Football’s First Defender

For Liverpool, the celebration of winning the League Cup only exists on the day of victory against Tottenham.

Everyone celebrated all night in London on the night of winning the championship, and then after the team’s holiday the next day, all Liverpool players will quickly regain their minds and meet the next difficult test of the team.

Liverpool still defends the league title, and the Champions League champions, two bigger goals to compete for.

The stumbling block in front of him is the absolute nightmare of Liverpool this season, Manchester City. Manchester City's performance this season is a bit struggling. When facing some mid-lower teams, Manchester City will always have various problems, resulting in the inability to score three points.

But the team's performance in the strong dialogue is quite good, especially against Liverpool this season, to achieve two consecutive victories, can be called the absolute master of Liverpool.

Not only against Liverpool, Manchester City also performed quite well in the face of Chelsea and their rivals Manchester United. Among the six powerful players, Manchester City also ranked first. It’s just that the league pursues stability and the pursuit of scoring efficiency throughout the season. Manchester City lacks a stable scoring efficiency. Only in the recent period, Chelsea and Liverpool have continuously opened up the point difference, almost losing the championship. Competence.

Of course, even if Manchester City have fallen out of the championship group, the strength of the team and its explosiveness in the face of traditional giants are all rivals for Liverpool.

After a 120-minute fierce battle with Tottenham and a night of celebration after the game, even though the time has passed nearly a week, everyone is still full of worry about Liverpool's "indulgence".

Can Liverpool, who have just won championship honors, still show their recent outstanding competitive form when facing Manchester City?

For Liverpool, the competition for the league title has entered a fierce stage. When facing a strong blocking opponent like Manchester City, occupying the advantage of Anfield at home is really a big advantage. Before the Community Shield in the neutral position, in the first league match in Etihad, Liverpool, who did not show their overall strength at the beginning of the season, lost miserably. This game is also a testament to the Liverpool players. Own battle.

In this game, we must strive to win without letting Manchester City become the "nemesis" of Liverpool.

Liverpool has done a pretty good job in rotation recently. Except for the back line, the entire midfielder has maintained a fairly low rotation efficiency. All players can also show their strengths and make contributions to the team.

In this game, Rogers sent a combination of strikers consisting of Sturridge, Sterling and Coutinho.

In the midfield, a defensive collocation that can be changed freely is arranged.

The official formation announcement was 343. Rogers let Yang Feng, Scotter and Emre Can play 3 central defenders, while the fourth midfielder was Flanagan. Moreno was separated on both sides, with Henderson and Henderson in the middle. Lallana is responsible for the attack in the center.

Of course, whether this 343 formation has been maintained, or in the game, when the two wingbacks withdrew, Emre James rebuilt the 433 lineup in advance, it depends on the performance of the Liverpool players.

Compared to Liverpool's lineup, which can be changed to some extent, Manchester City's lineup is still the regular 442 lineup.

The double striker composed of Dzeko and Aguero has become an attacking weapon for Manchester City.

And behind this high and fast striker, there is an excellent midfield combination that can occupy a place in the entire European football scene.

Nasri and Silva are separated on the wing. Similar to the combination of Coutinho and Sterling on Liverpool's side, Manchester City is also a speed player Nasri, paired with a David with excellent technical ability. Silva.

However, compared to the young Coutinho, Silva is better than Coutinho in terms of experience and ability to handle the ball.

The away game at Anfield also made Manchester City's midfield configuration slightly conservative. Yaya Toure, with Fernandinho's double midfielder combination, will give priority to ensuring Manchester City's defense.

The combination of two world-class midfielders will try their best to limit Liverpool's midfield attack.

The return of Manchester City's old injured Kompany's line of fire has made Manchester City's defense a huge reinforcement before the game, and can better coordinate together to face the impact of Liverpool.

Even this season, Liverpool is at an absolute disadvantage in direct dialogue with Manchester City.

However, that was all at the beginning of the season, when Liverpool was in a period of tactical exploration and the team's running-in period.

Not to mention facing Manchester City, facing some underdogs, Liverpool's offense has formed a huge drag, and at certain times, for a certain offensive threat, it will put huge pressure on the team's backcourt defense.

But now, after a two-month downturn at the beginning of the season, Liverpool has quickly found the most suitable tactics for the team, and the degree of tacit understanding between players has also begun to increase. Coupled with the previous sluggish players, they have found the game state. He was able to catch up under extremely unfavorable conditions at the beginning of the season, and now he is on par with Chelsea in the standings.

In the previous consecutive games against the giants, Liverpool have shown quite strong combat effectiveness, especially in the English League Cup semi-finals, Chelsea in the two wars, Liverpool's unbeaten advancement, and occupy an absolute advantage on the field, so Everyone has seen the invincible and powerful Liverpool last season except for injuries~www.readwn.com~ And this time, the direct dialogue between Liverpool and Manchester City is not only to verify whether the title of Manchester City's "Liverpool Nemesis" can be real. , We also need to see whether the grievances between the two teams that struggled to the end last season can be added.

You know, Chelsea have already won the first game. If Liverpool can't take all three points, then Chelsea will further widen the gap with Liverpool.

While there are still more than 10 rounds in the league, Manchester City's lagging points have exceeded two wins, but it is not hopeless.

Being able to step on Liverpool's "corpse" to keep pace with the leaders is also what Manchester City wants to do.

However, at the beginning of the game, the first to take the initiative was of course Liverpool at home.

Liverpool used sharp cross-cutting cooperation, staring at the biggest weakness of Manchester City's defense, and the central defender Mangala launched a fierce attack.

Mangala, as a key signing for Manchester City in the summer, did not show the defensive strength of the Portuguese Super League.

Instead, in the fast-paced offense and defense of the Premier League, Mangala's many weaknesses on the defensive end are constantly exposed.

It can be said that in terms of player strength, Mangala does have strength above the average of the five major leagues.

It's just that relative to his high net worth and Manchester City's expectations for him, there is still a certain gap.

Especially when facing the impact of top offensive players, Mangala will always have various problems.

Liverpool's attack today was quite targeted, and in the end, it also succeeded in producing results. In the 21st minute of the first half, from the defensive side of Mangala, Liverpool's attack opened the gap.

A volley from Coutinho in the penalty area gave Liverpool the lead.