Liverpool took the initiative on the field with a stronger ball control ability at the start of the game.
But Liverpool did not increase the pace of the game.
It could be said that Liverpool's attacking group today had a strong ball control ability in the front field.
Qin Xiong, Suárez, Gerard, Cabaye, and Alonso behind Cabaye.
These five players were distributed in various areas in the middle and front field, maximizing the attacking space in the front field.
Liverpool's control of the field was divided into two levels.
The middle and back field was dominated by Cabaye, Alonso, Baines, and Johnson. The front field was dominated by Qin Xiong, Gerard, and Cabaye.
Cabaye's role was crucial. Comain put him in the starting lineup in this game was a show of strong trust.
Fortunately, Liverpool had too many players who were more threatening than Cabaye, so Cabaye had enough space to play under cover.
Ramires was arranged to play as the right midfielder today. His main task was to defend and cooperate with Ivanovic to freeze Qin Xiong on the flank.
On the other side, Di Matteo's prediction of the starting player failed. He thought it would be either Raúl or Kuyt, but he did not expect Comain to be so "bold" to put Gerard in the right winger position.
In fact, Gerard used to play as the right midfielder in the England national team and Liverpool F.C. in the early years after 2000, and he played well. At that time, if David Beckham was unable to play, Gerard would be the main candidate for the right midfielder. It was not until Gerard made a name for himself in the midfield that the England team fixed Gerard in the midfield position, which also opened the prelude to the long-term difficult coexistence between the two sides.
Comain's line-up and tactical arrangements today were mainly focused on control.
Even though it was an English civil war.
But he could not let this Champions League semi-final turn into the Premier League!
In other words, the kind of bloodthirsty and uncontrollable rhythm in the England game was not what he wanted to see.
Because Chelsea's tactics were clear at a glance.
Chelsea must be using the same trick to eliminate Liverpool the same way they eliminated Barcelona.
Extreme counter defense!
This was especially true in an away game.
Even so, Liverpool could not play in a state where the pace was too fast and almost out of control. Once Chelsea seized an opportunity, they would get an away goal!
Therefore, Liverpool played very cautiously and carefully in this game, relying more on the overall operation of the team.
The football rolled back and forth in the front field, and the players skillfully ran without the ball to look for gaps to receive. After frequently tearing horizontally, they looked for opportunities to take a long shot!
In the eighth minute of the match, Gerard received the ball from the right side of the front field and passed the ball to Suárez, who ran over to receive him. Suárez, who had very little space to play, did not hesitate to kick the ball back.
After the football arrived at Cabaye's feet, he passed the ball diagonally to the left side in front of the penalty area.
As soon as Qin Xiong touched the ball, he was caught in a three-sided attack. In addition to Ramires and Ivanovic, there was also Meireles.
He skimmed the ball to the middle diagonally behind him.
Alonso rushed up 28 yards away from the goal and volleyed a shot!
Lampard fell to the ground and slid to block. The football hit his thigh and bounced into the stands.
Chelsea's counterattack was difficult to play.
Due to the wrong estimation of Liverpool's starting right winger, Ashley Cole was afraid that it would be difficult to freeze Gerard alone. Mata had to retreat and at least compress the space to interfere with the Liverpool players to look for gaps in Gerard's pass.
Under such circumstances, Chelsea only had Drogba in the front field.
In the 16th minute of the game, Suárez turned around in the front half of the penalty area and wanted to volley, but he was successfully intercepted by Terry's ferocious foot. The football rolled to Ashley Cole's feet.
Ashley Cole did not dare to pass the ball to the middle for fear that Cabaye would intercept the ball from Mikel or Lampard's feet. Chelsea's defensive retreat was very deep, which reduced the space for them to receive the ball.
Liverpool's counterattack was also very good, which left Chelsea to choose a simpler way to counterattack.
Ashley Cole kicked the ball to the front of the court.
Drogba took the lead to stop the ball in the scramble with Mascherano, but his stop was a little too big. Alonso, who rushed back, took control of the ball first and passed the ball to Baines.
Liverpool's offense was always based on slow control, but when the time was right, they would choose to suddenly speed up when creating the final blow.
In the 25th minute of the game, Qin Xiong retreated on the left side. He suddenly passed the ball into the penalty area after receiving Cabaye's pass.
The ball was hovering behind Cahill.
Cahill thought that Qin Xiong's pass was wide, but he did not expect to see Suárez jump behind him and swing his head to attack the goal when he turned to look!
The Liverpool fans were looking forward to this ball.
But Suárez's swing of the head was more like a football rubbing against his head, and then there was no obvious change in direction. The football flew straight out of the end line.
Suárez gave Qin Xiong a thumbs up after landing.
Qin Xiong's eyes showed that he was deep in thought.
Chelsea's current defense was really united, and it felt quite watertight.
Liverpool had to do more in their offense.
At least they had to change their methods more.
After he went to Cabaye to say a few words, Liverpool's offense in the 38th minute of the first half caught Chelsea off guard.
Qin Xiong, who had been operating on the left side of the front field, suddenly changed positions with Cabaye!
After receiving Cabaye's pass, Qin Xiong controlled the ball in place, and Ramires, Ivanovic, and Meireles carefully came up to form an encirclement.
Qin Xiong waited until the time was basically right, then he pulled the ball behind him, and immediately immediately kicked the ball out and passed it back!
Ramires was passed by Qin Xiong. He turned his head and saw Baines rushing up.
After the pass, Qin Xiong immediately moved in the direction of the middle in front of the penalty area.
Meireles ran to chase Qin Xiong, and Ramires turned back to press Baines.
If he could directly intercept the ball at Baines' feet, Chelsea could launch a threatening counterattack!
Ivanovic withdrew to a position parallel to the rear defensive line.
Baines looked in the direction Qin Xiong was running in, and he immediately passed the ball to Qin Xiong.
Qin Xiong looked like he was rushing into an encirclement.
Meireles was behind him, Mikel was in front, Chelsea's defensive line in the penalty area was on the left, and Lampard was on the right!
But no Chelsea players noticed that when Qin Xiong was running, Cabaye was also running!
He was running to Qin Xiong's previous position!
Three seconds ago, Qin Xiong was surrounded there.
Three seconds later, there was an obvious gap!
The football from Baines had just arrived in front of Qin Xiong, and Lampard was ready to steal, Meireles was ready to steal, and Mikel was ready to steal!
It was a three-sided encirclement.
Qin Xiong kicked the ball out!
All the Chelsea players could not react to this kick!
His heel touched the ball, and the football rolled in the direction he ran from, which was where Cabaye ran to!
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