coach legend

Chapter 318 Cardiff Millennium Stadium

The closer the time to the final, the greater the interest of the reporters.

George was interviewed by the media before leaving for the League Cup final venue.

"Liverpool?" a reporter asked George, who is the most dangerous player in Liverpool.George smiled and said: "Of course it is Irving, it seems that this is not a problem. Irving is in good form this season and he is also the most dangerous figure in Liverpool."

Hearing that George's answer was quite satisfactory, the reporter was very dissatisfied.Now who doesn't know that among Liverpool, the best and most dangerous player is Owen.Why ask Owen just to hear this answer.

Just when the reporter was frustrated, George continued: "But if I say, Liverpool's most promising player is not him. It's their midfielder Steven Gerrard. This is the best player in England at present. It’s a pity that Houllier won’t use him. If Gerrard were my player, he would be a world-class midfielder now, which is a shame.”

George's unscrupulous evaluation of Liverpool angered Houllier.

Houllier told George to shut up during the interview. "The League Cup final is coming soon. I think Coach Levy should be more concerned about the final than talking about it. I have been a coach for 20 years. I know how to identify the strength of players and how to use my own players. Steven I was promoted from the youth team, and I have my own plan for his use. There is no need for others to come over and tell me what to do."

"20-year coach?" George curled his lips in disdain. "If you say that you have been coaching for a long time, you are stronger than a young coach. Then what kind of game do we play? The two head coaches go up and compare who has the most gray hair. If whoever has more gray hair, let whoever wins. Is it good?"

"If this is troublesome, the two coaches will go up and report their respective coaching hours. Then whoever coaches for the longest time will win."

As a representative of young coaches, what George despises the most is that some old coaches rely on the old to sell the old.So he didn't give Houllier any face.Then he returned to his smiling face and said sincerely: "There is an old saying in China that there is no priority in learning, and those who have achieved it first. I am just a very friendly suggestion. Gerrard is the best midfielder in England I have ever seen. I'm just giving Coach Houllier an offer for his career. He's so excited."

George said that he said it all, and that the good guys and the bad guys did it all.George's attitude made Houllier dumbfounded.

In the end, after all, George turned out to be a good guy, while Houllier became a stubborn old man who couldn't listen to advice.

When Houllier coached in France, he had never seen such a rogue coach.After arriving in England, Houllier, the famous French coach, understood the eloquence of the English coach.Not only George, but also Ferguson and his French compatriot Wenger, none of them are easy to get along with.

Just a few words, it may just draw you in.

So Houllier never took George's words again.

Amid all the noise, February 2001, 2 arrived.

February 2th is the day of the 25 English League Cup final.

Unlike previous years, this season's League Cup final was held at the end of February.Previous League Cup finals were held at the end of March.George won the League Cup at Burnley, also at the end of March.However, the FA may feel that this kind of schedule is very bad.So it was decided to adjust the League Cup final time from the end of March to the end of February.This change is from last season.

George was quite pleased with the arrangement.If it is placed at the end of March, it will happen to be the most important moment of various competitions.Just like Blackburn, it is easy to conflict with the Champions League knockout stage and the league sprint stage, so George is quite satisfied with this arrangement now.

George led Blackburn to Cardiff for the League Cup final.

Cardiff is the capital of Wales. Because Wembley Stadium will be renovated, the League Cup final and FA Cup final will be temporarily moved to Cardiff Millennium Stadium.

The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is the national stadium of Wales, mainly used for rugby union matches and the national home stadium for international rugby matches.It was once the largest stadium in the UK, with a capacity of 74,500 spectators and a retractable roof.The stadium is architecturally magnificent and after expansion it has a seating capacity of 82,000.Cardiff Millennium Stadium is a five-star football stadium.

This is the first time Cardiff's Millennium Stadium has hosted the League Cup final.

Blackburn and Liverpool are the first teams to battle for the Cup title at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

It is indeed very luxurious to come to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.It's not much worse than the previous Wembley Stadium, and it can even be said to be better and more beautiful.

Although Blackburn cannot be compared with a metropolis like London, it is much richer than Burnley, where George was before.This time, there are more than 3 fans who came with Blackburn, even compared with Liverpool fans, they are not weak at all.

When George led Blackburn to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, countless reporters surrounded Blackburn's bus.

The reporters who want to interview George far exceed Liverpool next door.

It is estimated that in English football, there are not many people who can make reporters treat a generation of giants Liverpool so differently.And George is one of the best.

Houllier looked at George who was talking there, but he didn't feel any jealousy.Because Houllier is not the kind of coach who likes to show off in front of the media, he prefers to study game tactics silently.

Therefore, I don't like the coaches who play psychological warfare very much, but I don't have any bad impression.

It's just that Houllier's impression of George is not good.

It's not that the two have any grievances.It was because George was once the first-choice coach of the Liverpool club, and then Liverpool and George fell apart.In fact, this kind of thing happens a lot in football.

This sort of thing is quickly forgotten if nothing else.

But it didn't end so easily with George and Houllier.Houllier has been in Liverpool for the third season, but he has not won any championship title for Liverpool so far.But on the other side, George has led Blackburn step by step, becoming a strong team in the Premier League that can compete with Manchester United and Arsenal.

And led Blackburn to the UEFA Cup last season.

Because of this, the media often brings up the matter of George's contact with Liverpool.They believed that with Liverpool's foundation, if George had gone at that time, Liverpool would have already won many championships.And there are always media mocking Liverpool for missing a famous coach, which has not yet been able to revive.

Liverpool is the number one giant in England. Also because of its strength back then, it dominated English football and swept European football.There are not a few people who have been offended. Now that Liverpool is in a bad situation, I don't know how many media are gloating.

It’s okay to say once or twice, but the media brought up this question every day, which made Houlier very annoyed.

Therefore, as long as it is news about George, Houllier hopes to avoid it.If the reporter asked about this aspect, Houllier would deftly divert the topic away.

I didn't expect that in the League Cup final, I still didn't avoid George.

At this time, the Cardiff Millennium Stadium is already full of fans of the two teams.

The two teams first cheered for their clubs, and then began to complain about each other.Blackburn and Liverpool, there is really no grievance in history.Even in the past few seasons, after George and Houllier took office, there is actually no grievance.

The two teams have played in the league.Among the six league games, Blackburn had three wins, two draws and one loss.There is no great grievance in the middle.

Blackburn did not steal the championship from Liverpool, and Liverpool did not interfere with Blackburn's championship.Although they are all strong teams, in fact, it should not be regarded as a feud.

It's a pity that I don't know what's going on, the relationship between the two teams is not close or far.

However, the newspapers "Blackburn Evening News" and "Liverpool Echo" in the two places would have a war of words every few days.Therefore, the relationship between the fans of the two teams is not good.

Liverpool fans mocked Blackburn as a country bumpkin, a country team.And Blackburn also hit back at them. The Premier League has not had a league title for ten years.

Of course Liverpool fans are not easy to bully.They took pounds out of their bodies and waved them in the air, and then they said Blackburn was an upstart rich in money.Relying on Jack Walker's investment, he won a league championship.

Blackburn is yelling, we're fucking rich.

No one thought of it at first.The relationship between the fans of the two teams is so bad.Therefore, the police who maintained order at the scene were afraid that the fans of the two teams would be emotional and do something radical.

The police who separated the fans in the middle could clearly see the faces of those shirtless fans in February.Their faces were flushed, and they opened their bloody mouths and began to curse.There are also some young football fans aged six or seven who raised their middle fingers and spat at each other through the police.

Those police officers looked nervously at the fans of the two teams, as long as they dared to cross the cordon, they would immediately intervene.It's okay to complain to each other across the cordon.Once the cordon is passed, numerous police officers will step forward and push the fans away.

The head of the police, who was in charge of order at the scene, looked at the chaotic scene and contacted the headquarters with a telephone.

Cursed in my heart: Those bastards above gave me so little police power.Didn't it mean that there was no hatred in the history of the two teams?It's just like a derby.

…………

"The game is about to start. We have already got the starting list of the two teams. Let's look at Houllier's lineup first. The goalkeeper is Sander Westweed, and the back line is Carragher from left to right. Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, Marcus Babel, Patrick Berg, Hamann, Vladmir Smicer, Gerrard in midfield, Owen and Robbie in forwards. Fowler."

"Look at the starting lineup here at Blackburn. Goalkeeper Cudicini, back line from left to right is Riise, Ferdinand, Panucci, Sagnol, midfielder from left to right is Pires, Michelle Ku, Deco, Makelele, Bellamy, Klose up front."

(End of this chapter)