Martin O'Neal's Aston Villa have always had a tough style of play, especially at their home turf.

Yang Yang's most impressive thing was last season, when he first came to the Premier League, Aston Vela played an amazing record of nine rounds of unbeaten games, which left a deep impression on him.

Although Aston Villa ended up in 11th place in the Premier League, the team's defensive ability is among the best in the Premier League, and this summer, the team has also invested a lot of money, bringing in a number of quality players, and all three lines have been further improved.

In the face of such an opponent, Liverpool naturally did not dare to be careless.

Rafa Benitez played his best in this game and fielded his strongest starting line-up.

The goalkeeper is Reina, the backline is Aurelio, Daniel Agger, Carragher and Finnan, the midfield is Mascherano and Xavi Alonso in the back, Gerrard is up front, and the front trident is Yang Yang, Crouch and Kuyt.

This is the strongest combination Liverpool can put out at the moment.

Although Yang Yang has only returned to the team for ten days, he has been recognized by the coaching staff both in terms of his state and performance in training.

Everyone knows that even during the vacation, Yang Yang still insists on training and does not dare to slack off.

And Martin O'Neill also played with the main force.

This is also Liverpool's first official match in the UK after winning the Champions League, Villa Park is full, and all tickets have long been sold out by avid fans, and many are even from Liverpool.

After winning the Champions League last season, Liverpool's ball market has become more popular.

……

In the end, it was the first performance of the new season, and after the start of the game, it was clear that both sides were not at their best.

Aston Villa, who played at home, showed a positive performance, while Liverpool could only retreat to stabilize their position under the onslaught of their opponents, so the first shot came from Aston Villa's long-range shot, but failed to create a threat.

Yang Yang ran the court, and he clearly felt that he had not adjusted in place.

Although he played the Asian Cup before, the Asian Cup is far inferior to the Premier League in terms of the format and the intensity of the game.

He has not experienced the pre-season warm-up game, and now he is still a little rusty with his teammates, and he has not yet fully entered the rhythm and state of the game.

But even so, in the seventeenth minute of the game, Crouch's header still created a very good opportunity for Yang Yang, he started as fast as he could, inserted into the box, caught up with the ball before everyone else, and volleyed with his left foot, but the ball was slightly wide of the goal.

This made him a little depressed, because if it was when he was still in good shape, he was sure that he would not miss this ball.

The game continues.

With Yang Yang's shot on goal, Liverpool began to control the situation on the field, and the central midfield continued to create chances.

Gerrard and Kuyt then took turns getting their chances.

Yang Yang has also come to realise the change in Crouch's role on the pitch, which is that he is clearly playing more like a tactical centre-forward, rather than always looking for opportunities to face the goal directly, as he used to be.

This shift certainly made Crouch a much less dangerous on the court, but it also allowed Yang Yang, Kuyt and Gerrard to get more opportunities, especially Yang Yang.

In the thirtieth minute, the Liverpool midfielder broke the ball and played a quick counterattack, Yang Yang suddenly appeared on the right side, received Crouch's pass again, rushed into the penalty area with the ball, volleyed with his right foot, but once again slid past the goal.

Missed two scoring opportunities in a row, and Yang Yang was a little depressed.

Crouch, Kuyt and Gerrard were among his team-mates who came over to comfort him and keep him from worrying too much.

……

"Yang Yang looks a little impatient now, but this is mainly because his physical condition has not yet adjusted to the best condition, or rather, he is not in the most conducive state for the game."

"Judging by his few runs, he's still so sharp, so smart, but his body can't keep up with his consciousness."

"To put it simply, his body isn't excited enough, it needs the excitement of the game."

"Sometimes it's like that, it's a little bit different from being excited or not."

"If it is Yang Yang in an excited state, it is estimated that the score will be at least 2-0 by now, but this is the first game of the new season after all, Yang Yang has just flown back to the team from Asia, and he has not experienced the pre-season training and preparation."

Sky TV commentator and former star Andy Gray analyzes Yang Yang's current psychological state.

"For his current situation, I think the most important thing he should do is to remain calm and rational, which has always been Yang Yang's advantage, and I believe he should be able to handle his emotions."

……

As soon as Andy Gray's words fell, Liverpool on the pitch created another chance.

Still with the ball broken in midfield, Mascherano strangled a counter-attack from Aston Villa in the cradle and quickly passed the ball to Gerrard, who slammed it straight to Yang Yang.

After Yang Yang caught up with the ball, he stepped into the penalty area and shot directly near the penalty spot.

This time he was playing fast and fast, and the angle was so good that he should have been nine out of ten, but Aston Villa's goalkeeper Taylor reacted quickly and flew to save the ball.

The ball fell to the right and Kuyt followed up and slammed it straight into the Aston Villa goal.

1 to 0!

The Dutch striker picked up a big bargain for no reason!

Yang Yang shook his head helplessly, and quickly ran over to celebrate the goal with Kuyt, congratulating his teammates on scoring the first goal of the new season.

No way, his luck is indeed a little bit back.

Nine out of ten shots were saved by Taylor, but the Aston Villa goalkeeper saved too hard, leaving an empty goal for Kuyt to play, what else can Yang Yang say except for luck?

……

After scoring a goal, Liverpool still controlled the situation on the pitch.

Aston Villa were waiting for an opportunity to hit the counter-attack.

After the rematch in the second half, Yang Yang hit two high-quality long-range shots in three consecutive minutes, one was wide and the other was saved by Taylor, but he failed to score.

But those two shots also boosted Liverpool's morale, and the Reds then controlled the situation all the way and took the opportunity firmly.

Yang Yang also got a few chances in the next half hour, but unfortunately, they were all saved by the goal.

In the 80th minute, Yang Yang was replaced by Benayoun.

It's not that Benitez isn't happy with his performance, it's that he wants to save some energy, and there is still a league game in midweek.

……

After Yang Yang went off the field, Aston Villa suddenly played a wave of attacks.

Gareth Barry's cross from the left was headed wide by Carew, then a left-hand attack from Aston Villa was followed by a penalty penalty for a handball in the Carragher penalty area, and Barry converted the penalty to equalise from the penalty spot.

With two attacks in a row, in just a few minutes, Aston Villa grabbed Liverpool's right flank to launch an attack.

Yang Yang also noticed this phenomenon while sitting on the bench.

The Reds were solid defensively last season, with the entire backline performing very well, which was the reason why the team was able to win the Champions League in the end, and Finnan on the right was very solid.

But judging from tonight's game, Aurelio on the left is still good, but Finnan on the right is not reassuring, especially when he faces Aston Villa's speed wingers, he struggles very hard, the defensive pressure is very high, and he has failed to defend the opponent's attack several times.

Of course, this is just one game, and it doesn't tell the whole story, but it also reveals the fact that Finnan is 31 years old, and will two Champions League titles make him feel satisfied and slack off?

This is clearly a noteworthy issue.

Yang Yang has no prejudice against Finnan, and even he respects this senior very much, but through this game, he did see some of Finnan's old state, or tiredness.

……

Two minutes after conceding the goal, Liverpool launched a wave of attacks, Gerrard was fouled on the edge of the box, and Liverpool were given a good free-kick opportunity from around 20 yards from goal.

The Liverpool captain personally took the penalty and hit it very cleanly.

But what is infuriating is that after Gerrard scored the goal, he did not run to other places to celebrate, but ran to the bench, hugged Yang Yang directly, and shouted excitedly, "Thank you for reminding me to practice hard for free kicks!" ”

Yang Yang almost kicked him to death!

I don't know if this is considered to add to your own blockage and indirectly cultivate competitors?

……

Liverpool eventually beat Aston Villa 2-1 thanks to Gerrard's direct free-kick and narrowly won away to earn the precious three points.

Gerrard's outstanding performance won unanimous recognition, but Yang Yang's new season debut was also recognized by everyone.

In Sky TV's post-match fan ratings, Yang Yang scored 7.8 points, second only to Gerrard, who scored the killer goal.

Andy Gray's comments have also been recognized by everyone, the legend believes that Yang Yang's performance in this game is close to perfect, only one goal away, and Kuyt's goal should have belonged to Yang Yang.

"Taylor's sudden magical performance ruined Yang Yang's first goal of the new season!"

The Guardian also commented on the players after the game, believing that Yang Yang's performance was excellent and satisfactory.

Benitez also praised Yang Yang by name in the post-match press conference, believing that Yang Yang's performance was quite good.

'I don't think it's a goal in the first game, he's worked very hard and he's been adjusting and I'm sure he'll be better soon, he's already an integral part of the team.'

The Times also believes that although Yang Yang did not score, he is still Liverpool's most dangerous player at Villa Park, and also published a post-match interview with Aston Villa coach Martin O'Neill, who believes that Yang Yang's departure is the key to Aston Villa's consecutive threatening counterattacks after 80 minutes.

But Yang Yang failed to score in the debut of the new season, which is still a bit of a fly in the ointment.

Anyway, Yang Yang himself thinks so.