Hero of the Penalty Area

Chapter One Hundred and Forty Three

Moyes is studying the video of his opponent in the next UEFA Cup group stage, Zenit St. Petersburg.

The Russian domestic league is too closed, and all he got is Zenit in the UEFA Cup.

Although Everton is currently ranked first in the group and qualifying is not a problem, we still have to strive for a favorable ranking.

He found that there were a few people in Zenit St. Petersburg. He wrote down their names and how are they, and planned to remind the players during the tactical meeting.

Needless to say, Arshavin, this is a player who has long been famous in Russia. Maybe ordinary fans don’t know anything about him, but the professional coach Moyes has heard of his name a little bit-although he is not very much. Have seen Arshavin play...

Another threatening figure is their front midfielder Domingos. The Argentine player became famous in the 2001 World Youth Championship, when his teammate was Saviola in Barcelona. It is a pity that he was kicked and broken in the World Youth Championship against the French team. Since then, this man has disappeared from mainstream football circles. Later, I heard that he went to Russia. I don’t know why he made this decision. For many people, Russia’s bitter cold place is not suitable for football development. Going to Russia is tantamount to self-exile, especially so A promising player... Now he is the main striker of Zenit St. Petersburg and plays a very important role in the offense.

Another threat is their midfielder, captain Tymoshchuk. The deputy captain of the Ukrainian country has a natural leadership temperament. His interception and running in the midfield will be a great threat to Everton's offense. And he can not only defend, he also launches offense, he is the key point of the offensive and defensive transition, many times Zenit's offense is initiated through his steals in the midfield.

If you want to stop Zenit's attack, maybe you have to start with Tymoshchuk.

The last person to be threatened is their central defender Martin Scott. The young central defender has attracted the attention of some European mainstream league teams through his outstanding performance. It is said that Liverpool intends to seduce him to join.

Scotter, who is 1.91 meters tall, has excellent air defense capabilities. Because he played ice hockey as a child, he has excellent physical fitness and strength. He will not be disadvantaged in physical confrontation with any forward. But he is not without weaknesses. The tall central defenders all have a common weakness, that is, turning around slowly. The dexterous forward will be his nightmare.

Moss also thought about it. Almost all his team are fast forwards, such as Andy Johnson (Andy Johnson), James Vaughan (James Vaughan), and Yakubu (Yakubu).

It was right to deal with Scott.

Just thinking about it, Moyes has basically decided the basic tactics when playing against Zenit-speed. With the speed of the forward line, they kept hitting Zenit's defense line, leaving their tall defenders at a loss and unable to find North when they were rushed.

In addition, Moyes also noticed that Zenit had a big center, he was very conspicuous on the court, because his body is really...too burly, like a giant bear.

He paid attention to this striker at first, no matter what, a striker with this size will be a nightmare for the defense. In the past, Bayern Munich and the German national team had a center named Yankel, who was 1.93 meters tall and weighed 91 kilograms. He was like a heavy tank on the field. Although his technique is extremely rough and slow, he has good back-to-the-ball skills and a strong right-foot shooting ability. As long as he plays, he can cause a lot of trouble to the opponent's defense, even if he can't make it. The ball can also attract defensive firepower and create opportunities for teammates.

More threatening than him is Czech center Jan Koller. He is two meters and two meters tall and weighs 103 kilograms. As long as he is in the restricted area, even if he is just standing and unable to jump, it is a big enough threat.

Therefore, Moyes originally listed Chen Yingxiong as a threatening figure, and he needs to focus on it.

After watching the videos of Zenit in the UEFA Cup games, he found that this striker had no other strengths except for a better header. His body was not flexible enough and his feet were extremely rough, except for headers and shooting. I can't flatter him... he was even surprised-how did such a guy get on the starting list of Ed Wocart?

The result is that the big man started almost every game in the UEFA Cup, but only scored one goal, and he scored in the weakest team against Larissa, even though that goal helped the team win. , But it's not wonderful, nor can it reflect his strength-not so much strength, as luck. Luckily, he showed up there, and then watched his amateur rounding the thigh to make a shot. No defensive player took the football first. It was really good luck...

Moreover, this ball reflects more of the defensive team's mistakes in the back line of Larissa, rather than Chen Yingxiong's dexterity.

Moyes, after thinking about it, finally crossed out the name of "hero" from the paper.

He feels that such a center who looks strong and looks good with his header is not a threat to his back line.

His two central defenders, joleon lescott and joseph yobo, are both tall and sturdy people who are good at headers. Defending this person shouldn't be a problem. At that time, in front of his own goal, there will be no such low-level mistakes as a defensive player around him when he rounds his thigh to make a shot!

When flying from St. Petersburg to Liverpool in the UK, many Zenit players shouted "British is so warm!"

The people of Liverpool, who are shrinking their necks and wrapping their entire bodies in thick coats on the street, don't know what they think if they hear the excitement of these Russians.

But for people from a city where the average temperature in winter is around minus 13 degrees and the lowest temperature is over minus 30 degrees, this coastal city in the UK is really warm...

This is the first time Chen Yingxiong has come to the UK.

When he and his father promoted themselves like dervishes before, they had never been to the UK because they knew that they could not get a labor license and they would definitely not be able to represent the teams of the four British football associations to participate in the game. So the UK was not in their plan from the beginning.

His main areas of activity in St. Petersburg are all in Eastern Europe. Follow the team to play away, the farthest place to go is Vladivostok, the closest to the European football center is Greece-he followed the team to play Larissa away.

Chen Yingxiong, the city of Liverpool and this team, has heard of it, and is famous.

This is a historic port city on the east bank of the Mersey Estuary with a population of close to 500,000. Its unique Irish immigration tradition, as well as trade with all over the world, make Liverpool look exceptional in British cities.

This point is somewhat similar to the status of St. Petersburg in Russia. They are all immigrant cities, they are all close to the sea, and all have trade relations with all parts of the world, and they all look a little different in their home countries.

The city is famous in the football world because of two great teams.

A naturally great Liverpool, they are the most successful club in the history of English football. It's just that the recent fleeting years are not good...

Another great team is Zenit's opponent Everton this time.

In English football, the red and blue matchup is the eternal theme, but for those rival teams, their jerseys are basically red and blue. Such as Manchester United and Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton. Red and blue are the most traditional colors used by England teams, which is why so many dead enemies use these two colors.

Compared with Liverpool, Everton is less famous in world football, but in England, they are equally famous. They are the only team that has played in the top league for 100 seasons and are one of the founders of the Football League. In more than one hundred years of long years, they have won nine top league titles in England, five FA Cup titles, and one European Cup Winners' Cup.

The history and performance of such a team are definitely more brilliant than Zenit.

Compared with them, Zenit is nothing to mention.

This is why the English media believe that there is no suspense in this group match. Everton will easily defeat Zenit at his home court and then advance to the knockout stage as the first in the group.

The Russian media is not very optimistic about Zenit's future. After all, it is too difficult to beat Everton on the away game.

The situation in this group is now like this. Before the game on December 5th, Zenit had played three games, one win, two draws, five points, and temporarily ranked second in the group. Everton had one game less, two wins in two games, six points, and ranked first in the group. Next are Nuremberg and Alkmaar. Both teams have one win, one draw and one loss, accumulating four points.

With two rounds left, after Zenit played against Everton, their group stage was over. If they lost to Everton, the points would still be five points. Everton will top the list with nine points, and it is almost impossible for a team to shake their position anymore. Everton will qualify as the first in the group.

At the same time that Zenit and Everton are playing, two teams with the same points will also fight each other. If Alkmaar and Nuremberg decide the outcome, if Zenit loses to Everton, The victorious team will be promoted to second, and Zenit will be squeezed to a very dangerous third.

If the two teams are tied, all three teams will have five points, but Zenit has a bye in the final round of the group stage, and Nuremberg and Alkmaar both have one game. Nuremberg challenged Larissa, the weakest in this group, with a high chance of winning. The game between Alkmaar and Everton is also full of variables. No one knows whether Everton, who has qualified early, will send a substitute for rotation, because everyone knows that the Premier League schedule during Christmas is the most intensive. , That group match happened on December 20th...

So in the last round, Zenit can only watch the other four teams fight each other, completely unable to control his own destiny, life and death are in the mind of others.

This is very dangerous.

If Everton frees Alkmaar and Nuremberg wins Rally Three, the two teams will be ranked second and third, pushing Zenit to fourth and being eliminated.

The root of all this is that Zenit St. Petersburg lost to Everton in this game.

Therefore, in order to hold his own destiny firmly in his hands, Zenit must win Zenit away.

The media are not very optimistic about Zenit.

"They played so badly in the first few games, they won a team with the worst strength of Larissa, and still narrowly won... You know that Larissa has only scored three goals so far, of which two This goal was scored in the match against Zenit! In the two most important opponents, Nuremberg and Alkamar, Zenit only scored a draw, thus driving himself to a dead end!"

The St. Petersburg media felt very pessimistic about Zenit’s British expedition...