Winning the Community Shield title could no longer stimulate the satisfaction of the Liverpool players.
Perhaps only the 18-year-old Flanagan was more excited.
Liverpool used a victory at the new Wembley Stadium to establish a good momentum for the new season.
After the award ceremony, Liverpool set off for Liverpool City.
Comain called Qin Xiong to his side on the bus.
As soon as Qin Xiong sat down, Comain went straight to the point and asked, "What do you think of the team's tactical system in the second half?"
Qin Xiong thought about it and said in a low voice, "It's not very good. It's a little messy. Maybe it's a run-in problem, or maybe it's something else. I can't say for sure. In short, it's not as stable as it was in the past. "
Comain pondered for a moment and asked, "What specifically is it?"
Qin Xiong gave an example, "For example, Baines is behind me. If he takes off his defensive role, where is the limit of his offensive aggression? He doesn't know, but I can feel it. If he just passes the ball out from behind me or on the wing, then he doesn't need to be in position at all. "
Comain nodded. Qin Xiong had a point. This was the most intuitive feeling of a player observing and analyzing the game on the field.
This was even more important.
Comain still needed to consider Liverpool's technical and tactical changes for the new season. The Community Shield was just a warm-up game. There was no need to pay any price for some experiments.
The new Premier League season would kick off in a week.
Sky Sports made a prediction for the new Premier League season.
The top favorite was naturally Liverpool.
Next was Manchester City!
Third was Manchester United!
Fourth was Chelsea!
Although Manchester City lost to Liverpool in the Community Shield, the outside world always believed that Manchester City still had a lot of room for improvement. Just the fact that the summer's new signing, Aguero, did not play in the game meant that Manchester City did not play their full strength against Liverpool.
On August 13, the new Premier League season kicked off.
The defending champions, Liverpool, were challenged by the black cats, Sunderland, at Anfield.
All the Red Army fans who came to Anfield hoped that the Red Army could start the new season with a good start.
Comain did not use the 4222 formation, but continued to use Liverpool's mature 433 formation.
Black Cat Sunderland came to Anfield and set up an iron bucket formation, and it was an extreme defense.
The intensive defense and foul tactics made Liverpool encounter great difficulties in Anfield.
However, in the 29th minute of the game, Qin Xiong cut into the penalty area to receive Johnson's pass from the side. Just as he was about to stop the ball, he was pulled from behind by the full-back, Bardsley, and lost control of the football. The referee blew the whistle to stop the game and ruled that Sunderland had committed a foul in the penalty area, giving Liverpool a penalty kick.
Everyone thought that Liverpool would open their scoring account and that Qin Xiong, the most terrifying goal machine in European football, would also usher in his first goal of the new season.
However, after the referee blew the whistle, Qin Xiong missed the penalty kick.
The football slipped out of the goal and Sunderland escaped a disaster.
No one would accuse Qin Xiong of squandering a good opportunity.
However, something more unexpected happened.
Before the end of the first half, Sunderland kicked the ball to the front field through a big kick in the backfield. Mascherano headed the ball in the backfield to clear the siege, but it was intercepted by Sunderland's Sebastian Larsson.
Larsson then dribbled the ball to the front of the penalty area, thirty yards away from the goal, and did not give Liverpool's defenders any chance to shoot a long shot!
The world class broke the goal!
Reina's reaction to the ball was obviously slow, and Sunderland unexpectedly took the lead in the away game against the defending champions, Liverpool!
After taking the lead, Sunderland became even more determined to defend.
Liverpool used all kinds of attacking methods, such as long shots, breakthroughs, and set pieces, but they still could not break through Sunderland's goal!
And Liverpool's luck was extremely bad today.
Qin Xiong and Suárez each hit the goalpost once.
Gerard headed the set piece high in the face of an empty goal, and the substitute, Cabaye, shot a long shot from outside the penalty area. The ball hit the arm of the center back, Anton Ferdinand, but it escaped the referee's eyes.
Liverpool bombarded their opponents with 32 shots throughout the game, but they could not break through the goal!
When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, all the Liverpool players were dumbfounded!
The defending champions lost the opening game!
At the doorstep!
Everyone was a little uncomfortable and could not accept such a result.
Even Qin Xiong felt that everything seemed unreal. They lost the game!
It was a strange feeling.
The atmosphere in the stands of Anfield Stadium was not depressed.
The Red Army fans sang the Red Army song in the stands, cheering for the team!
It was just a loss, and it did not mean anything.
Comain walked into the players' tunnel expressionlessly.
Qin Xiong left the field with a gloomy face.
Many reporters surrounded him in the mixed interview area in the players' tunnel.
"Liverpool lost the first game of the new season in the league. You missed a penalty kick in the game. What do you think the reason for losing the game was?"
Qin Xiong did not evade, nor did he lose his temper. He calmly replied, "The reason for losing the game is because of me. If I had scored the penalty kick, then Liverpool would have won the game easily. I also wasted a lot of chances in this game, and I apologize to the fans. "
Qin Xiong turned and walked away after he finished speaking.
It was hard to say how much this loss affected him, but it did make him feel a little uncomfortable. He had experienced such negative emotions before, and now it was just coming back.
He turned the negative emotions into motivation, to make himself more focused, to strive for a better performance in the next game, and to play the role of the team's soul!
Comain attacked Sunderland's tactics after the game, as well as the referee's omission of Liverpool's second penalty kick.
"Sunderland took away three points at Liverpool's home ground. They can be proud of that, but I can only feel sorry for them. They're too utilitarian. That's it. They really see football as their job, and scoring points is their only goal. If they maintain this performance throughout the season, they'll win enough points, and maybe even be able to enter the European competition. But they'll lose even more fans. Not many fans are willing to watch boring utilitarian football. Sunderland has been sabotaging and trying their luck. They're very lucky today. On the contrary, Liverpool's luck is very bad. We even missed a deserved penalty."
Fleet Street was, of course, overjoyed at Liverpool's loss!
The defending champions lost in the opening game!
It was inevitable that they would be hit when they were down.
Comain's attack made many famous players seize the opportunity to spout nonsense.
"Comain Ronald is thinking too much! At most, Sunderland will only use such tactics against Liverpool or other teams that are obviously stronger than them. For the whole season? No, they will not play like this for more than ten games. Since Liverpool are the defending champions, they have to act like champions. What did Comain say to Ferguson last season? The referee is also a human, not a machine. Of course, there will be controversy. Haha, Liverpool should carefully reflect on themselves. I'll give Comain a suggestion. Before the transfer window closes, sign a top winger. "
Lineker said so when he was commentating on the game on BBC Sport.
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