The FIFA match day ended and the 12th round of the Premier League began as scheduled.
After the first nine games, people saw the crazy momentum of the Premier League fade away.
Arsenal beat Norwich City 2: 1 in their away game.
Manchester City beat Newcastle United 3: 1 in their home game.
Manchester United beat Swansea City 1: 0 in their away game.
Of the other civilian teams, only Wigan Athletic beat Blackburn Rovers 3: 3.
But no fans would be discouraged, just as Sky Sports predicted: the grand finale of the round would be at Stamford Bridge. The defending champions Liverpool's first meeting with Chelsea this season would not be dull. Chelsea had set a new record for consecutive losses in the Premier League. Liverpool had always been aggressive when playing against strong teams. What kind of intense sparks would the two teams create when they collided?
Just before the game, Magic Bird II's young manager, Andre Villas-Boas, cheered the Blues on at the pre-match press conference and made a bold statement, "Ramires and Mikel will freeze Qin Xiong! Our defensive line can contain the Red Army's Liverpool. Drogba will be the key to the siege! "
Comain looked a little helpless.
After returning from the FIFA match day, the injuries of the two midfielders made him look a little stretched in the outside world.
Alonso was injured and had to rest for two weeks. Cabaye was called up to the national team by the French national team because of his good performance in Liverpool's limited appearance. But he was injured in the second game and had to recuperate for a month.
Without the two playmaking midfielders, the outside world was speculating about how Liverpool's midfield creativity would be maintained.
Could Liverpool, without a commander, still launch a smooth offensive?
Comain was slightly lacking in confidence at the pre-match press conference.
"It's been a bad week. Our important players left healthy, but they were lying in bed when they came back. I'm not complaining about FIFA, but as a manager, of course I want every player to be healthy.
I don't have any ideas for tomorrow's game against Chelsea. I need to observe the players' condition tomorrow and make a final decision. But I believe the players can overcome the current difficulties because we are the Red Army. "
Was Comain really in a terrible fix?
Bullshit!
Everything he said at the press conference was a lie!
Even the Liverpool players could not help laughing after watching Comain's pre-match press conference.
Because before that, in the preparation meeting for the game, the starting list for the next day had already been released, and the team's technical and tactical play style had also been established.
Liverpool were confident and well prepared for tomorrow's game.
On a sunny afternoon, Liverpool visited London and drove directly to Stamford Bridge in West London.
More than 40,000 fans were rubbing their hands together in the stands of the Stamford Bridge stadium, ready to enjoy the big match between red and blue.
Chelsea of the Blue Team was ready for battle.
Twenty minutes before the start of the game, Comain made a final pre-match mobilization in the locker room. There were some things he had to emphasize again.
Looking at the Red Army generals who were ready to go, Comain said to them with a serious expression, "Do you remember what we said to everyone at the pre-match preparation meeting yesterday? We have thoroughly analyzed Chelsea's technical and tactical play, and we will restrain them tit-for-tat! But first of all, you need to change your game posture and the way you operate your technical and tactical play. "
The Red Army generals could not help but nod. Everyone appreciated Comain's work attitude and effectiveness.
Comain also explained clearly to everyone why Liverpool frequently changed their tactics this season and paid more attention to details in their play on the spot, and everyone was convinced.
As the king of European football!
Countless teams stared at Liverpool and studied Liverpool.
If Liverpool had a set of almost fixed patterns to play like Barcelona, it did not mean that Liverpool's strength would decline, but they might be caught off guard by the opponent's targeted surprise attack.
In other words, the richer Liverpool's technical and tactical play was, and the further away from the inflexible and inflexible routine, the more difficult Liverpool would be for the opponent to study!
It would be difficult for the opponent to predict Liverpool's technical and tactical play, from the starting list, formation, technical and tactical play, game posture, game emphasis, and so on. Comain's thinking and actions in this regard were really well thought out.
Because of this, Liverpool could still achieve a high win rate even if they encountered the extreme iron bucket formation and intensive defense of most teams in the domestic league, which was very rare.
Manchester City was now five points ahead of Liverpool in the standings, but objectively speaking, the strength of the opponents, the playing environment, and the difficulty of the attack that Manchester City encountered were not on the same level as Liverpool!
When Manchester City really won the title and beat the other teams into submission and psychological fear, then they could talk about the difficulty of the attack when the opponent put on intensive defense.
Even if it was the same opponent, Liverpool and Manchester City, the game scene was clear at a glance. When facing Liverpool, how many people would the opponent have within 40 yards of the danger zone in front of the goal? At least ten people! And when facing Manchester City? At most eight people!
That was the gap!
Therefore, it was extremely difficult for Liverpool to defend their title in their third year, but they were still moving forward steadily. The foundation of this progress was unity, mutual trust between the generals, and each played their own role well.
After Comain's encouragement, the Red Army generals walked out of the locker room in an orderly manner.
The Blues generals stood in the players' tunnel in advance, waiting to play.
For the Blues, the start of the season was not ideal. The first few games under Andre Villas-Boas' coaching were steadily improving, but since the bizarre defeat against Manchester United, the Blues' form had been fluctuating.
Arsenal, who had been continuously slaughtered by Manchester United and Liverpool, actually took away the victory at Stamford Bridge and also gave Chelsea five goals.
It was a huge blow to the Blues' morale.
There was a background and premise that led to the terrible atmosphere in the team's locker room, and the direct reason for the doubts about Andre Villas-Boas.
Since Roman Abramovich took charge at Stamford Bridge, from Ranieri to Mourinho to Grant, in addition to Scolari, including Hiddink and Ancelotti.
For more than eight years, the Blues relied on defense to establish their status as a Premier League powerhouse most of the time!
Even if they had not won a top Premier League title, the Blues' Chelsea team was regarded as one of the favorites to win the title because this team was very tough!
Their defense was terrifying!
Once the Blues performed exceptionally well in defense, people would always think of Mourinho, who had single-handedly created the Blues' iron-blooded and tough soul!
However, Chelsea, under Andre Villas-Boas, had changed from utilitarian football to offensive football. In addition, they wanted to go for a streamlined technical route. Their offense had not yet reached a convincing level, but their defense was already a mess!
This gave Stamford Bridge the first sign of trouble.
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