More than 40 meters away, he accurately avoided the goalkeeper's save and sent the ball into the blind corner. Klopp was so impressed by Willard's shot that he applauded on the sidelines.
This is not luck. If it were luck, Velard would not have scored more than 100 goals a year. His shooting skills are indeed so superb.
After the score was rewritten as 1-1, Liverpool's morale was boosted and they began to run, fight, and attack more actively. Although Arsenal had a certain technical advantage, it was difficult for them to pose a threat again.
Especially when the ball is under Arsenal's control, the players need to avoid Liverpool's pressing to pass and receive the ball. As a result, once the ball is lost, it is impossible to form a counterattack immediately. Instead, Liverpool will use the gap to form a threatening counterattack.
The configuration of Arsenal's three defenders in the backcourt will definitely form certain loopholes near the bottom line of the wing. Even if the wing-backs return to defense from time to time, there are always times when they do not return to defense in time.
In the 42nd minute, wing-back Chamberlain made an assist, and Liverpool just completed the steal and got the ball. Klein, who stole the ball, then handed the ball to Willard, who returned to defend.
After Willard got the ball, he looked up at the frontcourt, and his high-attribute awareness made him make an immediate decision. He made a long diagonal pass and sent the ball to the gap left by Chamberlain.
Although Chamberlain had already started to return to defense at high speed after his teammates lost the ball, how could anyone outrun the rolling ball?
Willard's pass quickly passed Chamberlain, who was returning to defense, and rolled into the gap in Arsenal's backcourt.
Mane came in at high speed and after receiving the pass, he cut inside along the wing. Center back Monreal had to move to the wing to fill in to prevent Mane from cutting into the penalty area and shooting.
As a result, a huge gap was left in the right rib area of the penalty area, and Mane sent the ball into the gap with an inverted triangle pass.
Firmino followed up from the middle and rushed into the right rib of the penalty area. Without stopping the ball, he volleyed the ball towards the near end of the goal.
Mertesacker, another center back who returned to defense, blocked the hole with a flying shovel, but failed to touch the ball.
Goalkeeper Ospina also moved to the near end and dived down. However, the ball was too fast, and the ball passed diagonally from the bottom of his palm against the turf and flew towards the goal.
Just when Ospina and the Arsenal players looked horrified, the ball finally hit the outside of the near-end post and bounced out of bounds.
"Firmino, shoot!!!"
"Ouch, what a pity!"
"The ball missed, hit the outside of the post and bounced out of bounds."
"The Arsenal players and fans must have broken out in a cold sweat, and the Liverpool fans in the stands also sighed with regret."
"Firmino's shooting accuracy is still not good enough. If Velard was allowed to hit the ball, it would probably have hit the goal frame and gone in."
"But there is no way. Velarde is still in the midfield at this time. He is a free man. Because of Liverpool's defensive weakness in the backcourt, he actually has more defensive tasks than offensive tasks."
"If Liverpool can introduce one or two more strong defenders or goalkeepers at any time to strengthen the defensive strength in the backcourt, I don't know how much offensive energy Willard will burst out."
What the commentators said in the commentary box were spoken through microphones to the audience watching the live TV broadcast. Of course, the fans and coaches on site could not hear it.
But coincidentally, Klopp and assistant coach Peter Kravitz were talking about this issue at this time. Klopp obviously also realized that it was obviously a waste to leave Velarde in the backcourt for most of the time to participate in defense.
Although he is a free man himself and can support his physical fitness, skills and speed, if Willard can focus more on offense, Liverpool's offensive power will obviously be even higher.
However, except for Henderson, the other defenders and goalkeepers in Liverpool's backcourt are not top stars, and their strength is somewhat poor. If Willard doesn't drop back frequently to participate in defense, I'm afraid Liverpool's defense will also be sieved by the opponent.
Therefore, Klopp and Peter Kravitz discussed that perhaps one or two powerful defenders should be introduced this summer to release Velarde's offensive power, allow Velarde to advance more and participate in the offense, and release Velarde. attack power.
Perhaps, you can also challenge to win the championship undefeated in the season, or even win the championship with an unprecedented victory?
Regarding defender candidates, Klopp has actually sent scouts to investigate, and the first target is Southampton's Dutch center back Van Dijk. As time goes by, reports from scouts show more and more clearly that Van Dijk has the potential to be the world's top central defender, but he is limited by Southampton's platform and has not yet developed his strength and reputation.
If Van Dijk can be introduced and performs normally, Liverpool's lineup will get closer and closer to the lineup in Klopp's mind.
As for the goalkeeper?
That is something that can be met but cannot be sought. Good goalkeepers are not for sale. Whether a goalkeeper who is not yet famous can play his due role after buying it really depends on luck.
Just like Karius introduced this season, although he can occasionally perform at a better level than Mignolet, he is not stable enough. Especially the buttery hand thing is so annoying, so Mignolet is still the starter for Liverpool most of the time.
The game continued, but there was not much time left in the first half, and neither side was able to create any more threatening shots.
After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, and the two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 1-1.
During the halftime break, Klopp gave specific instructions for the second half in response to Arsenal's changes in formation, requiring Coutinho, Firmino and Manedo to return to defense and participate in the midfield battle. When attacking, in addition to Velarde, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Milner, Klein, etc. must also increase the depth of the forward attack.
Generally speaking, the players are required to perform higher requirements of total offense, total defense, high-position pressing, and use excessive physical strength to fight against Arsenal.
According to Klopp: Arsenal was in good shape in this game, as evidenced by the first goal. If Liverpool does not try their best, it is entirely possible to lose this championship. And once this championship is lost, all triple crowns, seven crowns, etc. will be over.
Although Liverpool has the English League Cup and Premier League championships in hand, and can also be called a Triple Crown winner by winning the Champions League, according to internationally accepted standards, this can only be regarded as a minor Triple Crown, not a true Triple Crown hegemon. In the Premier League, the real Triple Crown hegemony is the one that Manchester United completed in the 1998/1999 season: Premier League + FA Cup + Champions League.
It happens to be the end of the season now, and there are no more multi-front combat tasks. After this game, there is a week's rest to prepare for the Champions League final.
Therefore, Klopp asked everyone to go all out in the second half, run faster and stronger, withstand Arsenal's attack, score goals, win this game, and win the FA Cup.
After a 15-minute rest, the two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half. Arsenal indeed increased the frequency of passing, cutting and moving. It seemed that they were trying to use their technical advantages to penetrate Liverpool's defense and score another goal.
Unfortunately, Liverpool had already prepared for this. Under Klopp's reminder, everyone not only increased the speed of running and fighting, but also increased the scope of running and pressing.
When the ball is in the midfield and backfield, Firmino and others will also retreat significantly to participate in defense or interfere with the press, preventing Arsenal from passing the ball properly.
In particular, the presence of Willard has greatly restricted Arsenal's passing routes. Velarde is not only a matter of strong personal defensive ability, he is also very aware, very fast, has good physical fitness, and is a free man. When he finds any loopholes, he immediately runs over to fill them.
Even if Arsenal found an opening, it would be difficult to exploit it in time. Coupled with the active running and fighting of other Liverpool players, Arsenal's three goals in the opening stage of the second half failed to result in a real goal.
In the 56th minute, Ouer used his skills to break through Wijnaldum and passed a good ball to Giroud in the air, but Giroud overpowered Matip in the penalty area and grabbed the header from the first point. He tried to attack the goal, but failed to get out of the angle and was directly confiscated by goalkeeper Mignolet.
Apart from this, Arsenal have never been able to play such threatening offense and shooting again.
As for Liverpool, although Firmino and others retreated significantly, which prevented Velarde from directly passing the ball through to help his teammates create a single opportunity, the active pressure of everyone during the attack also made Arsenal lose sight of one thing and lose the other. After all, it was Couldn't stop Liverpool's counterattack.
In the 69th minute, when Sanchez was about to pass the ball to Xhaka who was advancing in the middle, he was threatened by Velarde. He lost the pass and was intercepted by Henderson. He passed the ball before Xhaka counterattacked. Got out.
Liverpool then launched a quick counterattack. Klein, Velarde, Wijnaldum, Coutinho, Firmino, Mane and others all tried their best to advance quickly and succeeded through a series of passes and cuts. Tear open Arsenal's defense.
Although Arsenal fought back to defend after losing the ball in an attempt to block Liverpool's counterattack, Liverpool had too many people to counterattack this time, and they performed well in passing, cutting and running, and there were no passing errors.
Willard moved forward in the middle to get the ball past Ramsey, attracting three Arsenal people to rush around, and then Willard passed the ball out.
It was originally a counterattack, but Willard's breakthrough with the ball also attracted three people. So what integrity does Arsenal's defense have?
Finally, Firmino, who rushed into the penalty area, received Mane's cross and shot, knocking down goalkeeper Ospina and defender Monreal, but he raised his foot and missed the ball.
Coutinho, who came in from behind, faced the empty goal where the goalkeeper had been knocked down, and easily pushed the ball into Arsenal's goal.
"Goooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball went in!!!"
"Coutinho scored."
"Liverpool overtook the score 2-1."
"This was a quick counterattack after the Red Army intercepted the ball in the backcourt. In the end, Mane passed the ground ball across the right side of the penalty area. Firmino shot from the center and knocked down the goalkeeper and the last defender, but he raised his foot to score the ball. It was passed on to Coutinho who came in from behind."
"Coutinho easily scored an empty goal and Liverpool led Arsenal 2-1!"
"As long as Liverpool takes the lead, it will be difficult for the opponent to reverse the score."
"Now it depends on what Arsenal do."
