Coaching legend

The closer it is to the final, the more interested the reporters are.

Before George set off for the League Cup final, he accepted an interview with the media.

"Liverpool?" A reporter asked George who was the most dangerous player in Liverpool. George smiled and said, "Of course it's Owen, as if this is not a problem. Owen is in good shape this season and is also the most dangerous person in Liverpool."

The reporter was very dissatisfied when he heard George's answer was quite conventional. Now everyone knows that the best and most dangerous player in Liverpool is Owen. If you just want to hear this answer, why ask Owen.

Just when the reporter was frustrated, George continued, "But if you let me say, Liverpool's most promising player is not him. It's their midfielder Steven Gerrard. This is the best young midfielder in England at present, but it's a pity that coach Houllier won't use him. If Gerrard was my player, he would be a world-class midfielder now, which is a pity."

George's unscrupulous evaluation of Liverpool angered Houllier.

During the interview, Houllier told George to shut up. "The League Cup final is coming soon. I think Coach Levy should be more concerned about the final, not verbal battles. I have been a coach for 20 years. I know how to identify the strength of players and how to use my own players. I promoted Steven from the youth team, and I have my own plan for his use. I don't need others to come and tell me what to do."

"Twenty years of coaching?" George curled his lips in disdain. "If you say that a coach with longer coaching time is stronger than a young coach, then why are we still playing a game? The two head coaches go up and compare who has the most white hair. Whoever has more white hair will win. Isn't that good?"

"If this is also troublesome, the two coaches go up and report their respective coaching time. Then whoever has coached longer will win."

As a representative of young coaches, George despises some old coaches who take advantage of their seniority the most. So he didn't give Houllier any face. Then he smiled again and said sincerely: "There is an old Chinese saying that there is no order of learning, and the first to achieve is the first. I just made a very friendly suggestion. Gerrard is the best midfielder I have ever seen in England. I just considered his career and gave Coach Houllier a suggestion. He was too excited."

George said everything, and he did both good and bad things. George's attitude made Houllier laugh and cry.

In the end, George became a good person, while Houllier became an old stubborn who could not 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 sharp words 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 may confuse you.

So Houllier never responded to George again.

Amid the quarrels, February 25, 2001 arrived.

February 25th was the day of the 2001 English League Cup final.

Unlike previous years, this season's League Cup final was held at the end of February. In the past, the League Cup final was held at the end of March. George won the League Cup at Burnley, also at the end of March. However, the English Football Association may think that this schedule is not very good. So it was decided to move the League Cup final from the end of March to the end of February. This change started last season.

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

For the League Cup final, George led Blackburn to Cardiff.

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

The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is the national stadium of Wales, mainly used for the Rugby Union and the national main stadium of international rugby events. It was once the largest stadium in the UK, with a capacity of 74,500 spectators and a retractable roof. The stadium has a grand architectural style, and after the expansion, its seats reached 82,000. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is a five-star football stadium.

This is the first time that the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff has hosted the League Cup final.

Blackburn and Liverpool are the first two teams to compete for the cup championship at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Coming to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, it is indeed very luxurious. It is 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 30,000 fans coming with Blackburn, which is not inferior to Liverpool fans.

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

The number of reporters who wanted to interview George far exceeded that of Liverpool next door.

In the English football world, there are probably not many people who can make reporters treat Liverpool, a giant of the generation, so differently. And George is one of the best.

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

Therefore, he doesn't like those coaches who play psychological warfare very much, but he doesn't have a bad impression of them.

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

It's not that the two have any grudges. It's because George was once the first choice coach of Liverpool Club, and then Liverpool and George broke down. In fact, there are many such things in football.

If there is nothing else, such things will soon be forgotten.

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

And last season, he led Blackburn to win the League Cup.

Therefore, the media often talks about George's contact with Liverpool. They believe that with Liverpool's foundation, if George had gone there at that time, Liverpool would have won many championships. And there are always media who laugh at Liverpool for missing a famous coach, which has led to its failure to revive now.

Liverpool is the top club in England. It also dominated the English football world and swept the European football world because of its strong strength back then. There are many people who have been offended. Now seeing Liverpool in a bad situation, I don't know how many media are gloating.

If it happens once or twice, it's okay. The media brings up this issue every day, which makes Houllier very upset.

Therefore, as long as it is news about George, Houllier hopes to avoid it. If the reporter asks about this, Houllier will cleverly divert the topic.

Unexpectedly, George was not avoided in the League Cup final.

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

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

The two teams just played in the league. In the six league games, Blackburn won three, drew two and lost one. There was no big grudge in between.

Blackburn never snatched Liverpool's championship, and Liverpool never interfered with Blackburn's championship. Although both are strong teams, it should be said that there is no hatred.

Unfortunately, I don't know what happened, the relationship between the two teams is not close or far.

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

Liverpool fans laughed at Blackburn as a country bumpkin and a country team. Blackburn also hit back at them, saying that there has been no league championship in the Premier League for ten years.

Of course, Liverpool fans are not easy to bully. They took out pounds from their bodies and waved them in the air, and then said that Blackburn was a nouveau riche with a smell of money. It was only with Jack Walker's investment that they won a league championship.

Blackburn shouted, we are fucking rich.

No one thought at first. The relationship between the fans of the two teams is so bad. Therefore, the police who maintained order at the scene were as if they were facing a great enemy, fearing that the fans of the two teams would get excited and do something radical.

The police who separated the fans in the middle could clearly see the faces of the shirtless fans in February. Their faces were red, and they opened their bloody mouths and began to curse. There were also some six or seven-year-old fans who raised their middle fingers and spit at each other through the police.

The police looked at the fans of the two teams nervously, and as long as they dared to cross the cordon, they would immediately intervene. It doesn't matter if they spit at each other across the cordon. Once they cross the cordon, countless police will step forward to push the fans away.

The head of the police in charge of the order at the scene looked at the chaotic scene and contacted the headquarters with the phone.

He cursed in his heart: Those bastards above only gave me such a small police force. Didn't they say that there was no hatred between the two teams in history? This is simply like a derby.

…………

“The game is about to start. We have already got the starting lineups of both teams. Let’s take a look at the lineup that Houllier has arranged. The goalkeeper is Sander Westerveld. The back line from left to right is Carragher, Henchoz, Sami Hyypiä, Marcus Babel. The midfielders are Patrick Berg, Hamann, Vladimir Smicer, Gerrard. The forwards are Owen and Robbie Fowler.”

“Let’s take a look at Blackburn’s starting lineup. The goalkeeper is Cudicini. The back line from left to right is Riise, Ferdinand, Panucci, Sagnol. The midfielders from left to right are Pires, Miku, Deco, Makelele, Bellamy. The forward is Klose.”