Southampton used the 442 formation which they are currently more familiar with.

Although head coach Adkins prefers the pragmatic 4231 defensive counterattack formation, Southampton's 4231 is still immature and cannot even be considered a semi-finished product. Therefore, for a long time in the early stage, the 442 formation must be the main one. First, play the 442 defensive counterattack tactics well, and then gradually transition to the 4231.

In Southampton's starting lineup, the two forwards are No. 11 Guli and No. 20 Lallana.

There is no need to say much about Lallana. As a product of the Saints' youth training, Lallana is also the offensive core of Southampton.

Lallana is not only fast, has good footwork, a wide field of vision, and flexible positioning, he can dribble and shoot with both feet, but he is also humble and easy to get along with. In addition, he is also handsome, so he is also called the flower of Southampton.

In addition to the nickname "Team Flower", Lallana also has another nickname "Lalala".

Lallana is very calm and composed when dribbling past opponents, and can often perform spectacular scenes of dribbling past opponents in a small area, which has the charm of "two yin and yang give birth to four images" and "four ounces move a thousand pounds", so Lallana is also called Lalala.

Another forward, Guli Doprado, is from Brazil. He is 28 years old, 190cm tall, and is a typical center forward.

At present, Gully is still on loan at Southampton. If he performs well enough, Southampton will officially buy him from the Italian Cesena club.

He and Lallana's striker partnership also follows the approach of one tall and one fast.

Gully's role is more to attract firepower from the defense, helping Lallana to create space and pass the ball.

As a striker, Gully didn't score many goals, but his role was not low.

The left midfielder is No. 21 Lee Holmes.

This player is not tall, only 170cm, but he is fast, flexible, has very good physical fitness, and is good at passing, but his defense is average.

In Southampton, the young Chamberlain is actually stronger than Holmes in the left midfield position. However, Adkins took into account Holmes' experience and Chamberlain's rashness, so he decided to play it safe and let the more stable Holmes start.

The right midfielder is No. 4 Morgan Schneiderlin.

Schneiderlin is considered to be Southampton's midfield general. His long passes are very accurate, his vision is wide enough, his range of movement is relatively large, and his defensive interceptions and steals are also in place.

Putting Schneiderlin on the right also takes into account that Schneiderlin can quickly assist in defending the middle to guard against the quick attacks of the opposing "Little Mark" and "Biscuit".

In this game, Schneiderlin also has a very heavy task.

The two midfielders are Dean Hammond, No. 14, and Anthony Pulis, No. 36.

Dean Hammond is also considered a veteran. He has plenty of stamina, good defensive positioning, and rich experience.

Anthony Pulis is also a veteran, but he is mediocre in all aspects except his physical fitness.

——It is worth mentioning that Anthony Pulis’ father is the famous Tony Pulis, the master of the sideline grenade tactics.

Tony Pulis once played football for Hong Kong Happy Valley Club when he was young. Of course, this is not the most amazing thing. The most amazing thing is that Tony Pulis obtained the British coaching license at the age of 19 and the European coaching license at the age of 21.

While other kids wanted to play football and become stars, Tony Pulis wanted to be a coach since he was a child.

Currently, Tony Pulis is coaching Stoke City. He helped Stoke City to successfully win promotion to the Premier League in the 07/08 season, and during his second term as coach of Stoke City, he brought Stoke City to the middle of the Premier League.

Tony Pulis's tactics are very conservative, but the success rate is extremely high. In all his coaching career, the team has never been relegated. As long as Tony Pulis is invited to be the relegation coach, the team can be brought to above the mid-table.

Tony Pulis created the sideline grenade tactic, making the sideline throw-in a tactic as deadly as a corner kick. All major teams have followed suit, and players have also increased their upper body strength and waist and abdominal core strength training.

It's a pity that despite having such an excellent father, his son Anthony Priss is far from being as good as he is.

Anthony has been playing in the English League Two for many years. Now at the age of 26, he still has no ambition to make progress and just muddles through.

When Southampton Club signed Anthony, they did want Anthony to persuade his father to coach Southampton Club.

However, Tony Pulis had no desire to coach the club his son was at.

Southampton club then had to settle for the second best and found Adkins as the new head coach.

The left back is No. 3 Dan Harding, who used to play in the Championship and does have some ability.

The right back is Danny Butterfield, a 30-year-old veteran who has been playing for English League Two teams for many years. He seems to be working hard during training and games, but in fact he is not working hard.

The two central defenders are the team vice-chairman No. 16 Paul Walton and No. 15 from the golden generation of Tunisia: Jedi Jaidi.

Paul Walton started out as a midfielder and is very experienced in connecting the defensive areas between the midfield and center back.

The only problem is that Walton is 33 years old this year, and his physical fitness and confrontation have declined significantly.

Jedi Jaidi, who is one year older than him, is much stronger than him. Jedi Jaidi is tall, fierce in head-on interception, has super confrontation ability, strong high-altitude energy, and good physical fitness, but he is too slow in chasing back and turning around. Once he is broken through, he is basically finished.

Finally, the goalkeeper is No. 1 Calvin Davis.

Davis is a veteran of the Southampton team. He started from the Premier League team Sunderland, but was only the second goalkeeper in Sunderland. After coming to the Southampton club, he quickly became the main goalkeeper. His advantages are that he is very agile, very calm, has a quick reaction speed, is very good at dealing with one-on-one situations, is experienced, and is good at loudly commanding teammates in the penalty area.

Although he is 33 years old this year, goalkeepers always get better with age.

The opposing Liverpool team, just as coach Adkins had analyzed before the game, deployed a 451 formation that was both offensive and defensive.

The forward at the front is Milan "The Viper" Jovanovic.

Why is he called Viper? Because he is very fast, and he starts suddenly, and his attack is fatal! When he was playing for Standard Liege, he was punished by the head coach for fighting with his teammates on the training ground and was forced to sit on the bench. But even so, Jovanovic still scored 12 goals in a very limited playing time.

The goal-scoring efficiency is evident.

Liverpool's three forwards are Maxi Rodriguez, Christian Poulsen and N'Golo Kante.

In fact, the nickname "Little Marco" is not only used by Maxi Rodriguez. Mascherano, who is also an Argentine player, is also called Little Marco.

In terms of fame, Maxi is certainly not as famous as Mascherano, but Maxi's engineer temperament of charging into battle is actually more in line with Mascherano's positioning.

Maxi has comprehensive skills, he is fast in attack, fast in defense, and has a strong desire to shoot. As a typical Argentine player, he is also very good at dribbling and rarely loses the ball on the court.

Of course, Maxi also has a hot temper.

"Pantene Brother" David Ngogo actually does not have long Rejoice hair, but is a bald man.

It’s just because he was very confident on the court, and this confidence coincided with the advertising slogan of Rejoice, giving a feeling of a monk using Rejoice to wash his hair, so he was given the nickname of Rejoice Brother.

N'Gogo is a very talented French player. It is no exaggeration to say that he is a top-notch talented player, but he has a common problem among black talented players - laziness.

Ngogo is reluctant to train and often arrives late and leaves early.

With his talent, if he had half the effort of Ronaldo, he could have become a world-class star.

Unfortunately... not every genius can make it to the end and become a real star. Too many geniuses end up being mediocre.

The two midfielders were "Little Joe" Joe Cole and Spearing.

The left back was Paul Konchesky and the right back was young Stephen Darby.

The two central defenders are Sodirios Kyrgiakos and Martin Skrtel.

The goalkeeper is Brad Jones, the backup goalkeeper for the Australian national team.

Joe Cole is known as the "midfield magician". He has a strong ability to dribble the ball, has a wonderful long-range shot, and is extremely good at running across the field.

At first, Joe Cole liked to show off his skills and played very fancy. It was not until Mourinho coached him that Joe Cole began to change his playing style, becoming more pragmatic and more efficient.

Joe Cole is also Gerrard's perfect partner in the England national team. Gerrard's organizational skills plus Joe Cole's dispatching ability make England's midfield cooperation very smooth and beautiful.

Joe Cole was originally a Chelsea player, partnering with Chelsea's No. 8 Lampard. Later, he was persuaded by Lampard to join Liverpool.

Apart from Joe Cole, the rest are basically substitutes for Liverpool.

On the other hand, Southampton fielded almost all of their main players.

Liverpool's players were very relaxed and were chatting and laughing with each other while standing.

The Southampton players looked tense and solemn.

After all, this is not a close match.

beep--

With the head coach's loud opening whistle, the pre-season friendly match between the English Premier League team Liverpool and the English League One team Southampton officially began! The Liverpool fans in the stadium shouted wildly and waved the Phoenix LFC flag crazily!

Southampton striker Gully kicked the ball back to his right winger Schneiderlin, who organized the attack.

Schneiderlin observed Liverpool's pressing formation while steadily dribbling the ball forward.

Schneiderlin wanted to slow down the tempo and wait for his teammates to penetrate forward before passing the ball.

However, the Liverpool players, who were laughing just now, quickly got into the game and pressed forward.

Left midfielder Maxi headed directly towards Schneiderlin who was dribbling the ball!

The game had just started and Liverpool picked up the pace.

Although Liverpool did not have the ball, their defense was very passionate! Southampton was unable to adapt to such a fast pace of the game and their positions were somewhat relaxed.

Facing the surging Liverpool players, Schneiderlin was unable to seize the opportunity to make a personal breakthrough and could only pass the ball back to Anthony Pulis who was lagging behind.

Viper Jovanovic steals Pulis.

It was obvious that Pulis had not yet adapted to such a fast pace of pressing, and he did not have enough confidence to face Jovanovic one-on-one, so he quickly turned around and passed the ball back to central defender Walton.

The ball was passed too hastily, the route was a bit off, and it went into the gap between the center back and the left back in the backcourt.

Seeing the opportunity, Jovanovic immediately shook off Priss and accelerated.

Pulis couldn't defend against Jovanovic's speed at all!

The KOP fans cheered excitedly! Fortunately, the central defender Walton was more experienced and rushed forward and kicked the ball to the left back Harding.

Seeing no hope of grabbing the ball, Jovanovic slowed down.

As Walton returned to the penalty area, he yelled at Priss for the missed pass: "Fuck you! Anthony! How the hell did you pass the ball? Was it shit?"

Priss knew it was his own mistake, so he ran away without daring to say anything back.

Fortunately, the ball was still on Southampton's side, but the start was so exciting that everyone in the Southampton team was a little nervous.

Left-back Harding dribbled the ball along the wing.

Liverpool's talented player N'Golo Kante came on to prevent Harding from speeding up easily.

Harding wanted to rely on his body and footwork to get past Ngogo, but when he paused for a moment, another Liverpool midfielder Christian Poulsen quickly came to assist.

Ngogo and Polson teamed up to trap Harding on the left sideline.

Under Liverpool's open attack and actual defense tactics, Harding couldn't even get through the center line, and the passing line between him and his teammates was completely cut off! However, Harding was also experienced. After a physical confrontation, Harding kicked the ball directly on Poulsen's calf, and the football bounced out of the sideline.

The linesman immediately raised his flag and the referee awarded the ball to Southampton.

The KOP fans booed wildly.

Nearly two minutes into the game, Southampton, who had the ball, only crossed the center line once when Schneiderlin dribbled the ball, and then was always suppressed by Liverpool in their own backcourt.

This is really a gap in strength.

This also reflects the terribleness of Hodgson's 451 formation.

Coach Adkins frowned slightly, stood up from the bench, walked to the tactical area on the sidelines, and shouted at a very fast speed: "Don't lose the ball! Don't lose the ball! Harding, you serve quickly! Use the width of the court! Holmes, run back, run back to the empty space! Hammond prepares for the second reception, Schneiderlin, you move forward!"

All the Southampton players on the field were cheered up.

Unexpectedly, Coach Adkins, who is usually taciturn, speaks so fast and says so much when he is directing on the spot!

With Adkins' on-the-spot command, the Southampton players immediately regained some confidence.

Harding took a few deep breaths, picked up the football, and quickly kicked the ball out of bounds.

The retreating left midfielder Holmes grabbed the ball first, and without waiting for Joe Cole and Spearing on the opposite side to surround him, he immediately transferred the ball horizontally to Hammond in the midfield.

Schneiderlin on the right has already run into the empty space in advance——

However, Hammond made a mistake in stopping the ball, and the ball bounced two meters away! Maxi, who had been lying in ambush around Hammond, immediately seized the opportunity and started sprinting to chase the ball! Hammond quickly reached out to pull Maxi!

Maxi used a shoulder collision to knock Hammond away and intercepted the ball in the first place!

The KOP stands were instantly boiling!

Within 5 minutes of the start of the game, Liverpool switched from defense to offense!

"Get back on defense!" Coach Adkins shouted at a very fast speed, "Don't panic, don't panic, shrink back on defense, block the route, and keep a close eye on their forwards! Hammond, hurry up! Priss, don't mess around! Go and help defend Joe Cole!"

Schneiderlin and Lallana also quickly retreated to intercept Maxi Rodriguez.

Facing the double-team interception, Maxi very calmly performed a Messi-style L pass.

Maxi first pushed the ball outward with the outside of his left foot, and then used the inside of his right foot to push the ball inward. This push and push was extremely fast!

The double-team defense of Schneiderlin and Lallana was immediately shaken and a gap was created.

Maxi accelerated and dribbled the ball, passing between Schneiderlin and Lallana.

Lallana and Schneiderlin's speed and reaction are already very fast, but they are nothing in front of Maxi.

Almost in the blink of an eye, Maxi had dribbled the ball to within 30 meters of the Southampton goal.

Southampton's defense also immediately contracted.

The defensive drills in the training sessions these days were not in vain.

However, the gap in personal strength is still visible to the naked eye.

Coach Adkins shouted anxiously: "Priss! Priss--"

Before he could finish his shout, Joe Cole, who was being marked by Pulis, moved up like a ghost and appeared on the right side of the penalty area.

By the time Pulis reacted and followed up, Joe Cole had already left him three body lengths behind.

Maxi immediately passed the ball to the side! Joe Cole easily raised his foot to stop the ball, and then faced the joint defense of Harding and Walton. He did not break through, but instead "stepped inward and turned" on the spot, landing his supporting foot behind the side of the ball, and the other foot drew an arc, stepping in front of the ball from the other side, making a posture of hard breakthrough.

As expected, Haldin and Wharton stepped forward to block the way.

Joe Cole pulled the ball and turned around, passed Harding smoothly, and then directly knocked Walton out of the passing route!

This wave of operations was as dazzling as a magician, with both technical and physical confrontation! The KOP fans cheered wildly! After Joe Cole passed two people, he did not dribble much, but made a low pass to the front of the goal before more Southampton defenders doubled up -

(End of this chapter)