Losing to Leicester City can actually relieve everyone's tense nerves. If we don't lose this game, everyone will be nervous and want to keep winning without losing.
But now that we have lost, we no longer have this psychological burden. Instead, we can travel lightly and go into the next game with a more relaxed attitude.
On March 4, in light rain, in the 27th round of the Premier League, Liverpool faced Arsenal at home.
It stands to reason that Arsenal is much stronger than Leicester City, but the Arsenal's performance in this game was much worse than Leicester City.
Only 9 minutes into the game, Willard dribbled the ball through the middle and attracted three Arsenal defenders to surround him. Then he passed the ball to Mane on the right.
After Mane stopped and buckled away the Arsenal defender Monreal who was attacking, he passed the ball. Firmino, who was not good at fighting for the top, unexpectedly got stuck and grabbed the gunner. Defender Mustafi made a diving dive in front of him and headed the ball into the goal.
Liverpool leads 1-0 at home.
As Arsenal's goalkeeper, although Cech is a bit old and was squeezed out of Chelsea by Courtois, his level is still above that of ordinary goalkeepers. He then saved Liverpool's two goals in a row. Shoot.
But Cech is still a human being after all, not a real goalkeeper. As the number of Liverpool attacks increases, there will still be times when he cannot save.
In the 31st minute, Liverpool made a comeback. Villard once again dribbled the ball through. When he reached the edge of the penalty area, he passed the ball to Firmino, who was facing away from the goal. Then he circled into the penalty area from the left and seemed to be about to The way he cooperates with Firmino when he hits the wall.
The defenders, goalkeepers, etc. in the penalty area all focused on Velarde, who entered the penalty area at high speed. As a result, Firmino did not directly pass the ball to Velarde, but instead caught the ball, turned around, and just in time. Avoiding the defender behind him who was about to intercept the ball he passed to Velarde, he turned around and passed the ball into the gap on the right side of the penalty area.
Mane rushed into the penalty area, fired a powerful shot without stopping the ball, and successfully kicked the ball into the lower right corner.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech was shaken by Velarde's advance and feint, and Mane's reaction to the ball was a beat too slow. As a result, he could only watch the ball fly into the goal.
Firmino also gave Mane an assist, helping Mane score, rewriting Liverpool's lead over Arsenal to 2-0.
Under the cover of Willard, who attracted most of the opponent's defensive attention, Firmino and Mane passed shots to each other, creating a situation where Liverpool easily led 2-0.
Firmino and Mane are in such good condition, Arsenal will naturally increase their focus on them.
But before the end of the first half, in the 44th minute, Willard was facing the direction of Mane's movement and pretended to pass the ball to him, deceiving Arsenal defenders to block his pass to Mane. After the path of the ball and the path of Mane's shot, he knocked the ball with his heel and knocked the ball to Coutinho who was inserted from the side.
Velarde came out from behind Velarde, shot the ball non-stop from outside the penalty area, hit a high-quality long-range shot, and sent the ball into the upper left corner of the Arsenal goal.
At the end of the first half, Liverpool led Arsenal 3-0, basically sealing the victory.
After a 15-minute rest, the two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half. Arsenal made substitution adjustments at the beginning of the second half, replacing midfielder Kirkland with forward Sanchez, with the intention of strengthening the offense and making a comeback.
It has to be said that Arsenal's technical style of play, if the coordination is smooth and no mistakes are made, is still very pleasing to the eye and extremely lethal.
In the 57th minute, Arsenal played a teamwork that amazed the Red Army fans at Anfield. After defender Bellerin intercepted Coutinho's attempt to break through the ball, Arsenal went through twelve kicks. After passing the ball, forward Sanchez, who came on as a substitute, passed back an inverted triangle in the penalty area. Winger Welbeck, who had inserted in the back row, took a powerful shot and successfully kicked the ball into Liverpool's goal.
Although it was raining and there was water on the ground, Arsenal was lucky that the ball was not delayed by the water in this attack. Even though Liverpool returned to defense very quickly and Villard and others had already returned to the penalty area, Arsenal's team cooperation was too tacit this time. Neither Villard nor other teammates were able to touch the ball. Watching Arsenal pass the ball into the goal.
"It was a fantastic Arsenal goal."
"Starting from intercepting the ball in the backcourt, the whole process went through twelve passes, without Liverpool touching the ball once, and the ball was scored into Liverpool's goal."
“This attack was like mercury running down the ground and it was a joy to watch.”
"It's just a pity that even Arsenal themselves will find it difficult to play such an attack again in the same game and finally score a goal."
"Now Arsenal have pulled a goal back, but they are still 1-3 behind Liverpool. It is really difficult to come back and come back."
"That's it, I still have to pray that Liverpool doesn't score again. Once Liverpool scores again, the suspense of the game will be completely killed."
Indeed, this goal boosted Arsenal's morale and saw the hope of reversal, so they continued to increase their offensive intensity, trying to build on their efforts and score again until they equalized or even reversed the score.
But it backfired. As the commentator said, the mercury-like smooth attack just now was difficult for even Arsenal to replicate twice in one game. Coupled with the weather and venue factors, that kind of ball is even more rare to come by. Luck is even more important than strength. Arsenal indeed never played that kind of offense in subsequent games.
Liverpool, however, scored again in the 78th minute.
This was a corner kick caused by Willard's long shot from outside the penalty area. Center back Klavan, who stepped forward to participate in the corner kick competition, grabbed the first landing point at the back point and headed the ball into the goal with a flick of his head.
Liverpool once again rewritten the score to 4-1 and regained a three-goal lead.
The idea of Arsenal performing a miracle was completely shattered. At this point in time, with three goals behind, there was absolutely no hope.
But Liverpool's attack has not stopped yet.
In the 86th minute, after Verard dribbled the ball past midfielder Xhaka, he was pulled down by the defensive winger Chamberlain. The referee whistled for a foul on Chamberlain, giving Liverpool a good free kick opportunity.
Originally, with Willard's physique, he would not be pulled down so easily, but due to the slippery venue and Chamberlain's tug, he fell down.
Chamberlain also wanted to accuse Willard of diving, but the referee saw it clearly. Regardless of whether Willard is in good shape or not, it is a fact that Chamberlain pulled Willard so hard, and the foul did not go away.
In the end, Willard succeeded in one fell swoop, sending the free kick directly into Arsenal's goal with a full-moon scimitar.
Cech, who reacted quickly, successfully touched the ball, but the angle of Velarde's ball was too tricky. Cech's save only touched the ball with his fingertips, but failed to poke the ball out of bounds. The ball still flew after a slight change of line. Entered the gate.
In the end, Liverpool defeated Arsenal 5-1 at home, re-announced the strong return of this championship team, and the haze of the previous round's loss to Leicester City was swept away.
Facts have proved that this championship team, which is invincible, invincible and aiming for the first Premier League championship in team history, is back on track.
Compared with the loss to Leicester City in the last game, the endings of Liverpool and Arsenal in this game can be said to be very different.
There are many reasons. First, after a few days of rest, Liverpool's state is very different from when they played Leicester City in the last round. Second, this is Liverpool's home court. The home and away games have changed hands, and the state is also different. ; The third is the weather. Arsenal is a technical team, and the light rain has a great impact on them, but Liverpool can easily score goals through aerial attacks, long shots, set kicks, etc.
In any case, for Liverpool, losing to Leicester City really helped everyone put down their psychological burden, as evidenced by their easy victory over their powerful rival Arsenal in this game.
Three days later, on March 7, the weather was fine. In the 28th round of the Premier League, Liverpool continued to play at home against Burnley.
As a newly promoted team, Burnley currently ranks 12th in the standings and is performing very well. However, for Liverpool, which aims to win the championship and has explosive combat effectiveness, such a team can only give away points.
Although Burnley deployed a bus and iron barrel array to defend Anfield, they only defended for ten minutes before the defense was broken by Liverpool.
And it was Willard who broke through the defense first.
In the 16th minute, Velarde hit the wall with Coutinho outside the penalty area and then shot about 25 meters away from the goal. He hit a heavy artillery wave with a speed of more than 100 per hour, blasting away Bo. Enli's gate.
Liverpool leads 1-0.
Willard's goal opened Liverpool's goal account.
In the 30th minute, Mane received Wijnaldum's pass and volleyed in the penalty area and scored, rewriting the score to 2-0.
Just three minutes later, Willard grabbed a pass from full-back Milner and headed the ball into Burnley's goal.
Liverpool beat Burnley 3-0 to seal the victory.
In the 43rd minute, Burnley counterattacked and caused an own goal from center back Matip, regaining a point and making the score 3-1.
But this ball does not affect the overall situation.
Klopp made substitution adjustments at halftime, replacing Firmino, Coutinho, and Klein to rest.
In the 64th minute of the second half, No. 66 Alexander-Arnold, who came on as a substitute, exploded with offensive genius. He passed three Burnley wide players all the way and then made a cross. Neither side in the penalty area could grab the first goal. , the ball was finally cleared out of the penalty area.
But Willard just caught the ball being kicked out of the penalty area, and the height was also very suitable. As a result, Villard did not stop the ball to adjust while running, and directly shot a high-quality volley from a distance of about 30 meters from the goal. The ball went into Burnley's goal.
Willard scored a hat-trick as Liverpool led Burnley 4-1.
But Liverpool's goals haven't stopped yet.
In the 78th minute, Willard scored another goal through a free kick, performing a big four and giving Liverpool a 5-1 lead.
In the 87th minute, Sturridge grabbed the ball in the chaos in the penalty area and kicked the ball into the goal with a kick, making the score 6-1.
In the end, after the referee blew the final whistle, Liverpool defeated Burnley 6-1, winning the 28th round of the league and continuing to top the standings.
