Chapter 454 I Saw Through Madman Li’s Conspiracy
"...Good evening to all the viewers in front of the TV. I am the host Duan Xuan. I am now at Wembley Stadium, one of the most famous stadiums in England, giving you a live commentary on the upcoming English League season of 2008-09. The two sides in the cup final are the Magpies Newcastle and the Red Army Liverpool!”
Night falls, the moon and stars are scarce!
At twelve o'clock in the evening, the melancholic and magnetic big-headed Duan Xuan's ecstatic voice appeared on time in the living rooms of thousands of households across the 9.6 million square kilometers of China.
On this night, there are destined to be countless fans, old and young, who know nothing about football but are sitting quietly in front of the TV, watching the upcoming game intently...
Because, on this night, the man who brought football miracles to Chinese fans will challenge him at Wembley Stadium for his first championship trophy since joining the top Premier League...
And his opponent is Benitez, who created the miracle in Istanbul!
This is undoubtedly a heavyweight showdown intertwined with love and hatred!
On the TV screen, there were already scenes of players from both sides conducting final warm-ups on the court.
Wembley Stadium was packed with people, and the attendance rate was full. Countless giant magpies and Red Army flags fluttered equally in the north and south stands, like stubborn sailing boats swimming in the storm...
Countless fans held up the club's scarves. In the generous singing of "COME-IN-HOME-NEWCASTLE" and "YOU-WILL-NEVER-WALK-ALONG" like waves crashing against the table, the north stand was completely black and white. Colorful waves, while to the south, there is endless red, shocking red...
"...The players on both sides are warming up. The atmosphere at Wembley Stadium today is so solemn and sacred that I thought I was in the World Cup finals. Although the gold content of the championship is average, this game is because of The reasons for Li Tongfan and Benitez, Newcastle and Liverpool are highly valued in England. Even on this night, the entire Europa is paying attention to the game...
"... In the stadium stands, in addition to the fans of the two warring clubs, there are also many neutral fans who poured into Wembley Stadium. The reason is very simple, because various past finals have proved that as long as there is Crazy Li If you participate, it will become more exciting. This has almost become the consensus of European fans..."
"...Before the game started, our reporter interviewed the fans waiting to enter. A couple of over 60-year-old fans came all the way from Georgia to London. They said they were crazy Crazy Lee fans who came to London. Just to be able to watch this important game of Crazy Li at the scene, and when I heard that the reporter was also from China, I excitedly asked to take a photo with the reporter. At that moment, I clearly felt the pride of being a Chinese fan..."
While the players were warming up, Brother Duan Xuan gushed about the fanatical atmosphere at the scene to the Chinese fans in front of the TV.
Five or six minutes later, the players who were warming up on the field walked back to the player tunnel one after another. After the last simple tactical arrangement and changing of clothes by the head coach before the game, the game will officially begin on the passionate night of Wembley Stadium. Thunderous war drums...
At this moment, suddenly...
Commentator Duan Xuan was like a red-eyed rabbit whose tail was stepped on. He screamed in panic: "What...what's going on? We just got the starting lineups of both sides. Newcastle's has been kept strictly confidential by Li Tongfan. The starting eleven finally emerged, but the truth is absolutely shocking..."
Newcastle's starting lineup was displayed on the TV screen. Amidst the dumbfounded expressions of all the Chinese football-savvy fans, Brother Duan Xuan on the TV continued to scream "being stepped on". Analyzing the tone——
"...It's a bit unbelievable. Li Tongfan made great changes to the formation of his Magpies this time. The previous 4-1-2-1-2 formation became 4-1-2-2- 1 formation, [Lightning Killer] Michael Owen appears in the lone forward position, but [Ukrainian Nuclear Warhead] Shevchenko, who has been in excellent form recently and has scored consecutive goals, surprisingly does not appear in the starting lineup!”
"... Of course, there is something even more surprising. This time Li Tongfan set up a double midfielder for the Magpies in a shocking way. This is the first time in his coaching history... It is worth mentioning. What's strange is that the person who appears in the attacking midfielder position alongside Alan Smith is not another attacking midfielder in Newcastle's team - the Argentinian genius Pastore, but a French midfielder who has not had many chances to play this season. Moussa Sissoko! Putting a defensive midfielder in the attacking midfielder position is really a profound subversion..."
"...The two wings are [Angel Wings] Juan Mata and Prince Bolti, and the midfielder Fernando Gago. The four defenders have not changed much. David Thornton and Marcelo are on both sides. Senderos replaced the injured Steven Taylor and formed a double backstop with Manzianni, and then..."
"...The next candidate for this position will undoubtedly be the biggest suspense that Li Tongfan brings to the fans and the media in this game. The new generation of French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris did not start, and the replacement for Lloris was actually Spanish 18-year-old David De Gea has not even played a single game since joining Newcastle during the winter transfer period that just ended!”
"This change of formation is definitely the craziest of all the crazy changes of Li Tongfan in history..."
At this time, the big-headed brother Duan Xuan's voice was still full of uncontrollable surprise: "From the frontcourt to the midfield, and then to the backcourt, the Magpie Legion's previous winning streak was completely destroyed by Li Tongfan overnight. has changed. I don’t know what the man who is called [God on the sidelines of the football field] is thinking about, but I am sure that his opponent Benitez must be as deeply confused as us at this moment... …”
…
…
Wembley Stadium.
What Duan Xuan said was not wrong at all. After seeing Newcastle's starting lineup, Benitez was instantly confused...
"How... is this possible? Shevchenko, who is in hot form, did not start the game? Irving is actually a single center? Although [Lightning Killer]'s header is excellent, but if he wants to be the bridgehead for the team to destroy the city, his physical condition is still Not even close?"
Benitez looked at the Newcastle players who were setting up on the field, and found that his eyes seemed to be covered with a thick layer of fog, preventing him from seeing the truth behind the fog that was hidden by Crazy Li...
Benitez wanted to grab his hair and tug hard to wake himself up.
But when his chubby fingers touched his bald forehead, he realized how stupid his decision to pull his hair was...
"Crazy Li, sir, what on earth are you doing?"
at this time……
"force--"
Irish referee Foley Croft blew the whistle to start the game. England's final match in March of the 2008-09 season finally began under the gaze of thousands of eyes...
Red Army Liverpool takes the lead!
Benitez arranged the 4-4-1-1 formation that he is best at during the game——
Spanish center Fernando Torres is at the front, behind him is Red Army captain Gerrard, and the other four midfielders are Kuyt, Alonso, Mascherano and Ryan Babel!
The four defenders are Dossena, Agger, Carragher and Arbeloa, and the goalkeeper is the bald Reina.
On the field.
After the opening whistle sounded, Torres knocked the football to Gerrard behind him.
Next, Liverpool did not rush to organize an attack, but kept passing the football back, and began to patiently control the ball in their own half to test the attacking strategies and methods adopted by their opponents today...
This is the tactical arrangement that Spanish fat man Benitez made long before the game.
Because facing a "scheming" enemy like Crazy Li, it's always good to be careful. If you rush to attack in the opening stage, it will be easier for your opponent to leave opportunities. In the 08-09 season, Newcastle came forward after the start of the game. The number of goals scored in 5 minutes tops the Premier League, and Benitez has to defend...
The game slowly moved forward in the "screaming war" started by fans from both sides!
On the sidelines, Benitez was nervously observing Newcastle's offensive routine today!
Benitez was confused by Crazy Lee's sudden change of formation. He knew that he had to figure out the reason as soon as possible before Crazy Lee's conspiracy succeeded. Otherwise, what awaited him and Liverpool might still be a humiliation. Sexual debacle!
One minute……
Two minutes...
five minutes……
Benitez carefully observed Newcastle's tactical play. Gradually, his rich tactical experience told him that the lone forward Michael Owen arranged by Crazy Lee was probably just a cover to attract defense, and Newcastle's real trump card was , it should be the midfielders such as Juan Mata and Alan Smith behind Irving...
Before the game, he watched the game video that he watched countless times and told Benitez that the real strength of Newcastle lies not only in their luxurious striker, because when it comes to the scoring ability of the midfielder, in the entire Premier League, The Magpies are second only to Manchester United and Chelsea in the Premier League!
Benitez patiently continued to observe the trend of the game carefully. Soon, he saw something again——
As he expected, [Lightning Killer] Irving did not take the ball or forcefully turn around and shoot like a traditional center during the game. Instead, he used his own active running to get off the ball without the ball. Tear apart Liverpool's defense...
The ones who really made the final blow were Alan Smith, who was hiding behind Irving and had a strong long-range shooting ability, and Juan Mata, whose personal foot skills were almost invincible!
In five or six minutes, Irving touched the ball less than 10 times.
Alan Smith and Juan Mata behind Irving not only fully enjoyed the team's possession of the ball many times, but also easily scored one shot each. Although both were long shots from outside the penalty area, , for Benitez, this is enough to explain all the problems...
In the end, there was only one thing left that Benitez couldn’t understand——
Crazy Lee placed the silly French black man Moussa Sissoko in the attacking midfielder position. What was his intention?
In the past five or six minutes, Benitez can clearly know through observation: this French black man who is 1.86 meters tall, in addition to being strong and fast, whether it is stopping the ball, Passing and offensive awareness are both far and away from a truly qualified midfielder...
Putting such an out-of-place player in such an important midfielder position is like letting the rooster lay eggs. Don't expect him to make famous passes or score goals himself...
However, Benitez did not dare to be dismissive in the slightest, because after all, the person who made such a decision was a man who was almost invincible on the sidelines of the football field. In the past years, he had never made a mistake...
So, Benitez decided to continue observing.
In the following observations, Benitez finally saw some clues, because he discovered that Moussa Sissoko had a big advantage——
Excellent defense!
In the limited number of head-to-head contests after the start of the game, Benitez discovered that Sissoko could actually defend Gerrard and Alonso head-on without falling behind...
Moussa Sissoko's performance of running back and forth with unlimited energy suddenly reminded Benitez of another person——
Mohamed Sissoko!
However, that Sissoko is from Mali. When he was playing for Liverpool, Mohamed Sissoko's super strength in defense made him once Benitez's number one in midfield defense. choose……
Thinking back to Mari Sissoko's performance in Liverpool and his use of Mohamed Sissoko, and then thinking about the starting eleven sent by Crazy Lee in this game, especially when thinking about the Newcastle goalkeeper position With the unexpected change, Benitez's heart suddenly lit up. Could it be...
"... Could it be that the reason why Crazy Li made such a change in tactics was not because he wanted to launch a surprise attack, but because... he had no choice but to do so?"
Benitez connected all the things and suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment. In the dumbfounded expression of the assistant coach, the Spanish fat man gave his thick thigh a hard hammer and smiled broadly: I understand, I finally understand. Already...
Things must be like this——
For some unknown reason, Newcastle's original goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was suddenly unable to play. After losing a veteran like Given, reality forced Madman Lee to send the player who had just transferred to join him in such an important game. The team's 18-year-old kid, Hedea...
But it's obvious that Crazy Li is not assured of Hedea's level.
Therefore, he had to find a way to make up for this shortcoming, and in the end, Crazy Li's idea was to divert the 'fire' of war away from Newcastle's own half as much as possible...
So, Crazy Li decided to change the formation!
He sacrificed a forward and cleverly placed a physically strong defensive player in the attacking midfielder position to strengthen Newcastle's counterattack ability in the opponent's half. On the one hand, he protected Smith, Mata and others, and on the other hand, he also You can try to keep the football in Liverpool's half most of the time...
In this way, it can not only strengthen the defensive and offensive capabilities of Newcastle's midfield, but also protect the rookie Hedea from facing the test of Liverpool's long-range shots to the greatest extent. At the same time, it can also limit the attack of Liverpool's proud midfielder to the greatest extent. force……
It can be said that it kills three birds with one stone!
"Yes, yes, hahahaha, it must be like this! I know! Haha, I finally saw it, Crazy Li, now you are going to be finished hahaha..."
The fat Spanish guy was proud of himself.
Just like that, when the game reached the tenth minute, 'tactician master' Benitez finally relied on his rich tactical knowledge and top-notch on-the-spot insight to 'see through' Crazy Li's despicable, cunning and hateful nature. ''s tactical conspiracy...
Next, Benitez made two decisions.
First, he asked his assistant coach to quietly find out why Hugo Lloris and others did not play in order to confirm his suspicion.
The second one, he quickly came to the sidelines and began to adjust Liverpool's tactics according to his previous ideas...
In the blink of an eye, Liverpool's tactics changed significantly——
The backline's emphasis on Irving has slightly decreased. They no longer defend Irving man-to-man, but pay more attention to the overall cooperation of the defense and stifling Newcastle's secondary attack...
Under the leadership of the experienced vice-captain Carragher, Liverpool's defense turned into a "chaste martyrdom". No matter how "honest and cute young man" Owen tried to seduce and tease, he remained cold and indifferent...
What followed was that without Owen's involvement, Alan Smith and Juan Mata, who were hidden behind the [Lightning Killer], were exposed to the eyes of the Liverpool defenders, and they were never as good as before. Opportunities to get the ball and shoot!
At the same time, in terms of offense, Liverpool has also changed -
They began to consciously reduce ground cooperation, and instead frequently passed Alonso's precise long passes directly across the midfield, sending footballs continuously to Newcastle's penalty area...
Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt and others can no longer pursue coordination and better shooting opportunities. Instead, they can use their long-range shooting ability and personal skills to try to shoot as soon as possible...
Because Newcastle's goalkeeper is a rookie!
Benitez’s change had an immediate effect——
If the two sides were evenly matched in the early stages of the game, then after Benitez made tactical changes with gestures, the Red Army soldiers quickly gained the upper hand as if they had taken a 'little blue pill' , the sound of cannons rumbled, and for a time, there was a roar of wind and cranes in front of Newcastle's gate, and the grass and trees were all covered with soldiers...
13th minute.
"...Alonso's long pass accurately found Babel on the wing. The Dutch winger broke through...and passed!! Torres's volley...the ball...slightly missed the right post, just by that much. Little by little, little by little! ”
14th minute.
"...Gerrard headed the ball...Torres...leaned on Manzianni, and he pushed the football back...Gerrard won the ball and shot it!!! Oh oh oh oh, another miss Little by little, the football hit the crossbar and flew into the stands. This time, Newcastle's 18-year-old new goalkeeper Hedea still didn't have time to react..."
16th minute.
"...This is Liverpool's corner kick opportunity...Alonso takes the kick...forward!! Torres lightly rubs...Carrager!!! Oh wow, just a hair's breadth, if not lucky enough, maybe Newcastle is already 0:3 behind!”
The voices of the commentators in different languages were transmitted to all over the world via radio. The fans watching this final felt like they had a restless spring ball hidden in their hearts, which kept picking at them... …
Even a suckling child can tell that Newcastle is in danger!
"...Spanish tactician Benitez showed us his terrifying on-the-spot command ability. In just ten minutes, he seemed to see through Li Tongfan's bizarre tactical arrangement. After adjustments, Liverpool completely controlled the game. The situation and rhythm are more aggressive! ”
Duan Xuan, the big head, said with worry in his tone: "Although I am not a master tactician, I can't help but express my opinion. Li Tongfan's raid obviously failed. Although Newcastle has invested a lot of troops in the frontcourt, , but due to the presence of No. 17 Moussa Sissoko, they were unable to connect closely, resulting in poor offensive results..."
"...The best way now is to move Sissoko back to the midfielder position and form a double midfielder with Gago. Only in this way can Liverpool's offensive be contained..."
Another commentator, Cester, a loyal fan of Crazy Lee, gave the same advice——
"...Newcastle is in an unfavorable situation...It is said that three hours before the game, Shevchenko, Crespo and Hugo Lloris, who were already in the starting lineup, suddenly fell ill with acute influenza. He had a fever of 39 degrees and was unable to play, so Crazy Li had to temporarily change the team's tactics and starting arrangements. Seeing that this emergency really affected the team's combat effectiveness..."
In fact, not only the commentators, but also the Newcastle fans at Wembley Stadium became anxious.
What is happening on the scene now is almost a situation that has never happened since Crazy Li coached the Magpies. They are pressed to such an embarrassing point by their opponents. It even makes the Magpies fans involuntarily suspect that the eleven players on the field are playing football. It's not Owen and others, but the other person wearing a black and white sword-striped shirt is a stranger...
Passive, so passive!
This is really rare in Crazy Li's coaching career!
People are waiting for Crazy Lee to make changes quickly. The fans' appeals, the commentators' suggestions, and even the satellite broadcast footage will give a close-up shot of Crazy Lee standing on the sidelines with every Liverpool attack...
However, Li Tongfan has not changed yet!
…
"Wahahahaha, of course he won't make changes..."
Benitez is laughing, smiling triumphantly.
After guiding Shevchenko, Lloris and others to indeed be unable to play due to an unexpected fever, the Spanish fat man finally confirmed his previous speculation!
Benitez turned to the assistant coach beside him and said: "Don't worry, I bet that at least before the end of the first half, Crazy Lee will not change Newcastle's tactics. Because the current formation and tactics are already short of major generals for him." Under the circumstances, the best way that can be thought of... Hehe, any change is not worth mentioning in the face of absolute strength. Even God is helping Liverpool this time. Otherwise, why would Shevchenko and Hugo -Lloris will suddenly have a high fever before the game? Hahahaha..."
As if sensing the head coach's excitement and ecstasy, the Red Army fans in the stands also fell into madness.
Being able to push Crazy Li to this extent in such an important game was something they would never have imagined before the game...
The red color of the South Stand of Wembley Stadium rolled up and down, like a huge oncoming wave. The breathtaking momentum seemed to dye the clouds in the sky into the color of flames...
The momentum of the Liverpool people has climbed to an incredible height as the game progresses!
Newcastle fans, on the other hand, spent those long seconds after seconds in panic...
The 35th minute of the game.
Liverpool was preventing their ninth corner kick in the first half, and it was Alonso who took the corner kick.
Since Liverpool had all the advantages on the field, only Arbeloa and Lucas were left in the backcourt this time. Everyone else rushed forward to participate in the attack...
force--
The whistle sounded and a corner kick was taken.
Newcastle's penalty area was in chaos. Carragher and Manzianni jumped high in front, but neither of them headed the ball. Liverpool's Danish central defender Agger was competing for the ball in the middle, but under the interference of David Santon, he was unable to head the ball...
Alonso's corner kick landed at the far post!
The Liverpool player waiting there was the Dutch winger Babel!
Watching the ball fly over, Babel posed in the air, and then something strange happened. He was in the air, and suddenly, as if he was electrocuted by a high-voltage wire of millions of volts, he screamed, and fell to the ground with twitching hands and feet...
Behind Babel was the Brazilian full-back Marcelo, who looked puzzled!
"Force..."
The referee Fly-Croft's whistle sounded clearly.
"... Newcastle's penalty area was in chaos... Oh, Babel fell to the ground. It seemed that Marcelo, the defender of the Magpies, pushed him from behind, but this performance was too exaggerated, right?"
"... The Dutchman dressed himself up as a dying poor man. Let's see how the referee judges. I think this is definitely a dive. Babel might get a yellow card..."
On the field.
Liverpool players, led by Gerrard, surrounded the referee, and Newcastle players, led by Alan Smith, rushed to explain something...
In an instant, Wembley Stadium was filled with endless boos!
The referee separated the players from both sides around him, and then walked to the Dutch winger Babel who was still lying on the lawn, asked a few questions, and then turned and gestured to the Liverpool bench, indicating that the stretcher should be on the field...
Then, Fly-Croft made a move that shocked the whole audience...
——
Tomorrow, I will try to explode.
Thank you brothers for your unwavering support and love.
ps: I recommend a new book by a new author, "Reflections of Time and Space".