Volume 1: When Heroes Appear, People Pay Attention. Chapter 276: Use Your Victory to Prove My Fault.

The FA Cup is getting closer and closer, and the focus of English media reports has shifted to its own domestic cup competition.

There is more and more news about the FA Cup in newspapers, on TV, on the radio and online.

In particular, the powerful matchup between Liverpool and Arsenal has attracted everyone's attention.

But as everyone expected, there was no atmosphere of strong dialogue.

Wenger seemed very low-key and even surrendered in advance.

A series of his remarks before the game suggested that Arsenal had no chance of winning and that Liverpool was too strong.

"...We have played against them many times and tried almost all methods. Our best result was to give up the offense, defend with all our strength, and maintain a draw at home. This method is suitable for the league, but it is not suitable for the cup. Because we don’t need to win, and we can’t win the game if we don’t score..."

When Wenger was being interviewed by reporters, he spread his hands and curled his lips to express his helplessness.

He has a basis for saying this. Arsenal and Liverpool have fought fiercely for so many times, and they really haven't taken any advantage...except for one draw, they have lost everything else.

No matter whether it is an attack or a desperate defense, it doesn't work.

But what he said was not recognized by everyone, because Arsenal, who had not been able to take advantage before, encountered the Liverpool first team. Now they will meet the Liverpool reserves in the League Cup and FA Cup.

There is still a big difference in strength between the first team and the reserve team. If Arsenal's main force attacks and does not underestimate the enemy. We can still win the reserve team with Chen Yingxiong...

So they have no idea why Wenger is so frustrated, and as the head coach of Arsenal, is it really okay for him to say something like this to demoralize himself before the game?

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Within Arsenal, there is indeed some dissatisfaction and disappointment with Wenger's statement.

You must know that their opponent is not the first team, but the reserve team... No matter how strong the Liverpool reserve team is, it is just a reserve team. Taking the initiative to beg for mercy from such a team in front of so many people. This is really embarrassing for many Arsenal players - we are Arsenal! Back then, the team that won the league championship with an undefeated record in the season, how could it bow to a reserve team!

Even if they won the FA Cup last season. But that reserve team has almost nothing to do with today's reserve team.

It can be said without any hesitation. This reserve team is simply a bunch of rookies!

At the same time, they also couldn't understand why the boss suddenly gave in? He had prepared carefully for so long, and now he was about to compete, but he gave in... This is unscientific!

Wenger has never explained. This made everyone more and more confused.

You must know that they originally planned to compete with Liverpool. After all, this is the FA Cup. It's different from the League Cup.

Although the FA Cup is becoming more and more useless nowadays, it still occupies a very important position in the hearts of English fans. This is, after all, the oldest tournament in modern football in the world, for that matter. That's enough for England fans to be proud of.

Before the Premier League was created. There is no way the English League One can compete with the FA Cup. Even in the years when the Champions League was first established, English teams did not support UEFA and believed that the Champions League was not as good as their FA Cup. At that time, the FA Cup was the highest honor in English football. A team has never won even one league championship, as long as it can win several FA Cup championships. That's all a powerful one.

A team like Wimbledon has never won a top league championship. They have only won the FA Cup once, which has made their fans proud for a long time.

This shows what status the FA Cup champion held in the minds of English teams and fans in the early years.

Today, this status is no longer what it used to be, but its power is still there.

There are still many people who regard winning the FA Cup as a supreme honor.

Even giants like Manchester United rarely do this extreme situation like Liverpool sending out their reserve team to play.

For the Arsenal players, the reason why they hope to compete in the FA Cup is not only the different meaning of the cup, but also a very realistic consideration - in the league, they basically have no hope of winning the championship. Liverpool Now that they are leading all the way, it is too difficult to catch up with them.

If they want to win a championship this season, the FA Cup is a good choice, and the League Cup is also good, but the FA Cup comes first, so naturally they will fight for the FA Cup first.

They firmly believe that as long as they do not underestimate the opponent, they will not encounter any hardships until the final after defeating the Liverpool reserve team. In other words, as long as they beat Liverpool, they have a great chance of winning the championship.

Unexpectedly, the boss poured cold water on their heads.

It’s really damaging to morale…

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Wenger has seen the problems reflected from the team in the past few days of training. The players seemed not attentive enough in training and were a little absent-minded... To put it bluntly, their morale was low.

Of course he knew what caused this.

In the past few days, the media outside have been saying that I am too cautious and have become groveling.

There are also media who feel unfair to Arsenal, thinking that Arsenal, who were once so proud, has fallen to this point and has to show weakness to its enemies.

They all believed that Wenger had gone too far and had embarrassed Arsenal.

Looking at the absent-minded players, he sighed in his heart - it seemed that his players thought the same way.

He also knew that if he hadn't coached this team for more than ten years and was even the director of the club, these players would have rebelled long ago.

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After the training, as usual, it is the time for the head coach to talk. Usually, it is mainly about everyone's problems and progress in training. The bad points are highlighted and the good ones are praised. Only in this way can the players be motivated and motivated. Desire for progress.

Neither pure criticism nor praise will do.

But today Wenger neither intends to criticize them nor praise them. He does not even intend to talk about what happened in training.

What he wanted to tell everyone was another thing to answer their doubts. If this problem cannot be solved well, he knows that the next preparations for the war will not be able to continue.

"I know you are doubting what I have said. You may think that I am too polite to a reserve team, even if it is the Liverpool reserve team... I also know that you must feel that as long as you do not underestimate the opponent, you can beat a team in the game. It’s not too difficult to set up a reserve team.”

A group of players looked at each other. They were really right by Wenger!

When they thought that even their boss knew what they were thinking, they didn't dare to have any dissatisfaction... They just lowered their heads and drooped their eyelids to silently express their attitude in this way.

How could Wenger not know what they were doing, but instead of getting angry, he continued. "But what I want to say now is that you have underestimated your opponents now. You have unconsciously looked down on your opponents. How are the reserves? Are our own reserves weak? I never think Arsenal reserves The team is weak, so Liverpool people will not think that their reserve team is a weakling who can be slaughtered. Yes, they have replaced a group of players, almost all of whom are new, but don’t forget that some of these players Many people are drawn from the youth team under the age of 18. They have played in the youth team for many years and have a tacit understanding. What they lack is reserve team experience. Don't underestimate this team. , Tottenham underestimated them in the FA Cup semi-finals last season, what was the result? Chelsea also underestimated them in the FA Cup final last season, so what was the result?"

Everyone remained silent after what he said, but some people were still a little unconvinced because they believed that they were not the incompetent Tottenham, let alone Chelsea.

If Tottenham and Chelsea can lose to that team, it doesn't necessarily mean that they will lose, not to mention that the difference between the two teams is still very obvious. The boss is right about one thing. The biggest difference between the current Liverpool reserve team and the previous one is experience. But this is also the most fatal thing. Experience cannot be compensated by half a season of hard training. So this team is destined to not be as good as the reserve team last season.

That being the case, why should we be so cautious?

Yes, we underestimated the enemy, but we can still defeat this reserve team!

A team that relies solely on one man is a disgrace to football. These reserve team players were simply lying on Chen Yingxiong's body to suck his blood and take advantage of him. Wait for Chen Yingxiong to lead the team to the finals, then jump down and enjoy the final championship results.

Why should we treat such a team with caution?

How could Wenger not see what these players were thinking?

He suddenly thought of something crucial, and then his eyes lit up.

Things that were worrying me before were suddenly solved.

He said with a straight face: "What? Don't believe me? Well, let's do an experiment with the League Cup that is about to start. How about it?"

As soon as he said this, everyone raised their heads in surprise and couldn't figure out why the head coach suddenly said this.

Wenger looked at a group of surprised players, his face still very serious and serious: "I am serious, not joking. In the next game, you play according to your ideas. If you can beat the team that is not good in your opinion, It’s worth mentioning the reserve team, how about I follow your ideas for the FA Cup match? But if you don’t win the game, then you have to listen to me for the FA Cup match. If you want to prove me wrong Yes, there is nothing more powerful than actual results. Use your performance to convince me and tell me I am wrong.”

A group of players looked at each other, a little dumbfounded for a moment.