Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 219 The Narrow Victory Before Returning to China
March 3 is the match day for the 12th round of the Premier League.After this round of the league, Zhang Mai will prepare for the two world preliminaries in March.

March 3 against South Korea at home and March 23 in Tehran to challenge Iran, both tough bones are a bit difficult, so Lippi asked Zhang Mai to return to China one week in advance for joint training for the first time.

It would be good to get three points in the two games, and if they get more than six points in the next three rounds of the top 12, the Hua Guo team will be the most beautiful boy in Asia!
Zhang Mai originally thought so, but after Tottenham's Sun Xingmin called Zhang Mai, Zhang Mai had to change his mind.

Sun Xingmin was injured in the last round of the league, and he will definitely not appear in the South Korean lineup against the Huaguo team, but the arrogant Korean king still gave Zhang Mai a challenge.

The South Korean team challenged the Huaguo team with Zhang Mai in an away game. Without him, Sun Xingmin would probably lose, but for the honor of East Asian football, Zhang Mai also had to lead the team to an away game against Iran!

Our East Asian brothers can still go to the World Cup PK after the competition in Asia. The third position in the group should be reserved for the Persians as much as possible, so that they can withstand the toss of the South American teams for the tickets to Russia.

Makes sense!Although Asian football is low, it is also divided into ranks. In the past, West Asia football contempt for East Asia, and most of them poured their anger on the weakest Hua Guo team. How can we not repay West Asia when we are strong this time? What about the team?

Then just win ten consecutive victories, and build the invincible momentum of the Chinese team before the 2018 World Cup in Russia!

Zhang Mai told Zhang Yulin, who was about to return home with him, of his thoughts, and the latter naturally agreed, and also conveyed the request of the current Tranmere coach, and beat him severely when he met Qatar again.

Well, it turns out that the Uruguayan has already passed the most difficult days when he first came to the Premier League. Now that Tranmere is firmly in the top half of the British Championship, Carreno has the energy to deal with the bad debts in Asia.

The days passed quickly, and it came to March 3 in a blink of an eye. Zhang Mai appeared at Anfield as a substitute to watch his Red Army teammates face the visiting Burnley.

Zhang Mai can understand Klopp's thoughts. At the critical moment of the league, every game is very important, and he will definitely miss the highlight of the next round of away games against Manchester City.

Finally, a weak team came to the home court. The Germans must want to adjust the Red Army lineup without Zhang Mai, so as to arrange the lineup for the next round.

伯恩利上次联赛客胜利物浦还是1974年，此后9次客战利物浦1平8负未尝胜绩。双方历史交锋99场，利物浦42胜24平33负稍占上风。

The starting lists of both sides have been played on the sidelines:

Liverpool: (4-2-3-1)
22 - Mignolet;

2-Klein, 4-Van Dijk, 17-Krawan, 7-Milner;
15- Chamberlain, 5- Wijnaldum;
8-Coutinho, 19-Mane, 12-Mbappe;
27 - Origi.

Burnley: (4-4-2)
1 - Heaton;

2-Lorton, 5-Kean, 6-Ben Mee, 23-Ward;

21-Boyd, 19-Barton, 13-Hendrick, 37-Alfield;
10-Barnes, 7-Grey (80', 9-Vox)
That's right, Liverpool's model worker striker Firmino also rested this game, sitting with Zhang Mai and the captain Henderson who had just recovered from his injury, followed by a large group of young players such as Pickford, Robertson and Arnold.

"Today should be another big victory, long live Liverpool!"

Pickford yelled loudly from the sidelines, and the Red Army's winning streak made these guys feel more and more excited.

"Not necessarily! There are no weak teams in the Premier League."

Zhang Mai recalled the historical title of the Red Army who "does not take the masses' needles and threads", and only hoped that he would not be unfortunate enough to say it.

At the beginning of the first half of the game, Liverpool kicked off first, and the Red Army soldiers launched a formation to attack their opponents.

The visiting team, Burnley, did not panic. The compact midfielder eliminated Liverpool's opening waves of attacks, and there was still room for a counterattack.

Not good!Zhang Mai remembered the away game against Burnley at the beginning of the season, what a familiar scene!

Although Zhang Mai came off the bench for Liverpool last time and ended up winning 4-2, Burnley scored in the 3rd minute of the opening game.

So what about today...

Zhang Mai was still thinking wildly on the bench, and Barnes scored the first goal for Burnley on the field.

Burnley took the lead in the 7th minute. Lawton made a diagonal pass from the right side of the frontcourt. Gray outflanked the ball and missed the ball in the middle, but Barnes shoveled into the net from the far side of the small penalty area.

This conceded goal gave Klopp a very bad feeling on the sidelines:

In the first round of the league game, Liverpool reversed Burnley 4:2 in the away game-Burnley relied on Vokes' goal in the 3rd minute to make Liverpool passive.

"Only a few minutes into the game, after just a few headers and scrambles, we fell behind 0:1."

The youth soldiers on the side couldn't believe it, and Arnold even covered his head.

"The team pressed the attack and it didn't work. The game seemed to be caught in the rhythm of the opponent. Although Liverpool had a lot of possession on the counter attack, the team's frontcourt was disorganized. Burnley's defense was solid. Stand firm and deal with Liverpool's attack."

Captain Henderson patiently explained the situation on the field to the youth army, and looked at Zhang Mai from time to time.

"At Anfield, Liverpool's luck is always better."

Zhang Maixin said, look at me!But he still has to cheer for Liverpool.

The lagging Liverpool was indeed a bit chaotic, occupying the advantage on the field but drew with the less powerful Burnley.

In the 15th minute, Boyd shot wide from the outside in the free kick melee.

In the 21st minute, Mane made a pass from the right side of the penalty area, but Origi missed the ball from a far point.

In the 31st minute, Ward made a cross from the left, and Barnes volleyed wide with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area.

Then Burnley once again threatened Liverpool's gate, Lowton threw a throw-in, Gray flashed Matip and shot high from a small angle.

Despite a poor first half, Liverpool equalized the score:

At the last moment of the first half, Origi's pass caused confusion in Burnley's defense. Wenardim scored the ball in front of the goal, 1-1!

Then the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half, and Liverpool equalized the score at the last moment by Wijnaldum.

Klopp did not make personnel adjustments during the intermission, but he still decided that if the situation does not improve in the second half, he will resolutely go to Zhang Mai!

In the second half, the two sides fought in a different place. Liverpool also did not create too much threat to the opponent. On the contrary, the visiting team played vigorously.

In the 48th and 52nd minutes, Barnes and Alfield's long shots missed one after another.

In the 57th minute, Ward made a strong throw-in, and Klavan barely made a clearance, but Barnes missed the shot from close range.

Burnley got another chance shortly afterwards, when Barnes' free-kick melee from close range was blocked by Van Dijk.

In the 70th minute, Klopp finally couldn't bear it anymore and sent Zhang Mai to replace Coutinho.

Zhang Mai's first task after playing is to sort out the midfield, minimize personal dribbling and strengthen pass coordination, and finally gradually suppress the opponent's quick counterattack.

Once Liverpool's midfield hardened, Burnley's chances of invading the Red Army's hinterland were much less, and the Red Army's forward line had more offensive momentum.

The two sides continued to fight, and Burnley only got a few long-range shots in the next 20 minutes.

The most threatening one was in the 80th minute, Woodburn shot from the left, but unfortunately it missed the far corner slightly.

Liverpool, which gradually took the initiative, launched a positional attack without haste, and finally overtook the score in the 87th minute.

This time, Zhang Mai made a through pass in the middle, and Mbappe from the right shot into the lower right corner from 25 yards.

2-1, Liverpool reversed the score near the end of the game.

With a sigh of relief, Klopp quickly replaced Origi with Henderson to strengthen the defense in order to keep the final victory.

At the last moment of the game, Zhang Mai made another wonderful pass, and Mane's shot from 12 yards was saved by Heaton.

At the end of the game, news of Chelsea's victory also came from London, which made Klopp very happy:
"This is the first time we've won a game in an ugly way this season. Usually when we're not in shape, we lose. Today we were not in shape and we were able to bite the opponent."

At the same time, Klopp also praised his opponent Burnley:
"In today's game, the two sides were more often than not competing for skills. In this style of play, Burnley is the best team. They are used to causing trouble for their opponents in this environment-they have every goal. Fighting, running aggressively and maintaining tight formations."

For Liverpool, which has the easiest schedule among the Premier League teams, there are only 10 games left in the season, and the team has reached a critical stage of the championship.

Although they still maintain a 10-point advantage over Chelsea, even a slight negligence can't hold back the car's clenching.

"We had to win more games with football if we wanted to keep our top spot at the top of the table, and in this case (referring to the 'non-football' style of play against Burnley) we ended up winning as well. , we also need to be able to win some games in the moments when the state is mediocre or even bad."

Zhang Mai, who played for only 20 minutes, received an assist and was named the best player of the game, which can be regarded as a good start for returning to China.

(End of this chapter)