Rafael Benitez is still a little confident of a win over Derby County, or an advantage in the first round of the two teams, despite losing both home and away games to Derby County in the league, but it was a full-fledged Derby County, not a Derby County with injuries to their main players.

Benitez still believes the analysis in the media.

More importantly, he thinks that Ivan Crewe, who was injured last week, cannot recover so quickly, as for Kluivert, it is definitely impossible to play, Rafael van der Vaart Benitez did not think about it at all, but everyone saw it when Van der Vaart was carried off the field, that kind of direct collision injury, even if it is lighter, it will not be able to recover in a short time, not to mention, after the game, Derby County Club did not come forward to announce Van der Vaart's injury situation for the first time, Benitez believes, This illustrates the lengthy examination required to determine the time of Van der Vaart's recovery, as is usually the case with him.

Van der Vaart, Ivan Crewe, Kluivert, plus one of the previously mentioned Morris, the current Derby County frontcourt is too weak, these threatening players are all unavailable, and it is a home game, Benitez is confident of playing advantage.

But if you want to decide the winner in one battle, it is useless to have some advantages, the key is to score a few more goals, if you can't score more, such as ending the game with 1:0, it is almost no different from a draw, and even, this score is no different from losing, the knockout round is home and away two games to decide the winner, to the home of Derby, the opponent's lineup must be a lot, Liverpool is still very likely to be eliminated, that is, they want to eliminate Derby County, they must go through a big battle, which is unacceptable to Benitez.

Therefore, this game must maximize the score advantage!

In consideration, Benitez is more certain about the tactics laid out yesterday. In fact, Liverpool's tactics were determined a few days ago, but he has always been very conservative, the kind of 'luck-betting' offensive football, which is not what he is good at, he doesn't know if it will have a good result, but if you want to beat your opponent in the same level in a football game, you have to be surprised, that is to say, thinking about it a lot now, just to give him more confidence before the game. Just add some comfort.

Now that I see the analysis of the media, I feel comforted.

Benitez also let out a long breath

The media did not get the starting line-up for Derby County before the game, and the media have long been used to it, and since Wansheng took charge of Derby County, he has never announced the squad before the game.

This one, of course, is no different.

Because of this, the media began to analyze the Derby County squad, in fact, it doesn't need to analyze too much, in a few main players. All the players who have played in Derby County have been pulled, and it can almost be said that it is a squad.

But two hours before the start of the match between the two teams, when someone checked the FA's official website, they were completely taken aback.

In accordance with FA regulations. For League Cup matches, the squad must be reported two hours before the game, and the FA will make a record and publish the list on the official website. Generally speaking, for large-scale events, the reporting time will be very long. For example, in the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League, the reporting time stipulated by UEFA is one day, that is, the media will know the squad one day in advance, and the League Cup is not taken seriously, so the details are almost no different from the league.

Derby County did not announce the squad, and the media can only check the content released by the FA, and it is better not to check it, but it is really shocking to check it, because Derby County has the names of Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe in the squad.

How is that possible?

The media who saw the squad were all stunned, they couldn't believe that Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe were really 'recovering well' as Wan Sheng said, and even made it to the squad for the match between the two teams.

Could it be that what they analyzed was wrong? Did they fall for the trick of the Chinese?

Many media reporters gritted their teeth.

But soon someone 'comforted' the suggestion, "Even if they are on the list, they can only be substitutes, because even if they recover from injury, they won't have time to recover!" ”

This remark has received a lot of support.

So the media put their hearts back to their original position, as for the previous analysis was wrong, they didn't care at all, they reported the news of Derbyshire, and the analysis was not wrong once or twice, many media have long been used to it, their analysis of Derbyshire's 'weakness' is just analysis for the sake of analysis, and it has nothing to do with reality at all.

If they were Derbyshire supporters of the media, they would not have done so, but unfortunately most of the people here are not pro-Derby, so even if Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe are really like what the Chinese said is not bad, so what?

As long as it doesn't affect the game between the two teams!

Rafael Benitez was also taken aback, as he only got the news more than an hour before the game, when the whole Liverpool squad was ready to warm up on the pitch and he was also going to attend the pre-match press conference, and then the assistant coach told him the news.

Benitez looked at Derby's squad carefully, his face hesitant.

He originally thought that Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe would not be in the squad, but both of them were on the list, and the only one who guessed correctly was Kluivert, whose injuries were more severe than the two, so it was naturally impossible for him to recover so quickly.

Whether the two play or not will still have a big impact on Derby County.

As a manager, especially the Liverpool coach who lost to Derby County twice, Benitez still knows a lot about Derby County, and the most important core player in Derby County is Lee Morris, but Morris is still unable to play in the recovery, so the other attacking core of the front court is Van der Vaart, Van der Vaart is also the player with the most goals in Derby, and is even expected to challenge Henry's position as a goalscorer.

Ivan Crewe is also important, as he is a wing-back but also the second-highest scorer for Derby County so far, and his back-to-back and free-kicks are quite threatening.

The fact that these two players can't play is why Benitez wants to surprise the attack, but if both players play in Liverpool and Derby County to attack, is there really a chance?

Benitez had no confidence at all.

Not to mention how flashy and efficient Derby County's attack is, Liverpool themselves have problems with their attack, and now they rely more on midfielders to score goals. In particular, Steven Gerrard, the core of the midfield, is the team's top scorer, which is an affirmation of Gerrard's ability, and at the same time proves how bad Liverpool's strikers are.

Benitez was well aware of this, so he started to have some apprehensions about the game.

However, he soon looked at the analysis of other media outlets, which pointed out that Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe certainly did not recover, and it is very likely that they were just substitutes. Benitez secretly hoped that this was the case, otherwise the game would have been very difficult

At the pre-game press conference, Wan Sheng appeared at the venue with a solemn face.

Seeing Wan Sheng's expression, the media is more determined that Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe are not starters, otherwise the Chinese will definitely be smiling and the game will not be too stressful.

They thought so, but in fact, Wan Sheng's heart was about to blossom.

He didn't expect these media to be so cooperative. Originally, he thought that after announcing the starting list, the media would definitely know that his analysis was wrong, and Liverpool would be wary of it, but he didn't expect the media to find an explanation of 'definitely not the main force'. "It makes perfect sense."

It's such a fit!

Thinking like this, but Wan Sheng's face was just solemn, and sure enough, when he came to the venue, the first question asked by the media. It's about Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe.

"Why are Van der Vaart and Ivan Crewe in the squad? They should all be hurt. The reporter asked.

Wan Sheng looked at him like an idiot, and then said, "I said yesterday that their recovery is in good condition. ”

The media in the audience were stunned. If you think about it, this Chinese really said so, but they themselves thought that the recovery situation of the two was not good, and then kept making wrong analyses.

Still, they gnash their teeth.

They think they are misled by the Chinese in front of them, why do they analyze it like that? It was not because this Chinese looked wrong at that time, naturally they came to a conclusion.

"He must have done it on purpose!"

Many people thought, and then another reporter asked, "Will they appear in the starting list?" ”

Wan Sheng nodded in affirmation, "Of course, Rafael is the team's top scorer, Ivan is the second most goalscorer, and it's a waste for them to sit on the bench." ”

Even if he said so, the media in the audience were still noncommittal.

Especially when they saw Wan Sheng's solemn face, they thought that he was worried about the game, because of this, they felt that their analysis must be correct, "The recovery of the two cannot be so fast, so they can only sit on the bench, as Derby County will send a gamble player in desperation", I have to say that everyone's subjectivity is too strong, and it is difficult to change their views without actual evidence.

They felt that they had been 'fooled' by Wansheng before, because Wansheng's expression at that time was hard to believe, and now they were deceived by Wansheng's expression again.

If Wan Sheng knew what these media reporters thought, he would definitely laugh, "It is said that people can't fall twice in the same place, but it's not easy for these guys to do it all." ”

Wan Sheng doesn't know, but he doesn't care, now there is not much time before the start of the game, even if Benitez knows a qiē, he will definitely not be able to temporarily adjust his tactics before the game, otherwise, the temporary adjustment will definitely affect the game, that is to say, Benitez has no choice, after all, Liverpool is not Derby County, they must have to do a lot of targeted training to prepare for the game, and they do not have a 'collaborative' tactical training effect bonus, naturally it is impossible to use every set of tactics proficiently.

This is also an advantage for Derbyshire.

Don't underestimate this advantage, the average team uses the same tactics throughout the season, it's not that they don't want to have more means, the main thing is that they can't do it, in terms of time, a team has a lot of games, it is impossible to have so much time for tactical training, and the same is true for Derby County, but Wansheng has 'collaboration' skills, the team trains for one hour, which is equal to two hours of training, and after being promoted to a high-level skill, it also comes with a "mental attribute 'game awareness' will be slowly improved" effect, This effect is not large, but the improvement over time is also very objective, for example, the overall situation of all players in the team has increased by an average of 1-2 points, especially those players whose mental attributes are very weak, and the effect of improvement is very obvious.

As a result, the players in the team are not only twice as effective in tactical training, but also in their ability to adapt to tactics.

Because of this, Derby County were able to change their tactics during the game, and even before the start of the game, the temporary adjustment of the strategy will not be affected too much, while Liverpool is different, Benitez took over the team in the summer, and so far has not been able to do everything about the team, let alone adjust the tactics before the game.

So by now, what Wansheng needs to do is to lead the team to play directly with the opponent, and there is no need to make some small moves. (To be continued......)