The Red Army fans and Saints fans in the stands cheered wildly! After the two sides lined up and shook hands, the captains of both teams came to the referee to toss a coin.

Liverpool captain Gerrard guessed the pros and cons and got the priority to choose the side, while Southampton captain Davis got the priority to kick-off for Southampton.

The captains of both teams shook hands in a friendly manner and exchanged team flags.

Players from both teams went to their respective halves to take pictures and then formed their formations.

Southampton still used the 4231 double defensive midfielder formation that they have been using recently today.

Lallana is still the forward, but in fact Lallana retreats to the middle more often, forming a four-forward formation with three midfielders.

The three forwards are Chamberlain, Lambert and Schneiderlin.

The two defensive midfielders are Gu Ran and Mikel.

Southampton's formation seems to have no striker, but in fact the real striker is hidden in the position of the defensive midfielder.

The four defenders are Hammond, Richardson, Fonte and Jaidi.

The goalkeeper is captain Davis.

This lineup of Southampton is the best combination after a season of running-in and changes.

Needless to say, the core of this Southampton team is Gu Ran.

So, theoretically speaking, as long as Gu Ran is restricted, the entire Southampton team can be restricted.

But the problem is that in addition to Gu Ran's own strong strength, his position is also behind the striker and the defensive midfielder. If Liverpool wants to limit Gu Ran today, it is very likely that Gu Ran will pull the formation to create space.

Let’s look at Liverpool.

Liverpool's current formation is completely different from the formation in the Hodgson era.

Hodgson is the master of the classic English 442 long passes and lobs on both wings. After arriving at Liverpool, he changed the 442 into 4231, which is the formation Southampton is using now. It emphasizes both offense and defense.

But this formation is actually not Liverpool's traditional style. Liverpool's traditional style is attack.

So, when Hodgson was sacked and legendary star Sir Kenny Dalglish took over Liverpool again, Liverpool's formation was changed to an offensive 433 formation.

This formation is the same as the one currently used by Barcelona and Manchester City, with 4 defenders, a small inverted triangle in the midfield, and a large triangle consisting of two wingers and a center forward in the frontcourt.

Of course, Liverpool does not play the passing and controlling game, but rather the pressing and attacking style.

Because of the tactical changes this season, it took Liverpool players a long time to adapt, and the results did not improve until the second half of the season.

Liverpool, who have won three consecutive games, also appeared full of confidence in today's match against Southampton.

Liverpool's starting center forward is the Uruguayan superstar, No. 7 Luis Suarez, who just transferred from Ajax in January this year.

Suarez, 24 years old, is 181cm tall and weighs 81kg. He is a typical South American human tank center.

Suarez, who was born in Ajax, has very comprehensive skills and abilities. He can not only play as a center forward, but also as a forward, left winger, right winger. His shooting, passing, sense of smell in front of the goal and awareness of cooperation are all world-class.

When Suarez played in the Eredivisie, he was already a well-known star in the Eredivisie.

At that time, Suarez and Miralem Soleimani were known as the twin stars of Ajax.

Later, Suarez was involved in a biting incident and was severely punished by both the Eredivisie officials and the club. Suarez then began to think about leaving Ajax.

Ajax, the star-making factory, was completely indifferent to Suarez. After all, Ajax had produced too many stars, many of whom were more famous than Suarez. What's more, at that time, what Ajax really valued was not Suarez, but Miralem Soleimani.

Soleimani is defined by Ajax as a world-class super talent and a super star who can replace Messi and Ronaldo.

So, Suarez transferred to Liverpool for 25 million pounds with almost no obstacles.

As for Soleimani...he died not long after.

When Soleimani fell, Suarez made a name for himself in the Premier League with his South American ferocity and won the European Golden Boot. Later, after moving to Barcelona, ​​he helped Barcelona win 13 championship awards including the Champions League and La Liga.

Ajax club must be regretting this decision.

When Suarez transferred to Ajax, his value was 7 million pounds. Later, when he transferred from Ajax to Liverpool, his value was 25 million pounds. Later, when he transferred from Liverpool to Barcelona, ​​his value was already 65 million pounds, and the penalty for breach of contract was 200 million pounds! Just from the increase in transfer fees, it is not difficult to see Suarez's peak journey.

Suarez has not yet worked with Messi, so he is not at his peak yet. But even if he has not met Messi, Suarez's strength is enough for him to gain a foothold in a highly competitive league like the Premier League.

When Suarez first transferred to Liverpool in January this year, Liverpool's performance was extremely poor. It fell outside the 15th place in the Premier League standings and was even in danger of relegation. However, Suarez quickly integrated into King Kenny Dalglish's team and scored a goal in his first appearance.

Later, in the match against Manchester United, Suarez used his acrobatic dribbling skills to tease Manchester United's entire defense and assisted Kuyt to score a goal.

This kind of playing style is definitely rare for a strong center player, which also gives Liverpool fans great confidence.

If we have to find a flaw, then Suarez's weakness is that he is not fast enough and lacks rhythm and explosiveness when dribbling the ball.

But in fact, with Suarez's footwork and physical strength, he doesn't need too much speed to get the ball into the penalty area and finish.

With strong body, skills, awareness, positioning and sense of smell, such a center is the best center in the world in this era.

Of course, biting is wrong after all. Suarez's wife Sofia is also one of the victims, even the most frequent victim, but Sofia has never complained.

It was also with Suarez's outstanding performance in the midfield and frontcourt that Liverpool was able to catch up from the lower part of the standings all the way to the BIG6 area.

Therefore, in today's game, Suarez was also the focus of Southampton's defense.

Suarez will definitely have many direct confrontations with Gu Ran, the defensive midfielder.

With the participation of Gerrard and Mikel, the excitement of this game will definitely not be less than any previous game.

...(End of this chapter)