Football: Starting from being abandoned by Barcelona

The first round of the Premier League, the first round of the season, was a big success.

On July 25, Leicester City played the second warm-up match of the Premier League season, away to Mansfield, a team in the English League Two.

However, this time Leicester City did not go as smoothly as the first warm-up match, and finally drew 1-1 with the opponent.

The team lacked organization and fierce offensive throughout the game, and there was no good cooperation between the players.

As the league approaches, the team must find its form as soon as possible and enhance the team's integration.

However, Li Lei, who watched the two games in the audience, gradually began to see some tricks.

From the effect of watching the two warm-up matches, Li Lei gradually saw the tactical style and characteristics used by Ranieri.

First of all, Ranieri uses the traditional 4-4-2 formation, which is inconsistent with the 4-2-3-1 all-out attack and defense tactics currently adopted by Premier League teams, and seems too conservative.

Secondly, the team does not value possession of the ball, but uses high-position pressing to quickly counterattack after obtaining the ball.

This requires the players to have strong physical strength to support high-intensity pressure throughout the game, which also shows the advantages of the team's youth.

However, the cooperation and tacit understanding between the players still need to be constantly adjusted in training, and the current performance is really too poor.

On July 29, Leicester City started the third game of the Premier League warm-up match, facing the English League One team Burton away.

Li Lei, who was sitting on the bench, said to Vardy beside him: "Brother, do you think the opponents in these warm-up matches are too weak? After all, we are a Premier League team!"

Vardy smiled helplessly and said: "My big star, this is no longer Chelsea."

"Last season we were still fighting for relegation, and it was good to have these English League One teams come to play with us."

"After you left, the team's strength plummeted. Now is the time to slowly rebuild. I think the confrontation with weak teams is also conducive to cultivating the players' winning and losing mentality."

Li Lei realized that the team he came to was very different from the Leicester that won the championship that year.

At this time, the score on the field was 1:0, but Burton was leading.

Although it was just a warm-up match, Li Lei couldn't help but say to Vardy: "Brother, go talk to the captain and ask him to discuss with the coach to let us play. It's really uncomfortable to watch this."

Vardy simply refused: "I won't go. If you want to play, just go and tell him!"

Seeing that his old teammate had no intention of being fooled, Li Lei could only give up and continue to sit on the sidelines and watch the game silently.

As a new player in the team, Li Lei wanted to prove his strength and value. It was a normal idea to play and change the score for the team, but Vardy, as an old player, knew better the intention of Ranieri to let the substitutes play the whole game.

When the second half entered, after the game reached a certain point, the head coach Ranieri finally couldn't help but make a big change.

There is usually no limit on the number of substitutions in the warm-up match. Ranieri decided to let the players with average performance in the starting lineup go off the field and replace them with the main players headed by Li Lei and Vardy.

The two who had been sitting on the sidelines for a long time finally got the opportunity to play, which made Li Lei very excited.

The performance in the first half is enough to prove that it is difficult to defeat the opponent with the strength of substitutes and marginal players alone.

Ranieri sent the main players to hope that they would change the situation, which also tested the responsibility and strength of Li Lei and others.

There was still more than half of the game left, which made Li Lei and Vardy very excited.

Seeing Li Lei running on the field, Okazaki, who was replaced, was inevitably a little unwilling.

He originally wanted to use this warm-up match to impress the head coach Ranieri and strive for more league appearances.

But the performance in the first half was not outstanding, the tacit understanding between teammates was not good, and it was difficult for him to get the pass from his teammates when running in the frontcourt.

However, as soon as Li Lei and Vardy came on the court, the team was refreshed, and Leicester City began to dominate and control the rhythm of the game, and was no longer passive.

Looking at Li Lei's agile posture on the court, talking and laughing with Vardy, and the tacit cooperation between the two, Okazaki couldn't help but feel envious and ashamed.

But at the same time, he also realized that if he wanted to perform well, personal efforts alone were not enough, and he needed to have a chemical reaction with his teammates, which required tacit understanding and mutual trust cultivated through long-term training.

He still had a long way to go, and Okazaki was determined to work harder to adapt to the team faster and build tacit understanding with his teammates.

As long as he persevered, the opportunity would eventually come.

He believed in the future

One day, I can also help the team at a critical moment and grow from an unknown player to a star.

At the 60th minute of the game, Li Lei found the problem.

Leicester City now uses a 4-4-2 formation, and he and Vardy are the forward double arrows.

But the organization ability of the midfield is too weak, and it is difficult to effectively pass the ball to the front court and launch a joint attack.

Now that the problem has been discovered, let's start to solve it.

So Li Lei decided to take on the responsibility of the core of the organization. He kept retreating to the midfield and became the link between defense and offense.

With excellent vision and passing skills, Li Lei frequently obtained the ball and then distributed the ball to the wingers and midfielders on both sides.

Under his "command", the team's offense began to have a method.

Teammates gradually figured out Li Lei's ideas and actively cooperated with him. The whole formation became active and put great pressure on the opponent.

Ranieri stood on the sidelines, watching Li Lei take the initiative to retreat to the organization and cooperate with his teammates tacitly, and nodded with satisfaction.

This is the style of play he wants to see from Leicester City. Facing strong teams, they can choose to defend and counterattack, but against weak teams, they must take the initiative to attack and suppress their opponents.

Previously, Ranieri hoped to train young player Kante to serve as the core of the organization, but now it seems that Kante is too young to take on this important task for the time being.

And Li Lei's performance fully meets Ranieri's tactical requirements. He has the experience and vision to control the rhythm on the field.

An excellent coach needs to adjust tactics according to actual conditions and give the best candidates opportunities.

Moreover, Li Lei has proved himself to be the "commander" of the team's offense. Ranieri will fully support him to maximize the team's value.

With Li Lei as a strong core, Ranieri is full of confidence in the new season.

Ranieri was hesitant while observing.

It seems a bit of a waste of talent to let his talented new aid Li Lei serve as the core of the organization.

The team bought Li Lei, still hoping that he would become a striker terminator and end the attack in the frontcourt.

Just as Ranieri was still thinking, the situation on the field suddenly changed.

Li Lei kept organizing the attack in the middle and unknowingly brought the ball into the front of the opponent's penalty area.

Li Lei, who was still in control of the ball, glanced and found Vardy who was inserted at the back point.

So Li Lei raised his foot and made a straight pass. The ball rubbed the grass and passed through the defense line like a missile, and landed accurately at Vardy's feet.

Facing the flying ball, Vardy shot it directly without thinking, and the ball flew directly into the net.

This goal made Ranieri's eyes light up.

Maybe he was wrong before. A top star can play a huge value no matter where he is. This is Li Lei's confidence and strong ability.

With Li Lei, the versatile core, the team's tactics will be more rich and flexible.

Ranieri will give him enough trust and space to make this red star shine again in the sky of Leicester City!