Chapter 72 A Battle Will Determine the Outcome!

So far, Derby County has received a lot of attention from the English media due to its outstanding results in the league. In addition, this is another League Cup semi-final, and there are still many people paying attention to the match between Derby County and Liverpool. Although the League Cup is tasteless to a strong team, it is the semi-final of the League Cup after all, and the confrontation between the two teams can directly determine which team enters the final.

In addition to Liverpool and Derby County, another League Cup semi-final is also very interesting, which is also the match between two strong teams - Chelsea VS Manchester United, but this game is played on the second day of Liverpool and Derby County. , so the first thing everyone pays attention to is the match at Anfield.

The night before the game, what Wan Sheng said in an interview at Derby County's regular press conference was reported by various sports media.

In the post-Christmas hiatus, as long as you pay attention to England's competition, you won't miss this news.

Although Wan Sheng said that Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe recovered very well, and the media also reported the original words, but in terms of comment and analysis, I believe that Wan Sheng said that there are definitely a few people, even those who support the media from Derby County They all think that this is just a smoke bomb released by Wansheng. After all, it is too short for a player to recover from an injury. In addition, after Van der Vaart was injured, the anxious attitude of Wansheng and Derby County was not displayed. , In the eyes of most people, Van der Vaart's injury is definitely not minor, so it is a bit unbelievable that he will recover before the game against Liverpool.

The hostile media of Derby County stood up and "announced" immediately, "This is just a smoke bomb released by the Derby County club! Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe will definitely not be able to play in the Liverpool game!"

"Vandervaart, Ivan Crewe, plus Maurice and Kluivert who were injured before, Derby County can only rely on a set of substitutes in the frontcourt, and the outcome is no longer in suspense!"

A lot of media are very happy about this.

Although Derby County has achieved good results, the media supporting Derby County has not actually increased much, which is related to the division of English football. Even if Derby County performs well, it is difficult for other regional media to turn to support Derby County, so when Derby County and Liverpool play against each other, there are obviously more media supporting Liverpool.

So most of the media would love to see bad news for Derby County.

"...In the Derby County club press conference, the manager Wan Sheng talked about the recent situation of the team. Talking about the injuries of Raphael van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe. He stressed that the two He is recovering well..."

"...but it's definitely going to be hard for the two of them to make it to tomorrow's game against Liverpool..."

"...Derby County midfielder Lee Morris was already injured, and without Rafael van der Vaart, Liverpool's frontcourt was empty and almost nobody was available..."

"...It's good news for Liverpool. Liverpool's attack has always been a problem. Compared with the two teams, Derby County is a lot better than Liverpool in the frontcourt, but now they have lost Van der Vaart, Kluivert and then again. Add in the main full-back Ivan Crewe. I'm afraid Liverpool still has a lot of advantages..."

"...Injuries have become an inescapable problem for Derby County. With the depth of their bench, we can see that the next results will definitely be affected a lot..."

"...Perhaps the wisest choice for Wansheng is to give up the League Cup and UEFA Cup and focus on the league, so as to keep the results..."

"...we have to admit that Wansheng's transformation of Derby County has been very successful. In two years, Derby County has grown from a team that was on the verge of being relegated from the second division. It has grown to be able to compete for the league now. A champion team, but that's all. Derby County is only a small club after all, they don't have enough funds to build a good squad, even if Wansheng helps the team to dig a lot of outstanding young people with outstanding vision, but only Relying on a few players at times, it is not easy to achieve good results. After all, leagues and cups are more than just one game. A season is long. Under the leadership of Wansheng, Derby County can compete with giants such as Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. The team fights for a few games, but after all, it cannot guarantee results in a long season.”

"...now they are in crisis. Before the League Cup semi-finals, their main lineup suffered a lot of injuries. In addition to a fairly solid backcourt, their frontcourt injury problem has been very serious. , and even directly affects the layout of the game."

The final conclusion is, "In the second half of the game, it is difficult for us to see Derby County's gorgeous offensive!"

......

Watching on the TV, the guests' analysis of the Derby County Club, Wan Sheng sat on the sofa and kept laughing.

Daly next to him asked strangely, "They say that, you can still laugh?"

"Of course." Wan Sheng lay on the sofa, dragged Dali into his arms, and said, "I hope they report like this, I hope they look down on my team."

"Why?" Dally was puzzled.

"Because what they said was wrong, the team's injuries were not that serious."

Daly was still puzzled and asked, "So what? Also, you told those reporters at the press conference that your players are recovering well from their injuries. Why do they still say that?"

Wan Sheng gave an unfathomable smile, "The art of war has a cloud, what is false is what is real, what is true is what is false..."

Dally didn't understand at all.

Wan Sheng originally wanted to pretend to be a magician, but it seemed that Dali, as a British, had a hard time understanding this kind of inscrutable, and Dali couldn't understand what he said. Looking at Dali's 'fool looking' eyes, Wan Sheng put his arm around her right hand and squeezed hard on the soft ball, causing Dali to stare in disgust, and then explained, "I knew they wouldn't believe it, so I said that. They analyzed it. After analyzing it, I would never have imagined that what I said was true, they didn’t believe it, and the opponents wouldn’t believe it, so they would paralyze their opponents, and before tomorrow’s game, they knew that Van der Vaart and Crewe were not injured, so they would be very flustered.”

Wan Sheng thought about it and added, "At least it will have some effect..."

After listening to Wan Sheng's explanation, Dali nodded clearly. Immediately, he suddenly looked at him suspiciously and said loudly, "I didn't expect you to be quite a deceiver. Say! Did you deceive me?"

Wan Sheng was stunned.

"Don't say no? Look how scared you are! Come on, tell me what you've lied to me before. Tell me! Tell me honestly. Otherwise, let me know for myself, and you can just wait!"

Wan Sheng was stunned, thinking that he really couldn't talk to the woman.

Say more...what a mistake!

Then he dragged another sentence and sighed, "Only villains and women are difficult to support, and the ancients will not deceive me!"

......

Wan Sheng wondered if his performance had fooled his opponent when he arrived at the club the next morning. There were quite a few people making fun of him.

"Wan Sheng. You are too good at deceiving people!" Diamares said as he came up.

Wan Sheng was stunned for a moment and spread his hands, "I'm just telling the truth."

"But those media interpret this as a smoke bomb, and they don't believe you at all. Did you do it on purpose?" Diamares said amusingly.

"That's none of my business."

Diamares wondered, "Does this really work?"

"Whether it's useful or not, I'll know in the afternoon." Wan Sheng replied, and immediately asked everyone to prepare to gather and go to Liverpool to participate in the game.

Wan Sheng did not expect much to be able to deceive Benitez. Unleashing smoke bombs to confuse opponents is just a means. If it is useful, it can increase the team's winning percentage. Even if it is not useful, the team has nothing to lose. Anyway, he just went to the press conference and said two truths.

After the team assembled, the whole team went to Liverpool together.

The away game is still quite difficult, not only the adaptation and incompatibility of the stadium, but also the things off the pitch. The most important point is that the distance is a bit long. It takes more than three hours to get from Derby County to Liverpool. If the distance is farther Some, the team will start a day early.

After arriving at Liverpool, the team will have to warm up to recover, which is quite important for the visiting team. Even if there is a pre-match warm-up, it is not easy to quickly enter the state during the game.

That's why it's hard to beat away.

However, Wansheng attaches great importance to this away game. He not only wants to win, but also hopes that the team can win by a large score. Only in this way can there be one less battle, otherwise the team will face a much more difficult schedule, so He will take the game so seriously.

......

At this moment, the Liverpool team has already started training in the morning.

Manager Rafael Benitez is sitting in his office watching several league games from Derby County's Christmas game.

The last time he played against Derby County, Benitez felt that Liverpool's defense was very good. Needless to say, the offense was much better than Liverpool. When preparing for the game a few days ago, he kept watching the Derby County game video. , He found that Derby County now pays more attention to defense. Although the goal is not bad, it is much worse than the first half of the schedule.

Derby County like this is not easy to deal with, especially at present, Liverpool's offense is a serious problem. It is really not easy to break the opponent's goal. Benitez is still somewhat relieved.

One newspaper asserted that "Derby County strikers Raphael van der Vaart, Kluivert and full-back Ivan Crewe are all unavailable for the Liverpool game..."

Another newspaper analyzed, "Derby County will struggle to play an advantage against Liverpool, their best option is to give up the League Cup!"

"Competing with Liverpool to qualify for the Carabao Cup final is not worth the gain. For Derby County, the best option is to concentrate on the league, because even if they squeeze into the final, it will be difficult to beat Manchester United and Chelsea. The winner!"

Another newspaper said, "Derby County's injury situation is very serious at present. If they want to beat Liverpool, the only option is to rely on the defense to keep the goal, so that the victory or defeat is in the second round, and there are still some chances."

Among these many newspapers, only one said from the perspective of Derby County, "Liverpool's situation is not optimistic. In the dilemma of the unfavorable striker, they have to face the pressure of fighting on the fourth line. Liverpool cannot give up the Champions League. , it is impossible to give up the league, the League Cup is actually just tasteless to them..."

The last argument that is biased towards Derby County is the reason why Benitez has the most headaches!

Derby County is not doing well, Liverpool is not doing well!

To be honest, seeing so many injuries in Derby County, Benitez feels that the two teams are really 'difficult brothers', because Liverpool's injury situation is not optimistic, Pangler, Cissé, plus just signed Fowler, all three forwards were unable to play due to injuries, which made Liverpool even in a situation where the striker was unavailable, and even made Benitez begin to regret why he sold Michael Owen in the summer, if Owen still Team, Liverpool will never be in this situation.

In addition, the similarity between the two teams is that they are all "four-line battles". Liverpool has the Champions League and Derby County also has the UEFA Cup. These two European competitions cannot be easily given up.

In other words, Benitez's situation is not better than Wansheng at all, or even worse, because they are also very pressured in the league. So far, Liverpool are only ranked seventh in the league. How hard is it to qualify for the Champions League next season if you want to enter the top three in the league?

What about Derbyshire?

They have the same points as Chelsea and are second in the league, while Arsenal, the third in the league, have been pulled down by seven points, so even if Derby County is in crisis, it is not easy to compete with Chelsea for the league title, but they must ensure that The top three in the league, it is not difficult to fight for a place in the Champions League next season.

So Liverpool is much tougher than Derby County.

The media are saying that Derby County should face the team's situation and give up the League Cup, but Benitez is considering whether Liverpool should give up the League Cup.

In the end, Benitez still decided to fight for a game. After all, he has reached the semi-finals, and it would be a pity to give up the League Cup directly.

A fight is not a fight for two, and there are two home and away rounds in the League Cup semi-finals, so Benitez's idea is to decide the outcome in one battle!

If the game can be won by a large score, the second round will naturally become irrelevant. This is Benitez's goal. I have to say that the two coaches of the two teams in the same bad situation have thought of going together. .

Benitez wants to decide the outcome in one battle, and Wansheng also wants to decide the outcome in one battle. Only in this way can both teams have one less battle. Otherwise, if they spend two battles in the League Cup, it will definitely affect the team. The state of the game makes the team face even more pressure on the schedule.

But it's really hard to say who will die before the game.

As time passed, a morning passed quickly. After two o'clock in the afternoon, the Derby County bus had pulled into the Anfield stadium. As a large number of fans gathered in the small square in front of the stadium, the atmosphere before the war was already spread. (To be continued ~^~)