As a goalkeeper, carry the team forward

Chapter 70 Gerrard's Penalty
历史交锋，利物浦近11个主场对阵维拉仅输一场，其余10场比赛利物浦6胜4平占据绝对优势。在英超赛场上，双方一共交锋40场次，利物浦21胜9平10负占据上风。

It can be said that psychologically, Liverpool has a great advantage.

In terms of the starting lineup, Jose continues to start, because in the next game against Chelsea, he will not be able to play due to the principle of avoidance.

In addition, many young players started in rotation, and Villa set a record for the lowest average age in the Premier League.

For Liverpool, Suarez returned from the suspension, Enrique was absent due to injury, the specific list is as follows:
Goalkeeper: Reina.

Back four: Downing, Agger, Skrtel, Glenn Johnson.

Three midfielders: Joe Allen, Lucas, Gerrard.

Three attacking frontcourt: Shelvey, Suarez, Sterling.

Among them, the happy boy Sterling is the youngest player in this game other than Jose. He was born on December 94, 12, and he is only a few months older than Jose.

With the whistle of the referee, the game began. Anfield Stadium is worthy of being one of the most terrifying home stadiums in the Premier League. Although there were only more than 5000 spectators present, the momentum was huge, no less than those stadiums with 7 to [-] people .

But today's Villa, under the leadership of Jose, is much different from the previous Villa, they played more leisurely.

In just 2 minutes of the opening, Villa got a free kick from the left side of the front court. Weiman dribbled the ball from the left side and broke through, but was knocked down by Skrtel's shovel.

Bannan is responsible for taking the free kick and passing it directly to the center.

Benteke grabbed the first spot and headed the goal from 11 yards. Unfortunately, the direction was too straight and was easily confiscated by Reina.

It is the so-called coming and not going indecent.

Four minutes later, Suarez got the ball in the penalty area, but the angle of the shot was blocked, so he had to pass it back to Gerrard.

After Gerrard took the ball, he shot directly from the HLD position in the penalty area, but was confiscated by a hungry wolf by Jose.

In the subsequent games, the two sides attacked each other, but most of them were not threatening, and most of the shots were off the goal.

In the 27th minute, Tang Ning made an oblique pass to the back of the penalty area. Shelvey chased forward and got the ball and immediately passed back to the middle of the penalty area. The ball was at the feet of Suarez.

Suarez volleyed from 14 yards in the penalty area, and the ball flew towards the top right of the goal.

The speed of the ball was not too fast, Jose's figure flashed, and the ball was easily confiscated.

Two minutes later, Villa got a chance to counterattack.

Holman passed the ball from the wing, and Benteke volleyed from 25 yards to the left. The ball hit the grass and bounced into the net.

Facing the extremely fast bouncing ball on the ground, Reina could only look at the ball and sigh.

This goal is Benteke's seventh goal of the season.

Interestingly, it was Benteke's goal that brought him into Liverpool's sights. Two and a half years later, Liverpool spent more than 4000 million pounds to bring him from Villa to Liverpool.

It's a pity that after joining Liverpool, Benteke's performance plummeted, and he moved to Crystal Palace only a year later.

It can be seen from Benteke how important a player's choice of environment is.

After Villa led 1-0, they began to shrink their formation significantly, and they put their posture very low.

Liverpool launched a frenzied attack on Villa. Unfortunately, many consecutive shots missed the target. Jose did not feel too much threat.

In the 40th minute, Villa quickly counterattacked again.

Weiman made a direct pass and found Benteke. After taking the ball, the latter led out Scotter on the right side of the penalty area, and then made a wonderful pass with his heel, and the ball was given to the unguarded Weiman.

In the Liverpool penalty area, 12 yards, Weiman faced Reina and calmly pushed the lower left corner.

The ball is in.

Before the half-time was over, Villa had already led 2-0. The Villa fans who followed the team to Anfield stood up and cheered.

live chat room.

"Rodgers is really a waste. He brought our army like this, and even a relegation team like Villa can bully our army."

"Rodgers is useless? Shall I invite you back to Hodgson? Or Dalglish will do too."

"No, I think Dortmund's Klopp is very good. If you invite him, our army will have no worries for ten years."

"Think beautifully."

……

The game continued. Before the end of the first half, Liverpool shot consecutively. Among them, Glenn Johnson missed a long shot. Although Shelvey hit the target, they were all easily resolved by Jose.

Liverpool trailed by 2 goals at halftime.

After the opening of the second half, Rodgers took the lead in making a substitution. He replaced Shelvey with Joe Cole.

In the 47th minute, Liverpool got a corner kick.

The corner kick was taken, and Villa's penalty area was in chaos. Jose immediately punched the ball out of the penalty area.

Just when the Villa players thought they had disintegrated Liverpool's offense, the referee's whistle sounded, and he quickly ran into the penalty area and pointed to the 12-yard position.

penalty.

It turned out that when fighting for a corner kick, Clark unintentionally brought Agger down. The referee believed that Clark's action was too large and it was a foul.

Well, who let the opponent be the referee?

"I only heard that Manchester United is the son of the FA. When will Liverpool be too?" Someone said in the chat room, obviously he didn't think Clark's defensive action was a foul.

"Shouldn't the referee be allowed to take pity on Lily? As a member of Big, the ranking has dropped to tenth this season."

……

Gerrard takes the penalty kick.

Due to Jose's success rate of saving points before this, Villa's players are not worried about being penalized at all.

But Jose is completely different. Gerrard is known as one of the top ten penalty kicks in football, and his penalty kick rate is as high as 80.00%.

In the Premier League, there are three people who can enter the top ten penalty shooters of the new century, Lampard, Aguero and Gerrard.

Jose has already played against Aguero and has the upper hand.

Jose has not had a chance to meet Lampard yet, but now he has met Gerrard. Although Gerrard's success rate is behind Aguero's, it does not mean that Gerrard's penalty kick is easier to save.

Jose took a deep breath and focused on every movement of Gerald, he dared not relax at all.

Gerrard also has a serious expression. As the banner of the Red Army, at this moment, he must stand up.

I saw Gerrard let out a breath, and then trotted towards the ball rhythmically.

"Upper left."

Jose caught the direction of Gerrard's shot. Under normal circumstances, it is a direction that cannot be saved. If there is no accident, Gerrard will get back a goal for Liverpool.

However, by accident, Gerrard met Jose.

Gerrard's penalty was 3-40 centimeters away from the real dead end.It is this 3-40 cm that gives Jose the possibility of a successful save.

Trying his best, coupled with time and space timeout, Jose blocked Gerrard's penalty.

Villa fans immediately cheered.

However, the Liverpool players seemed to have expected that the penalty kick would be saved. When Gerrard took the penalty kick, they all rushed into the penalty area.

In the end, the ball that Jose blocked rolled to Glenn Johnson's feet.

(End of this chapter)