Legend of Fengshen

Chapter 1066 Advancing to the semi-finals of the League Cup
In the first half, Liverpool didn't get too many chances, but they still took the initiative. Klopp was not satisfied with the score, but there was nothing he could do. In the windy conditions, the players' cooperation was not very smooth. The far attempt has not yet received particularly good results. Swansea's defense in the central area is too tight. It is very difficult for Firmino to get space. He doesn't even have many opportunities to play the ball. He has to come here often to the outside of the restricted area.

Klopp is anxious in his heart. Currently, Liverpool has accumulated 28 points, but they played the latest round. Manchester City and Leicester City both won the game. Currently, they have temporarily surpassed Liverpool with 29 points. Lopp obviously didn't want to lose his top spot, so he had to find a way to win this game.

The team's injury problem is also relatively serious, and he doesn't have much room for adjustment. In the second half, he replaced Joe Allen with Alli. After all, Alli's ability to advance forward is good, and he is tall, and his header is not bad.

Joe Allen can't achieve the role of containing opponents in the penalty area. He is not tall and his speed is not particularly fast, so he cannot put enough pressure on Swansea's penalty area.

Klopp's substitutions were quite effective. Only 5 minutes after the opening of the second half, Liverpool took the lead.

In the 50th minute, after Zhang Yuan held the ball on the wing, he still passed the ball under the cracks of the Swansea players, and passed it to the back point of the penalty area. There was nothing Fabianski could do about the ball itself, but Swansea's captain Williams was very dedicated and blocked the ball with his hands on the back goal line , He thought he was doing it relatively covertly, but it was a pity that Miller still saw it, and was seen by many Liverpool players!

Zhang Yuan didn't see it clearly. Firmino raised his hand to complain immediately. Miller didn't hesitate, gave Williams a yellow card and awarded Liverpool a penalty kick.

Zhang Yuan scored a penalty kick against Fabianski, and Liverpool also took the lead because of this goal.

After the team fell behind, Monk still let the team start to press up. He wanted to put pressure on Liverpool. The combination was finally not as eye-catching as before, and Swansea began to pose a threat to Liverpool's gate.

Klopp doesn't think this is a bad thing, because Liverpool's counter-attack ability is stronger, and just one or two chances can kill the game.

It can only be said that Uncle Zha is too naive. Liverpool did get a few good counterattack opportunities in the back, but the shots of the two main players in the frontcourt were simply horrible. Na's pass was directly kicked away, and then Zhang Yuan successfully reversed offside. In the case of a one-on-one match against Fabianski, he missed a single-handed opportunity and was miraculously blocked by Fabianski.

The word "bitterness" was clearly written on Uncle Zha's face!
Fortunately, Swansea failed to equalize the score until the end of the game. Liverpool also defeated Swansea with a penalty kick and returned to the top of the standings.

After the game, Klopp was happy with the result because Liverpool were tired and the weather conditions were not good today.

"It was good, many aspects of the game were good. First of all, we have to accept the environment and that's important. Both teams have to play in the wind, which is not easy, but we We had more possession of the ball, so we played harder."

"Our opponents played very organized - I believe this is the best defensively organized game they have had in the last 2-3 games. We watched Swansea's last 3 games and thought there would be some space We could take advantage of it, but when the game started we found out that Swansea had also watched the tape of their last few games and closed the loophole! It made it very difficult for us."

"Liverpool played well for the first 25 minutes - a great start and then after that we struggled, which is normal. We scored a very important goal and defended well. Excellent - Mignolet didn't have much to do so it was a big highlight for the team. We got a great result at the end and it was a fantastic night"

Uncle Zha was genuinely happy after the game. Of course, the reporters all understood that Liverpool had returned to the number one position. Perhaps according to Liverpool's state, the winter break champion belongs to Liverpool, and the league champion may also belong to Liverpool.

"It's too early to talk about the championship. What we need to do is to stay in this position as long as possible. I certainly hope that we will still be in this position at the end of the season."

"There are several teams competing for the championship, and the current situation is still very complicated. This is a difficult league, and it is not easy!"

"Zhang Yuan?! His performance today has improved a lot. Compared with his performance against Manchester City, he is much better. This period is an important period for us. We need him. I look forward to his next performance. Can show better performance in the game!"

Zhang Yuan was also happy to be able to regain his title. In the dressing room, when everyone celebrated this victory, they had to discuss Swansea's tenacity. Zhang Yuan gave Swansea a high evaluation.

"Their defense is really well organized today! At first I thought today would be an easy game, but who knew it would be so powerful!"

"Wait, this period of time is a key point for strong teams, and it is the concentrated area for mid-lower teams to score points. Look, there will be more troubles in future games!" Gerrard said.

During this period until after the New Year, the Premier League schedule is very dense, and Liverpool will face four-tier battles, the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, the Champions League and one more round, and the Christmas Devil schedule. For small and medium teams, this time period It happens to be able to take advantage of the exhaustion of multi-line battles of the rich teams to make upsets and forcefully score points. This is why there are more upsets during Christmas every season.

Next, on the evening of November 11, Liverpool played a guest at Southampton for the quarter-finals of the English League Cup. Klopp once again let Zhang Yuan sit on the bench. The purpose was to let Zhang Yuan rest as much as possible. The game went surprisingly smoothly.

This is not too strange. Southampton now has 21 points. Koeman is a very thoughtful coach. Although they are only in the middle of the list, they are only 6 points away from Liverpool at the top of the list. As for the European theater, Then they will be closer. The current schedule is not very favorable for Liverpool, but Koeman has the idea of ​​​​entering Europe, so he naturally gave up on this game to a certain extent, which is why Liverpool is actually in the away game. The root cause of the 1:[-] victory over Southampton.

Zhang Yuan came off the bench and scored a goal and an assist!
Liverpool's successful promotion to the semi-finals also brought them troubles, because in the semi-finals of the English League Cup, it is not a matter of one round, but two rounds of home and away games. In addition to the final, Liverpool will have to play more After three games, it is not easy to be caught in the next game.

Liverpool's opponent also came out of Stoke the next day. Hearing this opponent, Zhang Yuan thought of a word "stone" in his mind!Stoke City is a tough nut to crack. Even though Liverpool beat them in the season opener, Zhang Yuan still doesn't think they are a tough nut to crack.

Koeman has a pursuit in his heart, and he hopes to show himself in the European competition next season. The chance of qualifying for the cup is too great, but Mark Hughes must be a pragmatic person who knows the difficulty, so Mark Hughes must be very happy. If you want to win the League Cup, at least you won't let yourself give up resistance easily.

Klopp thinks this opponent is good. Among the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, there are Manchester City and Everton. The overall strength of these two teams is stronger than Stoke City. In comparison, Liverpool's signing is considered It's easy to sign, and Manchester City will have to fight against the strong Everton!

(End of this chapter)