Episode [435]: Blindly Guarding, Can only Be Beaten

Leeds United beat Liverpool 3-0 at home, but now the outside world is more optimistic about Liverpool.

Because in this game, Leeds United has three absolute cores who cannot play!

Pique, the absolute core of Leeds United's defense, the soul of the defense. If such a person cannot play, Leeds United's defense will definitely have problems. Who can play the role of Pique? Obviously not!

Without Pique, the strength of Leeds United's defense will definitely drop a notch.

Seydu Keita, the absolute main force of Leeds United's midfielder, the most popular part of Leeds United's defense. Seydu Keita usually looks inconspicuous, but he is definitely the most important task in Leeds United's defense. His absence, this is definitely the biggest loss for Leeds United's defense.

Luca Toni, this is Leeds United's top scorer!

Just these few words can reflect the importance of Luca Toni, and he is a very important part of Leeds United's counterattack. Without him, Leeds United's counterattack will have problems.

There are problems with both defense and offense. How can Leeds United compete with Liverpool?

Before the game, Liverpool's head coach Benitez accepted an interview with media reporters. He said: "In this game, our Liverpool team has a great chance, and Leeds United has their own problems. We are now ready. In this game, we will try our best to attack and attack from the beginning of the game, because we need too many goals!"

Obviously, Benitez is ready to give it a go and fight Leeds United.

The Liverpool team has no way out now, and they can only maintain their only chance by attacking.

Now Liverpool are three goals behind Leeds United. They only drew with Leeds United when they scored three goals at home without conceding a goal. They have to score four goals and guarantee that Leeds United will not concede a goal before they can defeat Leeds United and advance to the next round.

If Leeds United score one goal in this round, then Liverpool must score five goals if they want to win!

Therefore, this game is also very bad and very difficult for Leeds United.

No wonder Benitez would emphasize that Liverpool will attack crazily as soon as the game starts!

The Liverpool team really has no choice, they have to attack crazily to have the last chance!

At this time, Liverpool fans flocked into Liverpool's home stadium, Anfield. They gathered here to cheer for Liverpool. They hoped that Liverpool could perform a miracle, just like it did in Istanbul, Turkey three years ago, and kill Leeds United.

Liverpool fans sang the team's anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone".

Zhong Cheng's brows were furrowed. This game was more difficult than he had imagined. The suspension of Pique and the other three had really had a huge impact on Leeds United. This is almost ruining the future of Leeds United. Leeds United is in great difficulty.

Albertini stood beside Zhong Cheng and said, "Boss, our players are ready. Please rest assured, our Leeds United will definitely win this game!"

Zhong Cheng shook his head slightly, and immediately said: "It is very difficult for Leeds United to win this game. What I think now is that we should not lose too badly. I hope that we can advance to the next round with the number of goals in the first round!"

Albertini was shocked, Zhong Cheng was so unconfident?

Zhong Cheng naturally saw Albertini's doubts. Zhong Cheng said: "Liverpool's strength is very strong, especially in offense. Without Sedu Keita, it will be difficult for us to limit Fernando Torres and Gerrard!"

Albertini was silent, he knew Zhong Cheng was right.

This season, Leeds United's most successful signing is Seydu Keita.

To be honest, Albertini admires Zhong Cheng very much now. At the beginning, Seydu Keita was introduced by Zhong Cheng alone. At that time, everyone did not see Seydu Keita's strength and potential. Everyone thinks that Seydoux Keita doesn't deserve to join Leeds United at all.

However, Seydu Keita's performance later shocked everyone's eyes.

Seydu Keita stepped up immediately when Mohamed Sissoko was injured and performed very well, squeezing Mbia and Yaya Toure, who were competing with him, to the bench. Even after Mohamed Sissoko returned from injury, Seydu Keita still secured his position as the main midfielder.

Seydu Keita's performance this season is so amazing that he was even called "the Premier League's No. 1 midfielder" by many media and celebrities. This shows the strength of Seydu Keita!

When he faded out and introduced Seydoux Keita, Albertini really did not expect Seydoux Keita to achieve the current results. Zhong Cheng's vision is really awesome.

Although Mbia and Yaya Toure are both very good in strength, they are indeed inferior to Seydoux Keita. No matter which of them replaces Seydoux Keita, there is no way to contain Fernando Torres and Gerrard. This is a very dangerous thing.

Albertini understood what Zhong Cheng meant, and he said, "Understood, boss, we will definitely strengthen our defense!"

At this time, Albertini also understood why in this game, Zhong Cheng would send two defensive players in the midfielder position, and they were still two defensive players.

Albertini went down to get ready, while Zhong Cheng stared at the stadium with a little worry. He always felt that the game was hanging in the balance, and his heart was always uneasy.

No wonder Zhong Cheng repeatedly emphasized defense in the locker room, especially the defense of Gerrard and Fernando Torres.

This game is indeed more difficult for Leeds United.

However, Zhong Cheng obviously will not give up this game. The goal of Leeds United is to win the UEFA Champions League this season. Now that they have just reached the top eight, they naturally want to go further.

No matter how difficult the situation is, Leeds United will not give up, Leeds United will win!

Today, many Leeds United fans also came to Liverpool, and they also flocked to Liverpool's Anfield Stadium. Obviously, Anfield Stadium can be regarded as a devil's home stadium in the Premier League. The atmosphere here is very good, especially the Liverpool fans in the KOP stand. They are jumping crazily, jumping, singing and shouting like a perpetual motion machine, as if they will never get tired...

So playing here, the players of the visiting team can feel a lot of pressure.

However, the fans of Leeds United were not convinced. They also showed their strength and morale to fight against the fans of Liverpool!

In this case, players from both sides walked into the Anfield Stadium,

The fans on both sides of the scene naturally burst into bursts of crazy cheers, welcoming the arrival of their own players. The fans of the Liverpool team shouted neatly at this time: "Victory! Victory belongs to Liverpool, long live Liverpool, Liverpool advanced to the semi-finals!"

The fans of Leeds United booed the Liverpool fans one after another. These guys from Liverpool are really too arrogant, this is simply courting death.

At this time, Benitez walked to the coach of the visiting team and came to Zhong Cheng.

Zhong Cheng smiled and stretched out his right hand to Benitez, tightly holding the right hand that Benitez extended. As the owner of the room, Benitez stared at Zhong Cheng sharply, and said, "Loya, welcome to Anfield!"

Zhong Cheng smiled slightly and said, "Thank you!"

Zhong Cheng's eyes were also extremely sharp, and when the two eyes met, sparks flew everywhere in an instant!

The two didn't have much pleasantries, because everything was out of sight, which made the atmosphere of this game even more tense and exciting!

At this time, the commentator of the game began to introduce the starting list of the two teams to the fans. The starting list of the two teams today is as follows:

Home Team: Liverpool, Coach: Benitez, Formation: 4-4-2

Goalkeeper: Reina

Back four [left to right]: John Reaser, Skrtel, Agger and Steve Finnan

The midfield four [left to right]: Ryan Babel, Xabi Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard

Forwards: Fernando Torres and Crouch

This is the starting list of Liverpool today, which has changed a lot from the starting list of the first round of the match between the two sides. In the position of goalkeeper, Reina returned from injury and appeared in the starting list. Veteran Dudek returned to the bench.

There is no change in the back line, but there is a change in the midfield. Zenden did not start today, and he did not even make the squad. The starter is the Dutch genius Ryan Babel.

On the front line, Liverpool has not changed, it is still Torres and Crouch.

Visiting team: Leeds United, head coach: Zhong Cheng, formation: 4-2-3-1

Goalkeeper: Zhong Zheng

Back four [left to right]: Patrick Evra, Kompany, Ivanovic and Sagna

Double Pivot: Yaya Toure and Mohamed Sissoko

Three forwards [left to right]: Franck Ribery, Joan Gourcuff and Joaquin

Lone striker: Edinson Cavani

This is the starting list of Leeds United for this game. Obviously, there have been great changes. Pique, Seydu Keita and Luca Toni are all suspended, and there is no way to appear in this game. The formation of Leeds United has changed.

It was Ivanovic who took Pique's place, which was unexpected by many people. They all thought it was Gary Cahill, but who knew it was Ivanovic.

The defensive midfielder has changed the most, becoming two defensive midfielders, Yaya Toure and Mohamed Sissoko. Everyone can see that Zhong Cheng does not want to blindly defend, he still looks forward to wrinkling counterattack. Otherwise, he would not have Yaya Toure, a defensive midfielder with good attack power, and he would have directly played the combination of Mbia and Mohamed Sissoko.

Many people at the scene saw Zhong Cheng's intentions, and Leeds United were waiting for the opportunity to counterattack.

There are also changes in the forward line. Luka Modric has a rest today. He is stopped by the French forward Joan Gourcuff. This is a normal rotation.

Only Edinson Cavani is left on the front line. Edinson Cavani has excellent offensive ability and is very comprehensive. The most important thing is that he is very active, covers a very wide area in the frontcourt, and can also participate in defense. This is what Leeds United needs in this game.

Therefore, today Edinson Cavani was on the front line alone.

Everyone at the scene could see that today Leeds United's tactics are very obvious, that is to defend and counterattack. Of course, the focus is still on defense, but they did not give up the opportunity to counterattack.

Zhong Cheng still hopes that the team can use counterattacks to deter Liverpool, so that Liverpool people dare not attack with all their strength, and they must always be afraid of Leeds United's counterattack!