The first chapter fifty-eight: a little unexpected
In the next three minutes, Roma continued to launch rapid attacks, making Liverpool's defense look somewhat untenable.
Especially in the fight for the first landing point of the high-altitude ball, whether in the backcourt or midfield, Liverpool was crushed by the tall and powerful Roma.
This also allowed Roma to continue to gain possession of the ball in the midfield and launch a fierce offensive.
"Today Roma's offensive put a lot of pressure on Liverpool, who were playing away from home. In the first three minutes, Liverpool was almost suppressed by Roma and was forced to attack in their own half. They have not yet completed an attack. This is too rare."
"Yes, Roma didn't pursue precision when it came to sending the ball forward to launch an attack today. What they wanted was speed and a general direction. That was the case with De Rossi's sudden pass behind him just now."
On the sidelines, Klopp's expression was a little grim. He originally wanted to transfer the pressure to Roma with a press at the beginning, but he did not expect Roma to play such a concise and fast attack, and simply and brutally suppressed them in the half court.
Usually when encountering such high pressure, he will ask the players on the field to actively shrink, and then use the forward's sudden attack to drive the midfielder to launch a surprise attack.
But the problem now is that the players on the field have shrunk, and Roma did not give them this opportunity to carry out this attack.
Roma's possession of the ball is too fast, and the ball does not stay in a certain area for more than two seconds. This leaves their players on the field with no time to implement high-intensity regional pressure.
Many times the ball has been moved away by Roma before anyone is in place.
In addition, through observation during this period, Klopp also discovered that Roma's simple long pass to find the forward is not simply about giving high points to the frontcourt.
Instead, it is often given to the two wingers on the left and right, El Shaarawy and Schick, and then these two people find a way to pass the ball to Dzeko in the penalty area.
This will not only improve the success rate of the aerial challenge, but also avoid Van Dijk, who is very capable of aerial contention in the penalty area, and help share the offensive pressure with Dzeko, who is heavily guarded by him in the penalty area.
On the field, Roma continued to control the ball, and the players communicated with each other very concisely and quickly. If they had the opportunity, they would hit the ball into the penalty area.
Even if they are pushed out by Liverpool players, there is a high probability that Roma can win the ball in the second position and reorganize the attack.
In the 6th minute of the game, Roma took the ball from the wing again.
Van Dijk and Lovren tightly clamped Dzeko on the left and right, preventing Dzeko from fighting for the ball.
Van Dijk cleared the ball and the ball flew to the left side of the penalty area. Robertson rushed back to the landing point and directly went to the frontcourt to clear the ball.
On the right side of the center circle, Firmino retreated to compete with Pellegrini, but his height was a flaw. As a result, he was crushed by Pellegrini without any suspense, and the ball was passed to the center.
Nainggolan.
Nainggolan seized the position in advance and won the second duel with Milner behind him, and returned the ball to Kolarov on the left in the center circle.
Kolarov saw Liverpool's formation moving forward as a result of continuous attacks. He didn't even think about it and just passed the ball without stopping.
Suddenly the ball flew from the center circle to the right half.
"Kolarov made a sudden pass and directly penetrated Liverpool's defense."
"Dzeko timed his movement just right, he was not offside!!"
"Danger!!"
Seeing Dzeko, who was standing between Van Dijk and Robertson, successfully countering offside and rushing towards the landing point of the ball half a body ahead, the commentator Siebergrin stood up nervously and shouted into the headset.
Van Dijk and Robertson cooperated very well. Van Dijk knew that Schick was behind him, so he did not flank Dzeko with Robertson, but quickly moved towards the center.
The ball landed on the penalty area line of the ribs. Dzeko was very smart. He did not choose to stop the ball. Instead, he stuck Robertson on the right side with his body and allowed the ball to bounce into the penalty area. He moved with it.
But Sanlang Luobo's strong physical fitness, speed and defensive ability are not ordinary. He saw the right moment, and when Dzeko turned slightly sideways to let the ball in front of him, he directly knocked Dzeko away with his body and went around to the left
Instead, Dzeko was stuck on the outside.
Dzeko did not expect that this little-known full-back would be so difficult to deal with. He would grab the ball like a fly and stick to his hands.
Seeing that he was about to be forced to the baseline and lose the shooting angle, he ignored it and kicked it, causing the side net to tremble.
"fool!!!!"
Nearly 100,000 Roma fans let out a short exclamation.
Klopp was also frightened by Roma's sudden attack on the sidelines, and his heartbeat slowed down a few beats.
This simple tactic of suddenly passing the ball directly behind to find the forward looks simple, but Roma used it very well and the threat was extremely great.
Next to Klopp, Di Francesco's face turned red and he kept applauding on the field, then turned to face the stands to incite the fans.
He regretted the goal very much. If a player had stepped in from the center or from the back to meet Dzeko, Dzeko would have shot directly without having to choose.
But he didn't blame the players for this attack. The attack was launched, but the speed was too fast. Not only were the Liverpool players caught off guard, but his own players also had no time to keep up with the attack.
On the court, Mo Yang's face was a little grim. He didn't expect Roma to be so difficult after changing their tactics. Compared with the first round, it was like a different team.
"Captain, pay attention to their long-range shots from the top of the arc!" Taking advantage of the dead ball time, Mo Yang directly found Henderson.
During this period, Roma mostly focused on the combination of full-backs and central defenders on both sides of the ribs.
He is very relieved about Van Dijk and Robertson, but he is afraid that Lovren and Arnold are not strong in the ability to withstand pressure, and the young and energetic are easy to get into trouble, so he has to keep an eye on this side.
"I know!" Henderson panted, "Yang, we can't let them pass like this anymore, we need to attack."
Henderson's face was equally solemn. If he continued to be bombarded from high altitude, he could defend him once, twice or three times, but sooner or later he would lose the ball. During this period, the pressure on the defense was too great.
"I will find opportunities!" Mo Yang nodded, actually a little helpless. He wanted to organize an attack, but the team can't get the ball now. It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without straw. What a tragedy!
Just thirty seconds later, Roma once again took advantage of the high-altitude competition to seize the ball, started from the midfield again, and made a long pass to the left to find El Shaarawi to launch an offensive.
Shalawi jumped up on the outside line of the left penalty area and easily unloaded De Rossi's long pass, turned around and faced Arnold.
Arnold knew that Shalawi started very quickly, so he didn't dare to get too close, and he didn't try to grab him, so he firmly locked his position and let Shalawi pedal the bicycle.
At the same time, Kolarov drove towards the baseline from behind Shaarawy at high speed, trying to take away Arnold.
"Follow him!"
Seeing this scene, Mo Yang, who was on the ribs, pointed at the baseline and shouted to Arnold, while rushing towards Shalawi to fill Arnold's position.
At this time, Salah, Henderson and others had arrived at the side area, forming an encirclement with Mo Yang and Arnold on the left and right.
Shalawi saw that he was surrounded. He was very decisive and suddenly took off his foot and passed the ball back to Nainggolan in front of the rib area.
The ball rolled between Henderson and Salah. They both stretched their feet to intercept at the same time, but they were both a step too slow.
After Nainggolan took the ball, he dribbled the ball horizontally towards the top of the arc, and Henderson followed him all the way.
Seeing that there was no opportunity to pass or shoot, Nainggolan did not act recklessly. He came to the top of the arc and directly pushed the ball diagonally to Florenzi who was pressing forward on the right.
Florenzi stopped the ball and saw Mane rushing over. He turned slightly to face Schick on the right wing and made a gesture to pass the ball.
This move was very effective. Mane, who rushed out from the ribs, was confused about his true purpose and was forced to slow down.
Mane slowed down, blocking the side lines while slowly approaching.
However, the next second, Florenzi suddenly straightened up, faced forward, raised his right leg sideways, and launched a long shot of about 35 meters.
Suddenly the ball was like a cannonball, jumping directly towards the Liverpool goal!
The ball hit hard and fast, and it quickly started to fall after entering the penalty area.
In the small penalty area, Alisson quickly moved to the right and then flew into the air.
But when the ball came to him, he quickly stopped his hand, and then the ball missed the post and flew out of the baseline.
"The quality of Florenzi's long-range shot is very high, but it's a pity that it's just a little bit behind!" Zhan Jun explained with a smile, not sure whether he was lucky or regretful.
"It's very rare. I didn't expect that Liverpool would be suppressed like this by Roma in the past ten minutes. Even Firmino, Salah and Mane are back, hehe!" Zhang Lu laughed.
.
After finishing speaking, Zhang Lu changed the subject and said: "But if Roma plays like this, the gap behind them is very big. Once they fail to suppress Liverpool, it will be dangerous."
Zhan Jun nodded, "Yes! They have made several mistakes in their fast passing!"