Football’s First Defender
Chapter 737: Defensive performance
"Do not worry!"
"The score now is just a tie!"
"This is Anfield Stadium, our home court."
"We can score the first goal in the first half, and in the second half we can definitely have an excellent offensive performance, and then score again."
"Chelsea is a formidable opponent. Everyone must not be anxious, and be patient and look for opportunities."
During the half-time break, Klopp constantly instilled the belief in winning the players.
For Liverpool, there is no room for losing points in this game.
But Chelsea is another strong opponent. Although they want to win the game, Liverpool must not be anxious, too anxious, it will only give Chelsea a chance to attack.
This is absolutely not allowed for Liverpool.
Under the current situation of the game, when Liverpool wants to attack, they can still have a certain advantage on the field.
So for Klopp, in the second half of the offense, it is more important to continue to maintain the situation on the court, and to ensure that the team has a certain advantage, try to score as much as possible.
If the team still cannot take the lead in the first 20 minutes of the second half, then after 65 minutes, Klopp will make substitution adjustments and replace Benteke and others to continue to strengthen his offensive strength.
For Liverpool, who needs a match to win, in this game, being able to score as early as possible can also give fans more peace of mind.
However, Chelsea's posture is very low when playing away.
For Chelsea, in this game, I don't have much task.
Victory and defeat are of little significance to the team itself.
is simply to dedicate a high-quality game for your fans, and then to hone the lineup for next season, so that the players have a stage to express themselves.
Therefore, without too much pressure on the performance of the game, the players can play more openly.
On the defensive end, it shows Chelsea's defensive tradition all the time. In the game, it has excellent defensive options.
On the offensive end, it is relying on a defensive counterattack to strike behind Liverpool, to see if they can score another goal and personally end Liverpool's dream of three consecutive championships.
At the beginning of the second half, Liverpool naturally exerted their full strength on the offensive end to strive for the goal earlier.
For Liverpool, scoring early means that they can obtain a greater advantage in the game to ensure the victory of this game.
Liverpool’s offense, without substitutions, also invested a lot of offensive power.
almost put all the offensive power possessed by the existing team into the offense.
Especially in Chelsea’s barrel formation, while still maintaining the essence of the Mourinho era, Liverpool had to use two full-backs on the offensive end to participate in the attack at the same time.
Even at the expense of a certain amount of rear defense security, he wants to achieve as much offensive suppression as possible and obtain sufficient offensive security possibilities.
From the beginning of the second half of the game, Liverpool did indeed have an extremely effective offensive effect on the offensive end.
The team's wing has a great wing threat ability after the unlimited offense of the full back is inserted.
Whether it is a sudden burst of speed and a strong attack, or a few players in the front field, with a small range of passing balls, Liverpool has indeed created a lot of attacking opportunities on the offensive end.
The 53rd minute of the game.
Liverpool almost rewrote the score on the court.
Within a small range in the frontcourt, Coutinho, Lallana, and Firmino sent out consecutive shots, flashing and moving in a small range, treating the opponent's defense as nothing.
It’s just that, despite the wonderful cooperation before the big penalty area, when the ball was transported to the penalty area, it was still seen through by the experienced Mikel.
Mikel is playing the central defender's position, although he does not have the technical ability of a central defender, nor the height of a traditional central defender.
But his excellent defensive defensive awareness of the midfielder is more than enough to be a scavenger.
This time, Mikel used his defensive awareness as a midfielder and directly completed the decisive ground grab during the game.
There was no hesitation, it was Mikel's own subconscious grab action, even if he gave up his defensive position in the penalty area, resulting in a defensive gap.
But Mikel's choice was right.
Coutinho’s through ball directly aimed at Klein, who was suddenly on the other side.
Klein has already exploded with his fastest speed. As long as the ball passes, Klein catches the ball in the penalty area, which is equivalent to a single-handed shot.
Liverpool’s offensive has always been looking for a very threatening offensive method.
It was hard to use the offensive ability of several midfielders to attract Chelsea's defensive attention and create such an attacking opportunity, but it was directly destroyed by Mikel, who was "insecure" on the back line.
Mikel completely ignored the open space in the middle of the penalty area. This time he chose to go directly to the grab, which Coutinho did not expect.
The ball was directly intercepted by Mikel, which can be regarded as allowing Liverpool to return without success.
In addition to Liverpool's offense, Chelsea's defensive counterattack also played very well.
Chelsea played an iron bucket on the away game, but it was not just to defend a draw away.
Using the iron barrel is just a choice of game, but it does not mean that Chelsea's goal is to defend.
Defensive counterattack will always be Chelsea’s sharpest offensive weapon in the game.
The team's midfielders are almost all players who are suitable for counterattacks, especially Hazard, who are fast and have strong breakthrough ability.
On the counterattack end, as long as there is enough offensive space for him to display, he can use his speed and breakthrough ability to single out the opponent's entire defensive line in the game.
Of course, the defensive counterattack is also to score goals, to create a threatening offense.
Therefore, Chelsea still gave Yang Feng a lot of "face".
Everyone knows how strong Yang Feng is when defending his opponent's counterattack.
Naturally, it will not touch Yang Feng's mold. In the game, Chelsea's counterattack is either on the ground without passing the ball, and the players will advance themselves.
Either go to the opposite side of the area where Yang Feng is, and try not to give Yang Feng room to play.
Liverpool and Atletico Madrid, one is the defending champion of the UEFA Champions League, and the other is the upstart of the UEFA Champions League who has performed well in the European competition in recent years.
The two teams played against each other in this series, showing people a kind of iron-blood defense that is not in line with the trend of the times.
When it comes to the final decision on the right to advance, when no one can break through the opponent’s gate, the penalty shootout is still needed to decide the victory or defeat. It can be said that the tension and excitement of this series of matches continue to the end. A moment.
At this time, Wanda Metropolitan Stadium, with the cheering of tens of thousands of Atletico fans, a brutal penalty shootout is about to begin.
At this time, no one knows whether it is Liverpool, which is playing away and will play abnormally in the noisy boos, or Atletico, which is playing at home, will want to win and be afraid of losing, and there will be psychological baggage.
Everything, in the end, you have to see the truth before the penalty point. The player's goal play and the goalkeeper's defensive performance may determine the final result of the game.
Before the penalty kick started, Klopp had already worked out the order of penalty kicks.
The players only need to accept the arrangement, adjust their mood, and wait for the penalty kick to play.
Before this away game started, Klopp had already made time to practice two penalty kick training sessions. It can be regarded as anticipating this situation and making preparations early.
The penalty list was also arranged before. At this time, Klopp only needs to know whether any players feel abnormal and decide to give up the penalty kick.
Fortunately, for the Liverpool players, they are all big hearts. It is only a penalty kick. It is not the Champions League final. It is a "small game" where only the top 8 will be promoted. It is far from the tension and the effort. The degree to be avoided.
Before the penalty kick started, the captains of both sides, Yang Feng and Gabi, under the auspices of the referee, completed the matter of guessing the side and choosing the order of the penalty.
After everything was done, the penalty kick started.
Yang Feng guessed the coin and lost. Liverpool was the first team to take the penalty kick.
According to probability theory and big data statistics, the team that is penalized after the penalty is very likely to win the game.
Perhaps, this is the post-penalty team, the psychological pressure may be less, and it can better adjust the mentality according to the situation on the field.
It was Milner who walked to the penalty spot first.
Milner, a big-hearted player, is Liverpool's first stick under pressure.
Oblak stood in the penalty area first, with the ball in his hand, walked head-on to the penalty spot, handed the ball to Milner's hand, and then slowly retreated to the goal line.
The psychological confrontation between the goalkeeper and the penalty shooter is not just on the goal line, but on the court, every time.
Oblak hoped to look directly at Milner when he handed the ball just now, hoping to interfere with Milner with small movements.
Oblak, who is 1.89 meters tall, with his own wingspan, standing in the middle of the goal, for Milner, it feels more defensive coverage than his teammate Mignole during training. Much larger.
This may be Oblak’s talent, and in addition to his excellent physical fitness, Oblak’s reaction speed is not slow. In a penalty shootout, the deterrence caused is definitely extremely for the penalty shooter. The big test.
However, Milner's heart is big enough, regardless of the range of Oblak's control, how big it can be, and he can hit the ball at the angle he wants and score it, that's enough.
"Milner runs up!"
"Kick the door!"
"Oblak judged in the right direction, but he still didn't make the move. Milner took the lead for Liverpool."
Milner chose to push hard and hit the bottom right corner of the goal.
This time, Oblak has already judged the right direction, and is falling to the ground quickly, stretching his arms as best he can.
But Milner's shot was fast enough and the angle was tricky enough, almost rubbing the post in the lower right corner and rolling into the goal.
Oblak’s palm is just a little bit short of touching a football, which is a pity.
Atletico Madrid's turn takes the penalty.
Atletico Madrid’s first player was Griezmann.
Unlike Liverpool’s previous free throws, the noisy sound was different. At this time, when the home team was defending, the sound on the scene dropped significantly.
Except for the away fan zone for thousands of Liverpool fans, everyone in the home team area was silent, giving Griezmann a better shooting environment.
Run-ups, rhythm changes, Griezmann's pause, but it was Mignolet who flew out to the right in advance, and Griezmann was taking a kick at this time. It was not too much to complete a kick easily. He pushed hard, hit the left side, and entered the goal.
After Griezman scored, Atletico Madrid's home stadium burst into a lot of cheers to celebrate Griezman's goal.
And then, naturally there were boos all around, putting pressure on the players after arriving at Liverpool.
Coutinho fired a low shot to the left and still scored.
Although Gabi's shot was also very high, but the angle was tricky and the force was sufficient, so that Mignolet's side thrust was also a palm difference without stopping the football.
Both sides made two free throws.
Firmino hit a violent shot to the left, and Cork hit a half-height goal in the middle, which allowed the team to continue to score.
3 to 3.
After the key two shots, Yang Feng appeared in the more important fourth penalty position, still hitting the bottom right corner of the goal, quite following the direction his teammates aimed, and once again fooled Oblak's defense.
scored the goal.
Both sides made 7 of 7 free throws. At this time, Liverpool’s consecutive hits put more pressure on the Atletico players who played later.
Saul hit the goal with a half-high, which was judged by Mignolet ~lightnovelpub.net~ to fly into the air and flop.
That is, Saúl’s route choice for this ball is excellent. It was the goal post on the right bounced back into the penalty area, making Mignolet’s save still a little worse, and it was not touched.
Atletico fans were shocked when it was shot.
Because of this kind of half high ball with no speed, no height, no power, it is most suitable for goalkeepers to play.
Fortunately, Saul did not become the criminal.
Liverpool’s Henderson made the final penalty, and he hit the goal with a heavy kick, which did not give Oblak any chance to save.
At Atletico Madrid's last shot, Torres was bold enough to choose to hit the center and flew into the goal.
Both sides made ten out of ten, and the penalty kick went directly to a single-round tie-breaker, which was more intense and exciting.
Both teams hit all free throws, and gave no chance to the goalkeepers of both sides. The players after that are actually players who are getting less and less good at penalty kicks.
Klein volleyed, scored again, and successfully scored his share of the penalty kick.
And Jimenez also scored, making the two sides tied 6-6.
In the 7th round, Moreno and Felipe scored at the same time, tying 7 to 7.
So far, the two teams have not missed a shot.
Scott is Liverpool’s eighth man, running and hitting!
The uncertainty of the footwork of the central defender is revealed.
"Lost! Skrtel's penalty kick at the critical moment was flew, Atletico Madrid's chance to end the game."