It's a pity that the day of retirement is still too far away, and now he still has to work hard to survive.

In the first game of the new season, Li Chengfeng's team habitually lost the Charity Shield, and Arsenal won the first title of the new season. Yes, it's Arsenal, and Professor Arsene Wenger has finally ended his 14-year winless spell at Arsenal. However, the price is that Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time last year, and I don't know whether the Arsenal owner should be happy or sad. Fortunately, Arsenal's loan has already been repaid, so it has no impact. However, with the strength of the Arsenal owner, they will get used to the days when there is no Champions League to play in the future.

There's nothing to worry about losing the Charity Shield, but losing the first league game to promoted Hasfeld is hard to accept. Leeds United have not yet adapted to the new tactics and there is some confusion on the pitch. The pressing style of play in the high post is very demanding, and Hasfield broke through Leeds United defence on two consecutive counter-attacks and scored two goals. Although Salah pulled a goal back, Leeds still lost 2-1 at home, casting a shadow over the prospects of defending the title in the new season.

Not only Hasfield, Leeds United are in a painful run-in, if a narrow defeat to Liverpool in the second round is acceptable, the third and fourth rounds and successive draws with Swansea and Burnley illustrate the team's current crisis. Although they won a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Southampton in the fifth round of the league, they were then beaten by Manchester City's two giants, with a net loss of seven goals in two games.

Only 5 points have been accumulated in seven league rounds, and it is completely relegated to the level of a team. The defending champion's poor performance shocked everyone, and even Li Chengfeng could not have imagined it. He expected the team to struggle at the start of the league game, but he didn't expect it to be to this extent. Not to mention the performance of Birmingham and Como in the real world, even the promoted Mabraga performed much better than Leeds United.

What's worse is that in the Champions League group stage, Leeds United drew all the first two games and only ranked third.

Although there was not much time to run in when he decided to change his tactics due to the unfavorable search for guns, Li Chengfeng thought that it would not be difficult to win a few games with the player's personal ability. Now it seems that he thinks too simply, the Premier League team is not bad for money, even if it is a weak team.

However, the key is still a defensive problem, the new tactics still need to be run-in, and the high pressing gives the opponent too much space to counterattack, and Leeds United has not had good luck in these games.

The other problem is Ederson, who used to focus on control, and he was resolute in attacking and passing the ball well. But his goal-line technique is still relatively flawed, and it is a little ugly to lose the protection of the defensive line.

Fortunately, with the arrival of the national team break, Leeds United ushered in a respite, and Li Chengfeng also needed to think carefully about what to do next, whether to return to the style of play from last season, or to persevere at the risk of declining results.

For Leeds United, the cost of not qualifying for the Champions League could be catastrophic, with most of the young players in the squad likely to be unable to be retained. Li Chengfeng decided to compromise for the time being, running in while competing.

So in the next game with Chelsea, Li Chengfeng gave up pressing in the high position and honestly played ball control.

At the start of the first half, Leeds took the lead, and in the second minute, Bruno Fernandes' cross from the left was saved by Courtois after Mbappe shook off the angle in the box. In the 5th minute, N'Golo Kante went through and Robertson's cross was cleared by a defender. In the 10th minute, Fernandez crossed down the right side, Ali stopped the ball and stabbed it, the ball hit Azpilicueta and refracted into the net, Leeds United 1-0 Chelsea!

Reverting to the usual style of play from last season, Leeds United's attack is much smoother, and the defence will not give the opponent a chance to counterattack because of too much pressure. And Chelsea seemed a little caught off guard, but more importantly, their main striker, who spent 50 million pounds poached from Leeds United, was injured and unable to play, so that Conte's tactics lost the fulcrum of the front, so Chelsea's attack did not have much of a threat, and Batshuayi could not play the same tactical role as Belotti.

However, Chelsea equalised from a corner. In the 16th minute, Cesc Fabregas's corner kick was taken, and Bakayoko's header scored with a point, 1-1!

Chelsea can only threaten Leeds United from set-pieces, and Leeds are one of the best in the Premier League, and it was only tactical reasons that gave the opponent many counter-attacking opportunities. But as long as they fall into positional battles, few teams dare to say that they will be able to break through Leeds' goal.

Solid defense, Leeds United's attack also played, in the 44th minute, the eater steals and passes directly, Mbappe breaks through to the left side of the penalty area with his personal ability to push the far corner to score, 2-1!

In the second half, Chelsea changed sides and Pedro replaced Michy Batshuayi, who had been poor in the first half, to strengthen the attack. In the 49th minute, Cesc Fabregas hit the crossbar with a shot from outside the area and Chelsea missed the chance.

Chelsea's attack didn't stop and in the 51st minute Cesc Fabregas's follow-up volley flew wide. In the 58th minute, Pedro's low shot after breaking down the left was controlled by Speroni. In the 61st minute, Willian's corner kick was passed to the front post, and Alonso's header was slightly high.

In the 62nd minute, Cesc Fabregas made a long pass from midfield, but Zappacosta was offside. In the 65th minute, Pedro's cold shot from the edge of the box was saved by Speroni. In the 67th minute, Zappacosta's shot after cutting inside did not pose a threat. In the 71st minute, Cesc Fabregas made a long pass, and Musonda's sweeping shot after stopping the ball on his chest in the box went over the crossbar.

The Chelsea were tenacious, they pressed Leeds United for half an hour in the second half, and if it weren't for Leeds United's defensive solidity enough, they would have been overtaken by Chelsea.

However, Chelsea's stamina is also limited, and they are finally unable to hold on. Now it was Leeds' turn to counterattack, in the 85th minute, Ali made a cold arrow from the outside to cause Courtois to save the ball, Salah followed up and scored the ball into the Chelsea goal, 3:1, which was also the final score of the game.

Finally winning the game against Chelsea made Li Chengfeng a little easier, and then faced the weakest opponent in the group, Maribor, in the Champions League, Leeds United tried to play pressingly again, and beat the opponent 7-0 at home. However, the opponent is too weak, Li Chengfeng doesn't know how they broke into the Champions League, such a game does not show that Leeds United is familiar with the new tactics, and the team still needs more run-in.

Fortunately, Leeds United ushered in a relaxed schedule in the next period, and there was no strong team except Tottenham in the first half of the league, and Li Chengfeng had time to gradually transform the team.

Li Chengfeng no longer wants to complete the transformation of the team overnight, and first ensure that he can score points. So Leeds started the game back to the way they played last season, less aggressive, and only practiced new tactics when they secured a win, playing and grinding as they went.

Either way, Leeds United's results are starting to improve, after all, the team is at a championship level, and if there is no problem with the tactics, the results will not be too bad. As for the new tactics, at least against the weaker teams, they will not be as many mismatches as they were at the start of the season.

By Christmas, Leeds United had picked up 37 points at the halfway point and were fourth in the league. Except for the slump of only five points in the first seven games of the game, and 32 points in the next 12 games, there is no better performance at the absolute title level, except for Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City halfway season has 49 points, six points ahead of second-placed Manchester United and 10 ahead of third-placed Chelsea. Pep Guardiola's revamp of Manchester City has been astonishingly fast, even if City has a good foundation and is already a giant, and the team is not short of money. But it took just over a season for Pep Guardiola to fully integrate his passing style into Manchester City, which is not an easy task. If there's a flaw, it's their goalkeeper.

Bravo is indeed not a first-class goalkeeper, but his characteristics are very much in line with Pep Guardiola's possession play, and he can successfully squeeze England international Hart into the position. However, the biggest requirement for a goalkeeper is stability, and the aged Bravo is much worse in this regard, even if Guardiola's possession style of play has greatly relieved the pressure on the defense, Bravo's weakness in saving is still so glaring.

That's why Manchester City will offer Leeds United £50 million for Ederson this summer. Ederson does fit Pep Guardiola's tactical requirements very well, is good at attacking, passes the ball well and is solid enough. But how could Li Chengfeng give up his main goalkeeper, Leeds United is not short of money now. Besides, who will replace Edson Li Chengfeng after selling it? De Gea? Or Alisson? These two people are more expensive and can't afford it.

However, Manchester City are not short of money, and their shortcomings will be made up for after all. It looks like Manchester City will be Leeds United's main rivals in the future. There is also Mourinho's Manchester United, they have returned to the second place before they know it, although Manchester United still has many defects in the current team, but Mourinho's football philosophy can improve the team's lower limit, and Manchester United is also a good money-maker.

I'm afraid that Leeds United has no chance this season, the gap of more than a dozen points is too big, and Guardiola's team has always been very stable in the league. Maybe the cup is the more realistic goal, the Champions League.

(End of chapter)

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