On January 21, 2017, in the 22nd round of the Premier League, Liverpool faced the relegation team Swansea at home.
In this game, anyone with a discerning eye can clearly see that Liverpool's midfield has softened.
In past games, Mo Yang's dominance on the court disappeared without a trace, and he returned to the mediocre midfielder he was in previous seasons.
Mo Yang's injury not only affects Liverpool's midfield operation, but also affects the front three of Salah, Mane and Firmino.
In the first half of the game, the three Mane seemed to be struggling very much, and they were completely unable to connect with Lallana, who was responsible for organizing the offense, resulting in Liverpool's attack being weak.
"It would be great if Yang was here!"
During halftime, Salah secretly whispered into Mane's ear.
Mane glanced at Lallana next to him and nodded vaguely. He also had this idea in his mind, but he did not dare to say it out for fear of hurting people's hearts.
Lallana's organization is actually not bad, but people are afraid of comparison.
Salah and the others, who had long been accustomed to being fed by Mo Yang's various magical passes, were still unable to get used to Lallana's offensive ideas and passing methods.
This is the real reason why they couldn't connect with Lallana in the first half. They need time to adapt to the game without Mo Yang.
Ten minutes into the second half, seeing that the team's offensive end was still not improving, Klopp quickly made adjustments and replaced Van Dijk.
After Van Dijk came on the field, the Red Army fans at the scene were surprised that their defense was instantly stable.
Swansea's high-altitude bombings were all intercepted and relieved by Van Dyke in the air.
Not only that, Van Dijk also dribbled the ball in from time to time and then sent a very good pass.
He fully demonstrated his advantages in dribbling and protecting the ball, organizational skills, and broad tactical vision, which surprised the Red Army fans at the scene.
Countless Red Army fans suddenly felt that the 75 million pounds seemed to be no loss, and vaguely felt that they had made another great signing.
In the 85th minute of the game, Mane once again received Van Dijk's clearance ball, ran long distance along the wing, and then assisted Firmino in the middle to score.
Liverpool relied on this only goal to win Swansea.
After the game, Van Dijk received the highest rating in the game, won the first Man of the Match award after coming to Liverpool, received collective cheers and applause from Red Army fans for the first time, and attended a press conference.
At the press conference, Klopp gave Van Dijk high praise and recognition, helping Van Dijk break the media's doubts about him.
After the game, Van Dyke, who was in a happy mood, returned home. As soon as he got out of the car, he saw Mo Yang appearing on the small court in the backyard next door.
Immediately, Van Dyke rolled his eyes, helplessness written all over his face.
"Monk Hua, come and grab it! Haha!"
"Woof, woof, woof!"
"whimper!……"
As he got closer, Van Dyke saw that Mo Yang was actually playing ball with the dog.
No, the exact thing is that this guy is playing with the dog with a ball.
I saw the ball bouncing back and forth on Moyang's feet, like a dancing elf, while Monk Hua stuck out his tongue and waggled his tail and was turned into a top.
"Hey! Go back and rest immediately! Otherwise, I'll call the boss and ask him to come over and persuade you in person!" Van Dijk pointed at the room and said in a commanding tone. He did not forget Klopp's instructions.
He had really never seen a player like Mo Yang. He just came back after being discharged from Manchester and immediately started training with the ball, as if the injury on his body didn't exist.
Although the injury is not serious, it cannot be treated as if nothing is wrong!
But Van Dyke didn't know that Mo Yang was a blue man with a problem.
"Virgil, I'm almost healed, don't be so nervous, okay?"
Mo Yang was so frightened that he dropped the ball, and Hua Monk, a little chicken thief, instantly pushed it away with his head and barked at Mo Yang proudly.
"What's better? Look, the congestion is still so serious."
Van Dyke walked up to Mo Yang and lifted up the clothes on Mo Yang's back without saying a word. The purple-black bruise bigger than two palms was particularly hideous.
Mo Yang broke away and smiled nonchalantly: "It only looks serious, but in fact it doesn't hurt much anymore."
Mo Yang endured the pain for two days in the hospital. Once he was discharged from the hospital, he immediately received primary treatment again, which relieved the excruciating pain.
In the past few days, although the bruise has not subsided, it only stings a little, and it basically does not affect him from doing some light training.
…
On January 26, in the second leg of the English League Cup semi-finals, Liverpool traveled to the south coast.
Van Dijk started this game, and after nearly a month, he has completely integrated into Klopp's tactics.
But whether he is reliable and stable still needs competition and time to prove.
Van Dijk played extremely energetically in this game and he knew very well that this was his opportunity.
Otherwise, once he performs poorly, he is likely to sit back on the bench.
Van Dijk's excitement turned into Southampton's nightmare.
After 90 minutes of the game, Van Dijk achieved a clean sheet against Southampton, helping Liverpool advance to the EFL Cup final with a score of 2-0.
This made the Saints fans at the scene very uncomfortable. He was obviously the core of his own defense, but in the blink of an eye he was wearing someone else's jersey.
…
On February 1st, in the 23rd round of the Premier League, Liverpool faced Chelsea at home, who were currently undefeated.
Witnessed by more than 50,000 fans at the scene, the red-blue battle in the second round of the Premier League kicked off again.
Mo Yang was also present at this game, but he was not alone, but together with Pere, who was invited by club chairman Henry.
In the box, the long-sleeved Perret and Henry were chatting and laughing happily, but Mo Yang was sitting aside, his eyes always on the court and never moved away.
As Mo Yang expected, Chelsea showed a strong offensive within the first ten minutes of the game.
And Liverpool's midfielder was simply unable to intercept.
Good thing they have Van Dyke!
In the fifteenth minute of the game, Liverpool was in danger.
Kante intercepted Lallana's forward pass like a ghost in the midfield and passed it directly to Willian on the right.
But William was eventually blocked back by Milner.
William seemed to be forced to dribble horizontally towards the center, but it was actually intentional. He just wanted to draw Milner up and create opportunities for Moses.
Not far into the middle, William suddenly returned the ball to Kanter who was running in front of him.
Kante didn't stop the ball and stuffed the ball directly behind Milner's empty body.
Moses, who was ambushing on the sideline, immediately increased his speed and chased the ball.
At the critical moment, Van Dijk magically appeared on the right, got the ball in front of Moses, stuck Moses behind him, and then kicked the ball calmly and freely to Alisson who came up to respond.
Fans at the scene were very baffled and surprised by Van Dijk's sudden appearance in Kanter's passing lane.
It was not until the big screen replayed that everyone saw that Van Dijk had already started running to the right when William's return ball was still on the way.
This is obviously an advance prediction of Chelsea's attack that has not yet happened.
This discovery horrified Blues fans, but made Reds fans ecstatic.
When Klopp in the coaching area saw Van Dijk's performance, he smiled so hard that he couldn't close his mouth and kept applauding!
This is the core of the defense he is looking for, a cornerstone of the defense that feels unshakable and a true leader on the defensive front.
So the next game became a personal performance for Van Dijk and Alisson.
In Liverpool's backcourt, there was no way for Chelsea to get over the mountain of Van Dijk, no matter whether they were on the ground or in the air, with all kinds of steals, clearances, and interceptions.
Even if he occasionally passed Van Dijk, he still couldn't get around Alisson's ten fingers.
Alisson and Van Dijk's tacit defense was Klopp's biggest surprise in this game.
In Klopp's eyes, these two guys sometimes work together perfectly, and I don't know how this tacit understanding came about.
At this time, countless Red Army fans have been conquered by Van Dijk's performance.
In the end, the red-blue battle ended in a draw with a score of 0-0, with each side taking one point.
But every fan knows that Liverpool did not lose not because of their good performance, but because of the highlight performances of Van Dijk and Alisson.