Football’s First Defender

After defeating Leicester City at home, Liverpool missed a game, but their points have reached 32 points, the same points as Tottenham ranked fourth, and only 6 points away from the top Leicester City .

In the halfway stage of the league, Liverpool can be regarded as returning to the first group of the Premier League.

In the last game before the new year, Liverpool challenged "Black Cat" Sunderland away.

Sunderland, which has been around the relegation circle every year, is now ranked in the relegation zone. After 18 rounds, it has only scored 12 points, and there is a gap of 7 points from the relegation zone. If Sunderland If you don't work hard, the nine lives of this "black cat" will be used up soon after all.

In fact, Sunderland's performance in recent years has been poor, and they have worked hard to avoid relegation year after year. It can also be seen from the side that the Red Devils Manchester United have been unsatisfactory in recent years.

As Manchester United's hardcore younger brother, Sunderland used to be Manchester United's training ground and "retirement base". Countless Manchester United young players and veterans gathered in this team, helping Sunderland become a good team team.

It can be said that at the peak of Manchester United, a few players from Manchester United's first team can guarantee Sunderland's strength.

But now, Manchester United is overwhelmed with financial constraints. Without the extra compensation revealed by Manchester United, Sunderland is increasingly unable to gain a foothold in the Premier League relying on its own lineup.

Maybe this year, they will be relegated.

With the tight schedule recently, Klopp still has to make certain rotations when playing against a team in the relegation zone like Sunderland.

After all, after playing Sunderland on the 31st, they will have an away game against West Ham United on the 2nd, and then on the 5th it will be a Premier League make-up match during the Club World Cup in December, where they will challenge Watford away.

In this wave of three consecutive away, apart from Sunderland's weaker strength, West Ham United and Watford, two opponents ranked in the upper reaches of the league, are not opponents that can be easily defeated. Liverpool still needs to save Physical fitness, to reserve strength for stronger opponents.

On the front line, today Klopp rarely chose to take a player rotation. Benteke, who has performed quite well as a substitute recently, got the chance to start the game to further prove his strength in the game.

Klopp still sent out a 433 formation.

Benteke is in the middle, Coutinho and Danny Ings are separated on the left and right.

In the midfield arrangement, Milner and Lallana were rested, Lucas and Emre Can started as double midfielders, while Henderson's position was further advanced to serve as Liverpool's frontcourt attack The role of the hand.

The back line has not changed much, it is still the past five.

Liverpool came to Sunderland's Stadium of Light with such a lineup that may be slightly inferior in attack power, just to use a more cost-effective way to win this game.

Sunderland's hard days all started with the miserliness of the club owner, as well as the bad eyesight of the team's youth training and buyers.

In today's Premier League, if you are not willing to invest a lot of money every season, then of course there is a huge gap between the team's combat power and other teams.

Just like today's Sunderland lineup, as soon as the starting lineup comes out, maybe the biggest name is the veteran striker Defoe.

A veteran like Defoe has become the team's goalkeeper, and his partner is Borini, who obviously did not adapt to the rhythm of the Premier League in Liverpool and was dealt with at a low price.

In today's era when the Premier League is highly competitive, you count on a 34-year-old veteran like Defoe to play perfectly and win every game, which is still a bit of a dream.

This is also the reason why Klopp took a rare rotation on the offensive end today, because Sunderland's offensive strength is not strong, so when the pressure on the defense line is not so great, Liverpool can fully invest in the defense line. Troops to strengthen the team's offense.

Relying on the suppression of offensive numbers to obtain more offensive opportunities and make up for the decline in offensive strength of many midfielders who are not on the field.

Today, Liverpool's two full-backs can really let go of their offense. With Yang Feng in charge of defending Defoe's side, Klopp is quite relieved about the team's defense.

At the beginning of the game, Klein seized the opportunity of the opponent's defender not far to clear the siege, and completed a shocking long-range shot from 35 meters away, which was powerful and threatened Sunderland's goal.

He was saved by Sunderland's goalkeeper.

Fortunately, the Sunderland defender made a timely clearance and did not allow Benteke to get a chance to make a supplementary shot.

From the beginning of the game, Liverpool has taken the initiative in possession of the ball and is constantly trying to attack.

Coutinho nearly scored in the 23rd minute of the game.

In the process of dribbling the ball laterally, facing the opponent's defense, Coutinho responded calmly.

First, a spike to the left, making a breakthrough from the left to the penalty area, and then when the opponent's defense changed, he immediately made a sudden stop spike to the right, completely shaking the defensive player's center of gravity.

Then Coutinho swayed his legs on the spot and hit the goal, and the football went straight to the upper left corner of the goal.

The Sunderland goalkeeper had fought hard to save, but was still a little short of blocking the ball.

It may be that the instant prayer of the Sunderland fans at the scene took effect. This kick hit the gate on the inside of the goal post. Because Coutinho's shot was too powerful, it did not bounce into the goal, but slammed into the goal. After the post, Sunderland bounced back the same way, and Sunderland escaped unharmed.

Liverpool's oppressive attack continued. After 5 minutes, Henderson sent a precise long pass in the midfield, and accurately found Klein who was fast forward on the right.

Klein sent a cross from the bottom of the right wing.

With Benteke attracting enough defensive attention from the home team, Danny Ings completed the top challenge at the front point, hit the goal with a shake of his head, and was bravely saved by the home team's goalkeeper when he hit the goal. .

In the first half of the game, Liverpool made a lot of attacks, but they were all able to make the final kick, and there were some gaps.

However, the strength of Sunderland's team is there after all. Without too much strength, it is difficult for them to achieve the defensive intensity of Leicester City in the last game.

Just 15 seconds into the second half, Liverpool scored a blitz.

After Sunderland kicked off, there was a mistake in the return pass in the midfield. Liverpool's full pressure instantly caught the Sunderland players by surprise.

Coutinho's sliding shovel successfully intercepted the opponent's cross pass, and then immediately got up and passed the ball to Klein who was plugging in from the right.

Seeing the timing of the counterattack, Klein did not continue to break forward with this ball. Instead, he just crossed the midfield not far away, and directly slanted towards the opponent's penalty area, sending a long-distance through ball.

Both Danny Ince and Henderson were near the passing route, but neither touched the pass. Danny Ince even deliberately made a gesture to catch the ball, but he lifted his foot and missed the ball directly.

Sunderland's defenders, completely deceived by Danny Ince's stop motion, did not react at all when the ball was missed.

And the football that leaked into the penalty area and ran directly to the front receiving point was Benteke who had already accelerated.

Like a tank, Benteke rushed into the opponent's penalty area, crushing the defense of the home team's central defender, and then like a bulldozer, after receiving the ball, he "bumped" the defense with force and kicked low. Shot gave Liverpool the lead in the second half...