Chapter 382 Return to the Premier League

Some people say that before winning the Champions League, Liverpool was considered a traditional powerhouse in the Premier League along with Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and other teams. After winning the Champions League, they have automatically upgraded and started to compete with Teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal return to the ranks of the rich.

But the fact is a bit strange, because among the four giants in the Premier League, Liverpool's performance in the strong dialogue is the worst. Last season was already very bad. In the first half of this season, they encountered the other three teams three times in a row. One of the very embarrassing points is that Liverpool lost to Arsenal 0:3, lost to Manchester United 0:2, and lost to Chelsea 0:1. They did not score a single goal in the three games, but they lost 6 A goal, such a report card is indeed unsatisfactory and even embarrassing for the Red Army, which aims to win the league championship.

Some media commentators ridiculed that when they didn't win the Champions League, Liverpool was a powerful killer. They got stronger when they faced strong teams, but they always lost points against weak teams because they were able to put down their body when playing against strong teams and always defend and counterattack; But after winning the Champions League, my identity and status were different, and I no longer bothered to play defensive counterattack. When I played against a strong team, I always wanted to press out and play, but...

Although this is a joke, it does make some sense, because everyone has known in the past few years that Liverpool has a very, very obvious fatal weakness. Even in the year when Liverpool won the Champions League, this weakness was It’s also clear that that’s why so many people think that Liverpool won the Champions League because Ye Qiu’s Chelsea were unlucky.

Striker, this has always been a serious problem plaguing Liverpool.

Benitez has also made great efforts to adjust the team's offense this season, introducing Kuyt, Pennant, Bellamy and Robbie Keane, especially Robbie Keane, who was even more praised by Benitez. There were high hopes that the Irishman could carry the flag of Liverpool's front line, but the final result was disappointing.

Just six months later, Robbie Keane has been included in the list of transfers during the winter break.

This season Liverpool has regained England's traditional 4-4-2 midfield position. The goalkeeper is Reina, the defense is Riise, Hyypia, Carragher and Finnan, and the midfielders are Pennant and Mohamed Sissoko. , Xavi Alonso and Gerrard, the two forwards in the frontcourt are Crouch and Kuyt.

Ushering in the first game on the first day of 2007 with the strongest lineup, Benitez’s intention goes without saying. He just wants to have a good start in the new year at Anfield Stadium, and everyone We all know that if Tottenham Hotspur continues to perform like this, they may really be able to reach the top four.

Once Tottenham Hotspur reaches the top four, the biggest threat is not Chelsea and Manchester United, which are far ahead, but Arsenal and Liverpool. One of the two teams is bound to be squeezed off the big ship of the Champions League.

Therefore, playing Tottenham Hotspur at home, Benitez gave a kill order in this game!

Liverpool have strong people and strong horses, and Tottenham Hotspur also dare not be careless.

Ye Qiu also arranged the team's best and most suitable starting lineup for this game. The goalkeeper is Petr Cech, and the defense is Arbeloa, Hangland, Thiago Silva and Al Weiss, the iron triangle in the midfield is Yaya Toure, Mascherano and Fabregas. Among them, Mascherano's position is behind, and Yaya Toure and Fabregas are relatively forward. , forming layers and midfield depth.

The front trident remains unchanged. Franck Ribery and Ruud van Nistelrooy, one of the team's best players this season, both appear in the starting lineup. Messi was replaced by Ye Qiu due to consecutive games, and Ashavin occupied the position. The team's right wing.

This is not only a competition between Ye Qiu and Benitez, a pair of Champions League coaches, but also Beckham's first game after returning to the Premier League. The Anfield stadium was packed, and even Sky TV broadcast this event Each game will be broadcast live and reported as the most important game.

Although Liverpool plays a 442 tactic, the positions of the players are actually very fluid. Kuyt, for example, has a wide range of activities on the right. Crouch is in front of him to involve and suppress the opponent's central defender. Iter mostly retreats to the midfield, sometimes even playing as a right midfielder, while Gerrard has more freedom to move forward.

Benitez uses this kind of repeated running and interspersing to create opportunities for backcourts, and with Crouch sitting in the frontcourt, Xavi Alonso's long pass can find Crouch anytime, anywhere, and England Gao Lao's holding and playing of the ball in the frontcourt has become an important offensive method for Liverpool's late penetration.

In response to Liverpool's characteristics, Tottenham Hotspur also gave its own response methods.

The start was a typical Ye Qiu start, rushing to attack!

In less than 45 seconds of the opening, Tottenham Hotspur were in the middle of a series of passes. After receiving the ball, Cesc Fabregas directly passed the ball over the top with Ruud van Nistelrooy. After Pia and Carragher, they countered the offside, stopped the ball with their backs, then turned and hit the goal. The ball passed Reina's hand and went straight to the bottom of the goal net, but the referee and the Liverpool players both signaled that Ruud was offside.

They took the lead in the 45th second. Even though it was offside and the goal was ruled invalid, Tottenham Hotspur still achieved the effect they wanted, and soon in the 4th minute, Ashavin made a diagonal pass with his left foot, and Ruud van Nistelrooy After stopping the ball with his chest, he passed Hyypia and passed it diagonally to the left side of the penalty area. Ribery pushed in front of the back door, but there was no angle and the ball hit the side net.

Two consecutive waves of attack directly hit Liverpool's vital position, which also made the Liverpool fans at Anfield Stadium tremble with fear. Benitez kept waving his hands on the sidelines, shouting that the players should not shrink like this, because everyone knows that Van Nistelrooy's biggest threat is in the penalty area. This is the top scorer of the Premier League this season.

As a wave of attacks gradually took effect, Tottenham Hotspur began to retreat appropriately along with Liverpool's advancement.

But in order to ensure their own penalty area, Tottenham Hotspur's defense line was arranged at the front of the penalty area. Mascherano stood in front of the defense line, cutting off all ground balls passed to Crouch, and at the same time blocking Liverpool's back-up attack as much as possible.

The two full-backs, Arbeloa and Alves, the former is mainly defensive, targeting Gerrard and Kuyt's side, and the latter is mainly offensive, but Ye Qiu also gave him a defensive task in this game. Once Pennant got the ball, Alves gave up the wing and retreated to the middle, forcing him to cross.

Pennant was once the assist king of the Premier League, so he certainly has the strength, but if he just blindly crosses from the wing, it goes without saying that the efficiency is low. After all, such a tactical style has been abandoned for a long time. The two central defenders of Tottenham Hotspur teamed up to clamp Crouch, especially Thiago Silva, who frequently went around to defend and headed the ball.

Although Thiago Silva is much shorter than Crouch, he is more flexible than Crouch, and his jumping ability is also very good, which makes his success rate of going around to defend very high. After all, headers are not only based on height and jumping, but also on the choice and prediction of position, which are precisely Crouch's weaknesses.

At least from this season, Liverpool's ability to connect with the wing defense in the middle has always been problematic.

In the focus of defense, Ye Qiu deliberately let go of the right side and focused on defending the left side, so Arbeloa played on the left side and Alves played on the right side. This was obviously a targeted arrangement. Even though Pennant frequently got the ball and got opportunities, Ye Qiu did not think of strengthening the right side defense, but let it go.

The core purpose of defense is to prevent the opponent from scoring, and Liverpool's most threatening scoring points are Gerrard, Kuyt and Crouch. No matter how many times Pennant got the ball, he got it on the side and could not create a threat.

Opening the net and concentrating troops to defend the opponent's deadly weapon, while also letting the opponent seize the loopholes to attack, this is not a bad thing for defense, and you know, Pennant and Crouch both have a problem, that is, the rhythm of playing is slow, which is undoubtedly in line with Tottenham Hotspur's idea.

In addition to the quick attack at the beginning, Tottenham Hotspur deliberately slowed down the rhythm, trying to control the ball more and connect the ball to slow down the rhythm, while Liverpool used active running and pressing to disrupt it, hoping to use physical strength and speed to break down the opponent, so the Red Army wanted to be fast, and Tottenham Hotspur wanted to be slow, so it was also good to let Liverpool play on Pennant's side.

However, the midfield composed of Mohamed Sissoko, Xabi Alonso, Gerrard and Kuyt was indeed very good, at least in suppressing the opponent through running and pressing. Tottenham Hotspur wanted to play threatening attacks several times, but they were destroyed by them.

But even so, Ye Qiu still kept waving his hands on the sidelines to signal the players to be patient, not to speed up the rhythm with Liverpool, and to continue to be slow, because slowness is good for Tottenham Hotspur.

But who could have imagined that this slowness would last until the second half.

Beckham sat on the bench. Although he didn't start in this game, he was included in the big list by Ye Qiu. Sitting on the bench, his attention was not affected by the outside world at all. He didn't even pay attention to the camera passing in front of him. He was completely focused on the game.

For this game, he had his own feeling, that is, Liverpool was dragged down by Tottenham's ball-control style of play, and Tottenham was also overwhelmed by Liverpool's running and pressing, which directly led to the poor performance of both teams.

Simply put, Liverpool lacks effective weapons to speed up the pace, and Tottenham needs a player who can bypass Liverpool's pressing and send the ball into the frontcourt. Whoever makes the corresponding adjustment first will continue to take the initiative.

And through the game so far, Beckham can feel that this Tottenham is still very strong. At least it is not like what many media outside say, it is Ye Qiu's Waterloo.

"David!"

Just as Beckham was thinking, Roland came over from the front and waved at him, "Hurry up and warm up!"

Beckham stood up towards Roland. After all, he was a veteran with rich game experience. He stood up and took off his training clothes. He stood on the sidelines and jumped a few times to stretch his muscles. Then he walked to the sidelines to warm up. Every movement was very skillful, methodical, and serious.

Only veterans who have experienced many years of professional career can understand the importance of warming up. It can make you integrate into the game faster. During the warm-up process, you should not just exercise your body, but let your body adapt to the rhythm of the game faster.

So when warming up, Beckham was seen running back and forth and sprinting short distances many times, which made Ye Qiu, who was directing the game on the sidelines and watching in his spare time, couldn't help but smile and praised Mauro Tassotti and Roland: "Veterans are veterans!"

"Oh, we see that Beckham is warming up on the sidelines. Tottenham Hotspur seems to be making a substitution!" The commentator also noticed this phenomenon, and with his shout, cheers rang out at the scene.

Even though Beckham previously played for Liverpool's arch-rival Manchester United, he actually still has a lot of fans in Liverpool.

In less than two or three minutes, Beckham returned to the visiting team's coaching bench.

"As soon as you go up, they will definitely force you!" Ye Qiu didn't say much, and directly pulled Beckham closer and whispered.

"If they force you, you retreat. If they catch up, you pass the ball to Fabregas and let him get in. If they don't follow, you pass the ball long, understand?"

Ye Qiu's explanation is actually very simple, but it is full of many details. As an experienced veteran, Beckham immediately understood what Ye Qiu meant, and he quickly figured out a deeper tactical meaning.

There are two differences in his appearance. One is that if he retreats and Liverpool's midfield continues to choose to press him closely, then Liverpool's midfield will definitely miss one person, because Tottenham Hotspur has three, while Liverpool uses the 442 tactic, with only two. If Alves on the right is included, the advantage will be more obvious.

If Liverpool does not press him closely in order to maintain the balance of the midfield, then he can choose to take the ball and then launch a long pass to attack, which can also create threats. This is actually creating a problem for Liverpool. Do you press or not!

The traditional 442 tactic has been proven to be increasingly unable to adapt to modern football. The main reason is that it is easy to lose power in the midfield. Therefore, whether it is 4231, 4321, or even 433, the midfielder's center is always equipped with about three people, which is a huge threat to 442.

Beckham quickly completed the substitution and stood on the sidelines with his belt tied, waiting for the opportunity to go up for a dead ball. This time, he replaced Yaya Toure. The Ivorian played very hard, ran actively, and defended well, but the effect was not very good. Ye Qiu always felt that he lacked one thing, awareness.

When preparing for the substitution, Ye Qiu passed the ball to the players in the frontcourt through Roland. Ribery and Arshavin were as close to the opponent's defense as possible. Once Beckham seized the opportunity, he would directly launch a long pass. They had to ensure offside as soon as possible.

Beckham replaced Yaya Toure. After the two hugged on the sidelines, the Englishman walked into the stadium amid the cheers and boos of everyone in the entire Anfield Stadium, walked into the familiar Anfield, and walked into the familiar but unfamiliar Premier League stadium.

This was his first time returning to the Premier League, and it was also his first time back to the Premier League after more than three years away. Many familiar but unfamiliar emotions and memories flooded into his mind in an instant.

Two days ago, he was still confused about his future and worried about where his next stop would be. But now, two days later, he is already standing on the stage of the Premier League, waiting for this opportunity to prove himself again.

Looking up, feeling the dazzling lights above Anfield, the cheers that swept the whole stadium were deafening. Even though many people say that the atmosphere at the home stadium of the Premier League is very bad and the attendance is getting worse and worse, compared with all other leagues, the fans of the Premier League are always the most fanatical and passionate fans.

Taking a deep breath, Beckham quickly ran into the stadium. The referee standing nearby came over, shook hands with him, said a few words of encouragement, and then he ran all the way to his teammates.

Before this game, he had never had even one joint training with Tottenham Hotspur, and his teammates had only heard of their names at most and understood some of their general technical and tactical characteristics, and the rest were very unfamiliar.

Van Nistelrooy came over and hugged Beckham, "Do a good job, David, you can do it!"

Beckham patted Van Nistelrooy's shoulder and watched the Dutchman run to the front again, while he looked at Fabregas. The Spanish boy was also looking at him, with a look of restraint as if he saw a big star, while the Englishman smiled kindly, and the Spanish boy smiled back naturally.

Stepping back a few steps and standing next to Mascherano, Beckham nodded to the Argentine, "When I retreat, you go up to support Cesc, and leave the rest to me!"

Mascherano was stunned. He originally thought that big stars didn't like to take the initiative to take on defensive work, because no big stars were willing to do such dirty and tiring work, so he was also prepared. He had to do more after Beckham came up, but he didn't expect Beckham to take the initiative to take on these tasks.

"Yeah!" Mascherano smiled and nodded. He knew that this was Ye Qiu's arrangement.

He has always trusted his head coach very much. He firmly believes that Ye Qiu must have his own intentions in making such arrangements. He does not need to think too much now, just need to obey, that is enough.

The game started again soon. Tottenham Hotspur's midfield still maintained a triangular position, with Beckham and Fabregas relatively close to the front and Mascherano behind. Everything was not much different from before.

But two minutes after Beckham came on the pitch, he got a chance to get the ball with his back to goal. Mohamed Sissoko blocked him with his body. At this time, Beckham chose to dribble the ball back. Mohamed Sissoko did not catch up because he saw Mascherano pressing forward and was worried about Xabi Alonso, so he did not catch up.

When Beckham was hesitating, he saw Arbeloa running forward and immediately passed the ball to Arbeloa, then turned around. After attracting Kuyt's attention, the Spaniard passed the ball horizontally to Beckham who turned around.

The Englishman raised his head, stopped the ball with his right foot, swung it up, and rubbed it. A beautiful arc was drawn from under his feet!