Chapter 735: The Birth of a New Streak (Part I)
Newcastle is a real middle and upper team in the Premier League, during Keegan's reign, Newcastle has always been the favorite to win the championship, and now although the strength cannot be compared with the four giants of the Premier League, it is still not a big problem to enter the European arena.
Last season, Newcastle was seventh in the Premier League, and this season is now ranked 12th, but Newcastle has two habits, one is to exert force in the second half, and the other is to see the giants explode, and now both habits have been caught up by Liverpool.
Liverpool has just changed an American owner, whether the players like or dislike these two American owners, even if it is for the job, no one wants to show it in front of the new owner, not to mention that Liverpool is still facing the juncture of tying Arsenal's winning streak, and winning the Magpies has become the most needed goal for Liverpool.
Before the game, Liverpool's generals no longer hypocritically said that the record is meaningless, and winning the championship is the goal, from Rick Barry, Benitez, to the players and fans, they all said in unison that they wanted to beat Newcastle and share the longest winning streak with Arsenal.
Benitez said in his pre-match press conference: "Liverpool have just undergone a reborn shareholding change, and now we have an unprecedented winning streak, such an opportunity is once in a lifetime, at this time, to avoid talking about setting a zào record is obviously a lack of responsibility, a lack of pride, Liverpool is not such a team, we are now going to beat Newcastle away and return to win Sheffield United at home, and try to make a new history of Zào." ”
Captain Steven Gerrard, who was with Benitez at the pre-match press conference, also called on the players to fight for making history," ...... The championship is an honor, the record is also an honor, although these two honors are not exactly the same, but for us players, both of these honors are worth pursuing, to fight, Newcastle are a great team, they have our former sharpshooter Owen in the team, although Owen is injured, but he will definitely give Newcastle players a good build, because he knows us too well. Of course, we are the same, we have Newcastle Bellamy and he has helped us a lot, but to win the game, it is not enough, only the hard work on the pitch will make a decision. ”
In the 27th round of the Premier League, there were no too strong opponents in the top four, and the clash between Newcastle and Liverpool became the most watched game because it was related to the Premier League's winning streak.
When Liverpool and Newcastle met, the first game between Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal was over, Manchester United had a thrilling 2-1 away win over Fulham, and Chelsea and Arsenal both beat Villa and Manchester City 1-0.
The top three in the Premier League are all won by one goal, which is enough to show that after the winning streak has reached this point, whether it is a relegation title or a European seat, they have begun to work hard, at this time it is difficult for the top three in the Premier League to win easily, and every game requires them to pay a lot of energy.
However, Liverpool has won Newcastle in the last three games, and the two sides have met 27 times in the history of the Premier League, Newcastle has 6 wins, 6 draws and 15 losses, and the historical record Liverpool has 72 wins, 38 draws and 44 losses.
However, although Benitez does not think that Newcastle can prevent his team from winning, he knows very well that the lion should be fought with all his strength, and the rabbit should also be used with all his strength, and Benitez is still the main force in this game, except for Sissoko who returned from injury to replace the cold Alonso to start, the other players are no different from the last game.
Liverpool was full of confidence, but a sudden heavy rain made the game complicated and tortuous, 30 minutes before the game, referee Halsey went to Newcastle St James' Park to watch the field, although the rain was not small, but the field was still good, Halsey decided to let the game go on as scheduled.
This made the more than 50,000 fans who came to watch the game very happy and excited, and they sang an adaptation of "Hello Referee" in the stands to praise Halsey.
Once the game began, the two sides quickly launched a rush in midfield, and Newcastle United, who were playing at home, were not afraid of Liverpool, who had won 13 games in a row, and their goal was obvious, to break Liverpool's winning streak and never let them write history on their own.
The impact of heavy rain on Liverpool is not small, the slippery field makes it easy for players to lose their center of gravity when doing movements, and the passing and receiving of the ball is also very different, the players can only control the pass, the speed of the attack is much slower than the original, and more is to adopt a simple and rough traditional style of play, that is, a long pass and hanging.
For Newcastle United, which mainly plays the 451 counterattack formation, this style of play is very beneficial to them, and the player at the top of Newcastle United today is Nigerian Martins, that is, the black lightning of Inter Milan, his speed is similar to Chen Yu, explosiveness is amazing, worse than Chen Yu is skill and awareness, but now Liverpool is very ahead of the curve in order to win, which gives Martins a lot of space to sprint, if Martins is given a chance at this time, there is no need for any skill and awareness, As long as it's fast enough, all that's left is a conversation between Martins and goalkeeper Reina.
Newcastle had a chance in the third minute of the game.
Newcastle United striker James Milner, who had scored four goals in four previous games, broke down the flank, sending the ball from near the baseline into the box.
Milner knew Liverpool's air supremacy and that teams like Chelsea were killed with their headers, and instead of a high ball, he passed a boccia ball.
When Milner passed, Newcastle United had at least three players inserted into the penalty area to grab the point, but the fastest was Martins, under the bag of two defenders, Martins still relied on his super explosiveness to shake off the strong Agger and Carragher's marking, but when the flying tackle grabbed the point, Martins still skidped, and his flying tackle did not tackle the ball, and as a result, such a good opportunity was shoveled out of the bottom line by Martins.
Liverpool was not afraid of Martins' dismount for them, they came here to set a record, although they didn't expect heavy rain, they didn't expect the opponent to be so tough, but they still boldly pressed, using the speed of Newcastle's old Bellamy and Chen Yu to make crazy crosses on the two wings, trying to quickly pry open the door of Newcastle United and stabilize the hearts of the army.
Liverpool's strong attack quickly reaped their expected reward, in the 6th minute Newcastle goalkeeper Harper made a mistake in the pass, which was intercepted by Pennant, who played in the 150th league game, he crossed Chen Yu, Chen Yu broke through Babayaro at high speed and then passed back on the right side of the penalty area, Harper attacked to block but failed, and Newcastle United's veteran Bellamy fired a low shot into the net from 8 yards to score his seventh league goal of the season. Coincidentally, in September last year, it was also Harper's mistake that allowed Alonso to shoot a long-range shot into the net from the back.
This is Bellamy's first return to St James' Park for his new club, and possibly the first time he has returned to the banks of the River Tyne since he called Souness a "liar" on television. However, Bellamy did not feel a sense of revenge against Newcastle United, who had a very pleasant few years at Newcastle, where he finished third, fourth and fifth in the league in quick succession, and the Magpies fans were very supportive of him. So after the goal, this bad boy didn't celebrate much, just ran over and hugged Chen Yu, who passed the ball to him.
However, the rest of Liverpool's players were clearly more excited than Bellamy, and they all won the first goal of the season in Liverpool, a good start that made the Liverpudlians who were already unhappy because of the heavy rain very happy, which almost signaled that they had won the game, and the players played more aggressively and pressed more fiercely at this time.
In the 13th minute, Newcastle United's full-back Steven Taylor made a mistake in the return pass under Bellamy's pressure, Crouch's one-handed shot from 16 yards on the left side of the penalty area was blocked by Harper, Chen Yu's follow-up shot was blocked by Milner, and Newcastle United defender Brambo cleared.