striker cool brother

Chapter 167 The Chaotic Warm-up Match
In the five friendly matches before the season, Leicester City played in order from low to high.

The first game was against Lincoln City of the British Parliament.

Although it is the fifth level of the league in England, the stadium is only as big as campus football, and the scene can accommodate up to more than 1000 spectators.

But the enthusiasm of local residents for football is far higher than expected.

On the periphery of the stadium, outside the guardrails surrounded by thin wires, spectators who could not buy tickets were densely packed.

Is it because the opponent is a Premier League team that they can attract so many fans?
No.

As long as it is a game, the stadium will be full of seats.

Even fans from other places came to watch the game live.

This is the football atmosphere that the world's No. [-] league has.

Ranieri coached the first game, although not an official game, but he still did his homework.

Ranieri is an Italian, and his tactics are naturally traditional Italian defensive counterattacks, trying to stabilize.

On the defensive line, Schmeichel has confirmed the goalkeeper's first choice.

The defense is composed of captain Morgan, Huth, Danny Simpson and Fox, who was exempted from Schalke 04.

Schlupp can play anywhere on the left.

In the position of the defensive midfielder, the newly joined Kanter replaced the departing Cambiasso and became the main force of the team.

The newly joined midfielder Inle became a rotation substitute.

Central midfielders Drinkwater, Andy King and Matthew James, choose one of three.

The two wingers are Mahrez and Albrighton.

For the center position, Rossi, Ulloa, and Vardy are the first choices.

Shinji Okazaki and Kramaric became alternate substitutes.

The 18-man roster is Ranieri's initial match list. As for whether to use this match list to participate in the league, adjustments must be made through the game.

He was ordered to change the team's inherent style of play when he was in danger. He has a high risk and will cause the team to encounter a lot of trouble at the beginning of the season.

And it is very likely to affect the following games.

Therefore, Ranieri still exerts his "tinker" qualities, just looking for suitable supplements in the original system.

Leicester City started very well, with Rossi, Ulloa and Vardy's strikers showing super offensive capabilities.

In the 15th minute, Mahrez dribbled the ball forward from the left. After passing the two defenses, he passed the ball to the goal. Ulloa scored with a header and scored an advanced goal.

Five minutes later, it was still Mahrez who made a breakthrough on the wing, passed the ball to the back point from the wing, and found Rossi.

Rossi headed back to the goal and assisted Ulloa to score twice.

After leading by two goals, Ranieri asked the players to pass the ball more, make more use of the ground pass, and tear the defense.

Abandoning the advantaged side pass and switching to ground pass and control, Leicester City was a little at a loss.

Rossi's retreat accelerated Leicester City's attack in the frontcourt.But as the opponent focused their defense on the middle, there was no chance of a threat.

Instead, at the end of the first half, Leicester City once again used a cross from the wing to knock on the opponent's goal.

3:0 does not satisfy Ranieri. The opponent is a fifth-tier league team. If Leicester City's wide advantage cannot score more than two goals, I am afraid that his coach will be dismissed after half a season.

In the second half, Ranieri made substantial personnel adjustments.

Shinji Okazaki replaced Ulloa, Inle replaced Kanter, Drinkwater replaced Mahrez, Schlupp replaced Vardy, and Andy King replaced Albrighton.

The tactical intention is obvious, give up the side attack, and focus on passing the ball in the middle.

Craig didn't understand, since the team is not good at pass and control in the middle, why should they give up the edge advantage.

Sure enough, Leicester City's performance in the second half was like two teams. The sharp attack was gone. Lincoln City seized the opportunity to counterattack after several steals and broke through the goal guarded by Schmeichel in the 65th minute.

The goal also made the fans ecstatic. In their opinion, to score a goal from a Premier League team is something to celebrate in the bar tonight.

Ranieri did not make adjustments after conceding the ball. The team's organization in the midfield was a bit chaotic. Drinkwater did not play the core role of the organizer, but was a bit restrained.

"Craig, look at our midfield configuration. Inle is in charge of defense, Andy King is in charge of interceptions, and Drinkwater is in charge of the organization. The staffing will only be stronger than last season, but why is it difficult for us to even deal with the fifth-tier league teams?"

Ranieri called the assistant coach to him and discussed the problems with the team.

Craig is also very strange. Although Inler's defensive experience is not as good as Cambiasso's, he is young, energetic, and has a good pass and long-range shot. It is impossible not to break through Lincoln City's central defense.

Seeing that Craig couldn't think of the reason, Ranieri said with a smile: "First, we gave up the wing attack, and the opponent could quickly move in from both sides to defend. Second, because Inler likes to attack from behind, but his return to defense is slow, so there are two midfielders, and one of them has to defend the space behind him."

Craig was even more confused. Since the opponent will retreat and defend, he can't give up the wing, and he can try Schlupp on the wing.

After listening to his opinion, Ranieri shook his head and said, "Speak to Inle later, let him concentrate on defense and hand over the organization to Drinkwater."

After Craig communicated the tactics as instructed, Drinkwater had more possession of the ball in the midfield, and the team's possession of the ball gradually returned.

In this game, Rossi's performance was mediocre, except for one assist, there were no more bright spots, not even as good as Shinji Okazaki who came off the bench.

But in this game, Ranieri changed his positions except goalkeeper and Rossi, and the team finally won 3:1.

After the game, the team went to Nottinghamshire to face the English second team Mansfield.

Ranieri made major adjustments to the starting lineup of the previous game.

Although the double defensive midfielders of Kanter and Inler can bring the team a tough defense, but throughout the game, the Leicester City team often fell into a situation where the midfielder was offline.

The team's threatening offense depends entirely on the player's personal ability.

If it weren't for the team in stoppage time, Kanter dribbled the ball and forced a breakthrough, passed it to Rossi to complete the fatal blow and equalize the score, Leicester City would be in the hands of the League Two team.

Four days later, Leicester City traveled to Burton upon Trent, famous for its brewing beer, to challenge League One side Burton.

This time, Ranieri adjusted the lineup again. The midfielders were the main players of last season, Matthew James, Andy King and Drinkwater, and the striker was Rossi's partner Shinji Okazaki.

The Japanese striker, who is very similar to Rossi's attacking characteristics in the front line, is also based in the Bundesliga with ghostly running and flexible forwards.

The team dispatched two people with similar technical styles at the same time, which suddenly reduced Leicester City's impact on the front line.

Under such circumstances, Rossi had to become the fulcrum to make the ball for Shinji Okazaki.

In the first half, between Drinkwater, Rossi and Shinji Okazaki, consecutive touches were completed, and Shinji Okazaki scored a goal.

But in the subsequent games, the Japanese striker did not have too many bright spots.

When he transitions from offense to defense, he can't create threats and troubles to the defense line like Rossi can at the moment of receiving the ball.

His most important role is the last shot of the team's offense.

The shortcomings of Shinji Okazaki became more obvious after Rossi was replaced.

Ulloa can take the ball as a fulcrum, but he is slow to play the ball, so that Shinji Okazaki is strictly guarded by the opponent and has no chance.

He relies more on teamwork than Rossi, and in terms of restraint and organization, he cannot be compared with Rossi at all.

However, he made up for the shortcomings by actively running, running up and down the court.

Such a player is suitable as a substitute surprise soldier, and tactics cannot be built around him.

In the end, with Vardy's goal, Leicester City narrowly beat their opponents 2:1.

Against League Two and League One teams, Leicester City did not win easily and was criticized by the media.

The "Sun" pointed out that Ranieri's "tinker" characteristics remain unchanged. Facing the underdogs, the starting lineup is chaotic, and there are also problems with the formation of troops. He randomly repairs the lineup and only repairs the appearance.

The "Daily Mail" even sharply pointed out that Leicester City has not escaped the scandal and the impact of the dismissal of the head coach. Ranieri will be the first head coach to be dismissed from the Premier League in the new season.

Before the start of the league, the gaming company gave Leicester City the odds of winning the championship, as high as an astonishing 1:5000.

You know, the bookmaker has given other odd odds before.

Lady Gaga's odds of being elected President of the United States are 1:250,

Beckham becomes the next Manchester City manager at 1:750,

Ferguson won the British talent show "Strictly Come Dancing" with a score of 1:1000,

Kim Kardashian's odds of being elected President of the United States are 1:2000,

British Prime Minister Cameron became Villa coach 1:2500.

The odds of a national men's football club winning the World Cup in Russia are 1:3501.

But all of these odds are not as high as Leicester City's odds of winning the championship.

Ranieri didn't care about the opinions of the outside world, but led his team to participate in the remaining two friendly matches against the Championship team and won both.

A week later, the team will usher in the new season's first-round opponent Sunderland at home, and the time to test Ranieri and his team is finally coming.

(End of this chapter)