Coach, I want to play football!

After sending away a lot of friends, Liverpool still played at home in the second week.

But it's not the Premier League, but the quarter-finals of the League Cup. If the Red Army, which has already entered the quarter-finals, wins its opponent, it will reach the semi-finals this season.

In this championship, Liverpool reached the final last season.

But in the end, they lost to Manchester City in a penalty shootout after being tied in the 90th minute and overtime at Wembley Stadium.

Klopp's goal this season is naturally the league, saying that the championship is still some distance away for this current Liverpool team.

Therefore, Klopp's goal for the team is to reach the semi-finals. In a word, to qualify for the Champions League next season!

However, when the league can get the top four, it is still good to gain something in the League Cup or FA Cup.

After all, the stingy Fenway Group has invested a lot of money in the past few seasons, and the team still needs to get head coach Klopp's position to secure its position.

Today’s opponent is Brighton & Hove Albion, the Seagulls team in the British Championship, also known as Brighton.

The current Brighton team has not yet become a spoiler in the Premier League. They have not yet been promoted to the Premier League. According to the historical process, the three-goal champion is still studying at a Japanese university.

Klopp made certain adjustments to the starting lineup, but in order to avoid capsizing in the gutter, he did not use all substitute players.

Instead, they used a half-main and half-substitute starting lineup. After all, the English League Cup and FA Cup are both hotbeds of upsets. Although most of the time it is a wealthy team that wins the championship, there are not many wealthy teams that are overthrown in the game.

As the absolute core, Ye Qi naturally got a rest. In fact, his physical condition is not bad, and it is not a big problem to continue to play, but Klopp does not want to increase the risk.

Because everyone knows that England's lower-level teams have a "simple style of play" and are more physically confrontational. If Ye Qi is injured in this game, it will not be worthwhile.

After all, the Christmas game is only about a month away, and Liverpool needs to grab points in the intensive schedule after the game.

And other positions, such as wingers and midfielders, have abundant personnel that can be replaced. But the center...especially the center who can score goals, there is no way for Liverpool to replace Ye Qi.

Although Firmino can play as a guest center, he is not the kind of center who scores goals very efficiently, nor is he a big center, so he cannot become a fulcrum.

Sturridge is still recovering from injury. According to the latest situation, it is not a big problem to return in time for the Christmas game, but the bigger problem is that there is no way to guarantee his condition.

As for Ince...well, Klopp now has the idea of ​​​​giving up on Ince.

Even when Ye Qi rested and Sturridge was injured, Klopp asked Firmino to play center without Ings.

This made Ince think about leaving, although Liverpool's weekly salary was good. But he is only twenty-four years old, and he is still young and does not want to waste time on the bench of Liverpool.

When Benteke was so unreliable last season, Ince played no more than 10 times in the league. Coupled with the current situation this season, Ince has understood that his future is no longer with Liverpool.

The Seagulls played very tenaciously as a guest at Anfield. They used a steel barrel formation to hold off Liverpool's siege in the first half.

But not long after the second half began, veteran Milner assisted Lallana to score, successfully breaking the deadlock.

In the 60th minute, Brighton's attacking midfielder Conoket helped the team score a goal, but before he could celebrate, the referee ruled it was offside and the goal was invalid.

Brighton's players were unconvinced and believed that the referee's decision was problematic and even suspected of being a home whistle.

In the end, Brighton's center was too excited to protest and was disrespectful to the referee and received a yellow card.

Although one goal behind, Brighton's defense still implemented the bus tactics. They hope to save their final hope of victory until the last ten or twenty minutes.

When the game reached seventy minutes, it was obvious that Brighton's offense was becoming more and more active, and more people were involved in counterattacks.

But in this case, in the 77th minute, Liverpool took advantage of the pressure from the opponent's defense to score a goal.

After Lallana broke through from the wing, he passed a through ball to Firmino. The Brazilian forward passed the ball and then shot directly against the goalkeeper in the penalty area.

In the end, the ball hit the net, 2-0, and Liverpool expanded the score.

After seeing this goal conceded, Brighton's head coach knew that his team's journey to the English League Cup this season had come to an end.

Klopp seemed very calm. After all, it was necessary to win against Brighton, who was weak in strength. There would be a problem if he couldn't win.

So in the 80th minute, Klopp replaced the goal hero Firmino with Ings, which could be regarded as giving Ings some opportunities to adapt to the game.

But one thing is that Klopp gave Ings more opportunities at the beginning of the season than he gave Ye Qi. But... I'll give you a chance and you'll be successful, little brother!

In fact, Brighton is not too bad. They are currently ranked second in the English Championship. If this season goes well, they may be a Premier League team next season.

Among all the second-tier leagues in the five major leagues, the competition in the English Championship is the most fierce, and the league rivalry is also the strongest.

Although it is only a second-level event, it is better than the first-level events in some small European countries.

For example, the Polish top flight, the Cyprus First Division, the Belarusian and Swedish Super Leagues are not as good as the English Championship.

The top three in the English Championship are very close to the bottom and second in the Premier League.

In the end, Liverpool, who did not play Ye Qi in this game, defeated Brighton 2-0 at Anfield and successfully advanced to the semi-finals of the English League Cup.

The remaining three teams that have advanced to the semi-finals are the giants Manchester United, the Saints Southampton and the Tiger City Hull City.

Looking at it this way, only two of the top four are traditional giants in the Premier League. Southampton is considered a mid-range team, while Hull City is a lower-tier team in the Premier League. This shows that the nickname of the "unpopular hotbed" of the League Cup has not been called wrong.

Among the top four, Liverpool has the highest voice. Because among the current four teams, Liverpool and Manchester United are the strongest.

But Manchester United is still in turmoil, and Mourinho's team is still in the process of rebuilding and is not getting along well.

This can be seen from the league results.

And this is Klopp's second season in Liverpool. Liverpool is definitely better than Manchester United in terms of the team's adjustments and running-in.

At the same time, Liverpool also reached the final last season, so it can be seen that Liverpool is more likely to win the championship this season.

This can also be seen from the odds of major bookmakers.