Red Devils and put pressure on them.

It is worth mentioning that Conte's three-back formation not only gave Chelsea a new lease of life, but also brought them back into the Premier League championship race.

It also allowed the Premier League to see the many advantages of the three-back formation, broadened the horizons of Premier League coaches, and inspired countless coaches to explore new tactics.

It is no exaggeration to say that Conte is the ambassador for promoting the three-back tactical formation in today's football!

In third place is Liverpool, the "Red Army", with 42 points from games, wins, draws and losses.
The fourth place has 39 wins, draws and four losses in games, with points, surpassing Tottenham, its city rival with the same points, by goal difference, and the team most suitable for fourth place is the "Gunners" Arsenal!

Arsenal: You are the most suitable for the fourth place, your whole family is the fourth place!

In sixth place is the "Blue Moon" Manchester City led by Guardiola. After 19 rounds, they only got 11 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses.

For most Manchester City fans who have placed high hopes on the team, such a half-season result is really hard to be satisfied with.

Obviously, Guardiola, who is used to playing at full level both in La Liga and the Bundesliga, is still adapting to the rhythm of the Premier League and understanding the team's lineup.

Especially when it comes to choosing his favorite starting eleven, Gua Gua suffers from decision-making difficulties.

In half a season, he made a total of 64 changes in the starting lineup, more than all Premier League head coaches and 47 more than league leader Manchester United!
Fortunately, Guardiola's Manchester City has been unstoppable in the Europa League and has basically no rivals.

In the eyes of many media and fans, even if they fail to win the Premier League title in the first season.

However, if we can qualify for the Champions League and win the Europa League, it will definitely be an extraordinary achievement!

After halfway through the league, the top six spots in the standings are still occupied by the BIG6.

However, the situation in the championship race has become clearer.

The "Red Devils" Manchester United, who lost only one game in the first half, have been sitting firmly at the top of the league table since the first round under Mourinho's transformation, showing the domineering attitude of "Who else but us in the Premier League"!

Thanks to the outstanding performances of new players such as Ling Feng, Ibrahimovic and Kante, the team has opened up a gap of up to ten points over third-placed Liverpool!
In everyone's opinion, the only team that can pose a threat to Manchester United's title in the second half of the season may be Chelsea, the only "Blue Army" fighting on a single front this season!

Especially when Manchester United starts their journey to the Champions League knockout stage in the second half of the season, and is distracted by the FA Cup and League Cup, Manchester United may fall behind.

At that time, Chelsea, who will focus on the league, will have an opportunity!
The premise is that they must continue to maintain their current hot state and continue to catch up
. . .

As the season is halfway through and the winter transfer window opens, major media outlets have also conducted summary reports on the first half of the season.

The first to be named was the "Best Player of the First Half of the Premier League"

This selection is no surprise!

All media, whether it is The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Manchester Evening News, or even The Sun, which always likes to join in the fun and gain traffic, believe that the best player halfway through this season is Ling Feng, who has titles such as "Red Devils' Destined Son", "Legendary No. 7 Jersey Owner", and "The First Player in the Premier League"!
The most dribbles per game in the Premier League!
The Premier League and even the top five leagues have created the most chances!
The average score after the game was as high as 8.2 points, breaking the sofascore Premier League average score record!

What makes people most intuitively feel how strong this 21-year-old Red Devils superstar is, of course, is his personal data.

In just 17 league appearances, he contributed unprecedented explosive data:

Eighteen goals and twenty-two assists!
More than two goals per game!

You know, in the football world, players who can create a goal (goal or assist) per game are basically the top players and superstars in major leagues!
However, Ling Feng directly doubled this important criterion for measuring players' abilities.

In short, other superstars have a natural one-to-zero attribute, but he has a natural two-to-zero attribute!
And this performance was also recognized by the Premier League
"He is Manchester United's savior!" - Manchester United legend and former captain Gary Neville
"He is the best player in the entire Premier League!" - Arsenal head coach "Professor" Wenger

"He will definitely be the next Ballon d'Or winner!" - England legend and top fan Gary Lineker

"We didn't lose to Manchester United, we lost to Ling Feng!" - Manchester City coach Guardiola
"He can do anything!" - Liverpool manager Klopp

More than one head coach or player was conquered by Ling Feng's performance when talking about him, and gave him praise wholeheartedly.

The praise from opponents is the greatest recognition for Ling Feng.

If he had already shown his superstar strength last season, this season, after transferring to a new team, he directly showed a dominant performance that was clearly one level higher than all other players!
Look at Leicester City without Ling Feng and then look at Manchester United with Ling Feng, that is enough to explain everything!
In addition to being recognized by everyone as the best player of the first half, Ling Feng was also selected as the best signing of the first half by major media.

Although players such as Ibrahimovic, Kante, Mane and others are on the candidate list.

However, considering the impact of the players on the team's record, Ling Feng, who has scored 40 goals alone, is definitely the best signing in the Premier League this season!
You know, before the start of the Premier League, most British media and fans believed that Ling Feng's strength, potential, and age advantage were worth Manchester United breaking the transfer fee record in football history.

However, the media and fans of the other four major leagues except the Premier League think that Manchester United just has a lot of stupid people and a lot of money, and Ling Feng is not worth so much money.

Moreover, they also believe that carrying the title of "football's No. 21 transfer king" and a sky-high transfer fee of over million euros will make the -year-old boy feel under tremendous pressure and perform poorly.

However, as half a season passed, the entire European football world, and even world football, realized that they were wrong!
And it couldn’t be more wrong!
Ling Feng, who has a big heart, directly turns pressure into motivation and goes full throttle!

In the selection of the "Best Team at the Halftime", there were differences among major media.

Some people think Manchester United, some think Chelsea, and some think Liverpool.

Anyway, the top three teams in the league have all undergone a complete transformation and have put in eye-catching performances.

As the top of the league, Manchester United naturally became the focus of the spotlight.

Close media and famous players who always like to brag have begun to give advice to Manchester United.

For example, introducing a backup center forward would enhance the depth of the team's offensive line and allow Ibrahimovic to get more rest time;

For example, let the team's youth players get more playing time and cultivate the next generation of Red Devils;

For Manchester United and Mourinho, whether to recruit players in the winter window is the primary issue they need to consider at the moment.

As the team's performance was unexpectedly good, Manchester United's top management was also very happy and felt that Mourinho was the "special one" who led Manchester United to achieve revival.

As a result, Sandezi even took the initiative to ask Mourinho which players were on the winter transfer list.

As a head coach, Mourinho certainly hopes to have as many capable players under his command as possible.

It would be best to get the three strongest players in today's football, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and Ling Feng, into one team.

In this way, he can sit firmly in the coaching seat and enjoy the perfect performance of the three players working together to defeat their opponents on the court.

However, for a mature team, the more stars it has, the better it is not.

Especially a super giant like Manchester United.

There were too many people. Not only was it difficult to allocate playing time, but even the cafeteria couldn’t accommodate so many people.

If the stars can't play or eat, they will feel emotional.

Under the rotation tactics, most of Manchester United's players got the chance to play.

Even Schweinsteiger, who had a conflict with Mourinho before the start of the season, got the chance to start in the cup match.

However, as Kante and Herrera have become more and more in sync, this pair has become Mourinho's most trusted midfield partner this season.

Of the 19 league games, the two played together in 15 of them.

Other midfielders, such as Fellaini and Carrick, can only sit on the bench and be on standby at any time.

For Fellaini, who is nearly 30 years old, and Carrick, who is nearing retirement, the substitute role is not unacceptable.

But for French midfielder Schneiderlin, who is at the peak of his career, this is hard to accept.

Schneiderlin has repeatedly put pressure on the club and head coach through his agent, believing that he has no chance to start at Manchester United and hopes to leave.

At the same time, West Bromwich Albion and Everton are keeping an eye on Schneiderlin's movements, both wanting to buy the frustrated French midfielder from Manchester United to strengthen the team's midfield strength.

Mourinho maintained a friendly and open attitude towards this.

Anyway, Schneiderlin was not in his game plan, and he is not a very capable player.

Keeping him will only let his emotions affect the current good atmosphere of the team.

It would be better to sell it, get some transfer fee back, and then make good use of it in the winter window.

As a result, he has accepted inquiries from West Brom and Everton.

Next, it depends on which club offers more money and where the players are more willing to go.
In addition to Schneiderlin who wants to leave the team, Weinsteiger also has very little playing time.

However, Schweinsteiger did not get upset like Snyderlin, but trained diligently and waited for his chance to come.

This is also the reason why Mourinho took the initiative to apologize to him privately and transferred him back to the first team to participate in training and games.
At the moment, Mourinho is quite satisfied with the team's offense.

However, the defense was not good enough.

In 19 league games plus six Champions League games and several more, they only managed four clean sheets.

This is unacceptable for Mourinho, who has always regarded team defense as the core of his coaching!
This means that the team's defense still has huge room for improvement.

How to improve the quality of defense is a problem that he and the coaching staff need to improve.

After half a season of running-in, Mourinho's Manchester United's defensive system has been initially established.

However, in Mourinho's view, the existing defensive players cannot meet his requirements.

Especially the center back!
The central defender is the mainstay of a team and the most important position in the back line.

But Bailly, Smalling, Jones, Rojo, they are all reckless men.

The only central defender who used his brain to play football was Blind, who was a temporary guest and had no physical advantage at all.

However, as the team won game after game, the team's defense and backcourt players showed signs of improvement.

This also made Mourinho a little hesitant:
Should we maintain the current lineup and continue to fight in the second half of the season?

Or spend a lot of money to buy a capable new central defender in the winter window? !
(End of this chapter)