If you look at it from the perspective of Pan Yi as a traveler, in his previous life, a large part of the reason why Leicester City was able to win the championship this season was actually due to the weakness of the Premier League's traditional powers.

Leicester City's championship score is only 81 points, which is only higher than Manchester United's 80 points this season. It is the lowest championship score in the Premier League in the past ten years.

What's even more frightening is that the scores starting from second place are only about 70 points.

This shows how chaotic the Premier League is this season and how unstable the performance of strong teams is.

Let’s talk about Chelsea in the previous life. The aging defense made it difficult to guard against. Last season’s key players such as Fabregas, Costa and Hazard suddenly lost their form. The team was also in a state of internal strife due to the team doctor’s incident. They only won four games in the first fifteen rounds.<

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The magic bird Mourinho is no longer magical. He was dismissed secretly in the third year after entering the palace. Chelsea fell out of the championship team early.

Then there is Manchester United, who purged all their forward players before the season and only bought Martial at the last minute.

In the end, the offense failed, and the number of goals scored ranked in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League. In the middle of the season, they were winless in six games, giving up the initiative to compete for the championship.

Manchester City introduced European hot favorite De Bruyne, but suffered from injuries and difficulties caused by the expensive lineup and the oldest Premier League, as well as the rumors of coaching changes that have been spreading wildly, resulting in great fluctuations in form and too many losses. Finally, in February

After losing three consecutive games, they lost the initiative to compete for the championship.

As usual, Arsenal began to suffer from more injuries after the Christmas schedule and habitually collapsed. By March 15th, they had only five wins and began to compete for fourth place.

Tottenham have set off a youthful storm this season, ranking first in the Premier League on goal difference.

They clung to Leicester City after the middle and late stages, but suffered from the unstable state of young players at the beginning of the season and too many draws, which regrettably lost the championship.

Liverpool has been in turmoil this season. Benteke’s instructions have been lost and he has been unable to integrate into the team. His tactics have been changing and his results have been declining.

After the coaching change, new coach Klopp lacked time for training, his state fluctuated greatly, and he quit the championship team early.

In other words, bg6 each has its own difficulties and problems, which results in a "seventh person" taking advantage of the situation and taking away his position.

Even if one of these six strong teams performs normally, it does not need to be as disappointing as Manchester City's 100% score. As long as it can score 80 points, Leicester City will not be able to successfully counterattack.

But it is precisely because of such a "coincidence" that the myth of a dark horse winning the championship with a payout of 5,000 really emerged.

Of course, you need to be strong to strike, and bg6 collapsed together, so why didn’t Southampton or West Ham United win the championship, but Leicester City?

This is undoubtedly inseparable from Ranieri's command and the explosive growth of his players.

The reason why a dark horse is called a dark horse is simply because its pre-season performance was not optimistic, but its performance was amazing and unexpected.

But the biggest weakness of the dark horse is that the lineup is weak and lacks a deep bench like the traditional strong players. Once the main players are injured and miss the game, the team's strength will simply plummet.

However, Ranieri's team performed very steadily, with no major injuries to the players. Vardy, Mahrez, Schmeichel Jr., Kante and others under his command also performed phenomenally. In the end,

Win the championship.

Although the situation in this life is slightly different from that in the previous life, for example, Kanter was replaced by Mikel, and Vardy has become more mature after being tempered by Hamburg and Pan Yi, the overall situation is very different.

It can even be roughly considered that Mikel is weaker than Kante in the previous life, but Vardy in this life is stronger than the previous life, so it is even.

It is precisely because of this that Leicester City quietly climbed up after 15 rounds.

Of course, this time they have an unlucky point: there is a team in bg6 that is not so carefree!

That is Pan Yi’s Chelsea.

Not only did he not pull his back, but he also broke Arsenal's unbeaten record and is still extending and expanding this record...

In other words, it is almost impossible for Leicester City to "replicate" the success of its previous life.

As for Ranieri and his Leicester City in this life, there is actually nothing to regret.

They don't have the memory of past lives like Pan Yi, nor do they have the emotion of "gaining and losing again".

After all, as a relegation team last season, they actually have a chance to compete for the Champions League this season. This is already a great success!

"Ranieri used suitable tactics for this team, coupled with the strong execution ability of the players, this Leicester City team was completely transformed. We cannot take it lightly."

At Chelsea's Cobham training base, Pan Yi was also discussing the opponent's tactics with the coaching staff.

On the tactical board beside him, various circles and lines have been densely drawn, which represent Leicester City's players and running routes.

On the big screen in front of the conference table, videos of Leicester City's recent games are being shown.

Before each game, Pan Yi will explain the opponent's tactical ideas to the coaches in detail, and then discuss the solution together.

The last step is to assign corresponding training tasks and let the players practice according to the latest tactical instructions.

This is what Pan Yi will do before every game.

Today, since we are preparing to face what I consider to be the “most threatening opponent of the season,” I will be more prepared.

"Ranieri's tactics have always been characterized by a strong Italian style - tough and steady, defense first."

"After coming to Leicester City, Ranieri infused Italian defensive ideas and modern high-position pressing into England's traditional long-pass counterattack."

"Defensively, take the initiative to give up the ball. Except for Vardy, every player in the frontcourt retreats to their own half-court area to reduce the distance between each other."

"The players formed a group of two and quickly carried out a flanking attack, pressing the football to the side, forcing the opponent to attack from both wings, and passing the ball into the penalty area from both sides."

"At this time, the defensive players accumulated in the penalty area have long been prepared for this. The two traditional central defenders have strong and steady headers. It is difficult for the opponent to rely on high balls to enter the penalty area to gain scoring opportunities."

In fact, Ranieri's tactical thinking is simply defensive counterattack.

After all, there is definitely a gap between the team's strength and traditional powerhouses, and the team now has a counterattack weapon like Vardy, so there is no need to use it in vain.

Even when Leicester City faced teams outside of bg6, such as weaker teams like Southampton or Bournemouth, they still defended counterattacks steadily and did not rush forward at all.

So far, Leicester City’s ball possession rate ranks 18th in the Premier League.

A team ranked 2nd ranked 18th in ball possession rate, which seems outrageous at first glance, but it also shows how resolute Ranieri is in his defensive tactics.

Of course, Ranieri also has his own set of ideas. In order to achieve the tactical goals Pan Yi just mentioned, especially the defensive ideas, he also actively made a lot of preparations before the season and introduced a number of players who can adapt to him.

Players who play tactically.

For example, the traditional tall center back Huth;

Shinji Okazaki, a tactical striker whose defense is more important than scoring goals;

Full-back Fuchs, who has an excellent cross but never assists easily;

And, an important midfield troublemaker - Kante in the previous life, and Mikel in this life.

Of course, if Leicester City could only defend but had no counterattack efficiency, it would definitely not reach its current heights.

Pan Yi immediately began to explain the key points of Ranieri's anti-counterattack tactics.

"Once the Leicester City backcourt players intercept the ball, the Leicester City players enter a counterattack state in just a few seconds, switching from defense to offense as fast as the Premier League."

"The player who steals the ball will not hesitate to make a long pass to find Vardy who has already started or Mahrez who is running in at high speed on the other side, and quickly form a counterattack with more hits and fewer hits."

"Shinji Okazaki, who starts from the midfield and follows up quickly, will press the opponent's defender on the other side, attract their attention, and create space for the second batch of offensive players behind him."

Vardy, Mahrez, and Shinji Okazaki, these three people are the most important offensive points of Leicester City.

Generally speaking, Shinji Okazaki is responsible for attacking, and if you don't guard him, he will attack. Mahrez is responsible for breakthroughs, and Vardy is responsible for sprinting and shooting.

To defend against Leicester City's attack, we must defend against these three people.

Compared to ranking 18th in ball possession rate, there is another even more outrageous statistic: Leicester’s passing success rate is the lowest in the Premier League, ranking 20th!

What does this mean?

This means that Leicester City's offense this season mostly relies on long passes and counterattacks.

Because of the short passes at close range, there are relatively few reverse kicks in the backcourt. Many of them are simple and crude passes to the back, threatening the ball, and the success rate of the pass is naturally low.

In a positional attack, Leicester City's back line is extremely deep and never presses forward easily.

The two full-backs Simpson and Fuchs did not attack at all without Ranieri's instructions.

In this case, Leicester City's offense relies on the interspersed movement between the frontcourt players and the dribbling and flash of personal ability.

Relying on the explosive performance of Mahrez this season, Leicester City ranks at the forefront of the Premier League in terms of individual dribbling opportunities created, and Mahrez's passing data also ranks second in the Premier League.

Once the ball is lost in the frontcourt, a group of runners led by Vardy will immediately press and defend. Drinking water god Linkwater and Mikel will organize a second pressing line behind him to support and prevent the opponent from forming.

Attack and force the opponent to make passing errors.

Because of the rapid counterattack in the frontcourt and the resolute execution of the players, it was difficult for Fox City’s opponents to adapt to such a determined and highly oppressive frontcourt counterattack.

Once the frontcourt counterattack fails to seize the ball, Leicester City players will immediately retreat under Ranieri's tactical arrangements to defend, and return to the routine of forcing the opponent to attack from the wing.

Similarly, Schmeichel gets the ball in the backcourt and quickly counterattacks with big feet, which is sometimes quite effective.

Leicester City's tactical system is not complicated. The offense relies on strong counterattacks, and the defense relies on on-the-spot counterattacks in the frontcourt and traditional head-on mass accumulation in the backcourt.

But relying on Ranieri's strong ability to combine and the surprisingly strong tactical execution of Leicester City players, they have achieved their current results.

"So, how to break such a team that resolutely plays defense?" Arteta asked at the right time. "It feels like they are a bit like Atletico Madrid. They defend rigorously, give up ball possession, and emphasize simple and efficient defensive counterattack strategies.

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"That's right, you can think that they are Atletico Madrid in the Premier League. They are really just driving the bus most of the time." Pan Yi nodded, agreeing with his apprentice's view.

"When we face such a team, one scenario we can imagine is that we control the ball throughout the game and then play around their penalty area."

"But in this case, it is very likely that they will fall into their favorite routine. In other words, they have been playing like this this season, and they are very adaptable to such pressure."

"Once they get the ball and launch a quick counterattack, Mahrez's ball control and breakthrough, Vardy's speed and shooting, may cause a fatal blow to us."
To be continued...