Football’s First Defender

For most of the first half of the game, Liverpool occupied the absolute initiative on the field.

It's just that although Liverpool has the initiative, in terms of the situation of the game, Liverpool, who has been unable to score again for a long time, has not been very at ease.

Although Liverpool's attacking threat made the game look, sooner or later Liverpool would score a second goal.

But in the finishing touch, there are still some deviations.

Liverpool had a lot of opportunities, but they just couldn't convert them into threatening shots.

There are actually not many opportunities for Liverpool.

Especially when the wingers and strikers have strong breakthrough ability, Liverpool's offensive ability on the wing is actually very strong.

The wing attack can also create good offensive opportunities in the game. This is the embodiment of Liverpool's comprehensive offensive.

This point of Coutinho is the biggest advantage of Liverpool's lead on the court.

His combination of breakthrough ability, speed and technique makes him really easy to play on the left wing.

Coutinho has many offensive options. For a player of this level, in the face of a single defense, as long as he is not a top defensive player, Coutinho himself has quite a lot of opportunities.

The continuous cycling action and Coutinho's breakthrough action completely stunned the opposing defender.

When the defender chooses to stick to the bottom line, Coutinho must not be allowed to enter the penalty area.

Coutinho got a lot of ball possession opportunities on the peripheral side. As long as he doesn't want to break through the penalty area, there is also a lot of room for passing the ball.

As for Coutinho's own long-range threat, that is entirely the focus of Everton's defensive arrangement.

As long as Coutinho wants to cross-cut, Everton's midfield defenders will immediately step forward to block all Coutinho's long-range shooting angles.

This is Coutinho's prerogative, there is no way.

Who makes Coutinho's long-range shots so threatening, and has excellent personal breakthrough ability.

At this time, for the visiting team Everton, it is necessary to concentrate their defensive strength in the game as much as possible to achieve a good defense, limit Liverpool's overall attack, and wait for the opportunity to counterattack.

Coutinho's series of actions on the left is actually to enhance the opponent's attention to himself.

And Coutinho, in the end, did not choose to attack by himself, but passed the ball directly after attracting attention.

Coutinho knocked the ball straight from the left to the center.

Liverpool midfielder Milner directly followed and hit the goal with a long shot.

With this kick, Milner exerted full force and suppressed the ball very well, posing a great threat to Everton's goalkeeper.

That is, the concentration of Everton goalkeeper Roberts in the game.

Facing Milner's heavy bombardment outside the penalty area, there was an early response.

He made a sideways save, but barely blocked the ball directly.

A side attack, Robles did not make a mistake and completely blocked the ball.

Roberts made a save with both arms, and tried his best to block the ball out of the penalty area to avoid Liverpool players coming forward to complete the supplementary shot.

It's just that Robles hit the ball to the left, but Coutinho received the ball at the first time.

Coutinho made another 45-degree cross from the left, and quickly passed it into the penalty area, posing a threat again.

Stones held his position, and in the game, he rushed over first and grabbed the first point of the pass sent by Coutinho.

Stones directly completed the clearance.

It's just that Liverpool's oppressiveness on the field is reflected at this time.

Stones' clearance ball landed outside the penalty area, but Milner still got it.

Milner didn't try again this time.

Instead, when Liverpool's offense has always been concentrated on the left and center, they chose to split the ball and directly found Liverpool's right back Klein who suddenly jumped in on the right.

As soon as Klein entered the penalty area on the right, he received a ball from Milner. He didn't make much adjustments, but just sent a cross directly to avoid giving Everton's defensive players a chance.

Klein's way of passing the ball is more similar to a pick pass, picking the ball to a higher height.

Lallana directly used his running ability at the front point, ran to the landing point first, jumped high directly, and completed a head-shaking attack.

It's a pity that Lallana's head-shaking attack this time played well in terms of strength, but there is still a certain deviation in angle control.

The ball almost brushed the right post of the goal and flew out of the baseline, without really playing a threat.

As the game time passed, just when everyone thought that the score in the first half might really be fixed at 1-0, in the 43rd minute of the game, the peace on the field was broken again.

Liverpool, which has been creating offensive opportunities on the offensive end, still insisted on its own offensive play before the end of the first half, constantly launching attacks, and seeking to expand the score.

This time Milner came to the space on the right after receiving the ball from his teammates, and used an accelerated breakthrough action to trick the Everton defenders into following up.

And Milner himself used an emergency stop during the game to get rid of it, directly swaying the defensive player's defense.

And immediately on the right, with his left foot, directly sent a pass into the penalty area.

Milner's cross was delivered very well this time.

The ball drew a wonderful arc in the air, and it flew to the point behind the goal.

The position of the ball was very close to the post behind the goal, and because Liverpool's previous offensives were concentrated on the right, it also forced Everton's goalkeeper to a position close to the front point.

When Roberts wanted to rush back to the back position, he found it was too late.

Milner's pass was full of power and fast, and did not give too many opportunities to the players on both sides.

Judge the landing point, run, and prepare to grab the point.

The time available for the players to react is not too much, and it was Firmino who ran to the back position first.

The tacit understanding between Sturridge and Coutinho was very high because of Liverpool's wonderful offensive performance last season, and they have cultivated a tacit understanding.

So for Firmino and Milner, as the "newcomers" who joined the Liverpool lineup this season, they naturally first cultivated a tacit understanding.

Firmino took the lead to come to the pass position at the back point, and jumped high almost in front of the goal. In the case of occupying a better position, he overwhelmed his defensive players and successfully completed the top challenge. The ball went into the goal.

"2 to 0!"

"Firmino!"

"Before the end of the first half, the connection with Milner was completed."

"After a really good pass from James Milner, he seized his opportunity accurately and completed a very good header in front of the goal, and the ball was headed out of the goal."

"Liverpool led the score 2-0 and entered the second half with a two-goal lead. For Liverpool, the second half will be easier."

As it turns out, sometimes things can change too quickly on a football pitch for anyone to guess.

Liverpool, which only scored the second goal in the 43rd minute, made most people think that Liverpool should take a breath after leading by two goals, and prepare for the second half of the game after the intermission.

However, Liverpool is obviously still not satisfied with the two-goal lead. In the last 2 minutes of the first half, Liverpool continued to maintain its own offensive.

In the 45th minute of the game, Liverpool got a chance to set the ball in the front court.

High-point players such as Yang Feng and Lovren are all preparing to compete in the penalty area.

But before the end of the game, Liverpool did not choose to pass the ball directly into the penalty area, looking at the high scrambling rate, but suddenly played a "flower board".

Liverpool took a tactical positioning kick, and did not pass the ball directly into the penalty area, but first passed it on the outside.

Milner came to the left this time.

After receiving the ball from Coutinho, he directly broke through on the left and attracted the Everton defenders. Milner did not attack.

Instead, he passed the ball again to find Coutinho's position.

Use Coutinho's great threat to re-attract Everton's defensive focus.

Then Milner suddenly plunged to the bottom line.

Sometimes, between outstanding players, there must be both an excellent tacit understanding and that excellent improvisational creativity.

Coutinho's creativity and offensive ability, after more than half a season of growth, have now become the world's top level.

The ability to keenly find opportunities is also very good for Coutinho.

Coutinho reacted instantly when he saw Milner's sudden deflection after passing the ball.

In the face of Milner's pass, Coutinho did not stop the ball. He kicked the ball directly, sent a through ball, and passed the ball directly to the bottom line of Everton's penalty area.

This ball happened to be offside.

Milner started early, and Coutinho's passing route was just in front of Milner accelerating forward.

This is a small-scale pass cooperation between Milner and Coutinho, which directly helps Milner to get rid of the defender's mark easily, and can directly receive the ball in the penalty area. He has a certain amount of space to handle the ball. Make the next move.

Milner successfully stopped the ball, and then picked the ball directly to the center with his left foot.

An excellent high ball pass, and standing in front of the goal in the middle is the biggest threat to Liverpool when attacking from set kicks-Yang Feng.

Facing Milner's pass, Yang Feng leaped high in front of the goal.

Due to the tactical positioning of the ball, and the continuous passing cooperation of Milner and Coutinho before, Everton's defensive rhythm has been completely disrupted.

After all, after the set kick is taken, the defense of the wing is the top priority of Everton, and when Milner receives a through ball and comes to the threat area in the penalty area, it is natural to use Milner as the defense premise.

So, Yang Feng was let out in front of the door like this.

Milner's pass, Yang Feng jumped high.

You don't even have to physically confront the opponent's defender.

In this way, Yang Feng completed a head shake attack without any pressure.

Without defensive pressure, I thought that Yang Feng could push out the angle he wanted according to the training state, and complete a header in pursuit of a dead corner.

Robles' save was originally too short to react, and Yang Feng's angle was so tricky.

3 to 0!

Before the end of halftime, Liverpool scored 2 goals in 3 minutes, directly extending the score advantage to 3 goals. It can only be said that Liverpool's offensive explosiveness is too strong.

It was only a one-goal gap, but before the end of the first half, Liverpool scored two goals in a row and fell behind by three goals. For the Everton players, they also knew that this game was a big one. More bad luck than good.

After all, this is Anfield Stadium, not Goodison Park Stadium. It is still very difficult for Everton to complete a reversal of at least three goals in an away game.

During the intermission, Liverpool was obviously very relaxed.

The Merseyside Derby, which was supposed to be a difficult battle, actually took a 3-goal lead at halftime, which can be said to have directly sealed the victory.

In the second half of the game, for Everton, it was a house leak and it rained overnight.

The team suffered another heavy blow just 5 minutes into the second half.

When Murray was defending Firmino, he was teased by Firmino's fake action, and then retaliated directly with a stampede to block Firmino's attack.

Firmino was brought down to the ground.

From the flag waving quickly by the linesman and the whistle of the referee, it can be seen how bad the malicious foul was this time.

Being played by Firmino with fancy moves is one aspect. The team is currently behind 0 to 3. For central defender Murray, it is also a major factor affecting his mentality.

red card!

The referee directly took out a red card and sent Murray off.

And amidst the boos at Anfield, Murray walked off the pitch without looking back...

Fortunately, Firmino was not injured by the stampede this time.

After an examination by the team doctor, he only explained that it was a skin injury, and then Klopp, just to be on the safe side, replaced Firmino to prepare for the next league.

With the advantage of a three-goal lead, the opponent still has one less player on the field.

This is really a flying dragon riding on the face, how can you lose?

It is enough to complete a shocking reversal in a season. Although the Everton players still have fighting spirit and want to play well in the away game, Liverpool did not leave too many opportunities for their opponents.

Everton, who played one less player, wanted to score a goal away, but of course the defense led by Yang Feng would not give them such a chance.

Not to mention the excellent defensive end, Liverpool's counterattack end, in the 67th minute, Coutinho scored the team's fourth goal and achieved a four-goal lead.

In the end, the Everton players were also beaten out of spirit, and they lost four goals in the away game and lost to Anfield.