Football’s First Defender

Was Everton's defense really impenetrable as the game progressed?

In fact, there are still loopholes!

After all, the Premier League is not Serie A!

Italians know how to play chain defense from the womb!

English people may be born with rough!

Defense is possible for a Premier League team, but it is definitely not a necessity!

At least in Edvocaat's eyes, although Everton's double midfielders performed well in the opening game, they did play an excellent role in interception!

But the defensive system of the entire team only has a rough outline, but it's not that seamless!

Between the defensive midfielder and the back line, it is still impossible to achieve a perfect rotation! There are always loopholes and gaps between defenders when it comes time to switch defenses!

Especially the few Zenit players, the moment they crossed positions, they obviously felt that Everton's defense line was a bit stuck!

More cross moves! Play more small-scale coordination!

Advocaat can only shout out to his players! Let them try to attack the opponent's weakness!

I want to see if your shield is strong enough!

But just as Moyes, who was watching the game calmly and calmly on the sidelines, expected!

Indeed, the defensive tactics of their own team seem to have loopholes! If it is really solid, Everton will not be a Champions League goalkeeper every year in the league!

but!

I'm not pointing at defense either!

This is pure conspiracy!

It's a conspiracy to force Zenit into the trap!

It is true that Everton's defense has loopholes, but the numerical advantage is enough to make Everton's defense look solid!

The next thing is to see if Zenit dares to attack completely for victory!

When Zenit really dared to pierce the window paper of the goal in order to score a goal, it was the time for Everton to counterattack in an all-round way!

As for who can score first, it depends on the endurance and execution ability of the players on both sides!

Moyes believes that Zenit's weak defense will probably be the first to fail!

But what Moyes didn't expect was that Zenit's offensive team is really bursting today!

This time it's Denisov!

Forcibly trying to get past Everton's right-back Hibbert!

Hibert firmly guarded his position! He tried his best to interfere with Denisov!

Hibert wants to rely on his own strength to impose physical confrontation on Denisov!

However, as a Russian national, Denisov has always been good at speed, but in terms of physical confrontation, he is not weak!

really!

Between the tugging and fighting between the two sides!

Not only was Denisov not disturbed by Hibbert, he even had a slight advantage!

Get rid of it!

Denisov speeded up again during the physical confrontation!

Just when Hibbert was trying to make a collision, Denisov accelerated and successfully dribbled the ball in!

“Great opportunity in Zenit!”

Hibert's defense this time is too taken for granted!

The central defender Jajelka hastened to defend! Denisov must not be allowed to cut inside to hit the goal! His position will be filled by other midfielders!

But this time difference is enough for Denisov to complete the adjustment of the pass!

On the edge of the penalty area, a half-high ball kicked off!

The ball is fast! Flying in front of the goal!

Pogrebnyak in the penalty area has already arrived!

It's really difficult for Lescott alone to defend Boshen!

He can only interfere, but he can't limit Pogrebnyak's grabbing points alone!

Header!

A header that hits goal range!

Howard! It's Howard again!

Such a chance to score!

Blocked by Howard again!

The quality of this header is already very high!

It flew to the upper left corner of the goal!

However, Howard's reaction speed is simply incomprehensible!

Drag the ball out with one palm!

The score is still 0 to 0!

Zenit's another scoring opportunity was resolved by Howard!

Moyes on the sidelines was frightened into a cold sweat when he saw the ball!

And Edvocaat jumped up and scolded his mother!

Two chances!

From Advocaat's point of view, these two opportunities are the kind of shots that can make celebratory moves, but they are forcibly resolved by the opponent's goalkeeper!

It's just an abandoned general from a wealthy family, do you want to prove yourself in this occasional game?

Moyes underestimated the outstanding state of Zenit's attack group today. Even without relying on more teammates, these few players can still turn Everton's defense upside down!

But the same! Although you can win more with less and mess up Everton's defense, but at the end of the day, you have to face a goalkeeper who is also in excellent condition today!

The nerve-knife goalkeeper is so unreasonable. Today's Howard feels like a goalkeeper! Not a single ball can make it into the net!

Zenit successfully crushed Everton's defense by passing the pressure from the wing!

Knock back! In front of the restricted area!

The one following in the middle is Tymoshchuk!

Directly bombard the door!

Another shot on target!

But such an excellent shot from long distance!

It was still blocked by Howard!

This time Howard even had time to control the shape of his hands!

Shoot this long-range shot down with both hands!

After the football bounced off the ground, Howard hugged him directly!

The score is still 0-0!

The first half of the game is almost over!

Everton, which is playing at home, has been defending with all its strength. Although there has been turmoil in front of the goal, but with the brave performance of the goalkeeper, they still try to keep the goal clean!

On the other hand, Zenit, all the central and frontcourt players are obviously in excellent condition. Even if they played less and more, they still created several good shooting opportunities. Goalkeeper!

What Zenit has to consider now is whether it should invest all its offensive power earlier!

After all, if you really cultivate a goalkeeper's state completely, then it will definitely become more and more difficult to score goals in this game!

You must know that Howard was also the main goalkeeper of Manchester United back then, although he was kicked out by Manchester United due to various low-level mistakes afterwards!

But when he is playing well, he is still a world-class goalkeeper. Zenit must not underestimate the opponent!

Tim Howard, America's Gate! Back then, he was bought by the Red Devils Manchester United and replaced the bald Butters as the main goalkeeper of the Red Devils!

His performance at Manchester United can be regarded as quite satisfactory, with occasional flashes!

But in the 2004 Champions League knockout round, it was because of his mistakes in the game that he missed the ball and was shot by a Porto player, making the Red Devils Manchester United eliminated by Porto!

As a result, Howard gradually lost the trust of coach Ferguson!

Although he returned to the main force later and won the FA Cup with the team, after Van der Sar came, he was completely marginalized in Manchester United!

Only then did he come to Everton on loan, and after a season of outstanding performance, he completely transferred to Everton permanently!

Although he makes occasional mistakes and makes some low-level mistakes, but when he is in good form, he is the real thigh of the team!

In Everton, such a team, which is considered to be a mid-upstream team, but with an average defense, can even guarantee a zero-block rate of more than 30%, which is really rare!

(Of course, the most famous of this gentleman may be the goalkeeper who scored a goal kick directly! In the Premier League game in January 2012, Everton played against Bolton. In the second half, due to the strong wind, Howard opened the goal in the penalty area. With the help of the wind, the ball flew directly to the opponent's penalty area, bounced and shot the goal! The opponent's goalkeeper became the background board for Howard's 80-meter goal because of his forward position! And Howard also became the fourth in the history of the Premier League. Goalkeeper who scored directly...)

Talk about this game!

It is precisely because of Howard's high resistance! Let Everton's already shaky defense line, still insisted on a 0-0 score until the end of the first half!

Before halftime, Arshavin and Denisov had two long shots on target! But they were all directly won by Howard, and Zenit didn't even get a corner kick!

It's just a pity for the wonderful performance of the Zenit players in the first half!

This game is definitely Zenit's attack group, the best performance in the recent game, just relying on the strength of a few people, they dismantled Everton's defense line to pieces, but everything was in vain without scoring. At the end of the game, it still depends on the faces of the other opponents in the group!

The second half will be the most intense decisive battle between the two sides!

Watch the ball, watch the ball! Let's first look at how Cologne won at home in the German second division. Although Modeste's incident is not authentic, it still feels no problem for Cologne to upgrade! Then look at the goal battle between Bournemouth and the Coyotes in the Premier League! The firepower of Bournemouth at home is still guaranteed, and it should be a wonderful offensive battle!