Chapter 59: The Reds

At his pre-match press conference, Liverpool manager Ralf Ragnick shared his thoughts on Liverpool's 35th round match against Southampton at Anfield.

"We are absolutely ready to welcome Southampton in Anfield. Van Dyke is still injured, we won't be playing him in this game. But it doesn't matter. We still have other players.

Southampton is a good team. They achieved good results despite their defeat against Arsenal. We will try to prevent Kazuki to score a goal, he is a dangerous player. But Ahmed is in a good performance, I'm sure Liverpool will win this game."

There were no arrogant words, but everyone could sense Ralf Ragnick didn't really care about Southampton. Liverpool is unbeaten in Anfield throughout the 2011/2012 season. Their record makes most football fans believe that Liverpool will win this match. Even some Liverpool fans visited Kazuki's social media account and congratulated him on two consecutive defeats.

Even Juventus, who beat Liverpool could only achieve a draw against Liverpool at Anfield stadium. With such a record it is natural for all parties to consider this match without any tension at all. Although Liverpool's mainstay center-back, Sergio Van Dyke could not be present in this match.

In Southampton's pre-match press conference, George was low profile. Regarding this game, he said, "Liverpool this season is a very scary team, especially at home. Our chances of winning this game are pretty low. However, we will try our best, no matter what the result is.

Even though Liverpool has lost Van Dyke, they still have Matip and Gomez, these two players cannot be underestimated. Their forward Ahmed is on fire in the latest match.

In this game, our target is to draw against the Reds."

George's words were honest from his heart. Although George is an ambitious coach and greatly admires Kazuki's abilities, he still thought that Southampton's chances are tiny in this match.

Before the match, even the Southampton fans themselves were not expecting a win. Kazuki could see that mentality appearing in his comrades as well. They seemed to have expected defeat even if the match had not yet taken place.

Kazuki felt this mentality was very dangerous, especially for some players he cared about a lot like Ryan, Rustan, and Wright-Phillips. He didn't want these young players to also be infected with pessimistic thoughts. He was believing miracles would not come to Southampton when the Southampton players themselves do not believe in miracles.

The day before the match took place, right after the daily training, Kazuki gathered Ryan, Wright-Phillips, and Rustan.

Ryan, Wright-Phillips, Rustan will start on the match tomorrow to replace Crage, Kounde, and Hugo. The reason why George included these young players instead of Southampton's 3 main players was because George had given up on this match. He thought it is better to save the energy of the veterans than to make them play against a club like Liverpool which ended in defeat.

"What do you think about tomorrow's match?" asked Kazuki.

The three players looked at each other. They wondered why Kazuki was asking such a thing. After a while, Ryan Jr, spoke up, "According to the strategy made by the coach, we will focus on defending during the game. However, I don't think we can stop Liverpool from scoring goals."

Rustan added: "I'm not optimistic about tomorrow's game. We might lose. We've played Arsenal, and we lost. Now we're going to face Liverpool who is much stronger than Arsenal or Tottenham."

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Wright-Phillips had a different opinion from the other two, "tomorrow's game will be very difficult, but I want to win it. I mean, wouldn't it be very special if we were the first team to beat Liverpool in Anfield?"

Kazuki snapped his fingers, "Right, there it is. No matter how we defend, Liverpool will probably score. However, if we can make good use of every attacking opportunity then there is still a chance that we can win tomorrow's match. This is a personal request from me, I would like to you guys undergo tomorrow's game as the most important match in your life."

Ryan was surprised to hear Kazuki's request, he asked to confirm what he heard, "Do you want to beat Liverpool for Manchester United?"

Kazuki shook his head, "It's not like that. I'm sure all footballers have a dream of becoming great players. And such a dream cannot be achieved if we go through a match without putting 100% of our effort into it."

Rustan shouted excitedly, "I'm excited after hearing your words. You're right, I had a dream like that too. I feel ashamed of myself for giving up before the match started."

Ryan nodded in agreement with Rustan's words, "I don't think there's anything wrong with us trying to do our best."

"I'm starting to imagine, if we win against Liverpool how excited the English media will be?" Wright-Phillips speculated.

"If Liverpool loses the most excited of course in Manchester Daily," replied Kazuki.

***

Rangnick is not a new coach in German football. He entered the world of coaching in 1983 as a player and coach for his hometown club, FC Viktoria Backnang. It was at the 6th division club that Rangnick began to develop the philosophy which is now known as gegenpressing.

In February 1983, Rangnick's team met Valeriy Lobanovskyi's Dynamo Kiev when the two met in a friendly. The difference in level obviously cost Rangnick's team a total loss, but he did learn one thing. The Dynamo Kiev players kept pressing throughout the game.

Valeriy Lobanovskyi is not Ralf Rangnick's only inspiration. In addition to the legendary Ukrainian coach, Rangnick's style of play was also influenced by Arrigo Sacchi. From Arrigo Sacchi, Rangnick took one of the keys to the legendary AC Milan coach's game, namely the zonal marking system.

Together with his friend Helmut Gro, Rangnick then wrote his own training manual and began developing the attractive tactic now known as gegenpressing.

Gegenpressing is a phrase in German or English known as counter-pressing. Instead of reforming formations or returning to the defensive line, players will try to win back possession after previously losing the ball

The reason why gegenpressing is so effective is that gegenpressing targets the opponent's transition period. In a transition period, players who defend will move forward, defenders will be caught off guard thinking their team is going to attack, and more importantly, the opposing team is not ready to defend again. In an interview, Ragnick once said, "There is no better playmaker than gegenpressing." It means, no playmaker in the world could create a better attacking opportunity than gegenpressing.

Of course, behind these advantages there are disadvantages. First, gegenpressing is not very effective on opponents who don't want to control the ball. Second, this tactic is very exhausted for the players. Once an injury crisis appears, then Liverpool will go down from the top of the table. Third, excellent individual abilities. An example of a third weakness was when Liverpool faced Juventus.. At that time, Mattheo was able to get rid of pressing Liverpool players with ease.

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