Football’s First Defender

Every coach will have his own favorite players, and will arrange players that suit his own tactical positioning.

For Rogers, after coming to Liverpool, he immediately put into work, adjusted the lineup for the new season, and prepared tactically.

One emperor and one courtier, although Dalglish took the initiative to "abdicate", but with several players introduced by Rodgers to join the team, many of Liverpool's positions now have to compete more brutally to play.

In the warm-up match of the new season in the United States, the pass-and-control style of play dominated by Rodgers clearly showed that the Liverpool players were somewhat dissatisfied.

A 1-1 tie with Toronto FC, a 1-2 loss to the Serie A team Roma, and then a 0-0 draw against the Premier League team Tottenham.

3 warm-up matches, without a win, the Liverpool players obviously couldn't adapt to Rodgers' pass and control style of play in a short period of time.

Compared with last season when the team played open and close, Liverpool, which is now taking the pass and control route, although relying on the increase in ball possession, gives opponents fewer opportunities to attack.

But now as long as the opponent is given a chance, it is that kind of absolute good opportunity. Even if Yang Feng and his defensive teammates try hard to defend, there is not much to do when the opponent suddenly steals the ball in their own half and quickly counterattacks.

Of course, the warm-up match does not explain the whole problem. After all, due to the impact of the European Cup, it is also true that many players are not in form for Liverpool.

After returning from the warm-up match in the United States, Rogers can only practice more frequently in Liverpool's training base, hoping that the team can become familiar with their own style of play and can integrate into their own style of play.

However, Yang Feng, who was on the back line, saw the team's midfielder pass errors because he was not familiar with the running position and dug holes for himself during this month's training.

Although it is known that this is an inevitable painful period brought about by the team's transformation, it is also true that Liverpool's defense at the beginning of the season will be tested even more. Yang Feng has made enough preparations for the predicament at the beginning of the season.

The time came to August, and the 13/14 season of the Premier League kicked off.

Before the season, Liverpool, which was evaluated by the media as having a higher level of strength, will also set sail in the new season.

In the first round, Liverpool's opponent is West Bromwich Albion.

This West Bromwich Albion team, after frequent trade-offs, no longer has the familiar players in Yang Feng's impression.

However, as a mid-level Premier League team, although there are no stars, but through the old-school British style of play, if nothing else, West Brom can still relegation this season without worry.

The first game of the new season, for Liverpool, although it is an away game, Rogers still wants to win and get a good start for the new season.

Before the game, everyone was paying attention to how Rodgers trained this Liverpool team, and whether the tactical changes he brought could help Liverpool hit the league championship.

However, at the end of the 90-minute game, the result of Liverpool's away game against West Bromwich Albion was surprising.

The score was 3 to 0, with the home team ahead.

The supremacy of the Premier League champions that Liverpool fans have longed for this year seems to have been proven impossible after the first round.

Total defeat!

Although West Bromwich Albion sits at home, although West Bromwich Albion has always been a mid-range team with not bad strength.

But Liverpool's performance in this game was uncompetitive.

In terms of offensive stats.

The shooting ratio is 18 to 16!

The direct ratio is 6 to 2!

The corner kick ratio is 7 to 3!

All are dominated by West Bromwich Albion at home.

For the visiting team Liverpool, 537 to 313 passes and 6 to 4 possession rate. Although they have an advantage in terms of statistics, most of them are useless and cannot be converted into real offensive threats.

The Liverpool fans who watched the live broadcast commented on this re-started Liverpool in two words.

"Scattered"!

In this game, Rodgers formed a lineup of 442. On the back line, due to Jose Enrique's injury, Rodgers sent Martin Kelly as a guest at left back. The other three were the main players of last season.

Of course, Yang Feng is still the core of Liverpool's well-deserved defense.

But in midfield, Rogers has made drastic reforms.

Joe Allen, who he brought from Swansea, was naturally the starter.

As the core player of Swansea's midfield attack last season, Rogers bought him from Swansea with high hopes, just to continue to play Joe Allen's offensive organization ability in the midfield.

Downing on the left and Gerrard on the right were the absolute main players last season. Counting Joe Allen, Rodgers hopes that the three of them can play a tacit understanding in the midfield attack.

As for the choice of the defensive midfielder, Rogers did not entrust Henderson with a heavy responsibility, but chose to believe in Lucas Leiva, who was reimbursed early in the season due to a torn cruciate ligament last season.

The four midfielders all have a certain technical ability and ball level, which is also the basis of the team's pass and control tactics that Rogers hopes to carry out.

In terms of the use of double forwards, although Carroll stayed on the team, Rogers was still willing to use the Borini he bought to partner with Suarez.

Rogers believes that Borini has much better flexibility than Carroll, as well as technical ability at the feet, so that he can better adapt to the current team's style of play.

Although Liverpool only took the initiative to adjust the three starting lineups, because Rogers emphasized the principle of passing and controlling football tactics, this Liverpool's play style is very different from last season.

Not adapting is for everyone. Suarez is used to having a high point ahead that can attract firepower, and he only needs to focus on grabbing two points.

Gerrard is used to leading the offense by himself, and it is up to him to decide whether to pass or shoot, but now he has to hand over the ball to Joe Allen.

Tangning is used to displaying her personal ability on the wing, just create opportunities for crosses, not like in the current tactic, she must complete an absolute dribble, and also penetrate into the penalty area...

Unsuitability is the deepest feeling of many Liverpool players who played the main force last season.

And if you want to forcibly overcome this sense of disfluency and play the pass-and-control football that the head coach wants, even though many Liverpool players are very professional, it is natural that they cannot be perfect in a short period of time.

Throughout the game, Liverpool's slightly complicated offense did not cause too much defensive interference to the home team West Brom, but it shook Suarez, who is used to going straight, enough.

Especially Suarez and Borini are almost in front, without any tacit understanding of partners, and even occasionally run heavy positions. Both of them are the kind of players who pursue space and running positions, but 1 plus 1 does not form equal to 2 or even greater than The effect of 2 is to make the opponent's defense line easier to defend.

West Brom has a completely defensive and counterattack attitude, which can cause 18 kicks. You can imagine how many mistakes Liverpool made in the first game.

Since Yang Feng played for Liverpool, he has always been known as the nemesis of non-rich teams, but this time, he faced the huge scapegoat thrown by the midfielders.

Yang Feng was able to make up one and the second, but he was destined to be unable to make up all the "pots" by himself.

Of the 18 shots, most of them were shots that were threatening enough. Only 3 goals were scored, and Yang Feng and his teammates in the defense made enough defensive interference and Reina performed well.

The away game kicks off. Liverpool's new season journey is much more difficult than imagined. New players, new coaches, and new tactics. Although the team retains the overall framework, there is still a long way to go to form a combat effectiveness.