Football’s First Defender

"Come on, don't be so slack, the game is not over yet."

Seeing his teammates getting depressed following Manchester City's second goal, Yang Feng stood up and called out to his teammates.

In fact, this work of encouraging teammates is usually done by Liverpool captain Gerrard, but Gerrard is still sitting on the bench and cannot exert influence on the players on the field.

"Let's raise your morale, there is still time for the game, and we still have a chance..."

Although Yang Feng said to raise everyone's morale, in fact, he knew in his heart that there was a high probability that this match would be more ominous than good.

There is a natural strength gap between the two teams in the team lineup, and after all, this is Manchester City's own home court. Under the cheers of the Manchester City fans on the scene, the Liverpool players themselves are under great psychological pressure. Now facing the situation of falling behind by two goals, if there is no major accident in Manchester City, Liverpool really has no good way to recover the score today.

Even, when strengthening the offensive end, Liverpool's own defense line may continue to be broken by Manchester City's counterattack opportunities.

For Yang Feng, it is also very clear that his outstanding performance in the few games after returning from injury is entirely because the opponent does not have such a strong offensive strength.

At that time, I could rely on simple communication and command with my teammates to complete the defense against the opponent's counterattack.

But facing a team like Manchester City that already has the offensive strength of giant players, Liverpool's defense itself is not a very good defensive system. When it is necessary to deploy people to join the offensive end, there will naturally be huge loopholes in the defense.

Even if Yang Feng can quickly and accurately determine the direction of the opponent's counterattack and the area that will form a threat to attack, but there are not enough defensive personnel, naturally it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

Dalglish was on the sidelines, witnessed Manchester City's counterattack goal, and naturally saw his team's defense line. When facing Manchester City's sharper counterattack in the second half, he was somewhat unable to parry.

But the team is now two goals behind, and there is no point in continuing to defend now. Dalglish can only bite the bullet and choose to continue to strengthen the offense.

"After being scored the second goal by Manchester City, Dalglish did not give up and is still mobilizing troops and preparing to fight to the death."

"We saw that Gerrard, who was warming up on the sidelines at the start of the second half, was ready to play."

"This is Gerrard's reappearance after 7 Premier League games. As the core player of the team's offense and Liverpool's first captain, I don't know whether Gerrard can lead Liverpool to score goals in such adversity. "

Gerrard was replaced by the veteran Didier Dirk, and Dirk's own right midfielder was played by Charlie Yadai. However, in fact, the entire right flank mainly relied on Glenn Johnson's penetration attack. Charlie Adam and Gerrard are mainly responsible for the attack of the ball in the middle, as well as defensive interception.

With Gerrard coming off the bench, Liverpool not only has a backbone who can improve the morale of the team, but more importantly, finally has a core player who can pass and receive the ball in the middle.

Everyone is more willing to give the ball to Gerrard and let him coordinate the offense in the midfield. Even if Gerrard tries a long shot directly in the middle, no one will have any objections.

At the critical moment when the score is behind, there must be players who can stand up and integrate the team's offense.

With Gerrard as the core point of offense, as a transfer point for Liverpool's offensive ball possession, Liverpool's offense can finally be more effectively launched in Manchester City's half.

"Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard returned from injury in this game!"

"Judging from the previous two long-range shots, Gerrard has recovered well. His appearance, I hope, can make Liverpool's offense to a higher level."

Gerrard's appearance puts higher demands on Manchester City's central defense. After all, as one of the "double virtues" of the English midfielder, Gerrard has proved his strength on the offensive end with his years of hard work in the Premier League.

Even though he just came back from injury, his prestige is still there. This also makes it necessary for Barry to firmly guard Gerrard in the middle when Yaya Toure is at the end and properly recovers to defend in the penalty area. The defense can only be handed over to Milner and Richards behind him.

After all, it was already difficult enough for Barry to defend Gerrard alone, and there was no way to be distracted to help the side defense.

As for Aguero, who retreated to his own half, he also had to undertake a greater defensive task. He and Silva had to jointly undertake the defense of Liverpool's other midfielders.

With Charlie Adam and Gerrard supporting each other in the midfield, the mobile attack method that is not fixed in one place also completely disrupted Manchester City's central defense.

Due to Gerrard's appearance, the two generals on the left are of course the most benefited from Liverpool's formation.

With both Barry and Aguero held back by Liverpool's central midfield, Liverpool's attack on the left finally no longer needs to play less. In the case of 2v2, avoiding the stronger defensive Milner, Liverpool's The focus of the attack is on Richards.

As long as the ball is passed to the point facing Richards, the other person will drive away Milner's defense. After that, whether it is a breakthrough pass from the bottom or a direct 45-degree diagonal long pass, it is easier than before. many.

Gerrard's playing directly revitalized the offense from the center and left. This is the role of a superstar player.

Coupled with the fact that Carroll also has a certain advantage in competing for high points in the penalty area, Liverpool's offensive threat is becoming more and more threatening.

"Jose Enrique's bottom pass, without the help of other players, Richards obviously felt a little powerless in the face of the two players on the left side of Liverpool's attack!"

"Carol in the middle! Grabbed the first spot this time, and hit the goal with a head shake!"

"Joe Hart's reaction was quick. With a side attack, he took off the football!"

"Although Liverpool has not scored a goal for a long time, Manchester City's current passivity is obvious. Maybe Mancini should make adjustments..."

Liverpool's frontcourt pressing continued. Under the leadership of Gerrard, Liverpool's central and frontcourt players actively completed the pressing in the frontcourt, and soon forced the Manchester City players to clear the siege to Liverpool's half.

Yang Feng accurately headed the ball down and passed it to Skrtel beside him.

Henderson received the pass from behind, dribbled the ball straight forward, and then transferred the ball to the left, which obviously had an offensive advantage.

After Jose Enrique and Downing crossed positions, Enrique suddenly moved sideways and transferred Milner away.

Henderson's pass was duly passed to Downing on the left.

Facing Richards' defense, Tang Ning continued to speed up from the side, stopped suddenly, turned around and pulled the ball, changing the rhythm many times, and finally completely disrupted Richards' defensive rhythm.

Afterwards, Tangning used a wonderful emergency stop to smash the ball, directly swaying past Richards' center of gravity, then accelerated directly, broke through from the bottom, and rushed into the penalty area.

Kolo Toure defended at a critical moment, while Yaya Toure in the middle had a tacit understanding that his brother defended Carroll.

In the blink of an eye, Tang Ning realized that Carroll, who had come over, was not taking advantage of Yaya Toure's defense, so she directly used a larger pass angle to pass the ball in an inverted triangle to the penalty spot. Area.

"Gerald's keeping up!"

"Valley!"

"The ball went in!"

"GOAL!!!"

"Gerrard! He scored a goal when he came back from injury! The captain of Liverpool made a contribution to the team as soon as he came on the field. Liverpool brought back the suspense of the game!"