Volume 1: Playing football with me will break your legs Chapter 74: Tactical Genius!
"drop!"
At 7:55, the experienced referee Jonathan Moss blew the whistle to start the game.
Akinfenwa passed the ball and Dubis passed it back to Smith who was more than 20 meters away.
Lambert rushed towards Smith , and the deputy team leader immediately passed the ball back to the goalkeeper, trying to attract Liverpool's front formation to move forward collectively.
Lambert did not give up and continued to press Werner. Unexpectedly, the second goalkeeper was not at all nervous. Instead, he deftly shook off his opponent and easily passed the ball to Fuller on the other wing.
But Fuller couldn't dribble the ball forward comfortably, as Coutinho appeared in his path, and three meters away, Markovic was also eyeing him!
“Damn it!”
Adley and Cox cursed in unison.
They looked at each other and saw the worry in each other's eyes.
Coutinho plays as a left winger, there is nothing wrong with this arrangement, but... why is Markovic also on the left? !
According to the tactical analysis before Wimbledon, Lambert will be in the front, Coutinho and Markovic will be on the left and right, forming Liverpool's offensive trident. The captain and vice-captain of the Crazy Gang, Fuller and Smith, can then clearly divide the work to deal with their respective opponents.
But who would have thought that Rogers would make such an arrangement? !
Fuller also realized the seriousness of the problem. He did not dare to dribble or pass the ball forward, but directly passed it to Li Polo at the front of the penalty area.
Li Polo, who had just stopped playing football, had no time to look up to observe the positions of his teammates before he saw a red figure rushing towards him out of the corner of his eye!
[Isn’t Lambert still between Woerner and Phillips?
How could he come so quickly? 】
Although he was full of doubts in his mind, Li Boluo did not dare to slow down at all. He swung his right foot and made a long pass to the front court!
As a central defender who is not very good at passing the ball, the coaching staff never expected him to use long passes to participate in command and dispatch, but at least you have to understand one thing: if you don’t know how to pass the ball to your teammates, just kick the ball!
Although this blind long pass will waste the team's rare offensive opportunities, it is safer than sending the ball directly to the opponent's striker's feet!
On his first day as a center back, his coach and teammates told him:
"A central defender may not have the ability to advance forward, but he must never become a time bomb in his own defense!"
After sending out the long pass, Li Polo looked carefully and was surprised to find that the person rushing in front of him was Gerrard.
The young and energetic Gerrard is undoubtedly an aggressive player. He is very proficient in all offensive methods, including long shots, penalties, free kicks, outflanking in front of the goal, headers, and back-row insertions. However, with his age and the increase in injuries, his physical fitness has gradually declined. His position on the field has gradually moved back and he has begun to focus on organization and dispatching the ball, which is a bit like a physically enhanced Pirlo.
【Why did he come to the penalty area to press? 】
This was not just Li Polo's doubt. The two coaches outside the field also frowned.
Cox pushed his square glasses up on his nose:
"Rogers...how confident are you?"
Adley looked at his watch:
"He said Liverpool wouldn't make the same stupid mistakes as Man United but he's not as smart as Van Gaal!"
Li Polo's big foot somehow found Akinfenwa near the center circle. This Liverpool diehard showed no mercy to his idol team. He held off Skrtel and pushed the ball hard to the back. Dubis, who was lurking behind Emre Can, immediately rushed towards the ball!
After all, Emre Can was a midfielder, so his awareness of chasing back was a little lacking. When Dubis was five or six meters away from him, he suddenly realized and started to chase, but it was too late.
Dubis went straight into the penalty area alone, Mignolet left the goal to attack, but he was left with a time difference!
The ball hit the goal post and rolled out of the bottom line. Dubis could only sigh to the sky!
[It’s all because the grass is too slippery and the ball rolls too fast! ]
"Why?!"
Nearly five thousand fans of the home team held their heads and took a deep breath.
The temperature on the King's Turf Stadium seemed to rise by one degree in an instant!
"What a shame! It was only a foot away!"
Neville shook his head repeatedly:
"If the Wimbledon striker had half the footwork I do, the ball would have been in the net."
Carragher almost broke out in a cold sweat, but he still insisted:
"It was just an accident! Emre Can was a little distracted..."
…
Rodgers' deployment of troops is really confusing. He clearly has a proper right-back, Manquillo, but he insisted on letting him rush forward to attack and instead arranged German midfielder Emre Can to play as a defender.
What's more, sitting on their bench is the aging but still strong Kolo Toure. Such a deployment can only mean that Liverpool is not short of defenders, but that Rodgers wants to stick to his unique tactics!
Even fans who know a little about football know that the biggest weakness of his three-center-back formation is that it cannot fully protect the two flanks, and Markovic and Manquillo, who act as wing-backs, cannot take care of both offense and defense at all!
Mignolet's kick-off technique has always been average, and this time it almost flew out of bounds. Fortunately, Henderson pulled to the right side in time and headed the ball back.
Manquillo and Rigg rushed towards the ball almost at the same time. The young Manchester United player touched the ball faster, but was stepped on the ankle by Rigg who was following closely behind him, and immediately fell to the ground.
Gerrard, who was five meters away, saw everything that happened clearly and he immediately complained to the referee:
"Stomping directly, this is definitely a foul!"
But neither the linesman, who was close at hand, nor the referee, Moss, who was a little further away, paid any attention to his appeal and instead awarded a Wimbledon out-of-bounds ball...
Zhan Jun, who was thousands of miles away, immediately supported Gerrard after watching the replay:
"The Wimbledon player kicked Manquillo right under the referee's nose! This should be a yellow card!"
Gerrard didn't argue with them anymore, he just lowered his head and adjusted the hem of his jersey.
He is no longer a young boy. He knows better than anyone how good the refereeing skills of English referees are!
On this green field, no matter how good your mouth is, it can’t compare to the power of your two feet!
…
"Rigg, Frankon, retreat deeper and strengthen the wing defense!"
After the first round of offense and defense, Adre quickly conveyed the latest tactical intentions to his disciples.
In fact, he didn't need to emphasize that after seeing Coutinho and Markovic appear on the same side, Fuller immediately sent a signal for help to Francon:
"Liverpool has no moral principles. They sent two strong young men born in the 90s to take turns to beat me, an old man born in the 80s. If you are a brother, come and save me!"
Francon directly gave up the attack and completely retreated to the side of the penalty area, teaming up with the old captain to block Liverpool's surprise attack on the left.
But how can things be that simple?
Just two minutes later, Liverpool launched another attack from the left.
Coutinho dribbled the ball down the wing. Despite his thin build, he was quite stable and had very delicate footwork, which was far beyond the reach of those rough guys in English League Two. Fuller and Francon did not dare to act rashly and could only retreat with his rhythm.
But the Brazilian "little magician" suddenly changed direction. Before Fuller and Francon could even see his movements, he and the ball slipped through the gap between them!
The terrified captain even stretched out his hands, ready to hug and throw this guy to the ground, but the next second the ball passed from Coutinho's feet to behind Fuller!
Vacant seat!
Both players were rushing towards Coutinho, and Markovic understood what he meant and rushed out!
"Watch out! Polo!"
Werner yelled at the first moment. Although he was only the second goalkeeper, he was very clear in commanding the defense line.
Li Polo certainly knew how critical the current situation was, but he did not rush towards Markovic who was catching up with the football. Instead, he took a step back and held off Lambert who was about to take over!
Markovic's position was too far away, and the angle for his shot was not big, so Werner could easily block it. So the biggest threat in this attack was the short veteran striker Lambert!
As expected, after Markovic caught up with the through pass, he was already close to the baseline. He had no time to adjust his direction and could only use the instep of his foot to create a trajectory that looked like a pass or a shot!
Lambert, who was completely restrained by Li Polo, couldn't jump up at all, and could only watch the football fly over his head and out of the baseline...
"Great defense!"
Walter breathed a sigh of relief and quickly praised Li Polo's choice.
It was not easy to get a chance to play, and he didn't want to let the opponent score in the first 5 minutes.
Frustrated, Lambert shook his head and shrugged at Gerrard:
"Sorry, Captain, the header... I can't compete with this kid at all!"
Gerard nodded:
"It's not your fault. Let's switch to the second tactic."
