Chapter 728: Revenge Derby (Part I)

With Chen Yu's goal in the 90th minute, Liverpool was lucky to get out of Upton Park.

No one expected West Ham to cause problems for the Liverpudlians before the game, but everyone guessed the outcome, but not the process.

Judging from the whole game, the Hammers should at least get a draw, they had an absolute advantage in the second half, they and Liverpool were still tied at the end of regular time, but the momentary negligence was caught by Chen Yu, and the state of West Ham United was no longer helpful, time was gone, and they had to accept the result of losing at home with great regret.

Compared with the thrill of the Liverpool team, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all won very easily, Chelsea 3:0 Blackburn, Manchester United 4:0 Watford, Arsenal 3:1 Manchester City, in addition to Manchester United's opponents are weaker than Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal's opponents are all middle and upper Premier League teams, they can easily win, it can be seen that their state is much better than before.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Benitez said: "Obviously, we can't talk about the title every week, but I've stressed many times that in two or three weeks' time the league situation will be clearer, and the state we are in now is the state of winning the league title, we just need to maintain a little bit of consistency and put pressure on Manchester United." ”

West Ham United's head coach Kobe Bryant regretted that his luck was not on West Ham United's side today, but at the same time, Kobe Bryant also gave a very high evaluation to Chen Yu's expression, "A Chen makes Liverpool completely different, if there is no Chen Yu, today we will create a miracle." ”

And Liverpool Chairman Morse obviously does not agree with Kobe's statement, in his opinion, Chen Yu is part of Liverpool's strength, although Chen Yu's goal is a bit of a fluke, but throughout Chen Yu's previous 16 goals, most of them are the first goal and the end of the game, and there are few icing on the cake, which is enough to show that Chen Yu's goal is not blind, and the players of West Ham United can't prevent it.

In the 25th round of the league, the four giants of the Premier League all won, and the points gap remained the same, the only thing that made Manchester United happy was that there was one less round in the league, and there were too many unhappy things.

Liverpool chased after it, and won 12 games in a row, changing the normal state of the original cup strong league downturn, and what shocked Manchester United even more was that Liverpool's luck was also extremely good, they took a summer transfer risk to buy the injured Chen Yu, and Chen Yu's return was surprisingly good; In the 12-game winning streak, Liverpool has several games like today, but in the end Liverpool has the last laugh with Chen Yu's magical goal, as the saying goes, if you want to win the championship, in addition to the strength of the championship, you must also have the luck of the championship, and now Liverpool not only has the strength of the championship, but also the luck of the championship, which has caused pressure on Manchester United even more than Ferguson's most feared Chelsea.

Next, Liverpool will play at home against the city rival Everton, but Manchester United can't breathe a sigh of relief, they have to go away to challenge the sixth-ranked Tottenham Hotspur, this game is not easy to play, the easiest in this round is Chelsea and Arsenal, Chelsea plays the relegation team Charlton, Arsenal plays Middlesbrough away, for the team that aims to win the championship, this is a game that must be won, over the years, Liverpool has not been able to win the championship, that is, the game that must be won cannot be won, even if it wins the strong dialogue, it is useless.

Liverpool has been looking forward to this derby with Everton for a long time, in the first half Liverpool lost 0:3 to Everton at Goodison Park, which is the first time in the last five seasons that Liverpool has lost to Everton, and it has lost so much, which makes Liverpool's players have been holding back a breath of anger, waiting to avenge this arrow at home.

In the last defeat, Liverpool's problem was that the defense was too poor, the ability to grasp the opportunity was too poor, under the pressure of the derby, Liverpool gave Everton two goals in the game, and in the attack they shot 22 times but did not score a goal, but now, Liverpool's problems are almost solved.

Defensively, Liverpool's Hyypia in the central defender has been completely replaced by Agger, Liverpool's recent 12-game winning streak, the back line has made great contributions, and on the front line, Chen Yu's comeback makes Liverpool no longer have to worry about goals, 17 goals in 12 games, Chen Yu played more than a dozen rounds less, and now magically rushed to the first place in the scorer list, and in the game of Chen Yu's goal, Liverpool did not lose a game.

With Chen Yu's super nuclear weapon, Liverpool finally raised his eyebrows, and before the game, Liverpool's top and bottom began to shout that they would return Everton a 3:0 at home.

Steven Gerrard's red card at home to Everton last season and a 3-0 win in the first half was a great humiliation for the Reds leader, who had been thinking about revenge until the 26th round of the fourth round of the league and now has waited for him to finally get it, and before the game, Gerrard sent a challenge to Everton.

“…… Everton have been excellent this season, they are fifth now and have a good chance of reaching Europe, but we are even better, now we are among the teams that have won the league, we have won 12 games in a row, we must win the 13th game, beating Everton has a completely different meaning, the derby is so important for any player, no one wants to lose to their local rivals on their own home, we conceded three goals in the last game and did not score any of them. We have to take every opportunity in this game or the opponent will be more confident, but I'm sure Chan won't make it easy for Howard, who has scored 17 goals and scored 12 in a row, and Howard can't stop him from moving forward......"

Chen Yu is the first time to participate in the Merseyside derby, previously in Serie A, Chen Yu has also played derby, but the game of teams such as Fiorentina and Siena is a derby in Tuscany, and the taste is definitely not as good as the Milan derby, the Roman derby is pure, and now Chen Yu is about to participate in the Merseyside derby is a real city derby.

This derby means a lot to Chen Yu, before that, because of Chen Yu's magical watch after his comeback, he has gradually become the most popular star of the team, is the hero of the team, it can be seen from the number of jerseys sold, in the last month, Chen Yu and Gerrard were still neck and neck, and in this month, Chen Yu has surpassed Gerrard to take the first place.

However, for Chen Yu, if he wants to stabilize his position in Liverpool, he must play well in this derby and lead Liverpool to defeat their local rivals, otherwise, everything he has done before will be questioned by fans.

If you want to win the fans, you have to win the derby first, Chen Yu knows this very well, but this is definitely a huge challenge for him, because the Merseyside derby has become the hottest and most cruel derby in the Premier League, according to the "Guardian" report, among all the derbies in the Premier League, Liverpool and Everton have the most cards in the derby, and the average number of players sent off per game is also the most, almost an average of one player per game, this number is very staggering, because the number of red and yellow cards determines how fierce a game is.

Chen Yu was kicked to a fracture in the Champions League final last season, although now he is playing bravely, there is no trace of injury at all, but everyone knows that the injury will definitely become a shadow in Chen Yu's heart, and this game Everton players will never be polite to Chen Yu, Chen Yu is facing a tighter defense, more ferocious, and even really have to pay the price of injury, in such a cruel atmosphere, Chen Yu can still play as well as the first 12 games?

In this regard, Chen Yu also gave fans a reassurance before the game, he told reporters when he participated in the pre-match press conference: "This is the first derby in the sense of my life, I have watched almost all the derby videos of Liverpool and Everton, I admit that the derby is the most special one of all the games, and it can even be compared with an FA Cup or League Cup final, but in the eyes of fans, the victory of the derby is more important than the FA Cup and League Cup winners...... Of course I'd love to score in the derby, but they don't want me to score, they're going to do everything they can to stop me from scoring, which makes it a little bit more difficult for me to score, and if I don't have a chance, I won't force it, I'll try to give my team-mates chances, as long as I can win, it's not the most important thing that I can't score. ”

For Everton's Australian star Gary Cahill, facing Chen Yu will be the most important game of his life, in the last Everton 3-0 win over Liverpool, Cahill was excellent, he scored the first goal and created a number of threats, and now he has broken the door of Liverpool five times, becoming the Liverpool nemesis in the mouth of Everton fans.

However, time has passed, the current Liverpool is no longer the Liverpool before the 22nd round, the current Liverpool is a winning general with 12 consecutive wins, and Liverpool striker Chen Yu has scored 17 goals, and it will be very difficult for Cahill to take on the heavy responsibility of nemesis now.

But Cahill was not afraid, saying before the game: "Chen is a great star and his arrival has made Liverpool more difficult to deal with, but I don't think Liverpool's 12 consecutive wins are all due to Chen, Liverpool also won 10 in a row at this time last season, I can only say that we can't put all our attention on Chen, otherwise we will definitely suffer...... It's not about whether I'm a nemesis or not, it's about whether I can help the team win, and if I can beat Liverpool again after 18 years, it will be a derby to remember forever. ”

Everton manager David Moyes attaches great importance to this derby, Liverpool's performance this season is so good, it is impossible for Everton to squeeze Liverpool out of the top four, and even Liverpool has a great possibility of winning the championship, so for Everton, winning the derby has become the bottom line of Everton this season, otherwise, the Liverpudlians who won the championship will definitely show off their strength in front of Everton.

Speaking ahead of the game, Moyes made a call to fans and players alike to show the spirit they had in their last win over Liverpool and play another beautiful derby.

“…… The derby is a game that can be taken out alone, the derby is never friendly, we have to split a winner with Liverpool, although Liverpool are in good form now, but they have been in good form for too long, no one can be in such a good state all the time, I believe we can end their winning streak, I have this hunch, my hunch is usually correct. If we can stop the opposition from scoring in the first half, we will take the initiative in the second half, Liverpool striker Chen Yu is a difficult guy and we can't give him a chance, we have to ...... in the 90 minutes No, we all have to keep an eye on him until the whistle blows, and if he can't score, we'll be much better...... The atmosphere at Anfield is great at home and the other teams are always affected there, so I want our fans to go to the stadium as much as possible to watch the games and support our players, and after watching the West Ham and Liverpool games, I feel like the fans can do the same thing. ”

David Moyes is babbling about a win over Liverpool, while Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is at least half on the derby, as the Liverpool takeover is now on the fast track.

With Liverpool's results now surprisingly good, the club was no longer satisfied with their previous partnership with the highly touted DI Capital, and they wanted more money, so they decided to let the higher bidder get a stake in Liverpool.

Although the Morse family said that this is to let the market speak, if someone is willing to pay a higher price than the Dubai International Fund, it means that Liverpool is worth that price, but Morse ignored that the Maktoum family is a royal family and naturally cannot tolerate being belittled. Sheikh Maktoum, the de facto owner of the Dubai International Fund, is furious at the disconnection between Liverpool and Gillette. He was an irritable man, and Liverpool informed Mohammed that the trade between them would go smoothly, but he kept accepting courtesies from others, which made Dubaiites very uncomfortable. Now, Morse has ignored the previous agreement with the Dubai Fund, and Sheikh Maktusim has made a decisive decision to interrupt the acquisition.

As soon as the news was officially announced, Liverpool die-hard fan and CEO of DIIC Al Asari couldn't help but be sad: "We are all very disappointed to make this decision. DIC is a very serious investor and has strong assets. At the same time, we are also supporters of football and Liverpool. Liverpool's investment requirements have been made public, and we are confident that we can meet their on- and off-market funding requirements, as well as providing shareholders with generous above-market fees. But we won't overpay for the same assets, and we can't tolerate the Morse family's disregard for what we negotiated, and we believe that with money we can buy the team we need, even though we love Liverpool. ”

After the Dubai Fund announced that it was abandoning the acquisition, American sports tycoon George Gillette and his new "ally" Tom Hicks quickly formed the "American Dream Team" and flew to Merseyside on Monday to formally submit a £500 million acquisition application to the Liverpool board of directors and put forward a package.

First, Gillette assured Liverpool in writing that he would give up his previous offer to share the new stadium at Stanley Park with Everton, and would bear the cost of the stadium's construction in the same way as the Dubai company; Second, Gillette raised the team's price to £5,000 per share, £500 more than the Dubai's application. But, more crucially, Gillette brought in an ally, Tom Hicks. As president of the Southwest Sports Group, which owns the Texas Cricket Team and the Dallas Star Ice Hockey Team, Hicks has extensive experience in the construction and development of the stadium and has successfully proven himself in the operation of the sports industry, and he and Gillette have formed a partnership to cover 50% of each of the funding needs. Thirdly, the president of the group, who has never been soft on buying players, has prepared 1 for Benitis. £500 million to expand the squad! Building a new Liverpool will allow the Reds to regain their glory from the 70s and 80s of the last century.

Construction of a new stadium at Stanley Park is imminent, and funding is delayed, and the Dubai International Consortium has announced that it will abandon the acquisition, which has slammed Morse for a while. In this case, the chairman of the club, Morse, was also under great pressure, and he was ready to put it off a little longer, because the money from the outside world was getting higher and higher, and his appetite was also suspended, and he planned to sell it for more money, but under the pressure, Morse could not bear it, and he held a board meeting on the same day, and after some discussion with the board of directors, and finally with Morgan and other minority shareholders disagreeing, Morse confirmed that he would accept the American's offer.

Liverpool's Liverpool Echo then broke the news, and Gillette and Hicks had already negotiated a deal with club chairman Moore, who was set to sell his 51 holdings over the weekend. 6% stake in exchange for £88 million in cash.

If the two Americans do succeed, Liverpool will be the third Premier League club to be sold after Chelsea and Manchester United. Compared to Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, Liverpool is the only giant that has made a move in the winter market. But Spaniard Rafael Benitez still complains on several occasions that there is no extra transfer fee. And this time, once the Americans fulfill their promises, Benitez will have a large amount of pounds in his hands, I am afraid that Liverpool will become the absolute boss in the transfer market this summer, which is great news for Benitez, where does he still have the heart to think more about the derby with Everton in midweek, for Benitez, Everton is just a small team, the last time his team was too unlucky, only to lose the game, this time with Chen Yu, they can win the derby no matter how they play, And the sale of the club is a big deal, which is the foundation that can make Liverpool a dynasty, otherwise if there is no money, it is difficult to say whether Chen Yu can be retained in the summer.