Football’s First Defender

With a 2-0 lead, for Liverpool, the next game at home will be much easier.

As for Southampton, who fell behind by two goals, it was only at this time that they woke up like a dream in the away game, and began to launch some decent offenses to show their strength on the court.

Although facing Liverpool's high-position press and Southampton's offense, it is not so easy to penetrate Liverpool's defense.

However, it is still possible to play a few times to cooperate occasionally to create some offenses that advance to Liverpool's 30-meter core area.

In the 37th minute of the game, Southampton broke through from the left and created a threat.

Milner's first attack immediately knocked Wanyama to the ground. Although he was shown a yellow card, it also prevented the visiting team from a rather threatening attack.

The free kick opportunity on the left side of the front field, in this kind of confrontation between the weak team and the strong team, the set kick may be the most opportunity that the weak side should seize.

In the tactics, Yang Feng was arranged to defend Pellet.

After all, as an excellent fulcrum center, Pellet's strength is obvious to all. Although Yang Feng feels in his heart that Van Dijk, who will play a bigger name in the future, is more worthy of his own marking, but he can't tell his teammates and coaches.

"I know that Van Dijk, the future No. 1 central defender in the world, has a chance to compete for the Ballon d'Or, let me defend against him!"

After all, Van Dijk is just a fledgling kid now, and he has just come to the Premier League this season. The age of 24 is not too old for a central defender.

The task of guarding against Dick was given to Skrtel. After all, Van Dijk's height is there. In the pre-match defensive arrangement of set balls, it is still necessary to focus on defense.

It is indeed a pity for Yang Feng that he cannot compete with the current Van Dijk on the defensive end.

As Southampton's first center forward, Pellet moved forward before taking a free kick this time, forcing Yang Feng not to miss anyone, so he could only follow up quickly.

Although he can't be regarded as a top European striker, as a forward who is good at fighting for high points, Pellet himself still has two brushes for the Italian international who will be favored by the big Chinese Super League teams in the future.

Pellet's forward rush attracted Yang Feng to follow.

The other Southampton players all rushed forward from the center.

Under the cover of a group of players, Van Dijk used the cover of his teammates to strike back and rush to the back point.

Being charged forward by the Southampton trio disturbed Skrtel's defensive attention. When he found that Van Dijk in the back position rushed to the back point, he remembered that Yang Feng took care of himself before the game. Set the ball to stare at Van Dijk.

Skrtel rushed to the back position and must complete his defensive task.

And Southampton's kick was really looking for Van Dijk.

An arc crossed the air, and the ball landed exactly at the back of the penalty area.

A very deep position, because most of Southampton's offensive players are concentrated in the middle, so Liverpool has no players left behind in this position.

This time, Skrtel and Van Dijk are running, but they are obviously the first to start, and Van Dijk, who already knows the approximate location of the pass before serving, needs to run faster and more resolutely.

"Van Dijk! Header!"

Van Dijk, who took the lead, needed to adjust his body in the air after taking off in order to fight for the slightly forward ball. Skrtel, who reacted a little slower, really had no choice.

There was no defensive interference at all, so I could only look at Van Dijk and hit a header in the air that flew back.

This time, Mignolet reacted quickly enough and ran directly to the back point, blocking all close-range and close-angle shots, but Van Dijk pushed out a contra-angle and perfectly controlled his body in the air , and the angle of the header, the ball went directly to the back post, which was almost empty.

"GOAL!!!"

"The ball is in! The ball is in!"

"Van Dijk! A beautiful header, for Southampton to recover a goal before the end of the first half!"

"This is Van Dijk's fourth game in the Premier League. He used a header in the game to complete his first goal in the Premier League, in Southampton, and he scored against a giant team like Liverpool. Yes, a very good young central defender."

Looking at Van Dijk, who was celebrating crazily, and his Southampton teammates, Yang Feng felt helpless on the sidelines.

"Sure enough, it's gold that always shines."

"Although he is young, Van Dijk's header skills in set kicks are really strong!"

"Skrtel's defense is still not enough."

Although he didn't want to complain about his old partner, after all, as a "tool man", Yang Feng was very comfortable with using Skrtel.

However, it is true that Skrtel's game state has declined slightly this season. It is said that Klopp is a little dissatisfied with Skrtel, which also makes Yang Feng a little distressed.

One side is an authoritative and unparalleled head coach, and the other side is a good partner who has been with him day and night for many years. It will be difficult in the future...

Back to the game.

With Southampton pulling back a goal, for Liverpool, the score is 2 to 1. Although the team is still in the lead, a goal lead will make the game full of too many variables.

So in the last few minutes of the first half of the game, Liverpool seized the time and played two offensives.

The team's two full-backs are also trying their best to advance forward to add offensive firepower to the team's offense.

It's just that both kicks from the wing were destroyed by Southampton.

Fonte and Van Dijk, the two Southampton central defenders, each made a successful header clearance, which made Liverpool's final offensive in the first half come to naught, without even hitting the goal once.

When the game has reached such a point, it is not so easy for Liverpool to play in the second half of the game.

Although the score of 2 to 1 is still Liverpool's advantage in taking the lead.

However, in the final stage of the first half, the excellent performance on both ends of the offense and defense also made the Southampton players play with momentum. In the second half, it was not so easy for Liverpool to easily win the victory.

At the beginning of the second half, Klopp did not make substitutions. The current lineup is the strongest lineup that Klopp thinks he can field. After making adjustments, the lineup may not be satisfactory. The vast majority are defensive players.

At present, although the team is leading by one goal, Klopp does not want to hand over everything to the defensive end.

Even if there is a player with outstanding defensive ability like Yang Feng on the defensive end, Klopp's tactical coaching philosophy still makes him more willing to rely on the offense he advocates to score more goals.

At the beginning of the second half of the game, Liverpool wanted to attack, and Southampton, who was only one goal behind, did not choose to catch it at Anfield.

The two teams launched an attack at the same time, which instantly increased the rhythm of the game.

Although this kind of confrontation makes Liverpool also bear certain defensive risks.

But correspondingly speaking, Liverpool's offensive line is definitely more dominant.

Southampton no longer puts up an iron barrel formation, which is very important for Liverpool's offensive penetration in the frontcourt and penetration of the visiting team's defense.

At the beginning of the game in the second half, Lallana was in the midst of a counterattack and received a through pass from Klein's counterattack on the right.

After receiving the ball, Lallana directly dribbled the ball forward diagonally, and immediately completed a long shot before reaching the penalty area line.

The ball passed through the defensive area of ​​​​two Southampton defenders, and it was too late for the goalkeeper to react.

It's just a pity that Lallana aimed at the lower left corner of the goal, but because he was too pursuing the angle of the goal, he missed it a little bit and flew out of the baseline by rubbing the outside of the post.

It was almost enough to re-expand the score for Liverpool.

And less than 2 minutes after Lallana finished hitting the goal, it was Liverpool's high press in the frontcourt that played a role.

Henderson's tackle successfully completed the steal.

Then he kicked a diagonal through ball and found Coutinho who was pulled to the left.

After receiving the ball, Coutinho moved forward, but after attracting Southampton's defense to retreat, he smashed the ball himself, dribbled the ball and cut inward.

Also near the penalty area line, Coutinho once again completed a long shot before Southampton's supplementary defense players were in place.

This time Coutinho hit the goal, but it was within the range of the goal frame.

It's just that the visiting team's goalkeeper played bravely this time.

Facing Coutinho's tricky angle and powerful long-range shot, the goalkeeper of the visiting team jumped sideways and accurately hit Coutinho's long-range shot with both fists, trying to keep the goal intact.

Compared with Southampton, limited by the players' personal offensive ability, they can only really threaten Liverpool's defense once in a while. Liverpool's offensive threat is quite large.

In the 67th minute of the game, Liverpool played exquisite cooperation in the frontcourt.

This time, Liverpool, which invested a large number of offensive players, formed an absolute oppressive attack on the left.

Under the tight defense, Coutinho still sent a more exciting through ball. Moreno quickly slashed diagonally from the left. Before the ball went out of the baseline, he blocked the ball and took advantage of the opportunity to break through the penalty area along the baseline. .

The connection between Moreno and Coutinho this time caused a lot of trouble for Southampton's defense.

In such a dangerous position in the penalty area, two Southampton defensive players rushed over to block Moreno's passing route.

However, this time the blockade was too late.

Moreno pushed the arch of his foot, increased the power of the pass, and passed the ball to the goal first.

It was Milner who followed up to the front point in the middle.

Desperately, Saburo Milner threw his body out directly and matched the defender's feet, but he still took the first step and slammed the ball into the goal.

This time, the goalkeeper of the visiting team had no choice but to hit the goal at such a close range.

3 to 1, Liverpool regained a 2-goal lead.

Regaining the two-goal lead also allowed Klopp to make some substitution adjustments with confidence.

The appearance of Lucas and Lovren instantly raised Liverpool's defensive strength to a higher level.

Southampton's offensive line, which is not so good, has no chance at all against Liverpool's tighter defense this time.

The biggest offensive reliance may be the rare opportunity to set the ball.

In the 77th minute of the game, Southampton was in the game again and got a free kick.

Due to a foul by Lucas, there was no possibility of directly hitting the goal in Liverpool's half-court free kick in the center, which was nearly 40 meters away from the goal, and they could only look for teammates in the penalty area.

Liverpool has now undergone previous substitution adjustments, but the defensive strength of the three central defenders.

It happened that Yang Feng faced Pellet, Scott hot faced Van Dijk, and then Lovren came to face another central defender of the visiting team, Portugal's Fante.

This time, everyone knows that the visiting team's free kick can only be passed into the penalty area, seeking to complete a transfer and then create a chance to hit the goal.

It stands to reason that Liverpool's more defensive numbers in the penalty area and their more dominant personal abilities should be able to resolve this time the position is not considered an excellent free kick.

Then, accidents happened one after another.

Southampton's free kick was not sent directly to the dangerous area of ​​​​the penalty area as expected, allowing the players to seek the top.

Instead, a kick passed to the weak area at the line of Liverpool's central penalty area.

The passing distance is not too far.

And in this position, Fangte, who suddenly retreated, came to compete for the top.

Lovren obviously did not expect that his opponent would compete for the top in such a place where there is no threat of attack.

The defensive reaction was half a beat slow, and Fangte's actions were not completely blocked.

And Fangte, leaping high and without too much defensive pressure, naturally would not seek such a long-distance header after the penalty spot.

Instead, he adjusted his position in the air and pushed the ball hard to the back point.

With the rapid movement of the broadcast camera, people suddenly discovered that this was a rather premeditated alley-oop.

The position of Van Dijk at the back point is almost the same as the position of the goal scored in the first half.

This time, Van Dijk's header control is also exactly the same as the goal in the first half.

Still jumping high, he pushed the ball to the back point.

It's just that this time Skrtel barely formed interference and interfered in a certain direction. Although he still flew to the rear point, he should not directly enter the door.

but……

"GOAL!!!"

"Mane!"

"In the back position, relying on his own speed, he got rid of Milner's defense, jumped high directly, and took advantage of the inertia to hit the ball into the net."

"Southampton, brought the score back to 2 to 3, the game is still full of suspense."

Van Dijk and Mane, these two players who are destined to be at the thigh level in the future, were playing against Liverpool, and now they have proved themselves in the game without mercy.

Their outstanding performance also impressed Klopp on the sidelines...

Fortunately, Southampton's performance in the last 15 minutes was weak, and under Klopp's passionate command from the sidelines, Liverpool also successfully completed the defense and did not give the visiting team a chance to score again.

The score of 3 to 2 was maintained until the end.

A "win-win" game, Liverpool won the home victory and the key three points.

The visiting team, Southampton, not only showed the spirit of their own team, but also focused on raising the value of several players in the team a lot...