Although they lost to Manchester City 0-1 at home, Liverpool's performance was still highly praised.
The double midfielder combination of Lucas and Charlie Adam was elected the best player in the league for two consecutive rounds. This is also an affirmation of Dalglish's style of play, but the team's offense still has not improved.
The Liverpool Echo revealed that in the dressing room after the game, Dalglish criticized the team's performance, believing that the players did not implement his arrangements in the final stage of the game, but were a little reckless.
, causing the ball to be conceded.
At the post-match press conference, Dalglish never mentioned Su Dong's performance. Instead, he believed that Liverpool made the only mistake in the game and was seized by the opponent to score a goal. This should cause concern.
The attention of all the players on the team.
"Through this game, I believe all of us should be clearly aware that we have enough ability to freeze the strongest team in the Premier League, but we lack some concentration, especially in the final stage of the game."
Dalglish said he believes Liverpool are on the right path and the team's performance will soon improve.
Regarding Dalglish's remarks, the outside media's evaluation was half and half.
Liverpool indeed performed very well throughout the game and did not even leave many offensive opportunities for Manchester City. The only real mistake was in the finale of the game, when the defense was too high, causing the two central defenders to
Directly exposed in front of Su Dong.
However, regarding this conceding, authoritative media including The Times, The Guardian, Sky Sports, etc. basically believed that it was the result of Su Dong's personal ability. Liverpool's two central defenders had done their best.
As the Guardian said, "Under the situation at that time, it was very difficult for any two defensive players to prevent Su Dong from scoring. Agger and Skrtel have tried their best.
Not to be blamed."
In the end, Sky Sports did not give Liverpool's two central defenders a low score because of this conceded goal. On the contrary, the Premier League broadcaster believed that Liverpool's two central defenders perfectly froze Su Dong throughout the game, which is extremely rare.
.
"If they hadn't conceded a goal at the last moment, they would have accomplished a feat that all defenders have wanted to do but failed to do in the past few years, which is to freeze Su Dong!"
It can be said that both the media and the fans reacted very positively to Liverpool's home defeat.
Manchester City's thirteenth consecutive victory gives people a feeling of being taken for granted.
To use the words of The Sun, people have become accustomed to Manchester City's winning streak and winning games.
"They're always winning, damn well!"
But for the next game, the outside world's expectations are not consistent.
Manchester City will play in the League Cup quarter-finals in the middle of the week and challenge Arsenal away from home. At the weekend, they will usher in the 14th round of the Premier League and face Arsenal at home. This is like a two-leg knockout match, involving two fronts at the same time.
The League Cup is determined by a single game, and whoever loses will be eliminated. The fourteenth round of the Premier League is related to Manchester City's fourteenth consecutive victory. Whether it can equal the one created by Arsenal that year, which is the history of the Premier League.
Longest winning streak.
It can be said that these two games are of great significance to Arsenal.
The former is related to the right to advance to the League Cup. With Arsenal already hopeless in the Premier League this season, winning a cup championship is undoubtedly an important way to resolve the embarrassment, so Wenger will try his best to win this battle.
As for the fourteen consecutive wins, although the symbolic significance is greater than the actual significance, it can still be regarded as an honor.
But the terrible thing is that in the thirteenth round of the Premier League, Arsenal played Fulham in the London derby at home. With Vermaelen's two goals, Arsenal drew with Fulham one to one.
Wait, Vermaelen is Arsenal's central defender. He scored two goals. How could he draw his opponent one-on-one?
Look, you don’t understand this, right?
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Since playing at Fulham, Wenger has been studying the match between Liverpool and Manchester City at home over and over again.
He was repeatedly watching and scrutinizing Dalglish's defense, especially Su Dong's defense.
At the same time, he was also thinking over and over in his mind that the collaboration between Daniel Agger and Skrtel almost froze Sudong. What if Mertesacker and Vermaelen joined forces?
Can it also produce similar effects to Daniel Agger and Skrtel?
When Wenger raised this issue to the coaching staff, the reaction was basically pessimistic, because Arsenal and Liverpool are two completely different teams, with huge differences in philosophy.
Ideas are like the starting point of a race. If the ideas are different, it means the starting point is different. So what is the point of reference?
As assistant coach Pat Rice said, "We can't find a double midfielder like Lucas and Charlie Adam, and the combination of Arteta and Alexander Song can't have such an effect."
."
"Without Lucas and Charlie Adam to suppress Manchester City's midfield, the final result is that Manchester City's midfielder keeps sending passes forward and creates opportunities for Su Dong. No matter how solid the defense is, it will be difficult to defend.
If you can catch Su Dong, he will seize the opportunity and create murderous intent in the impact again and again."
Wenger knew that Pat Rice was right.
If you want to freeze Su Dong, it is not just as simple as arranging two people to guard Su Dong, but also to cut off the passes to Su Dong as much as possible and reduce the number of times he takes the ball.
With Su Dong's physical fitness and ability to run without the ball, he can always appear in the gap to respond. It is basically unrealistic to prevent him from getting the ball.
Why do you say that?
Just like Mertesacker, with his height and weight, it's surprising that he can keep up with Su Dong's running!
There is no one in the world who has that kind of height and physical fitness and can run like Su Dong, he is unique!
Then let Vermaelen follow, okay?
Yes, but if Vermaelen follows up, Su Dong will use his body to suppress the Belgian central defender.
This is the most troublesome part of freezing Sudong.
The strategy adopted by Liverpool is that I know that Daniel Agger and Skrtel cannot guard you Su Dong, so I do not place all my hopes on them, but focus on Lucas and Charlie Adam.
, suppressing Manchester City's forward passing line, reducing the number of Su Dong's possessions, and then allowing Daniel Agger and Skrtel to follow and defend Su Dong.
But in the Arsenal team, there is no double defensive midfielder like Lucas and Charlie Adam.
"Our offense will be more threatening. Can we appropriately strengthen the offensive and relieve the pressure on the defense?" someone suggested.
Wenger and Pat Rice looked at each other and both flashed negative glances.
Compared with Liverpool, the offense composed of Gervinho, Van Persie and Theo Walcott is indeed better. Coupled with Arsenal's midfield, the Gunners' offense is better than Liverpool's.
But facing Manchester City, is Arsenal's biggest threat a disadvantage in attack?
No, it's defense!
"Judging from the game against Fulham, our rotation is also very problematic." Pat Rice reminded.
With the score one to one, Fulham didn't seem to score a goal, but in fact Arsenal's offense was also very problematic.
Chamakh is no longer as amazing as when he joined before, and the 30-year-old Arshavin also seems to have declined very obviously. Players such as Rosicky, Benayoun, Chamberlain and Park Zhouyong have not been able to provoke the team's offense well or ease the situation.
Pressure on Van Persie.
So much so that the media outside are now jokingly saying that Arsenal has Robin, but no Batman.
In the absence of strong rotation, Gervinho and Theo Walcott's performances were up and down, and only Van Persie was relatively stable.
When Wenger thought of this, he was extremely envious of Manchester City's Guardiola. He had endless money and built a very strong lineup. He even built two high-level lineups to compete on all fronts.
, the rotation is also very exciting.
Without a strong lineup to back him up, Guardiola's rotation would have been shot to death.
Now, what Arsenal faces is actually a dilemma.
Defensively, it is not suitable for the tradition of the Gunners, and the lineup configuration is not very suitable, but it has more chances; offensively, it is in line with the tradition of the Gunners, and the lineup configuration is more suitable, but it may die miserably, just like the humiliating defeat last season.
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How to choose?
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On the evening of November 29th, Emirates Stadium, London.
In the quarter-finals of the League Cup, Manchester City challenged Arsenal away.
When guessing the side, Su Dong grabbed the kick-off opportunity for Manchester City.
As soon as the game started, Manchester City, playing away from home, took control of the ball slowly and patiently advanced.
When the time jumped to 29 seconds, Toni Kroos sent a long pass accurately to the right side of the front edge of the penalty area.
Sudong suddenly started and quickly inserted himself between Mertesacker and Vermaelen.
In order to better organize the defense and freeze Manchester City's offense, Wenger specially arranged four central defenders to form the defense line. The left back is Vermaelen.
But in the battle with Mertesacker and Vermaelen, Sudong took the lead and took the ball to the center, falling behind Mertesacker. He immediately turned around and blocked Mertesacker with his hand.
After Tesak's entanglement, he chased to the right side of the top area of the arc.
Two defensive players, Koscielny and Alexander Song, both pressed towards Su Dong at the same time, trying to double-team him while he stopped the ball, block his shooting angle, and force him to pass back.
But what no one expected was that when Su Dong passed the ball to himself two seconds later, he shot directly with his right foot without thinking, and actually fired a volley.
The ball was like a cannonball, passing through an arc with lightning speed and accurately hitting the right side of Arsenal's goal.
Goalkeeper Szczesny was also unexpected and flew sideways, but where could he get the shot?
The ball hit the net!
Su Dong turned around excitedly and rushed out of the stadium to celebrate.
Wenger, who was standing in front of the home team's coach's bench on the sidelines, was stunned and covering his forehead, watching the scene happening on the court in disbelief.
Damn it, against Liverpool, they didn't score for 90 minutes and only scored one in stoppage time.
Against our Arsenal, you scored in just thirty seconds. Did you do it on purpose?
