Chapter 340 Benitez's Ambition 1

After this round of the league, Liverpool has made new changes in the form of the Premier League. The gap between them and Chelsea, the first in the league, has narrowed to one point, only one point. This gap is really small. With more than a dozen rounds in the league, one point can even be ignored.

Next, there is a lot of praise.

Not to mention the praise for Don Jack. There are a lot of praises for Liverpool. Many brick media have changed their previous attitudes. They think that the probability of Liverpool winning the championship this season has become surprisingly large. Many European bookmakers have also lowered the odds of Liverpool winning the championship to reduce the wind of failure. Dangerous.

More fans began to pay attention to Liverpool. In the past, many English fans thought that Liverpool would be depressed, but now it seems that Liverpool is still very interesting. Not only the stars, but also their results can far exceed that of Manchester United, and they have been catching up with the strong Chelsea.

On the other hand, the reason for Liverpool's popularity is the team's background.

The century-old giants are not a joke. In the 1980s, Liverpool's two heroes swept across Europe. The fans who came out of that era knew Liverpool's strength at that time, and now Liverpool seems to be returning to the ranks of the strong team.

However, there are still some professional analysts who are not optimistic about Liverpool's chances of winning the Premier League, because the league is about to enter the end. At this stage, the depth of a team's bench is particularly important.

Compared with Chelsea and Manchester United, which have tens of millions of pounds of stars on the bench, Liverpool's lineup gap is still very big.

This is a fact in front of us, and Benitez also admitted that in an interview with media reporters, in response to this issue, the Spaniard said: "We will try our best to do everything well. The team is like this now, but we can't give up because of this. We will stick to it.

It is also known within the team that head coach Benitez has already planned everything.

Next, Liverpool is really going to enter the peak of the schedule, because the cruel UEFA Champions League knockout and the FA Cup are coming!

The UEFA Champions League is the most prestigious event in the world and can bring income to the club. If you can advance this season, you will definitely not give up. Every game can bring millions of pounds of income to a club. Liverpool will definitely strive to go further and will not give up at all.

If you want to reduce the pressure on the team, you must give up the FA Cup.

As the oldest event in the world, the FA Cup is very influential among English fans. Winning the FA Cup is also a very proud trophy for a club. However, the current situation makes Benitez have to consider giving up the FA Cup, mainly because the events are too dense. Wupu can't take care of it all at the same time. It's better to give up as soon as possible than to lose a small loss.

It is imperative to deal with the league and the Champions League. Ensuring these two results is the key to the team.

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The FA Cup has arrived.

Liverpool's first opponent is Burnley, which is a team with the Football League Championship. In the last sixty-four knockout match of the FA Cup, the Premier League and the Championship, and the teams of England's highest-level two leagues, have also joined in. Liverpool is not lucky enough to score a Champions League opponent, which is the same as other. For the first-class team, Chelsea's opponent is a second-class team, while Manchester United's opponent is an amateur team.

It was quite unlucky to meet the Championship team in the 64 knockout match, but Benitez was very happy, which gave him a reason to give up the FA Cup: we met a team that was not weak, and my carelessness led to the team's defeat.

The reason... Very good and powerful.

The Spaniards are willing to take responsibility for themselves, although almost everyone knows that Liverpool must have intended to give up the game.

On January 19, Liverpool came to Burnley, Lancashire, to challenge the city team Burnley. The club was founded very early. In 1882, it was already a member of the chaotic football competition in England. When the Football League was founded, Burnley was a founding member of the football league. .

From history, Burnley is no worse than Liverpool. It should be said that it is stronger.

But a long history does not mean that the results will be good. In fact, Burnley has been absent from England's top league for 30 years. Since they were relegated to the second division in the 1970s, they have never been promoted. In recent years, Burnley has been in the Championship, but the team's performance is very stable year. Of sure, they have been staying in the Championship for ten years.

When such a team meets Liverpool, the situation can be imagined.

In fact, Burnley head coach Saul. Clauber is not going to win either. Their goal this season is to upgrade to the Premier League. The FA Cup doesn't mean anything to Bourne, which will have any effect on Burnley's upgrade. As for winning the championship to participate in the European season?

Burnley doesn't have that kind of distant ambition, and the team's current situation can't make them qualified to pursue the championship!

So for Burnley, the outcome of the game is irrelevant, which makes their players look casual. But there are still a lot of fans watching the game, including local Burnley fans and neutral fans around. The reason why these people came to the stadium is because Burnley's opponent is Liverpool.

Now Liverpool's status in the hearts of English fans is rising, the team's star Jack. The reputation of Lee and Gerrard has risen like the Rockets. The latter may be mediocre. Gerrard is already very popular among English fans, while Don Jack is more like a symbol that attracts the attention of fans. There are many fans who come to the stadium to see Don Jack.

They all came with curiosity. They all wanted to see what the real version of Liverpool's English super scorer looks like. Will there be three heads and six arms, otherwise how can they score so many goals?

Unfortunately, the fans' wishes did not come true, and they were doomed to be disappointed.

In this game, Benitez directly left Gerrard and Don Jack at the club, and claimed to the media that due to the last league, Don Jack had physical problems, while Gerrard had a recurrence of calf bone injury and needed to rest for three days...

It's really a reason to curl your feet.

The former is fine. Don Jack's performance in the game against Chelsea is obvious to all. It is said that it is because of physical problems in the game, and Gerrard was still alive in front of the media reporters yesterday. Today, the old injury recurred? It just so happens that you only need to rest for three days? What a liar!

No, it's a lie to the devil!

Of course, it doesn't matter. No press conference will question Benitez in person, because they can't move to Liverpool now to see the situation of the two, and the Liverpool club can't let them in.

In a word, the two just didn't play.

Most of the other players on the field are sitting on the bench, and the players on the field are all substitutes, even substitutes that are not usually used, such as on the front line, Darren. Potter came on the court, and when the young man came on the court, all the fans were at a loss.

"Who is this guy?" No one knows.

If you say Harry. Potter, I guess I know a lot, compared with Harry. Potter, this Darren. Porter's popularity is far worse. At least none of the fans can call out his name now. Even the on-site commentators are looking at the list of players before they read the name: "Dalun... "Porter?"

"God, who can tell me who this guy is?"

No one knows, but you can't deny Darren. Porter is also a member of Liverpool's front line. Although he has been assigned to the youth team by the head coach of the first team for a long time, he has risen to a reserve team at most and can reach the first team. It is more because Liverpool's current bench depth is not deep enough, and Benitez wants to lose.

It's that simple.

Originally, Morentes didn't come. Baroche sat on the bench. Pangler and Mehler had a chance. Since Morenthes came, they have rarely had a chance to play, but the urgent look of the two towards the goal made Benitez feel very dangerous, so the Spaniard also left Pangler on the bench. Let's just have a Mailer and Darren. Potter is the partner.

Pangler and Darren. Potter....

Such a frontline combination, seeing the fans in the audience shaking their heads, many Burnley fans even think that they may have a chance to win today, because there is no one on the Liverpool front line. If they can win Liverpool, no matter what the other side's lineup is, in short, this is a great honor.

The cheering of Burnley fans is even hotter.

But there will always be unexpected situations. For example, now that the game has been 60 minutes, the scoreboard on the field shows a score of "0:4". No one expected that Liverpool's old, weak, sick and disabled team, has no power to fight back!

Liverpool reserve striker Darren. Potter staged a hat-trick!

"Where did this guy come from?"

Everyone has this doubt, but anyway, Darren. Porter is really brave. He received a pass from midfield veteran Harman twice, hit the ball into the goal, and also hit it with his head in a corner kick. He scored a goal.

Three goals, a hat-trick, such a performance makes Benitez even consider bringing this guy closer to the first team and giving him a chance to play in the Premier League to see the situation. In case, this is really a brave striker. Maybe he will really find a treasure. Even if Liverpool has no need, he can also be in the Premier League. The field is gilded and then sold to other teams for pounds.

At the same time, Benitez began to struggle.

Originally, the Spaniards didn't want to win the game, but the current situation is that Liverpool easily won a big victory, just like this... The old, weak, sick and disabled lineup is really in the brave state of the striker, Darren. Porter scored in order to show his efforts, but Benitez was in conflict.

Won!

This also means that Liverpool has advanced to the FA Cup. It's really a happy and worrying thing. Benitez is very contradictory. He doesn't know what to play next. It should not be a bad thing to defeat the opponent, but the Spaniard was not happy. He wanted to give up the game.

At the same time, England's biggest revelation is the game of Manchester United.

Manchester United were tied by an amateur team at Old Trafford. Manchester United lost face this time. Even if the team sent only a lineup of second-line mixed young players, it still made coach Ferguson unacceptable. After the game, the old Jazz blushed and apologized to the fans of Old Trafford, saying that the FA One of the biggest surprises in the history of the cup is "no excuse".

"I apologize to the fans," Ferguson said after the game. "They shouldn't have seen such a result. This is the worst FA Cup game in my 18 years of coaching this team. We are very disappointed. If someone tells me before the game that this game will be played 0-0, I may beat him, but now But it really happened."

"I know we sent some young players, but this is not an excuse. Their performance should have been better. Maybe I should have replaced Scholes and Alan Smith at halftime."

"The only positive thing is that we are still surviving in this game. Today is the day of the Exster team. During the rematch, I will send a stronger team, and we will not make today's mistakes again."

Manchester United is quite miserable. In the face of an amateur team, they can actually not score a goal in the whole game. This kind of efficiency is really funny, while Chelsea easily defeated Skenthorpe 3-1 at home. In the face of the second-class weak team, coach Mourinho chose young people Watt and Morale as partners, the same substitute lineup. Chelsea's performance is much better than that of Manchester United. At the same time, their opponent is also a second division team, which is much better than the amateur team.

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The tragic experience of Manchester United may make Benitez feel better. In order to deal with the next league seriously, the Spaniard decided to put this matter first and think about it later. The important thing now is to deal with the next round of Premier League.

Liverpool's opponent: Southampton.

In 2001, Southampton moved to St. Mary's Stadium and brought hope to the fans with the results of winning the FA Cup runner-up and advancing to the European arena that season. However, Southampton is not favored in the new season, and financial embarrassment makes it difficult for them to introduce satisfactory wishes.

At Christmas, head coach Strok's goal is still to advance into the European battlefield.

This season, Southampton's results can only be regarded as average. Now in the league, they are ranked 11th, in a position, but their good results at the beginning of the league have declined. After Christmas, the disadvantages of the small clubs are reflected, and the depth of the bench seriously affects the team's performance. .

But Liverpool also has this problem. Two days ago, Barrosh was injured and Morentes caught a cold. Mailer was sent to the reserve team by Benitez because the young man didn't seem to be able to keep up with the state of the first team.

There are also some players in the midfield and backcourt who have physical problems. The physical strength of veteran Harman makes him unable to support the next game. He will definitely not play.

This situation is normal.

At the current stage of the league, it is about the depth of the bench. Liverpool's depth of the bench is too different. No wonder Benitez is a little anxious about the recent events and even wants to give up the FA Cup directly.

The last time the two teams played against each other was at Christmas, when Liverpool easily defeated Southampton at home.

With experience, everyone feels that the opponent is nothing special. The team went to Southampton without much pressure. Even before the game, Benitez did not think what would happen. He thought that the team would definitely win. He never thought that he would lose points in such a small ball.

But when the game began, the Spaniard had some ominous foreboding.

The state of Liverpool players can be said to be in a mess. Perhaps after defeating Chelsea, it has affected the mentality of the players. In short, few players are in good condition. In addition to Don Jack in the front court, only the veteran Hai Pia in the backcourt is in good condition.

Throughout the first half, the team spent the whole roaming.

After the half-time break, the situation still did not change. As a result, Liverpool only scored one goal in the second half. It still relied on Don Jack's brave play and passed the goal scored by three opponents in a row.

But there is no guarantee of victory!

Because at the end of the second half, Southampton took advantage of a counterattack, striker Cole easily scored a goal to equalize the score!

One to one.

The final score is also this. After defeating Chelsea, Liverpool suffered a draw in Southampton, which was very unfavorable to their league format, because in the same game, Chelsea defeated Portsmouth by 3:0, that is to say, Liverpool defeated Chelsea, two After the team's gap narrowed to one point, due to this draw, the gap between the two teams became three points again.

Three points and one point are completely different.

In the last round of the league, Chelsea can even easily reach a draw to win the league championship.

Such a performance obviously made the media dissatisfied, and many media began to show 'Liverpool criticism' again. They think that the mentality of Liverpool players and clubs is too naive. Compared with Chelsea, they have a one point less temperament to win the championship.

And some people have also begun to pay attention to the real reason, which is the depth of Liverpool's bench.

The main lineup of the Liverpool team is definitely not much worse than Chelsea, but the depth of the bench is not comparable at all. Chelsea can be said to have no worries in this regard. Their main lineup is less than half, and it is another set of main lineup. Whether it is Robben, Gremi or Scott on the bench. Parker and others are all strong players, and Liverpool's bench is too far from the bench.

When there are few people in the main lineup, Benitez has to transfer people to the youth team to supplement the lineup. In this way, the strength of the supplemented lineup can be imagined, and losing is inevitable.

Losing is your own problem, which is not annoying.

The most annoying thing is that Mourinho, the big-mouthed head coach, showed a mocking face for the first time after seeing Liverpool lose. In front of many media reporters, he talked about this and satirically said, "If the Spaniard wants to win the championship, then he needs three. Jack. Li."

Three Jacks!!?

One is very enviable. If there are three Jacks, Wigan's country team can cross the European battlefield, let alone Liverpool. Mourinho's words are obviously a satire on the Spaniard's own leadership, which led to Liverpool's loss.

Benitez was so angry that he could only bear it silently.

But for the current team's game, he has to make a choice. Abandoning the FA Cup has become the most important problem at present, because the next game after the league is the FA Cup. After repeated thinking, Benitez still decided to give up the game, although his opponent in the next game is Biburnley. Weather, it is a nameless League One team, but Benitez still decided to let the team give up the game directly.

It's better to give up early than to give up in the end. The current choice may be the most correct decision!