Football’s First Defender

Returning to the British Isles with the honor of the Club World Cup, Liverpool will be involved in the intense Christmas schedule of the Premier League.

Due to the time conflict with the Club World Cup, Liverpool's away game against Watford in the seventeenth round of the league will be postponed until after the New Year for a make-up match, which is initially scheduled for January 5th. After the New Year's schedule, it will not be so The tired two teams will work overtime to finish the game, so as to prevent Liverpool from delaying the impact of Liverpool players at the end of the season due to the tight cup schedule.

After winning the Club World Cup, Liverpool also took a good Christmas holiday after returning home. The team had a final relaxation and was about to start the most difficult New Year's schedule this year.

In the first game after Christmas, Liverpool will face the challenge of Leicester City, the current top team in the standings, at home.

No one would have thought that this year's Premier League would change suddenly. The six giants were collectively sluggish in the league. The top six originally had a unique super strength, but they were relegated by Leicester City last season. The team has completed the counterattack on the standings and now occupies the first place in the standings.

A few weeks ago, there were still many professionals who analyzed that the strength of Leicester City was insufficient. Both the main players and the substitute players were not that strong. They could guarantee continuous good performance. After all, they will be like many teams that performed well in the middle and early stages of the previous season, but were weak in the late stage. They are destined to be just "shooting stars" in the standings.

However, the reality seems to be a slap in the face. Since December, Leicester City has continued its outstanding performance. An away victory over Everton, known as the "Seventh Premier League".

This wave of fairly high-quality three-game winning streak not only allowed Leicester City to take the top spot directly, but also had a 2-point gap with the second-placed Arsenal. The gap between Manchester City and third place Manchester City is now 6 points. With such a strong performance, it seems not impossible for Leicester City to counterattack and win a Champions League seat this year.

Ranieri, who has been talking about "the team's goal is relegation" in interviews since the beginning of the season, has become more and more proud recently. The atmosphere in the Leicester City team is also very good. There was also a team building activity where Ranieri paid for it and everyone ate pizza together.

After Leicester City won consecutive victories and became number one in the league, many reporters simply joked with Ranieri during interviews, "Is Leicester City preparing to win the championship on the basis of relegation? "

You must know that in recent seasons of the Premier League, the team's relegation line has always been 40 points, and it should be safe to relegation. Even in some seasons, 36 or 37 points can complete the relegation task.

Now that the league has only played 17 rounds, Leicester City, which scored 38 points in less than half, has no suspense about the success of relegation.

According to rumors, Leicester City had already properly celebrated the completion of the season goal of "successful relegation" in advance at the team gathering before Christmas.

Last season, Leicester City, which was thrilled to complete relegation at the last moment, completed relegation this season before the New Year, which is indeed a considerable achievement.

With today's outstanding results, if you say that Leicester City has no ambitions in the second half of the league, that would be unrealistic.

Ranieri stated in the press conference before the game against Liverpool that the team has updated its latest season goal, which is to strive to break the monopoly of the six giants and win a Champions League seat.

As for the goal of winning the championship mentioned by some media, Ranieri denied it.

After Christmas, this match between Liverpool and Leicester City is the most anticipated strong matchup of this round.

Chelsea, which has been completely "down and down" this season, has no way to beat the hot Leicester City before.

Everyone wants to see if Liverpool can end Leicester City's 12 unbeaten games in all competitions in the game.

You must know that Leicester City has only lost one game so far in the new season, and it still lost to Arsenal, which was in hot form at the beginning of the season, in September.

Although Liverpool unexpectedly lost to Newcastle before the Club World Cup, Liverpool's recent fiery state also made many people feel the momentum of the defending champion.

Relying on the previous consecutive victories, Liverpool has returned to its state, and the gap in the standings is gradually recovering. In the second half of the league, Liverpool still has a very strong competitiveness against the league.

Everyone wants to see if the young and vigorous Leicester City can cause enough trouble for Liverpool.

In this game, Leicester City, which is playing away, still has some strength damage. Drinkwater, one of the absolute core of the team's midfielder, was injured in this game

Absent, this is a big problem for the team's midfield offensive and defensive ends.

However, on the player's bench, Ranieri still has a lot of cards in his hand.

At least these Leicester City players, whether they are the main players or the substitutes, have been able to display a very good level of strength under a good team atmosphere this season, and they are more than enough to actively fulfill Ranieri's requirements in the game Everything, relying on the team, to continuously win the game.

In this game, Leicester City still chose the 442 formation they often use as a guest.

The double forwards are Vardy and Okazaki Shinji, the core of the frontcourt. The counterattack threat of Vardy, a late blooming forward player, has been fully revealed this season and has become a sharp weapon for Leicester City to attack the city.

And Okazaki Shinji's starting game in this game is to enhance the team's defensive ability in the midfield.

For Shinji Okazaki, who is not considered the top striker among Japanese players, he can perform well in the Premier League and become an important rotation player on Leicester City's striker. Naturally, he still relies on his own enthusiasm. Relying on his "iron lung" to win the trust of Ranieri.

In the game, Shinji Okazaki can rely on his own active running and the characteristics of not dying, which directly support Leicester City's pressing defense in the frontcourt.

In terms of midfield, even though Leicester City lacked the defense of "Drinking Brother" Drinwakert in this game, there was a Kanter who was also immortal and carried out a large-scale sweep in the midfield. It will greatly affect Liverpool's midfield advancement.

With the strong fighting ability in the midfield and frontcourt, Leicester City's defense may be the biggest weakness of their team's defense. After all, Huth and Morgan are high-school defenders with limited flexibility. Good at chasing back, for some technical teams, they will get a certain chance to pass the ball, but Schmeichel, who plays bravely in every game on the goal line, has also formed the last line of "Fox City". The solid barrier effectively guarantees Leicester City's defense and can limit the opponent's offense and goals as much as possible.

Ranieri, the "tinker", found a place to realize his tactical ideals here, and also encountered a fairly correct composition of players. Leicester City, can go so far in the league in the new season It went well because in the game, the team was able to do the best it could on the defensive end, and was able to seize its own chances of victory.