Football’s First Defender
Chapter 662: Return to the Champions League
The Champions League qualifying round earlier means that in the last UEFA Champions League group match with Wolfsburg, Klopp can rotate the lineup to cope with the team's intensive schedule afterwards, and there may be a situation of lack of physical fitness.
And before that, Klopp could only choose to let the main players grit their teeth again and fight for the next league match.
In the league, after encountering strong enemies one after another, in the 14th round of the Premier League, Liverpool finally ushered in a not too threatening opponent, the mid-lower team Swansea.
Swansea's performance this season is obviously not as good as last season.
So far in the league, Swansea is ranked 15th, and it is only 2 points away from the relegation zone.
The team’s tactical reforms a few seasons ago have played a very good pass and control football, but after selling a large number of players, the newly introduced players obviously cannot adapt to the tactics quickly, making the team’s current play style Some four are not like.
The core transmission and control tactics were completed by a bunch of "rough people", and their power plummeted.
Such a team, obviously in this season, cannot find the rhythm of the game and cannot attack and defend a team. For Liverpool, playing at home will not cause too much trouble in terms of strength. The real trouble is Liverpool. Players, can they use their limited physical stamina to give play to their due strength?
On the starting list, because of Henderson’s injury and Milner’s muscle strain, Klopp can only choose the combination of Emre Can and Lucas in the configuration of the double back midfielder. The rest of the players are The regular starting lineup has not changed much.
However, the physical fitness of the Liverpool players must be paid more attention to during the game. The hidden physical fitness will be the biggest test for Liverpool in this game.
Influenced by continuous combat, Liverpool are prepared to use a better way to balance the physical consumption on both offense and defense, so as to achieve victory in the game with as little consumption as possible.
At the beginning of the game, Liverpool's midfielder, whose tacit understanding has increased sharply recently, performed excellent frontcourt cooperation.
Swansea's ball-handling style, after encountering Liverpool's high-intensity frontcourt pressure, the pass to the center was directly interrupted by Coutinho.
Coutinho directly launched a counterattack from the midfield area.
After taking a few steps forward, Coutinho made a straight pass before the opponent's upper grab was completed, passed the ball accurately through the two defense lines, and passed the ball to the feet of Lallana who was fast forward.
Lallana's excellent foot technique, in the process of maintaining a fast forward, successfully straightened the ball, and accurately found that Swansea was back to the defense, the right rib defensive empty.
"Lallana, with a kick, looks for Swansea's right flank, and the through ball is inside the penalty area."
"Jordan Ibby, at full speed from the right side diagonally into the penalty area, received the ball."
Iby received this wonderful straight plug from Lallana, and he could just follow the running route and continue to move laterally to the left to expand the angle range of the door.
With this ball, Lallana's mastery of space and passing strength is very precise, allowing Ibby to give full play to his speed advantage and throw off his defensive players without the ball.
Then there is no need to do too much manipulation. With a horizontal stroke on the left, facing the goalkeeper in front, Iby directly completes the goal.
"GOAL!!!"
"Jordan Ibby!"
"I didn't waste this great single-handed opportunity."
"Liverpool's chance to counterattack on the spot after completing the midfield counter-grab. After Coutinho and Lallana passed the ball, it easily penetrated Swansea's chaotic defense. In just 6 minutes, Liverpool took the lead. Scored a goal."
After Liverpool scored the first goal, it did not immediately damp the enthusiasm of the Swansea players.
For them, the team's own defense has not been very good this season. They are the first to lose the ball and fall behind. They are accustomed to this rhythm. The next step is to see if they can play the offense they want in the game. The rhythm is up.
Although this is Anfield Stadium, the Swansea players still won't catch it all.
"After being quickly broken the deadlock by Liverpool, Swansea responded very quickly."
"A minute later, they were on the left and launched a fruitful counterattack."
"Ji Chengyong, Si Gudson, and Andre Ayou made a wonderful pass in a small area on the left."
"Yoshi Seiyong finally sent a wonderful through ball, giving Ayo a chance to directly hit the Liverpool penalty area, and after receiving the ball, he sent a half-high pass to the forward point."
"It's just a pity that Edel's header from the front point was blocked by Yang Feng, who was right next to him. He didn't let Swansea's quick response this time really threaten Liverpool's door... …"
Yang Feng had a very good mark today against Edel, one of the two sharp knives in Swansea.
Ayou can only give this to his midfielder teammates. Yang Feng can only do his best to minimize Edel's offensive threat.
As far as the situation on the field is concerned, although the Swansea players did not give up when the score was behind, they still played their offensive cooperation in the midfield as much as possible.
But in fact, it is still in the game, Liverpool occupies a greater advantage.
More than 60% possession rate, more threatening attacks, and the number of shots have given Liverpool an absolute advantage on the scene.
Under such an advantage, Liverpool continued to accumulate the number of frontcourt attacks and finally turned into the second goal.
Emre Can, in a midfield press after Liverpool's failed attack, a sliding tackle directly intercepted the football at the feet of Ayou, and directly tackled the ball to nearby Lallana.
Lallana looked at the six lanes, and after receiving the football that Emre Can shoveled this time, he immediately found Firmino who was fast forward.
"Lallana's midfielder took a long pass from the right side ~lightnovelpub.net~ directly into the penalty area of Swansea."
"Firmino's fast forward, in the speed competition, beat the visiting team center back Williams."
"Perfect unloading of the ball, directly pass this in mind, from the air, unloaded onto his feet."
"I hit the door directly!"
"The ball is scored! The ball is scored!"
"Fermino, showing his excellent technical ability in front of goal, seized this momentary opportunity. After unloading the ball, when the goalkeeper failed to attack and the defender did not make up his defense, he completed the shot to the far corner. ."
"2 to 0! Liverpool extended the score in the 31st minute of the first half."
The 2-0 halftime lead was still playing at home. At this time, Liverpool, because of Yang Feng's defense on the defensive line, was not the same time period in history that needed the fans to take quick relief.
In the second half of the game, even if Swansea wanted to launch a counterattack, Yang Feng's leading Liverpool defense used a fairly stable defensive performance to complete his own defensive duties.
Especially Yang Feng, this game completely locked Swansea's power forward Edel, so that he could not even play a pivotal role, which greatly restricted Swansea's offensive advancement.
Finally, relying on the defensive force, Liverpool played a ball-control style in the second half and won the final game 2-0.
After a successful victory, Liverpool has stumbled into fourth place in the league and entered the Champions League due to the upset losses of other giants in the past two rounds...