Hero of the Penalty Area

Chapter One Hundred and Forty Six

"Andy Johnson-what a pity!"

Everton’s forward Andy Johnson holds his head in his hands. Behind him is the frightened goalkeeper Marafeyev, and the football that hits the billboard across the goal...

Just five minutes into the game, Everton had a chance to score at home. The team's core midfielder, Arteta, made a pass, and the football passed between the two central defenders, Skrtel and Nicolas Lombaerts!

Andy Johnson, who was parallel to the back line, started to accelerate, using his own speed to rush to the back of Zenit's back line, and after receiving the ball, he completed a single-handed shot.

When Zenit’s fans saw Andy Johnson appearing behind Zenit’s back line like a ghost, they all mentioned their throats, as if they would roll out of their opened mouth at any time.

Fortunately, this kick kicked out...

Ed Wocart was not satisfied. He got up from his seat, rushed to the sidelines and yelled towards the court: "Watch behind! Watch out!"

In this game, why did he let the 21-year-old Belgian central defender Lombardz and Skrtel start the team? Just considering that the young Lombartes is faster than Eric Hagen and Krizanaqi, he is able to fight back a little bit against the speedy forwards of Everton. force……

How could he not think that the opponent broke through his defense in five minutes, can he not be angry?

In this game, what he values ​​more than offense is defense. On offense, there are Arshavin, Chen Yingxiong, Krzakov, Domingos and others, and the quality can still be guaranteed.

But it's much weaker on defense. Timoshchuk has to defend in the midfield. Defensive line Anyukov and South Korean Kim Dongjin are both strong offensive full-backs. Central defender Scott is trustworthy, but Lombartes is this season. He just came to the team and didn't usually play many games. In such an important game, he doesn't know whether his performance is satisfactory.

It's not that Ed Wocart has not considered the way of playing five guards and three central defenders, and arranging a scavenger behind the two central defenders...but he does not have a suitable candidate. The position of scavenger is not random. Individuals can fight back when they retreat.

The defense that worries him the most, but the key to solving the problem lies in the offensive front-if Zenit can use a strong offensive to push Everton back at home, the crisis in his defense will naturally Will be lifted. This is called "surrounding Wei and saving Zhao", but the foreigner, Ed Wo Carter, doesn't understand this allusion. But he knew the truth.

He is very clear about the psychology of Everton players. Even though their offense is threatening now, Moyes has also put in almost the main lineup, but what the players think in their hearts, being the head coach is uncontrollable. They are not data, they are living people with their own thoughts and consciousness. So sometimes... they will behave less obediently.

The league is in full swing. The UEFA Cup is now ranked first in less than one game. Is it necessary to put all energy in the UEFA Cup? What if I get hurt? What should I do if I don’t have enough power? At that time, he was put on the bench for these reasons, and the ghost knew if there was any chance of turning over. So "retention" will definitely be an idea in the minds of these players.

As long as he can be a little stronger, it will force Everton's players to be cautious. A tie with Zenit at home is not unacceptable for them. With seven points in three games, they are basically set for promotion. So why are we so desperate?

These players will definitely have this idea!

Thinking of this, Ed Wocart cast his gaze on the frontcourt, and there was one that was very conspicuous.

Chen Yingxiong was raising his hand to signal his teammates to pass the football to him.

Beside him stood Everton's centre-back Lescott.

Although Moyes said that Chen Yingxiong was the defensive task of Lescott and Yabo, but in fact they did not need them. So the young Lescott took the initiative to invite Ying and took on the task of defending Chen Yingxiong.

After all, Zenit is not just a striker, Krzakov is also a threatening player.

Even in the eyes of Everton players, Krzakov's threat is greater than that of the hero.

Although Chen Yingxiong raised his hand in front to ask for the ball, the football did not fly directly, and Zenit still had to pass the ground. Blindly long pass is too monotonous, it is easy to be cracked by the other party.

The football was passed to the feet of captain Tymoshchuk. The task of midfielder Tymoshchuk is not only to defend, but also to take forward the ball, connect offense and defense, frontcourt and backcourt.

According to habit, after he receives the ball, he will pass the football to Domingos.

But this time, he found that he couldn't even turn his body...

"Everton started a frontcourt press! They didn't want to be merciful in their home court!" the England commentator admired. "Such Everton makes the opponent feel terrible!"

When Zenit attacked, Arteta and others did not directly withdraw their own half, and then waited for the opponent to come up to attack, but rushed directly and entangled Tymoshchuk who was holding the ball.

In the analysis before the game, everyone knows that Tymoshchuk is not the kind of technical player who is good at handling the ball. As long as pressure is put on him, he may lose the ball. And what does it mean for a midfielder to lose the ball in front of his own central defenders? I believe everyone is very clear.

To force Tymoshchuk and cut off his contact with Zenit's frontcourt Domingos, Arshavin and others is Moyes' tactical arrangement. This can not only reduce the pressure on his defense, but also have the opportunity to cause Tymoshchuk to make a mistake, directly intercept the ball in the frontcourt, and fight back. This way the chance of scoring is much greater.

Tymoshchuk saw that he could not turn around, and he also knew that it was dangerous for him to keep holding the ball. Maybe the other players of the opponent were watching. As long as he saw that he was entangled by the opponent, he would immediately rush to support him. When I get caught in a circle, the football is likely to be broken...

He had no choice but to pass the football back to Scotter.

At the same time, just as he passed the ball, Everton forward Andy Johnson also shot out like an arrow and pounced on Skrtel. Since it is a frontcourt press, how can it not be possible not to press the central defender with the ball? To force the midfielder to break the ball, you have to face the back line. Once the center defender is successful, you can meet the goalkeeper directly!

Skrtel didn't hesitate like Tymoshchuk. He planned to walk to the foot. He greeted the ball, straightened his thigh, and then made a long pass!

The football flew to Chen Yingxiong in the front court.

Chen Yingxiong kept raising his hands, but he couldn't help but football. He looks like a bronze statue of the Statue of Liberty, and his hands are almost tired. At this moment Scotter kicked the football over.

Lescott saw the football flying towards him and made the jump. Just when he lowered his weight and was about to take off, he saw Chen Yingxiong had already lifted into the air all of a sudden!

He was taken aback and hurriedly took off. He had completely lost his momentum to Chen Yingxiong, let alone a technical contest...

Chen Yingxiong separated Lescott behind him, ferryed the header, and passed the football to Domingos, who was in the back. Then he landed, turned and ran forward.

After Lescott landed, due to the interference of Chen Yingxiong, his footsteps even staggered and his center of gravity was unstable. But you still have to turn around to chase, otherwise you will lose your position!

In the contest with Chen Yingxiong, Lescott suffered the first setback.

Domingos divided the football to the wing, and Arshavin just got the ball and let the opposing full-back Barnes get caught up.

In the end, Arshavin could only hurriedly kick and pass. The quality of this kick can be imagined-it flew high directly out of the bottom line. Chen Yingxiong, who followed up in the middle, even if he was 2.36 meters tall, he couldn't stand the ball when he jumped up...

The two sides just entangled in this way, until almost 30 minutes, neither of them achieved any success.

Everton's frontcourt offense is very sharp, passing straight behind him many times. Although such a pass is fatal once it penetrates, the problem is that the success rate of penetration is too low. As for Zenit's offense, the quality was not high because several key figures were restrained by the opponent in a targeted manner.

The score is always 0:0.

After 30 minutes of entanglement, Everton gradually used home court advantage to gain the upper hand.

The singing and cheering of the fans in Goodison Park Stadium has never stopped. Everton’s offensive has become increasingly sharp and threatening amidst the cheers. Every attack will give rise to the idea of ​​"the next time this kick can be scored".

In the thirty-first minute, Arteta continued to play straight!

The football passed by Lombartes, while Jakubu pressed the young Belgian defender to overtake and chase the ball.

The weakness of the tall defender in turning speed is undoubtedly reflected. When Lombartes turned around, Yakubu had already received the ball and stepped into the penalty area.

The Belgian boy has a thought in his mind: "It's going to be bad!"

If Yakubu is allowed to keep the ball in, it will be a single pass. He has only one choice now, he must be stopped!

Get off!

Lombartes flew out.

When he reacted, he fell to the ground and Yakubu fell in the penalty area in front of him, but he was not in pain, but jumped from the ground, holding his arms high.

The surrounding stands were all cheering like the mountains and the tsunami.

He also saw his teammate, the full-back Anyukov who came back to the defense. He was holding his head with both hands...

"Oh no! The shovel behind Lombartes! He's done! This is a foul that is enough to get a red card, and...the place of the foul is still in the penalty area...penalty kick! The referee pointed to the penalty spot! At the same time he Still groping in the chest pocket..."

The teammates rushed over and surrounded the referee team.

But this couldn't stop the referee from walking towards Lombartes, who was still lying on the ground with a confused face, holding a...red card in his hand!

In the 31st minute of the game, the center-back of Zenit St. Petersburg, Lombartes, was sent off with a red card because of a shovel from behind. At the same time, he gave the home team Everton a penalty...must win the game. This time, Zenit St. Petersburg was really driven to a dead end!