Chapter 138 Key

After winning the first victory of the new season, Leeds United's morale rose a little more, which is very beneficial to their next schedule, because from the second round of the league, they will start to meet strong enemies.

The second round of league opponent... "Red Army" Liverpool!

The third round of league opponent... "Gunners" Arsenal!

The fourth round of league opponent... Mourinho's "Blue Army" Chelsea!

Simon Grayson looked at this schedule and wanted to curse. The FA is just taking his own team as a victim. Although this schedule can increase the excitement of the Premier League from the beginning of the season, it is really not a good thing for the "Youth Guards". Leeds United was played by the FA last season, and this time it was arranged like this from the beginning of the new season. This was a coincidence... that would be a fucking accident.

In the summer, Leeds United had just bought Madias Carruzzo to strengthen the team's defense. It will take some time for the Argentine international to integrate into the team's defense line and form a tacit understanding with others, but now... this time is gone!

Relatively speaking, although Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and other opponents also have signings, they are not as important as central defenders, and their impact is much smaller.

Last season, the "Red Army" changed coaches and invited young coach Brenden Rogers. Although the final result was not ideal, this summer he still invested huge sums of money to attract stars. They poached Hamshik from Naples for 24.5 million pounds, bought Bryce Mateddy from Paris Saint-Germain for 12.25 million pounds, Miroslav Stokher from Fenerbahce, and central defender Yaroslav Lexky from the Miners. It can be said that this time, England's most profound "Red Army" really got angry.

In the first round of the league, Liverpool also easily defeated the newly promoted Mirvos 2-0 away with the goals of Gabriel Tolge and Jose Enrique.

It is not possible to see how powerful the "Red Army" is today, but if you watch the video of the game, you will find that the Liverpool team after Rodgers rebuilt is completely different from last season. They pay more attention to efficiency on the court, with only 51% possession rate but have created as many as 16 shots. It is just that the ability to seize opportunities is slightly lacking, otherwise the score will not be just 2:0.

But who can know whether the "Red Army" is retaining its strength?

Simon Grayson's guess is still correct. Liverpool finally ranked sixth last season and they still have to play in the qualifying round of the Europa League. This is already a shame for the "Red Army". If they cannot pass the qualifying round, it will definitely be a shame.

So after Rodgers retained his strength in the first round of the league, he let go of some in the Europa League. The "Red Army" defeated Portuguese team Gambares 3:0 at home. In the game, Rodgers did not send Gerald and other main players at all. He even replaced the three main defenders who appeared in the 60 minutes of the game. His mentality of preserving his strength and preparing to fight with the "Young Guards" was undoubtedly revealed.

Just after this game, the number one scorer of the "Red Army", Suarez, who was the first to score the team's first record in this game, was asked when he was interviewed by reporters about the upcoming game against the "Young Guards" at home. The Uruguayan said: "We are now neat and have strong strength. We are already familiar with the coach's tactics, so we will be invincible now. We have the ability to make any opponent cry and leave at Anfield!"

As soon as Suarez said it, it caused a stir. Leeds captain Jonny Hausen immediately responded: "Suarez? Oh, do you mean the guy who scored not many goals last season but was called the number one striker? Haha, he is far worse than Fernando! And he has a bad memory, just over four months ago. We seem to have already conquered Anfield Stadium!?"

Under the instigation of the reporters, the battle of words seemed to be kicking off. However, Liverpool's captain Gerald was very calm: "No need to say some unnutritional words. We are players, and no matter how good we say it, it's useless. Let's go to the court to compete."

"Bun" Gerald was still in a state of anger. Last season, Liverpool and Leeds United played twice, tied with their opponents away at 0:0, but lost to their opponents at home 1:2. This is a very unhappy thing for the "Red Army" flag bearer. Any team that took away victory from Anfield Stadium will make Gerald feel uncomfortable. After his first appearance in the 1998-1999 season, in the past sixteen years, every team that took away victory from Anfield Stadium, he even remembers that every time he had the chance to play against these opponents, he would fight desperately.

Perhaps...this is the source of motivation for Gerald to become the flagship of the "Red Army"!

The war of words between the players of the two teams was tepid, but the head coaches of the two teams were very calm and did not make any comments. Whether it was Simon Grayson, Brenden Rogers, they were all new generations of local coaches. They were more pragmatic and would not like Ferguson, Wenger, or even Mourinho to use war of words to disrupt their opponents. Now the effect of this psychological warfare is getting worse and worse.

Simon Grayson has always been speculating on how Liverpool will arrange troops in this game, because the "Red Army" has a strong foundation. This season, I just made efforts to sweep four stars in the transfer market and returned, and it gave people the feeling that this old giants were reborn. Their All-Star lineup seemed to give them the "gifts" again.

Rogers was not easy either. He was also thinking about the tactical play of the "Young Guards". Unlike his opponent's guess, Rogers even found the tactical loopholes of Leeds United.

After experiencing the amazing performance of the "Youth Guards" last season, the teams in the English Premier League are no longer unfamiliar with this young team. Everyone knows that Leeds United plays a powerful and dangerous football.

Last season, he set a Premier League goal record with 119 goals, which is enough to prove the strength of the "Youth Guards". Anyone who wants Halez United will be speechless in the face of this real data.

And the danger is...Leeds United rely too much on their midfield core Shaq!

Although Shaq's performance last season was indeed very calm, with an average of 7.05 steals per game, 1.08 passes, an 86% pass success rate, and an average of 13.4 kilometers per game. He is a versatile monster who supports Leeds United's midfield by his own strength. This performance also earned him an average score of 8.12. A pervert with comprehensive skills and continuous operation like a machine is indeed what every head coach wants, but who can guarantee that he will not have any problems?

And if Shaq has a problem, what is waiting for Leeds United will be... collapse!

Leeds United's tactical style is complex and concise. What's complicated is that their small-scale cooperation is too much, covering the entire court. Even goalkeeper Ronegan can participate in the defenders to pass the ball. The tactic of ball possession is quite similar to Barcelona's football, but Leeds United prefers to pursue goals. They often defeat their opponents with big scores, and they are not the kind of goal data for someone, just because they like to score goals.

The concise thing is that there is only one fulcrum for the "Young Guards" to complete this tactical style... Shaq!

Whether it is the cooperation in the backcourt, the cooperation in the frontcourt, or the horizontal transfer left and right, or even when defending, the "Young Guards" always revolve around Shaq alone.

After the "Old Sir" Ferguson announced his retirement last season, he commented on many opponents in the English Premier League, saying: "The team that threatens Manchester United is Arsenal, but the person who threatens Manchester United in the entire league is Shaq. One Shaq is equivalent to half a Leeds United team. Such a player is really too dangerous."

Ferguson was aimless. The old man suffered a lot when he led the "Red Devils" to fight against the "Youth Guards". He lost both rounds of the match against Leeds United last season. In the end, he was able to win the championship and lose his opponent. When Leeds United was still in the Championship, the two teams still lost the "Red Devils" when they confronted the FA Cup, but the old man retired and had no chance to seek revenge.

Anyone with discerning eyes knows that as long as Leeds United's tactical style can actually limit Shaq's performance, it will be equivalent to snatching the throat of the "Young Guards", and their combat effectiveness will be reduced by at least half. However, "how to prevent Shaq" has become a common problem for the English super teams.

Once "Professor" Wenger figured out a way to score the pass route, and indeed defeated Leeds United in two rounds last season, killing the "Youth Guards" 1:0, 2:1 at home and away respectively.

But in these two games... To be honest, the "Gunners" did not limit Shaq's performance, and Leeds' core performance was still very stable, but his teammates sometimes couldn't keep up with him, which eventually led to a loss.

Rodgers really wants to imitate the "Gunners", but his team is not suitable for this, because the "Red Army"'s technical strength is still not as good as the "Gunners", so they can completely predict the Leeds United's passing route and intercept it, which is simply unrealistic!
Chapter completed!