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

Chapter 438 I finally had the chance to play center, but you made me lose so completely!

After finally returning to Leicester, Ling Feng specifically asked Mourinho for leave and did not return to Manchester with the team.

Mourinho was also very generous. He waved his hand and gave the whole team a day off.

He stayed in Leicester and treated his former teammates to a private Chinese restaurant for a good meal. He also shared life in Manchester with friends such as Vardy and Mahrez. It was not until 11 o'clock that evening that he drove back to his home in Cheshire.

Barbara, who had arrived home earlier, was wearing a slightly loose sweater and was curled up on the sofa, watching Netflix's popular TV series "House of Cards".

"Baby! I'm back!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ling Feng saw Barbara get up from the sofa and rush towards him barefoot.

Then, I gave myself a big hug!

"Why did you come back just now? I have been waiting for you for a long time."

"Are you waiting for me, or for the midnight snack I give you?"

Hearing this, Barbara put her arms around her boyfriend's neck, blinked her blue eyes, and smiled:

"Of course it's your midnight snack!"

After saying that, she kissed Ling Feng on the cheek, then took the takeaway bag from Ling Feng, quickly returned to the coffee table in the living room, and couldn't wait to open the takeaway bag.

The next second, the living room was filled with an alluring aroma and Barbara's excited voice:
"Wow! It's my favorite shrimp fried noodles!"

“And Kung Pao Chicken.”

Looking at his girlfriend, whose eyes sparkled like a big foodie, Ling Feng deliberately asked:
"Aren't you going to be doing a pictorial next week? How dare you have a midnight snack?"

"Hey, that's a winter clothing magazine. The clothes are thicker, so you don't have to worry about your flesh being seen!"

As she spoke, Barbara had already skillfully separated her chopsticks and picked up a takeaway box.
After taking a mouthful of the fragrant fried noodles, Barbara suddenly remembered and turned around to ask:

"So you want to go to bed first?"

"The team has a day off tomorrow, so I can stay with you for a while longer."

"Great! Then watch TV with me for a while!"

"It's my pleasure, my lady!"

When she's not working, this Victoria's Secret supermodel is no different from an ordinary girl who likes to watch TV series and study fashion.
Since the team had a day off, Ling Feng could finally spend some time strolling around Manchester with his girlfriend.

As one of England's most important international cities, Manchester's population is far less than that of London.

However, it is the earliest industrialized city in the world and has a long history.

Since joining the team, due to competitions and work, the two have basically not really visited the city's scenery.

So, after having a hearty breakfast the next morning, the two of them started their "One-Day Tour of Manchester".

Everywhere in the city, you can see relics of the capitalist industrial era and Manchester's urban landscape.

Salford Quays, The Lowry, Albert Square
Ling Feng still underestimated his popularity in Manchester City.

Even though both of them were wearing sunglasses and Ling Feng was wearing a baseball cap, he was still recognized by many loyal Manchester United fans while shopping!

You know, in a ranking list of a certain authoritative media, he and Barbara, the superstar and international supermodel, are the most famous celebrity couple in the UK except Beckham and Victoria!

The height, body shape and appearance of the two have been reported time and again by The Sun.

Any fan who knows about the Premier League will recognize these two people.

As it happens, Manchester is a football city!
Among a population of 500,000, there are 490,000 football fans!

After walking around for a while, people would come up to me and ask for autographs and photos.

In response to the fans' enthusiasm, Ling Feng simply explained that he was enjoying a rare vacation with his girlfriend, and quickly accepted the fans' requests for autographs.

The funniest thing is that a young girl wearing a Manchester City jersey, after recognizing the star player of their city's arch-rival, actually took out a marker and asked him to sign on her Manchester City jersey.

In response, Ling Feng politely declined the other party's request.

If Ling Feng was not sure that the other party was just too excited to see him and was not deliberately causing trouble, he would definitely have walked away in anger.

Finally, at the strong request of the Manchester City female fan, he left his signature on the white northern hemisphere with a marker.

And doing so also earned a roll of the eyes and a warning from his girlfriend:
"Next time, don't sign your name on another woman's breast!"

"yes sir!"

Seeing more and more fans coming forward to ask for autographs, Ling Feng and Barbara naturally realized that it was not advisable to stay here for long.

So the two of them immediately ran back to the car and set off for the next tourist destination.

For today's date, Ling Feng specially borrowed the bodyguard's car.

Even so, they are recognized wherever they go.

This is one of the side effects of being a celebrity.
Although, there were repeated interruptions from fans during the process.

However, Ling Feng and Barbara still had a very nice time wandering around Manchester.

that's enough.
. . .

The next day.

When Ling Feng returned to Carrington Base, he was immediately teased by his teammates:
"You went shopping with your girlfriend yesterday? You're such a romantic man!"

"I heard you signed on the chest of a female Manchester City fan?"

Ling Feng, who was sitting in front of the locker in the locker room and changing his sneakers, was not surprised at all.

In fact, as early as yesterday during the date, the taciturn bodyguard had reminded him that there were paparazzi following them.

Sure enough, the next morning, the freshly published "Sun" reported in detail his romantic date with his girlfriend in Manchester.

How detailed is it?

From the moment they got off the car, everything was captured on camera, including where they went, how many fans they signed autographs for, and the scene of the two of them kissing openly on the street.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that the two of them did not deliberately disguise themselves.

If they really want to avoid being discovered by the paparazzi, they can just wear scarves, wigs, masks and sunglasses and wrap themselves up tightly.

In that way, the probability of being followed by paparazzi can be greatly reduced.

Just when Ling Feng was being "interrogated" by his teammates, Mourinho appeared and rescued Ling Feng:
"Okay guys, time for training!"

After arriving at the training ground and completing the routine warm-up, Mourinho called Ling Feng to his side and said:
"Ling, when Zlatan is not here, I want you to try playing as a lone striker. What do you think?"

Ibrahimovic was absent due to injury, and Martial did not perform well as a center forward in the last game.

Therefore, the team must find a solution before Ibrahimovic returns.

Either change the formation or choose a more suitable person to play center.

In fact, there are two players in the team who can temporarily replace the center position.

For example, Rooney and Rashford. However, as Rooney ages, his physical function has declined seriously and he is no longer the bulldozer striker he once was.

Whether it is reaction or impact force, they are unable to shoulder the responsibility of attacking the bridgehead!

Rashford's problem is the same as Martial's.

There is speed and space on the wing, which allows us to take advantage of our speed and breakthroughs.

But once he got into a fight with the opponent's central defender in the middle, Rashford was not up to the mark in both physical confrontation and back-to-the-basket technique.

The team's striker line was seriously undermanned, which made Mourinho curse the club's transfer department again in his heart:

Stupid management!

If the team signs Andre Silva or a backup center in the winter window, he won't have to worry so much.

However, a sentence from the assistant coach inspired Mourinho:

"How about we push Ling to the front line and give it a try?"

This suggestion, only in Mourinho's mind,

Whether it is speed, physical confrontation, shooting, or back-to-the-basket techniques, Ling Feng has all the skills a striker must have!

Moreover, with Ling Feng's vision and passing ability, he can also retreat to organize the team, and then move forward to grab the ball after passing it!
Of course, such tactics are highly dependent on Ling Feng's personal performance.

Once Ling Feng is restricted by the opponent, or gets into a fight with the opponent's central defender, the team's offense will be

After all, whether it is Mata or Rooney, their role in the attacking midfielder position is definitely not as good as Ling Feng's.

However, their team's offense was extremely dependent on Ling Feng's performance.

Besides, if Ling Feng could be restricted so easily, he would not be the number one player in the Premier League!

Therefore, before the next round of league matches, Mourinho also planned to let Ling Feng adapt to the role of striker during training.

Facing Mourinho's arrangement, Ling Feng patted his chest and said:

Boss, I play as a striker and I'm pretty good at it too!
Soon, in the 11VS11 team training match, teammates also saw Ling Feng's position move forward.

And behind him was Mata.

Martial was very depressed about this.

It is clear that he played as a lone striker for most of the season under Van Gaal last season.

He thought that after Ibrahimovic was injured, he would be able to return to the center again.

In the last round against Leicester City, Mourinho did let him start as center forward.

Maybe it was because he hadn't played as a center in a while, or maybe his back-to-the-basket technique was not his strong point, but his performance was average throughout the game.

No goals, no assists.

Moreover, he lost the ball many times under Maguire's defense, which can be called an offensive terminator!
Therefore, even though he was a little dissatisfied, he could understand Mourinho's decision to push Ling Feng to the front line.

As far as he knows, Mourinho is not a very patient coach.
What left him speechless was the performance of the team's star player during training!
Especially when he saw Ling Feng directly push away central defender Phil Jones in the confrontation, and then calmly complete a low shot to score, Martial swallowed his saliva.

I finally got the chance to play center, but you made me lose so miserably!

Grass!
. . .

In the 25th round of the Premier League, Manchester United faced the challenge of Watford, a well-known Premier League lifter, at the Theatre of Dreams.

When Manchester United announced the starting lineup before the game, many people were surprised.

Mourinho did not continue to use the forward selection from the previous round of the league, but pushed Ling Feng to the front line and let him serve as the sole striker.

This is not the first time Ling Feng has played as a lone striker.

But it is the first time in Manchester United career!

In fact, with the development and evolution of modern football, the positions and responsibilities of players on the field have become increasingly blurred.

The midfielder can not only organize the pass, but also advance to shoot and return to defense.

As a free man in the frontcourt, Ling Feng's position in the frontcourt is not fixed. Sometimes he retreats to receive the ball and organize the team, sometimes he moves to the side to break through, and sometimes he rushes to score in front of the goal.

His playing style on the field is like the three roles of attacking midfielder, center forward and winger constantly changing at any time!

This is also one of the important reasons why he is so difficult to restrict!

In the game, Ling Feng, who played as Manchester United's lone striker for the first time, scored twice to tell everyone:

Whether he is playing as a number 10, number 7 or number 9, Ling Feng is at the ceiling level in the Premier League!

Three to one!

With these two goals, Ling Feng was able to surpass Ibrahimovic in the scorer list and lead the Premier League with 22 goals!
At the same time, after winning yet another league game, the "Red Devils" Manchester United unknowingly achieved eight consecutive league victories since the 18th round!

On the other hand, Chelsea, the biggest league title rival, has achieved a record of five wins and one loss in the six league games at the beginning of the second half of the season.

After their 13-game winning streak was ended by Tottenham in early January, they once again won five games in a row.

Among them, there are many strong dialogues such as defeating Liverpool away and defeating Arsenal at home.

Even so, Chelsea watched helplessly as Manchester United widened the points gap to eight points!
The eight-point gap is enough for Manchester United to temporarily put the league aside and prepare for the upcoming Champions League knockout rounds.

However, before the Champions League knockout rounds, Manchester United players also had a ten-day break.

Taking into account the players' physical problems, Mourinho waved his hand and gave the whole team two days off.

In the fifth round of the FA Cup during this period, Mourinho directly sent out a lineup of substitutes and young players from the youth team.

Obviously, he has already planned to give up the FA Cup.

In this regard, both Manchester United legends and fans expressed their understanding.

They just won the FA Cup last season, so it doesn't matter if someone else wins it this season.

After all, they are not short of this FA Cup championship, and they have bigger goals and ambitions!

However, what Mourinho did not expect was that the substitutes and youth team players performed so well that they directly defeated the Championship team Blackburn and advanced to the quarterfinals!

Mourinho was a little troubled by the result of this victory.

In this way, next month when the league and the Champions League are more important, this extra FA Cup match will be a big test of the team's physical fitness!

However, this is all a story for another day.

In Mourinho's coaching philosophy, meals should be eaten bite by bite and games should be played one by one.

As long as you play every game well, the championship will come naturally!

What he needs to consider now is how to defeat the aggressive French Ligue 1 leader Monaco in the first round of the upcoming Champions League knockout match!

(End of this chapter)