Something isn't right!?

If Derby County didn't care about the FA Cup, how could their main players be in the 18-man squad?

David Pullett thought with a frown.

He has always been a cautious person, he does not take the outside world lightly, and many things have to be calmly thought about before making judgments, and perhaps it is this character that has made Tottenham Hotspur's results steadily improve, and now David Pulit needs to make calm judgments again.

Did Derby County really give up the game, or did they just pay lip service?

David Pulitt is unsure, maybe Derby County just put the main players on the list, not necessarily starters, just staying on the bench, but does that make any sense? Of course, it is also possible, and he can only think like this now, because Tottenham Hotspur's eighteen-man squad was reported to the FA yesterday, and it is impossible to change the squad temporarily.

'They're just coming along, sitting on the bench, and Derby don't have a lot of good players, they just don't want to lose too ugly!'

David Pullett thought so

At the pre-match press conference, David Pullett and Wan Shengfen sat on opposite sides of the venue to be interviewed by media reporters.

David Pulit is full of confidence.

Even if he has doubts about the Derby County 18-man squad, he also knows what to do at this time, that is, to keep the doubts in his heart and show confidence to the outside world, so that the outside world's evaluation of Tottenham Hotspur will be high, and it can also give the team confidence.

He repeatedly emphasised that "Tottenham Hotspur has been chasing the FA Cup since its history, and that's our tradition. The FA Cup is very meaningful to every English team, and it is especially important for Tottenham Hotspur, even if the team is not doing well in the league at the moment, but we will not give up on the FA Cup. ”

It's a bit of an old story.

But Tottenham Hotspur's media. It's a pleasure to hear people talk about Tottenham Hotspur's historic honours, and they can report on it, and Tottenham Hotspur fans love to see that, and it's comforting to remember the team's glorious FA Cup history despite the team's current poor results.

Soon a reporter asked about the game.

David Pulit replied, 'It's Tottenham's first FA Cup game of the season and we'll try to win and there's confidence up and down. I also believe that at White Hart Lane. Our players will give the victory as a gift to the fans. ”

He always had a smile on his face, and his appearance was very calm and natural.

But in reality, David Pullett spoke the 'official language', and it didn't take much thought to say it, instead he focused his attention on the other side of the room, where Wan Sheng was also being interviewed.

The questions asked by media reporters about Wan Sheng are very similar to those of David Pulitt, except that some reporters have started to question that Derby County's abandonment of the FA Cup is 'against the honour and tradition of English teams'. Wan Sheng immediately asked suspiciously, "Who said we were going to give up the FA Cup?" ”

He shook his head in affirmation and said firmly, "I know very well what the FA Cup means to the English team. So we're going to try to do our best in the FA Cup as well."

After a resolute vote, Wan Sheng said of his opponents, Tottenham Hotspur, "They are a traditional Premier League powerhouse and Tottenham Hotspur's honours in the history of the FA Cup are amazing. Our players are looking forward to playing against them. ”

"Even though this is White Hart Lane, we have a chance to win!"

'We've beaten one opponent after another in the league and now we're in the FA Cup against Tottenham Hotspur. I'm sure my players will play better and we'll try our best to win no matter what! ”

Wan Sheng's expression and tone were very resolute, showing that he was full of confidence in the game.

But whether it is the media who know Wansheng in the audience, or David Pullett who is on the other side and pays attention to Wansheng's words, they don't care at all, in fact, when they hear Wansheng say this, David Pulit exhales a long breath.

David Pulit knows Wan Sheng a little bit and according to him, often the young Chinese head coach takes the game seriously, and when he talks about it before the game, he will say 'we will be the winners', 'we are here to take the victory', 'the victory belongs to Derby County', as for what is said now' We will try our best to win', the strength is not enough at all, this is said in the mouth of this Chinese coach, it is really a bit of a sign of weakness, as for the tone and resoluteness of his speech, it is estimated that it is for media reporters to see, you can't say 'we want to give up the game' at the pre-match press conference, right?

David Pulit was a little relieved again.

He felt that his previous speculation was still a bit of a fuss, what if there were various main players in the eighteen-man squad? It is said that China is a country that pays attention to face, and they regard face more than anything else, and this Chinese coach probably doesn't want the team to lose too ugly and lose face, so he let so many main players enter the squad.

"What a strange country."

David Pullett thought with a smile and shook his head

After the press conference, Wan Sheng returned to the locker room, at this time the players had just warmed up, and when Wan Sheng walked into the door, everyone looked over.

"Guys, I think all the preparations are pretty much done, all we have to do now is go and beat them on the field!"

Wan Sheng said directly.

Then he began to make the final advice of the game, and he gave serious advice to each player who came out, and the players also listened carefully.

They were looking forward to the game for a long time.

Every player in the team knows Wansheng's intention, that is, to confuse Tottenham Hotspur and make them slack and careless about the game, so that they have a better chance of beating their opponents, and the players have no special opinion on this, they have great trust in Wansheng, and they just do what Wansheng says.

But when they saw the media reports, they were very upset.

The media is full of talk of Derby County abandoning the FA Cup, saying that Derby County is against the tradition of English teams, that Derby County has 'utilitarian' football, that it completely disclaims the history and glory of English teams, and so on, even if you know why. The players are still very unhappy and now they have to go out on the pitch to prove whether they have given up on the FA Cup and the tradition of the English team.

What would the media have said if they had knocked out Tottenham Hotspur, who had won the 'FA Cup honours' at White Hart Lane?

They were already looking forward to it with a lot of fighting spirit

The White Hart Lane stadium was full of people.

There are more than 30,000 Tottenham Hotspur fans in the stands shouting and cheering for Tottenham Hotspur, which is much more lively than the average league, just because this is the English FA Cup, many fans like to watch the FA Cup matches are higher than the league, on the other hand, in the east side of the stadium stands, there are also more than 3,000 Derby County fans come to the scene.

As a matter of fact. Derby County fans were a little depressed before the game.

News reports are full of talk of Derby County giving up the FA Cup, and they also believe that the team will give up the FA Cup, after all, reason tells everyone that the league results are the most important thing for Derby County at the moment.

Derby County fans have nothing to complain about.

The team's results are good enough, currently top of the league, and the six-point gap to second-placed Norwich City puts them in a solid position, which they could not have imagined at the start of the game, and thus Wansheng's coaching ability has been fully recognized by Derby County fans. In the hearts of many fans, Wan Sheng is already the most important person in the Derby County club, and no matter what decision he makes, the fans just feel that it makes sense. Near-no justified support.

Just like the current FA Cup match, Derby County gave up the game, and the fans, although a little depressed, still supported it. Despite the lack of hope for the outcome, more than 3,000 Derby County fans took to White Hart Lane to support the team – although, in their opinion, it would have been a defeat.

It's a given.

Compare the strength of the two teams. Tottenham Hotspur are not a star and a half better than Derby County, despite Tottenham's current poor record in the Premier League, their squad is there, with millions, if not tens of millions of players in their squad, but what about Derby County? The current most valuable may be Cahill, who transferred in the summer, with his continuous scoring in the league and the top scorer ranking in League One, Cahill's value has risen a lot, and it is estimated that he is now three or four million pounds, and other outstanding players, such as Frank Ribery and Lee Morris, are even worse in comparison.

But it's only three or four million pounds

Tottenham Hotspur has several such players on the bench, not to mention the main lineup, the gap between the two teams' lineups is so big, even if Derby County is in good shape, if you want to beat Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, it can be described as a 'miracle'.

So it actually makes sense for Wansheng to give up the FA Cup.

What's more, what if you do your best to win against Tottenham? The FA Cup is indeed a 'hotbed of upsets', but winning Tottenham Hotspur does not mean that they can win the FA Cup, they will meet stronger opponents later, even teams like Manchester United and Arsenal, if they want to win the FA Cup, it is estimated that they can only dream.

On the contrary, the league can be expected.

The league is not an FA Cup, but as long as Derby County are promoted to the Premier League, then they can see the team play against the world's top giants Manchester United and Arsenal on their doorstep, which is much more important than winning one or two FA cups.

So Derby County fans were thinking that Wan Sheng was extremely wise to make this decision.

This proves that he can calmly analyze the situation of the team, and they have more confidence in Wansheng, so even if this game is a doomed game, they also come to the scene to cheer for the team.

That's what the Derby fans are thinking.

Despite thinking that the game would definitely be lost, they cheered for the team from the stands. But when they saw the players of both teams on the field and the starting lineup of Derby County, their voices were much quieter, and many people showed surprised expressions.

Tim Cahill, Lee Morris, Frank Ribery, Ivan Crewe, Rishi Ferdinnan, Leon Osman, this is the whole main squad of Derby County!

How is that possible!?

Didn't you say the team was going to give up the FA Cup!?

At the same time, the reporter and the game commentator were also very surprised, taking advantage of the opening of the game to introduce the lineups of the two teams, the on-site commentator commented suspiciously, "Derby County sent all the main lineup to play? They didn't seem to give up on the game."

The media commentator who supported Tottenham Hotspur was also a little apprehensive when he saw Derby's starting lineup, but he quickly gritted his teeth and commented, "Even if Derby County didn't give up the game, they would definitely not be Tottenham Hotspur's opponents!" ”

"Tottenham Hotspur are a traditional powerhouse in the FA Cup, while Derby County are just an ordinary team in League One, not to mention that this is White Hart Lane!"

He was more like convincing himself.

The reporters in the media table are still a little dazed, many people still don't understand what is going on, they don't understand why Derby County, who gave up the FA Cup, will send an all-out main team, is it because Derby County doesn't want to lose too ugly?

Quite a few people think so.

Tottenham Hotspur coach David Pullet, who was sitting in the dugout of the home team, had already gritted his teeth and saw the starting line-up for Derby County, and he already understood everything.

As a coach, even if he is only an acting coach, David Pulit will know very well that when a team sends out a full squad, it means that they will try their best to win the game, and there will be no other explanation at all, that is, the news that Derby County has given up the FA Cup before is completely a smokescreen, and they have no idea of giving up the FA Cup at all, but are going to have a big game with Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

David Pullett gritted his teeth, he turned his head to glared at Alex Ingleps, and said, "That's what you judge, Derby County completely gave up the game!?" ”

"But you also believe it."

Alex Ingleps was also a little surprised, but he still had a nonchalant expression on his face, "And even if they send out their entire main lineup, what if they want to have a big battle with us?" They're just a League One team. ”

"A League One team that can finish first in the league?"

Alex Ingleps shrugged, "I don't think that Chinese will have any real skills at all, I think they are first in League One, it's just luck, so they don't have to be afraid at all, they don't take the game seriously or not, the result is the same, we are much better than them, and we are playing at home." David, I can't think of anything you have to worry about!? ”

David Pullett was speechless with anger.

If he could vent, he would have stood up and yelled, 'Damn, I've been trapped!' He was 'partnered' by the Chinese coach of Derby County and Alex Inglepus.

But as a coach to maintain his demeanor, he can't do that.

Instead, he hoped that what Alex Ingleps said was true - that Chinese really didn't have any skills, and Derby County was able to finish first in League One by luck.

Now it's too late for him to do anything, so he can only think about it like this. (To be continued......)