Chapter 143: Threatening Person

Moyes is studying his opponent in the next League Cup group stage, a game video of Zenit in St. Petersburg.

The Russian domestic league is too closed, and all he wins are Zenit's matches in the League Cup.

Although Everton is currently ranked first in the group and qualifying is not a problem, we should still try our best to achieve a favorable ranking.

He found that there were several people in Zenit, St. Petersburg, who were quite informative. He wrote down the names of these people and planned to remind the players to pay attention during the tactical meeting.

Needless to say, Al Shavin has become famous in Russia for a long time. Perhaps ordinary fans know nothing about him, but professional coach Moyes has heard of his name a little - although he has never seen Al Shavin play football...

Another threatening person is their midfielder Domingos. This Argentine player became famous in the World Youth Championship in 2001. At that time, he was teammate with Saviola in Barcelona. Unfortunately, he was kicked off his leg in the World Youth Championship. Since then, this person has disappeared from the mainstream football circle. Later, I heard that he went to Russia and I don’t know why he made this decision. For many people, the bitter and cold place of Russia is not suitable for football at all. Going to Russia is equivalent to self-exile, especially such a promising player... Now he is the main midfielder of Zenit in St. Petersburg and plays a very important role in the offense.

Another threatening person is their midfielder, the captain of the field, Dimoshchuk. This Ukrainian country's vice captain has a natural leadership temperament. His interception and running in the midfield will be a great threat to Everton's offense. Moreover, he not only knows how to defend, he also launches offense. He is a key node for offense and defense conversion. Many times Zenit's offense is initiated by stealing in the midfield and backcourt.

To stop Zenit's attack, perhaps you have to start with Tymoshchuk.

The last threatening person is their centre-back Martin Scotter. The young centre-back has attracted the attention of some European mainstream league teams through his outstanding performance. Liverpool is said to be planning to seduce him to join.

Scotter, who is 1.91 meters tall, has excellent air defense capabilities. Because he played ice hockey when he was a child, he has excellent physical fitness and excellent strength. He will not be at a disadvantage when fighting against any forward. But he is not without weakness. The tall central defender has one common weakness, which is slow turn. Agile forwards will be his nightmare.

Moss also thought about it. Almost all fast forwards in his team, such as Andy Johnson, James Vaughan, and Yakubu.

It's just right to deal with Scotter.

Just thinking about it, Moyes had basically decided on the basic tactics when playing against Zenit at that time - speed. He used the speed on the forward line to continuously hit Zenit's defense, making their tall defenders at a loss and were rushed to find North.

In addition, Moyes also noticed that Zenit had a big center, who was very conspicuous on the court because his figure was really... too burly, like a giant bear.

He paid great attention to this striker at the beginning. No matter what, a forward with this figure will be a nightmare for the defense line. Bayern Munich and the German national team had a center named Yankel, who was 1.93 meters tall and weighed 91 kilograms. He was like a heavy tank on the court. Although his skills were extremely rough and slow, he had good back-to-body skills and strong right-footed shooting ability. As long as he came on the court, he could cause great trouble to the opponent's defense line. Even if he couldn't score, he could attract defensive firepower and create opportunities for his teammates.

The threat that he threatened was Czech center Jan Kohler. He was 2.02 meters tall and weighed 103 kilograms. As long as he was in the penalty area, even if he just stood and couldn't take off, it would be a big enough threat.

Therefore, Moyes originally listed Chen Yingxiong as a threatening figure, and needs to be investigated.

Unexpectedly, after watching several videos of Zenit's League Cup games, he found that this striker had almost no other advantages except heading. His body was not flexible enough, his feet were extremely rough, and his shooting level was not satisfactory except heading... He was even surprised - how did such a guy get on Edvorkat's starting lineup?

The result was that this big man started almost every game in the League Cup, but only scored one goal, and it was scored in the weakest team in the group like Larissa. Although that goal helped the team win, it was really not exciting and could not reflect his strength - it was luck rather than strength. Luckily, he appeared there, and then he saw his amateur swing of his thighs and shooting, and no defensive player stabbed the football first, which was really lucky...

Moreover, this ball reflects more of the mistakes in the defensive side Larissa's defense line, rather than Chen Yingxiong's extraordinary agility.

Moyes, after thinking about it, finally crossed the name "hero" off the paper.

He felt that such a center forward who only looks strong and looks excellent in heading can't threaten his back line.

His two central defenders, Joleon Lescott and Joseph Yobo, are tall and strong, and headers, so it should be no problem to defend this person. At that time, when he swung his thigh and shot, there wouldn't be a low-level mistake by his side!

When flying from St. Petersburg to Liverpool, many Zenit players shouted, "The UK is so warm!"

If the Liverpool people on the street with their necks shrank and wrapped their entire bodies in thick coats, they would not know what they would feel if they heard the excited voices of these Russians.

But for people from a city whose average temperature is around minus thirteen degrees Celsius and whose minimum temperature reaches minus thirty degrees Celsius, this coastal city in the UK is really warm...

This is the first time Chen Yingxiong has come to the UK.

When he and his father were selling themselves like ascetics, they had never come to the UK because they knew they could not get a labor certificate and they would definitely not be able to represent the teams of the four British Football Associations in the game. So the UK was not in their plan from the beginning.

His main activity areas are in Eastern Europe, playing away with the team, the farthest place he goes to is Vladivostok, and the closest to the European football center is Greece - he follows the team to play away with Larissa.

Liverpool City and this team Chen Yingxiong have heard of it, and it is famous.

This is a historic port city, located on the east bank of the Mersey Estuary, with a population of nearly 500,000. Its unique Irish immigration tradition and trade with all over the world make Liverpool particularly alternative in British cities.

This is somewhat similar to St. Petersburg's status in Russia. They are also immigrant cities, all close to the seaports, and have trade relations with all over the world, and they all seem a bit alternative in their own country.

The city is famous for its two great teams in the football world.

One is naturally great Liverpool. They are the most successful club in English football history. But the recent years are not favorable...

Another great team is Zenit's opponent Everton this time.

In English football, the red and blue showdown is an eternal theme. For all those arch-rival teams, their jersey colors are basically red and blue. For example, Manchester United and Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton. The red and blue are the traditional colors used by English teams, which has led to so many arch-rival teams using these two colors.

Compared with Liverpool, Everton is slightly less famous in the world football world, but in England, they are equally famous. They are the only team that has played in the top league for 100 seasons and are one of the founders of the football league. Over the long years of more than a hundred years, they have won nine top league titles in England, five FA Cups and one European Cup Winners Champions League.

Such a team has a much more brilliant history and achievements than Zenit.

Compared to them, Zenit is simply not worth mentioning.

This is also why the English media think that this group stage is unsurprising. Everton will easily defeat Zenit at his home court and then advance to the knockout stage as the first in the group.

The Russian media are not optimistic about Zenit's future. After all, it is too difficult to defeat Everton away.

The situation in this group is now like this. Before the game on December 5th, Zenit had played three games, winning one and drawing two, and gaining five points, and temporarily ranked second in the group. Everton had one game less, winning two games, winning six points in two games, ranking first in the group. Next were Nuremberg and Alkmar, both teams won one and lost one and gaining four points.

With two rounds left, Zenit finished the game against Everton, and their group stage ended. If they lost to Everton, the points would still be five points. Everton will top the list with nine points, and it is almost impossible for a team to shake their position anymore. Everton will qualify as the first in the group to advance.

Just as Zenit and Everton were playing, two teams with the same points would also fight each other. If Alkmaar and Nuremberg decide the winner, the winning team would rise to second place under Zenit's loss to Everton, and Zenit was squeezed to a very dangerous third.

If the two teams draw, all three teams will be five points, but Zenit's bye in the last round of the group stage, both Nuremberg and Alkmaul still have one game. Nuremberg challenged Larissa, the weakest in the group, away, and the chance of winning is quite high. The game between Alkmaul and Everton is also full of variables. No one knows whether Everton, who qualifies in advance, will send a substitute to rotate, because everyone knows that the Premier League schedule during Christmas is the most intense, and that group match will happen to be December 20th...

So in the last round, Zenit could only watch the other four teams fighting each other, and could not control his own destiny at all. Life and death were all in one thought.

This is very dangerous.

If Everton let Alkmaar go one horse and Nuremberg beats Rally three again, the two teams will be ranked second and third, thus pushing Zenit to fourth and being eliminated.

And the root of all this is that St. Petersburg Zenit lost away to Everton in this game.

Therefore, in order to firmly grasp his destiny, Zenit must defeat Zenit away.

But the media didn't really like Zenit.

"Their first few games were so bad that they won the worst Larissa in the group, and they narrowly won... You know, Larissa has only scored three goals so far, two of which were scored in the game against Zenit! In the two most important opponents, Nuremberg and Alcamar, Zenit only won the draw, thus forcing himself into a desperate situation!"
Chapter completed!