() Despite the Carabao Cup victory, if you type words such as bad luck and miserable into a European football search engine, the only results you find are likely to be related to Liverpool.

The future is bright, but the road is tortuous.

This is perhaps the current message to everyone in Liverpool.

Following the Carabao Cup victory, Liverpool officially announced the financial situation of the club's operations for the previous year.

The club's net loss was £21.9 million, while the amount of liabilities also reached £15.4 million, which was also the worst annual operating performance in the club's history.

Liverpool general manager Parry explained: "The loss was mainly due to two factors, the loss of revenue due to not playing in the Champions League and the breach fee paid by the club in deciding to change the coaching staff. ”

The breakup between Liverpool and Houllier was expensive, with Liverpool paying Houllier a £4 million breach fee and another £6.7 million for the club to send Houllier's coaching staff and parallel players like Diouf in his hands. In addition, with Liverpool missing out on the Champions League last season, they earned a measly £3 million in Europe.

Liverpool officially announced the club's business at this time, and its purpose is obvious!

We're out of money!

We can't buy players in the winter transfer window!

Yes, Liverpool, who are fighting on the third line, cannot rely on Baros and the immature Pongler alone, and although Mailer performed well in the Carabao Cup, even the fans did not dare to let him try to provoke the beam.

Benitez is also well aware of his situation, and the transfer fee he can get in such a financial situation will be very limited, but after his experience of Valencia's slamming, it doesn't seem to be a big deal.

'All teams are looking for players in the transfer market and we are no exception. Maybe you have money, but it's useless if you don't have a transfer target. As long as we have a goal, the money will always be obtained, and it is better to have a goal and no money than to have money and not know who to buy. ”

Such an ambiguous statement can only temporarily delay the anxiety of the fans.

On the streets of Liverpool, there are even quite a few fans who have come forward to raise donations for the club.

In any case, they don't want to see a striker available in the second half of the season.

But to Benitez's annoyance, city rival Everton coach David Moyes seemed intent on getting along with him, and almost all the players he fancied, Moyes intervened.

With Everton selling Wayne Rooney and a stellar season and Manchester United reportedly buying midfielder Graveson this winter, Moyes has no weaker cheque book for players than Liverpool.

The Reds had already started contact with Morientes before this season, and as the top scorer in last season's Champions Cup, Morientes was already dissatisfied with his embarrassing situation at Real Madrid and was eager to follow his compatriot.

In addition, Johansen, who has performed well at Crystal Palace this season, and Keane Keane at Tottenham are also players who make Benitez's eyes hot.

In addition to the strikers, the Reds have also stepped up the pace in terms of reinforcements at the back and are currently in contact with Lazio defender Negro. Negro is out of contract at the end of the season and he is keen to join the Premier League.

But the likes of Morientes, Johansen and Negro all faced the temptation of Liverpool's rivals Everton at the same time, leaving fans dissatisfied and helpless.

In any case, with some time to go until January, the question of how Liverpool will survive 2004 is the most pressing one.

Another reason for the fans to keep their emotions in check for the time being is that the team's current results are still stable, with Arsenal being held to a draw away from Crystal Palace in the last round of the league and two draws in a row after losing to Manchester United; Chelsea also drew two games because of their wings being broken. That said, Liverpool is not left behind in the first echelon of the league standings.

With a "fluke" mood, on November 13, in the 13th round of the English Premier League, Liverpool faced Crystal Palace at home.

Crystal Palace have been the most "hot" in recent rounds, beating or drawing five of their six opponents in quick succession, keeping themselves out of relegation danger in a very short period of time.

But in encouraging morale, he threatened: "They [Crystal Palace] have reached their highest level of the season and the overall form of the team may start to decline." ”

Barosh has almost recovered from a thigh strain, but youngster Pongler is still on the sidelines ready to warm up at any time.

If Liverpool wants to make a big difference in the Champions League, they can't be left too far behind by their rivals in the league, so there is no reason for the Reds to let go of a weak team like Crystal Palace.

Barosh reappeared on the field, which caused a lot of shouts from the fans.

Interestingly, when Cisse was not injured before, fans thought that the two had similar styles, and there might be repetition of running positions and scrambling for shots; But after Cisse retreated from injury, even if Baros was alone in the frontcourt, he often had nothing to do and could not find a good opportunity to score, and fans began to miss the days when Cisse was there; But when Barosh also left the pitch injured, the fans finally started to panic.

Liverpool has no real striker, what can they do to win the championship?

Thankfully, Baros had only been recuperating from a thigh strain for just over a week, and the fans felt the urge to get back on the pitch when they saw the Czechs running again.

In this game, Liverpool still has a good chance of winning.

With home advantage, the ball was in the opposition half for most of the time. The occasional counterattack of the Crystal Palace was also defused by Tang Wu's large-scale running in time.

On 74 minutes, teenager Pongler came out in place of Barosh. It was still 0-0 on the field, but Bei Bald was timid.

Barosh's physical condition is not very good, and if he is allowed to fight again at this time, Liverpool will really have no striker in the next Champions League.

After seeing Baros go off the field, the spectators in the stands sighed. In their opinion, if the team continues to work hard, the goal may be the next second.

But this substitution "delayed" the fighter and gave Crystal Palace a respite.

Teenager Pongler couldn't adapt to Baros's position in a short period of time, so much so that after the final whistle, the score was still fixed at 0-0.

"Oh! OMG! How long has it been since the team won? "A Liverpool fan held his head and looked helplessly at the scoreboard.

"Didn't the team just win the first two days?" A lady next to him asked curiously.

"Judy, how can the League Cup compare to the league?" The male fan didn't even look at his girlfriend, "The last time I came back from Chelsea, we had three consecutive draws in the league. And the Champions League is the same, we've drawn two games in a row and now even getting out of the group is in jeopardy. ”

Arsenal and Chelsea ignored Liverpool's three draws, with each side winning in the 13th round after two draws.

The Gunners narrowly won the north London derby 5-4, while Chelsea beat Fulham 2-1 thanks to Arjen Robben's return.

In this game, the Dutch genius passed and shot, and the dazzling record made Mourinho slap his forehead.

If Arjen Robben hadn't been injured in the first two games, Chelsea would have been league leaders by this time!

Damn TOM pussy!

After the game, Mourinho straightened his collar, intending to remove Tang Wu's disgusted figure from his mind. The good news is that Duff can also return from injury in the next game.

When the Blues fly on both wings, who else can stop them in the Premier League?

On 20 November, the Riverside Stadium once again plunged all those who believed Liverpool was beginning to recover into despair.

0-0, once again proving the paleness of this team's attacking power.

Poor Baroshe, even though he was "hidden" by Bei Bald in time for the last game, unfortunately strained his thigh again before the game. This time he was not so lucky, and he couldn't even play in the Champions League a few days later. Coupled with the short-legged Cisse, Liverpool is completely facing the dilemma of having no striker available.

In desperation, coach Rafael Benitez had no choice but to put the young Pongler in the starting striker position, hoping that the French youngster would be as magical as Melle in the Carabao Cup.

But Liverpool's "bad luck" did not change because of this, and in the 78th minute of the game, Pongele's shot from the empty net was deflected wide and missed the Reds' best scoring opportunity of the game.

Before the game, the media and fans rushed to support the team. In addition to the most vocal Mehler, the outside world also hopes that Bei Bald will give Pengele more opportunities. Whether it is the media or fans, they have a soft spot for whether the club can cultivate golden boys like Owen and Rooney.

But reality slapped everyone hard, and Pongler's empty goal left an elderly Reds fan scratching a cross on his chest: "God, hopefully the club can win in the winter window and Everton's 'top bull'." ”