With the comfort of Gerard and others, Liverpool's players quickly regained their composure.
Apart from Arbeloa, who received a yellow card and still looked angry, the other Liverpool players returned to their positions.
The game quickly resumed, with Liverpool playing the ball out from their own half.
Trailing by one goal, Liverpool quickly launched a counterattack.
As the team's commander, Xabi Alonso had the ball quite often.
Xabi Alonso is a Spanish player, but he is not known for short passes like Xavi of Barcelona, but for his outstanding long passes.
His timing for launching long passes and the accuracy of those passes are among the best in the world of football midfielders today.
There are very few active players who can surpass him in this regard.
Liverpool's two wingers spread out to create space, also to take advantage of Xabi Alonso's characteristics.
However, Xabi Alonso's long pass hadn't been unleashed yet when he was tackled to the ground by Drinkwater as soon as he received the ball.
Drinkwater, who was penalized for a foul by the referee, did not walk away but stood at the spot of the foul to prevent Liverpool from quickly taking the free kick.
"Xabi Alonso's weakness - speed and getting rid of opponents!"
"Stick to him! Don't let him easily launch a long pass!"
A major task that Gao Bo assigned to Drinkwater before the game was to limit Xabi Alonso!
Now Liverpool has two defensive midfielders, Xabi Alonso and Mascherano.
Mascherano is a pure workhorse player; his defensive ability far exceeds his offensive ability.
Therefore, if Xabi Alonso is contained, even if the ball goes to Mascherano's feet, it won't help Liverpool's attack much.
Mascherano is a world-class defensive midfielder, but if he is asked to organize the attack, perhaps he can complete some routine passing and advancing tasks, but it would be a bit of a stretch to ask him to pass a beautiful long pass with imagination and penetration like Xabi Alonso.
Xabi Alonso hasn't been playing too smoothly in this game so far, because as soon as he gets the ball, Drinkwater sticks to him like chewing gum.
Xabi Alonso is a typical representative of the modern football commander positioned in the back.
In order to avoid the opponent's densely defended midfield and backcourt areas, more and more teams tend to move the team's commander from the attacking midfielder to the defensive midfielder.
And Xabi Alonso is undoubtedly a typical representative of this!
However, contradictions always correspond to each other.
When one side's commander retreats, the defending side will naturally shift its defensive forces forward to limit the opponent's attacking organizers!
Gao Bo's trick is not new either; Benitez had thought of this before the game.
The strongest defensive player in Luton's midfield is Kante.
Benitez thought before the game that Gao Bo would let Kante defend Xabi Alonso.
After all, in the midfield, Drinkwater has a large part of the task of organizing the attack.
But from the looks of it now, Drinkwater has put too much energy into defense.
Doesn't his team need an attacking organizer?
Even for counterattacks, a connector is needed.
Most of Luton's counterattacks are launched by Drinkwater's passes.
Kante steals the ball, passes it to Drinkwater, and Drinkwater distributes the ball to launch a counterattack.
This is almost the most common counterattack routine used by Luton.
But now, Drinkwater seems to have put too much energy into defense.
Xabi Alonso tried to run to receive the ball, but Drinkwater seemed to be stuck to him.
Xabi Alonso is not fast, which also limits his ability to get rid of opponents, so Drinkwater is still sticking very closely!
When he saw Xabi Alonso running, Gao Bo smiled.
He likes to see this kind of scene the most!
Because the nineteen-year-old Drinkwater is much better than Xabi Alonso in terms of physical fitness.
If Xabi Alonso can be forced to pay the price of most of his physical energy in the first half, then Luton will undoubtedly have gained!
Xabi Alonso played very dispiritedly.
When he was once again stuck by Drinkwater and couldn't turn around, he could only pass the ball back, the Spaniard was a little annoyed.
He waved his hand again to ask for the ball, and then when Drinkwater stuck to him, he suddenly used force on his back, hitting Drinkwater's chest.
Drinkwater screamed and then rolled on the ground.
Xabi Alonso didn't care so much; he turned around with the ball, ready to launch a long pass.
It feels so good not having anyone sticking to me...
Xabi Alonso's good mood was interrupted by the referee's whistle.
"Foul?!"
The Spaniard's face was full of disbelief!
The referee didn't care so much; he pointed to the spot of the foul and then ran over to warn Xabi Alonso!
"Watch your actions!!"
Xabi Alonso spread his hands: "Did you see that kid's actions?!"
"If that's a foul, that kid should have been sent off with a red card long ago."
The referee's face darkened; no referee would be happy to face a player's questioning of the penalty.
Gerard quickly came up and pulled Xabi Alonso away.
He put his arm around Xabi Alonso and kissed the Spaniard on the head: "Calm down!! Calm down, Xabi!"
"They're doing it on purpose!"
Xabi Alonso is also a veteran player; he quickly realized that he was being controlled by his emotions.
Alonso took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
"They have too many small actions, Steven!"
"I know... but this is normal, because they can't beat us with conventional methods!" Gerard became serious, "So they resort to these little tricks!"
Gao Bo doesn't think he's playing tricks; in order to defeat Liverpool, Luton, which is in an absolutely weak position in terms of strength, must do everything possible.
What's more, this is just a slightly higher defensive intensity...
Liverpool's stars probably don't know that for lower-league teams, gentlemanliness is absolutely non-existent on the football field.
There are no gentlemen covered in mud.
Drinkwater was helped up by his teammates.
"Are you okay, Danny?" Adam asked with some concern.
Drinkwater winked at Adam quietly.
Adam immediately knew that this guy was acting!
However, when he saw that the referee didn't intend to show a yellow card, Drinkwater got up from the ground with some regret. He ruffled Adam's hair.
". Hurry up and prepare for this free kick!"
Drinkwater pressed the ball under his foot and then sent it out!
However, the referee didn't allow him to take it quickly and blew the ball back.
Boos rang out from the stands. Luton's fans were of course very dissatisfied with the referee's penalty.
Gao Bo on the sidelines was also quite dissatisfied. He jumped up and down on the sidelines: "Why can't we take it quickly!! Damn it..."
Lin Sen on the side quickly grabbed the angry head coach.
For Lin Sen, he really didn't understand why Gao Bo, who was so calm on weekdays, seemed to become a different person when he stood in the position of directing the game.
The game on the field quickly resumed. Luton's free kick didn't create a threat like the last time, and possession quickly returned to Liverpool's hands.
Xabi Alonso was restricted, so Gerard retreated to receive the ball.
Compared to Xabi Alonso, Gerard's ball protection and getting rid of opponents abilities are much higher, and with Gerard coming back, Liverpool's midfield has one more passing point.
Long passes couldn't be played, so Liverpool simply advanced to the frontcourt through short passes.
Liverpool's strength is still strong; they easily broke Luton's pre-match tactics.
Gao Bo wasn't regretful either. Letting Drinkwater restrict Xabi Alonso was just to prevent Liverpool's open and wide long-pass play from working, but if Liverpool advanced through ground passes, Luton didn't have any good way to deal with it either.
After all, you can't completely stifle Liverpool's attack with such a trick - Luton's strength is not enough to do that.
However, when Liverpool advanced to the frontcourt, they encountered new difficulties.
Gerard found that Luton's black short guy was too difficult to deal with.
He failed to take advantage of Kante in several confrontations.
In the twenty-third minute of the game, Gerard had just received the ball near the arc of the penalty area when he was bumped by Kante, almost losing the ball.
Fortunately, Xabi Alonso also pressed up, and he controlled the football that Kante poked out.
However, as soon as he got the ball, Kante immediately pounced on him!!
Gerard's eyes were about to pop out!
Kante tackled directly, accurately tackling the ball away from Xabi Alonso's feet!
And Drinkwater, who had been following next to Xabi Alonso, immediately took the ball, turned around, and launched a long pass!!
Adam White ran out of space in the frontcourt!
This time... it's really a counterattack!