For the sake of gimmicks and traffic, the media all bestowed terms of praise like “Genius” and “Star of Hope” onto Ling Feng.
The British media have always liked hyping up their own country’s young players.
Even though Ling Feng was of mixed Chinese and English descent.
But in the eyes of the media, holding an English passport meant he was a homegrown genius!
Among them, The Guardian published a photo on its social media account of Ling Feng clenching his fist, looking towards the stands with a resolute gaze.
And the title was thought-provoking—”A Flash in the Pan?
Or the Blue Foxes’ Future?”
In the report, The Guardian, based on professional scouts and football commentators, interpreted and analyzed in detail the dozen minutes Ling Feng played in the FA Cup, and initially set Ling Feng’s player template as “Fabregas.”
Like Fabregas, Ling Feng’s physical attributes were average, and he wasn’t fast.
His vision was broad, and his passing was highly imaginative and penetrating.
However, Fabregas, a product of La Masia, had much better footwork than Ling Feng, and his scoring ability was also much stronger, making him more comprehensive.
It could be said that the current Ling Feng was at most a budget version of Fabregas.
And under the media’s hype, many Premier League club scouts who had watched the FA Cup match at the stadium sent the news that “Leicester has a young genius” back to the scouting departments of their respective clubs.
And the replies received were all to observe further.
After all, counting completely, Ling Feng’s playing time on the professional pitch was just a pitiful dozen minutes.
Just looking at the performance in these dozen minutes was not enough to convince Premier League clubs to spend money to buy him.
Even if his performance was simply flawless…
It’s worth mentioning that just the day after Ling Feng was officially promoted to the first team, the official Leicester City club website updated the first team squad list.
Wearing number 23, Ling Feng impressively appeared in the list with a handsome half-body photo!
Many Leicester City fans who had watched that FA Cup match flocked to the club’s official website, leaving various comments:
“Awesome!
The club knows football!”
“This black-haired kid is definitely a genius!”
“His passing is so full of flair, I saw the shadow of a midfield master in him!”
“He’s so handsome!”
Among the many comments, the one with the most likes was a comment posted by a netizen named “Big William.”
This netizen directly posted a photo.
The content of the photo was a blue Leicester City home jersey.
And on the chest of the jersey, was Ling Feng’s own autograph!
“I met this kid on the road, he was riding a bicycle.
When I asked him for an autograph, he gladly agreed.
This kid is very polite and very modest.
I announce that starting today, I am his fan!”
“Thinking about it now, I actually forgot to take a picture with him, what a pity!”
However, besides the majority of comments expressing expectations for Ling Feng, there were also a few comments raising doubts about Ling Feng:
“He looks not strong enough, he’d be knocked flying with just a light bump.
Whether he can establish a firm foothold in the Championship is still unknown.”
“That kind of passing is indeed not bad, but I hope he isn’t a flash in the pan…”
Anyway, with the media’s hype and the fans’ attention, Ling Feng, this small pebble, could be considered to have splashed a ripple on this lake named “English Football”…
…
January 10th.
Leicester City Club, Belvoir Drive Base.
And tomorrow, Leicester City will usher in their Round 25 match.
The opponent is Derby County, nicknamed “The Rams”.
After 24 rounds of the league, Leicester City’s record was 16 wins, 3 draws, and 5 losses, sitting at the top of the standings with 51 points.
Opponent Derby County’s record was 13 wins, 5 draws, and 6 losses, with 44 points, ranking fourth.
Burnley, with a record of 13 wins, 8 draws, and 3 losses, had 47 points, ranking second.
Queens Park Rangers had 46 points, ranking third.
These four teams were strong contenders fighting for the two automatic promotion spots to the Premier League!
The point difference between the four teams was only five points, less than two matches.
So to speak, this round’s matchup with Derby County was a direct dialogue competing for a Premier League spot.
A classic six-pointer!
Leicester City had to defeat Derby County to continue maintaining their leading advantage.
And under normal circumstances, on the day before a league or cup match, the manager would announce the starting lineup and the eighteen-man squad in advance.
This time was no exception.
“Alright, next, I will announce the starting eleven for tomorrow’s home game against Derby County…”
Accompanied by the opening remarks, Ling Feng saw manager Pearson start to announce the starting eleven for tomorrow’s home match against Derby County:
“Kasper…”
“Morgan…”
“Danny (Drinkwater)…”
“Jamie (Vardy)…”
When the last name dropped, many people in the tactical room showed expressions of astonishment or surprise.
In their hearts, they had the same thought:
Why wasn’t Ling Feng, the “Star of Hope” who performed excellently in training and was hyped by the media, included in the starting lineup?
After announcing the starting lineup, manager Pearson specifically looked at Ling Feng, who was sitting in the last row, wanting to observe his reaction.
However, to his slight surprise, Ling Feng’s expression was indifferent, without the slightest anger or frustration.
Seeing this, Pearson couldn’t help but nod secretly in his heart:
“This kid is very calm, not bad…”
However, he didn’t know that Ling Feng had already anticipated that he wouldn’t start.
After all, he had just been promoted to the first team a few days ago, and his tacit understanding and integration with the team’s tactics and teammates were far from enough.
Moreover, with the league halfway through, Leicester City’s starting lineup framework had long been established.
Even with excellent performance in training, it was completely normal for the manager to not dare put him rashly into the starting lineup.
He guessed that with his level and training performance, he would definitely be able to enter the substitute list.
Sure enough, next when announcing the substitute list, his name was impressively on it!
After announcing the eighteen-man squad, manager Pearson came to a tactical whiteboard.
Although there were already computers and projection screens.
However, as an old-school English manager, Pearson still liked to use a tactical whiteboard to explain tactical details to the players.
“David, after you receive the ball with your back to the goal in the front court, you must immediately observe Jamie’s runs…”
“Matty, you must provide toughness in the midfield…”
After a round of tactical analysis and targeted arrangements, this tactical meeting came to an end:
“Alright, that’s it for now.
Go back and get a good rest, we’ll see you on the pitch tomorrow!”
After the meeting, Ling Feng said goodbye to Mahrez, Vardy, and a few other relatively familiar teammates, and then returned to his dorm room at the base. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
Sitting on the bed, turning his head to look at the football pitch bathed in the setting sun outside the window, Ling Feng had only one thought in his mind:
Tomorrow, he might usher in his Championship debut!
Thinking of this, ripples couldn’t help but rise in his heart.
The past week could be called a dreamlike week.
He experienced wonderful moments that many professional players could not experience:
Coming on as a substitute in the FA Cup, and leading the team to a comeback victory!
Making it onto the sports pages of major media outlets, being touted as a “Star of Hope” and “Genius”…
Gaining the recognition of fans, being recognized by fans, and being asked to sign autographs on jerseys!
These storylines that would only appear in novels had actually happened to him.
This made Ling Feng even more intoxicated by it.
However, he was not dizzy with success due to the media’s excessive hype.
Having lived two lives, Ling Feng was not an inexperienced brat, and he wouldn’t feel smug just because of others’ flattery and hype.
Because he knew very well that the media were just a bunch of fence-sitters.
When he performed excellently on the pitch, the media would not spare words of praise and would hype him up frantically.
Once he performed poorly on the pitch, the first ones to mock and kick him while he was down would definitely be these media outlets that frantically hyped him!
If he wanted the media to praise him forever and not give them any chance to kick him while he’s down, then he must always maintain a high level of performance on the pitch!
And to achieve this, he had to stay focused, continuously improve himself, and make himself stronger!
Thinking of this, Ling Feng raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but open his player interface.
Through training and intra-squad scrimmages these past few days, Ling Feng discovered a very important thing:
That is, his attribute values could be improved through training!
Professional training in the first team caused some of his attributes to change:
For example, the Off the Ball attribute under the Mental major category went from 66 to 67;
For example, the Tackling attribute under the Defending major category went from 38 to 40, and the Marking attribute went from 35 to 37.
From the changes in attribute values, Ling Feng roughly understood the mechanism within:
In short, whenever he completed corresponding player skills on the training pitch or watched match videos, the corresponding attribute would gain training experience.
Once experience accumulated to a certain level, the attribute value would increase.
For instance, during the intra-squad scrimmage, he intercepted opponent passes multiple times, so the Tackling attribute gained experience.
When experience accumulated to a certain level, the attribute would improve!
Just like playing a game!
It’s worth mentioning that over the past few days, the player skill he performed the most on the pitch was passing.
But his passing attributes did not receive any improvement.
Ling Feng guessed that the effectiveness of training might be related to the level of the attribute value.
The lower the attribute, the less experience required, and the less difficult it is to improve;
The higher the attribute, the more experience required, and the more difficult it is to improve!
To master a skill, entering the door is the easiest.
However, when the level of the skill reaches a certain height, wanting to keep improving and refining it will definitely be more difficult than when starting out.
This is obviously very reasonable!
As long as he continued to train hard, and then with the help of the system, his relevant attributes would continue to improve, making him stronger and more comprehensive.
Ling Feng was suddenly somewhat looking forward to what kind of feeling it would be when all his six major attributes reached S-rank one day…
(END CHAPTER)