On April 28, in the 36th round of the Premier League, Liverpool faced the challenge of Stoke City, the last in the league, at home.
The league has played a full 35 rounds, but Stoke City only has a measly 20 points and has already booked a relegation spot in advance.
For the second leg semi-final against Roma on May 3, Bisaklop used a half-rotation lineup.
Although Klopp looked confident when facing the media that he would never let Roma come back at home, privately he was still a little conceited.
After all, Roma is not some dark pony team that got there by luck. This is a real Serie A team and one of the few teams in Serie A that holds high the offensive banner.
The last team that thought they had defeated Roma in one round to advance has returned home.
This bloody lesson is right in front of us, Barcelona's body is still hot.
Therefore, in this game, Klopp rotated most of the main players, including Mo Yang, based on the medical report submitted by Rodri.
As for the Premier League championship, not only does Klopp not think about it now, but even the Red Army fans no longer mention it. It seems that everyone has collectively forgotten it.
Without the ties of the Champions League, Manchester City, which focuses solely on the league, is invincible.
Therefore, it is a very high probability event for Manchester City to win the Premier League championship this season.
Salah was originally on the rotation list, but this guy directly approached Klopp and strongly requested to play.
Because he wants to continue to create his own single-season scoring record.
Before the game, seeing the fighting spirit of Salah, Mo Yang hesitated several times in the locker room.
He felt that Salah's eagerness was wrong, but seeing the guy's eagerness to try, he held back his words.
Some things can only be experienced by oneself. If others say it, it will only annoy people and may even cause misunderstandings.
Not long after the game started, Stoke City looked for opportunities to attack on the right side of the frontcourt, with eight players crowded on the wing to respond.
On Liverpool's side, there were nine players, and large and small circles surrounded Stoke City's attacking players.
After Henderson and Alexander-Arnold teamed up to steal the ball, they took advantage of Stoke City's empty left wing and made a direct pass.
Henderson's kick was accurate and fast, directly inserted into the left rib area of Stoke City, allowing Salah to completely increase his speed.
After getting the ball on the right side of the arc, Salah got a one-on-one ball.
Facing Stoke City goalkeeper Butland, Salah finally chose to take a shot, but the result was that it was close to the goal post and inexplicably picked the ball over the baseline.
Seeing Salah wasting a great opportunity, Klopp jumped in anger on the sidelines.
The faces of the fans in the stands all around were filled with disbelief.
This kind of ball can be said to have no difficulty for Salah, but it accidentally missed the ball.
Mo Yang helplessly shook his head on the bench. He could probably guess what happened to Salah. Sometimes being too concerned about certain things can have the opposite effect. Salah is too impatient now and has the wrong mentality.
.
The next performance of the Liverpool team cannot be said to be bad, but the feeling of scoring a goal is always a little bit worse.
In the 33rd minute of the first half, Liverpool once again had a great opportunity.
Moreno swept the ball in front of the goal from the left, and Salah outflanked him from behind. As a result, he pushed the ball into the stands in front of the goal. He competed with the happy boy Sterling, which made countless fans uproar.
Salah himself laughed.
In the second half, the game came to the 70th minute. Seeing that the team still failed to score, Klopp began to make substitutions.
Although there is no hope for the league championship, we still have to win the games we should win, otherwise we cannot explain to the fans.
Mo Yang replaced Arnold, who was playing as the right center midfielder in this game.
Soon, Liverpool's goal came.
After Mo Yang came on the field, the first thing he did was to stabilize the team's impatient offensive rhythm.
He spent four or five minutes sorting things out before starting to organize an attack.
In the 78th minute of the game, seeing that Stoke City's midfield position was a little loose, Mo Yang started a one-on-one mode.
Dribbling the ball from the center, he made continuous breakthroughs and attracted Stoke City's defensive center line to the top of the key. He then used Henry's coquettish fake shot and pass to suddenly distribute the ball to the right.
Salah picked up the ball in the upper corner of the penalty area, which is his favorite shooting position, and directly took off and shot into the far corner of the goal.
This time Salah seized the opportunity. He took a dead corner, which made Stoke City goalkeeper Butland look at the ball and sigh.
Rewriting the single-season scoring record to 33, Salah slid to his knees directly in front of Mo Yang and hugged his thigh! Mo Yang couldn't laugh or cry.
In the end, Liverpool defeated Stoke City 1-0.
And Manchester City also defeated West Ham United 5-1 in an away game a day later.
…
At the Trigoria training base, Di Francesco was meeting with the coaching staff to discuss the tactical arrangements for the second round.
The disastrous defeat in the first round made Di Francesco wake up from the joy of reversing Barcelona and fully realized that he had underestimated Liverpool's pressing intensity and counterattack speed.
Although this formation was very effective against Barcelona, it was just a surprise attack after all, and it was the last attack they launched while standing on the edge of the cliff.
Liverpool's ultra-fast attack speed, which reached the penalty area in the blink of an eye, gave him a lingering fear just thinking about it.
How terrible!
There is also Liverpool's No. 8 midfielder. Every long pass is like a precise guidance equipped with positioning. As long as the kick is launched, it will definitely hit their weakest defensive point. It makes his scalp numb.
"In the first round match against Liverpool, we had three central defenders and five midfielders in the backcourt. The vacuum area in the middle was completely separated by the positions of several players in the frontcourt of Liverpool. The individual skills of the Liverpool players themselves were poor.
It is very outstanding. Once there is a situation where more players are playing against fewer players, we will be very passive, so I suggest giving up the three-center-back system."
"I agree!"
"I suggest reverting to a four-back system! Otherwise our two flankers will continue to be the target of Liverpool's attacks!"
"Yes, facing a team like Liverpool that is very good at counterattacks, I think the formation cannot be too high and cannot leave too much space behind it, otherwise Szczesny will need to frequently attack outside the penalty area.
, once or twice is okay, but once a mistake is made, it may be fatal."
After assistant coach Simmons spoke up, other members of the coaching staff also agreed collectively and gave their own suggestions.
Hearing that the coaching staff had a unanimous opinion, Di Francesco nodded, "How about playing 433?"
"We use Florenzi and Kolarov as full-backs. They are both full-backs with strong assist abilities. When they come back to participate in the attack, they can even be used as wingers. This will enrich our offensive methods!"
"Absolutely! Head!"
"What about the midfield?" Di Francesco asked.
"Stroman has some minor injuries and he probably won't be able to catch up. First, I suggest using Pellegrini, Nainggolan and De Rossi."
"The one up front must be Dzeko."
"..."
Then there was a lot of discussion in the conference room, and brainstorming began, which was a lively scene. Di Francesco also discussed with several assistants with a straight face, actively seeking new tactical changes.
Staying unchanged won't work, because they have been pushed to the edge of the cliff once again.