Football’s First Defender

Liverpool's cautious offense eventually wore out Chelsea's patience in playing defensive counterattack tactics.

As far as the field lineup is concerned, Chelsea's autonomous offensive ability is actually quite good. Mata's passing, Oscar and Hazard's breakthrough ability in a small area are all effective weapons that can tear apart the opponent's defense.

In the past, it was only Chelsea who implemented defensive counterattack tactics, just hoping to use a solid defense to seize offensive opportunities for defensive counterattacks, and try to use the lowest risk to win away games.

But after a period of time, seeing Liverpool's "inaction" mentality on the offensive end, Benitez, like the players on the field, couldn't help it.

This is like the "gambler" mentality.

Different from the relaxed mentality of the Liverpool players for the draw at this time, the Chelsea players are now a little bit unwilling, and some are not happy.

If for the Chelsea players before the game, at the end of the game, the team could get a draw in the away game, then in fact, for many players, this situation of scoring one point in the away game is not unacceptable.

After all, it is Anfield that is not easy to conquer.

But now, the game process is another situation.

Chelsea once took the lead in the game and had a chance to win and get 3 points, but this lead was lost.

Compared with maintaining a tie all the time, this kind of lead and then being equalized, in the hearts of many Chelsea players, there is a feeling of "losing the ball".

The change of 3 points into 1 point has already caused many Blues players on the field to feel that they have lost a lot in this game.

I have always insisted on the tactics of defensive counterattack, hoping that the team can use defensive counterattack to get easier scoring opportunities.

However, Liverpool's "inactive" offensive performance after the equalizer did not give Chelsea the imagined opportunity.

Chelsea is not hoping to get a draw now. Since there is a chance to win, but they didn't grasp it at the beginning, then Chelsea must continue to create opportunities and continue to try to win away games.

Although Benitez did not make substitution adjustments, Chelsea began to switch to a more aggressive offensive lineup with the tactical changes he signaled on the sidelines.

Offensive players like Torres and Hazard moved directly to Liverpool's half-court. They began to press in the frontcourt and had a better offensive position, ready to receive the pass from their teammates and launch an attack.

Chelsea began to tentatively compete with Liverpool for possession.

At this time, the game began to evolve towards a truly evenly matched scene.

The two teams, starting from the midfield position, launched a comprehensive fight to gain the lead in offensive momentum.

Although there are considerations for defense, there are still enough defensive players in addition to offense.

But the constant offensive opportunities have begun to show up in front of the players on both sides.

Without enough players to form a comprehensive, multi-level fixed defensive system, it is simply impossible to completely limit the offensive players of the two teams.

Chelsea, taking the initiative to attack, naturally aroused the arrogance of the Liverpool players to compete with it.

This is Anfield after all, and it is impossible for Liverpool players to be overwhelmed by Chelsea players.

In the last 20 minutes of the game, the two sides really ushered in a confrontational battle.

Even though the defensive lines of the two teams are still relatively complete, they are destined to be somewhat powerless in the face of the impact of offensive players.

Threatening passes, threatening personal breakthroughs, and threatening shots all began to appear in the respective penalty areas of both sides.

For Chelsea, Cech played bravely in this game, and the central defender combination in front of him, although not so gorgeous, but thanks to the solid defense of the double midfielders, there are very few defensive responsibilities left to the central defender. The performance is not bad.

On Liverpool's side, they don't have such a strong waist, but the team's back line has Yang Feng, which has already made the defense line hard enough.

Not only does Yang Feng have an excellent defensive performance, he can also command his teammates well and arrange the defensive line of defense.

Effectively for the goalkeeper Reina, relieved most of the attacking threats in front.

In the 73rd minute, Oscar once played an exquisite three-person small-scale cooperation with Mata and Azpilicueta.

With Azpilicueta's dribbling breakthrough from the wing as the starting point, the three of them cooperated with consecutive short passes within a small range. In the end, Mata's pick pass crossed Liverpool's defense line and went directly to the goal. Forward Oscar.

Oscar went directly behind Skrtel, and after unloading the ball, he made a gesture to volley directly.

At this time, thanks to Yang Feng's quick defense. When Skrtel's turn and defense were doomed to be ineffective, Yang Feng quickly defended from the side and rear.

The extended right leg at the last moment successfully blocked Oscar's goal. Although the ball still bounced towards the goal, but the speed had slowed down, Reina made no mistakes and grabbed the ball steadily. Yang Feng's key defense this time was not wasted.

The balance of offensive and defensive ends of the two sides seems to be able to create opportunities, but in the end, it turned out to be a rather unexpected factor that changed the situation of the game.

In the case of the two sides attacking each other, Chelsea can still create certain set-piece opportunities.

Since Chelsea's first goal was scored through a corner kick, the Liverpool defensive players who have suffered from a trap and gained wisdom still hope to do their best to limit Chelsea's set-kick attack.

Sufficient number of defensive players to achieve Liverpool's absolute advantage in the penalty area.

Although knowing that Ivanovic may not necessarily have an advantage in the confrontation with Yang Feng, Mata still chose to find the most threatening Ivan this time, hoping that he can contribute to the team.

Ivan's running position was really good. Under the cover of his teammates, and under the defense of Yang Feng, he had a certain chance to run.

Although he didn't completely get rid of Yang Feng, Yang Feng no longer had the advantage of taking off as before. The confrontation between the two in the air was evenly matched. In the end, the ball neither flew to the goal nor cleared the penalty area. People struggled hard, but still fell within the restricted area with a slight deviation.

In the chaos in front of Liverpool's goal, Hazard cleverly completed a supplementary shot. Although the supplementary shot was blocked by the crowd, the sharp-eyed Ivanovic was already frantically raising his hand to signal the handball up.

"beep--"

The referee blew his whistle and pointed directly to the penalty spot!

"Handball! Suarez actually got a handball during his defense this time."

"Penalty kick! Liverpool suffered the death penalty in the 79th minute of the game."

Suarez really didn't intentionally handball this time, but as a forward player, he really didn't have the consciousness to control his body when defending in the penalty area.

The second landing point of the ball fell before, and Suarez rushed to the landing point to make a clearance, but he naturally maintained his arm swing.

As a result, Hazard's supplementary shot came first, and a half-high ball hit the goal, and it just hit Suarez's arm that was too late to retract.

The referee was also in an excellent position and decisively awarded a penalty kick without any hesitation.

Hazard stood in front of the penalty spot, and after a run-up, he aimed a low shot into the bottom left corner and scored directly into the net for Chelsea's second goal.

"Hazard hit a penalty kick, and Suarez paid a very high price for his irregular defensive actions. Although this was at Liverpool's home court, with only 10 minutes left, Liverpool was able to pull back a goal. ?"