Football’s First Defender

Leicester City played extremely proactively in the game today.

Even when facing Liverpool, the team can still rely on active running to suppress Liverpool on the scene.

Ranieri's tactical arrangement for this civilian team and the development of the players' personal abilities have indeed reached a very good level.

The excellent performance of Leicester City in the opening stage revealed a very crucial signal, that is, the team has come to this point. When they can give full play in the game, they will not be afraid of any opponent. Including Liverpool.

The pressing of Leicester City players in the midfield is extremely good.

This style of play is similar to Liverpool's high pressure.

Although Liverpool also knows that under such a pressing opponent, it is very risky to play pass-and-control football.

But after all, it is a top team, the players still have confidence in themselves, and only by passing the ball and going through the total length can they better organize the offense in the frontcourt, right?

The home team players have been running, pressing, and looking for Liverpool's passing mistakes.

Constantly pressing in the frontcourt, especially with Shinji Okazaki in the frontcourt and Kanter in the midfield, these two "iron lung" players who can't run to death forced the home team to run an extra defensive player out of thin air.

And even under the unrelenting press of the home team players, Liverpool's pass control still made mistakes.

In the 13th minute of the game, Schmeichel Jr. made a big long pass in the backcourt and kicked the ball directly into Liverpool's half.

In the battle between Vardy and Yang Feng, Yang Feng is naturally superior.

But what Yang Feng has to admit is that Vardy does have two brushes in the fight for the top.

His excellent position selection ability and his ability to grasp the timing of take-off are very good, but his physical confrontation ability and height limit his ability to play in the fight.

Under Vardy's interference, although Yang Feng reached the football, he was only able to clear the ball to the front, but could not continue to control the landing position.

The ball was pushed back near the midfield, and Firmino directly used his body to push the ball back to Henderson in the rear at the second landing point of the midfield.

Henderson didn't stop the ball, kicked the ball directly, and passed the ball to Lallana who was running to the front.

After unloading the ball from Lallana's chest, facing Huth's attack, there is not much room to handle the ball. He flicks the ball to the right to find Coutinho who is going forward.

Coutinho continued to pass the ball to the rear right to avoid being directly fouled when Morgan came up to defend, and found Henderson who quickly advanced and followed up.

When Henderson stopped the ball, he saw that the defensive positions of the Leicester City players in front had become more secure.

Instead, he stopped immediately, preparing to pass the ball back to the rear and reorganize.

It's just that Henderson's sudden stop this time turned around and didn't shake Drinwackert away.

Brother Drinking Water's performance in the game was quite active. He directly grabbed with all his strength and directly used physical confrontation to affect Henderson's balance.

The referee Marina didn't say anything about Drinwakert's defensive action. This is a confrontation at the Premier League level.

Henderson staggered a little from the knock and lost control of the ball. In addition to the slightly slippery field, he slipped his right foot and half-kneeled on the ground. Although he immediately got up to chase the ball, Delin Walker has already poked the ball out first.

Shinji Okazaki, who was nearby, ran over with all his strength to help Drinwackert form a press.

Suddenly receiving a poked football, he immediately dribbled the ball forward and launched a counterattack.

3 to 3 in the frontcourt!

Originally, Liverpool was on the counterattack side, and all the players rushed towards the home team's half, but this time a sudden loss in midfield left Liverpool's back line with only three players.

Yang Feng, Skrtel, and Moreno need to defend Vardy, Okazaki Shinji and Mahrez.

There is no time and space to make some defensive marking changes.

Nearly complete the defense.

Moreno takes care of Mahrez.

Yang Feng in the middle went to defend Shinji Okazaki.

And Skrtel had already ran over to follow up the defense, pulling away to Vardy on the left.

Shinji Okazaki knew Yang Feng's defensive ability, and he was also afraid that Yang Feng would find an opportunity to directly foul and delay the team's counterattack opportunity.

An early oblique pass found Vardy who quickly advanced from the left front.

Vardy, facing Skrtel's defense.

Immediately after receiving the ball, adjustments are made on the move.

Facing Skrtel, Vardy didn't hesitate at all. With a simple step on a bicycle, he dribbled the ball directly to the outside and accelerated to launch a strong attack.

Vardy's speed is indeed not fast, but facing the extremely slow Skrtel, he appears to be very fast.

He didn't give the opponent a chance at all. In this attack, Vardy directly broke out with his fastest speed and forcibly passed Skrtel on the wing.

Skrtel couldn't finish even if he wanted to foul.

Go directly to the bottom pass.

Even though there is a huge gap between Okazaki Shinji and Yang Feng, who outflank the middle, in terms of ability to compete, Vardy chooses to trust his teammates and his passing ability.

Although it was 3-on-3 in the front court, Mahrez still had no time to catch up because Mahrez was at the back when the counterattack started, and Okazaki Shinji and Vardy's advances never came down. The outflanking is completed within the restricted area.

In the middle of the restricted area, only Yang Feng and Shinji Okazaki faced each other.

Originally, according to the best defensive choice, in a 1v1 defensive situation, Yang Feng should make the most defensive choice, which should be to stick to the opponent's players, form enough defensive pressure, and use physical confrontation to block the opponent's attack The position, so that the opponent has no chance to catch the ball, let alone hit the goal.

But Shinji Okazaki knew that there was a huge gap between him and Yang Feng in terms of height and weight.

So take the initiative to leave Yang Feng's side, give full play to his advantages of speed and flexibility, cross diagonally, and come to the back point.

But Yang Feng couldn't keep up with Shinji Okazaki's speed at all.

Can only defend the area in front of the goal.

The result was Vardy's bottom pass, which was passed to the back point.

As Leicester City's best striker combination this season, Vardy knew Shinji Okazaki's running habits and also sent an exquisite pass.

For a header in the penalty area, if the ball is passed, Shinji Okazaki is sure to hit a wonderful header at close range now.

only.

"Yang Feng! A difficult aerial interception!"

Vardy's pass was very high and floating, drawing a parabola and falling to the back point extremely quickly.

When Vardy completed the pass, Yang Feng was at the position where he wanted to back up and defend until he could no longer catch up with the ball's landing position, but Yang Feng could accelerate to the landing position, and before he was in place, he directly Take off forcefully by inertia, in the air, lean back to complete the clearance with the ball.

Seeing the difficult clearance again, Shinji Okazaki's head-shaking attack directly missed the goal.

Yang Feng's excellent defensive ability instantly resolved a possible danger in front of the goal.

If it wasn't for Yang Feng's excellent interception that allowed Shinji Okazaki's header in the small penalty area to hit the goal frame, then Mignolet might have been scored by the opponent first.

Of course, since Leicester City can press the frontcourt with all their strength during the game, they also have to bear the defensive problems when Liverpool's offensive pass is effective.

In the 18th minute of the game, Liverpool played exquisite cooperation in the frontcourt.

Previously, Liverpool used continuous passing to find an offensive method that could pass the home team's frontcourt to press the defense during the game, and then Moreno's forward penetration favorably supported the team's wing attack on the left.

Moreno's dribbling on the left attracted Kanter's defensive follow-up.

Facing Moreno, who was constantly advancing on the wing, Kanter made a direct grab from the side and rear, but Moreno's center of gravity was low enough. After the ball was hit, he just staggered and immediately steadied himself In shape, he continued to take the ball forward, while Kanter was recoiled by the force and did not keep following.

Facing Simpson's defense, Moreno directly sent a pass to the middle of the opponent's hinterland on the left.

I found Milner who followed up.

At this time, Kanter has not yet returned to the middle position, which immediately gave Milner a considerable offensive space on the court.

Milner dribbled the ball across, forcing the home defense to rally towards his side.

Then Milner directly made a curve ball and sent the ball to the point behind the goal.

Jordan Ibe, with no defense at the back point, jumped to the top and hit the goal.

However, Schmeichel's saving ability is really strong, and he blocked the ball with a side throw.

Facing the half-high ball, Firmino, who followed up, was also in front of the goal, squatting down and completing a head shake.

But Schmeichel immediately bounced off the ground, once again completed a side attack, made two consecutive miraculous saves, and rejected Liverpool's two must-goal opportunities.

After the two sides played a threatening attack on the offensive end, the active running and fighting of the two teams slowed down after that.

No player can maintain a high-intensity exercise state for 90 minutes, so for players, it is natural for players to find time to rest and slow down their physical fitness during the game.

The players of the two teams who ran extremely fiercely in the early stage began to make simple passes and retreat collectively to slow down their physical fitness.

After a relaxation period of more than 10 minutes, in the last 15 minutes of the first half, the two sides continued to return to the previous fast-paced offensive and defensive transition.

After 30 minutes of the game, Liverpool took the lead in speeding up and started the attack in the final stage of the first half.

The team took advantage of the offensive capabilities of the two sides, and began to gain offensive suppression when the full-back was plugged in.

Moreno's quick penetration on the left, after Liverpool withdrew from the right offensive and received Yang Feng's long pass to transfer the ball, he directly used the vacancy this time to continue the attack.

Moreno completed a 45-degree cross on the open left side, but was blocked by the home team's defender first.

A chance for a throw-in.

Moreno wanted to throw the ball, but his teammates in the frontcourt were all under defensive pressure. Moreno did not take the risk of choosing to pass the ball, but threw the ball to the backcourt to the feet of Yang Feng who came to the midfield area.

Shinji Okazaki's defense immediately rushed towards Yang Feng from a distance.

But the distance is far enough that Yang Feng has enough time to handle the ball.

A long pass was sent directly in the midfield, and the ball was passed deep on the left.

After serving the sideline ball, Moreno, who quickly advanced forward, actually got the ball just in time while running.

Before Simpson's defense was in place, Moreno directly flew the header and returned the ball to the center.

Coutinho, who received the ball, directly made a long-range shot from the outside. After shaking the defensive player's center of gravity, he continued to walk to the left to break through the bottom.

And under Kanter's follow-up defense, he still forcibly completed a bottom cross.

It's just that Kanter's judgment was too accurate, he stretched his legs directly to block Coutinho's passing route, blocked the ball from the baseline, and gave Liverpool a corner kick.

Liverpool took a tactical corner kick and hit a surprise.

After receiving the ball, Henderson made a circle and a half around the outside, then suddenly made a curve ball and found Milner, who had a 1v1 chance, at the back of the penalty area.

It's just that Drinwakert's defensive choice is quite good. He pushed the ball out of the bottom line first, but just gave Liverpool another corner kick.

Second consecutive corner chance.

Liverpool played another tactical corner on the other side.

It's just that, for this tactical corner kick, Henderson didn't take the ball out again, but sent a cross directly to the goal at a closer distance.

There are Yang Feng and Skrtel competing for high points in the middle.

However, Morgan exerted his strength and used his physical resistance ability to tightly entangle Yang Feng, preventing Yang Feng from running to a suitable position. The ball was eventually cleared by the home team's central defender Huth with a header.

After Mahrez did not reach the second point outside the penalty area, he directly wanted to speed up and launch a counterattack.

However, Liverpool's frontcourt counter-robbery was very quick.

Mahrez wanted to speed up the passing of the ball and immediately launched a counterattack, but Coutinho, who suddenly grabbed the ball, intercepted the ball directly.

The two rushed forward, but after Coutinho stole the ball, he directly got rid of Mahrez and entered the left hinterland of Leicester City again.

With a through ball, Coutinho sent the ball into the penalty area.

Firmino stepped forward to catch the ball, but Huth's follow-up defense was very good. He stuck to defend Firmino and did not give Firmino any chance to hit the goal.

After receiving the pass, Firmino took advantage of the trend and went down to the left.

In the penalty area, even with continuous fake moves, he couldn't get the space to hit the goal, so he directly picked the ball to the back point.

In the process of feinting, Firmino has already seen Milner pointing backwards and forwards.

Milner's defense against Fox.

Fox, before Milner, jumped directly to the top and cleared the ball.

Although the ball was successfully cleared, it scared Schmeichel into a cold sweat.

Fox's clearance was more threatening than a shot, and the baseline that flew off the crossbar was just a little short of an own goal...