Football’s First Defender

December 06! The fourth match day of Group A of the Europa League group stage! Everton sits at Goodison Park and faces Zenit, who performed poorly in the group stage!

No one expected that Zenit, the champion team in the Russian Super League, would fall into an unprecedented passive situation in the group stage!

Especially the two home games that have ended! The two draws completely cast a shadow over Zenit's qualifying in the group stage!

Zenit first faced Alkmaar with a conservative attitude, and then launched an attack in the final stage, but the visiting team scored first! Even though they tied the game in the end, they barely got a point! But he didn't win the victory that should have been won!

Then it was at home against the Bundesliga team Nuremberg! Zenit, who had regained his wide open and close play, was the first to be counterattacked by his opponent to score again!

Zenit, who entered the second half with a trailing score, still relied on the goals of Arshavin and Pogrebnyak to overtake the score!

It's a pity that this time it was reversed and replaced by Zenit! The defense was in the final stage and failed to withstand the Bundesliga team's mad attack. The score of 2 to 2 was maintained until the end of the game!

The two home games were tied. In the situation where one of the four strong teams in the group must go home in the group stage, Zenit's two draws made it only possible to be the strongest in the last game. The opponent, Everton, is still away in England!

Although in the away game on the second match day, Zenit scored three goals at the home court of the Greek team Larissa, scoring all three points with a score of 3 to 2!

However, Larissa has lost three games in a row. It seems that he came here purely for soy sauce. It is very likely that the four-game losing streak will end the trip to Europe. Then the qualifying situation is a record competition between the top four. Zenit, who has no winning record, really It's a little dangerous!

Because there are five teams in each group, there will be group matches on 5 matchdays, with one team bye in each round!

Before the start of the fourth game day!

Zenit 1 win, 2 draws, 5 points and a bye in the final round

Everton won two consecutive victories with 6 points in the last round of away game against Alkmaar

Larissa's 3-game losing streak, 0 points, this round of byes, and the last round of the home game against Nuremberg, it is estimated that it is also the fate of sending points.

Alkmaar has 1 win, 1 draw and 4 points against Nuremberg in this round

Nuremberg has 1 draw, 1 loss and 1 point. This round will be a life-and-death battle, but fortunately, it has the strength of the home court!

Zenit's math problem is very good. If they win Everton in the away game, they will surely qualify for the group stage!

But if it is a draw or a loss, whether you can qualify or not depends on the faces of the opponents in the same group!

"Fate must be in your own hands! Qualify with a victory!" This is what Advocaat kept emphasizing before the game!

Giving one's own destiny to others is always the stupidest behavior on the football field! Don't you see how the draw with 2 times the odds in the last round was played fancy? Scoring two goals 1-1 is to give you face, I will 0-0, the two teams pass the ball and take a walk, what can you do to me?

The key now is, will this Premier League powerhouse Everton easily let Zenit go at home?

As the sixth player in the Premier League last season, although there are no top stars in the Everton team, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are all capable!

Among the best midfielders selected by Sky Sports last season, Everton's midfielder Arteta beat Manchester United winger Ronaldinho to win this honor!

Under the coaching of head coach Moyes, the team has stable tactics and strong execution ability of players. It has even secured the top spot in the second echelon of the Premier League in the past two years!

He is also called the most stable goalkeeper of the Champions League by fans of good things. If you want to enter the Champions League, you just need to pass Everton...

It is such a team, Everton, which is definitely regarded as a powerful player in the Europa League, is blocking Zenit's path to advancement.

"Welcome everyone to watch the live broadcast of this Zenit match!"

"After the Europa League group stage draw, we all thought that this death group would be a test for Zenit!"

"During the period when the main central defender Yang Feng was recovering from his injury, Zenit fell into the throes of lacking Yang Feng for the entire three rounds of the group stage!"

"Although the team's offensive strength is still so strong, Zenit, who is limited by the problem of the defense and cannot devote itself to the offense wholeheartedly, always feels that it has lost the domineering courage of the past few months!"

"The latest news came out from Zenit earlier that Yang Feng is recovering very well, and it will take about a week before he can start training!"

"But now Zenit must beat the powerful Everton away in this game, otherwise they can only wait for the results of the next round of group matches in two weeks!"

"And after this game, even if Zenit advances, they will have to play in the knockout round two months later, so the whole team will directly enter the vacation state!"

"Whether it is a short vacation to play European games after returning, or a long vacation, and wait for the opening of the Russian Super League next season! It depends on the result of this game, or the face of other teams!"

"However, I believe that this group of energetic young people, as well as the head coach Mr. Advocaat, must want to prove themselves in the European war!"

"After all, although this Zenit team has beaten CSKA Moscow in the league, Russia's first European championship was won by CSKA in the first two years!"

"If you want to establish a new king in Russia, you must at least achieve the achievements of the old king!"

…………

"Everton has sent almost all the main lineup in this game, and the attitude is very correct! The only change may be that the midfielder Cahill was put on the bench in this game! He was replaced by Lee Carsley, who has a better defense !"

"As David Moyes who uses a 451 lineup all the year round"

"In addition to a solid defense line, the five midfielders have always been separated from the left and right avant-garde, and the midfield trio is full-time defense, organizing offense, and a complementary trio with certain breakthrough capabilities!"

"This game chose to play two defensive midfielders Phil Neville and Lee Carsley at the same time to strengthen the defense of the midfield! The idea of ​​targeting Zenit can be seen!"

"Arteta still continues to be his own stadium commander! Sitting in the middle! There are two tough guys escorting him!"

"Pinaer and Leon Osman are separated on the left and right sides! Both defense and offense are correct!"

"And Yakubu, who just joined with breaking Everton's transfer record this season, will serve as the single arrow!"

"The defense line is followed by left back Baines, center backs Jojean Lescott and Jajelka, and right back Hibbert!"

"The goalkeeper is American goalkeeper Tim Howard! The former main goalkeeper of Manchester United! He has the attributes of a nerve knife!"

"The good news for Zenit may be that Everton's main central defender Yabo was injured in the last league game, making Lescott, who played left back this season, return to the central defender position. The substitute left back is Baines just transferred over this season. Baines also had a minor injury before, and I don’t know how he is recovering!"

"The purpose of David Moyes' selection of Xuezang Cahill in this game is obvious! His team is at home, and if they keep a draw, they can ensure that they will qualify for the group stage, while the visiting team Zenit urgently needs to win! Such a good opportunity to fight back If you don't know how to use it, that's a fool's behavior!"

Edvocaat, who got the starting list, felt a headache when he saw Everton's two defensive midfielders!

Even Moyes felt very helpless for letting Lescott, who played well as the main left back, play his old line back again!

When preparing tactics for this game before, many tactics were aimed at left back Lescott!

After all, the height of 191cm is used to play the left back. Although the physical fitness has an absolute advantage, there is no problem in the Premier League game that advocates physical confrontation, but facing the small and fast players in the Zenit lineup is the opportunity for Zenit to give full play to its advantages up!

But now, with Yabo's injury in the last league game, Lescott has returned to the central defender, and Baines who came up happens to be the kind of fast and flexible full-back, not only more conducive to defending technical players such as Arshavin, but also his quickness. The plug-in ability is extremely strong, which will put more pressure on Zenit's defense!

"It's uncomfortable! This game!" Advocaat felt that even God would not help him! Obviously the opponent's main central defender is injured, but the new lineup feels more restrained by Zenit!

"The game has begun! The away team Zenit kicks off first! Zenit, who has reached the edge of the cliff, still has the opportunity to control his own destiny. Whether he can have a pleasant holiday depends on this game..."