"I rarely use the word 'break' to describe a tactic, but right now, I think it's the best way to describe Liverpool's herding-style pressing tactic."
"Their tactics aren't brutal or ferocious, but there's something cold about them. Ruthless, even."
"In the past, when we described a team disrupting an opponent's tactics, we'd usually say they had 'cut off the connection.'"
"For example, Liverpool cut off the link between Ajax's midfield and defense, or they severed the connection between Van de Beek and De Jong."
"But Liverpool's pressing tactic now can't be described as merely 'cutting off' anymore. They're like a hammer smashing Ajax, this wooden stick, clean in half!"
"Do you see what I mean?"
"The way they press and throw Ajax into chaos means Ajax needs almost no time at all to fall apart. It's no longer the amount of time required to cut something apart piece by piece. It's the time it takes to break something in one swing."
"And that change is exactly what Ajax can't deal with. It's also why Liverpool's new pressing tactic is stronger than traditional pressing!"
Scholes had finally reached the crucial point. People had been debating why Liverpool's new pressing tactic had become so powerful, but no one had given a clear reason.
Until today. During this match, Scholes found the answer.
Klopp built his reputation on pressing tactics. His assistant, Krawietz, was known for his skill in analyzing pressing tactics. And Zubizarreta, who came over from Athletic Bilbao, was at his best devising defensive tactics to counter pressing.
Now that these three experts in pressing tactics had come together, they had finally upgraded a style of pressing that had been sealed away in football for decades without real progress.
On the pitch, Ajax were still feeling the power of this pressing tactic. It was different from a high press, and different from frantic pressing. This kind of press quietly pushed Ajax's players into a dead end in an instant.
In the 40th minute!
Ajax relied on Ziyech's individual ability. He dribbled past Robertson, then curled a cross toward the back post. Just like in the first leg, Ziyech was still aiming for the far side, trying to find Neres.
Under pressure from the fullback, Neres nearly made a mistake. By the time he barely managed to bring the ball under control, he had already lost the space to break through.
Neres could only shield the ball first and keep himself from being tackled.
But Rodri arrived quickly to cover. Van de Beek smartly pulled away to create distance, and sure enough, Neres passed to Van de Beek.
Van de Beek controlled the ball and shot immediately!
But because he wasn't properly set, the shot lacked quality and was gathered easily by Alisson.
"That shot wasn't very good, but it was one of the only shooting chances Ajax have had."
"Against Liverpool's pressing tactic, hoping for plenty of shooting space is basically wishful thinking."
"So once you get a chance, you have to shoot right away. But shots like that are very hard to use against Alisson. Everyone knows the level he's at."
On the sideline, Ten Hag pressed his lips together. One hand was in his pocket, while the other directed Ajax's attack, but his in-game adjustments still hadn't produced any real effect.
In the 44th minute!
Leo Lin was blocking De Jong's passing options. De Jong wanted to find a breakthrough, so he took the initiative to carry the ball forward and try to force his way through with his individual ability.
But the player in front of him was Leo Lin, whose defensive ability was incredibly strong.
De Jong charged toward Leo Lin with the ball. Since Henderson and Rodri on the other side always defended together, facing Leo Lin one-on-one had actually become the best choice at that moment. At least, that was how De Jong saw it.
Leo Lin chewed his gum and slowly retreated, first using that backward movement to slow De Jong's momentum. In simple terms, he let time defend De Jong for him.
Then, as De Jong gradually picked up speed, but before he had fully accelerated, Leo Lin stepped in. That exact moment was the best time to make the tackle.
De Jong was just about to push his speed all the way up to top gear when Leo Lin came in. That forced him to split his attention and deal with Leo Lin first, and his speed began to drop.
But when a player slows down, the ball doesn't slow down with him. That was exactly why Leo Lin chose that moment to press.
In that instant, a sudden gap appeared between De Jong's own speed and the ball's original speed.
Between De Jong, who had actively slowed down, and the ball, which had not, there was a brief bit of separation.
By the time De Jong reacted and tried to pull the ball back, Leo Lin had already got there first and dragged it in front of himself. Just like that, he completed the steal with ease.
To everyone around them, it looked more like De Jong had miscontrolled the ball and kicked it straight to Leo Lin.
"I'm a little confused. Was that De Jong making a mistake, or is Leo Lin just too strong?"
"Is this zero-frame defense? Leo Lin didn't even make any defensive preparation the second before, and he didn't give off any signal that he was about to defend. Then he just completed the tackle?"
"I've heard of zero-frame starts and zero-frame attacks, but this is the first time I've seen zero-frame defense!"
At first, the fans called it "zero-frame defense." But in the ESPN livestream chat, many started swapping the "zero" for "Lin," turning it into "Lin-frame defense."
As in Leo Lin.
After being dispossessed, De Jong immediately rushed back in. Ajax wanted to win the ball back.
Leo Lin passed it back to the defenders. Facing Ajax's press, Matip used a spread-the-play tactic and sent the ball to the left, intending to find Mané. But the long pass was poorly placed, and Onana, who had come off his line early, claimed it.
Onana caught the ball with both hands, then immediately launched a powerful throw to De Jong, letting De Jong continue driving the attack forward. And this time, De Jong once again had to face Leo Lin.
The two met again.
The same defensive method. The same zero-frame defense. Once again, De Jong was forced to slow down just as he was about to reach top speed.
De Jong failed to learn from the turnover just now, and Leo Lin once again found that tiny gap.
Leo Lin repeated the same trick and took the ball away in exactly the same way.
This time, the onlookers couldn't even keep watching calmly. Their hands began clapping on their own, and some fans even shouted that Leo Lin wasn't even pretending anymore.
"What kind of defensive intensity is this? What kind of zero-frame defense is this? What kind of Leo Lin is this?"
"I feel like with defensive moves like this, we'd need a frame-by-frame replay just to understand how Leo Lin tackled De Jong."
"Is this real? How did tackling De Jong become so easy for Leo Lin? In the previous Champions League knockout rounds, wasn't De Jong the player with the second-highest dribble progression success rate?"
"Second-highest? Then who was first?"
"Uh... Lin-frame defense."