69novels Chapter 306
Chapter 306
The game was a big success, but the team was still ahead.
Chapter 306 I’m so scared, we’re overtaken with 18 points left!
With Kane’s offside goal, Tottenham Hotspur narrowly defeated the visiting top team Leicester City at home.
In addition to ending Leicester City’s 20-round unbeaten record, it also made them taste defeat for the first time.
After the game, Ling Feng faced Kane and national team teammates such as Ali and Dell who came forward to comfort him. He just nodded silently and said that he was fine.
He did not blame Kane or Ali and others.
If he was a Tottenham player, he would accept it without hesitation if the penalty was in his team’s favor.
Football matches are like a war without gunpowder.
The goal of both sides is to win by any means!
Of course, misjudgment is part of the game.
If your team encounters a misjudgment, it is normal to be angry, furious, and unwilling.
But they cannot lose their minds because of impulse, they can only learn to accept it, and then grow in the game, and strive not to give the opponent and the referee any chance next time!
Or teach the referee a lesson next time!
“Remember this game well, you will learn a lot.”
And this is what Ranieri whispered in his ear when he comforted Ling Feng.
Although the Blue Fox players were forced by the situation and could not do anything too extreme to the referee.
However, the angry fans will not indulge the referee.
After the game, many away fans raised international friendly gestures to Atkinson who left the field, and greeted his family.
A good referee will make people forget his existence and give the stage to the players to perform.
However, Atkinson, the referee who enforced this game, repeatedly stole the spotlight and became the protagonist of the game!
Because, in this focus battle, this famous referee who has been in the Premier League for more than ten years made several controversial decisions:
The first one was that Mahrez was knocked to the ground by Vertonghen in the Tottenham penalty area, but no penalty was awarded.
Through instant replay, both the coaching staff of the Blue Foxes and the fans watching the live broadcast on TV could see that Vertonghen did not touch the ball.
That was definitely a penalty!
But Atkinson did not make a penalty, which led to Tottenham getting the ball, then attacking the Blue Foxes’ backcourt and scoring a goal.
The second one was Kane’s offside goal!
The replay showed that at the moment when Son Heung-min shot, Kane stood parallel to the two central defenders of the Blue Foxes, slightly sticking out half of his body.
Obviously, in this era without VAR marking, the judgment of offside or not can only rely on the naked eyes of the linesman.
And the lightning and flint are too much of a test for the linesman’s eyesight.
Offside goals are common in that league and are not uncommon.
Even if VAR is introduced in the future, there will still be strange operations such as body hair offside.
However, these two controversial penalties alone have made the efforts of Leicester City players throughout the game come to naught.
Such a frustrating result still makes the Blue Fox players feel indignant.
In the press conference after the game, facing the various pits and clichés of the media, the good man Ranieri just responded with a serious face:
“I can only say that the ball that Mahrez fell in the penalty area was definitely a penalty!”
“And Kane’s goal was also offside.”
“Such a result is unfortunate. We should have won this game”
“But sometimes it’s like this, you play well, but you lose the game. Just like life.”
Ranieri is not like Mourinho and Ferguson, who dare to question the referee’s penalty.
He can only stand firmly on the side of his team and emphasize that the penalty for Tottenham’s two goals is debatable.
Of course, such an answer was still hyped by the media.
However, at least there was no open questioning of the referee, and the FA could not punish Ranieri.
Of course, as the promoted team in the Premier League last season and the top team this season, Leicester City’s away loss to the fourth-ranked Tottenham was not an upset.
Leicester City’s unbeaten record this season was broken, which made the fans of the other 19 teams feel relieved and ignited some confidence.
At least from this game, this crazy Fox can be defeated!
For the Foxes, the silver lining is that the championship rivals Manchester City and Arsenal did not win, but only got a draw.
So, even if they lose, Leicester City
The lead is still 18 points!
However, the game was widely discussed after the game.
In the “Match Day” program, Lineker and the guests did not care about the FA and directly pointed out the referee’s misjudgment during the live broadcast.
And under the FA’s official website and social media, a large number of Blue Fox fans and Ling Feng fans have flooded in.
They began to swipe the screen, blasting Atkinson and the FA’s poor judgment in this game:
“This is a crime!”
“Atkinson stole the three points from the Blue Fox!”
“Here it comes again! The FA manipulates the game every year! This year is no exception!”
The FA has long been accustomed to the fans’ criticism.
However, what makes them unhappy is that they have done what they did and have been criticized.
But Manchester City and Arsenal are not up to the task and did not seize the opportunity to narrow the points gap!
You know, things like manipulating the game can’t be done often.
If the difference in strength between the two teams is too big, Leicester City will be ahead early and control the rhythm of the game. Even if the referee wants to blow a biased whistle, it will be difficult to do so.
After all, you can’t get into the penalty area, and you didn’t fall in the penalty area, so how can you give a penalty? !
Therefore, it is often only when the strength of the two teams is similar, a controversial penalty by the referee can change the direction and result of the game!
Last year, Chelsea’s championship process was similar to that of Leicester City this year.
At the beginning, it was very strong and always led the standings.
Then in January and February, even if Costa was injured and the team’s state and record began to fluctuate, there was not much suspense.
This year, Leicester City rushed to the top of the list as a super dark horse and maintained an unbeaten momentum, which was completely beyond the expectations of the English Football Association.
Leicester City’s extraordinary performance took the initiative to present them with a wonderful script of “small team counterattack”.
Almost the entire UK is watching Leicester City, wanting to see if this crazy fox can finally succeed in its counterattack.
Originally, such a plot is naturally full of expectations, and can always keep the appetite of fans and fans
However, as Leicester City survived the “hell schedule” from the end of November to January, it continued to advance with great strides, and its lead became larger and larger.
The English Football Association suddenly discovered that although this script was exciting, it lacked some twists and turns and ups and downs.
If Leicester City continues to win, there will be no suspense about winning the championship, and the ratings will definitely fall.
So, this is why they decided to take action in the Tottenham game!
No suspense?
Then force suspense!
. . .
As Leicester City finally lost, some media that looked down on Leicester City or wanted to attract traffic also jumped out and began to sing the praises of Leicester City’s chances of winning the championship.
They believe that in the second half of the league, as other teams have figured out Leicester City’s tactical style, coupled with the two-line battle, Leicester City, which lacks depth in the lineup, will definitely be more difficult.
Some toilet newspapers are not afraid of trouble and directly start to say that Leicester City has begun to fall behind!
And the fans who support Leicester City have fought back.
Their most direct approach is to open the league standings, take screenshots, and then throw them in the faces of those who question:
“Falling behind, right?”
“I’m so scared, there are still 18 points to be overtaken!”
Such a face-slapping scene is also welcome.
While the outside world is talking about it, the Belvoir base is calm.
Eat when you should eat, drink when you should drink.
They never thought that they could remain unbeaten like the invincible Arsenal back then until they won the championship.
Being able to maintain a record of 20 rounds of unbeaten league games is already a feat that many top teams cannot achieve.
They should be proud of themselves!
Even though they were angry and unwilling to lose in this way at White Hart Lane.
But from a certain perspective, it made the Leicester City players relax a lot.
They no longer had to think about the “unbeaten record” in their minds, and they could also unload a psychological burden and go into battle lightly.
And this positive attitude towards things is also thanks to Ranieri’s constant psychological counseling for his disciples.
After the loss, Ranieri did not blame the players, but comforted his disciples, asking them not to care too much about the game ruined by the referee.
Losing is not terrible.
What is terrible is to immerse yourself in failure, feel that you are useless, and then start to complain about yourself.
Ranieri is like an experienced old predecessor, using his own experience to cheer up his disciples.
He firmly believed that the team was in a good situation and would definitely be able to accomplish something special this season.
And what they had to do was to stay focused and not let the outside world affect them!
A few days later, Leicester City ushered in the 22nd round of the league.
The opponent was the super soft persimmon, Aston Villa, which was currently at the bottom of the rankings!
Facing Villa, which was in a terrible state this season and headed straight for the relegation zone, Ranieri chose a large-scale rotation according to the original plan.
Considering that Villa would definitely try its best to avoid relegation.
Therefore, avoiding the sharp edge and preventing the main players from being injured by the opponent’s rough actions is for the sake of the overall situation.
It is worth mentioning that Ling Feng, the core of the team who played the whole game in the last round of the league, still started!
This season, as Ling Feng maxed out the [Physique] attribute, the team coaching staff and medical department were surprised to find that Ling Feng’s physical fitness had a qualitative leap.
Even if he played the whole game twice a week, he would not suffer from muscle fatigue and was completely full of energy.
Considering that the team suffered its first defeat in the last game, it urgently needs a victory to boost morale. In addition, the next league game will be in a week, so there will be plenty of time to rest.
So Ranieri will let Ling Feng continue to start.
The purpose of doing this is simple, to ensure victory in the game!
And Ling Feng also showed a dominant performance, returning the trust of the head coach and fans:
Facing Villa, who has only won three games this season, Leicester City, under the leadership of Ling Feng, just squeezed this soft persimmon with a light squeeze!
Just thirteen minutes into the game, with Ling Feng’s corner kick assist, Ulloa scored with a header and opened the scoring.
Ten minutes later, it was Ling Feng again.
After he passed the full-back on the right, he sent a very comfortable arc pass, and Shinji Okazaki scored in the penalty area, scoring another goal!
Before the end of the first half, Ling Feng sent two assists to help the team lead by two goals away from home!
The frustration of being stolen by Tottenham in the last game was released in this game with a huge gap in strength.
In the 65th minute of the second half, seeing that the overall situation on the field was already decided, Ranieri also replaced Ulloa, who had opened the scoring, with Vardy, who had returned from injury.
With 25 minutes left, the team’s top scorer was allowed to find the feeling of the game.
Only eight minutes had passed, and Ling Feng sent a surgical pass, giving the returning Vardy a fresh and hot cake!
The latter took advantage of the situation, broke into the penalty area, and shot into the goal!
This goal was not only the 18th goal of the Blue Fox No. 9 in the league this season, but also helped Ling Feng complete an assist hat trick!
This was also his 18th assist in the league this season, thus surpassing Arsenal’s 17-assist player on the assist list and continuing to occupy the top spot!
It is worth mentioning that Leicester City not only topped the standings, but the Blue Fox players also took the top spot in the scorer list and assist list!
This shows how unstoppable Leicester City’s performance this season is!
In the end, Leicester City easily defeated Aston Villa 0-3 away!
And a week later, in Leicester City’s home game against Stoke City, Vardy officially returned to the team’s starting lineup.
And after a month, the Blue Fox Three Musketeers reunited and announced to the entire Premier League and even Europe with a wonderful performance that the strongest trio in the Premier League has returned!
In the presence of tens of thousands of fans at the King Power Stadium, Leicester City defeated Stoke City 5-0!
And all five goals were scored by the Blue Fox Three Musketeers!
Mahrez scored a goal, Vardy scored twice, and Ling Feng scored two goals and one assist!
What no one expected was that in the two league games after suffering the first league defeat, Leicester City seemed to have been greatly stimulated and showed a very high level on both offense and defense.
In two games, eight goals were scored and no goals were lost!
Such a terrifying offensive firepower seems to be responding to the outside world’s doubts that Leicester City “begins to fall behind” and “cannot win the championship”.
At the same time, this is also the most powerful response to the controversial penalty of the English Football Association!
Don’t you like to create suspense?
I want to make the championship lose suspense early!
After winning two consecutive league games, the team also completed the second signing of the winter window, buying Ghanaian international Amartey from the Danish giants at a price of 6 million pounds!
The arrival of Amartey can greatly strengthen the team’s depth at right back and also give Simpson a reliable substitute.
In addition to the young winger Gray who has joined and played a long time ago, the arrival of the two new players also allows the team to have a deeper lineup to meet the upcoming devil’s February.
However, before that
, they only have one game left to reach the League Cup final
(End of this chapter)