Because Leicester City eliminated their opponent Stoke City in the third round of the FA Cup and advanced to the fourth round.
So, their 27th round league match, originally scheduled for January 25th, was postponed to February 12th.
Replacing it was a cup clash against the Premier League giant, “The Blues” Chelsea!
And this match would be played at Leicester City’s home ground.
In the last round, Leicester City’s comeback victory against Stoke City had already made the Leicester City fans feel both surprised and delighted.
Coupled with their recent excellent form and winning streak in the league, the Leicester City fans were more than willing to come to the King Power Stadium to cheer for their team.
Within just three short hours of the tickets going on sale, except for the three thousand tickets allocated to the away fans, everything was sold out!
It has to be said that the FA Cup is a great opportunity to make money for lower-league teams.
Let’s start with the tournament prize money.
By reaching the first round, a team can earn 36,000 pounds in prize money.
The second round brings 54,000 pounds, and the third round is 82,000 pounds…
The further a team advances, the higher the prize money.
Besides the prize money, matchday ticket revenue is also a substantial income.
The ticket revenue of the two teams is distributed proportionally after deducting costs.
Add to that broadcasting shares and other revenues, and the amount is not small at all.
For Championship teams, this is a decent income.
But for lower-league teams like those in League One or League Two, this revenue might equal several months, or even half a year to a year’s worth of income!
Therefore, these teams naturally field their main players and give it their all.
Whereas wealthy Premier League teams don’t really care much about this bit of money.
So, Premier League teams usually use cup matches as a training ground to test youngsters and substitutes, rarely fielding their main starting lineup.
This is also why the FA Cup occasionally sees lower-league teams pull off upsets against Premier League teams!
Of course, even if a Premier League team undergoes a complete rotation and fields an all-substitute lineup, they are still not an opponent that lower-league teams can easily contend with.
Every single player capable of being a substitute in a Premier League team has solid abilities.
They are either highly talented young prospects or veteran players with extensive top-flight experience.
Leicester City did not let their guard down, but instead seriously rehearsed their possession-based tactics with Ling Feng as the core according to their own plan…
…
Belvoir Drive Base.
On the first team’s training pitch, manager Pearson’s shouts could be heard from time to time: “Dean (Hammond), less dribbling, pass more!”
“Riyad (Mahrez), hold the ball on the right, wait for the full-back to overlap…”
“Ling, get into the position at the top of the penalty arc more often to receive cut-backs…”
And the Leicester City players wearing their long training gear on the pitch were seriously executing the manager’s tactical arrangements.
On the British Isles in late January, the cold, biting wind blew against their faces.
Fortunately, the bright sunshine poured down, driving away some of the chill in their bodies.
Soon, this intra-squad scrimmage ended with a whistle.
Taking off the orange vest representing the starting team, a sweaty Ling Feng came to the sideline and took the towel and sports drink handed by the fitness coach.
While wiping his sweat with the towel, manager Pearson also came to the sideline, grabbed Ling Feng’s shoulder, and began saying: “Ling, good performance just now.
However, when facing Chelsea, if we want to control possession, it certainly won’t be that easy.”
“So, I need you to keep running and constantly support your teammates’ passes…”
While listening to Pearson explain the tactical details to him, Ling Feng drank his water and nodded from time to time.
Two consecutive weeks of tactical video sessions had roughly familiarized Ling Feng with the team’s tactics, and also allowed his relevant attributes to see some progress.
And because his attributes were on the lower side, even without specifically targeting them or doing extra training, Ling Feng’s attributes in the “Defending” category saw a noticeable increase.
“Tackling” went from 40 to 42, “Marking” went from 35 to 37; both attributes increased by two points.
Besides that, the “Physical” attributes showed the most obvious improvement.
Because Pearson knew Ling Feng’s physical confrontation ability was very poor.
So over the past two weeks, Pearson had assigned a fitness coach to put him through specialized confrontation training.
Under normal circumstances, a manager giving a player private tutoring only happens in two scenarios.
Either the player currently lacks strength but has great potential; Or the player has enough strength but has obvious shortcomings.
Whether it’s the former or the latter, it shows that the manager highly values the player.
Because for those players without potential or talent, the manager wouldn’t waste time on them…
And under the hands-on guidance of the fitness coach, Ling Feng’s “Balance” attribute rose from 62 to 64, and his “Strength” also went from 45 to 47!
Although the improvement wasn’t huge.
However, being able to intuitively see his own growth was enough for Ling Feng to feel himself getting stronger bit by bit, thereby giving him ample motivation to train! The source of this chapter is g.com.
It is worth noting that the two free attribute points he earned in the last league match for achieving the “English Championship First Goal” and “English Championship Man of the Match” milestones were both put into “Acceleration” by Ling Feng.
And this time, after applying the points, Ling Feng finally clearly felt a difference.
He clearly felt his explosive power when accelerating off the mark had gotten just a tiny bit stronger.
Not a lot, but he could truly feel it!
These subtle changes in his body made Ling Feng boldly imagine.
If one day his “Acceleration” attribute reaches 99, what kind of sight would that be?!
…
With active preparation and training, the day before the match arrived quickly.
Which was also the day to announce the starting lineup for the next game!
All first-team players gathered in the tactical room.
Every gaze was focused on manager Pearson, hoping their name would come out of his mouth.
“The starting eleven for tomorrow’s match are Kasper (Schmeichel)…”
“Moore…”
“Riyad (Mahrez)…”
“Ling!”
After announcing the starting lineup, it was the substitute list.
But at this point, Ling Feng was already deaf to it.
Although he had expected his first start wouldn’t take too long.
However, the moment he heard his name appear in the starting lineup, roaring waves still surged in Ling Feng’s heart.
In other words, in tomorrow’s FA Cup match, he was about to make his first start for the Leicester City first team?!
Recalling more than half a month ago, his first appearance for the first team was on the stage of the FA Cup.
And now his first start for the first team was also in the FA Cup.
This made Ling Feng couldn’t help but sigh: Could it be that I am a man born for the FA Cup?!
(END CHAPTER)