Football’s First Defender

Not only can Manchester City's counterattack create opportunities, but Liverpool's offense can also create a considerable offensive threat.

In particular, the tacit cooperation of Liverpool's offensive team composed of several players in the frontcourt can improve Liverpool's counterattack threat to a higher level.

Before the end of the first half, the two teams took turns to make very threatening offensive attempts.

In the 41st minute, Liverpool player Henderson completed a steal in midfield and counterattacked on the spot.

Henderson's through pass, fast forward, although it gave Coutinho a knife mountain ball in the middle.

But Coutinho, surrounded by two Manchester City players, fell directly to the ground and swept the ball to Suarez on the left. He also got up quickly and went to the side to insert.

After Suarez received Coutinho's pass, he accelerated forward directly. In front of the defense line composed of two Manchester City players, Suarez did not fight alone, but gently returned the ball to the back of the center, followed by Joe Allen entered. At this time, Joe Allen was unguarded.

Manchester City's defense had to separate one person to block the offensive threat created by Joe Allen's attack.

When Kompany's grab was not in place, Joe Allen had already completed the ball with a pick pass, and the ball went directly to the left side of Manchester City's penalty area.

Suarez, who had completed the pass to Joe Allen before, continued to advance. When Joe Allen picked the pass, he was just in front of Lescott and was not offside.

There was no problem with the line referee's eyes this time, and he accurately judged that it was a good shot.

When Suarez continued to advance forward and received a pass from Joe Allen deep in the Manchester City penalty area, the receiving position was at least two positions more than other Manchester City players, as if it was an obvious offside position. Manchester City's defense collectively raised their hands to signal offside, but the referee enforced the law impartially and remained unmoved.

When Lescott came over with all his strength to defend, Suarez was not greedy for the attack, and directly hit the goal from a small angle.

Instead, after controlling the football, he kicked back gently with one foot, just avoiding Lescott's return route, allowing Coutinho, who moved from his left side to the right side, to enter the penalty area. There is better space to catch the ball and hit the goal, and can directly complete a more threatening shot.

Pushing the ball without stopping, Coutinho hit the far corner directly.

It’s just that Joe Hart’s performance this time was excellent, he fell to the ground, split his legs directly, and his left foot just blocked Coutinho’s kick to hit the goal. Hit the door, did not cause substantial damage.

After you sing, I will appear on the stage. Half a minute later, Manchester City had the opportunity to reorganize their offense. Taking advantage of the lack of time for Liverpool players to retreat and defend, Manchester City accelerated the offensive rhythm of the game.

Yaya Toure in the backcourt found David Silva near the center circle with a through pass.

David Silva dribbles the ball and accelerates straight forward.

Using an excellent feint, he swayed away Joe Allen, who was defending in front, and continued to dribble the ball into the hinterland of Liverpool's half.

After forcing the few people in Liverpool's defense line to shrink to defend in front of him, David Silva sent a precise through ball to the right during the march and found Negredo who was still in front of him.

Negredo inserted diagonally to the right. After receiving the pass from David Silva, he had already entered the penalty area, and he could directly make a gesture to complete a kick.

Fortunately, Negredo's kick has a limited angle.

Yang Feng, who had been chasing him all the time, judged that he was right.

The moment Negredo received the ball and hit the goal directly, Yang Feng had already put himself on the ground, and came out with a sliding tackle. His raised right leg just blocked Negredo's threatening goal.

The final stage of the first half seemed to be Yang Feng's defensive performance time.

After successfully limiting Negredo's counterattack, Yang Feng made another excellent defensive interception in the midfield.

When Liverpool failed to attack and Manchester City quickly counterattacked, Fernandinho sent a precise long pass in the backcourt.

David Silva, the technical ability at the feet is extremely strong. Even though Fei Bird's pass is a bit too powerful and the ball is too fast, but at the feet of David Silva, the ball is still very easy. unloaded on the feet.

Fei Bird passed the ball through the defense of the three, so that after David Silva received the ball, he directly had a 2-on-2 offensive opportunity in the frontcourt.

David Silva dribbled the ball forward quickly, Yang Feng was defending in front of him, and on the left side, Skrtel was in the same position as Yang Feng, and Nasri was waiting for the teammate on the left side.

There is a huge gap between Yang Feng and Skrtel, and there is still 20 meters of depth behind them.

David Silva, who is familiar with Nasri's acceleration and sprint level, aimed at the space between Yang Feng and Skrtel, and directly sent a diagonal through ball. The purpose was to penetrate the defense line of the two and let Nasri Li can accelerate behind Skrtel and complete the attack.

As long as this through ball can pass the defense zone of the two, it can provide Nasri with enough space to accelerate, and even create a chance for a one-handed goal.

David Silva believes that his pass has been well controlled. As long as Nasri can give full play to his speed advantage, he can definitely play an excellent offensive threat.

Nasri did speed up and get rid of Skrtel's marking from the outside, but this pass did not reach the feet of Nasri who was speeding forward.

Before Silva's through ball was completed, Yang Feng had already seen through it.

Yang Feng was very aware of the space between himself and Skrtel. After all, it was just the defensive line of the two. When the space was large enough, trying to complete the defense was tantamount to nonsense.

What Yang Feng can do with the ball is actually to try to limit Silva's breakthrough, even if he loses a yellow card, he must stop him from continuing to move forward with the ball.

Considering Silva's passing attributes, combined with Yang Feng's private research on Silva, Yang Feng feels that there is a high probability that Silva will choose to pass the ball more safely.

Considering that when facing Skrtel, Nasri's biggest advantage is speed.

But to be able to take advantage of Nasri's speed and be easily received by Nasri to complete the offensive pass, he must still walk on the ground, so it can only be a long-distance through ball diagonally.

With the basic passing judgment in an instant, all that Yang Feng had left was to fully focus on Silva who was holding the ball.

When Silva paused to complete a kick, Yang Feng reacted instantly and made a split similar to Joe Hart's just now.

Increase the blocking area of ​​the outstretched foot, just in time for the toe to block the passing route.

After the ball was blocked by Yang Feng's toes, it changed direction and flew directly to Skrtel's defensive area.

Before Nasri's attack was completed, Skrtel seized the time to complete a clearance, and then the referee saw that more than half of the one-minute stoppage time had passed, and simply blew the whistle to end the half-time game .

At the end of halftime, Liverpool, who were challenging as a guest, drew 1-1 with Manchester City, who was playing at home.