GBP Chapter 431 - 92: A Volley! Suppressing Liverpool! That Bizarre Curve
Chapter 431 - 92: A Volley! Suppressing Liverpool! That Bizarre Curve
It was Harvey Alonso!
Out of curiosity, Wang Shuo had once compared Dortmund’s and Liverpool’s 4-2-3-1 formations and discovered something very interesting.
The player roles were remarkably similar.
For example, Harvey Alonso corresponded to Shahin.
Mascherano corresponded to Sven Bender.
And Torres corresponded to Wang Shuo.
If he analyzed Liverpool based on Dortmund’s 4-2-3-1, Wang Shuo immediately saw where the problem lay.
What Torres and Wang Shuo had in common was their skill at receiving the ball and launching direct attacks.
The difference was that Wang Shuo had a larger operational range.
Torres operated almost exclusively within the 30-meter area.
This was because he was the only player on the Liverpool squad who could pose a threat to the opponent’s penalty box.
Gerrard was responsible for late runs from deep, Harvey Alonso for orchestrating the play and making long-range switches, and Mascherano for interceptions in the midfield.
The task of linking the midfield and the attack fell to the two wingers, Benayoun and Kuyt.
In this tactical setup, two players were indispensable.
Torres and Harvey Alonso.
The former was the core attacking focal point. Without him, the late runs from Gerrard and Kuyt would become ineffective.
Harvey Alonso’s role at Liverpool was vastly underestimated.
But Shahin’s wasn’t.
Replacing Harvey Alonso with Aquilani was proof that Benitez knew just how important Harvey Alonso was.
The two players had very similar technical characteristics.
But football isn’t like assembling a puzzle; every player is unique.
Leaving aside the fact that Harvey Alonso’s ability to win back possession was nearly double Aquilani’s, the Italian simply couldn’t adapt to the Premier League, with a long pass completion rate of only 60 percent.
The Spaniard’s, on the other hand, was as high as 75 percent.
Not to mention differences in the speed and accuracy of their long passes.
As Aquilani gradually lost the team’s trust, Liverpool completely lost their high-quality long balls, and with it, their speed on the counter-attack.
So, what could they do?
It was obvious they had to sacrifice their counter-attacking speed, relying instead on more running and more passes to advance the ball.
That’s why, by this season, everyone noticed that Liverpool’s attack had suddenly diminished significantly.
And yet, it was strange.
Torres’s goal count hadn’t really decreased.
So where was the problem?
It was Gerrard and Kuyt who were scoring less!
When these two players began running more to link up the midfield and fill the void left by Harvey Alonso, their opportunities for late attacking runs diminished.
As Wang Shuo’s thoughts reached this point, his mind turned to Chelsea.
Chelsea took a different route.
Drogba!
The Ivorian possessed exceptional abilities as a center-forward; his hold-up play with his back to goal and his movement in the final third were both outstanding.
Previously, Chelsea’s strategy had been to use their center-forward in a supporting tactical role, with the real threat coming from late runs from midfield.
Namely, Lampard.
Applying that to Liverpool’s tactical system, it would mean Torres playing a supporting role while Gerrard led the main attack!
Once Wang Shuo understood this, he realized that if he had joined Liverpool, he would have taken over Torres’s role and thrived.
But if he’d gone to Chelsea, he would have been finished!
Dortmund’s tactics were actually very similar to Liverpool’s.
Wang Shuo was their Torres, and players like Reus, Götze, and Kuba all built their attacks around him.
The difference from Liverpool was that Dortmund’s players had far better individual ability and speed than the likes of Benayoun, Babel, and Kuyt. Moreover, they were all capable of breaking through on the wings and linking up play.
Coupled with Wang Shuo’s versatility, he was able to make Dortmund’s entire front line take flight.
Having lost Harvey Alonso last summer and now Torres, Liverpool’s entire attacking system was on the verge of collapse.
This was also why they drew 1-1 with Fulham in both legs of the semi-final, ultimately advancing to the final on a penalty shootout.
And against such an opponent, although Dortmund maintained a low profile before the match, their tactical approach was, in contrast, very aggressive.
Of course, Klopp had also repeatedly reminded everyone that Benitez was no slouch.
This tactical master’s greatest strength was using his tactics to compensate for his team’s weaknesses.
He was most famous for once going over twenty consecutive matches in a single season without repeating his starting lineup!
A clear Guinness World Record in the world of football!
...
As referee Rizzoli blew his whistle, Wang Shuo kicked the ball to Götze and immediately sprinted forward at top speed.
Götze passed back towards the bottom of the center circle in their own half. Shahin ran onto it and hit a long ball, trying to send it directly behind the defensive line on the right wing—specifically, into the space behind Liverpool’s left-back, Insua.
Kuba was making a quick forward run, but in the end, he couldn’t catch up to it, and the ball went straight out of bounds.
Liverpool’s Throw-In.
The Argentine left-back walked to the sideline, and a ball boy tossed him the football.
Just as he picked it up and turned around, he was shocked to see that the entire Dortmund team had pressed forward.
Since it was Dortmund’s home match, they were wearing their yellow and black kits, while Liverpool wore their white away kits.
Insua threw the ball in forcefully, sending it directly to his two defensive midfielders.
The two teams immediately started pressing each other just outside Liverpool’s 30-meter area, challenging for headers.
The ball flew back and forth in mid-air before finally dropping towards Liverpool’s right flank.
Just as Maxi Rodriguez was about to receive the ball near the halfway line, Schmelzer suddenly cut in from the side, getting to it a step ahead and intercepting the pass.