Football’s First Defender

The Champions League qualifying one round ahead of schedule means that in the last Champions League group match with Wolfsburg, Klopp can rotate the lineup to cope with the team's intensive schedule and may suffer from lack of physical fitness.

Before that, Klopp could only choose to let the main players grit their teeth again and fight for the next league game.

In the league, after encountering strong opponents one after another, in the fourteenth round of the Premier League, Liverpool finally ushered in a less threatening opponent, the mid-lower team Swansea.

Swansea's performance this season is obviously not as good as last season.

So far in the league, Swansea ranks fifteenth, only 2 points away from the relegation zone.

The team's tactical reforms a few seasons ago have played a very good pass and control football, but after selling a large number of players, the newly introduced players obviously cannot reach the point of quickly adapting to tactics, making the team's current style of play weak. Some four are not the same.

The core transmission and control tactics were completed by a group of "rough people", and their power dropped sharply.

Such a team, obviously this season, can't find the rhythm of the game, can't attack and defend, for Liverpool, playing at home, the strength will not cause too much trouble, the real trouble is still Liverpool Players, can they use their limited physical ability to exert their due strength.

On the starting list, due to Henderson's injury and Milner's muscle strain, Klopp can only choose the combination of Emre Can and Lucas in the configuration of the double midfielder. The regular starting lineup has not changed much.

However, the physical fitness of the Liverpool players still needs to pay more attention during the game. The hidden dangers of physical fitness will be the biggest test for Liverpool in this game.

Affected by continuous combat, Liverpool plans to use a better way to balance the physical consumption of both offensive and defensive ends, so as to achieve victory in the game with as little consumption as possible.

At the very beginning of the game, Liverpool, whose tacit understanding has increased sharply recently, performed a very good frontcourt cooperation.

Swansea's possession of the ball, after encountering Liverpool's high-intensity frontcourt pressure, the pass to the center was directly intercepted by Coutinho.

Coutinho launched a counterattack directly from the midfield area.

After taking a few steps forward, Coutinho passed the ball through the two defenses accurately before the opponent's upper tackle was completed, and passed the ball to the feet of Lallana who quickly advanced.

Lallana's excellent foot skills, in the process of maintaining a fast forward, successfully straightened the ball, and accurately found the defensive gap in the right rib when Swansea returned to the defense.

"Lallana, with one kick, finds the space on the right side of Swansea, and the through ball finds the inside of the penalty area."

"Jordan Ibe, at full speed, diagonally into the penalty area from the right wing, received the ball."

Ibi received Lallana's wonderful through ball, which happened to be able to follow the running route and continue to move laterally to the left to expand the angle range of the goal.

In this ball, Lallana's grasp of the space and the strength of the pass was very precise, allowing Iby to give full play to his speed advantage and throw away his defensive players without the ball.

Then, without doing too much operation, I made a horizontal move to the left, facing the goalkeeper in front, and Ibi directly completed the goal.

"GOAL!!!"

"Jordan Ibby!"

"I didn't waste this excellent single-handed opportunity."

"Liverpool had the opportunity to counterattack on the spot after the midfield counterattack. After Coutinho and Lallana passed the ball with two feet, they easily penetrated Swansea's chaotic defense. In just 6 minutes of the opening, Liverpool took the lead. Scored a goal."

After Liverpool scored the first goal, it did not immediately dampen the enthusiasm of the Swansea players.

For them, the team's own defense is not very good this season. They are the first to concede the ball and fall behind. They are used to this rhythm. The next step is to see if they can play the offense they want in the game Rhythm up.

Although this is Anfield Stadium, the Swansea players will still not be caught without a fight.

"After the deadlock was broken quickly by Liverpool in the opening game, Swansea responded quite quickly."

"A minute later, they were on the left flank and launched a very effective counter-attack."

"Ki Sung-yong, Sigurdsson, and Andre Ayew making wonderful small passes on the left."

"Yuki Sungyong sent a wonderful through ball at the end, which gave Ayew a chance to directly enter the Liverpool penalty area, and after receiving the ball to the bottom, he sent a half-high ball forward."

"It's just a pity that Edel's header from the front point was successfully blocked by Yang Feng, who was following him, with his body. This time, Swansea's quick response did not really threaten the goal of Liverpool... ..."

Yang Feng had a very good mark against Edel, one of the two sharp knives on the Swansea field today.

Ayou can only leave this point to his teammates in the midfield. Yang Feng can only do his best to minimize Edel's offensive threat.

As far as the situation on the field is concerned, although the Swansea players did not give up when the score fell behind, they are still trying their best to play their offensive cooperation in the midfield.

But in fact, in the game, Liverpool has a greater advantage.

More than 60% of the ball possession rate, more threatening attacks, and the number of shots, all give Liverpool an absolute advantage on the scene.

Under such an advantage, Liverpool's accumulated number of frontcourt attacks finally turned into a second goal.

Emre Can, in a midfield press after Liverpool's unsuccessful attack, a sliding tackle directly intercepted the football at Ayew's feet, and directly tackled the ball to Lallana nearby.

Lallana looked at six directions, and after receiving the football that Emre Can shoveled this time, he immediately found Firmino, who was rushing forward.

"Lallana's long-distance pass from the right side of the midfielder directly hoisted into the Swansea penalty area."

"Firmino's fast forward, in the competition of speed, beat the visiting team's central defender Williams."

"Perfect unloading of the ball, directly unloading this pick pass from the air to your own feet."

"Go straight to the door!"

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

"Firmino, with his outstanding technical ability in front of the goal, seized this momentary opportunity. After unloading the ball, when the goalkeeper failed to attack and the defender's defense was not in place, he completed this shot to the far corner. .”

"2 to 0! Liverpool expanded the score in the 31st minute of the first half."

With a 2-0 lead at halftime, they were still playing at home. At this time, Liverpool, because of Yang Feng's defense on the defense line, was not the same team in history that needed quick-acting rescue pills for fans.

In the second half of the game, even though Swansea wanted to launch a counterattack, Yang Feng's leading Liverpool defense performed its defensive duties with a fairly stable defensive performance.

Especially Yang Feng, in this game, Swansea's power forward Edel was completely locked up, making him unable to play a fulcrum role, which greatly limited Swansea's offensive advancement.

In the end, relying on the strength of the defense, Liverpool played a game of controlling the ball in the second half and won the final game 2-0.

After the successful victory, due to the upset losses of other giants in the last two rounds, Liverpool stumbled into the fourth place in the league and entered the Champions League...