Football’s First Defender

In the middle and early stages of the season, no one thought that Liverpool, which had fallen out of the Champions League and was even more than 10 points behind Chelsea, would successfully complete a major counterattack in the middle of the league and rush back to the top of the standings.

With a wave of 13 games, 12 wins and 1 tie, Liverpool scored 37 points explosively. In just over two months, Liverpool completed a super counterattack, surpassing the first place since the beginning of the season. Chelsea has become the leader of the Premier League.

Chelsea, in the remaining 15 rounds of the Premier League, will be in a disadvantaged competitive position and will start a fierce competition with Liverpool for the league title.

As for Manchester City, they are already 4 points away from the two. Coupled with the recent record drag, they have fallen behind.

However, Liverpool and Chelsea are now more than just competing in the league.

Both teams are attacking on multiple fronts this season, and both have the ambition to win multiple championships.

In the UEFA Champions League, the two teams will not be able to meet for the time being, but in the domestic English League Cup, the two teams will face off.

In the Carabao Cup this season, Liverpool and Chelsea reached the semi-finals with substitute players fighting.

With only 3 games left to win the championship, both teams began to pay more attention to this cup championship trophy.

When Chelsea and Liverpool met, for Chelsea fans, the team still had a sufficient lead. Many people regarded Liverpool as a team weaker than Chelsea.

However, now, the semi-final opponents have switched positions, and Liverpool is gaining momentum and is in an excellent period of rise.

Now that Liverpool have just knocked Chelsea off the top of the standings in the league, the two teams are about to play two rounds of the Carabao Cup semi-finals. For the Blues, it can be said to give Chelsea a chance to directly prove themselves.

The two rounds of the English League Cup semi-finals between the two teams is known as an early preview of the English League Cup final this season.

Because in the other semi-final, whether it is Tottenham or Southampton entering the final, it is not enough to pose a big enough threat to Chelsea and Liverpool.

In the first leg, Liverpool sit at Anfield Stadium and face visiting Chelsea.

This is not only a competition for the first championship honor, but also involves the morale of the two teams in the subsequent league confrontation.

Both teams can't afford to lose such a game. Taking advantage of the Champions League knockout stage and the Premier League, the two teams also have byes at the same time. The two teams want to fight to the death in the semi-finals, both for the final champion of the League Cup , but also in order to be able to become the dominant side in the competition for the league championship.

For Liverpool, sitting at home is of course to take the initiative.

At the beginning of the game, Liverpool tried to fight for the initiative.

It's just that today's Chelsea came prepared.

Mourinho's arrangement of the midfield defense is the ultimate. In the case of heavy troops, it effectively limits the offensive penetration of Liverpool's midfield.

Matic has become more and more adapted to his position, and in Mourinho's defensive system, he has assumed heavier and heavier defensive responsibilities.

Many people have already called Matic the best defensive midfielder in the world. Facing Liverpool's offense today, Matic is Chelsea's defense line, the most NB defender, constantly forcing Liverpool players to The ball is transferred to the wing.

Then, with Chelsea's excellent defense in the penalty area, Liverpool's wide cross did not have much to do.

On the defensive end, Chelsea has Matic, and Liverpool has Yang Feng.

Under Liverpool's frontcourt pressing, Cesc Fabregas' passing was greatly affected.

Chelsea's "Faco Connection", which has performed quite well this season, has almost never been seen in this game.

On the one hand, Xiaofa's ball is limited, and it is impossible to pass the ball accurately.

On the other hand, it was also Yang Feng's excellent defense, which effectively restricted Diego Costa's reception.

Yang Feng is on the defensive end today, in charge of man-marking Costa. With Hazard injured and not playing in the game, Chelsea's other defensive threats can be handed over to Liverpool's midfielders and Skrtel. Play defense.

Only the biggest remaining threat, Costa, let Yang Feng come to the 1v1 limit.

Playing in the European arena for many years, Costa was in La Liga before and now in the Premier League. When he was attacking, he also encountered many outstanding defenders.

However, no one has ever given him such a headache like Yang Feng.

Generally speaking, a well-known defender in the football world will always be angry when he is teased by his various small actions in the game, which will affect his judgment and be seized by Costa.

But Yang Feng, when defending himself, was calm like a machine.

Even when the referee was not paying attention, he would make some small moves to tease the opponent, and even occasionally turned around and greeted Yang Feng with swear words, which angered Yang Feng.

But Yang Feng didn't pay attention to it at all, he didn't fight back verbally, and he didn't take immediate revenge.

Yang Feng, who looks like a good baby, but when there is a real confrontation and defense, he reasonably launches a collision to limit his offensive space.

Although Costa has excellent strength, he is really unable to stand up to Yang Feng.

Speed ​​and flexibility are not what Costa is best at.

Coupled with Yang Feng's own judgment ability, Costa fell into the quagmire of Yang Feng's defense, and there was no way to make an attack that was too threatening.

Losing Hazard, Chelsea lost an absolute weapon for rapid advancement in counterattacks, and also lost a breakthrough expert who can break through the opponent's defensive blockade in positional battles.

Costa's restrictions, Willian and Oscar were firmly held down by other players in the opponent's backcourt, making Chelsea's entire offensive system unable to exert a sufficient threat at all.

However, Mourinho is very content.

This is the opponent's home court. Even if their own side cannot score, Liverpool, which broke the deadlock for a while, will also be unable to win.

For Mourinho, it is not a bad idea to retreat from the away game, return to the home court and use the home court advantage to try to win.

Chelsea can accept a draw, but Liverpool don't want to just let their opponents go.

Throughout the game, Liverpool was the team with a greater offensive advantage.

However, with Yang Feng being guarded by Cahill and Ivan, who is ready to respond, Liverpool lost the most threatening point of the set-piece.

And others, when competing for the placement of the set ball, compared with Chelsea players, they have no advantage at all.

There is no way to score from a set kick. Facing the iron barrel formation tailored by Mourinho for Chelsea, Liverpool can only choose the simplest long-range shot and try to make a miracle.

It's just that Henderson, Coutinho, Emre Can, and the Jie team who came off the bench.

Several players in Liverpool's midfield who were confident of long-range shots blasted the goal one after another, but none of them created enough threats.

Either they were hit directly, or they were blocked by active Chelsea players. Finally, a few balls could fly to the goal, but Courtois, the new Chelsea goalkeeper standing in front of the goal, made all the saves with his own efforts. Don't give Liverpool any chance to rewrite the score.

0 to 0!

In the first round of the Carabao Cup, which has attracted the most attention, the two sides drew a goalless draw. The second round will be moved to Stamford Bridge, which will be even more unfavorable for Liverpool.

However, for Liverpool, Yang Feng's personal defensive data is still extremely good, especially limiting Costa to 0 shots in the game. It can be said that Yang Feng used his excellent defensive performance to teach Costa to be a man.