Chapter 848 How to score a goal

After Southampton let go of Ibrahimovic, Modric and James Rodriguez this summer, the team's entire midfield and frontcourt have been greatly affected.

To a certain extent, without Ibrahimovic who suppressed the opponent's central defender on the front line, and without Modric and James Rodriguez who could control the ball in the midfield, Southampton's style of play last season can no longer run smoothly.

Unless Bielsa wants to strongly support Kovacic and Pogba and let these two young players become the main players.

But in the eyes of the coaching staff, they have unlimited potential, but it will take time for them to become the backbone of Southampton's midfield.

By supporting Suarez and introducing Fabregas and Di Maria, Southampton's tactics will definitely be adjusted accordingly.

Over the past month, including the International Champions Cup, Community Shield and European Super Cup, Bielsa has been constantly trying the team's midfield configuration and experimenting with the tactical play for the new season by adjusting the formation and changing the lineup.

He even tried a three-back formation, but later gave up.

A very important reason is how to ensure the efficiency of the team's pressure tactics.

Modric and Toni Kroos have gone through a long period of running-in. In the beginning, the double defensive midfielder did not play well, but later they successfully ran-in and the threat emerged.

As for James Rodriguez, he has been in the team for many years. Naturally, he is more familiar with and adaptable to the team's tactics than anyone else, so he has no problem integrating into the team.

But Fabregas and Di Maria obviously don't have much time.

As for the frontcourt, replacing Ibrahimovic with Suarez was tried in the Premier League last season and a certain amount of experience has been accumulated, so it is not a big problem.

Therefore, in this key battle of the first round of the Premier League, fans all over the world are looking forward to Southampton's debut of the new season and waiting for Bielsa to hand in a report on summer preparations.

"We saw Di Maria's name in the Saints' starting lineup. This is the first time the Argentine superstar has played for the Saints in the two months since joining the team. He hadn't even played in a warm-up match before."

"Before this, Southampton officials said that Di Maria did not play because his physical condition had not fully recovered after participating in the World Cup, but now it seems that he should have almost recovered."

"In this game, Di Maria will partner with Fabregas and Toni Kroos in the midfield, while Pogba and Kovacic, who have performed well in the previous few games, will sit on the bench."

"On the front line, Suarez will continue to start. This player performed well in the Community Shield and the European Super Cup. His partners are Hazard and Sanchez. This trident is hailed as the most luxurious attacking combination in Europe. I wonder if they can score against Liverpool in this game."

"On the defensive line, Neuer stood in front of the goal, and the young player Luke Shaw was still on the left."

"During David Alaba's injury, Luke Shaw's performance on the left was also remarkable. The central defender combination was Nastasic and Varane, and the right back was Danilo. This was not too surprising."

When the live commentator at Anfield Stadium introduced the Southampton players, the fans booed.

But when he introduced Liverpool's starting lineup, every time he read a player's name, he received cheers.

Liverpool's starting goalkeeper is Mignolet, and the defense is Moreno, Skrtel, Lovren and Glen Johnson.

The midfielders are Coutinho, Gerrard, Joe Allen, Henderson and Sterling, and the lone striker is Balotelli.

"In this game, Rogers deployed a 4-5-1 formation, the purpose of which should be to compete with Southampton for control of the midfield, and to use Balotelli's personal ability to create threats in the front court."

Yang Huan was sitting in the chairman's stand. Seeing Liverpool's lineup and the positions of the Red Army players on the field, he felt a little uneasy because he could see that Liverpool's attitude towards this game was very pragmatic.

Rogers knew in his heart that in terms of cards and strength, Liverpool could not compare with Southampton.

So, he plays it safe!

This match is also a big test for Southampton. One is that it is the first game of the new season and the players generally have not yet entered the league state. Their performance will not be ideal and there may even be problems.

Another thing is that this is Di Maria's first game. Although he has been participating in the team's internal training before, no one knows whether he can play his role and ensure the overall tactical operation of Southampton.

However, when he turned around and saw Henry and Ian El, and discovered that these two guys were more nervous than he was, he felt relieved.

Southampton has won the Premier League title for two consecutive seasons and also won the Champions League last season. Not only in the Premier League, but even in the entire European football world, they have the capital and chips to make their opponents tremble with fear.

Therefore, what you should worry about now is your opponent, not yourself.

Thinking of this, a strong sense of self-confidence surged in Yang Huan's heart. He firmly believed that his team could do it!

Also in the chairman's stand, not far from Yang Huan, Raiola, Wang Lei and Gao Ren were sitting in their seats.

"You two have to pay attention later. Don't stare at the players in your position. Look at the overall situation and see how the Saints players run, move and pass the ball. In these aspects, they are not inferior to Barcelona at all."

Wang Lei and Gao Ren listened carefully and nodded.

"Also, in today's football, pressure is essential. You should pay more attention to how their players use their movement to achieve pressure when they lose the ball."

At this point, Raiola smiled coldly and disdainfully: "Only reckless people would rely on physical confrontation and running without sparing their physical strength to oppress. Really smart people don't need to do that at all."

"They use their brains to think, their eyes to see, and they use the least amount of running and consumption to achieve the greatest goal."

Wang Lei and Gao Ren nodded.

Master Huan told them that Raiola did not have a very good reputation in the Chinese media, but in fact, he had a very sharp vision and was very knowledgeable. They could learn a lot from him being their agent.

It seems that Raiola brought them to Anfield this time in the hope of teaching them something.

As the game started, Southampton pressed forward and Raiola began to introduce the game process from time to time.

For example, when Liverpool's right-back Glen Johnson got the ball, Southampton's Hazard, the left winger opposite the right-back, immediately pressed towards Glen Johnson.

But Raiola didn't ask them to pay attention to Hazard, but asked them to observe other players.

Almost at the same time as Hazard, Suarez approached Lovren, Di Maria defended Sterling who was preparing to retreat to support, Toni Kroos and Fabregas also immediately targeted Liverpool's midfielder.

All the players performed this action almost simultaneously, showing their tacit understanding.

When Hazard approached Glen Johnson, the England right-back was at a loss. He didn't dare to continue holding the ball, and was afraid of Suarez at the front of the penalty area. He didn't dare to pass it back, nor could he pass it to other midfielders.

So, he had no choice but to kick forward with his big foot.

As a result, the ball fell into Southampton's hands.

"Southampton's team high-pressure tactics are not aimless and siege all over the field, but are carried out against the opponent's ball-holding players. The players' movements are as uniform as possible, making it difficult for the opponent's ball-holding players to find a safe point to pass the ball in the first place, thereby causing the opponent to make mistakes in passing and receiving the ball."

After hearing this, Wang Lei and Gao Ren kept nodding.

According to Southampton's style of play, the most important thing is tacit cooperation and uniformity.

The so-called defensive skills, physical confrontation, and even running ability are not the most important.

As the game progressed, the ball passed back and forth between the two sides.

When Liverpool attacked, Raiola would introduce Liverpool's offensive problems, such as Balotelli's disconnection from the midfield, and would also introduce why Southampton's defense was effective and what points it targeted.

When the Saints took the ball to attack, Raiola would switch sides and introduce the Saints' offense and Liverpool's defense.

After the Italian’s introduction, and considering that Wang Lei and Gao Ren were both football players themselves, they naturally understood a lot of the tricks.

For example, Southampton's midfield.

After the opening, Liverpool's closest shot to Southampton's goal was in the seventh minute. Raiola said that Di Maria and Fabregas did not cooperate well with their teammates, which gave Liverpool the opportunity to score into the 30-meter area.

But Toni Kroos retreated to the front of the defense line as soon as possible, while also directing Fabregas and Di Maria to go forward.

"Although there is still a lack of tacit understanding, at least they have maintained a compact defensive formation. No wonder Bielsa let Di Maria start!" Raiola said with a smile.

Judging from his tone, it seems that Bielsa really is planning to use Di Maria as a surprise weapon.

After finally breaking into Southampton's 30-meter area, Liverpool still couldn't find an opportunity to pass the ball into the penalty area. It was only when they passed the ball from the outside that Toni Kroos intercepted it halfway and successfully stole the ball.

After successfully intercepting the ball, Toni Kroos had almost no hesitation, as if he had already thought about how to pass the ball before intercepting it. He directly passed the ball diagonally to Hazard on the left side of the center line.

This long diagonal pass suddenly made Wang Lei's eyes brighten.

It’s so accurate, isn’t it?

Gao Ren saw Hazard's stop, it was so beautiful!

When the ball hit his feet, it stopped immediately as if it was sucked by a magnet.

As soon as the ball stopped, Hazard immediately dribbled towards Liverpool's right.

But the Red Army mainly focused on defense in this game, so they returned to defense quickly and two players immediately surrounded them.

Seeing that he couldn't break through the defense, Hazard immediately slowed down the pace.

Di Maria came over to provide support immediately.

The ball passed from the double team to Di Maria.

After the Argentine caught up with the ball, he ran into Joe Allen and immediately passed the ball across the middle.

Fabregas also chased up from behind, met the ball, and made a long-range diagonal pass.

The ball was seen almost sticking to the grass in a straight line, passing through Liverpool's midfield, passing between left-back Moreno and center back Skrtel.

By the time Moreno reacted and turned around to chase, he saw that Sanchez had already passed by him at lightning speed, caught up with the ball at the front of the penalty area like the wind, and waded into the penalty area.

"One-on-one! Sanchez!"

Countless people at the scene were so nervous that their hearts were in their throats, staring in amazement at everything that happened on the court.

After Sanchez had a one-on-one opportunity, he faced the goalkeeper and calmly shot the ball into Liverpool's goal.

One to zero!

Wang Lei and Gao Ren were stunned!

They had fantasized countless times before about how goals were scored in European professional leagues.

But this time, they went to the scene and saw it with their own eyes, and found that it was much simpler than they had imagined.