The Young Lion

Sitting on the coach bench of the away team at the Lion King Stadium, Benitez still has that unsmiling demeanor. ..

He returned to England and came to the Premier League to coach Liverpool, which is not qualified for the Champions League. He was not described by the media as a regression. In fact, the presence of Aldridge in the Premier League made it a matter of course for many excellent coaches to go to the Premier League.

Aldridge is a great stepping stone!

If Aldridge's rule can be ended here and the Lion Dynasty overthrown, such a feat will be enough to raise the status of a coach to the pinnacle of contemporary football!

But Benitez also understands the truth that haste makes waste, and it is unlikely to end Millwall in the short term.

However, he wants to reshape Liverpool's temperament, confidence, and inner quality in key battles!

Coming to the Lion King Stadium, it is hard to say that this is a simple competition between him and Aldridge, and more importantly, it is the polishing of posture.

Liverpool can't tremble in the majesty of the wild lion like in the past, they must straighten their spines, dare to have a direct dialogue with Millwall, and make the heart beat even stronger!

When the Red Army came here, they didn't mean to compromise, and they would be satisfied if they took away one point.

Benitez doesn't even care about points!

In the long run of the league, Liverpool's endurance and bench thickness are not enough to support them to compete with Millwall and Chelsea in the short term.

What Benitez wants is the spirit, the quality of the game, and the score, which is just the result, which is not the most important thing compared to this period.

Today's Liverpool's lineup structure is very similar to that of Millwall.

Regardless of the back line, it has long been concluded that the 4-back has become the international mainstream. On the midfield line configuration. Defensive midfielder. The organizational midfielder, assault midfielder, Sissoko, Carrick, Gerrard are almost the same as De Rossi, Alonso and Nedved on the Millwall side.

It's just at the forefront of the formation. Millwall used 3 forwards. Liverpool could not achieve the ultimate attack, and the wingers had to take into account more defense, so the position was retreated, which can also be called a winger or a full-back.

From the first minute of this match between the Wild Lions and the Red Army, there was a big scene of opening and closing!

At the beginning of the game, Ronaldo broke through Riise from the side and then cut to the center to pass the ball to the center of the goal. Hyypia turned around and put a shovel to prevent the ball from rolling to Villa's feet.

Almost got himself an own goal. The ball rubbed against the outside of the post and rolled out of the baseline!

There was an exclamation in the stands.

Hypia didn't change his face after getting up, and his mentality was not affected at all. As if he was very confident in his tackle clearance.

Two minutes later, Liverpool counterattacked, Carrick and Gerrard made an excessive pass back and forth in the middle, and then Carrick split the ball to the right, Garcia cut the ball inside, Lahm thought he was going to force it Unexpectedly, this was an illusion. Garcia passed the ball to Gerrard in the middle, and then quickly ran behind Ram. The ball goes straight to the space between Selam and Silva.

Garcia made a pass directly in front of the bottom line on the right side of the penalty area.

Owen didn't take off in front of the goal, and Nesta's marking of him was very good, but the ball was not passed to the middle of the goal, but from the back point!

Kewell almost outflanked him at the back point. Fortunately, the experienced Schneider followed him closely. He blocked Kewell with his body and then jumped to clear the ball with a header!

Millwall also quickly counterattacked, Alonso passed the ball to Ronaldinho, and the latter passed directly over the top!

There is not much space left for Villa to charge forward. Ronaldinho's pass needs to be very precise. Although Ronaldinho's pass is almost perfect, there are still some errors. When the ball touched, Reina had already rushed out!

Villa couldn't stop the ball, so he could barely shoot the ball towards the goal with his toes, but Reina was almost in front of him, spreading his arms to expand the defensive area, the ball hit Reina's shoulder and bounced into the air, Reina Don't panic, turn around and wait for the ball to fall, and easily put the ball in your arms.

Villa turned his head in the direction of Ronaldinho and gave a thumbs up. If Reina's reaction was slower and he was not decisive enough to abandon the goal, Villa might easily have a one-handed chance for this ball.

Perhaps, Reina has also been improving himself in a targeted manner over the years.

When he was abandoned by Barcelona, ​​it was the Van Gaal era. The reason for Van Gaal's abandonment of him was: Valdés had a larger range of activities than Reina!

Aldridge looked thoughtful on the sidelines.

In terms of strength, Millwall must be much better than Liverpool.

However, it can be seen from the details of the scene that Liverpool used reasonable tactics to compress the strength difference between the two teams.

The overall rhythm of the Premier League has been getting faster and faster in recent years, and the team's physical advantage has gradually become a major feature in European football.

Many teams play Premier League teams, regardless of whether the tactics are reasonable or how the players are, just being frightened by the terrifying pace of the Premier League shuttle back and forth!

This is also the foundation for the Premier League team to become a top group in European football during this period!

However, a few years later, when other top teams in the league also strengthened their physical fitness, or adapted to the rhythm, or controlled in other ways, the Premier League team was tactically rigid and the disadvantages of excessive pursuit of speed were exposed again. An important reason for the decline of Europe's status.

Benitez took over the team from last season to this season, and the results of the transformation have begun to pay off in real terms. On the one hand, the team's physical fitness, and on the other hand, the sensitivity to the rhythm of the game.

Although the roles of the two teams are similar, there is still a big difference in usage. Just like Millwall's winger, the winger and full-back attack more obviously, while Liverpool's winger and full-back mostly invest in defense, especially Full backs are afraid to attack the frontcourt.

Therefore, such a picture is often seen in the game.

When Millwall attacked Liverpool's half, Millwall had at least 5 players to play Liverpool's at least 7 players, and the space was small.

And when Liverpool played a fast counterattack, they pushed their offense across the half. It was three or four players playing against Millwall's defensive system of around four players, and the space was relatively large.

This is the biggest difference between main attack and counterattack, and the advantages and disadvantages of space conditions.

Therefore, the two teams played passionately, fast break and fast defense, which was dizzying.

The test of Liverpool is the ability of individual soldiers. Their offensive style is wide open, and often the winger or midfielder Gerrard can break through, and the offensive situation is extremely beneficial to them.

The test of Millwall is delicate skills and small-scale team cooperation. After all, the space is relatively small, and the opponent has more defensive players, so the offensive requirements are more refined.

Liverpool was the first to play a threatening attack. In the 17th minute, Kewell took advantage of Schneider's assist to attack and failed to complete the attack. On the contrary, he moved forward rapidly along the way. It can be said that he chose the most favorable direction in the transition of offense and defense to grasp the offense. , Benitez has gone through a key deployment before the game, whether it is Carrick or Gerrard, the offensive instigation and offensive transfer during the game are all seeing blood!

Kewell dribbled the ball along the wing and quickly advanced the attack to the wing of Millwall's penalty area. His cross timing was very good, and he kept adjusting the ball, allowing Nesta and Silva to retreat. Suddenly a pass was made, and it was passed to the back of the middle. The two central defenders braked and rushed out. It must be too late!

De Rossi's prediction of the landing point was correct, but he also had to adjust his body's center of gravity, but Gerrard stepped on the pace and grasped the rhythm well when he rushed up from the back and jumped straight to the top of the ball!

This header from the back of the penalty spot is more like a volley!

And the angle of the goal where the ball flies is also a bit tricky!

Aldridge almost closed his eyes and was ready to listen to the celebrations of the Liverpool players, because as time went by, he became more and more worried about Bout. Pagliuca is about to retire, and he will be 39 years old next month. He really can't count on it. .

But this time, Bout made an astonishing save. He threw himself to the right side of the goal and touched the ball with his right fingertip at the limit saving distance!

The ball deflected slightly, and then, boom!

Hitting the outside of the goal post popped the bottom line!

Gerrard knelt in the Millwall penalty area with an unbelievable face!

This is Liverpool's best chance since the start!

omg! Bout made a world-class save! He denied Gerrard's must-have goal! Look, Benitez, who has been motionless on the coach's bench like a sculpture, has changed his expression. It's hard Describe his expression at the moment, it doesn't look like anger, loss, regret!

Yes, Benitez should be sorry and disappointed, but he thought about it, he should be happy that the team can have such a performance, after all, what he wants is the quality of the game, and he needs Liverpool to play the momentum that belongs to the Red Army!

Can't ask for too much!

If it is against ordinary opponents, of course he will have other emotions, but against Millwall, he should be satisfied with such an offense, although he will still restrain himself and will not write his psychological performance on his face.

Bout saved Gerrard's very threatening shot, which caused the atmosphere of the Lion King stadium to rise suddenly, and the scene applauded loudly.

Others may feel nothing.

Aldrich's mood fluctuated, which was a false alarm.

In fact, the ball just now was regarded as Bout's super-level performance, which was a big challenge for the top goalkeeper, but Bout made such a save.

In the past, Aldridge would not have worried, he would have entered if he was entered, and he would not blame the goalkeeper, but if Bute caught it, it would be a small surprise.

That's how Bout occasionally does well on a steady basis.

But now, with the hidden danger of his instability, subconsciously, he seems to believe that it is impossible for him to perform at a super level. This is a wrong psychological reaction, but there is no way to control it.

It would be great if he didn't make occasional low-level mistakes, and Aldridge doesn't have to always think about the goalkeeper position in his heart. Itchy and uncomfortable...(to be continued...)

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