Coaching legend

Owen is the most famous star in England in recent years. Although England has produced many good players in recent years, including Scholes and Beckham of Manchester United, Owen, the youngest among them, is the most famous.

It should be said that Beckham and Owen were equally concerned during the World Cup in France. But the World Cup in France became a watershed.

And in the same game, when England faced Argentina, Beckham became the public enemy of English fans because of the red card. Owen became famous because of a beautiful goal that was enough to be recorded in the history of football.

If you think Owen is just good at speed, then you underestimate Owen. Owen's most powerful skill is that he does a very good job of combining man and ball in high-speed running. Of course, there are also some changes of direction in a small range, which is also the best among the world's strikers today.

And Owen's explosive power is also very strong. All these factors add up to make Owen a world-class striker.

But before the game, George did not pay enough attention to Owen, always thinking that Owen's fame was lucky. Moreover, George believes that as long as he stands in position, there should be no big problem against a speed striker. George believes that facing a technical team like Liverpool, as long as he firmly controls the midfield, there will be no big problem.

One wrong move will lead to a complete loss. It is precisely because Owen was not given enough attention before the game that the current difficult situation was caused.

Now George is on the sidelines, sighing at Owen's strength. He sighs that any famous player is not exaggerated. There is no false person under the great reputation.

George's original idea was to use technology in the midfield to control the rhythm of the game. Then forcefully attack their flanks, especially the right side guarded by Carragher. Although Carragher will be Liverpool's vice-captain in the future, there are still many gaps when guarding the right side. But the game did not go according to George's idea. Houllier's Liverpool style of play is very simple.

It should be said that Houllier has studied Blackburn and knows that Blackburn's midfield control ability is strong. In this game, Liverpool's midfield is two people, Ince and Borg. It turns out that Liverpool's main midfielder is Redknapp Jr., but unfortunately he has not played for a long time due to injury.

Ince and Berger are both midfielders, but Houllier believes that it is difficult for them to compete with Blackburn for the midfield. Therefore, Liverpool's style of play in this game is to quickly pass through the midfield, through McManaman or directly to Owen.

McManaman and George can still limit him on the wing, but Owen is completely unstoppable in the middle.

"Owen... he passed Makelele, flashed past Hendry, and shot... oh, what a pity."

"It's still Owen, Hendry was thrown off by Owen again... Shooting, saved by Cudicini!"

"Owen, cross... Fowler, push shot... Cudicini again! Cudicini has saved three threatening shots from Liverpool in a row!"

"George's vision of people is really unique! This Cudicini used to play in the Italian Serie B, and it was a team that was relegated from the Italian Serie B. He is not the team's main goalkeeper. , I don't know how George knows such a player. "

"Look at Cudicini's performance today. This is not a player from the Italian second league. It is a world-class goalkeeper's performance. When Cudicini came to Blackburn, his value was only 100,000 pounds. Perhaps after the end of this season, this value will skyrocket dozens of times. "

"If it weren't for Cudicini's outstanding performance, Blackburn would have fallen behind long ago. "

Indeed, Blackburn's current situation on the field is very unfavorable. Facing Owen's breakthrough, it is very difficult.

After Owen got the ball, he had explosive power, speed, and Owen was flexible enough. So the defense behind was very difficult, including Makelele, Hendry, and Hyypia. It should be said that if Makelele is in good condition, as long as he stands in position, this is the best way. It can effectively protect the back line.

But Makelele has not reached his peak in the position of defensive midfielder, so he always loses his position.

And Hendry and Hyypia, neither of them is the kind of defender who can deal with agile forwards. Therefore, Owen can create threats every time he gets the ball.

If you want to suppress Owen, there is actually another way. That is to shrink the defense line and not give Owen a gap to break through. But Blackburn has not played dense defense since its establishment. Blackburn has always played an oppressive style of play, and for a while, it did not find a way to restrain Owen.

Because Owen is too active, Blackburn can no longer control the ball calmly in the middle. Unknowingly, Blackburn's defense line moved back. Even Deco's position was almost parallel to Makelele, assisting Makelele in defending Owen.

Deco retreated to defend, resulting in the ball being unable to be smoothly dispatched in the midfield. In desperation, Miku could only retreat to organize the attack. This caused Blackburn's two flanks to be unable to operate normally.

"George, Claude's position..."

Hearing Evan's words, George frowned. George certainly knew that Makelele's current state was very problematic. But this is not a state problem. Just like Makelele, a player who has poor physical fitness, average technical skills, and no speed, what he needs is awareness.

At the peak of his career, Makelele used his outstanding awareness in the defensive midfielder position to become a world-class defensive midfielder.

However, Makelele's current awareness is not as good as it was at its peak. Therefore, Makelele himself is tired and can't grab the ball. Every time Owen passes by Makelele, he flies past like a gust of wind. If Makelele doesn't rely on defensive awareness, he has no way to deal with such a speed player.

"Give Claude time, he also needs to accumulate experience. After all, he used to play right back."

Makelele has performed very well. When facing many teams, his defense has been very good. It's just that today, facing a smart and fast player like Owen, he was stunned for a while.

"But we are too passive now."

George nodded. "Let Owen and William warm up."

The Owen George was talking about was Owen Hargreaves, who George dug from Bayern Munich. Hargreaves has not had many opportunities to play since he came to Blackburn. George promised him more than 20 games, but so far there is no shadow.

But George definitely values ​​Hargreaves very much. After a short period of time, Hargreaves' performance is getting better and better. Hargreaves is good at fighting, plays very tough, has first-class defensive awareness and tackling ability; he is also a "bad-hitting" defensive midfielder: he is extremely energetic and always has a strong fighting spirit.

With such a tough and difficult defensive midfielder, George will never let him drink water next to the water dispenser in every game. It was just that some time ago, George needed to run in the main lineup and let him stay on the bench.

Now it seems that the defense is a bit difficult, so George thought of Hargreaves.

The other one is William. Gallas. After being punished by George to the youth team, Gallas apologized to George not long after. This is not that Gallas is a good-tempered person, but George has learned what it means to use kindness and force after the incident with Ljungberg.

Therefore, after the results gradually improved, Hendry was asked to talk to Gallas.

Although it is not known how Hendry persuaded Gallas, Gallas apologized to George soon. George also agreed that Gallas should return to the first-team training.

Hendry is indeed old, and he is full of loopholes when facing a striker like Owen on the field. George remembered Gallas, so he asked Gallas to warm up.

It was only the 26th minute of the first half, and George had already started to warm up Hargreaves and Gallas. It also showed George's dissatisfaction with the current situation on the field.

However, before any adjustments were made, the score on the field changed.

After McManaman received the ball, he saw that Sagnol had already stood still. So he passed it to Fowler in the middle. Fowler did not dribble the ball, but passed it lightly to Owen in front.

"Owen... he passed Makelele again! Blackburn was almost helpless in the face of Owen's speed. Owen entered and crossed... Fowler!"

Owen's speed was too daunting, and Owen's threat made everyone's eyes on Owen. This time, after Owen broke in, he did not shoot. Instead, the ball was passed to the middle, and Fowler lightly lobbed it, deceiving Cudicini, who performed well in this game.

"Fowler! It's Fowler, a beautiful lob!"

The commentator shouted Fowler's name loudly. If Owen is the golden boy who just emerged, then Fowler is the God of Liverpool.

Before Owen came out of nowhere, Liverpool's forward line relied on Fowler's outstanding performance.

Seeing Fowler score, Anfield was filled with cheers like a volcanic eruption.

"George's reaction was a little late. Owen had been threatening Blackburn's defense since the beginning of the game. But George didn't adjust quickly, so he lost the goal."

"Of course there is also Makelele. His position today was always forced by Owen. In today's Blackburn, Makelele's position is the most important link in protecting the back line. But today this position was repeatedly broken through, allowing Liverpool's forwards to face Blackburn's back line, which is very dangerous."

"And Hendry and Hyypia are still quite afraid of forwards like Owen."

"In the 31st minute of the first half, Liverpool led Blackburn 1-0 at home."

George saw Fowler's goal and shook his head.

This Owen is too active today, too active. Be sure to check whether he has taken stimulants after the game, George secretly complained.

"Evan, let them retreat a little and control the ball in the backcourt. Don't open up the distance between the three lines, and compress Owen's activity space."