My light shines on Arsenal

Chapter 268 Thick Diamond

February 8th. afternoon.

The dazzling sunlight shone into the stadium from the edge of the stands at Anfield Stadium. The green field was clearly divided into half-light and half-dark areas. Chen Yao squinted his eyes and built a small shed in front of his eyes with his hands. Only then could he barely see. things.

Liverpool fans made waves after waves of noise, and many of them were blinded by the afternoon sun, but this did not prevent Liverpool's die-hard fans from shouting at the top of their lungs.

This is Anfield, the home ground of Liverpool, one of the most terrifying stadiums in the Premier League.

The players walked onto the court one by one, and the audience took their seats, waiting for the game to start.

"Wish ya'll good luck."

Chen Yaohe and members of the coaching staff gave the players their final blessings before the start of the game. This is the twenty-fifth round of the Premier League. Almost two-thirds of this season's Premier League schedule has been completed.

Arsenal and Liverpool have only one head-to-head meeting this season, and it's a six-point game for both sides.

If Arsenal beat Liverpool, they can regain the initiative in the standings and put some distance between themselves and their pursuers.

If Liverpool beat Arsenal...

That would be troublesome.

There was no trace of worry in Chen Yao's eyes. He saw Liverpool's head coach Brendan Rogers. Rogers also noticed Chen Yao's gaze and smiled at him in a friendly manner.

Rogers is a good guy, always has been. His work ethic can never be faulted.

When coaching Swansea, Brendan Rodgers injected the gene of passing control into this team that was not very impressive among the many giants in the Premier League. Since then, Swansea has become a "giant killer" in the Premier League, proving that Rogers' Ability.

In the 2012-13 season, Rogers officially took charge of Liverpool.

That season, Rogers failed to build Liverpool into an outstanding team. He persistently asked the players to play smooth control and pressure.

But the more common scenes are: Liverpool used smooth coordination in the first half to beat the mercury to the ground, but except for the better-looking scene, the performance of the game was not threatening.

In the second half, Rogers had to return to his regular routine of low-profile defensive counterattacks. Liverpool took the opportunity to score one or two goals and leave the field with an ugly one or three points.

But Rogers did not give up on his ideas. This season, Liverpool finally showed the style Rogers wanted.

To a certain extent, the perfect team that Rogers pursues is similar to the style that Chen Yao pursues.

Or perhaps, the forward-looking coaches of this era have found the direction of the evolution of football tactics.

The suffocating pass and control from the backcourt to the frontcourt, he always finds a way when holding the ball, enters the offensive third area independently, and finally delivers the fatal blow.

When the ball is lost, the formation can be reorganized and the high-intensity pressure forces the opponent to be unable to form an effective turn and pass. In the end, he can only make a clearance. The ball will return to an ownerless state, and then he will get the ball through running without hesitation, and return to the state of insecurity. An attack that leaves a chance to breathe.

Chen Yao also gave Rogers a smile, but the smile did not last long.

He came to Anfield not to reconnect with Rogers and promote friendship.

He's here to win.

……

Sixty-seven seconds later, Chen Yao was very convinced that his smile disappeared a little too late.

"It's offside - it must be offside!" he shouted to the fourth official. "Damn it... isn't there a replay? It's obviously offside!"

Anfield was enveloped by the shouts of Liverpool fans. In this atmosphere, the fourth official looked solemn and warned Chen Yao in a mechanical voice: "Mr. Coach, please stay calm. How to decide is the referee's business."

"Damn..."

Brendan Rodgers arranged a 4-1-2-1-2 formation. Compared with the standard small diamond, Rogers' diamond is more like a heavy diamond that sinks to the bottom. Coutinho and Henderson The midfielder retreated more to help Gerrard complete the blocking and advancement.

The frontcourt trio is Liverpool's extremely lethal 3S combination this season: Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, and Raheem Sterling.

Liverpool's attack is launched through these two groups of people.

After the whistle blew at the beginning of the game, Raheem Sterling immediately ducked and ran to the area beside Aaron Ramsey. The position he was looking at was between the two lines of Arsenal's back line and midfield line. between. As the team's midfielder, this is also a position where Sterling is good at appearing.

The beauty of Rogers' use of Sterling is that although he appears in the attacking midfielder position, he has a variety of styles.

Aaron Ramsey held his own and Steve Gerrard's pass soon found Sterling.

Sterling moved laterally to the wing and attacked Dani Carvajal's defense like a winger.

Carvajal was far from expecting Sterling to enter the state so quickly.

Even veterans who have experienced many battles will bear huge psychological pressure when facing the fanatical atmosphere of Anfield, not to mention Carvajal, who is only 22 years old and has just received the starting opportunity.

Carvajal was still adjusting his mood and condition, but Raheem Sterling was already racing towards him at full speed like a sports car with full power.

Carvajal didn't even think about how Sterling would appear in front of him.

Henderson, who was running vertically, also pressed up bravely. For a moment, Carvajal felt like he was surrounded by Liverpool players.

His decisive tackle failed. Sterling did not force a breakthrough to Carvajal, but sent a key pass. The ball was transitioned by Henderson and came to the feet of Luis Suarez in the penalty area.

Afterwards, Suarez's shot turned into a goal for Liverpool.

——The pass from Henderson to Suarez was what Chen Yao expressed his dissatisfaction with.

"Calm down, Mr. Coach. The referee has the final decision." The fourth official told Chen Yao coldly, "And the linesman did not raise the flag... I suggest you go back to your seat and do your best."

"Okay, let's see what happens." Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the referee with a bad look on his face. Chen Yao spread his hands, indicating that he was innocent, and returned to the coaching bench.

"A tiny bit of offside." Dennis Bergkamp whispered, "It's not very obvious... Suarez found his position very cleverly."

As a professional player, Bergkamp's views were obviously recognized by Lillo. The Spanish assistant coach sighed lightly and said: "We can't control this."

"Rogers came prepared...is this his three-point plan?" Chen Yao scratched his head, "No wonder Liverpool has such results this season."

Chen Yao did not expect the difficulty of this game, but what he did not expect was that Rogers sent a blitz when the team was not yet stable.

The referee made a ruling and the goal was valid.

This goal has a high probability to become the fastest goal in the Premier League this season.

This goal made Chen Yao angry - he knew that he wanted to win, and he also knew that the team wanted to win. Under many unfavorable conditions, he also made a lot of arrangements and preparations for this game.

But the tense nerves looked like they were about to break from the start of the game.

The players can't be said to be in high morale right now. Their nervous nerves are extremely fragile due to the unexpected conceding of the goal.

"Focus! The game has just begun, there is plenty of time!" Chen Yao shouted to the players on the court, "Follow our arrangements and continue the game!"

Brendan Rodgers looked at the Arsenal coach over there, smiled playfully, and said to the assistant coach behind him: "Good luck, haha?"

"We've had good luck. But Brendan, this is Anfield and we deserve it..."

The game returns to normal.

Chen Yao watched the game with a frown. Liverpool's formation quickly compressed after the goal, highlighting Rogers' pragmatism and... utilitarianism.

He was in no rush to expand the score immediately after scoring.

Liverpool's thick-bottom diamond formation showed its stability at this time. The midfield three of Henderson, Coutinho and Gerrard sank in front of the back line, and the three attackers also fell into the defensive formation.

The problem comes to Arsenal.

　I have a bad cold...

　　

　

(End of this chapter)