Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 425 League Duo Fighting for Hegemony (2)
On March 3th, the first match day of the 10th round of the Premier League, Manchester City took the lead at the Etihad Stadium. In the end, they defeated Watford 30-3 at home. Sterling scored a hat-trick and Deulofeu pulled back In one city, after Manchester City's 1-game winning streak, they once again took the lead by 6 points against Liverpool, who had one less game.

Not convinced!In this game, Sterling staged a hat-trick, and Manchester City's nerve knife metaphysics wore a hat.

When it comes to Manchester City striker Sterling, words such as "wonderful" and "slap in the face" will appear in many people's minds.

Today, Sterling has gone further and further on the road of happy football, and has been favored by the goddess of God in the dark. "Metaphysics football" has also become a major label of Sterling.

No, in Manchester City's 3-1 victory over Watford, Sterling completed an unexpected hat-trick in just 13 minutes!

Although Sterling's progress this season is obvious to all, it is undeniable that his scoring ability and shooting skills in front of goal can continue to improve.

In this game, Sterling wasted a lot of opportunities in the first half:

When Manchester City was unable to attack for a long time, Sterling tried a long shot head-on in front of the top of the arc. His action of drawing a bow and arrow could frighten the Watford players, but Sterling kicked the ball flawed. Flying directly to the sideline...

Sterling's long-range shot missed the sky and Watford's two defensive players were ready to go forward to block the stark contrast. The joy of this scene is self-evident.

However, Sterling's "performance" did not end. In the 32nd minute, Manchester City got a chance to counterattack. Sterling formed a semi-single shot against the goalkeeper in the penalty area, but his shot during the high-speed advancement process failed to kick the ball. Defensive player sabotage.

Sterling has been criticized for missing good opportunities one after another. However, the reason why the Manchester City Sniper was ridiculed by fans as a "wonderful work" is precisely because when you wanted to yell at him, he caught you off guard and "slapped you in the face".

It may be no surprise to fans that Sterling staged this kind of "pit first and then face" plot:

In the 46th minute, Sterling used active running to help Manchester City break the deadlock. Janmat kicked the ball on Sterling's leg when he fell to the ground for a tackle. The ball bounced and flew into the far corner of the goal and entered the net.

Although the linesman raised his hand to indicate that Sterling was offside first, the referee Paul Tierney believed that the goal was valid.When luck comes, you can't hide from it.
The passive goal, coupled with the referee's highly controversial insistence on the effective penalty of the goal, made Sterling's goal look very metaphysical, so some fans ridiculed: Sterling, the master of metaphysics, has done his best!
Four minutes later, Sterling used his smart movement to find the space in front of the goal. After receiving a low pass from Mahrez, Sterling easily scored an empty goal.

If Sterling's first two goals came easily, then his 59th-minute goal was a difficult individual show.

At that time, Silva sent a precise through ball, and Sterling started very quickly. He slanted into the penalty area from the ribs. After passing a defensive player with speed, Sterling calmly completed the lateral escape. Dancing, he then raised his right foot to complete the goal, and the whole movement was synthesized together.

In this way, Sterling completed a hat-trick in 13 minutes, directly destroying Watford's fighting spirit and helping Manchester City seal the victory.

Judging from the technical statistics of this field, Sterling's data is not glamorous-5 shots, 3 hits, 1 key pass and 1 breakthrough.

However, this is Sterling, he doesn't have very bright data, he just needs to complete a flash of inspiration at a few critical moments.

After the game, Sterling undoubtedly became the MVP of the game, and the whoscored website gave Sterling a high score of 9.5.

Sterling's progress this season is self-evident, and he has continued to increase goals under Guardiola.

With De Bruyne intermittently resting due to injury and David Silva not in the same state, Sterling took on more responsibilities. He had to organize the offense and participate in the goals. Occupy the dribble king, shooter king and assist king, set the "three kings" in one.

The 24-year-old Sterling has even become Manchester City's well-deserved offensive core.He has also been recognized by the outside world for his outstanding performance.

The well-known sports research organization CIES Football Observatory announced the latest player worth list of the five major European leagues. Sterling ranked fifth with a net worth of 1.858 million, second only to Zhang Mai, Mbappé, Kane and Neymar.

England national team coach Southgate believes Sterling should be named Premier League Player of the Year:
"Sterling has his superpowers, he bounces back from setbacks, he's resilient and he proves people wrong about him. Sterling always takes a challenge the right way. Maybe he went through Some unpleasant parts of the season, but I think he must be one of the players of the year."

……

The Manchester City media Hai Qua Sterling, but some of the penalties in this game still caused a lot of controversy from the outside world. The London media gloated and slapped the following slogan: "Manchester City lie down to win? Controversial penalties in the championship game, Liverpool cry faint!"

Manchester City 3-1 Watford.Judging from the score, Manchester City won easily and got 3 points in their hands as they wished. However, judging from the process of the game, it was a bit of a fluke for Manchester City to win.

The balance of the game tilted instantly after Manchester City's first goal. Sterling's goal to break the deadlock caused huge controversy. It was precisely this controversial goal that allowed Manchester City to successfully open the situation and knock on the door of victory.

As the British media said, the referee team of this game may be "whipped" by various media this week!

Watford formed a 5-3-2 formation for this campaign. Harvey Gracia's intentions are very obvious. He came to the Etihad Stadium to defend, and it can even be said that he has given up possession of the ball and offense.

The impenetrable iron barrel formation made Manchester City lose its former magic power, and the five-back formation made Manchester City, who is good at attacking from the ribs, at a loss.

Although the Hornets sacrificed the number and hardness of the midfielder, their defensive effect was very good. Although they did not complete a shot in the first half, they managed to silence Manchester City's fanatical firepower.

Seeing the passing of minutes and seconds, Watford is one step closer to the set goal, but a controversial penalty after the opening of the second half made all the efforts of the Hornets in vain:

The controversial penalty appeared in the 46th minute of the game. At that time, Gundogan sent an overhead pass from the frontcourt. Aguero stopped the ball too far when he stopped the ball with his chest, but Sterling, who was inserted in the ribs, happened to stop the ball. On the line, before Sterling took a shot, Watford defender Jan Matt fell to the ground and tackled the ball. The ball hit Sterling's leg and bounced into the far corner of the goal...

The moment Sterling touched the ball, the sideline referee immediately raised the flag to indicate that Sterling was offside, but the referee Paul Tierney believed that the goal was valid, and he and the line referee had a completely different opinion. Views.

After nearly a minute of discussion between Tierney and the linesman, the referee insisted that the goal was valid and City broke the deadlock in highly controversial fashion…

Judging from the slow-motion playback, Sterling was in an obvious offside position when Aguero stopped the ball on his chest, which is why the linesman raised the flag.

However, the referee Tierney insisted on his own understanding. He believed that Jan Matt hit Sterling's goal when he tackled and cleared the siege.

According to football rules, profiting from an offside position is also a type of offside, and it was Sterling who was offside first that he scored later.

Therefore, this goal caused great controversy. The Watford players asked Tierney for a theory, but the referee insisted on his own understanding.

Gracia and the fourth official also had a heated argument. It can be seen from Gracia's gesture that he signaled that if Sterling was not in an offside position, Jan Matt would not have tackled the ball, so the goal would not have occurred. ball.

However, the score of 1-0 is already a certainty.

For a team of Watford's level, facing Manchester City in an away game and falling behind in the score is almost a "death sentence" for the team-going out and fighting Manchester City with a bayonet is tantamount to playing a big knife in front of Guan Gong. Can't change the reality of losing.

Therefore, after Sterling's goal to break the deadlock appeared, Watford was in a dilemma, and the defensive end became lax, and was finally defeated by Manchester City 3-1.

Sky Sports' live guest Adam Bate said:
"Sterling's goal baffled everyone, and the reporters in the front row were eager for a reasonable explanation. However, there is no need to worry now, Watford has lost its resistance."

The "Daily Mail" also stated that the controversy about this goal is whether Sterling had an impact on Jan Matt's behavior, but the answer given by Tierney is obviously no.

Just before this round, Manchester City caught up with Liverpool in the standings, only 1 point behind.

With only 9 rounds left in the league, every point in every game is likely to be the key to determining the ownership of the Premier League title.

Now, Manchester City leads Liverpool by 2 points in one more game, and the pressure on the Red Army is undoubtedly more.

……

Later in the day, Liverpool also kicked off their own 30th round of Premier League action, taking on Burnley at Anfield.

The last time Burnley beat Liverpool in the league was in 1974. Since then, they have won 11 draws and 2 losses in 9 away games against Liverpool.

Affected by Manchester City's tight ass, Klopp sent the same main lineup as on the field, Zhang Mai still started, Firmino returned, and Lallana played in rotation.

There was hail on the Anfield Stadium, which added a lot of difficulty to the match between the two sides.

Burnley took the lead in the 6th minute. Westwood took a corner kick. Tarkowski interfered with Alisson's defense at close range. The ball directly arced into the net.

A rare corner kick in the Premier League scored directly. Alisson complained to referee Marina that he was given a yellow card for the penalty.

Then Liverpool aggressively attacked. In the 9th minute, Salah passed the ball. Firmino's shot from the edge of the penalty area was blocked by Tarkovsky and deflected over the crossbar.

Three minutes later, Arnold made a pass from the right, and Mane nodded forward and missed the goal.

Liverpool equalized in the 19th minute, Lallana passed the ball, Salah and Zhang Mai kicked the wall and broke into the penalty area to pass from the right side, Heaton and Tarkovsky failed to block the ball, Firmino was close Distance into the empty goal, 1-1.

The Brazilian striker, who was out for three weeks with injury, was in good form and equalized for the Reds.

Liverpool overtook the score in the 29th minute. Zhang Mai blocked and made a clearance in front of the penalty area. Salah got the ball from 12 yards and was also tackled. Mane followed up with a 10-yard curve ball and pushed it into the net.

2-1!Mane's goal overtook the visiting team who wanted to fish in troubled waters.

Then the hail became bigger and bigger, and both sides failed to continue to change the score in the first half.

Both sides did not make any adjustments during the intermission, but as the hail and rain became smaller, Liverpool began to gradually gain the upper hand.

In the 49th minute, Zhang Mai passed the ball, and Salah's shot in front of the penalty area missed the upper left corner slightly.

Two minutes later, Zhang Mai counterattacked and scored the ball. Firmino made a pass from 2 yards on the right side of the penalty area. Salah missed the opportunity and the ball missed the left post slightly.

Liverpool finally expanded the score in the 67th minute. Heaton made a kick-off error. Salah dribbled the ball into the penalty area and was tackled by Taylor. Zhang Mai followed up and shot into the net.

3-1!Zhang Mai scored his second goal in the Premier League after returning from the Asian Cup, raising his league goals this season to 32.

One minute later, Henderson replaced Lallana, and shortly thereafter, Klopp replaced Milner with Keita.

In the 79th minute, Burnley also began to make substitutions, and the appearance of former Liverpool high center Crouch also welcomed the applause of the Red Army fans.

In the 82nd minute, Zhang Mai made a diagonal pass from the middle, and Arnold made a pass from the right edge of the penalty area. Mane hit the crossbar with a close-range tackle and popped out.

In the 91st minute, Videla passed the ball, and the unmarked Geweiz Mensong pushed into the net from the small penalty area, 2-3!Burnley narrowed the gap.

In the 93rd minute, Sturridge, who replaced Arnold, made a diagonal pass, and Zhang Mai flashed past Heaton who was attacking and scored an empty goal.

4-2!Zhang Mai scored twice to help Liverpool finally seal the victory.

……

Liverpool's victory this round has retaliated hard against those sunspots who expected the Red Army to lose the chain, and once again suppressed Manchester City to lead the Premier League by 1 point.

Not only that, after the game, Liverpool also sent good news, confirming that the seriously injured general Chamberlain will return to the game.

According to the British media Sky Sports report, Klopp has confirmed that Chamberlain can come back. Since the truce due to a serious injury in April last year, Chamberlain will finally return to the game.

Speaking to Liverpool's official website, Klopp said:

"Our plan is to give Oxlade-Chamberlain some game time. From the training point of view, he is doing very well, which is very exciting. But we all know that training and going to the game are still different. The key is not the opponent, but the players. Conscious judgment, different focus on a bigger field, higher intensity. Players need to adapt."

As for when Oxlade-Chamberlain will be able to play for Liverpool's first team again, Klopp said:

"Let's see how his feedback is. Before the international break, I don't think it's necessary to think about it. Now it's about three weeks until the international break, let's see."

In addition, Klopp is particularly satisfied with the team's recent performance, and believes that if the team can continue in this state, no one can surpass them, and the media always make a fuss:
"The message we were sending out today was that if we continue to play like we did today, no one will be able to surpass us. We will play against the opponent, we will play against the environment, and we will play our own football, and I like that. We Gotta make sure to stay at the top of the table in such an interesting competition."

In the game against Burnley, Burnley took the lead with a corner kick. Klopp believes that goalkeeper Alisson was bumped while defending, so this goal should not be counted:
"Normally it's not allowed, if the referee has a better view, I don't know. I thought it was a foul at first sight and now we see the footage, you can't treat goalkeepers like that. "

(End of this chapter)