Many things need to be handled by Li Chengfeng personally this winter, which occupies a lot of his energy, and it is precisely because of this that he has not made too many transfer operations this winter, otherwise how can he satisfy the professor, at this time, the gap between Como and the European theater is actually not very big, and there is still hope.

Li Chengfeng had no choice but to temporarily promote youth director Kristkin Spikeman to the position of acting head coach. Although Krystkin prefers youth training and does not have the confidence to do a good job as a head coach, Li Chengfeng convinced him that he only needs to finish the season before returning to continue his work as youth director.

Li Chengfeng is more optimistic about the young coach of the team, Carl Hooper. The 32-year-old has not been a coach for a long time, and he is still young and inexperienced compared to many players, and it is still too early to expect him to become Li Chengfeng's right-hand man. However, it is precisely because of his lack of experience that he has not yet been bound by the coaching tradition of England, and he has a lot of theoretical knowledge and is a malleable talent.

As for the players, they didn't make any adjustments, but they sent Harry Dean, the most influential member of the team and Monk's henchman, to Norka, and he wanted to nip in the bud the locker room problems that Monk's resignation might cause.

The oldest player in the squad is now Birmingham Academy's Adams who has been able to take his place in the squad, while the longest time the other players have been in the squad is only a year and a half, so there will be no impact on the dressing room. As for the issue of mercenary thinking, he is not worried, the backbone of the team is the players he brought from Como, and naturally supports him. As long as the team can work together, Li Chengfeng believes that with their strength, there will be no problem with relegation. There are 15 league games left and the team is second from bottom with 18 points.

According to past experience, if you can get 2o points in the remaining games, there is still a lot of hope of relegation. Basically, you have to score an average of 1.5 points per game, which is not the level of European teams, and it is not very difficult.

In Birmingham's final English game against Norwich City in January, Li Chengfeng sat on the sidelines as an assistant coach and took charge himself.

In this game, Li Chengfeng took Como players as the team, supplemented by Spanish players, played ball control and won the first victory in control of the team.

Norwich City has a traditional English style of play, emphasizing confrontation and tough defending, while attacking is more dependent on the individual ability of the players to create chances. As for the flaws, it's their defense. Without a defensive system, they rely on individual efforts for players with strong individual ability, especially explosive players, who are often penetrated by the defensive line, and are more likely to be blown up in the face of teams with good passing and cutting coordination.

Birmingham under the command of Li Chengfeng is such a team, although the overall cooperation is still insufficient, but the small cooperation in the local area is still very slippery. What's more, for Norwich, who has a poor defense of high-altitude balls, Birmingham also has a big killer Ennessia.

After breaking the deadlock from set-pieces, Birmingham played more fluidly, using passes to mobilize Norwich's defence, scoring a second and third goals in quick succession, and it was like a big club facing a promoted side. That is, the combination of the defense line is not tacit enough to be stolen by the opponent, otherwise it will be a perfect victory.

After this game, although Birmingham are still in the bottom two positions, the gap between them and the team in front of them is already very small. What's more, through this game, the players in Birmingham have regained their confidence and have all recognized the level of Li Chengfeng. If they were reluctant to obey because of Li Chengfeng's identity as the boss before, now, they really believe that Li Chengfeng can lead the team to relegation. It's a good start, but it's not the end, and Li has a hunch that he will be in charge of Birmingham for a long time.

Birmingham are on track and Manchester City are also facing challenges. The Champions League knockout round is coming up against Germany's Schalke O4, a not very strong opponent but one that needs to be taken seriously. So he rotated a few players in the previous league and lost unexpectedly.

Opponents Southampton are not a strong team, but they are tenacious, tough and brutal. Manchester City's new signings are a little uncomfortable with the English style, coupled with away and rotation reasons, magnifying the team's shortcomings, Manchester City lost 1:3 to the opponent, and the entanglement with Manchester United in the standings was also thrown off by 5 points. However, I finally won the game against Schalke O4 at home, although it was only a 2:1, but it was also a win in the end.

Ferguson, by contrast, was much bolder and wanted it all. It seems that the result is also good, not only did the league win, but the Champions League knockout round also drew 1-1 with Turkey's Galatasaray away from the Devil, no matter how you look at it, it is a satisfactory result, so that Li Chengfeng has to admire his determination.

can't widen the gap anymore, Li Chengfeng also decided to grit his teeth and insist, in addition to the FA Cup, the large rotation should be given up.

After winning the sixth round of the FA Cup against Leeds United in the all-substitute line-up match, Li Chengfeng sent most of the main players in the next match against Chelsea, and must beat the opponent, only captain Kompany was unable to play due to injury. For Chelsea, they also need points, and although they are already more than a point behind Manchester United and Manchester City, their third place is not secure and they will need to grab every single point if they are to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Manchester City, playing at home, took the lead and just one minute into the opening game, Yaya Toure hit Petr Cech with a cold arrow from the top of the arc, and in the third minute, Silva took a corner from the left side to the front point and was cleared. In the 5th minute, Aguero tried to burst into the penalty area on the left side of the front field and was closed by the opposing defender and lost possession, in the 7th minute, Demba Ba singled out Kolo Toure on the left wing to make a corner, Mata was destroyed by Zabaleta's header, in the 9th minute, Bale crossed two people on the right side, Cech grabbed the ball before Aguero outflanked it, and in the 1o minute, Bale passed diagonally, and Yaya Toure shot from a small angle on the left side.

In the 14th minute, Zabaleta tried to pass the ball on the right side, Ruiz kicked the ball out of the bottom line, Silva drove a corner kick on the right, Samba jumped high in the middle of the penalty area and bounced the ball, Cech reacted quickly to save the ball! Chelsea escaped.

In the 17th minute, Silva played the ball in front, Yaya Toure's powerful shot in the box was blocked by Cahill, Manchester City's short corner kick was passed into the penalty area with three passes and two, and Toure's volley from eight yards in front of the goal was blocked by Cahill. In the 18th minute, Silva made a low cross in front, and Aguero's left side of the penalty area passed Cech's power was too great, and the ball went straight out of the bottom line.

Chelsea's defence is solid, even though Mourinho has been away from Chelsea for a long time, the Chelsea defensive style he has built has continued, even if the strength has decreased now, but when they concentrate on defending, it is not so easy to concede goals. Especially after the departure of their former coach Roberto Di Matteo, the arrival of the new tactician Benitez has made their tactics more targeted. In the first half of this game, Chelsea almost gave up attacking, they stationed near the penalty area, strictly guarded Manchester City's breakthrough line, as for the set-piece long-range shot, there was Cech, and the goal was recognized.

Neither side scored in the first half, with the Chelsea defence kept their focus high and Cech made a number of saves to keep City out of the net. However, with the second half to go, Li Chengfeng did not believe Chelsea would be able to maintain such defensive focus throughout the game. It's not Mourinho's Chelsea now, Benitez has only been in charge for a few months and can't get the team to play exactly the way they want, they will always show flaws.

The Chelsea people have never embraced Benitez, they just see him as a transitional coach who will be replaced in the summer, so can the Chelsea players play for Benitez wholeheartedly? Especially in times of adversity.

Benitez knows this and does not want to leave Chelsea at the end of the season. This is the first time in two years that he has had the opportunity to coach a big club since that bad season for Inter Milan, and if he messes up, I am afraid that he will never have the opportunity to coach a big club in the future. So he's desperate to get something at Chelsea. It's just that now the league is hopeless, the League Cup FA Cup is out, and there is only one Europa League to compete for, so Benitez has focused on the Europa League, as for the league, the top four is good.

With so many problems, as long as they continue to put pressure on them, they will show their flaws sooner or later, and Li Chengfeng believes that. At halftime, Li Chengfeng did not make adjustments, but asked the players to keep on the offensive. Also, be careful of the Chelsea counter-attack in the opening stages, if the Chelsea people have any ideas, they may start the game and then defend with all their might, as long as this stage is over, it is a sure thing to win Chelsea.

However, Manchester City's players attacked too high, ignoring the opponent's counterattack, and in the 51st minute, Neuer had to knock down Demba Ba in the penalty area and was sentenced to death by the referee.

Could this be a game-changing penalty? Li Chengfeng nervously looked at Frank Lampard, who was about to take the penalty. Frank Lampard got up and Neuer made a good deal to save the penalty that flew into the bottom left corner!

Li Chengfeng yelled excitedly, while the Chelsea players hung their heads, as if they had lost the game.

Li Chengfeng showed that the morale of the Chelsea players was low, and Benitez really failed to establish his prestige in the team.

Li Chengfeng immediately replaced Yaya Toure with Suarez to increase the attacking manpower, while Chelsea took it all back and defended with all their might, just like in the first half.

(End of chapter)

。 Reading at zero o'clock