"Hello everyone..suimeng. High-speed update. This is the FA Cup final of the 2000-01 season. We are now commentating on this game for you at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff."
It's the FA Cup final after all.
There are some small activities before the game, but these are just embellishments of the game. Fans are waiting for the game to start.
Andy Gray has already started explaining.
"The two teams in this final are Liverpool and Chelsea. Liverpool, the king of England, has not won a championship for five years. They must gain something in this FA Cup final and UEFA Cup final. Otherwise, it will be six years without a championship.
crown."
"It has been three seasons since Houllier came to Liverpool. Without a championship this season, Houllier's coaching position may not be secure. I believe there is a lot of pressure on Houllier now."
Andy Gray gives you a brief introduction to Liverpool.
In fact, fans are very familiar with Liverpool and Chelsea. Therefore, Andy Gray just introduced some of their current situations.
"Let's talk about Chelsea. This is coach Su Yun's first season at Chelsea. He has already won a League Cup championship and the runner-up in the Premier League. Coach Su Yun's results are already outstanding."
"No no no."
Martin Taylor shook his head.
"Coach Su Yun will never think that such results are outstanding. Young people are very ambitious."
"Hahaha!"
The two laughed.
While the two were bragging, players from both sides were already standing there.
They are all waiting for the referee's whistle.
"Let me first tell you about the lineups of both sides. Liverpool's lineup is goalkeeper West Wade, defenders from left to right are Ziger, Hyypia, Henchoz, Carragher, and Danny Murphy and Hamann are in the center.
, Gerrard, Borg, the striker is a combination of Fowler and Owen."
"Looking at Chelsea's lineup. The goalkeeper is Cudicini, the defense is Solin, Desailly, Terry, Panucci, the midfielder is Deschamps, Williams, Lampard, and the striker is Zola.
, Hasselbaink, Eto’o.”
Andy Gray introduces the lineups of both sides before the game.
"Martin, look at Liverpool's lineup. The previous main midfielder McAllister did not appear on the list, and I didn't hear that McAllister had any injuries before the game. But now McAllister is sitting
He was on the bench, but Hamann appeared in the lineup. I don’t quite understand what Houllier meant.”
It's not just Andy Gray who's wondering.
Even Su Yun was stunned for a moment when he got Liverpool's roster.
Liverpool's main midfielder and even the scheduling of the midfield are controlled by McAllister. McAllister is already thirty-six and a half years old, which is quite old. He came to Liverpool for free last summer.
No one thought highly of him at that time.
Because it's too old.
But this season everyone is looking up to McAllister. He does not look like a 36-year-old veteran at all, and his performance as the core of Liverpool's midfield is extremely exciting.
Su Yun has made sufficient preparations to limit McAllister's performance.
It's not like I haven't fought against him before.
Unexpectedly, Houllier went against the norm and did not send McAllister, but Hamann.
This surprised Su Yun.
What does it mean?
What does Houllier want to do?
McAllister's absence made many of Su Yun's arrangements before the game useless. For a while, Su Yun couldn't guess what Houllier meant.
But Su Yun believed it anyway.
That is because Houllier is more anxious than himself, and the Liverpool players are more anxious than the Chelsea players.
Su Yun is also under pressure now.
But even if Su Yun loses this championship, the pressure on Su Yun will not be too great. And Su Yun does not have the problem of losing his job. Ken Bates is very satisfied with Su Yun's results at Chelsea.
Chelsea fans think so too.
Although Bates is the chairman of Chelsea, Su Yun has not had much communication with him. Among the club presidents Su Yun has worked with, only Sunderland chairman Murray is the most popular.
Su Yun doesn't like Bates's flamboyant chairman very much.
But after Chelsea lost to Manchester United, Bates personally called Su Yun and showed great support for Su Yun.
So Su Yun is in a good situation.
But Houllier is different.
Su Yun believes that if Houllier fails to achieve anything this season, he will definitely be fired by Liverpool. In this case, Houllier will definitely be anxious.
No matter how the lineup changes, this big situation remains unchanged.
Houllier will definitely be anxious.
As long as Houllier is anxious, Liverpool will also be anxious. Their style of play will have problems when they are anxious.
Su Yun was convinced of this.
Therefore, Su Yun believes that as long as he can keep his composure, the victory in this game will definitely belong to him.
…………
But when the game started, Su Yun realized that he had thought wrong.
Really wrong.
Liverpool did not show any impatience, or in other words, Liverpool were very calm.
It didn't look like Su Yun imagined at all.
"Martin, how many minutes has it been?"
"Twenty-one minutes..."
"It's only twenty-one minutes." Andy Gray yawned and said slowly: "This game is completely a lullaby. I almost fell asleep. Why is the ball still falling back and forth in the midfield? It's so boring."
"It's not boring, it's just unwatchable. I've said for so many years that this was the ugliest FA Cup final to watch."
Andy Gray and Martin Taylor are both professional commentators. They have commented on not only a thousand but also eight hundred games. They have seen various styles of football.
Among them is Graham's most boring team.
But they still couldn't help but criticize the game.
What are Chelsea and Liverpool doing?
Are they playing a game?
Before the game, Su Yun judged that Houllier would be anxious, so Su Yun had already planned a strategy. Su Yun was going to use the most familiar defensive counterattack, using the fast Hasselbaink and Eto'o to counterattack.
And the midfielder is preparing to use Williams to completely freeze McAllister.
But I didn't expect that Houllier didn't go as Su Yun wanted at all.
Liverpool also play defensively.
Of course, Houllier's Liverpool play defensive counterattacks, but Su Yun is betting that Houllier is under more pressure and more anxious than himself. So Liverpool will definitely press forward.
But it's completely different than expected.
Liverpool had no intention of coming up.
Hamann, Gerrard, and Danny Murphy lined up in the middle to intercept and defend. Borg's position was slightly forward, which was the ball release point during counterattacks.
Almost exactly the same as Chelsea.
Su Yun also lined up Lampard, Deschamps, and Williams, and then Zola moved forward to deliver bullets to Hasselbaink and Eto'o.
As a result, the two sides were grinding in the midfield, and the midfield became a meat grinder.
The midfielder kept fighting for the ball.
It also resulted in what Andy Gray and Martin Taylor considered a dull game.
The game is really boring.
Even Su Yun, the Chelsea coach, thinks so.
Have you ever had a wedding?
Yes.
In the ninth minute of the game, Chelsea only got a chance to shoot. It was a 27-meter shot from the front of the penalty area, but it missed the target and flew away. Then it was the 19th minute, and it was delayed.
The second goal was scored by Hasselbaink in a hurry due to the interference of Hyypia.
Thirty minutes into the game, Chelsea's number of shots only stopped at two.
Liverpool aren't much better.
They have only shot twice so far.
Once, Liverpool took advantage of a free kick, and Borg shot directly. However, the ball hit Panucci and bounced out of the baseline. Immediately after the corner kick, Hyypia made a header.
Because Terry defended the goal, it was soft and did not pose any threat to Cudicini.
The game lasted for more than thirty minutes, and the two teams had only four shots in total. Moreover, neither team created any threatening shots, so you can imagine how boring the game was.
Both sides focused their efforts on defense in the middle.
There were various collisions and various fouls. Of course, the fouls were not serious. But the small fouls came one after another, and the game was intermittent due to such fouls.
The referee was very helpless.
Those fouls are not very lethal fouls, but even pulling and pulling are very obvious fouls. This kind of foul cannot be called without being called, but it is not enough for a yellow card.
Therefore the game can only be intermittent.
The ball was interrupted by a foul before two goals were passed. Sometimes the referee didn't want to call a foul and wanted the game to flow more smoothly. But neither team was in a hurry.
The game is just so boring.
Su Yun is not in a hurry. Su Yun wants to see how long Houllier can endure it. In front of his job, Su Yun doesn't believe that Houllier is not anxious at all now.
So Su Yun is willing to wait.
And Houllier is not in a hurry. Of course Houllier is trying not to be in a hurry.
Houllier has already made up his mind.
He just wanted to compete with Su Yun on his patience. He would not let Su Yun find any opportunities, and he would not let Su Yun see any of his anxious mood. He wanted to go all out and compete with this young man, Su Yun, on his patience.
The head coaches of both sides thought this way, so the game was certainly dull and boring.
If it weren't for the loud singing from the fans of both teams at the Millennium Stadium, no one would have thought it was the FA Cup final.
"Dududu——"
Finally, this boring first half is over.
"The first half is over. This is the ugliest FA Cup final I have ever seen. The total number of shots scored by the two teams in the entire first half was only five times. It was almost one shot every ten minutes. Even if the final is important, it still doesn't matter.
This ugly scene shouldn’t happen.”
"But fortunately, the boring first half is finally over. I hope there will be changes in the second half and it won't be as ugly as the first half. Otherwise, I believe fans of both teams who come to this stadium will feel that the ticket price is too expensive."
At the end of the first half, Andy Gray and Martin Taylor kept mocking this ugly game.
However, Su Yun and Houllier were not too angry. Although there were some surprises in the first half, both of them were able to accept it.
