Chapter 040 Becoming the 'media darling' again?

On December 20th, the Premier League has entered the 17th round. At Anfield, the Red Army Liverpool faced Wolverhampton.

Since the Bolton Act came into effect in 1995, Liverpool has lost the glory of the 1980s due to problems such as economy, macro-environment and internal policies. However, in England, Liverpool with its rich heritage is still a team that many Premier League teams need to look up to. Obviously, Wolverhampton is one of them.

Under the leadership of Benítez, the Reds are still going strong this year. The team has well-known players such as Michael Owen, Gerrard, Baros, Hyypia, and many outstanding new stars. Liverpool is a star-studded team and its strength should not be underestimated.

In the last minute of the game, Dave asked Wang Li to be a free man, which instantly reversed the situation on the field and enabled the team to win the game, which also gave him great confidence. Before coming to Liverpool, Dave even thought about taking the victory away. In his mind, he also had an accurate positioning for the always surprising Wang Li, that is, to act as a free man and play freely.

'This kind of almost all-round talented player can only show his strength if he can play according to his feeling,' Dave thought.

But is it really so?

Anfield Stadium was very crowded today, and almost all the stands were filled with fans. A total of 45,600 tickets were sold for this game, and among them, more than 3,000 were Wolverhampton fans. They all followed the team to cheer for Liverpool. For the previous Wolverhampton, this was unimaginable. The main reason why the fans were so enthusiastic was that the team performed very well in the last two games, and the performance of several young players, especially 'Dancing Master Allen', gave them the motivation to support the team!

There were many reporters here today, and the entire perimeter of the venue was almost completely occupied by cameras. Normally, there would never be so many reporters in a match with such a huge difference in strength. Most of them came for Wang Li. The 16-year-old had performed so well in the previous two games, so they all wanted to see if this magical kid with oriental blood could still perform a gorgeous dance or a dream dance in front of the powerful Liverpool.

As the fans expected, referee B. Barry blew the whistle to start the game. Wolverhampton kicked off and attacked towards Liverpool's half.

After a few passes, the ball was handed to Wang Li who had just made a run. The latter did two bicycle kicks with his feet and passed Diouf in front of him. After shaking off Diouf, two Liverpool defenders immediately rushed up. The head coach had emphasized before the game that they must be careful of this young black-haired boy. Benitis had great prestige in the team, and they didn't want to be reprimanded by the head coach for conceding a goal because of a little carelessness.

Wang Li stared closely at the Liverpool players who came to double-team him, and at the moment when they double-teamed him, he poked the ball between them, then used a Lingbo Weibu footwork to pass through the gap between their bodies.

However, after dodging two people, before he could catch up with the ball, the ball had been intercepted by a short black guy in a red team uniform. Just now, after seeing Wang Li poking the ball, this guy made a slashing tackle from the side and snatched the ball away in an instant.

The small black man smiled at Wang Li, and then passed the ball directly to the front court.

Veteran Benitis is very slippery. He learned a lot of information about Wang Li from the Internet or scouts. According to the characteristics of Wolverhampton, he arranged a 442 chain defense tactic, with several people double-teaming each position, using the players' physical strength to increase the ability of targeted defense.

This catenaccio defense tactic is very suitable for teams with poor coordination ability, relying on the performance of stars for a long time, or being completely rough. However, it is just a joke to play against efficient teams like Manchester United and Chelsea. Benitis understands this very well.

Their opponent today is Wolverhampton, so this tactic is most suitable for this game.

Since this interruption, Anfield Stadium has staged a tragedy for Wolverhampton and Wang Li...

Liverpool relied on its strong midfield mobility and the connection between the backcourt and the midfield, like a tight machine, to provide the frontcourt with a steady stream of scoring opportunities. On the defensive side, through the tacit cooperation between Cowell, Gerrard and several defenders, it was not weak at all.

As a free man, Wang Li seemed to have completely lost his form during the game. He ran around in the frontcourt, midfield and backcourt in vain like a novice player, but to no avail.

He was at a loss. As a free man, what should he do? Every time he dribbled, he would be double-teamed. They would never leave any space for him to pass the ball or dribble past others. He had been intercepted three times in a row. And many times, his teammates simply couldn't pass the ball to him. Even if Liverpool didn't adopt any special tactics against him, it was still the same. This game also made him realize the gap between himself and the star players of the top clubs.

…

In the 17th minute of the game, Wang Li dribbled past two players but was intercepted by Kewell. Seeing the opportunity, Kewell immediately passed the ball to Gerrard, the most trusted player in the team.

Gerrard half-protected the ball and dodged Newton next to him, then made a straight pass. Owen successfully made an offside, got the ball and ran quickly. Facing the attacking Paul Jones, Owen made a light lob shot to open the scoring.

"Gerrard, Owen, it's our Michael Owen, our England's golden boy!!! goooooo...al...!! The ball goes in, the score is 1:0, Liverpool is leading."

…

Just five minutes after the last goal, it was Gerrard again. After receiving the pass from his teammate near the Wolverhampton penalty area, he deceived two defenders in a row, adjusted his rhythm to the left, and shot the ball towards the goal with his right leg!

Paul Jones is 34 years old this year. He came to Wolverhampton just to rely on his experience to earn some salary. Faced with this shot with almost impeccable speed, power and angle, he had no way to deal with it and didn't even have any reaction.

"Gerrard...long shot!!! Ah...the ball goes in!! It's Gerrard's long shot, it's such a beautiful shot!!! Gerrard, our midfield engine, your long shot is just as powerful!!! The score becomes 2:0!!!"

…

Liverpool's players played with rhythm and feeling, and the whole game almost became a group performance for them.

In the 53rd minute, left winger Smicer took advantage of a corner kick and performed a beautiful overhead kick in Wolverhampton's small penalty area, which amazed all the fans!

Even Wang Li secretly gave him a thumbs up for this action!

…

In the 71st minute of the game, after a series of passes, the ball reached Gerrard at the edge of the penalty area.

After he dribbled past a defender, he took a long shot!

Paul Jones turned sideways to save the ball, and Irving pushed the ball into the empty goal amid the chaos, making it 4:0.

…

Until the end of the game, Dave's mind was still in a mess. He didn't understand why the game turned out like this. Today's lineup was exactly the same as the previous round. Wang Li acted as a free man, and the positions of others remained basically unchanged.

Originally, according to Dave's idea, this lineup would not be too far off even if it couldn't beat Liverpool, but the result didn't go according to his thinking...

It can only be said that in terms of professional tactics, Dave is indeed far behind these old foxes. Benitis just made a move and dissolved his tactics.

However, is it really appropriate for Wang Li to play as a libero? Dave does not have an accurate answer to this question, which needs to be proved in practice.

All the reporters who came to interview today returned disappointed. They did not see any exciting offensive battle, nor did they see any good performance from Alan Wang, the new English star. Could this be another shooting star?

After the game, Benitis didn't care about the victory. When asked by reporters what he thought of Wolverhampton's No. 99 Allen Wang, he said: "This player's dribbling skills are still good. He easily passed our players several times, but the Premier League is not a place for individual heroism. Football is a game of eleven people..." He didn't say anything else. The reporters in the audience nodded, indicating that they understood what he meant.

"So, you mean that Alan Wang sticks to the ball too much, or...?" one of the reporters asked persistently.

"I didn't say that. He is not one of my players. How he plays or what method he uses is not something I should care about."

After saying that, he stood up and left the press conference, causing the reporters to blame Wang Li for all their anger today. It seemed that he would be the protagonist of tomorrow's news again, but this time it was just negative news...;