Elland Road Stadium, the 17th round of the 2004-05 Premier League season, the weather is sunny.
George Li looked at the sun hanging in the sky one day and was in a good mood, and then said to his assistant.
"Look, there is no problem if I buy some Dutch or Nordic players. The team still needs some of its own players, right." George Li glanced at the opposite lineup and said casually.
"Shit, you are an Englishman. You have only played in the Netherlands for two years. What are you pretending to be?" Jordi Cruyff said immediately.
George Li ignored him and continued.
"You see, the old man trained our group of people, Wenger introduced French players such as Henry, Vieira, and Pires, and Mourinho bought Portuguese players such as Ferreira and Carvalho."
"Then have you figured out how to target the Spanish midfielder?"
Xavi Alonso, who was warming up on the court, made a long pass and passed the ball steadily to the feet of Gerrard in the distance.
Because Luis Garcia cannot play in Liverpool today due to injury, Cruyff Jr.'s words were obviously asking Lee George how to target Alonso.
"Let's see, targeting him is more effective than targeting Gerrard." George Lee turned around and called over Alan Smith and Robin Van Persie who were warming up not far away.
It cannot be said to be a nightclub duo now, because under the leadership of these two people, Leeds United's nightclub squad is getting stronger and stronger. Among the main players, Davis and Glenchard are already regular guests of Leeds nightclubs.
Another small group is the gambling group headed by Glavinson, whose main members are Hart and Mills.
George Li also doesn't care too much. As long as you don't affect the game and training, young people can play whatever they want, as long as they don't cause trouble.
Once before, Van Persie came late to training the next day because he and Smith went to a nightclub the night before. George Lee hasn't spoken to Van Persie for a week, and he asked Casper to relay the game tactics.
Van Persie is also self-aware and has been honest for a week. After scoring a goal during the game, he hugged George Lee like a licking dog. George Lee smiled and forgave Van Persie.
In short, no one was late for personal reasons.
There are many young people in the team, so it is normal to have a lot of energy that cannot be vented.
The coach gives the players face, and the players understand it clearly.
If it were another team and this kind of thing happened, if he was not the main player of the team, he would have been relegated to the sidelines long ago.
On the sidelines of the court, Smith and Van Persie were called to their side by Li George, who whispered some details to the two of them.
Van Persie kept nodding, but Smith was surprised for a moment, and then looked at George Lee, a little at a loss.
George Li raised his voice and continued to talk to Smith.
"Go up there with Robin...the two centre-backs...watch behind you...I'll have Edgar watch him..."
Here in Liverpool, many of the team's main players are unable to play due to injuries.
Dudek, Finnan and Luis Garcia are all injured.
Compared to the midfield and backcourt, Liverpool's frontcourt is the hardest hit area.
This summer's European Cup golden boot Baros was injured and could not play. French forward Djibril Cisse was seriously injured when his left tibia was kicked from behind by a Blackburn player in an away league game against Blackburn at the end of October. It is estimated that Will miss most of the season.
Liverpool's starting forwards today are Pongler, Mele and Kewell.
Australian Harry Kewell is a former player of Leeds United. He came to Leeds for trial training at the age of 15 and made his debut on behalf of Leeds United at the age of 17. During his eight years playing for Leeds United, he made a total of 182 appearances and scored 46 goals.
In the summer of 2003, due to Leeds United's financial crisis, Kewell was sold to Liverpool for 10 million euros.
They were acquaintances again. George Lee chatted with Kewell after warming up on the sidelines for a while. He really lamented that things have changed.
Lee Bowyer, Harry Kewell, and Nigel Martin, who played together at Leeds United back then, are all still struggling in the Premier League. He is already the head coach, while his teammates Gary Kelly and Ian Hart and Alan Smith both play under their own account.
Returning to the court, after the players have warmed up and returned to the locker room to rest, they began to enter.
Liverpool kicked off first.
Today at Liverpool, the goalkeeper is Kirkland, and the defense is Riise, Carragher, Hyypia, and Josemi, who starts in place of the injured Finnan.
After Liverpool teenager Mele kicked off the ball, he passed it back to Hamann, who then passed it back to Carragher.
Carragher handed the ball to Hyypia next to him.
Hyypia glanced ahead, looking for Alonso.
Xabi Alonso has wide vision, excellent ball control, is good at mid-to-long distance passes, and can score goals from long range. After Alonso gradually adapted to the Premier League environment, his precise long passing skills and sensitive touch quickly became the core of Liverpool's tactics.
Coupled with fellow countryman Benitez's tactical tilt, although Gerrard is the team's captain and spiritual leader, Alonso is actually the core of Liverpool's tactics.
Hyypia prepared to pass the ball to Alonso, but then Robin van Persie appeared in his passing path.
Van Persie did not constantly press the opponent's center back like in Leeds United's previous games. Instead, he slowly approached Hyypia. While moving, he kept looking back at Alonso's position, always keeping in the sea. Pia passed the ball to Alonso.
Hyypia had no choice but to give the ball to Carragher again.
Carragher was also preparing to pass to Alonso, but again, Smith appeared in his passing route. Smith's position was obviously earlier today, and together with Robin van Persie, he blocked the pass from Liverpool's two central defenders to the midfielder. route.
Smith not only blocked the ball, but also gradually moved closer to Carragher, which made the angle from which Carragher passed the ball to Alonso smaller and smaller.
There is no way, Carragher can only pass the ball to Josemi on the right.
Josemi took two steps forward, and when he saw Smith and Glenchar approaching, he spotted a figure.
It's Xavi Alonso.
Alonso ran from the center to the right position and connected with Josemi.
Josemi then passed the ball to Alonso.
Alonso took the ball with his back and wanted to turn around, but when he was about to turn, he found that his left rear was stuck.
Davis got stuck on Alonso's left side, and Alonso could only turn to the right, and after turning, he took the ball with his left foot.
His left foot is not his good ball-playing foot, so he cannot play the ball comfortably and can only give the ball to Haman on the side.
Hamann then gave it to the Norwegian Rise who inserted it on the left.
Because although Liverpool is in a 433 formation today, Kewell, who serves as the left midfielder, often leans into the middle and gives up the left side to Riise. Today, the task Benitez gave to Riise is to defend well and at the same time, To actively intervene, Riise's position will be a little further forward than the right back Josemi's position.
As soon as Riise got the ball, two more people from Leeds United immediately rushed over. Mills and Romedal focused on Riise and gradually approached him.
Riise wanted to make a transition to Gerrard in the midfield, but Graveson intercepted the pass.
This is the end of Liverpool's first conduct of the game.
Graveson was not in a hurry to attack after getting the ball, and passed the ball directly back to goalkeeper Robinson.
Leeds United's two central defenders stood a bit apart. After Robinson took the ball, Matteisson and Albucheson pulled to the left and right, waiting for Graveson to return to the middle position.
After the previous rounds of competition, Schmeichel's training, and Lee's tactical needs. When Robinson is passing the ball in the team's backcourt now, his position is obviously further forward than before, which makes the team's backcourt ball more calm.
The two full-backs can move further forward because the area before them is occupied by the two centre-backs.
After Robinson passed between Graveson and Matteisen twice, the ball returned to Robinson's feet again.
He drove the ball to the other side with a big kick, and Mills grabbed the ball near the halfway line.
Because Kewell stood closer to the middle, Liverpool only had Riise on the left, and Riise had to keep an eye on Romedal, so Mills received the ball very calmly.
Mills passed the ball laterally to Smith who was retreating. Smith turned and saw Gerrard.
Because the way George Lee uses Smith this season is very similar to the way Mourinho uses Lampard and Benitez uses Gerrard, Smith is often compared with the two people by the media.
Smith is also a strong person. Since the media has said so, he wants to compete with Gerrard.
Smith dunked the ball and tried to pass by Gerrard. After dunking, he made a pass.
Unexpectedly, the ball was too big, the ball was lost, and the ball rolled to Alonso's feet.
Alonso pulled the ball and controlled the ball at his feet.
Then he looked up to see where his teammates were on the field.
Who knew that the teammates in front of them didn't see it, but they saw Smith and Davis in a menacing manner.
Then he didn't dare to play the ball forward, and once again gave the ball to his teammate behind him, the team's center back, Hyypia.
Then, just like the kick-off, Van Persie kept controlling Hyypia's route to Alonso.
Smith, who was still chasing Alonso with Davis just now, immediately ran over and accelerated and appeared on the route between Carragher and Alonso.
And Davis stands between Gerrard and Hamann. No matter which player Liverpool gives the ball to in the midfield, he can press forward immediately.
The reason why Alonso was not taken care of was because Graveson came up and was right next to Alonso.
Today's Liverpool forward is Neil Mellor, a typical powerful British center. So Albuchesson was always close to him, and Matteisen was always near Kewell. So today Albchesson and Matheson changed positions, with Matheson playing right center back and Albchisson playing left center back.
George Lee knows Kewell. He has been teammates for two years and knows each other well. In his early years, Kewell was extremely fast and had strong individual breakthrough ability. Later, due to injury, this link declined, but he can still create threats for the team through passing and crossing.
George Lee didn't dare to be careless and let the relatively faster Mattison mark Kewell.
He is now explaining his tactics to his assistants off the court.
"Comparing Liverpool's centre-back holding the ball to a light source, then Van Persie and Smith appeared on the route they passed to Alonso. Alonso could only see the shadows of Van Persie and others, and then let Van Persie and the others gradually get closer. If the light source is used, the shadow Alonso sees will become bigger and bigger, which will make it more difficult for Alonso to catch the ball..."
After listening to George Li's story, Chris Casper looked up at the sun. It might have been a little dazzling, so he put his hand in front of his forehead.
"What are you doing?" George Li was curious about his actions.
"The sun is quite bright today, no wonder the shadows are so long," Casper said.
"Have you never read a book? The length of the shadow is related to the angle of the sun." Physical coach Colin McGee complained to Casper.
Benitez on the other side also discovered this problem after watching the game for more than ten minutes. He looked towards the Leeds United coaching bench.
