Football’s First Defender

Having achieved a big victory over Norwich, Liverpool will return to their home court to face their second team in the Champions League group stage, the Greek League champion Olympiakos last season.

Strike while the iron is hot. In this game, Rogers continued to experiment with his new lineup, making the players more familiar with this offensive pass and control style of play, and adapting to various offensive methods in tactics.

Facing the Olympiakos bus in the away game, in the end, Gerrard contributed the same familiar taste in an unfamiliar position, with a ground-breaking long shot, directly in the middle of the first half, he scored for Liverpool. First goal.

The subsequent game was much simpler. Olympiacos, who had been broken through the gate, could only try to take the initiative, and the speed advantage of many Liverpool players had room to play in the counterattack.

Although Sterling missed two very threatening counterattack opportunities, he finally redeemed his sins at the third chance. After getting rid of the opponent's defense by relying on speed, he chose to make cakes for Suarez who was following up on the other side Si completed the goal, leading Liverpool by two goals, and almost sealed the victory.

The following games will be completely practice time for Liverpool to hone their lineup and enhance their tactical proficiency.

Although Liverpool, who took the initiative to attack, was seized by the opponent at the last moment to complete the counterattack and scored a goal, but Suso's goal had already opened up the score advantage by three goals. The opponent's goal was crucial to the final victory. no problem.

It's just a pity that Yang Feng and Reina's non-goal bonuses are gone. Liverpool's midfield players are really worrying...

Back in the league, this round Liverpool will face Stoke City at Anfield.

Facing this unique mid-level Premier League team, Rodgers still sent out exactly the same starter against Norwich.

Even though Liverpool has entered the rhythm of double matches a week due to the drag of the Champions League, Rogers' non-rotation policy does not seem to have much impact on the physical condition of Liverpool players.

Perhaps this is the benefit of continuous victories. After winning two consecutive games and satisfying their spirits, the Liverpool players are not as tired as imagined.

The characteristics of Stoke City's team are doomed that their players pay more attention to physical confrontation, but do not have excellent technical ability and too good tactical awareness.

Liverpool's pass and control style of play, not to mention completely restraining the opponent, but also has a clear advantage on the offensive end.

The final result, a score of 2 to 1, although it also showed Liverpool's more powerful and stable offensive firepower, it also proved that this Stoke City team is not a weak team.

The two sides completed the offense according to their own tactics. The visiting team faced Liverpool with continuous interspersed running, and the defense could not form a tight defense line. Effective defensive net.

After all, due to the accumulation of enough offensive players in the midfield, Yang Feng and Skrtel are the only ones who can achieve effective headers on the defensive end. It can be defended, but when the opponent has a chance to set the ball, it really can't take care of everything.

Stoke City's goal was to use the opportunity of a corner kick to attract Yang Feng and Skrtel's defense in the middle and the front point, and then the third high point player smashed in at the back point.

The height disadvantage of Liverpool's other defensive players is too great, and it is inevitable that the opponent will seize the opportunity in a certain death.

Fortunately, Liverpool, who are playing at home, are extremely good in terms of self-performance. On the offensive end, the team has created several offensive opportunities for Suarez and Suso, and Gerrard's outside far Although the shots were not as many as before, they were still accurate and posed enough threats.

Liverpool, which has twice as many shots as Stoke City, is reasonable to score one more goal than Stoke City.

But after this game, Stoke City's understanding of the high-altitude ball made Rogers shine a little bit.

Before, Rogers, who had been working on building a pass and control system, found that he had neglected the weapon of set balls.

Because Carroll is destined to be incompatible with Rodgers' tactical system, Liverpool's set-piece tactics of finding Carroll in most games last season are no longer suitable for Liverpool's games today.

Liverpool's set-piece tactics in previous games were sometimes tactical corner kicks, and sometimes simply let the kick-off player find space at any time.

But now, considering that there will be more opponents in the future, they will work hard against Liverpool defensively, so grasping the tactics of set kicks in time is also an opportunity for Liverpool to break through on the offensive end.

And the most suitable one to be the main attack point in the formation is of course Yang Feng!

When Rodgers came to Liverpool, he studied in detail every piece of information that he intended to be the main player of the team. Among them, the past data of Yang Feng provided to the club by Yang Feng's team attracted Rogers' attention.

Yang Feng's weight in the team's physical test at this time is nearly 20 kilograms heavier than when he started his career in Russia.

It is nearly 10kg heavier than when it was transferred to Chelsea.

But when Rogers got to know Yang Feng himself, he didn't feel that Yang Feng's body had excess fat at all. This also showed that Yang Feng's weight gain over the years was all due to strength training and strengthened muscles.

This point, from the last two seasons, Yang Feng has not suffered from the defensive confrontation, and it can be confirmed that he even has the advantage.

Under Yang Feng's hard training, the physical disadvantage that restricted Yang Feng's ability to play on the defensive end was no longer so unbearable.

Today's Yang Feng is the core defensive player who can really stand alone.

But on the offensive end, in the set-piece tactics, Yang Feng actually still maintained his original habit, cruising in front of the point and waiting for an opportunity to grab the header.

This is the attack area that Yang Feng has been used to since he entered professional football. It is the header area where Yang Feng's ability to predict, react, and adjust can be maximized.

However, with the improvement of Yang Feng's physical confrontation ability, it means that Yang Feng can use his height in all areas to create threats like any other central defender.

Last season, Liverpool's team had an even better header, Carroll, who created threats in the penalty area, so Yang Feng's position in set-piece tactics could not be ranked first.

But this season, Rodgers thinks that he will not replace Carroll unless it is a special moment, and Yang Feng and Skrtel are the ones in the team who can compete for headers with a high probability, so at this time, Yang Feng is supported as Liverpool. The core of the set ball is also smooth and should be, but Yang Feng himself has to rely on more hard training to adapt to the way of overwhelming the penalty area and vying for the header to hit the goal.

Rogers specially called Yang Feng to cheer him up and let him take on a heavier burden.

Seeing that he has become the core of the team's set-piece tactics, Yang Feng is also very excited. After all, his role on both offense and defense has reached the limit, and he can do more things, which is also what Yang Feng wants.

As for what Rogers proposed, Yang Feng personally needs to increase the training of header competition. Yang Feng also said that he is fully capable of handling the small case.

Looking at Yang Feng, who doesn't care about the increased training, Rogers is also relieved. If his players can put more enthusiasm into training like Yang Feng, then the offensive tactics he envisioned may have taken shape long ago. up...

As far as Rogers knows, Yang Feng is not only the hardest trainer, he also has the habit of studying the opponent's game videos like the coaches, especially the videos of the opponent's main attackers. Yang Feng has studied many times.

For this reason, the salary and bonus of the video editors in Liverpool actually increased after Yang Feng arrived, so that the editors can work overtime to ensure the quality of the edited videos.

For a person who is so passionate about a career like football, it may be a good thing for him to add more burdens to him!