The Ball at Your Feet

In the league game against Middlesbrough, Gerrard made a comeback.

"Hey, kids, I'm back!" Gerrard entered the dressing room, very happy. He is in a very high mood when he comes back after being injured for so long.

"Is everything all right?" Alonso, who was sitting by the door, raised his head and asked.

"It's all well...Thank you for your concern, and thank you for your dedication to Liverpool during this period of time." Gerrard said sternly.

While speaking, he bowed to the locker room and made his teammates stand up.

"It should be." Zhao Yaning said something.

"You can think it should be, but I can't help but thank." Gerrard shook his head, "I am the captain of Liverpool. I can't ignore your contribution to Liverpool. Especially when I have been injured for so long. I am grateful for your efforts to support Liverpool."

Carragher patted him and didn’t say anything, but Alonso said, “Playing hard and giving everything for the club is not just for you. Everyone is a part of this team. A goal, it should be. Stephen, welcome back."

Gerald gave him a light hug, and said nothing.

Looking at them, Zhao Yaning was also a little emotional. The Liverpool locker room is far from harmonious as imagined: the local players led by Gerrard, the players introduced by France to help Hollier, and now the players brought by Spain to help Benitez, plus the players from Northern Europe and Eastern Europe, A dressing room, from 13 different countries, Houllier just left, Benitez first came, and is facing a new generation, the team's lineup is far less calm than imagined.

However, it is such a restless team, but they are screwed together. And this has nothing to do with Gerrard's generosity and Alonso's calm character. The two of them, together with Zhao Yaning, who is regarded by the French players as the leader of the party, and the three heads in the locker room are all gentle and tenacious personalities, which allowed this team to face the heavy pressure. , Still insisted on walking down.

It's really not easy... But with Gerrard's efforts, it should get better day by day, right?

The return of the team captain made the fans very happy. But in this game, Liverpool suffered the second defeat this season.

Liverpool's midfield was seriously out of touch, and there was no sign of being able to organize at all. This put Liverpool completely in a passive position throughout the first half. Most of the time, the team was exhausted on defense. In the 36th minute, Tangning passed a high ball from the right. The Liverpool defender made a defensive error. No one took off and competed for the top. He watched Rigott complete the lore.

Liverpool, eager to counterattack high, went into chaos, Garcia shot in front, but was blown off because of offside. In the second half, Liverpool was even more impetuous. In the 62nd minute, Alonso made a mistake and passed the ball to Tangning's feet. Tangning passed the ball to the center, Hasselbaink and Zenden in front of him. With cooperation, Cen Deng secured the victory.

"Being away from the game for a long time, Gerrard has forgotten the rhythm of the game. And Harvey Alonso has been exhausted in the long continuous battle, and after this game, They were exhausted in the game and eventually lost the game. Then, within a week, they will face the Champions League away game against Monaco and the league home game against Arsenal. It seems that they will face a losing streak. ."

The newspapers immediately looked down on the situation facing Liverpool. At the same time, Downing, who assisted with two goals for Middlesbrough, also became famous in the first battle. England hoped for the future, and it didn't cost money.

On the Liverpool side, the atmosphere is not so good.

"It's just that Stephen hasn't adapted to the tactics." In the dressing room, Carragher defended Gerrard loudly, "He just returned from injury, what else? And we only lost the second game this season, still thinking How is it? Only Chelsea and Arsenal have lost less than us, which is pretty good."

"But we have too many draws." Kewell said. "If this goes on, Manchester United will definitely catch up. And our European war..."

"We will definitely be able to qualify for the group." Gerrard took it immediately, "It's definitely not the end. We definitely still have a chance."

No one said much about the league. This game really played poorly, which is beyond dispute. Gerrard's comeback is one aspect of it, and on the other hand, it is true that after continuous combat, everyone has a fatigue problem.

But everyone knows that it’s easy to get tired in the league, but in the Champions League, it can’t be weak anymore. If you really lose the Champions League, the problem is really too big. Liverpool still owes foreign debts. If they qualify for the Champions League, they will have a lot of money. If they don't have this money, Liverpool will not be easy to mix up.

Moreover, although the current situation of the Champions League match is not clear, it is difficult for anyone to tell the outcome until the last game.

In the current group points, Olympiacos unexpectedly ranks first in the group, Liverpool is still second in the group, Monaco is now third in the group, and Deportivo is at the bottom of the group.

"You heard that too, didn't you?" After there were no other people in the locker room, Gerrard raised his head and spoke to Carragher.

"There are rumors, but I don't think it is true." Carragher hesitated, "Parry won't do such a **** thing, if he really does that..."

"What can you do?" Gerrard shook his head. "Joey played well. This is really unquestionable. If you really sell me like Parry said, you can raise money for the team. If you buy someone with a sum of money..."

"But you don't want to leave!" Carragher interrupted him. "What's so good about Chelsea? It's just a few stinky Russians holding them. Look at their upstart cheeks!"

"But, those stinky money are exactly what we don't have..."

Gerald sighed.

He already knows the conspiracy of the coach and the manager-if the Champions League group stage fails to succeed, then, during the winter transfer period, he sold Gerrard to Chelsea for 30 million, and started to build a brand new Liverpool around Zhao Yaning. line-up.

Such things are understandable for coaches and managers: they do have no money, but they want to build the team better, and the most valuable Gerrard is naturally a victim. But for Gerrard, this is very difficult to accept. Why, let him become a victim?

"It doesn't work to say anything else." Gerrard looked up at Carragher, "We don't have money. This matter can't be told by the two of us. And if you really don't want me to be like this If you leave in the winter, you will find a way to qualify for the Champions League."

"Then, you can stop leaving?"

Gerrard did not speak. He naturally wants to stay, but he really doesn't know what the coach and management will do.

In the away game against Monaco, in Liverpool's lineup, the starting midfielder combination was Gerrard and Haman-Alonso was suspended for one game due to accumulation of yellow cards.

On the Monaco side, the recent state is very bad. Because of the lack of running-in of the lineup, they have won eight rounds in the league. The Ligue 1 champions are basically hopeless, and in the Champions League, they are now at a disadvantage.

But in this game, they still chose to play against Liverpool. Their backcourt returned to normal, Maicon, Squillaci, Geve and Evra formed the defensive line, and in the midfield, Plasil, Yaya Touré, and Zicos formed three midfielders. And Saviola played in front of them with a single midfielder, and then Roundup and Chewanton.

In this game, Liverpool can qualify early as long as they can win, but also for Monaco, it is a decisive battle of life and death.

At the beginning of the game, Zhao Yaning on the field greeted the fans with applause. This is the Louis II Stadium, the place where Zhao Yaning is the world's favorite.

This kind of support even made the teammates of the same team slap him on the shoulder and envy him: there are not many people who play away games, but all away fans call their names. This also moved Zhao Yaning: French fans seldom give players such support. He has always thought that they would not have such an attitude.

But hiding in the heart does not mean forgetting. They will still love themselves when they come back.

However, Zhao Yaning's touch could not change Liverpool's passive situation from the beginning of the game. Zicos, Squillac, Yaya Touré, Plasil, and Geve, these five people not only formed a vague encirclement against Zhao Yaning, but also continued to play against Zhao Yaning when they were playing. The next collision.

It seemed inadvertent, and it seemed to be a bit ridiculous. Such a defensive method made Zhao Yaning a little confused.

But it was this way of playing that contained Liverpool's offensive.

"Joy's football has always had a habit of not knowing whether it is good or bad." What Zhao Yaning didn't know was that before the game, coach Petit gave out how to deal with Zhao Yaning. "He was in the frontcourt. When he is hit by someone, he doesn’t like to fall down. Although his technique is very good, he doesn’t like to fall to the ground in exchange for sympathy when he is holding the ball in the frontcourt. This is our advantage. We can constantly send people to interfere with him. Don't worry about him falling down and fouling the rules."

"But Joey's body is strong enough, it doesn't make much sense for us to interfere with him." Deschamps still had doubts about this idea.

"You don't need to knock him down, it's enough to interfere with his rhythm. I've seen Liverpool's frontcourt run... The two sides take turns to play well~www.ltnovel.com~ but Joey's timely Rotating positions is also the key to the implementation of this tactic."

"So, as long as he can delay his movement, he can make the opponent's frontcourt attack omission... a good idea."

While Deschamps thought so, he also considered Zhao Yaning's passing problem. Therefore, he arranged a few people to help defend Zhao Yaning, and for Garcia and Kewell's problem, he took a very bold idea: use the method of offside to defend the two people's insertion.

The practice of offside is a bit bold and risky in terms of defensive tactics. But for Liverpool it is exactly applicable. After all, Kewell and Garcia are not full-time forwards, and this defensive system plays a very good role in their defense.

Throughout the first half, Liverpool's several attacks did not have a very good effect. It's not because of offside or because the pass is not timely. Zhao Yaning was disturbed by the poor rhythm and poor performance, which also completely disrupted the team's tactics.

In stoppage time in the first half, Garcia's injury made the situation worse.

In the second half, in the 55th minute, Saviola quickly threw a sideline ball from the front court. Nunda and Saviola broke into the penalty area after cooperating, and the two players grabbed Nunda who had no chance to shoot the ball. To Saviola next to him, Saviola stopped the ball in the chest and volleyed through the net.

1-0.

This score has been maintained to the end. In another match, Olympiacos defeated Deportivo de La Coruña 3-0, and Liverpool was forced into a desperate situation. Zhao Yaning held the jersey after swapping with Yaya Toure and remained silent for a long time.

Only in the final match against Olympiacos, Liverpool can reach the knockout stage.