Chapter 146: Forced to the dead

"Andy Johnson-What a pity!"

Everton's forward Andy Johnson held his head in his hands, behind him was the terrified goalkeeper Malafeev, and the football that passed by and hit the billboard...

Just five minutes into the game, Everton, who played at home, got a good chance to score. The team's midfielder Arteta made a straight pass, and the football went between Scotter and Nicolas Lombaerts, the two centre-backs!

Andy Johnson, who was parallel to the back line, started to accelerate and used his speed to rush behind Zenit's defense line. After receiving the ball, he completed a one-on-one shot.

When Zenit fans saw Andy Johnson appearing behind Zenit's defense like a ghost, their hearts were raised to their throats, as if they could roll out of their wide open mouth at any time.

Fortunately, the ball hit the door...

Edvorkat was not satisfied. He stood up from his seat and rushed to the sidelines to roar at the stadium: "Be careful behind you! Pay attention to protection!"

In this game, why did he let the 21-year-old Belgian central defender Lombardes and Scotter start together? Considering that the young Lombardes is faster than Eric Hagen and Krizanach, he can fight back a little when facing Everton's speed strikers...

Unexpectedly, the opponent broke through his defense line in five minutes, how could he not be angry?

What he values ​​more than offense in this game is actually defense. With Arshavin, Chen Yingxiong, Kerzakov, Domingos and others on the offense, the quality can still be guaranteed.

But he is much weaker in defense. Tymoshchuk has to defend in the midfield. On the back line, Anyukov and Korean Kim Dongjin are both full-backs with strong offensive capabilities. Central defender Scotter is trustworthy, but Lombardes has only come to the team this season and doesn't play many games normally. He doesn't know whether his performance can be satisfactory in such an important game.

Edvorkat had considered the way of playing five defenders and three central defenders, and arranged a dragged scavenger behind the two central defenders... But he did not have a suitable candidate, so the scavenger position could not be played by just pulling someone back.

The defense that made him most worried about, but the key to solving the problem lies in the frontcourt offense - if Zenit can use a strong offensive to suppress Everton, who is fighting at home, the crisis on his defense will naturally be lifted. This is called "surrounding Wei and saving Zhao", but foreigner Edvorkat doesn't understand this allusion. But he knows the truth.

He knew very well what Everton players were thinking. Although their attack was very threatening now, Moyes also sent an almost main lineup, but what the players thought in their hearts was that the head coach could not control it. They were not data, they were living people, with their own thoughts and consciousness. So sometimes... they would not be so obedient.

The league is in full swing. The teams are now ranked first in the League Cup with one less game. Is it necessary to put all their energy into the League Cup? What if they are injured? What if they are exhausted? Then they are put on the bench for these reasons, and they don’t know if they have a chance to turn things around. So "stay away" will definitely be an idea in the minds of these players.

As long as you can perform a little stronger, Everton's players will be forced to be cautious. It is not unacceptable for them to draw with Zenit at home. With seven points in three games, they have basically decided to advance. So why do we have to work so hard?

These players will definitely have this idea!

Thinking of this, Edvocart turned his sight to the frontcourt, where there was a very conspicuous one.

Chen Yingxiong was raising his hand and signaling his teammates to pass the football to him.

Beside him was Everton's central defender Lescott.

Although Moyes said that Chen Yingxiong was a defensive task for Lescott and Yabo, it was actually not necessary for two people. So the young Lescott volunteered to take on the task of defending Chen Yingxiong.

After all, Zenit is not only one striker, and Kerzakov is also a threatening player.

Even in the eyes of Everton players, Kerzakov's threat is greater than that hero.

Although Chen Yingxiong raised his hand in front to ask for the ball, the football did not fly directly, and Zenit still had to go through the ground. It was too monotonous to pass the long pass and rush, and it was easy to be cracked by the opponent.

The football was passed to the feet of the captain Timoshchuk. The task of the midfielder Timoshchuk is not only to defend, but also to take on the tasks of forward balls, connecting offense and defense, front and backcourt.

As usual, after receiving the ball, he will pass the football to Domingos.

But this time, he found that he couldn't even turn his body...

"Everton launched the frontcourt press! They did not mean to show mercy at their home court!" The English commentator exclaimed. "This kind of Everton makes the opponent feel terrible!"

When Zenit attacked, Arteta and others did not directly withdraw their half and wait for their opponents to attack, but rushed up and entangled Dimoshchuk who was holding the ball.

In the pre-match analysis, everyone knows that Tymoshchuk is not the kind of skilled player who is good at controlling the ball. As long as he puts pressure on him, he may lose the ball. What does it mean to concede a midfielder in front of his central defenders? I believe everyone knows it very well.

Pressing Dimoshchuk and cutting off his connection with Zenit's frontcourt Domingos, Arshavin and others is Moyes' tactical arrangement. This can not only relieve the pressure on his defense line, but also have the opportunity to cause Dimoshchuk to make a mistake, directly intercept the ball in the frontcourt and counterattack, and the chance of scoring such a goal is much greater.

Seeing that there was no way to turn around, Tymoshchuk knew that it was very dangerous to continue to take the ball. Maybe other players on the other side were watching. As long as they saw that they were entangled by the other side, they would immediately rushed up to support. Whenever they were trapped in the encirclement, the football would probably be cut off...

He had no choice but to pass the football back to Scotter.

At the same time, just as he was passing the ball, Everton's forward Andy Johnson also shot out like an arrow and rushed towards Scotter. Since it was a front court press, how could it be that the central defender who took the ball? He pressed the back and cut the ball and had to face the back line. Once the pressed the central defender intercepted the ball successfully, he would directly see the goalkeeper!

Scotter was not as hesitant as Dimoshchuk and planned to walk under his feet. He swung his thigh directly towards the ball, and then passed it with a long pass!

The football flew towards Chen Yingxiong in the frontcourt.

Chen Yingxiong kept holding his hands, but he couldn't even play football. He was like a bronze statue of the Statue of Liberty, and he was almost tired of raising his hands. At this moment, Scotter kicked the football over.

Lescott saw the football flying towards him and made a jump. Just as he lowered his center of gravity and was about to jump, he saw Chen Yingxiong having already started to jump!

He was startled and jumped hastily, and had completely lost to Chen Yingxiong in terms of momentum, let alone the technical competition...

Chen Yingxiong separated Lescott behind him, headed the ball, and passed the ball to Domingos who was inserted behind him. Then he landed, turned around and ran forward.

After Lescott landed, due to the interference of Chen Yingxiong, his steps were even staggering and his center of gravity was unstable. But he still had to turn around and chase him, otherwise he would have lost his position!

In the battle with Chen Yingxiong, Lescott suffered his first setback.

Domingos divided the football to the wing, and as soon as Arshavin got the ball, he got the opponent's full-back Barnes entangled.

In the end, Al Shawen could only make a cross with a hasty foot. The quality of this foot can be imagined - he flew high out of the baseline. Even if Chen Yingxiong, who followed in the middle, was two meters tall and thirty-six meters tall, he could not beat the ball even if he jumped...

Both sides just pestered each other, and continued until almost thirty minutes, but they still made no achievements.

Everton's frontcourt offense was very sharp, and he made many passes behind him. Although such a pass would be fatal once it penetrated, the problem was that the success rate of penetration was too low. Zenit's offense was suppressed by the opponent in a targeted manner because of several key figures, so the quality was not high.

The score has always been 0:0.

After thirty minutes of entanglement, Everton gradually took advantage of his home court advantage.

The singing and cheering of the fans at Goodison Park Stadium has never stopped. Everton's offensive is becoming more and more sharp and threatening in the cheering. Every attack will make people think that "this ball will be in next time."

In the 31st minute, Arteta continued to pass directly!

The football passed by Lombardes, while Yakub overtook the young Belgian defender to chase the ball.

The weakness of the tall defender in turning speed was undoubtedly reflected. When Lombardes turned around, Yakub had already received the ball and stepped into the penalty area.

The Belgian boy had a thought in his mind: "It's bad!"

If Yakub continues to bring the ball in, it will be a one-on-one strike. He has only one choice now and must stop him!

Step down!

Lombardes flew out.

When he reacted, he fell to the ground and Yakub fell in the penalty area in front of him, but he was not in pain, but jumped up from the ground and raised his arms.

The stands around were filled with tsunami cheers.

He also saw his teammates, the full-back Anyukov who came back to defend, was holding his head with both hands...

"Oh no! Lombardes shovels behind his back! He's finished! This is a foul that is enough to get a red card, and... the foul is still in the penalty area... the penalty kick! The referee pointed to the penalty kick! At the same time, he was still fumbled in his chest pocket..."

The teammates rushed over and surrounded the referee.

But this could not stop the referee from walking towards Lombardes, who was still lying on the ground with a confused look on his face. He held a... red card in his hand!
Chapter completed!