Chapter 736: The Birth of a New Record for Winning Streaks (Medium)
Liverpool have mostly doubled the score and sealed the win after scoring first this season, and now they were unexpectedly equalised by Newcastle United, and Liverpool's players were a little impatient, and then they launched a more fierce attack to try to overtake the score again in the first half.
Bellamy, who returned to St James' Park, was very active, even more active than Chen Yu, who scored in 13 consecutive rounds.
Less than a minute after Newcastle's goal, Steven Gerrard's long pass was met by Bellamy, who moved laterally from the left and chested the ball on the back foot from 25 yards, but the angle was a bit right, and the ball was saved by Harper.
Three minutes later, Chen Yu broke through from the right and crossed, Crouch in the middle did not grab the spot, Bellamy shook off Brambo at the back post and fired a low shot from a tight angle on the right side of the penalty area, but goalkeeper Harper confiscated the ball again.
Liverpool missed Bellamy again in the 34th minute, Liverpool midfielder Sissoko passed through, Bellamy actually swam from the wing to the middle of the penalty area 12 yards to shoot, but his luck was a little bad, this inevitable shot hit the crossbar and bounced off the goalkeeper Harper.
However, Bellamy's performance is already amazing, and the Newcastle United on-site commentator couldn't help but praise: "The magical bad boy has not lost his courage back then, he has now stolen the limelight from Chen and become the best player in Liverpool." Sir Robson said in his autobiography that Bellamy was full of talent like a boy in a nightmare, hot-tempered and ambitious. He always wants the best and wants to win, but today Chen seems to be invisible, which is also surprising, and in the previous thirteen rounds, he was basically the protagonist. β
Today, Chen Yu's appearance on the field is indeed a little silent, in addition to the heavy rain and the opponent's strict guarding, Chen Yu has a lot of things on his mind today, tomorrow Zhang Shubin, Zhao Muyu, and Zhang Youzhen will return to China for the Spring Festival, but he can't leave, he can only fight alone in a foreign country, which makes Chen Yu's feelings inevitably a little low.
However, looking at the first half is about to pass, but the team still can't take the lead, Chen Yu is also a little anxious, he wiped a handful of rain from his face, and began to attack the Newcastle United defence.
Previously, Bellamy's madness alone made Newcastle United a little unbearable, and now Chen Yu has also begun to perform wildly, Liverpool's wings take off, Newcastle's penalty area immediately becomes a bombing area, Chen Yu and Bellamy continue to pass the ball from the bottom line and one side of the ball, Crouch and Liverpool's midfielders keep rushing to shoot, bombarding Newcastle United's goal.
At this time, Newcastle United's substitute goalkeeper Harper became the busiest man, in the 40th minute, he saved Crouch's header, in the 41st minute he attacked to intercept Gerrard's lob, in the 42nd minute, Pennant's shot from 15 yards on the left side of the penalty area was also saved by Harper, in the 44th minute, Newcastle United counterattacked unsuccessfully, Liverpool's long pass was hoisted into the penalty area, Crouch's header was ferried, and Chen Yu's volley was hit by Harper's fists again.
That's not all, in stoppage time, Chen Yu, who passed the ball continuously, suddenly cut inside and shot, and he unexpectedly shot into the back corner of the goal from a small angle, but goalkeeper Harper was already crazy at this time, and such a tricky shot was also hit by him with one hand and then smashed onto the crossbar and bounced out.
Chen Yu was already planning to celebrate, but when he saw the ball popping up on the bottom line, he could only smile bitterly and shake his head.
Gerrard's corner was just a little closer to goal and was again punched out of the box by goalkeeper Harper.
It was Liverpool's last strike of the first half before referee Halsey blew the whistle for the end of the game.
With the magic of the last few minutes, Harper was the best player in the entire first half, and he received a standing ovation from the Newcastle United fans when he returned to the dressing room, while Newcastle United's main goalkeeper Given, who was sitting in the stands due to injury, was a little restless, and he was worried that after his injury, the main position was gone.
After the break, Liverpool and Newcastle United both began to make substitutions, with Liverpool replacing the powerless Crouch for Kuyt, hoping that the Dutchman would be able to use his body to grasp his team's numerous crosses. Newcastle United wanted to stifle Liverpool's wide crosses, and he replaced Dier with former Chelsea big man Duff to intimidate Chen Yu, who was gradually active on his left flank.
Newcastle United manager Roder's substitutions are more targeted, Duff's tireless running has been a scenery in the hearts of Chelsea fans, compared to the beautiful Solano, Duff's practical breakthrough impact is more lethal, and there is Duff's high-speed counterattack ability, Chen Yu has to restrain himself, otherwise he really let Duff fight back, Chen Yu may not be able to return to the defense in place.
After a crazy performance in the first half, Bellamy, who was very emotional, also fell into a low ebb, his breakthroughs on the flanks were repeatedly blocked, and the attacking power of Liverpool's two wings also dropped to the lowest point since the start of the game. The Newcastle players were cheered on by the home fans and became more active and gradually took control of the game.
In the 69th minute of the game, Newcastle defender Steven Taylor and midfielder Bart played a cross and burst into the right side of the penalty area, which was not a good shooting position, but Liverpool after Reeser lost his position and stupidly stretched out his foot and tripped Taylor, and Taylor fell in the penalty area.
"Ahh Penalty kick! β
"Foul! Penalty kick! β
The stands at St James' Park exploded instantly, and Magpies fans jumped up and down to take the penalty.
Referee Halsey saw it clearly and blew the whistle and gave Reese a yellow card and pointed his finger at the penalty spot.
Seeing Reese's brainless foul, Benitez was so angry that his nose was almost crooked, Taylor's position, the angle of the shot was not large, and if he passed the ball, Liverpool's central defenders were there, and Reese, the fullback, was in a hurry, such a defensive action was almost like an undercover agent. If you concede a goal at this time, Liverpool needs to score at least two more goals if you want to win, and Chen Yu's state today is obviously not good, and it is very difficult to score two goals in the next 20 minutes.
Newcastle United's penalty was taken by Solano and the Peruvian was very solid, pushing home a shot into the bottom left corner to make it 2-1, and Newcastle United took the lead on 70 minutes.
After conceding the goal, the Liverpool players finally realized that the shape is not good, this is not only a problem of winning streaks, if this game is lost, they will be opened up by Manchester United 9 points gap, the current 9 points and the previous 9 points are no longer a concept, now there are 11 rounds left in the league, if the gap of 9 points is opened by Manchester United, the championship is basically no play.
Standing in the rain, completely ignoring the expensive suits he was wearing, Benitez yelled at the pitch to make the players nervous and play more aggressively, and made Chen Yu and Kuyt switch positions, Kuyt went to the wing, and let Chen Yu go to the middle to grab points.
Liverpool fought back, but Newcastle United were not conservative, he shrunk a little in the formation, but when he counter-attacked, he invested a lot of troops, ready to extend the score and seal the win.
In the 78th minute, Chen Yu had a good chance when Aurelio sent an imaginative pass, Chen Yu shook Bartt in the box and stabbed in front of goalkeeper Harper, but the shot from close range grazed the post and went wide.
Seeing that he couldn't score a goal at such an opportunity, Chen Yu couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh that he didn't have the luck to score today.
Eighty minutes into the game, Liverpool still could not score a second goal, Chen Yu, who had scored in the previous 13 rounds, was also dumb in the heavy rain, and he could not find a sense of shooting under the tight guard of Newcastle United defenders.
Liverpool has formed a dependence on Chen Yu before, and now Chen Yu has never been able to score, Gerrard, Kuyt and other stars finally realized that Chen Yu's goals alone are not enough, and they have also begun to frequently attack Newcastle United's goal.
With less than 10 minutes to go, excited Magpies fans stood up to watch the game and cheered their players to the end with their songs.
However, at the crucial moment, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard finally stepped up, he received a pass from substitute left-back Aurelio and volleyed the ball into the net against the turf.
2:2, Liverpool equalized, but they had no time to celebrate, at this moment the time has come to 87 minutes, they only have about 5 minutes left to impact Arsenal's winning streak, chasing Manchester United, after scoring the ball, captain Gerrard even ran to the net to pick up the ball, and then put it in the center circle, waiting for Newcastle United to serve, its anxious Cheng dΓΉ can be imagined.
At this time, Newcastle United was also nervous, this season Liverpool scored too many games in the last moments, especially Chen Yu, scored a lot of stoppage time goals, they were able to boldly invest in counterattacks when they were ahead, but after the draw, they were conservative, except for striker Martins who was responsible for counterattacking, everyone else returned to the 30-meter area, ready to hold the remaining five minutes.
The on-site commentator began to mention Chen Yu's name constantly at this moment, "...... With 3 minutes to go and Chen still not scored, could it be that his 13-game scoring streak came to an end? Now Liverpool need Chan to step up! In the event of a draw, there is also an eight-point gap to Manchester United, and there is no difference to the result of the loss...... Chan doesn't seem to be omnipotent, and today he was lost in this heavy rain on the banks of the River Tyne......"
However, the on-site commentator's words were a little early, when the game entered injury time, Chen Yu suddenly pulled to the outside of the penalty area to receive the ball, Babayaro flew the tackle, Chen Yu flashed horizontally, and then Chen Yu continued to dribble horizontally at the front of the penalty area to avoid the Magpies' tackle.
One...... Two...... Three......
After dodging the top of four players, including Babayaro, Chen Yu suddenly half-turned around near the corner of the penalty area and shot angrily, the ball hit a diagonal straight into the post and bounced into the net.
This earth-shattering long-range shot was like a lightning bolt in the heavy rain, which stunned everyone.
In an instant, there was silence at St James's Park, and only the sound of wind and rain could be heard.