Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 397 After Christmas (2)

12月30日，2018/19赛季英超第20轮，也是2018年的最后一轮联赛。

Liverpool's home game against Arsenal at Anfield kicked off the second half of the league.

利物浦近4个赛季7战阿森纳取得5胜2平保持不败，近5个联赛主场对阵阿森纳取得4胜1平。

Arsenal's recent rise has slowed down. They were tied by Brighton in the last round, but they are still fourth in the league.

Liverpool only used Henderson to rotate Fabinho to play, and the rest of the personnel remained unchanged.

Even if Arsenal are facing an ominous situation at Anfield, they still insist on rotation. Iwobi, Ramsey and Mustafi all play in rotation.

Only 2 minutes after the start of the game, Robertson made a pass from the left, but Mane outflanked the edge of the small penalty area and missed the opportunity.

In the 7th minute, Mane's breakthrough from the left was blocked, and Firmino's follow-up shot from the left side of the penalty area was blocked by Salah from the near corner.

Arsenal's first shot appeared in the 10th minute. Henderson made a pass error and lost the ball. Iwobi broke into the left side of the penalty area with a strong shot from 12 yards and was saved by Alisson.

It seems to indicate that the situation of this game is frequent. Arsenal took the lead in the 11th minute. Iwobi broke into the left side of the penalty area and made a diagonal pass. Alisson's attack and interception failed. Niles followed up with an empty goal from the right side of the small penalty area. .

0-1!The visiting team took the lead and this was Niles' first goal for Arsenal.

The lagging Liverpool woke up like a dream and started a strong counterattack, scoring 3 goals in 2 minutes to overtake:
In the 14th minute, Firmino made a direct pass, and Salah's shot from the edge of the penalty area was blocked. Lichtsteiner made a clearance and hit teammate Mustafi and bounced back. Zhang Mai stabbed into the net from close range.

1-1!Zhang Mai's goal helped the Red Army stabilize the morale in time.

In the 16th minute, Torreira conceded the ball in the midfield, Firmino dribbled the ball past Mustafi and Papastathopoulos, and finally the Brazilian shot into the lower right corner from the edge of the penalty area, 2-1!The Red Army quickly overtook Arsenal.

Liverpool's offensive did not stop there, and then Mane's shot into the left side of the penalty area was confiscated by Leno.

In the 32nd minute, Arsenal cleared the corner kick, Robertson made a long pass, Salah knocked across the left side of the penalty area for the first time, and the unguarded Mane shot into the upper corner of the penalty area, 3-1!

In the 41st minute, Arsenal made a quick counterattack, Aubameyang passed the ball, and Niles turned from outside the top of the penalty area and shot high.

Two minutes later, Niles made a pass from the right, and Ramsey shot from the right side of the penalty area as well.

Liverpool almost sealed the victory in half-time stoppage time. Firmino counterattacked and made a direct pass. Salah cut into the right side of the penalty area and was tripped by Papastathopoulos who was defending. The referee whistled a penalty.

Salah, who made the point, personally took the penalty and hit a volley, 4-1!

Arsenal, which fell behind, made personnel adjustments at halftime, and Koscielny replaced Mustafi in the second half.

In the 48th minute, Shaqiri made a direct pass. Salah waded the ball a little too far and was confiscated by Leno. The Egyptian missed a single chance.

In the 54th minute, Xhaka made a direct pass, Ramsey passed a shot from the left side of the penalty area, Aubameyang shot an empty goal from close range, and the referee also sentenced him to be offside first.

Three minutes later, Shaqiri passed the ball, and Firmino's strong shot in front of the penalty area was blocked by Leno and confiscated.

In the 60th minute, Mane was replaced by Sturridge due to injury.

In the 62nd minute, Salah made a wonderful pass with his heel, and Firmino shot from the right side of the penalty area and was saved by Leno.

In the 65th minute, Kolasinac knocked down Lovren in the penalty area in a corner kick melee, Liverpool won another penalty kick, Firmino scored a penalty kick and scored twice, Liverpool 5-1.

In the 77th minute, Lacazette replaced Aubameyang, but the intensity of the fight between the two sides dropped.

In the 81st minute, Wijnaldum passed the ball, and Shaqiri's long shot from 30 yards was confiscated by Leno.

Two minutes later, the two teams made substitutions one after another, with Lallana, Guendouzi and Klein coming off the bench successively.

In the 88th minute, Henderson shot from the edge of the penalty area and missed the right post.

In stoppage time, Salah cut into the penalty area and shot from a small angle on the right side and was saved.

At the end of the game, Liverpool beat Arsenal 5-1 at home, continuing their journey to a complete victory in the Premier League.

5-1!Liverpool, in full form, forcibly played a strong dialogue with Arsenal into a one-sided game. After this campaign, the Red Army won 20 consecutive victories and led the standings with 14 points.

After the game, Liverpool coach Klopp accepted an interview. Uncle Zha was neither arrogant nor impetuous throughout the whole process, and laughed at himself and poisonous milk: Don't talk about the championship, Liverpool may lose to Manchester City next week!
Klopp said: "This is a game with a poor score. We played great and showed everything we wanted on the field. We put high pressure on the opponent and were able to cut off their connection and organization. Of course , they also wanted to press us and that made the game intense. You have to be calm when you have the ball, though."

Liverpool led 4-1 in the first half, and the Reds slowed down the pace of the game in the second half. Klopp said:

"We knew the game wasn't over, so we tried to control the pace of the game in the second half. Salah conceded the penalty to Firmino and I was about to cry. Everyone knows how much Salah wants to score. Goal."

"5-1 against Arsenal, it's not very often so I'm very happy with the players. I have nothing to complain about in 2018."

Speaking about his 14-point lead at the top of the table, Klopp said:
"Tomorrow the advantage could be 11 points and then we'd play Manchester City and it could be eight points again. I'm not the smartest guy in the world but I'm really not an idiot - at least not always. It's really Nothing, it doesn't matter how many points you lead in December, even at the end of December. I really want you to answer this question, let's switch, I will ask you and see how you answer .”

Asked whether it would make any difference for Liverpool to take on Manchester City as leaders next round, Klopp said:

"Do you think that will be the case? When we challenged Manchester City last year, do you think I said in the dressing room 'we are fourth, they are first'? It doesn't matter, we will give 100 per cent to go. Win the game."

Klopp also seemed very confident about Zhang Mai's participation in the Asian Cup in January and his absence from the league:
"Zhang Mai's absence will definitely affect the strength of the team, but we can handle it."

As a loser, Arsenal was not convinced. Coach Emery analyzed the game after the game and thought: Don't look down on Arsenal because of the fiasco, Ozil is indeed injured!
阿森纳在安菲尔德经历了一场1-5的惨败，净负4球也让枪手在英超中第9次单场比赛输掉4球，而其中有5次都是利物浦制造。

After the game, Arsenal coach Unai Emery commented on the game and said that the score could not truly reflect the gap between the two teams.

Emery said: "We will take the result of this game very seriously, but we will continue to move forward. This result is unacceptable. This is a big test for us to test the gap between us and Liverpool. How big it is, but I don't think the gap is as big as the score would suggest."

"The last two goals of the game - the two penalties, I think it means a lot to us. I think VAR is very important, it will be used in the Premier League next year and I think it can help the referees make decisions. Better decisions. We can only think about Tuesday's game now, we know the gap between us and Liverpool is not like today's score (disparity)."

"Liverpool's ability and determination put us in trouble. We need to improve on the defensive end. We will play Fulham next. We have to adjust our mentality before then and try our best to win that game. .”

Finally, Emery was asked if Ozil was injured:
"Yeah, he has a knee injury. I don't know if it's serious, but he has a knee injury."

……

In another game ahead of this round, Tottenham lost 1-3 at home to Wolves. Sun Xingmin assisted Harry Kane to score, but the newly promoted team scored 3 goals and reversed. Tottenham's 5-game winning streak was ended. The list was overtaken by Manchester City again.

Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 1-0 away, William and Barkley missed the post twice, and Lewis assisted Kante to score.Chelsea achieved 3 consecutive Premier League away games.Later in the Manchester City game, Manchester City beat Southampton 3-1 away at St. Mary's Stadium. Silva and Aguero scored goals. Ward-Prowse scored an own goal. Sent off.Manchester City ended their losing streak and are still 14 points away from the top of the table.

After two consecutive defeats, Guardiola's team defeated Southampton 3-1. Guardiola accepted an interview after the game. He talked about the current situation of the team and De Bruyne's injury.

Guardiola: "Yes, it was important to win after two defeats. And the players did what they had to do. If a team gets 100 points, it's a 45-point season in the first half It wasn't a bad season either."

"We played well, but our opponents were probably one of the strongest teams in Europe. We played better before 1-1, but they equalized and made the game more balanced. But we continued to attack and scored. We gave everything for the second goal, but they scored in our half the first time."

Regarding De Bruyne, Guashuai said: "Let's see, Gundogan will return. But the situation about Kevin (De Bruyne) will not be known until Thursday. Of course, this is not just a game. A game worth three points, we're playing against the top team."

In fact, there is another most important factor in Manchester City's victory this round, that is, Fernandinho, the sky wall of Manchester City, is finally back!

Fernandinho is back!The Manchester City fans who heard the news were half relieved. Manchester City capsized in the two games he missed before.

Today he returned from injury, and Manchester City ushered in a 3-1 victory to welcome him. In the previous two games, Gua Shuai missed him so much.

Fernandinho has always been the core of Guardiola's tactics. He plays the role of connecting the past and the future in the team.

Guardiola once said: "Give me 11 Fernandinhos and I can level the world." This is enough to reflect the importance of Fei Bird.

Neither Gundogan nor Stones had effectively protected the midfield before, but after Fernandinho's return, Manchester City's defensive hardness has improved significantly.

The existence of Fei Bird has relieved the pressure on the defense; at the same time, Fernandinho has done a better job than Gundogan and Stones in defending the central defender. Make sure that there are always three people on the back line in the case of the situation.

In this game, Fernandinho sat in the midfield, which better released Manchester City's attackers in the frontcourt, and they played more openly in the formation.

The most important thing is that his presence can make Gua Shuai's strategy of "fighting on the spot in the frontcourt" come into play.

In the previous losses to Leicester City and Crystal Palace, it was difficult for them to give their opponents the remaining pressure after the attack failed. The big reason was that they lacked the protection of a midfielder like Fernandinho behind them.

Fernandinho was repeatedly violated by opposing players.Towards the end of the game, Hoibel was sent off with a red card for a scissor-kick tackle on Fernandinho.

Later, Guardiola was so scared that he quickly replaced Fernandinho.

You know, this is the first game he has just come back, and he can't afford to be injured before the next round against Liverpool.

The Daily Mail said after the game:
"Fernandinho is very important to Manchester City, he is a reliable low-key master. He is one of the biggest reasons for Manchester City's first two defeats. After Manchester City missed Jorginho in the summer, the impact has now changed. It is very clear that neither Stones, Gundogan nor Danilo can replace or make up for Fernandinho's role."

Last season, Fernandinho was the most critical part of Guashuai's championship. He has no substitute in his position and is considered to be the biggest hidden danger for Manchester City.

Now that the problem of Fei Bird's substitute has come to Manchester City again, Fernandinho's important role does not need to be repeated. Now Guardiola needs to solve this problem found throughout the Premier League.

……

The last game of this round was played at Old Trafford on December 12. In the end, Manchester United beat Bournemouth 31-4 at home.

Pogba scored twice, Rashford and Lukaku scored successively, Bailey was sent off.After a coaching change, Manchester United won 3 consecutive victories and averaged 4 goals per game.

With a 4-1 home victory over Bournemouth, Manchester United ushered in a three-game winning streak in the Premier League. After the game, the Red Devils general Pogba expressed his views on the game.

"We need to win and we need to put in a good performance. We're back and there's still a long way to go, but it's nice to end the year like this."

Asked what was the difference playing under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Pogba said:

"We are Manchester United, we need to be at the top of the league, it's a reaction from all the players, everyone is enjoying it. It's different, we won games with the previous manager too, but it's a difference Our style of play. We're more aggressive, we create more chances, that's the way we want to play. I just want to do more, but I want to play for the team and play more simply. .”

Pogba never mentioned Mourinho, and Herrera, another strong Manchester United player, expressed his thoughts on the two coaches in the interview:
"We've won the last three games but I don't like to compare. I'm grateful for what Mourinho has done for the club. We're in a different moment now, we have a new manager who is Like that. We're in a good moment, everyone is playing well. Our attacking players are enjoying it, they're making it easier for the other players."

"Our new manager told us on day one that when you're leading, the best way to win a game is to keep attacking and that's what the club has always been about. The best way to defend is to hold the ball and keep going. Attack. When you win a game and score a lot of goals, you want to play the next game as soon as possible. I hope we can do what we did today against Newcastle on Wednesday. We are still sixth but we It shouldn't be sixth because of the quality we have."

Only victory can make people intoxicated, but can Manchester United continue to win like this?Zhang Mai, who is about to return to Asia, expressed doubts.

(End of this chapter)