Football’s First Defender

For Liverpool in the away game, although they have put in a lot of effort on the defensive end, the team doesn't really want to rely on defending to defend the next draw away.

Klopp still knows the truth that if you keep for a long time, you will lose.

And even if you keep it, if you can't score a goal, it is actually 0-0, and you need to play overtime, or even a penalty shootout at the end.

And for Klopp, ambiguous defense will not bring about the results he wants.

Even if you want to do a good job in the team's defense, you still need a sufficiently threatening offense to put pressure on Atletico Madrid's defense so that they dare not attack easily.

Use your own offense or counterattack to contain Atletico Madrid's offensive firepower, help the team's defense, and reduce the opponent's offensive energy.

Therefore, when doing a good job in its own defense, Liverpool's counterattack must also play a certain effect, so as to play a role in restraining Atletico Madrid.

Of course, if Liverpool can really take the lead in scoring an away goal in the game, then Klopp has the confidence to keep the next promotion spot.

As far as Liverpool's defensive counterattack is concerned, it has been launched several times, but when facing Atletico Madrid's defensive line, they were unable to penetrate Atletico Madrid's defense and could not achieve the desired offensive results.

In the 35th minute of the game, Atletico Madrid's further investment in the offensive end gave Liverpool a chance to counterattack.

Atletico Madrid, which has been unable to achieve results on the offensive end for a long time, has also begun to invest as much offensive power as possible on the offensive end.

The two full-backs started to send one person in each attack to strengthen the team's attack in the midfield.

Atletico Madrid's investment in the offensive end is to make Liverpool's subsequent counterattacks more effective.

This time, Juanfran moved forward as a right back to help Atletico Madrid provide offensive strength on the right.

But Atletico Madrid's offense, even with Juanfran's support from the wing, still had difficulty penetrating Liverpool's defense.

Passing the ball continuously, trying to penetrate Liverpool's defense failed. Under the pressure of Liverpool's defensive players, the football was finally passed to Juanfran's feet.

Before the Liverpool defensive players pressed up, Juanfran could only send a 45-degree cross from the right.

A cross hit Liverpool's penalty area, hoping that the Atletico Madrid players in the penalty area can successfully compete for the top.

But Yang Feng's defensive position selection is quite good.

Even Griezmann judged the location of Juanfran's cross, but in the confrontation with Yang Feng, Griezmann was at an absolute disadvantage.

Not only did Yang Feng win the header competition and complete the clearance, but he was even able to control the landing point of the header and accurately head the ball to Henderson, so that he could organize Liverpool's counterattack in the next step.

Henderson, after receiving Yang Feng's header to clear the siege, immediately unloaded the ball, observed the situation on the field, and prepared to send a pass.

The reason why Yang Feng chose to pass the header to Henderson was because there were no other Atletico Madrid players around Henderson, so he could have time to fully observe and make adjustments.

Moreover, Yang Feng also knows Henderson's hard training on long passes in the past few seasons. When he can't complete the long pass, he chooses to hand the ball to Henderson, which is more conducive to this time's backcourt pass. threatening.

As far as Henderson could see, Coutinho was speeding forward.

Out of trust in Yang Feng, the moment he saw Juanfran complete a cross from the wing, Coutinho had already changed from a defensive state to a counterattack state.

The counterattack direction that Coutinho is looking for is very simple, that is, the huge space behind Juanfran who inserted the assist.

Henderson made a long pass and aimed directly at the deep position on the left wing, allowing Coutinho to continue to accelerate without slowing down.

After Juanfran completed the pass, he was already returning to defense.

But in the speed competition, it is still not as fast as Coutinho.

Juanfran can only chase and defend with all his strength, hoping that his teammates who stay in the backcourt will help him block Coutinho first.

It can only be said that the landing point chosen by Henderson's pass is close to the wing, which also increases the forward distance of Atletico Madrid's left-behind players.

Allowing Coutinho to give full play to his speed really succeeded in unloading the ball.

The technical ability at Coutinho's feet is simply too strong.

The Brazilian's delicate footwork is vividly displayed on him.

Henderson's long pass was passed in front of Coutinho. Coutinho kept accelerating before catching up to the landing point, but when the ball bounced off the ground and unloaded, it was for the ultimate goal. Quickly controlled the ball before Ximenez grabbed it, and chose to unload the ball.

With such a difficult unloading, Coutinho was able to unload the ball on his feet, which shows Coutinho's outstanding personal strength.

Facing Jimenez's defense after he arrived, and Juanfran's desperate pursuit behind him, he almost reached the defensive position.

Coutinho made a gesture of stepping on a bicycle, trying to complete a breakthrough.

It was a sudden stop, pulled the ball to his right foot, and then passed the ball directly.

Coutinho did not choose to attack by himself, but immediately found teammates with greater opportunities.

Coutinho is the Liverpool player who rushed forward the most, and in this counterattack, Liverpool received a lot of possessions.

Firmino went straight in front of the penalty area, attracting a lot of defensive firepower from Atletico Madrid.

And Coutinho's pass this time is Milner who is cruising outside the penalty area.

After Milner received the ball, he took advantage of the situation to stop forward, widened the angle, and completed a powerful kick before the arrival of Atletico Madrid's defenders.

Milner's shot was full of force, and the angle of the shot was also within the range of the goal frame. It can be called Liverpool's most threatening shot in this game.

However, he was still in front of the goal, and was directly blocked by Atletico Madrid's goalkeeper, Oblak, with both hands, but he didn't let go.

Oblak, a young goalkeeper, played really fast in Atletico Madrid.

Liverpool's counterattack threat this time really sounded the alarm for Atletico Madrid's defense.

But this does not prevent Atletico Madrid from sticking to their own offensive tactics.

In the case of continuing to retain a full-back to participate in the attack, Atletico Madrid just disperse the positions of the left-back defenders more, and pay more close attention to Liverpool's midfield players to ensure Liverpool's success. A counterattack cannot directly penetrate his side defense.

When necessary, Atletico Madrid players can choose to use foul tactics to hinder Liverpool's counterattack, even if they pay the price of a yellow card.

The main offensive is still the Atletico Madrid team.

After all, in their own home court, Atletico Madrid has the home court advantage, and they still want to play a certain offensive effect.

Before the end of the first half, Atletico Madrid launched a siege to Liverpool again.

Relying on the excellent offensive performance of the players, it really suppressed Liverpool for a period of time, making it dangerous for Liverpool in front of the goal.

Facing Liverpool's intensive defense in positional battles, in addition to long-range shots, they can only constantly use interspersed to seek to create opportunities.

In the case that many offensive methods, including crosses, have been successfully defended by Liverpool, they can only use through penetration to seek an offensive solution to the problem.

But this time, Carrasco's through ball from the right had an effect.

After receiving Gabi's pass, Carrasco made a breakthrough on the right. As the Atletico Madrid team, Carrasco, who has the strongest breakthrough ability on the wing at this time, has always relied on breakthroughs and personal The offensive ability to disrupt Liverpool's defense.

However, when facing Moreno's defensive breakthrough position, Carrasco suddenly sent a through ball, which caught Moreno by surprise and had no time to block it.

Cork suddenly started from the middle at the right time, crossed directly diagonally to the front right, just went out on the right edge of the penalty area, and received a through ball from Carrasco.

Under the defense of Henderson who was following up, Cork still chose to take a forced step, and then passed the ball directly across, sweeping towards the middle.

It was Griezmann who followed up in front of the goal.

He kicked a shot, but Yang Feng fell to the ground and intercepted it. It hit Yang Feng's leg and jumped out of the baseline.

corner kick.

Yang Feng stretched his legs to intercept this time, blocking Griezmann's close-range push and hitting the goal, but only gave Atletico Madrid a corner kick.

Just when Liverpool encountered Atletico Madrid's tactical corner kicks consecutively and began to expand their defensive strength as far as possible, Atletico Madrid suddenly this time was a normal corner kick tactic and passed to the goal.

within the restricted area.

Godin was defended by Yang Feng, while Jimenez was marked by Skrtel.

After the two high-point players of Atletico Madrid were locked, it turned out that Griezmann stood up.

Taking advantage of Godin holding Yang Feng back, he used constant physical confrontation and small movements to prevent Yang Feng from getting to the landing point.

However, Griezmann judged the landing point, which was also a passing point arranged in the tactics, and directly in front of Liverpool's small penalty area, he completed a head shake attack.

"Mignolet!"

"Excellent save!"

Above the goal line, Mignolet once again performed superbly.

Facing Griezmann's header to the upper left corner, Mignolet reacted brilliantly and made a sideways save. The palm of his right hand just blocked this header, making Atletico Madrid's attack return in vain.

It's just that Sktel, who made a clearance in front of the goal, had a big foot in a hurry and didn't use his strength. The ball flew out of the penalty area, but was still controlled by the Atletico Madrid players.

Atletico Madrid's attack is still going on.

The feel of Carrasco's passing down the right is still there.

Another as good through ball as before, this time it was Saul who suddenly went forward to the right.

The passing of Saul and Cork is completely different.

Because of his speed, Cork swept the ball to the goal with half his body when he passed the ball just now.

But Saul is fast enough.

Even though Liverpool's defensive players have begun to strengthen the defense on this side, it's just that Saul's speed is too fast, and the defensive players in charge have nothing to do.

Saul broke out with his own speed, caught up with Carrasco's through ball, continued to accelerate down to the bottom, and after completely throwing off a position, he quickly lobbed the ball and passed it to the goal with force.

Cork's pass was a ground ball before, but this time Saul's pass was a high ball after exerting force, and it was passed directly to the back point.

Since Saul's pass is very powerful and the ball is very fast, for Yang Feng, although he judged the location of Saul's pass this time, it was too late to run to the position and completed the defense immediately. .

However, seeing Cork's running position, there is a chance to head the ball behind, Yang Feng still runs to that direction, if Cork really competes for the header, Yang Feng can also be in front of the goal again and try to complete the seal Blocking.

However, Cork's choice did make Yang Feng's defense a little "reckless".

Cork was indeed fighting hard, and in the confrontation with Henderson, he also grabbed the ball.

But I don't know if it was Kirk's deliberate action or an accident in the confrontation.

This time, the legend of Cork hitting Saul did not hit the goal directly from the back point, but pushed the ball into the small penalty area in the middle.

Yang Feng was shaken, and so was Mignolet.

And Griezmann in the small penalty area, under the defense of Skrtel, used his ability to find opportunities in the chaos, reacted first, and found the landing position when Cork "passed the ball" , and forcibly completed a header.

It was another header that hit the goal within the range of the goal frame.

At the critical moment, this time it was Milner, who returned to defense and was active, to complete the old master.

On the goal line, facing Griezmann's parabolic shot, Milner returned to the defense. On the goal line, he accurately judged the trajectory of the shot and completed a header clearance.

The header was not far away, and Saul returned to the field from the baseline. After grabbing the rebounded ball, he directly volleyed the goal with his left foot from a small angle.

It's just a pity that the shot from a small angle this time did not achieve an offensive effect.

Saul's shot did not go out, but directly hit the side net of the goal. Atletico Madrid's players ended this continuous offensive by themselves.

And the halftime game ended with a score of 0-0.

The two teams were tied at halftime, and the total score was 0-0. We haven't scored a single goal yet.

However, Atletico Madrid's continuous offense in the final stage of the first half also showed that Atletico Madrid's own offensive strength is still considerable at home.

Several chances to hit the goal are considered excellent opportunities created by Atletico Madrid. However, I don’t know that Atletico Madrid players are poor in grasping opportunities in front of the goal. It is really Liverpool’s defense today, which is really extraordinary.

For example, Mignolet's save, for example, Milner inexplicably appeared in front of the goal line and completed the shot blocking against Atletico Madrid.

Anyway, after a wave of offensive in the first half, Atletico Madrid missed an excellent opportunity and almost scored.

This also put forward greater defensive requirements for Liverpool's defense in the second half.