Football’s First Defender

Benteke contributed to the team at the beginning of the second half, which can be said to have allowed Liverpool to completely grasp the initiative in an instant.

A one-goal lead is enough for Liverpool to take the game into its own rhythm with peace of mind.

Sunderland had to pull out to attack when they were one goal behind at home.

However, the huge gap in team strength made Sunderland's offense unable to pose too much threat.

Even if the team is behind, Sunderland wants to take the initiative to attack, but under Liverpool's tight defense, Sunderland's offense obviously does not pose much threat.

Sunderland, who fell behind at the beginning of the second half, wanted to organize an attack, but in the end, after the whole game, they only completed three shots and one shot on target.

And the shot on target did not pose any threat to Mignolet. It can be said that under Liverpool's defense, the home team Sunderland did not get a little chance on the offensive end.

Sunderland's offense was completely blocked when Liverpool had a pressing defense in front and Yang Feng's sweeping interception in the back.

Even Liverpool caught the opportunity to play several excellent counterattack opportunities.

In the 64th minute of the game, Coutinho moved laterally in the game and received a diagonal pass from Klein.

While continuing to move to the right, he suddenly made an emergency stop and smashed the ball, then moved laterally in the opposite direction and directly got rid of the defender's defense, and completed a long-range shot with his left foot from the outside again.

It's a pity that because Coutinho's position is too straight, the left-footed shot that was completed in an instant, although sudden, did not have a sufficient angle to rotate back into the shooting area.

In the end, before going out of the bottom line, there was still a gap of about 10 centimeters from the post, and Liverpool's second goal was not scored.

In the 72nd minute, Liverpool's counterattack met another excellent opportunity.

Danny Ince received a pass from his teammate from the wing, received the ball directly on the left side of the penalty area, and then completed the pass in an inverted triangle.

Coutinho, who followed up in the middle, pushed a shot and was blocked by the defender in front of him. The ball bounced back nearby, allowing Coutinho to keep up with another volley.

This time, the supplementary shot was of high quality and went straight to the goal, but the Sunderland goalkeeper reacted divinely and blocked the shot again with a side attack, allowing Coutinho to return without success.

Coutinho did not have the luck to score goals in this game. He created a lot of offensive threats, but he was always a little less lucky to score.

Before the end of the game, Liverpool still had a chance to expand the score. Coutinho sent an exquisite pass forward in the counterattack.

Danny Ince, who received the ball in front of the penalty area, did not stop the ball, passed the ball directly with his heel, and kicked it directly to Benteke, who received the ball from the bottom on the right.

After receiving the ball from the bottom, Benteke crossed directly to the center.

Emre Can, who followed up in the middle, shot directly to the upper left corner of the goal.

It's just that the angle of pursuit is a bit tricky. Although he escaped the goalkeeper's save, he flew out of the baseline sideways and did not score a goal.

In the end, Liverpool defeated Sunderland 1-0 in the away game and won a very cost-effective 1-0 victory in the away game.

This time not only won the victory, the most important thing is to give some players a chance to breathe and have better physical fitness to face the next two difficult opponents.

In the first game of the new year, Liverpool is a guest to challenge West Ham United.

West Ham United's recent state is still quite good.

Especially the performance at home, except for the two home games at the beginning of the season, due to the running-in of the team, they lost to Leicester City and Bournemouth one after another, and they remained unbeaten at home with nearly 7 points.

It even beat Chelsea 2-1, drew Everton 1-1, and drew Manchester City 0-0.

West Ham United's excellent home combat effectiveness makes this game, for Liverpool

It is definitely not an easy game to win, Liverpool needs to use their full strength.

With the comeback of Jordan Ibe, Klopp's version of 433 is presented again. The team maintains the most stable set of starters this season, coming to challenge opponents away.

As for the home team, the formation is still 442 at home.

Among them, Andy Carroll, one of the double forwards, is exactly Liverpool's abandoned player.

The hopeful star of the England striker who came to Anfield with the same worth as Yang Feng back then, but in the end he didn't live up to his due worth.

Unlike a giant like Liverpool, which has a fine configuration in each position, as an ordinary Premier League team, West Ham United's player configuration has its own unique style.

West Ham United's offensive style is actually very monotonous.

On the front line, the combination of one high and one fast, and in the midfield, Lancini only acts as a breakthrough player, or a player who transfers in a large range.

West Ham United's main attack direction is all wing attacks.

And unlike other teams, who are willing to use some speed and skill players for breakthroughs on the wing, West Ham United's team building idea is unique. The offense on the wing is all made of "black and hard" players The players are done.

Antonio, Kouyate, and the full-back Obonna in the defense.

West Ham United's flank breakthroughs were almost all bulldozer-like advances, relying on their own physical fitness to forcibly create murderous intentions on the flanks.

And such a player configuration not only creates pressure on the opponent's side defense, but also puts pressure on the opponent's center defense.

When one side is attacking from the wing, the players on the other side come directly into the penalty area to help the header compete for the top. Relying on their own physical confrontation ability, they can still achieve quite good results.

In this game against Liverpool, it was Antonio who took the lead in breaking the deadlock for the home team.

Kuyat sends a cross from the right to the goal.

Yang Feng's primary goal is naturally Andy Carroll. Although Carroll has various problems, there is nothing to say about the fight for the top in the penalty area. Naturally, Yang Feng needs to spend energy to deal with it.

And Skrtel also needs to take care of another West Ham striker Valencia during the game.

Therefore, when Antonio came to the penalty area as the third point, Liverpool's defensive arrangement, using Klein to defend him, was an obvious weakness.

Then Antonio overwhelmed Klein with a header from behind the small penalty area, leaving Mignolet with no time to react.

The goal was directly headed into the goal by Antonio, giving West Ham the lead.

West Ham United is now at home and fully capable of attacking their opponents.

In this game format, both sides have created many opportunities on the offensive end.

It's just that Liverpool had 23 free kicks in the game, but under the interference of frequent physical confrontation by the home team players, they only scored 2 goals.

With such a low shot-to-target rate, Liverpool's offense is always full of thunder and little rain.

Not to mention the lack of attack, in the second half, after West Ham United's newly injured midfielder Payet came off the bench, it was an extremely exciting world wave from the outside, which completely lost the suspense of the game.

2 to 0, Liverpool's first defeat of the new year, just like that was sent to West Ham United.

The six giants of the Premier League, in this New Year's schedule, all encountered Waterloo, and the New Year's schedule continues to become a hotbed of upsets...