Football giants

Chapter 846 How to Make a Goal

Following this summer, after Southampton let go of Ibrahimovic, Modric and James Rodriguez successively, the team's entire midfield has also been greatly affected.

To some extent, without Zlatan Ibrahimovic who suppressed the opponent's central defender on the front line, and without Modric and James Rodriguez who can control the ball in the midfield, Southampton's set of play last season can no longer run smoothly.

Unless, Bielsa wants to vigorously support Kovacic and Pogba in the top position, so that these two young players will be the main players.

But in the eyes of the coaching staff, they have unlimited potential, but it will take time to support Southampton's midfield banner.

Supporting Suarez in the top position, and then introducing Fabregas and Di Maria, Southampton's tactics will definitely be adjusted accordingly.

In the past month or so, including the International Champions Cup, the Community Shield Cup and the European Super Cup and many other events, Bielsa has been constantly trying the team's midfield configuration and experimenting with the tactics of the new season by adjusting the formation and changing the lineup.

He even tried the three-back play, but later gave up.

A very important reason is how to ensure the execution efficiency of the team's oppressive tactics.

Modric and Toni Kroos have been running in for a long time. At the beginning, the pair of double midfielders didn't play well, but after the running-in was successful, the threat came out.

As for James Rodriguez, he has been in the team for many years, and he is naturally more familiar with and adapting to the team's tactics than anyone else, so there is no problem in integrating.

But Cesc Fabregas and Di Maria obviously don't have much time.

As for the frontcourt, replacing Ibrahimovic with Suarez has already been tried in the Premier League last season, and they have accumulated a certain amount of experience, so it is not a big problem.

Therefore, in the focus of the first round of the Premier League, fans all over the world are looking forward to Southampton's new season premiere, and are waiting for Bielsa to hand over an answer sheet for summer preparations.

"We saw Di Maria's name in the starting list of the Saints. This is the first time the Argentine superstar has played for the Saints since he joined the Saints in the past two months. He hadn't even played in the warm-up match before."

"Before this, Southampton officially stated that the reason why Di Maria did not play was because his physical condition had not fully recovered after participating in the World Cup, but now it seems that he should have almost recovered."

"In this game, Di Maria will partner with Cesc Fabregas and Toni Kroos in the midfield. Pogba and Kovacic, who have performed eye-catchingly in several games before, are sitting on the bench."

"At the front, Suarez continues to start. This player has performed well in both the Community Shield Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. His partner is Hazard and Sanchez. This pair of tridents is known as the most luxurious attack combination in Europe. I don't know if this game can open Liverpool's goal."

"On the defensive line, Neuer stands in front of the goal, and the left side is still the teenager Luke Shaw."

"During David Alaba's injury, Luke Shaw's performance on the left was also remarkable. The central defender combination is Nastasic and Varane, and the right back is Danilo. This is not too unexpected."

When the live commentator at Anfield introduced the Southampton players, the fans booed him.

But when he introduced Liverpool's starting line-up, every player's name was called, and there was a burst of cheers.

Liverpool's starting goalkeeper is Mignolet, and the defense is Moreno, Skrtel, Lovren and Glenn Johnson.

The midfield is Coutinho, Gerrard, Joe Allen, Henderson and Sterling, and the lone striker is Balotelli.

"In this game, Rodgers formed a four-five-one formation. The purpose should also be to compete with Southampton for control of the midfield, and the frontcourt is to use Balotelli's personal ability to create threats."

Sitting in the chairman's stand, Yang Huan felt a little uneasy when he saw Liverpool's lineup and the positions of the Red Army players on the pitch, because he could see that Liverpool's attitude in this game was very pragmatic.

Rogers knew in his heart that in terms of cards and strength, Liverpool was no match for Southampton.

So, he begs for stability!
This game is not a small test for Southampton. One is the first game of the new season. The players generally have not yet entered the league state, their performance will not be too ideal, and there may even be problems.

Another thing is that this is Di Maria's first game. Although he has been participating in the team's internal training before, no one knows whether he can play his role and ensure the overall tactical operation of Southampton.

However, when he turned his head and saw Henry and Ian Al, and found that these two guys were more nervous than himself, his heart was at ease.

To say that the current Southampton has won the Premier League championship for two consecutive seasons, and won a Champions League last season. Let alone the Premier League, even in the entire European football world, they have the capital and bargaining chips to make their opponents tremble.

Therefore, what you are worried about now should be your opponent, not yourself.

Thinking of this, a strong self-confidence surged in Yang Huan's heart. He firmly believed that his team could do it!
Also in the chairman's stand, not far from Yang Huan, Mino Raiola, Wang Lei, and Gao Ren were also sitting in their seats.

"The two of you should pay attention later. Don't stare at the players in your position. You should look at the overall situation and pay more attention to how the Saints players run, move, and pass the ball. In these aspects, they are not lost to Barcelona at all."

Wang Lei and Gao Ren listened carefully and nodded.

"Also, in today's football, oppression is essential. You should pay more attention later to see how their players use their movements to achieve oppression when they lose possession of the ball."

Speaking of this, Raiola smiled coldly and disdainfully: "Only those reckless people will rely on their bodies to fight and run to oppress without sacrificing their physical strength. Really smart people don't need to do this at all."

"They use their brains to think, use their eyes to see, use the least amount of running and the least consumption to achieve the greatest goal."

Wang Lei and Gao Ren still nodded.

Master Huan told them that Raiola's reputation in the Chinese media circle is not very good, but in fact, his vision is very poisonous and his stomach is full of knowledge. Using him as an agent, they can learn a lot.

It seems that Raiola brought them to Anfield this time, hoping to teach them something.

As the game started, Southampton pressed heavily, and Raiola also began to introduce the game process from time to time.

For example, when Liverpool's right-back Glenn Johnson got the ball, Southampton's Eden Hazard, the left-winger facing the right-back, immediately pushed towards Glenn Johnson.

But Raiola didn't let them pay attention to Hazard, but asked them to observe other players.

Acting almost at the same time as Hazard, Suarez approached Lovren, Di Maria followed Sterling who was about to retreat to respond, Toni Kroos and Cesc Fabregas also stared at the Liverpool midfielder for the first time.

This move by all the players was almost done at the same time, which seemed to be a tacit understanding.

When Hazard approached Glenn Johnson, the England right-back was at a loss. He didn't dare to continue to take the ball, and he was afraid that Suarez was at the front of the penalty area, so he didn't dare to pass back, and he couldn't pass it to other midfielders.

So, as a last resort, he could only kick forward with a big foot.

As a result, the ball fell to Southampton's feet.

"Southampton's team high-pressure tactics are not aimless siege, but aimed at the opponent's ball-handling players. The players' movements should be as uniform as possible, so that it is difficult for the opponent's ball-handling players to find a safe point of delivery in the first place, and then cause the opponent to pass and receive the ball. Mistakes."

After hearing this, Wang Lei and Gao Ren kept nodding their heads.

According to Southampton's style of play, the most important thing is tacit cooperation and uniformity.

The real so-called defensive skills, physical confrontation, and even running ability are not the most important.

As the game unfolded, the possession of the ball was switched back and forth between the two sides.

When Liverpool is attacking, Raiola will introduce Liverpool's offensive problems, such as Balotelli's out of touch with the midfielder, and also introduce why Southampton's defense works and what points it targets.

When the Saints attack with the ball, Raiola will switch, introducing Saints' offense and Liverpool's defense.

After such an introduction from the Italian, and the fact that Wang Lei and Gao Ren also played football, they naturally understood a lot of things.

For example Southampton's midfielder.

After the opening, Liverpool's closest approach to Southampton's goal happened in the 7th minute. Raiola said that the cooperation between Di Maria and Cesc Fabregas and his teammates was not tacit enough, and Liverpool seized the gap and entered the 30-meter area.

But Toni Kroos immediately retreated to the front of the defense, and at the same time directed Fabregas and Di Maria to the front.

"Although there is still not enough tacit understanding, at least a compact defensive formation has been maintained. No wonder Bielsa will let Di Maria start!" Raiola said with a smile.

Judging from his tone, it seems that Bielsa is really hiding the meaning of Di Maria as a surprise soldier.

After finally reaching the 30-meter area of ​​Southampton, Liverpool still failed to find an opportunity to pass the ball into the penalty area, but was intercepted halfway by Toni Kroos when he fell from the outside and successfully intercepted the ball.

After successfully stealing the ball, Toni Kroos hardly hesitated, as if he had already thought about how to pass it before stealing the ball just now, and directly passed the ball diagonally to Hazard on the left side of the center line.

This long diagonal pass made Wang Lei's eyes light up.

So accurate, isn't it?

And Gao Ren saw Hazard's stop, it was so beautiful!
When the ball touched his foot, it seemed to be attracted by a magnet, and it stopped immediately.

As soon as the ball stopped, Hazard immediately dribbled the ball into Liverpool's right.

But the Red Army's game was mainly based on defense, so they returned to defense quickly, and the two players immediately surrounded them.

Seeing that he couldn't break through the defense, Hazard immediately slowed down the rhythm.

Di Maria leaned over to respond immediately.

The ball passed from the double-teaming of the two to Di Maria.

After the Argentine caught up with the ball, he happened to meet Joe Allen, and immediately crossed the ball to the middle.

Fabregas also caught up from behind, and facing the ball, he made a long-distance diagonal pass close to the ground.

I saw that the ball was almost sticking to the turf, passed through Liverpool's midfield in a straight line, and passed between left-back Moreno and center-back Skrtel.

When Moreno reacted and turned around to chase after him, he saw that Sanchez had already passed by him like the wind, catching up with the ball at the front of the penalty area and wading into the penalty area.

"Single-handed! Sanchez!"

Countless people at the scene were so nervous that their hearts were raised to their throats, and they watched everything that happened on the court dumbfounded.

After Sanchez single-handedly faced the goalkeeper, he calmly pushed the ball and the ball rolled into Liverpool's goal.

One to zero!

Both Wang Lei and Gao Ren were stunned!
They have had countless fantasies before, how goals in European professional leagues are made.

But this time, they came to the scene to see it with their own eyes, only to find that it turned out to be much simpler than what they had imagined.

(End of this chapter)