Football’s First Defender

"Flopping?"

"Atkinson's penalty this time turned out to be running into the penalty area and gave Milner a yellow card."

Milner was also very surprised. He was attacked by Howard before and directly shoveled to the ground. Now he is still sitting on the ground. When he heard the whistle, he thought it must be a penalty kick. Unexpectedly, the referee would call himself a penalty. Foul, and gave himself a yellow card.

Milner immediately "bounced" off the ground and argued directly with the referee, but Atkinson insisted on his own approach. He thought it was an excellent goal by an Everton goalkeeper, and since his whistle blew , then you must only call Milner a flop.

This is the Premier League, and in this era of no video replays, the referee is always the biggest on the field.

"Replaying in slow motion, if Atkinson simply didn't call a penalty for this ball, there is actually no big problem. After all, Howard's attack did hit the ball first."

"It's just that Milner was also brought down by Howard after finishing the defense. It's still a bit far-fetched to directly whistle Milner for diving and give him a yellow card."

It may be that Liverpool was too good at making penalties back then, which has left a psychological shadow on many Premier League referees.

However, the yellow card given to Milner at the beginning of the game is a very big hidden danger for Milner's defensive interception in Liverpool's defensive system.

As a defensive midfielder, he received a yellow card early on. In the following games, Milner's defensive actions will inevitably be affected.

With Klopp's signal on the sidelines, Henderson also completed the swap with Milner.

Let Henderson's position be further back. In the face of some defensive emergencies, Henderson can also rely on fouls to block for a while.

And when the Liverpool players were still complaining about the suspected penalty kick that was not awarded just now and instead gave Milner a yellow card, Everton's offense did not give Liverpool time to stop.

Everton's offensive immediately advanced from the backcourt to the ground.

After Howard was prompted by the referee's whistle, he made a short pass to Browning on the right.

Browning accelerates forward with the ball.

Liverpool's frontcourt players only woke up from a dream at this time, and quickly completed the tackle in the game.

It's just that Browning didn't choose to force himself on the wing, and passed the ball diagonally forward, directly finding Barry in the midfield.

And Barry kicked the ball again, quickly passed the ball to the counterattack and ran to the feet of Lukaku near the midfield.

Under the defensive pressure of Skrtel, Lukaku immediately retreated after stopping the ball, opened the distance with Skrtel, and after gaining a certain space, he immediately kicked the ball and passed the ball again Deulofeu, front right.

Deulofeu accelerated forward after receiving the ball from the wing.

After Moreno's individual defense and attracted Skrtel's supplementary defense, the Kaiser made another cross and found Lukaku who continued to run forward.

Before Henderson's replacement came, Lukaku did not take the ball to the threat area where he could hit the goal by himself, in order to form the greatest threat for this counterattack.

In the face of Henderson's defensive forward pressure, Lukaku played his foot skills, sent a through ball directly forward in the middle, and stuffed the ball into Liverpool's penalty area.

Throughout Everton, it was Barkley who ran at the forefront in the counterattack. He took the lead, and beside him was Yang Feng, the last core of Liverpool's defense.

In fact, according to the situation on the field, Yang Feng thought of making an emergency stop and advancing forward to cause Barkley's forward charge to be offside.

It’s just that although Barkley is young, his game experience and on-the-spot handling are not bad. Yang Feng’s attempt to cause offside was spotted by Barkley at a glance.

This time, after seeing Lukaku's through ball find the space ahead, Barkley broke out with his fastest speed and rushed to the passing point.

While speeding up towards the landing point of the through ball, Barkley was also sketching in his heart how the ball would complete the biggest offensive threat.

"Yang Feng is defending on the left side. I have to be fast for this ball. I catch the ball directly to the right and open a wider angle to complete the goal. I can't give Yang Feng a chance to grab it."

Yang Feng's reputation on the defensive end has been well known by everyone in the past few Premier League seasons.

Every young offensive player who is not afraid of things and wants to become famous will encounter Yang Feng's "social beating" when he wants to "play big swords" in front of Yang Feng, wasting opportunities, and then being sprayed by the coach after the game die.

At this time, Barkley did not have the capital to "play handsome" in front of Yang Feng, and finishing the goal as soon as possible was the most important thing in this counterattack.

Don't forget to think too much in front of Yang Feng, and don't make any showy operations. This is the experience accumulated by countless Premier League team predecessors.

"Barkley, after receiving the ball, pull the ball directly to the right and hit the goal!"

"A volley!"

"But! Yang Feng blocked it. The moment the ball flew out, Yang Feng used a sliding tackle to block Barkley's shot this time."

For Yang Feng, facing young players like Barkley, Yang Feng, who has rich experience, can guess a general idea from the expressions on their faces.

Just now, Barkley's firm face is definitely not someone with any "frivolity", and he must know the simplest and most direct operation.

Then Yang Feng can safely and boldly choose a sliding shovel to maximize his defensive area and complete the block this time.

Fortunately, Yang Feng's judgment was as accurate as ever. This sliding tackle just blocked the direction of Barkley's goal and blocked the ball directly out of the baseline, only giving Everton a sideline kick.

After spending the first few minutes of ball possession, the two teams "revealed their true colors" and began to fight against each other.

Between you and me, there are actually opportunities, and the defenses of both sides have been tested to a certain extent.

Under the fast pace of the game between the two sides, Liverpool's offense took the lead in completing the blossoming.

An accelerated breakthrough by Moreno on the left flank forced Deulofeu to foul and created a free kick opportunity for the team on the left flank.

Although this ball is too far away from the goal and too far to the left, it cannot pose a direct threat of hitting the goal.

But facing Everton's central defender line, Jagielka and Murray, the old and young combination, Liverpool still has a certain overall advantage in the top spot in the penalty area, excluding Lukaku. of.

Yang Feng and Skrtel are the biggest threats to Liverpool in terms of set-pieces. Together with Firmino and Milner, there is still a certain threat of a header.

Lukaku was in charge of marking Yang Feng, while Skrtel was in charge of marking by veteran Jagielka.

Every time he plays against a player like Lukaku, it is a huge test for Yang Feng.

Players of this level have confrontation, mobility, and height. They can form a comprehensive matchup with Yang Feng. In fact, there are not many players in football.

In fact, compared to confrontation ability, Benteke sitting on the bench on Liverpool's side is actually stronger than Lukaku.

Also in the position of center forward, Benteke's physical strength is definitely stronger than Lukaku in terms of contention. However, what limits Benteke's strength is his mobility and poor flexibility. , and the technical ability is slightly rough.

As a result, in terms of comprehensiveness, Benteke cannot cause the same comprehensive influence as Lukaku.

Speaking of returning to the game, Lukaku will defend Yang Feng alone in the set kick, which will indeed cause a huge interference to Yang Feng's header.

When Coutinho sent the set ball, he was still obsessed with finding Yang Feng, but under the influence of Lukaku, he pushed the ball out of the penalty area.

"Lukaku clears header."

"Henderson, control the second landing."

"A wonderful pass!"

"Milner!"

"Front insertion in place!"

"A lateral cross to the goal!"

"Yang Feng!"

"The ball went in!"

"The ball went in!"

"Liverpool broke the deadlock!"