Chapter 20: Three Kills of Liverpool
The match between Arsenal and Liverpool is not just a quarter-final in the Carabao Cup.
The match is scheduled for January 10, which is past the traditional Christmas of the Premier League. Since there is no such thing as a winter break in the Premier League, it is now the time for the league and cup competitions to be in full swing.
Arsenal are fourth in the league with 23 games, 11 wins, 6 draws and 5 defeats so far, with 39 points in the league, ahead of Liverpool, who are just one point ahead of the Gunners.
Arsenal also happened to collide with the Reds in the FA Cup, another traditional competition that starts in November, and the two teams will meet in the third round of the FA Cup on 7 January at Liverpool's Anfield.
With two games in three days, both at Liverpool's home stadium and entanglement in the league, Arsenal and Liverpool have become rivals this season.
What's more, because Manchester United and Chelsea have won the league with 54 and 48 points respectively, far widening the gap with the second echelon, so the Reds and Gunners have involuntarily put their goal of winning the championship on the cup this season, and these two games are equivalent to a decisive battle between the two teams, and neither side can afford to lose.
In contrast, the two teams clearly value the FA Cup title more than the FA Cup, which not only has a longer history, but also qualifies for European competition, and can be relied on to make up for it in the event that both teams fail in the league.
As a result, both Arsene Wenger and Rafael Benitez have focused on the FA Cup and have not taken the Carabao Cup so seriously.
On January 7, the two teams first played a match at Anfield, and Benitez sent most of the main lineup, Gerrard, Alonso, Carragher, Kuyt and other league main players all played, obviously trying to give Arsenal a note.
Wenger did not show weakness, tightened his horse steps, gritted his teeth and sent his number one horse boy Henry, supplemented by Fabregas, Adebayo, Rosicky, Gala, Toure and other fierce generals, brandished the big sword and spear in his hand, rushed up and fought with Liverpool's big men.
The two sides came and went, killing the sky darkly, for a time the blood flowed like a river, thousands of horses together, the fans in the audience were fascinated, furious, 90 minutes of fighting, Arsenal 3:0 laughed and took away the head of the Red Army, Benitez was tragically beaten by the professor first.
Descartes did not get a chance to play in this game, and due to the importance of the game, most of Wenger's main players were the main players, and none of the reserve team members could make it to Anfield.
However, the League Cup on January 10 has become a time for these young players to perform.
Because of the big win over Liverpool in the FA Cup, Professor Wenger was in a good mood, and he had to participate in the 23rd round of the league on the 13th, so in this League Cup, Arsenal sent most of the reserve players to the squad and went to Anfield again.
And this time Liverpool's manager Benitez was very angry, because of the FA Cup loss, he taught his players a hard lesson, this League Cup, Liverpool came with a determination to take revenge, half of the players who played in the FA Cup appeared in this game, in addition to captain Gerrard and midfield core Alonso, Bellamy, Kuyt, Fowler, Hyypia, Reese and other famous players all went into battle, bound to avenge the revenge of 3 days ago.
But when Bei Bald saw Arsenal's appearance list, he almost vomited a mouthful of blood on the white paper, and he only had one feeling: Wenger, I treat you like my first love, why do you abuse me thousands of times?
Arsenal's lineup, in addition to goalkeeper Almunia, midfielders Ljungberg, Baptista, and defender Eboue, turned out to be all reserves, Ramsey, Walcott, Bella, Frimpong, plus Descartes on the bench, it was completely a baby army.
Bei Bald only felt that he was like a martial arts master, and he was ready to use an earth-shattering "Baguazhang" to slap Wenger on the opposite wall, but suddenly found that Wenger turned around in a chic manner, and then used a "Eighteen Falls of Clothes" without fireworks, and easily cracked his momentum with one blow, making himself so hateful that he almost gritted his steel teeth.
What can you gain by defeating such a baby army?
The League Cup is such a chicken rib, to be honest, even if the league title and the FA Cup are lost, Benitez will not look at it.
The reason why he painstakingly arranged a revenge lineup is to regain momentum, so as not to be suppressed by Arsenal in the league and produce a psychological shadow!
What is this now? You sent a group of baby soldiers to fight me, you don't follow the rules.
Everyone came out to mix the rivers and lakes, and it was good that you came and went with a knife and a gun, but you just punched me in the face, and retracted my neck as soon as I turned around, so that I couldn't return it.
Bei Bald almost cried, but the list had been handed over, and he couldn't change it, so he could only yell at the players in the locker room with a calm face, threatening Wenger to despise everyone so much, not to give everyone and me this face, you are my little brother, you can't watch the big brother being insulted by the group of old boys opposite, you have to help me get back face, it's best to beat even their own mother can't recognize them like this, so as to relieve my anger. If whoever doesn't work hard in this game and can't settle that group of little farts for me in the end, then don't mess with me in the future, and go to Babaoshan Mountain to find a place to rest.
Under Benitez's angry reprimand, Liverpool's players walked out of the locker room with their heads buried like good grandsons, and when they saw Arsenal's players, they suddenly shuddered one by one, remembering Benitez's thunderous anger in the locker room just now, this group of Liverpool players still secretly made a decision, this game must not be left because the opponent is Xiao Zhengtai.
As the saying goes, "Although it's cute, Lori is more expensive, and if it's for salary, both can be thrown".
So this game Arsenal players endured a severe test, the same as their main squad three days ago beat Liverpool, this game they were also beaten by most of Liverpool's main squad in the half, if it wasn't for goalkeeper Almunia's excellent performance in this game, they are estimated to have fallen behind by more than three goals in the first half.
However, Arsene Wenger on the sidelines did not care about the situation at all, and after winning the FA Cup, he had actually made up his mind to give up the Carabao Cup, so even when the situation was very difficult in the first half, he did not complain to the players, he just replaced Ljungberg in the second half, and then let Walcott drop back to the right, and sent Descartes on the forward line.
This is the first time that Descartes has played against a strong team like Liverpool, although Liverpool's feathered phoenix is not as good as a chicken, and it is not as good as a year in a year, but after all, they were once the overlords of England, and there is still a little residual so-called "kingly spirit", so Descartes is very excited to play against such a team.
At the beginning of the second half, Descartes was very active, he kept running in front of him to find opportunities, and although he was not physically strong, he was very active in counter-attacking, which once caused Liverpool's defenders to scramble and almost make big mistakes.
At this time, there is no so-called "high pressing" in the Premier League, in fact, although Rijkaard's "Dream II" has shown signs of high pressing, but this concept of defending from the opponent's penalty area has not spread, even if the strikers of each team are just doing it, and their midfield will not support such a rush, and the effect is very limited, so the defenders of the Premier League do not have much understanding of Descartes's "too excited" front-court counter-robbery, They thought it was just Descartes who was too excited because he finally got the chance to play, but they didn't know that this was Descartes' attitude towards football: treating every second on the court as if it were the last second of his football career, and never giving up any chance.
Descartes' activity up front forced Liverpool's defence to shrink to a certain extent, which also greatly slowed Liverpool's offensive and left Arsenal with a breather.
When Arsenal came to their senses, the talent of these young players began to come into play.
Although compared with Liverpool's main group of players, Walcott and others are still very inexperienced, but the last thing young players lack is hard work, being pressed by Liverpool to play half the game, the players are holding their breath, and now the situation is slightly relaxed, they immediately launched a ferocious offensive against Liverpool.
The game on the field suddenly became better, the two sides came and went, Liverpool tried to regain the advantage of the first half, Arsenal's young players were not to be outdone, and the opponent in the midfield fought for an inch of land, Ramsey, Walcott and other players are known for their speed, it is said that the reason why Wenger fell in love with Walket was because he "can go to track and field competitions", so when these young players ran away, Liverpool seemed a little overwhelmed.
This is not because Liverpool's players are not as good as this group of baby army, but because in the midfield, Benitez, who felt serious internal injuries, replaced 3 main players in one go, since Wenger put on a posture that I don't like this trophy at all, Benitez naturally can't swallow this breath, and also made a look that I have a lot of adults and don't care about your group of baby soldiers, and completely overturned his revenge plan before the game.
At this time, Liverpool also had more than half of the substitute lineup on the field, and compared with Arsenal's youth army, there was no advantage at all.
That's why the two sides can play so evenly that the audience on the sidelines is addicted.
However, Benitez obviously did not expect that his midfielder's gambling-like substitution would sow the seeds of great trouble for Liverpool.
In the 11th minute of the game, Descartes won the ball in front, and because Liverpool held his own identity, he did not keep a close eye on him as a "non-flowing" little miscellaneous fish, so he was given space to turn in the front.
At the moment when Descartes turned around, a figure in the corner of his eye told him to rush to the Liverpool penalty area, Descartes did not hesitate at all, and directly hooked his toes, and the ball crossed a high arc over the head of Hyypia, the core of Liverpool's back, and fell behind him.
When the ball arrived, the red and white figure did not stop at all in the face of the falling ball, and with a draw, the ball went into the net in response, and the scorer let out a hearty cheer.
It is Baptista, the number 9 player who Arsenal has loaned from Real Madrid this season.
After the goal, Baptista seemed very excited about him, he strode to the corner area and knelt down to celebrate, while not forgetting to give Descartes a thumbs up, this pass was very sudden, but just right, Baptista didn't think that Descartes could really pass the ball, he just subconsciously rushed to the gap in Liverpool, I didn't expect Descartes' awareness to be so outstanding, and he passed himself a wonderful assist.
Three minutes later, Arsenal made a comeback, Walket snatched Liverpool's left wing-back with his speed, sent a parabola near the baseline, and Baptista slapped it to head before Aulerio did, and the Reds' city was breached again.
After conceding the goal, Benitez was furious, rushed to the sideline to the Reds defenders is a burst of scolding, his angry scolding seems to have finally woken up the Reds players, 1 minute later the Reds returned the color to Arsenal, Fowler's one-step lob in the penalty area easily teased Almnia, Liverpool pulled one back.
However, Liverpool's luck today is really bad, they met a state and luck at the peak of Baptista, in the 73rd minute, the Reds defender cleared the ball with a big foot, the ball was kicked to the back of the snatched Aria Diere, was intercepted by Descartes, before the Reds defenders could react, Descartes shot from outside the penalty area, Reina slapped the ball out with one palm, but Baptista appeared in front of the ball again.
With an easy stab, Dudek, who was lying on the ground, could only look up to the sky and sigh, angrily hammering the turf in front of him.
But the tenacious Reds didn't rest on their laurels, and on 77 minutes they pulled one back with a corner kick, with veteran captain Hyypia making a crucial effort to preserve a glimmer of hope for the Reds.
However, Liverpool, who were bent on equalising, suffered another blow in the 81st minute. Song broke the ball in the midfield, straight to the side, Walcott rushed in, the Liverpool left-back who had just been eaten raw by him with speed did not dare to slack off, and desperately pasted it, but Walket suddenly opened up this time, did not die on the side, but passed the ball to the middle one step behind the big penalty area line, Descartes rushed to the horse, and before Sissoko forced to scramble, he made a simple bicycle action, and then suddenly a ball was divided, Sissoko was caught off guard and was caught off guard by him all of a sudden.
Against the onrushing Dudek, Descartes was unrelenting and scored his first competitive goal for Arsenal with ease.
The ball brought a smile to Arsene Wenger's face on the sidelines, and after nearly half a year of secret training, Descartes looked to have adapted to the rhythm of the Premier League and his new body, and it seemed that it was time to release him from the cage.
The 4-2 scoreline was not the end of the game, as Descartes' goal completely shattered the confidence of the Liverpool players, who conceded twice in quick succession over the next 13 minutes, and two long-range strikes from Aria Diere and Baptista easily knocked Dudek through the game, and the Polish goalkeeper looked as if he hadn't woken up yet.
And Liverpool didn't score a face-saving goal again by their "god" Fowler until near the end of the game, 6:3, which was finally the biggest loss score in the game between the two teams.
After the game, Benitez looked depressed, he didn't expect to be killed by Arsenal three times this season, almost didn't even save his underwear, after this game, left-back Paletta and goalkeeper Dudek have been on the list of Beggy's purge, although Beybald did not criticize his players, but has already sentenced some of them to death.
And Wenger is in a happier mood, he didn't expect this group of young people to give himself such a big surprise, although the best player of the game was given to Baptista who staged the "big four", but there is no doubt that Walcott, Descartes and other young players are not far behind, Wenger almost drooled at the thought of transferring these little guys to the first team next season, and then swept the Premier League powers.
It seems that Arsenal's "youth storm" is still blowing more and more fiercely.
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ps: There was a little mistake in front of the putting Aaron. Ramsey played Ramsey and now it's all corrected. However, it should be noted that Ramsey should have been poached from Cardiff by Arsene Wenger in 2007, a year ahead of schedule, and it is also for the needs of the novel, so you don't have to mind. In addition, about the quarterfinals of the League Cup, 6:3 is the real score, you can search for it on the Internet, but don't doubt me Black Liverpool, except for a certain national football association, I don't hack any team, at most it is a kind ridicule, you have to believe my innocence ~~~~~