Football’s First Defender

After a tough win over Bournemouth in the second round, Liverpool did not rebound as expected.

In the third round of the league, Liverpool challenged the "Gunner" Arsenal away.

The match between the two sides in the Community Shield Cup has just passed three weeks. For many Liverpool fans, they all think that the team can complete the battle of revenge in this game.

However, the fans' thoughts are good, but the Liverpool players, at the Emirates Stadium, really don't have the strength to win the game.

In fact, the King has been considered a weaker opponent among the six giants of the Premier League for several seasons. Liverpool's past record against Arsenal is not bad.

But this season, when the original two teams with similar styles were in a game, it was obvious that Liverpool's offensive style and game rhythm were far worse than Arsenal's.

The offense was sluggish, and the pace of the game was slow.

In the first two games against underdogs, the fans still didn't feel it was obvious.

But compared with Arsenal, which is also good at fast offense, it is obvious that there are problems in Liverpool's offense.

The most obvious difference lies in the sudden Benteke.

"Bentek is too slow!"

"Buying a Carroll a few years ago was not easy to use. Fortunately, the 'additional head' Suarez I bought was good. This year, I didn't know the lesson and bought a high center forward Benteke. I hope Ince is the next Suarez... "

"I played myself to death with the transfer operation. I have no objection to selling Sterling, but the transfer fee, the two 'money' bought at a high price, I suspect that their uniform team got kickbacks."

If two seasons ago, Suarez could also serve as the fulcrum of the team, playing the role of receiving passes in front, to prove that Liverpool can play offensive tactics with a fulcrum.

But Suarez is not the same as Benteke.

Although Suarez will not have Benteke's high success rate and become a mobile fortress in the frontcourt, the opportunities that Suarez can create are obviously more threatening than Benteke.

After Suarez gets the point, he can directly attack alone, directly break through or pull the side, and wait for his teammates to plug in while moving forward, and then send out a pass.

But Benteke can't do it. Benteke doesn't even have that foot skill, so he unloads the ball directly.

For most of the passes to Benteke, he can only complete the header ferry in the game. As a fulcrum, he directly sends the ball to his teammates in other positions, and requires his teammates to grab the second spot.

Instead of attacking individually, you have to wait for your teammates to get the ball, attack it, and then pass the threatening ball to yourself.

But in the wasted time, the opponent's defense line has already quickly returned to the defensive position.

It seems that Liverpool's passing rhythm is fast, but in the end, they are actually doing useless work. There is no way to directly create a threat.

A cumbersome Benteke, a Firmino who is always unable to run with his teammates, Liverpool's stagnant offense, chaotic offensive movement, compared with Arsenal, it was instantly compared.

Arsenal, who played at home, gave full play to their offensive characteristics.

The offense from the two flanks played vigorously, and the continuous flank attacks directly dispersed Liverpool's flank defense.

Walcott and Chamberlain played well in the Community Shield three weeks ago, posing a huge threat to Liverpool's defense.

And three weeks later, it turned out that the defensive arrangement Rogers wanted to make was still unable to limit these two Arsenal's explosive players.

One person, one goal, relying on the performance of the two consecutive games, Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-0 at home, won 3 consecutive victories at the beginning of the season, and won the first place in the league...

The heart is lost for the Liverpool players.

The consecutive losses made the Liverpool players seem to have lost the momentum of the Triple Crown last season.

Indeed, on the issue of salary increase, Sterling's agent made the most noise. Sterling's trade away should be a win-win situation for the team and the players, and it also helped the team play a role of scaring others. .

However, this method of dealing with meritorious players and the "violent" solution to the core of the team's frontcourt still inevitably made many players on the team feel sad.

Sterling is gone, so no matter how well he performed in Liverpool, can he stay for a long time? Next summer, or even this winter, will I be "knocked out" too?

The uncertainty about the future did make many people anxious after Sterling left.

This kind of no news in advance, the players did not express clear information about leaving the team, and then the deal was completed between the vigorous and vigorous teams, which indeed made many people worry about their future.

The addition of a new player, not to mention winning the main position by virtue of his worth when he first arrived, hadn't adapted to the team at all, so he forced two people into the tactics, which greatly affected the team's offense and defense.

Today's Liverpool, after some operations in the summer, the players have also begun to have some careful thoughts.

Indeed, this is also a problem encountered by many championship teams. After winning consecutive honors, the "old players" are a little less aggressive.

The players, starting to pay more attention to their own performance in the game, are no longer as motivated as they were last season.

Taking a few games this season as an example, it is true that the team has tactical problems, and the players have serious problems. At least, it is true that the fighting spirit in the past has somewhat diminished.

Moreover, among the players who come off the bench every game these days, there is no one who can provide a fairly obvious offensive help in the game and be able to play in the team like Gerrard did last season. Plays the biggest role in boosting morale.

Simply being replaced on the field and passing on the head coach's tactical arrangement did not bring much emotional change to Liverpool on the spot.

In fact, Yang Feng also wants to play the role of a team captain in the backcourt to drive his teammates' emotions in the game.

It's just that Yang Feng can manage the emotions of the backcourt players at close range.

The players in the middle and front field have a feeling of being beyond their reach.

Football, after all, is not like basketball. You can call a timeout and call out your teammates. Except during the halftime break, when Yang Feng broke his throat, it is actually difficult to "wake up" some teammates.

In fact, although Gerrard may be weak due to his age, his departure is the biggest loss to the morale of the team during the game.

A seemingly decent salary, but under the requirements of good-looking financial statements, the Liverpool management did not pay the Jie team. The impact now may be far from what those millions of pounds can make up for.

People's hearts are fluctuating and the team atmosphere is weird. Even with the rest time of the national team match day, for Rodgers, from tactics to morale to players' personal thoughts, so many problems in the new season are intertwined. Never encountered before.

Liverpool is definitely at a juncture of change right now.

If it is handled well, Liverpool may be able to be reborn from nirvana again and get back on track.

If it's not handled well, it's possible that last season's champion team may sink in an instant...