At half-time, both sides went back to the dressing room.

Benitez stood in the home team's dressing room, pacing constantly, occasionally glancing at the resting players out of the corner of his eye, he found that the atmosphere in the team was very dull, obviously affected by the backward situation in the first half, but Benitez could only shake his head and smile bitterly, he is not a coach who is good at motivating players with words, he is better at doing practical actions, so he didn't say anything, just kept thinking about the second half of the game.

He had already figured out what to do.

Originally, in this game, he wanted to fight for a game to decide whether he could enter the League Cup final, but now the situation of falling behind 1:2 has made him lose a lot of confidence, and now he is a little afraid to fight.

If you are in the case of 1:1, you can try your best to fight, but the situation of 1:2 behind is quite unfavorable to Liverpool, especially in the first half of the game, the team failed to play any advantage in the situation, and the opponent was also suppressed, so in the second half, without changing the tactics, the situation will not change much.

Because of this, Benitez was thinking about strengthening the defense in the second half.

It is not a good choice for the midfield to change tactics and the team may not be able to adapt for a while, but he has no better option, otherwise the team is more likely to lose, and at Anfield, he is not mentally prepared for a big defeat.

What's more, this is the League Cup semi-final, a two-legged match that will decide the winner, although he wants to decide the winner in one fight, but if he loses the opportunity, it is better to leave the suspense.

After coming to Liverpool, Benitez was also somewhat influenced by the team's 'Red Army' spirit, relying on his own ability and Liverpool's overall spirit. He knows that for the sake of the team, these players will fight to the end, but even if there is such a spirit, there must be a correct response strategy, and in the current situation, it is obviously a little unrealistic to fight for a loud voice head-on, so increase the defense, if the other party does not care. Maybe Liverpool had a chance in the second half?

Benitez thought

In the visiting dressing room at Anfield Stadium, Wan Sheng is also thinking carefully.

He, like Benitez, also wants a game to decide the outcome of the game, and the current situation is favorable for the team, one is that they can play an advantage, and the other is that they are one goal ahead of Bishan Industry, but Wan Sheng is considering adjusting his tactics.

Because he suddenly thought that Liverpool was unlikely to fight Derby County for the whole game, especially in the first half, Derby County had a big advantage, and the Spaniard would really be ruthless. A whole game against Derby?

Wansheng is not sure.

He's not Benitez after all, and he's not entirely sure what the other side thinks, but if he's in Benitez's shoes, he certainly won't let the game go on like this. And when Liverpool adjusts their tactics to stabilize their defence and play counter-attacks, the situation is likely to be unfavorable for Derby.

It's not about Liverpool's defense, it's what it can do. It's that Derby County have the advantage at the moment, and they don't have to take the risk, but should keep the advantage.

1:2。 It's not a big score.

If the score ends there, it's satisfying enough.

1:2, which means that the team has two away goals, Liverpool must go to Pride Stadium to play a score of more than 2:0 if they want to win, and when they arrive at Pride Stadium, can Liverpool score two goals and let Derby County not score a goal?

Hard.

So actually, 1:2 is also quite a big advantage for Derby.

So no matter what Benitez chooses, the most important thing for Derby County is not to score goals, but to maintain the current score advantage, that is, to strengthen the defense appropriately.

After careful consideration, Wansheng finally made a decision.

He then carefully explained the tactics of the second half, telling the players to strengthen their defense and use the fast-break football played in the league against Liverpool.

Fast break football, talking about fast attack, but in fact, it is pure defensive counterattack, looking for opportunities after solid defense, which is what Derby County is very good at, and it is also the most beneficial style of play for Derby County at present.

At the very least, this will ensure that the team is solid defensively.

Defensively solid, it would have been nice to have the chances of extending the score to 1-3, enough to send Derby County half a foot into the Carabao Cup final.

Even if they can't extend the score and end the game 1-2, Derby County has a very big advantage, although it can't be a one-game winner, but the result is acceptable

At half-time, fans on both sides were talking about the game.

Liverpool fans are in a heavy mood because they are the underdogs, even though this is Anfield and they are the Reds Liverpool, but they don't think the team will win in the second half.

The last time Derby County came to Anfield, it was a 2-1 victory, and now the score is 1-2, so can the team recover in the second half?

Liverpool fans have no confidence.

They were all talking about the game, and soon as the time passed, the second half of the game was about to start, and then the Liverpool fans didn't want to think so much, the winner of the game was what the manager and the whole Liverpool team should worry about, they were Liverpool fans, as loyal fans, all they needed to do was cheer for the team in the game, that's all.

It's that simple in the minds of the fans.

Whether the team is doing well or not, they will not change their support for the team, and now that Liverpool are behind, they know that the team needs support.

So when the second half was about to start and the two teams walked out of the players' tunnel, the cheering at Anfield Stadium suddenly became louder, and every Liverpool fan shouted with the sound, shouting hard, this kind of cry was very shocking.

Those Derby County fans who came to Anfield felt like they were a lot worse off when they heard these calls.

This may be the difference between the small team and the big team.

But they are still happy in their hearts, they know why Liverpool fans do this, because the leader is Derby County, that is, there are more Liverpool fans, even if they have Liverpool's centennial honor in their hearts, even if they used to be England's 'nobles', but so what?

Now leading the way is Derbyshire!

With the cries of the fans, various media outlets are also talking about the game. The first half of the battle between the two teams attracted a lot of media, so that those commentators also cheered up, the British BBC sports radio commentator also said before the opening, "In the first half, the two teams worked together for the fans to give a big attack, I think the second half will definitely be more exciting, we will see Liverpool's attack, but also see Derby County's wonderful performance!" ”

As he said this, he was longing for it.

As a commentator, he is also a fan and loves to watch football matches. From a neutral point of view, watching a neutral game naturally wants the game to be exciting, and the first half was obviously very exciting, with both teams attacking frequently and scoring three goals.

So he started looking forward to the second half.

In the expectation of fans and the media, the second half finally began, but contrary to everyone's thoughts, the two teams did not play very intensely at the beginning of the second half. Neither side was able to threaten a couple of times in a row, but the defense of both sides clearly looked much more solid.

"Both teams are cautious." The narrator commented.

The second half had just begun, and the media and fans were not in a hurry, but they were waiting for the time to pass slowly. They didn't think that way anymore and watched the tepid game on the field, which was completely contrary to the offensive battle they were expecting, and they knew. Both teams stepped up defensively and the game became boring.

Naturally, the neutral media and fans were a little dissatisfied, and the BBC radio commentator also said. "It seems that I guessed wrong, compared to the first half, the two sides seem to have lost their fighting spirit"

Of course, it's not as simple as losing morale.

Some senior media and fans, seeing such a game, know that the coaches of both sides must have emphasized defense at halftime, so the game will become like this, this is the game of the two managers, and the game on the field is the battlefield of the game, both sides want to score goals in the first half to get the advantage, and now the two sides have made adjustments at the same time, which can be seen that both coaches want to be stable.

The situation upset the neutral fans, but the fans on both sides didn't say anything, with the Liverpool fans still cheering for the team, and the Derby County fans occasionally shouting a few words, although they were not as numerous as the Liverpool fans, they did not want to lose their momentum.

For neutral fans, they watched the excitement of the game; For both fans, it's the result that matters.

As long as you can win the game, it doesn't matter if it's less exciting.

Benitez on the sidelines was surprised, he didn't expect the young Chinese to think with him again, and he seemed to be one step behind, the other side seemed to guess that he would make the team solid defensively, so he also let Derby County defend solidly, which would give Liverpool few chances, and Derby County still have an advantage because they are leading in the scoreline.

Benitez glanced at the Derby County coach's box, only to see Wan Sheng sitting firmly in his seat, watching the game in a daze.

As if sensing that someone was looking at him, Wan Sheng turned his head to look at Benitez, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously showed a chuckle.

So far, Wansheng is very confident in the game.

He guessed that Benitez would strengthen the defense, but it was not because he was much better than Benitez in terms of on-the-spot command and tactics, but because his team had the advantage - the advantage in the situation, the advantage in the score.

The two-sided dominance has left Liverpool with few options, and the best option is naturally to strengthen their defence, mainly because this is the Carabao Cup semi-final, two decisive games.

As long as the situation is stabilized, there is still a chance in the next matchup, and Liverpool naturally does not need to take a big risk to continue the attack.

That's the initiative.

If there is no Ribery last goal in the first half, the score will be 1:1, Wan Sheng will be difficult to guess what Benitez will choose, and if the score is 1:0, Liverpool leads, then Derby County will become a passive side, and then the headache will become Wan Sheng, no matter what means he plays, Benitez can calmly deal with it, this is the initiative brought by the score advantage.

The leading side always holds the initiative, they attack when they want to, because they lose, and as the lagging side, they can't afford to lose, because they can't afford to concede another goal.

So Liverpool don't have many options, and now they are solid defensively, in fact, they are also looking for opportunities to regain their advantage.

But Wan Sheng will not give the opponent a chance.

Wan Sheng also made the team solid defensively, so it will be difficult for Liverpool to equalise, and it would be better if they were willing to lose to Derby, otherwise it would be easier for Derby County to get chances if the scene was messed up

PS: Cheeky begging for a few referral votes. (To be continued......)