green waist king

Chapter 233 Difficult first round match

On August 8, Liverpool went to Hertfordshire, England to play away against Watford.

Mo Yang, who was suspended, also came to Watford to watch the team's first league game live, and stayed with the Red Army fans.

Playing against this team, Mo Yang is not too worried. They played against Watford twice last season, killing Watford with more than four goals.

Moreover, Liverpool have achieved a record of 8 wins and 2 losses in ten matches against Watford in recent years.

Even if it is an away game this time and there is no home court advantage, he thinks it should be no problem to win the game.

Watford drove high and low last season. In the second half of the league, it almost fell into the quagmire of relegation.

But after the game started, Watford's performance made Mo Yang feel strange.

In the game scene, Liverpool did not have much advantage. Instead, Watford seized two opportunities to counterattack, and directly crossed from the wing to complete two very threatening headers.

Then Mo Yang understood Watford's tactical thinking for this game.

Watford's defensive arrangement is very clear, with a strong purpose, that is, to stick to Salah and Mane, limit the space for the two to move on the side, and carry out high-intensity pressing within the 35-meter area of ​​​​their side.

Mo Yang has to admit that Watford's tactics are very targeted, and their tactics are successful and effective.

In the opening 10 minutes, Mane, Salah and Firmino, who were not in good form, could be said to be invisible.

The Liverpool Trident who scored so many goals last season produced very few murderous intentions, which made people feel very strange.

Klopp in the coaching area was also a little surprised!
When Watford is defending, the player position is 541, and only one player is left in the frontcourt to counterattack. The two lines of midfield and defense retreat into the penalty area for low defense, and the other line is on the penalty area line. The two lines are closely connected.

Less than 10 minutes after the start of the game, it was a headache for Klopp to encounter such a problem.

At this moment, he missed Mo Yang very much.

If Mo Yang was on the court, Salah and Mane, who were compressed by Watford's two tight defense lines, would not be so difficult that they couldn't even catch the ball.

On the field, Liverpool once again hit the right side of Watford's penalty area from the left.

After Moreno gave the ball to the adducted Mane, he advanced along the wing, but Mane did not give the ball to him again, but took the ball and stopped on the sideline of the ribs.

Firmino, who was at the top of the arc in the middle, saw it and ran over directly.

Mane suddenly passed the ball to Firmino, and then quickly slashed into the penalty area.

But the moment Firmino received the ball, he and Mane were directly surrounded by Watford players standing in the four corners, like a constantly tightening pocket, constantly compressing the space for their activities.

In the stands, as soon as he saw Mane passing the ball, Mo Yang guessed Mane's attacking intention, and just shook his head and smiled wryly.

This will not work!
Sure enough, in the next second, Mo Yang saw Firmino being pushed from behind by Watford's French midfielder Ducure after taking the ball. He staggered forward a few steps.

Then Firmino naturally fell into a three-person double-team, and was intercepted without giving Mane a chance to pass the ball.

Of course, even if he finds an opportunity to pass the ball, Mane will be accompanied by a defensive player, and Mane will most likely not receive the ball.

Mo Yang is very familiar with Firmino's characteristics,
His advantage is in sports battles. If you can pass the ball to his feet while he is running, then his ability to get rid of it will be very strong.

But in turn, you let him calm down, and then put the ball at his feet, let him act as the fulcrum of the frontcourt, and rely on the opponent to play, which is completely embarrassing him.

Mo Yang felt that Klopp should let Ibrahimovic. During this period of time, he trained with Ibrahimovic every day. He knew the characteristics of this Swede too well.

Definitely the best all-round striker in today's football, even more so as a fulcrum.

In the 15th minute of the game, Liverpool scored the Watford half for the Nth time, but was forced to pass back again without any surprise.

Arnold passed back from the wing to Matip who came to meet him.

Matip hit the ball again to Henderson, who was on the right side of the center circle.

However, before the ball stopped, Henderson was stuck by Watford striker Okaka. Under the entanglement between the two sides, he could only choose to pass the ball straight to Firmino, who retreated ahead.

As a result, Firmino was squeezed by Watford right center back Kabul as soon as he started, and his speed dropped sharply, so he didn't get the ball.

Suddenly Watford's counterattack opportunity appeared.

Kabul hit the ball to Dukule in front of him.

Dukure didn't catch the ball and saw Henderson rushing over, so Dukure, who had his back to the Liverpool half, raised his right foot and knocked it with the inside, rubbing it to Okaka in the center circle.

When Mo Yang saw Dukulei's pass in the stands, he subconsciously simulated an optimal offensive line in his mind.

Sure enough, Watford's next offensive line was exactly the same as the one he had simulated in his mind.

Okaka received the ball and quickly dribbled the ball forward, like a heavy tank in motion.

Lallana pressed Okaka, but he couldn't touch the Italian striker at all, and he couldn't even stop Okaka's advance with a tackle on the ground.

Suddenly Liverpool's defense was in chaos.

Seeing Okaka rushing with the ball, Matip stopped in place, and when the Italian got closer, he grabbed it without saying a word.

But he was still a step slow, Okaka was very smart, and at the moment Matip rushed over, he raised his right foot and stuffed the ball out in front of Matip.

And Watford left forward Pereira started to advance at high speed the moment Okaka passed the ball.

Arnold suffered from inexperience again. He underestimated Pereira's speed and didn't follow up immediately.

By the time he reacts, Watford's counterattack has been completed.

After Pereira got the ball, he went straight to Karius.

Although Lovren in the middle returned to the defense in time, he made the wrong choice at the right time. He rushed back and stretched out his feet to steal.

But Herrera made a rhythm change to the right and avoided his grab this time.

Immediately afterwards, Herrera, who was caught between Lovren and Arnold, suddenly turned to the left with a smash, avoiding Arnold again.

Lovren was also shaken a step forward.

Herrera seized the gap, took a shot without hesitation, and volleyed the far corner very simply.

The ball hit the post and bounced into the goal, helping Watford break through Liverpool's goal first.

Seeing the birth of this goal, Mo Yang directly covered his face.

After Watford took the lead, cheers from the Hornets fans filled Vicarage Road.

Klopp also smiled helplessly on the sidelines. If Van Dijk was on the court, Herrera would never let the ball go away so easily.

It's a pity that guy Van Dijk caught a cold, so he didn't make the squad for this game.

After Watford took the lead, they played more steadily in the next game, and they were able to seize opportunities to fight back from time to time.

This situation was maintained until the end of the first half, when Mane seized the opportunity to enter the Watford penalty area from the ribs, received a through ball from Firmino, and shot directly to the far corner of the goal. Evened the score.

It was also the last goal of the game.

Although Klopp made adjustments in the second half and replaced Ibrahimovic to set up a fulcrum for Liverpool's frontcourt, Salah still couldn't find the feeling of scoring goals, and even began to make some low-level mistakes in passing, which made people speechless.

In the end, the game ended with a score of 1-1.

While Liverpool and Watford shook hands in this game, it also made countless teams see Liverpool's sluggish state.

(End of this chapter)