Chapter 103: Moyes's Ambition

PS: Today's cousin is alive, white wine and Red Bull, you know, in order to keep the festival, I'm easy!

What kind of team is Everton?

Founded in 1878, at least 130 years old, the club is one of the seven founding clubs of the English Professional Football League, and before the 20th century, the team was not unknown, having won nine English top-flight trophies, five FA Cups and one European Cup Winners' Cup, which is better than Manchester United before Alex Ferguson took over, and even better than Manchester United before Ferguson took over.

The team is based in Liverpool, England, and they certainly have a reputation compared to their famous rivals, and even the quantity and quality of trophies have been left far behind, and it is fair to say that they deserve more respect in world football if it were not for the fact that they happen to have a neighbour whose reputation is almost cloudy.

But it was such a team, in the twentieth century, gradually reduced to a middle and lower part of the Premier League, since winning the English league title in 1890, they did not have the taste of top-flight glory again for 110 years.

It wasn't until 2002 when Scotsman David Moyes took over as Everton manager that the team finally rose from the ashes and rediscovered his name.

David Moyes, a Scotsman from his hometown of Lord Ferguson, has transformed Everton's cash-strapped and perennially relegation-struggling side into a consistent mid-table Premier League powerhouse over the past five seasons in the space of six years. They have finished in the top six three times, finished in the top five twice and have entered the European competition for four consecutive years, although they are a little short of the "Bigfour", but they are already the pillars of the Premier League's mid-table teams.

However, unlike Lord Fruel, Moyes took the path of Arsene Wenger, his vision of people is also extremely accurate, and he is good at small and big, and the Arteta, Gravison and others he introduced later made a great name in world football. But what impressed the Chinese audience the most. I am afraid that he introduced Chinese player Li Tie and promoted Rooney, the "savior" of England later.

It can be said that this is a manager whose vision is not inferior to that of Arsene Wenger, and the only thing that is regrettable is that. Everton's reputation is not as good as that of Assen. If Wenger picks up cheap and beautiful second-hand goods that the wealthy have missed. All Moyes was able to pick was some third-hand goods that were worse than second-hand goods.

But even so, Moyes's coaching achievements have been approved by many media outlets in England, even the gossip that has been circulating. It is said that Lord Fatre's favorite successor is David Moyes, and if Lord Foll retires one day and David Moyes takes over Manchester United, it will be a result that no one will be surprised at all.

Under David Moyes, Everton have never tasted the league title, but they have reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup and the FA Cup final in succession this season.

That's why, while most of the media know that Arsenal are clearly stronger than Everton, they are still desperately touting that they are likely to be called another team after Bayer Leverkusen: Moyes's team is mostly veterans who have played under him for two or three seasons or more, and they do not lack tacit understanding and fighting spirit, and they have no chance to create miracles in the face of Arsenal's successive defeats.

Even David Moyes himself has no more thoughts on the FA Cup final.

It has been rumored that after Lord Ferguson retires, his most preferred successor is not Mourinho, who has been discussed before, but Moyes of Everton.

Ferguson doesn't like Mourinho's coaching philosophy, there is no doubt about it, under Lord Ferguson, Manchester United sees it as impermanence, water impermanence, his team's most basic philosophy is to run without the ball, but how to run, when to run, Lord Ferguson actually does not have too many fixed frameworks, so Manchester United's games sometimes seem to be obviously not dominant, but they can always get satisfactory results, which has always been an important object of external research.

But under Mourinho, he pays great attention to the team's tactics and discipline, as far as Mourinho is concerned, he would rather give up the talent of the players than the discipline of the team. A talented player like Cole is actually not doing well under Mourinho, but players like Drogba and Lampard, who are not creative but have very strong tactical execution, are like fish in water under him.

Although Ferguson is also very particular about team discipline, in fact, he is not against the improvisation of the players on the field, Giggs's thousands of miles to ride alone, Sheringham and Scholes's stunner, are the concrete embodiment of the players' flash of inspiration at critical moments, if it is replaced by Mourinho, I am afraid that such a thing will never happen - if Giggs dares to disregard his teammates under Uncle Bird, he will definitely not be greeted with praise, but without hesitation.

Mourinho's team, tenacious, stubborn, like a rock, but lack the passion to survive and surprising play, looking at the performance of the team under Uncle Bird, we can clearly see that when he is facing a backward situation, the only move is to desperately increase the number of forwards, from three forwards to four forwards and even 505 formations, but this is just a gamble, not an adjustment.

On the other hand, Ferguson, he prefers to win steadily, even if he fell behind Bayern 0:1, he did not directly send 5 strikers, but replaced York with Sheringham and replaced Joel with Scholes.

These two very different coaching philosophies doomed Lord Ferguson not to introduce Mourinho as his successor, which he was really optimistic about. Or Moyes, who has the same coaching philosophy as himself.

With so much expectation from Lord Fro, Moyes will certainly want to prove himself with better results, especially with the possibility of taking over Manchester United, and he certainly hopes for some trophies to add some aura to himself.

The 2008-2009 FA Cup was definitely Moyes' most promising trophy.

Prior to this, their rivals Arsenal had already suffered heavy blows in the league and in Europe - they had lost two heavyweight trophies in four days, the team's morale had fallen to its lowest point, and in the words of the media, Arsenal were "on the verge of collapse".

Moyes is convinced. As long as their team can hold on to half the court. No, even if they only hold out for 20 minutes, there is a good chance that Arsenal will lose their sense of normalcy due to their anxiety, because they have already lost two important trophies. It simply could not withstand any further blows; Their players are probably on the verge of panic. The hat of the king of Sanya. It's definitely a life-urging charm-like existence.

In this game, Everton could have dragged the game into extra-time or penalties with ease, because even if they lost. At most, the outside world says that they are inferior to others, and between the two teams of Everton and Arsenal, it is a matter of course that Everton is inferior to others, and even their own teams will not have any objections to this.

But for Arsenal, it was already a game they couldn't afford to lose, they worked hard for a season, they fought for a season, and finally stood on the doorstep of nothing, a blow that few people could easily withstand if it weren't for their steely nerves.

David Moyes is betting that Arsenal's mentality has been thrown out of balance, and if they fail to take the lead in the early days, they will face an inevitable collapse.

Arsenal are known for their poor mental quality, which is well known in the Premier League, and in the past few seasons they have always collapsed suddenly on the verge of the end of the season, and in 2007-2008 they were unbeaten for most of the season, but they were defeated in the last two months, losing the league title in one fell swoop; In the 2006-2007 season, they were also in the third line before February, but after February, they were full of injuries, the Champions League was sniped by Chelsea, the FA Cup was inexplicably eliminated by the weak team Burnley, and the league also fell all the way to fourth; In the 2005-2006 season, they performed even worse, and before February, they were all defeated, in addition to reaching the last four of the Champions League, they were even overtaken by Tottenham Hotspur in the league for a time!

This kind of psychological quality, even if Moyes is blind, has already been analyzed by the developed media in England for him.

So Arsenal aren't actually terrible, and although they are far ahead of Everton in terms of qualifiers and squads, Moyes believes that this may be the weakest of the Premier League's big four.

They are desperate for a championship, and even the captain of the team has left one after another for the championship, such a team has never been stable internally, coupled with successive defeats on all fronts, they are now on the verge of collapse.

And what Moyes has to do is add to their further decline.

As for the Descartes, who is admired by the outside world, Moyes also has quite a study.

Descartes was very strong, and it was almost the highest ball quotient player he had ever seen. Whether it is against Manchester United or Barcelona, Moyes has studied it dozens of times, and he can say that without Descartes, Arsenal would not have been able to fight these two giants to the end.

It can be seen from the reactions of Ferguson and Pep Guardiola that they are quite afraid of the player. Ferguson deliberately freed up Patrice Evra's position and let his most comfortable players mark all the way, but even so, it failed to stop Descartes from slashing Manchester United, which can be seen from this that individual defense is a decoration for Descartes, and he has 10,000 ways to crack the opponent's personal marking.

In contrast, Pep Guardiola was smarter, using the overall strength of the team to directly suppress the entire Arsenal team, and then pull the line to the Arsenal half, so that Descartes had to be forced away from the Barcelona penalty line, and in this way, Descartes lost his biggest advantage: reaction and organization at the edge of the box.

Pep Guardiola's tactics were an unprecedented success, and Arsenal's performance in the Champions League final was nothing short of spectacular. Descartes couldn't change the tide of the game, and Arsenal couldn't salvage the deficit, and in the end Barcelona won easily 2-0, although the score was not large, but the process was completely even.

However, Pep Guardiola's tactics are not for everyone, at least, for Everton, they will never be able to suppress Arsenal to the half-time completely immobilized, on the contrary, Everton may even be pressed by Arsenal without breathing. After all, Arsenal's main squad is worth as much as 200 million euros. And Everton's starters combined failed to break 100 million.

What tactics should David Moyes' Everton adopt in this situation?

David Moyes is sober and at this point, Everton should be on the defensive. And it's an all-round defensive position without complaint.

Because Moyes is very soberly aware. Everton is not Barcelona. Can't hold down Arsenal, but at the same time, it's because Everton is not Barcelona. That's why they have the capital to defend:

First of all, Arsenal's players must be desperate to save face after suffering a complete defeat in the Champions League final, and they will have to attack in this FA Cup final, and if the attack is weak, it will not be able to win back the hearts of the fans and restore the confidence of the team;

Secondly, the sudden change from the triple crown to the double Asian king is not something that everyone can bear, the media is sneering, the fans are mourning, at this time, Arsenal must win the last championship in one go, in order to be like the world, like the fans to explain;

Finally, the season is not over yet, the two midfielders in the team have confirmed to leave, even the team's pillar Descartes, there are several European giants eyeing the team, Arsenal selling the captain is no longer news, selling the captain every year is something that the self-proclaimed giants Arsenal can't bear, if this season is empty-handed again, it is difficult to say whether Descartes will stay in the team with peace of mind.

Considering all of the above, David Moyes can be sure that Arsenal will definitely want a quick win in this game, preferably to establish a score advantage from the start, so as to reassure the team and the fans.

In this case, only Everton can resist the axes before the opening, and the longer the time drags on, the more impatient Arsenal will definitely be, and once they are so impatient that they lose their minds, Everton's chance will come.

So Moyes's biggest tone for this game is to defend, using it to bring down Arsenal and win Everton's first title in nearly 15 years since the 94-95 season.

Everton's squad this season is not all unknown, the backline is the former Ferguson favored American goalkeeper Howard, this player has been out of shape due to too much pressure at Manchester United, but after arriving at Everton, a mid-table team, he has returned to his usual sense and is getting better and better.

In addition, several big players in the defense are also powerful players, Jaguelica, Lescott, Yabo, Baines, all of them are brave and good at fighting, Everton only conceded 37 goals in 38 league games this season, the number of goals conceded is the same as Arsenal, and finally ranked fifth in the league, this back line is indispensable.

And in midfield, Van der Meyde, Arteta, Cahill, Fellaini, Phil. The midline composed of Neville and others is also a midstream upper configuration in the whole of Europe.

Perhaps Everton's only weakness lies in their striker, after Rooney was poached by Manchester United, Everton has never been able to find a suitable decisive player, and the Brazilian national team striker Ruo, although famous, has not played a strength worthy of his status as a player of the Brazilian national team after coming to Everton; Nigerian Yakubu also quickly degenerated after a season of glory, unable to shoulder the heavy responsibility of destroying the city, and other goods such as Utkiwicz and Anish Bey were already on Moyes's purge.

It looks like bringing in a great goalscorer is already an imminent thing for David Moyes next season.

But even so, Moyes is looking forward to the FA Cup final, dragging down Arsenal with a defence and then taking advantage of the opposition's impatience to create a lethal chance has become his biggest killer feature of the game, and he is convinced that the impatient Arsenal will definitely step on his trap.

It's a pity that Moyes guessed the beginning, but not the end.

In this FA Cup final, Arsenal is indeed very anxious, after losing two titles, they have regarded the FA Cup as the last straw, for Arsenal's players, this game, not to win, rather than die.

But David Moyes is proud of his midfield and backline. And didn't hold out for too long under Arsenal's iron hooves.

In this game, Arsenal's vice-team Descartes once again unexpectedly appeared in the starting lineup, but unlike before, this time, it was not Wenger who was playing tricks, but Descartes himself took the initiative to play.

Everyone knows what kind of pressure Descartes was under before this game, and the media in Europe, and even outside Europe, went out of their way to preach how Morally Descartes was. He seduces the girlfriends of other people, mainly Cristiano Ronaldo. abandoned his childhood sweetheart's lover, and scolded at the press conference, which had a very bad impact on fans all over the world, especially young fans, and he talked a lot. Before the season, it was threatened that Arsenal would win all the titles. However, the team collapsed at the last moment. He was also unable to do anything against Barcelona, and Messi, who competed with him for World Footballer of the Year, opened the scoring for Barcelona in the game. But he did nothing and became a representative of the big talker......

So varied, in short, in just a few days, Descartes has gone from the pre-game World Footballer of the Year + European Footballer of the Year double favorite, in one fell swoop into a rat crossing the street and everyone shouting and beating the role, such a change, not only the world expected, even the major European bookmakers are also dumbfounded, it is reported that the betting on Descartes to win the World Footballer and European Footballer has been completely closed in the past two days, and even these bookmakers are not sure whether he still has a chance - His reputation has already stinked in just two days, and it is unlikely that France Football and FIFA will award him these two awards even for the sake of moral opinion.

This kind of huge blow to reputation and career, it is estimated that few people have been able to withstand it throughout the ages, coupled with emotional frustration, Descartes' performance has simply been looked down upon by everyone, and before the game, even whether he will appear in the Arsenal squad, some people have questioned, and no one would have thought that he would take the initiative to ask Ying to appear in the starting lineup.

Moyes, on the other hand, had made up his mind to defend against Arsenal from the start, but when he saw Descartes' name in the starting line-up, he couldn't help but feel a thrill in his heart, and if the Italian star showed half the quality of the league this season, he would feel completely out of control.

30+ goals and 20+ assists, in the past, any one alone can be called a first-class star, and now Descartes has both, no wonder even Messi, who won two championships with the team this year, once lagged behind him in the selection of the World Footballer, if it weren't for the big victory in the European Champions Cup final, Messi would almost have no chance to compete with him.

And Everton, it is impossible to have such a superstar, even Rooney, who has just emerged, was quickly snatched away by Manchester United, Moyes's men, there are many powerful stars, and it is impossible to be called a superstar.

When a team like this meets a player like Descartes, Moyes certainly can't be happy.

The only thing he can do now is to hope that the off-field scandals and successive defeats will prevent Descartes from playing to his full strength, and finally leave a chance for Everton.

But Descartes soon showed with facts that on the football field, in the end, you can only rely on yourself, not God.

Just 13 minutes into the first half, Moyes's stubborn strategy suffered a blow when Theo Walcott's cross from the side was met by Descartes from 30 yards out and hit the post to give Arsenal a quick lead!

It looked like a shot that looked like a cathartic kick, and Descartes didn't even look at the goal, and when the ball came by, he just swung it hard, but the ball hit the post under the watchful eyes of Arsenal's defenders and goalkeepers, and then bounced back into the net.

Even Descartes himself was stunned for a moment, and then he scratched the back of his head, as if he didn't understand why he scored so easily, but then he didn't celebrate, but ran back to half the court silently with his head down.

Of course, it's not that Descartes doesn't want to celebrate because of his friendship with Everton, everyone knows how much pressure he's been under lately, and he doesn't want to celebrate, just because he's not in the mood at all.

However, the game then fell into the rhythm of Arsenal, and with a one-goal lead, their mentality quickly returned to calm, and they played more openly, and the wonderful combination was repeated repeatedly, and for a while, Moyes's side hardly knew what to do.

Ahead of this game, David Moyes had instilled in them the same philosophy: perseverance. Arsenal will eventually collapse and then their chance will come.

However, they don't know whether Arsenal will break down, and Moyes' players only know that the score has become 1-0, and their persistence is meaningless.

So what if you can't attack it?

Everton's players were also confused, and in order to strengthen their defence, their starting midfielders included Phil. Neville, Cahill and others, all defensive midfielders, suddenly fell behind inexplicably, and these people can press the formation up?

The helpless players turned their attention to David Moyes on the sidelines. found that their coach was also a sad look.

In fact. David Moyes does have his own unique knack for seeing people and arranging his formations, but there is one thing that makes him more unbearable than Arsene Wenger, and that is the on-the-spot command and adjustment.

Arsene Wenger has been with Descartes ever since. My waist is no longer sore. The legs are not weak anymore. Eat well, do good, as long as you change to Descartes step by step. Even if his biggest adjustment is completed, Moyes has been criticized in this regard, including when he really took over Manchester United, and has been complained by the media countless times at this point, he led Manchester United in less than half a season, and lost the games that Lord Freille could only lose in a whole year, and by the way, he had to get drunk with the two bigwigs in the team, Rooney and Van Persie, and the two of them were about to be demolished if they didn't leave.

The same is true of this game, he played Neville and Cahill as two defensive midfielders, but put the team's main striker Arteta on the bench for a season, because he made up his mind to drag Arsenal with a dead defense in this game, so the opening was a 451 formation, with only one striker, Eltat, a player who is not strong in defense and is better at scheduling and rhythm changes, is not so important, Moyes is ready to send him on the field when he counterattacks in the second half.

Unfortunately, he didn't expect the sky to be unpredictable, just 13 minutes into the first half, his team fell behind, and at this time the defense has lost its meaning, so should it be replaced by Arteta?

Moyes began to hesitate at this time, it is not difficult to replace Arteta, the difficulty is that in order to cooperate with him, he must change the tactics arranged before the game, and at the same time change more attacking players to cooperate with him, these tricks were originally Moyes was prepared to change in the second half when Arsenal had lost control, and now he changed the field, not only lost the role of the surprise soldier, but also disrupted his own deployment.

In the end, Moyes had to frown and make up his mind, biting the head of his players and then signaling everyone to continue defending: it was not scary to be down by one goal, and he remained convinced that Arsenal would lose patience and fall into a total collapse afterwards.

David Moyes' bet was right, a goal obviously did not satisfy Arsenal's appetite, after losing two important titles in a row, Arsenal's players have used this game as an outlet to vent, in fact, this is their last game of the season, at this point not crazy, Arsenal players have no chance!

Because of this, the Arsenal players did not relent after scoring and continued to set off wave after wave of attacking surges, bringing the whole game into an unnatural state of euphoria.

This dangerous state is not only for Descartes, but also for other teammates, such as Van Persie, who is in the same forward line as Descartes, and his grievances are no less than that of Descartes.

Although Van Persie was not besieged and ridiculed by the media, as a veteran of Arsenal, he also empathized with the team's results.

Less than five minutes after Descartes' goal, Robin van Persie had a better chance when he received a through ball from Nasri in the box and got past an Everton defender before getting close to a one-on-one chance!

Van Persie sank his waist, swung his legs, inhaled, shot angrily, everything was done seamlessly, but the ball was unbelievably blocked by Everton's goalkeeper Howard!

This shot was so powerful that it stands to reason that Howard should not have reacted so quickly to block the ball, but Howard made a miraculous sideways step, and it was this step that made the ball hit him directly in the face, and the ball popped up, and Howard also fell in response, looking extremely painful.

Of course, if you keep bleeding from the bridge of your nose, you will feel a lot of pain.

Van Persie was inexplicably surprised that such a shot could be blocked, he shook his head helplessly, and then walked back to half the pitch with his waist crossed.

After a brief treatment, Howard was back in front of goal again, his nose blocked by the team's cotton ball, which looked rather comical, but his heroic performance won unanimous praise from the fans on the sidelines, and the stadium burst into applause.

Just four minutes later, Arsenal were back in the game, this time with Theo Walcott on the ball, and the tiger was beaten two days earlier by Gerard Pique and Yaya. Toure and others played between applause, and the anger in their hearts was no less than that of Descartes, and in this game, Everton's left wing-back was the same speedy and civilized Baines, and the two started a crazy drag racing coach at the beginning.

Will Theo Walcott, the 100-metre flyer on the football pitch, be the better of the game, or will Baines, England's 'second left-back' who has recently risen under David Moyes?

After a hurricane of less than 3 seconds, all the spectators who followed the game had the answer - Walcott took a lead by more than one position, proving that the world's martial arts are invincible, only fast and unbreakable!

Theo Walcott's cross was as unmatched as ever, but it didn't matter, Everton's centre-back Jabbo couldn't completely destroy the ball, he made a mistake when he cleared the ball with a big kick, the ball was kicked and "just" rolled out of the box.

But then the oncoming figure chilled Everton's defenders, because Descartes once again showed his vicious fangs, and he didn't even intend to stop the ball, and lifted his thigh directly into the ordinary Everton penalty area.

The shot was not powerful, not fast, and not angled, because the ball bounced irregularly on the grass, and even Descartes missed the spot, making the shot look more like a straight plug into the box.

But it was such a shot, Howard, who had been so brave in saving Van Persie's one-on-one knife, suddenly shortened, and he bent down to "pick up" the ball, but the ball slid under his hand in a complete moment, and then rolled leisurely into the goal......

Butter hand reproduction!

Even Howard himself was incredulous, he looked at the ball in the net, and then at his hands, and seemed a little confused, the ball ...... How did it pass?

Moyes and his friends on the sidelines were completely stunned, when Van Persie shot with a single knife, he already thought he was dead, but he didn't expect Howard to suddenly burst out, and heroically blocked the shot with his face, making Moyes call Guan Erye reincarnated, and he has no regrets in this life; And when this weak shot appeared, Moyes felt relieved, and there was no threat, who knows......

Could this be providence?!

And Van Persie, who saw the birth of this goal, also shouted that God was unfair, his own single knife, whether it was angle or power, was simply the best choice, but he didn't expect Howard to make a miraculous save; But in the same game, with the same goalkeeper, there was only a 3-minute difference between the front and back, and Howard leaked this kind of ball into the goal that even the goalkeeper of the junior team could save.

Isn't that providential?

The saddest thing is Everton goalkeeper Howard himself, his eyes shuttle back and forth between his hands and the football in the goal more than a dozen times, before finally determining that he has made a big mistake!

Everton, who are already 0-2 down, where should they go?

This time Moyes can't say "the egg", the key to the defensive counterattack is not to concede the ball first, now it's good, his team is two, the first half just played 20 minutes, the score has become 0:2, if he keeps it again, not to mention what the players will think, even the fans will stand up and spit on him.

In desperation, Moyes waved frustrated at the bench, Arteta took off his coat and stood up with him, along with Saha, who had only arrived on loan from Manchester United in the winter transfer window. (To be continued......)