Football’s First Defender

Before the arrival of the new year, Liverpool won a wave of three consecutive victories, and also defeated the league leader Leicester City. Coupled with the situation of one less game, everyone thinks that Liverpool has a chance. Taking advantage of this wave of New Year's Eve The schedule, after completing the make-up matches, can narrow the gap with the strong teams in front this year, and truly return to the first group in the championship.

But the reality has made a big joke for Liverpool fans. After the start of the new year, Liverpool lost all of their two away games. Symbolic victory.

The most important thing is that in these two games, Liverpool faced the two teams, and they couldn't show their own characteristics at all. Instead, they were brought into the opponent's rhythm and were restrained by the opponent.

After losing both games, Klopp has been using the rest time during the league break to study the game film.

On the one hand, Klopp is confirming the team's own problems in the two games. On the other hand, Klopp is also in his mind, trying to find a way to make up for the mistakes made in these two games.

Klopp is well aware of the team's tactical execution problems. These two opponents really let Liverpool in the lineup formation during the game, which caused considerable trouble for Liverpool.

Liverpool's offensive method this season, except for some crosses from the side after Benteke came on the field, in normal games, it is completely walking on "two legs".

One is the small-scale cooperation of the central and frontcourt players, relying on through balls to create murderous intentions in the penalty area, or using long-range shots from midfielders to complete the goal.

Such an attack, the main attack direction, although it is said to be launched from the side, but the real point of attack will always be in the middle.

The second is the high-position oppressive defense that Klopp highly recommends.

In Klopp's eyes, this high-position oppressive defense is actually a form of attack in disguise.

In the case of losing a certain amount of physical fitness of the players, it can not only help the defense players to form better defensive protection in front, but also if a steal or interception is formed in the midfield, then Liverpool can immediately counterattack on the spot. The opponent's defensive lineup is not tight, but they directly obtained excellent offensive opportunities in the game.

However, in these two games, the two offensive aspects that Liverpool depended on for survival were absolutely restrained by their opponents.

West Ham United and Watford, inspired by Leicester City's defense during the game, assembled a heavy force in the middle. They would rather let Liverpool get a lot of passing opportunities on the wing, but also maintain enough in the middle. Defensive numbers, on the defensive end, limit the offensive threat of Liverpool players in the middle.

For Liverpool's long-range shot threat, the team will not let it go. There are defensive players in the area of ​​30 meters to 35 meters who will block the long-range shots of Liverpool players. They will not aim at stealing the ball, but prepare to hold the ball People, make a long-range shot to intercept the goal.

When Coutinho and the others break through, the defender will only try to hold his defensive position and wait for the support of his teammates before defending. He will never take risks alone and be easily passed by the opponent. There is no chance of defense.

Self-initiated attack, most of which were blocked by the large number of players invested by the opponent on the defensive end, and wanted to rely on high-position presses in the midfield to create opportunities for counterattacks on the spot, and encountered a lot of trouble in the game .

West Ham United and Watford chose simple and direct offensive methods on the offensive end, relying on the players' strong breakthrough ability, personal confrontation ability, and under the tactical guidance of less passes and fewer mistakes, often after one or two The second simple pass is to directly rely on the player's personal ability to open a breakthrough in the offense.

With such an offensive method, it is not that simple for Liverpool to rely on defense to steal the ball. Even if the defense is successful, the ball will either go out of bounds during the confrontation, or after the ball is received from the wing, it cannot be transported to the penalty area to pose a threat in the first place. .

For Liverpool now, the most important thing is to avoid playing like this with other teams in the future.

For strong teams, Liverpool is not afraid.

In today's football tactical system, strong teams place great emphasis on the team's control over football, and are used to slowly advancing in the game, finding an excellent opportunity, and then launching the Thunder attack.

And this kind of offensive method, the frequent passing of the whole team, gave Liverpool a chance to press the defense in a high position.

When facing some weak teams, there is a huge gap in strength between the players of the two teams. Liverpool has every chance to use the strength of the players to crush them to obtain the offensive suppression of the game.

What Klopp is most afraid of now is the mid-range teams in the Premier League. In the following games, they will follow suit and cause trouble for Liverpool.

After all, Liverpool still bears the title of defending champion. For many mid-range teams in the Premier League, trying to cause trouble for Liverpool in the game is also the most direct way for many players to show their worth.

"Perhaps it's time to try a new style of play."

Klopp watched the two games, the team was weak on the offensive end, and he couldn't wait to use a new offensive tactical system.

It's not that he doesn't recognize the current tactical system, but Klopp feels that he doesn't have enough handy players to play the current system.

The biggest problem is Jordan Ibe's side.

In these two games, there is a big problem, that is, in the case of the opponent's tight defense and not many chances to counterattack, Jordan Ibe's performance, in a pure positional battle, is not too eye-catching The performance, on the contrary, was a little off the field, so that Liverpool's right-sided attack has always disappeared.

After all, Jordan Ibey is not Sterling. Klopp had no choice but to carry out personnel reforms under the condition of tactical stability, so as to simply and rudely regard Jordan Ibey as Sterling, so that In the 433 system, he played a certain role of Sterling.

It's just that Sterling's high-value transfer left is because Sterling can maximize his speed on the counter-attack end, and when attacking in positions, he can also combine speed and technology to become a player in the game. An excellent breaker.

However, Jordan Iby's performance in the offensive positional battle is absolutely horrible. Compared with a single offensive method, the lack of accuracy in passing the ball allows him to be easily targeted by the opponent, so that the entire Liverpool His attack from the right will always seem to be missing a player.

Liverpool always dominates on the left, and the way of attacking in the middle is becoming more and more easy for opponents to target.

Facts have proved that in the absence of sufficient threat on the right, the flaws in the current 433 lineup are not easy to be changed. Liverpool will have to face such powerful enemies as Arsenal and Manchester United in the future. The performance is good. If these top teams also use sufficient staffing to learn from West Ham or Watford to play tactics, then there may be a risk of Liverpool continuing to sink.

In the case of maintaining stability and seeking changes, Klopp can only choose to take certain risks in the next two strong duels...