Amid the heated discussion around the world about Villard winning the Ballon d'Or and World Footballer of the Year, Villard and his teammates, who returned to England, began to prepare intensively for the next double-red meeting against Manchester United.
The good news is that Coutinho, Milner and others have returned from injury. However, Mane has entered the injured list again. At the same time, Klopp did not dare to let Coutinho start, and planned to let him come off the bench in the second half to find his condition.
Willard heard Klopp criticize the Premier League's policy of not allowing a winter break several times.
But there is no way, even if you scold Potian, the Premier League will not change the existing policy. After all, the Premier League has become the most commercially successful league, partly due to its lack of holidays during the winter break and its appeal to fans.
In addition, right back Klein was also suspended due to accumulation of yellow cards. Klopp could only promote one player from the youth team to be the starting right back, 18-year-old Alexander-Arnold, who wears jersey No. 66.
At 21:00 in the evening on January 15, 2017, with the whistle of referee Oliver, the 21st round of the 2016/2017 Premier League season between Manchester United and Liverpool officially started at Old Trafford Stadium.
In this game, Mourinho finally did not dare to fight against Liverpool. In the first round of the first half of the season, the two sides scored Liverpool 6-3 Manchester United at Anfield Stadium. Facts have proved that it is difficult for Manchester United to win against Liverpool led by Willard.
Therefore, in today's game, Manchester United significantly reduced their formation and changed to 4321. They no longer had an offensive battle with Liverpool, but took the initiative to launch a defensive counterattack at their home court.
It has to be said that Mourinho's change of formation is quite timely. Otherwise, Willard now not only has full shooting and physical fitness, but also improved his five skills a few days ago, and his strength is more than a little stronger than in the first half of the season.
If they play against each other, Manchester United will not know how many times Willard will score.
After taking the initiative to shrink the formation, although it looked a lot more embarrassing, at least it did not concede goals as frequently as in the first half of the season.
The tight defense within the 30-meter area of the goal and the outstanding performance of goalkeeper De Gea allowed Manchester United to maintain the 0-0 draw until half an hour.
Until the 34th minute of the first half, Willard dribbled the ball straight in, broke through Pogba and Carrick in succession, attracted four Manchester United people to surround him at the top of the penalty area, and then passed the ball diagonally into the penalty area. The right rib is open.
Firmino, who played as the right winger in this game, got ahead of full-back Damian, rushed into the penalty area and volleyed the ball without stopping, and kicked the ball into the far corner of the goal.
Goalkeeper De Gea stood close to the corner and finally failed to save the shot.
Liverpool, playing away from home, broke the deadlock and scored first, leading Manchester United 1-0 away from home.
Although it was not Willard who scored the goal, it was him who dribbled the ball and attracted many Manchester United players to surround him, then passed the ball to assist Firmino, who scored the goal.
Willard's role is still unrivaled.
After the 0-0 deadlock was broken, Manchester United could no longer hold on. On the one hand, losing one goal or two does not make much difference to them, both are 0 points. On the other hand, Manchester United is now ranked sixth in the standings. Not to mention qualifying for the Champions League, even qualifying for the Europa League is in jeopardy. Therefore, they need to gain points and improve their rankings, and they cannot compete with the mentality of winning if they lose less.
In this game, facing the fierce Liverpool, Manchester United did not have the mentality to win, but at least they had to strive for a draw and at least one point.
Therefore, when the balance is not broken, Manchester United can still defend and persevere in counterattack. After Liverpool broke the deadlock, Manchester United's defense could no longer hold on.
The Red Devils could only press forward and increase their offensive intensity.
Among them, Ibrahimovic, as Manchester United's arrowhead, undertakes a large number of dribbling tasks.
However, after being interfered by two consecutive successful interceptions by Willard, which destroyed the rhythm of his breakthrough with the ball, Ibrahimovic also had to reduce the frequency of his breakthrough with the ball in the middle. When encountering Willard's interception, Ibrahimovic Pass the ball.
Although Willard's defensive skill attribute is only 93, which is not technically perfect, it is already considered a very high attribute. Coupled with the assistance of consciousness, physique, reaction, speed, reverse foot, etc., even if Ibrahimovic's foot skills are very delicate, it is difficult to form a frontal breakthrough against him.
Even if he can't stop the ball, Velarde can use his perfect physique and super-quick reflexes to block his position and pass the ball.
Although Velarde is not as tall and as heavy as Ibrahimovic, his full physical attributes make him stronger and stronger than Ibrahimovic. Therefore, even if Ibrahimovic occasionally performs exceptionally and can pass the ball, his body is stuck by the quick-reacting Velarde and cannot pass.
Of course, it is also related to the fact that Ibrahimovic has just returned from injury and does not dare to have a physical confrontation with Velarde.
With the exception of Ibrahimovic, no other player had ever made a successful dribble against Willard. No matter Martial, Mkhitaryan or Pogba, whenever they try to break through against Willard, they will all be stopped by Willard.
However, Velard's consciousness is close to the full value of 98. The position selection during defense will make the offensive team very uncomfortable. Once they avoid Velard's defense zone and pass the ball to other places before launching an attack, they will bypass it. A long way, a long delay, providing ample time for other Liverpool players to re-build the defense.
This has prevented Manchester United from making too many threatening attacks. In the entire 45 minutes of the first half, Manchester United only had three shots, and only one hit the goal frame. And it was Herrera's long shot, which was far away and not at an awkward angle. , was directly hugged by goalkeeper Mignolet, and did not give Martial, who rushed into the penalty area, a chance to make a supplementary shot.
At the same time, Manchester United, which has increased its offensive intensity, also faces the risk of Liverpool's quick counterattack after conceding the ball. Whether Willard breaks through with the ball or organizes passes, he is a considerable threat.
If it weren't for goalkeeper De Gea's outstanding performance, Manchester United might have fallen behind by more than one goal in the first half.
After a 15-minute rest, the two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half. Manchester United removed Carrick, who performed at halftime, and replaced him with star Rooney to strengthen the attack.
From the beginning of the second half, Manchester United changed their formation to 433 and began to attack Liverpool fiercely. After all, they are the side that is lagging behind. Regardless of the score of this game or the situation in the standings, Manchester United has no retreat and can only fight against the odds.
But obviously, Liverpool had expected this. Willard, Henderson, Wijnaldum, etc. were sitting in the backcourt, and even Firmino and Lallana actively defended, allowing Manchester United's The offense has been unable to achieve much results.
