A few days before this game, Pearson had already made tactical arrangements for the players.
"For this game, I ask you to play in the style of the Championship!"
The players were stunned for a moment, but soon reacted.
"Just kick them to death?"
"That's right!"
"Hahaha!"
The players laughed.
Pearson patted a document in his hand.
"Let me tell you a piece of news,
"The referee of this game is not a Premier League referee, but a Championship referee, Thompson."
"I don't know why the FA arranged it this way, but I know very well that it is good for us!
"Championship referees are used to large-scale penalties, which have long been ingrained in their bones.
"Even if the FA asks them to blow more strictly, they will involuntarily relax.
"So I ask you to be more fierce in this game!
"Use the unique way of the English Championship team to deal with this team that claims to want to win the quadruple!
"They have already stepped on our shoulders to win the League Cup,
"We must not let them step on us to win the FA Cup again!
"I have never had a good impression of Manchester City,
"So we must beat them!"
As soon as Pearson finished speaking, De Laet next to him clapped his hands and stood up excitedly.
"Boss! As long as you don't have a good impression of Manchester City, we will always be friends!"
"Hahaha!"
Pearson didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "The passionate atmosphere I finally brewed was ruined by you."
Shakespeare on the side smiled and nodded.
Pearson has changed a lot this season.
He is not as harsh as before, and he gets along better with the players. The players dare to make a joke in front of him.
Everything is going in the best direction, which is great.
With the coach's request, the Leicester City players are united in this game.
From the first minute of the game, they were determined to fight Manchester City.
The continuous fierce tackles made Manchester City's technical football ineffective.
The tough impact of the midfield caused Manchester City to make two mistakes and almost lost the ball.
This made Pellegrini on the sidelines very unhappy!
He shouted the names of the players loudly, asking them to toughen up!
Especially Yaya Toure, he was very dissatisfied with his performance!
"Toure! Tougher! What are you doing?"
Hearing Pellegrini's shout, Yaya Toure did not reply.
He was in a bad mood.
Not against the head coach, but against his teammates.
What kind of shit ball is this?
As long as the opponent's pressing is fiercer, the teammates will lose the ball?
What are you all doing?
Don't you want to play this game well?
Oh, I understand.
You want to save your strength and strive to play in the Champions League and the league, right?
Then why start in this game?
Fxxk!
Just as Xia Xing received the ball and prepared to move forward, Yaya Toure ran into him directly!
Xia Xing turned halfway with the ball, so that the ball was still under his control.
Leaving half of his back to Yaya Toure.
My strength is 85, why should I be afraid of you?
When Xia Xing was knocked to the ground by Yaya Toure, he realized the gap between himself and his opponent.
This guy's strength must be 95...
The referee whistle sounded, Yaya Toure fouled, Leicester City got a free kick.
Yaya Toure was a little dissatisfied and complained to the referee: "They kicked so hard just now, but there was no foul. How come my reasonable collision was a foul?"
The referee frowned, and without saying a word, he took out a card!
Yellow card warning!
Yaya Toure was furious!
He wanted to say something, but was pulled aside by captain Kompany.
"Why did you provoke the referee?"
"His penalty is unfair!"
"If you are sent off, how do we play next?"
"..."
"Control your emotions!"
"Okay..."
Yaya Toure took a deep breath and stopped talking.
Fxxk!
Although he was in a bad mood, Yaya Toure knew his limits and stopped being pretentious with the referee.
However, in the following period, Yaya Toure's defensive state obviously deteriorated.
After all, he had a yellow card and Yaya Toure did not want to be sent off.
Leicester City became more and more courageous, relying on crazy defense to frequently disrupt Manchester City's midfield pass control.
At the end of the first half, neither side scored a goal.
During the halftime break, Pearson praised everyone's performance.
"Manchester City has run out of tricks! Just keep going!"
However, Pearson called Xia Xing, Mahrez and Vardy aside.
"You have to find opportunities to attack in the second half and make the final decision!"
"Okay!"
The three of them looked determined.
After the second half, Leicester City still defended desperately.
Especially the defense in the middle, which was airtight.
Hammond and Schlupp, who started this game, were very active. As substitutes, they cherished being able to start in this important game.
So they went all out to implement the coach's arrangements.
Drinkwater controls the rhythm of the midfield.
The best performance was from Xia Xing.
Since absorbing the Gattuso card, Xia Xing's steal attribute has increased to 75.
This level is already quite good.
Especially with 85 strength, 82 reaction, 85 speed, 89 explosive power, and 90 physical fitness, he is simply the absolute iron gate of Leicester City's midfield today.
He may not seem that strong, but as long as Xia Xing appears in front of them, Manchester City players don't plan to dribble at all!
This game was played for 70 minutes, and no Manchester City player successfully dribbled past Xia Xing!
When he intercepted the ball from Nasri's feet again, the commentator in the live broadcast room couldn't help but admire.
"If you only look at this game, Xia is a very qualified defensive midfielder!
"Who would have thought that he is also an attacker with super impact and excellent ball control? "
Yeah, no one thought of this.
Especially the Manchester City players.
In the 79th minute of the game, just after Manchester City had completed the substitution adjustment, Leicester City's fast break suddenly came!
Xia Xing decisively put down the tackle and knocked down Navas who broke through on the wing!
Manchester City's midfield line just pressed forward to prepare for the attack, and it stopped abruptly!
At this time in the frontfield, Mahrez had accelerated!
Xia Xing made a long pass straight to the right!
"Leicester City's counterattack is coming!
"Mahrez received the ball cleverly and quickly moved forward!
"Harvey Garcia cut in diagonally to defend!
"Mahrez cut inside and suddenly went to the wing!
"He Changed direction and shook off Garcia!
"He is going straight to the penalty area!
"Left-back Clichy is extremely fast, and Mahrez's forward route is blocked!
"He passes the ball to the middle!
"Vardy receives the ball!
"Mahrez continued to move forward, are they going to play a two-on-one?
"Vardy passes the ball!
"The ball is suddenly passed to the left!
"Who's there?
"It's Xia!
"After passing the ball to Mahrez, he advanced to the penalty area at high speed!
"He rushed to catch the ball!
"He volleyed from the penalty area line!
"The ball went straight into the upper right corner of the goal!
"The ball went in!
"In the 80th minute of the game, Leicester City finally broke the deadlock!
"Xia performed so well in this game!
"His wonderful defense made him the spoiler of Manchester City's offense!
"And now, he has made the difference for Leicester City!
"1 to 0!
"Leicester City is only ten minutes away from creating a miracle!"
(End of this chapter)