December 10, Leicester King Power Stadium, 16:00 London time.
There is still an hour and a half before the match between Leicester City and Manchester City in the 15th round of the Premier League, but at this time, a large number of fans have gathered outside the King Power Stadium, and then checked in through various channels.
At 16:20, buses from Leicester City and Manchester City appeared one after another.
Sitting on the bus, looking at the familiar street scenes outside the bus window, Chu Zheng felt a feeling that was both familiar and unfamiliar.
Although he only stayed at Leicester City for one year, Chu Zheng gained a lot in this short season.
Premier League assists king.
The creator of the Premier League record of 30+ assists in a single season.
One of the architects of the Leicester City miracle.
Premier League champion.
EFL Cup Champion.
In addition to these honorary titles that have been obtained, what Chu Zheng remembers most is the unique locker room atmosphere of Leicester City at that time.
Chu Zheng had never felt that kind of atmosphere before at Wolfsburg or now at Manchester City.
Chu Zheng still remembers that day in the tactical room of Leicester City, when the gentle and elegant old Italian man wearing glasses shouted out the goal with a blushing face, the terrible morale of everyone instantly burst out.
At that moment, Chu Zheng could feel the high fighting spirit from every Leicester City player and felt like he was among a pack of hungry wolves.
It was a unique atmosphere that is hard to describe. Unity, harmony, and selflessness were all blended together to form a unique locker room atmosphere, a buff unique to Leicester City.
"Chu!!!!!!!!!!!!"
“Welcome back!!!!!!!!!”
Chu Zheng was wearing headphones, chewing gum, and carrying a shoulder bag. As soon as he got off the bus, he heard a burst of cheers.
Chu Zheng immediately stopped, looked around, and saw a group of fans wearing Leicester City home jerseys outside the guardrail holding up banners and waving to him.
Seeing this scene, Chu Zheng felt warm in his heart.
After Chu Zheng said hello to Arteta, he walked towards the group of fans, signed autographs and took photos, and stayed for six or seven minutes before he was able to leave.
Entering the passage and about to turn right towards the visiting team's locker room, several familiar figures appeared in Chu Zheng's sight.
Seeing Vardy, Mahrez, Morgan and Simpson, the smile on Chu Zheng's face became even stronger.
The next few people stood in the passage and chatted and laughed until the staff from Manchester City and Leicester City came to find them and then separated.
At 01:15 a.m. on the 11th, 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 without script: "Welcome to watch the 15th round of the 2016-17 Premier League season between Leicester City and Manchester City..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the live broadcast footage appeared in the player tunnel.
As soon as the camera cut to the scene, 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 suddenly turned around and ran away.
"What happened?" Zhan Jun was stunned for a moment.
Zhang Lu still had poisonous eyes and was overjoyed, saying: "Chu Zheng must have forgotten to wear the captain's armband. Bravo must have reminded him just now."
"Haha!!!" Zhan Jun burst out laughing.
After a while, he continued to explain with a smile: "Last week, Chu Zheng was elected as the fourth vice-captain of Manchester City. Today, due to Fernandinho's suspension due to accumulation of yellow cards, David Silva did not start, so Chu Zheng wore it.
He won the Manchester City captain’s armband.”
After a while, when Chu Zheng appeared in the camera again, he had the blue Manchester City captain's armband on his right arm.
"Chu, you are the first captain among all the captains 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, the players from both sides came 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
Defenders: Danny Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fox
Midfielder: Mahrez, Andy King, Amartey, Albrighton
Forwards: Vardy, Slimani
After reporting Leicester City's starting players from back to front, Zhan Jun smiled and said: "The defending champion is not having an easy time this season."
"So far this season, although Leicester City has won the first place in the group in the Champions League, 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 five goals in the game, setting a record for the largest loss by a Premier League team in the Champions League."
"As for the domestic league, Leicester City, last season's Premier League champion, has performed astonishingly this season."
"As the defending champion, Leicester City's record in the first 14 rounds of the Premier League is 3 wins, 4 draws and 7 losses, and only scored 13 points. This embarrassing number of points is not even half of the same period last season."
"Yes, last season Leicester City accumulated 27 points from 14 games, ranking second in the Premier League!" Zhang Lu added with a smile.
Zhan Jun nodded and continued: "Leicester City is now ranked 16th in the standings, fifth from the bottom, and only two points away from Sunderland and Hull City, who are 11 points in 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 so sluggish."
"It is not unprecedented in English football for the defending champion to be relegated in the second year."
"The one who created this embarrassing record of being relegated after winning the championship is Leicester City's opponent tonight, Manchester City!"
"Haha!" Hearing Zhan Jun's words, Zhang Lu burst out laughing, "Manchester City did do this, but it was in the late 1930s."
Zhan Jun also laughed and said: "So this is no joke. If Fox City does not exert its strength or cannot exert its strength in the second half, they may become a laughing stock from a hero."
"Ranieri is also a clever woman who can't make a meal without rice. This season, many new players he spent a lot of transfer funds to buy have performed mediocrely." Zhang Lu shook his head, "The departure of Chu Zheng and Kante created a problem for Leicester City's midfielder.
A huge hole comparable to a meteor crater, not only the defensive strength of the midfield dropped 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 a full 741 minutes."
"There is certainly a reason why Chu Zheng left. No one in Leicester City can put the ball in Vardy's mouth like Chu Zheng did. There are also reasons for Vardy's personal reasons."
"Yes, Ranieri also talked about Vardy's recent goal drought in the media interview before the game. He said that Vardy worked hard in training and had a good mentality, but he just lacked some luck."
Zhang Lu shook her head and disagreed with this, saying: "After a season of lessons, Premier League teams are now much more honest when facing Leicester City. They will avoid pressing the defense too high, which makes Vardy
There's not a lot of room to run around and develop his individual characteristics."
"After all, in a smaller space, forwards need more agility and better technical ability to create more opportunities, but Vardy is not this type of forward 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 plummeted this season."
As soon as the words were said, Manchester City's starting lineup appeared.
Manchester City:(451)
Forward: Aguero
Midfielder: De Bruyne, Yaya Toure, Chu Zheng, Gundogan, Navas
Defenders: Kolarov, Stones, Sagna, Zabaleta
Goalkeeper: Bravo
"Although Manchester City's recent performance has been poor and they have received many draws in a row, Guardiola still managed to maintain his ranking in the standings by relying on his luxurious offensive lineup in the midfield and frontcourt."
"Chelsea currently tops the Premier League with 32 points, followed by Manchester City and Arsenal, both with 31 points."
"In the last round of the game against Celtic, Otamendi was injured and is expected to need more than a week's rest. Coupled with Kompany's relapse of an old injury, this makes the defense staff already tired.
The deficiencies of Manchester City are adding insult to injury."
Next to me, Zhang Lu suddenly twitched when she saw Manchester City's starting lineup.
Sagna is 33 years old, Kolarov is 31, and Zabaleta is 31. These three men plus Stones who sticks to the ball, the scene makes Zhang Lu feel horrified just thinking about it.
Zhang Lu felt that Guardiola looked down on Leicester City a little too much.
Although Leicester City's offensive and defensive strength is not as good as before due to the departure of Chu Zheng and Kante this season, Vardy and Mahrez are still the two main players.
Therefore, the state of Leicester City's forward line is worse than worse, but it is complete after all.
Football is not afraid of ten thousand, but it is afraid of just in case.
In addition, in Guardiola's tactical concept, high-pressure defense is a necessity, so once Manchester City's defense is over-pressured, it will inevitably give Leicester City enough depth space.
Leicester City under Ranieri like this kind of opponent.
By then, Vardy and Mahrez will be able to regain their form with the help of this large depth space, and it is estimated that it will be difficult for Manchester City to hold on due to the strength of its defense.
At 01:30 BJ time, with the referee Oliver blowing the whistle, the game officially started.
After the game started, Zhang Lu was dumbfounded when she saw the position of the Manchester City players, and the thought that Guardiola had done something wrong came to his mind.
On the field, Manchester City, which attacks from right to left, clearly positioned its players in a three-centre-back formation after kick-off.
In the backcourt, Stones was in the center, Kolarov and Sagna were on the left and right sides, and Zabaleta moved to the right center midfielder position.
In the middle, Yaya Toure is in the defensive midfield position, Chu Zheng is in the attacking midfielder position, and Gundogan is in the left center midfielder position.
De Bruyne and Navas moved up to the front line, thus forming a strange 343 formation in a flat diamond-shaped midfield.
As for Leicester City, the 4-4-2 formation is very clear, exactly the same as last season.
Manchester City controlled the ball in the backcourt, and Leicester City's formation was reduced to its own half, with the striker moving back and forth from the center line, occasionally grabbing the Manchester City defense line in the center circle area.
But this does not mean that Leicester City completely gave up pressing in the midfield and frontcourt today and concentrated on counterattacks.
Fans who are familiar with Ranieri know that this is just a tactical illusion, and Ranieri's true purpose is often hidden under this appearance.
At 1 minute and 30 seconds into the game, Leicester City received 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 could not pass the tall and long-legged Yaya Toure.
The ball was kicked back to the Manchester City backcourt by Yaya Toure.
Stones activated his ribs, blocked Vardy in time, chased to the left rib at the top of the key to get the ball, and quickly transferred it laterally.
In the top area of the arc, Kolarov took the ball, and then Leicester City's frontcourt pressure appeared.
Mahrez moved step by step, always stuck in Kolarov's path of passing the ball forward.
In the blink of an eye, Kolarov took the ball horizontally to the upper right corner of the penalty area.
Seeing that Mahrez was already in front of him and Yaya Toure still hadn't come back from the center, Kolarov was forced to make a long pass to the midfielder.
On the arc in the middle circle of Leicester City's half, Huth and Aguero advanced and retreated, arriving at the landing point almost at the same time.
The next second, the ball was pushed forward by Huth behind Aguero without any surprise.
The landing point was 30 meters ahead of the left rib area of Manchester City's half.
Mahrez was the first to arrive and passed the ball directly to the right without stopping.
In the middle, Slimani turned and faced the top area of the arc, stopping the ball perfectly at his feet.
At the same time, on the right side of the top of the arc, Vardy was between Stones in the center and Kolarov in the ribs, and was not offside.
Vardy, who was looking sideways at Slimani, quickly turned to the right and faced the Manchester City penalty area.
At the moment Vardy started, Slimani got ahead of Yaya Toure who was behind him and hit the right rib of the penalty area with his left foot.
Vardy did not stop the ball, passed the ball in front of him from the left, and then used his speed to throw Kolarov directly behind him on the right.
On the right side of the penalty area, Vardy caught up with the ball, faced the attacking Bravo, and hit the ball directly with his right foot into the far lower corner of the goal.
In the blink of an eye, the ball crossed the goal line and entered the Manchester City goal, making the side netting tremble.
"Boom!!!!!!!!!" The next second, the King Power Stadium burst into flames, and the sudden sound wave even dispersed the light rain falling in the night sky.
"The ball is in!!!!"
"Just two minutes into the game, Jamie Vardy broke his 741-minute goal drought!"
"Incredible! Leicester City got off to a fantastic start!"
In the LeTV live broadcast room, Zhang Lu and Zhan Jun's faces were full of surprise.
They obviously did not expect that Leicester City would score so early, and it would be Vardy who was in extremely poor condition as 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 wearing a down jacket hat to protect himself from 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 any mistakes just now?
No!
Really not!
Kolarov had already seen Vardy in advance and started to block the gap.
But in the end, the old and frail Kolarov was stuck behind by the young and strong Vardy who was in his prime with his starting speed.
And Mahrez's perfect pass with a stop, he really got the timing of the attack just right.
Slimani did not hesitate, and directly sent a scalpel through the ball. Coupled with Vardy's speed, it formed a typical Leicester City goal.
Chu Zheng is very familiar with this kind of goal, because he also played like this last season.
If we really want to find someone to take the blame for this conceded goal, it can only be goalkeeper Bravo.
Chu Zheng actually saw it more clearly just now. Although Bravo came out early to intercept Vardy's single-handed ball, this guy failed to completely block the far corner.