465: Liverpool have already lost half the battle

February 29, 2016, New Wembley Stadium, London, England.

What will be held here today is the final of the 2015-2016 English League Cup. The two sides are the Red Army Liverpool and the Eagles Lazio.

The venue for today's game can be described as overcrowded.

Many people who came to the scene were Crystal Palace fans. They came here today to watch Crystal Palace win the League Cup trophy for the fourth consecutive time.

With Tong Yi here, they don't have to worry.

Because Tong Yi will not let this champion fall by the wayside.

Since Tong Yi came to England, the EFL Cup has been engraved with a new name "Tong Yi Cup". This championship can only be won by Tong Yi, no one can take it away.

Even if you are Tong Yi's senior brother, Klopp can't even think of taking this championship away from Tong Yi.

The League Cup champion must be their Crystal Palace.

Before this, media reporters were more optimistic about Crystal Palace.

After all, Crystal Palace has been in a hot state recently and has won 14 consecutive victories in all competitions. Almost no one can stop the Crystal Palace people from moving forward, except themselves.

In this game, Crystal Palace's opponent, Liverpool, is actually pretty good and very strong.

However, in the previous game, Crystal Palace defeated Klopp's Liverpool. This time, Crystal Palace will definitely beat Liverpool again.

However, some people are optimistic about Liverpool.

After all, Liverpool's recent form is also very good. In the last round of competition, their team had just defeated Everton 4-0 in the Merseyside derby. They are now coming to face Crystal Palace with the power of victory, and their Liverpool team is also capable of fighting.

In this game, Klopp's Liverpool will definitely not admit defeat.

Liverpool is very capable, and it is still unclear who will win until the end of this game.

Obviously, Klopp naturally wants this championship very much. After all, this is also his first championship in England. He hopes to give him a good start in his time in Liverpool, and also to give a gift to Liverpool's senior management, so that Liverpool's senior management will trust Klopp even more.

This championship is also very important to Klopp.

In this game, Liverpool will definitely go all out to win this championship.

And, to be honest, Klopp feels that Liverpool's chances in this game are still very good. As the saying goes, what goes up must come down. Now the Crystal Palace has reached such a stage. Crystal Palace has reached its extreme. At this time, Crystal Palace will really be doomed if it meets Liverpool.

Klopp is confident about this.

Of course, he will definitely not underestimate Crystal Palace.

Tong Yi, the head coach of Crystal Palace, is very familiar with him. The two are not only brothers, but also direct competitors in the Bundesliga. People are tied in the Bundesliga.

He naturally knows how powerful this guy Tong Yi is.

So, before this game

, he reminded Liverpool's players many times to take it seriously. Crystal Palace is no longer the poor English team they were a few years ago. They are considered the top team in England. Liverpool must lower their attitude and compete with Crystal Palace to have a chance.

The Liverpool players nodded and expressed their understanding.

I don’t understand. Crystal Palace is currently the team at the top of the league, winning 14 consecutive games. And their Liverpool team is only ranked 8th in the Premier League. If they don't lower their attitude, who will?

Klopp is right, Crystal Palace is no longer the weakling it once was.

At this time, if there are still people who look at Crystal Palace with old eyes, they will definitely be the ones who suffer.

In this game, they have to fight Crystal Palace to have a chance of survival.

At this time, the players from both sides have already entered the stadium, and the game is about to start.

Tong Yi came to the stadium and walked directly to Liverpool's head coach Klopp.

Klopp extended his right hand towards Tong Yi from a distance. The two men seemed to have a very good relationship, which caused the cameras on the scene to focus on them.

The first thing Klopp said was "Sorry, David! Our victory in this game is determined by Liverpool!"

Tong Yi smiled slightly and said, "Are you so confident?"

Klopp said, "Of course, I have been preparing for this game for a long time. This championship is a good start for me in Liverpool, so I will definitely win this game. I'm really sorry!"

Tong Yi looked at Klopp, and he could naturally see that Klopp was really determined to win this championship.

If he were Klopp, he would definitely try his best to win this game and win the championship trophy.

Because there is a big difference in Klopp's future days at Liverpool whether he has this championship trophy or not.

Winning this championship will make Klopp's life in Liverpool much easier in the future.

By winning this championship, Klopp's prestige was erected in the hearts of the Liverpool players!

Klopp is bound to win this championship.

Tong Yi smiled slightly and said, "I can understand your thoughts, but you have to know that I have never let this championship fall by the wayside since I came to England. I think... it's the same today! I'm really, sorry, Jurgen !”

Klopp also chuckled and said, "Really? Never been left behind? Then let me break this weird look!"

Tong Yi could see that Klopp was full of confidence.

Tong Yi stared at Klopp and said, "I'll wait and see!"

Klopp stared at Tong Yi closely and said, "I will not let the Liverpool fans down!"

After speaking, Klopp gave Tong Yi a hug, patted Tong Yi on the back, then turned and walked back to his coaching bench.

Looking at Klopp's back, the corners of Tong Yi's mouth raised slightly.

Then he immediately turned around and walked quickly to his coaching bench.

Returning to his seat, Tong Yi's face became serious.

This game will definitely be very difficult to play. Klopp is very difficult to deal with. It seems that it is not easy for Crystal Palace to win this game.

Even Crystal Palace may not be able to win this game.

Tong Yi immediately came to the sidelines and reminded the Crystal Palace players not to underestimate their opponents, calm their minds, play seriously, and never lose this championship.

The Crystal Palace players nodded one after another and expressed their understanding.

To be honest, they are full of expectations for this championship. They don't want this championship to fall by the wayside, they want to win four consecutive EFL Cup titles!

They are ready for this game.

Seeing the players nodding, Tong Yi was satisfied, then turned around and walked back to his coaching bench and sat down.

Sitting next to him is Beckham.

The camera at the scene also swept across Beckham's handsome face. Everyone found that Beckham was telling Tong Yi something at this time? It's very possible that the two of them were talking about the tactics of this game, right?

At this time, the players from both sides were already standing on the court and the kick-off was about to begin.

"Hello, spectators and fans! We are Mortensen. Today we bring you the 2015-2016 EFL Cup final, against Liverpool and Crystal Palace. Now let's seize the time to give Let me introduce the starting lineups of both sides today." BBC Sports naturally broadcast this game live.

Today’s starting lineups for both sides are as follows:

Home team Liverpool, head coach Klopp, formation 4411

Mignolet

Back four from left to right Alberto Moreno, Mamadou Sakho, Lucas Leiva and Klein

Midfield four from left to right Coutinho, Emre Can, Henderson and Zaha

Single attacking midfielder Firmino

Lone striker Sturridge

Visiting team Crystal Palace, head coach Tong Yi, formation 4213

Alisson

Back four from left to right: Alonso, Rudiger, Van Dijk and Cancelo

Double defensive midfielder Witsel and Kante

Single attacking midfielder De Bruyne

The front three from left to right Asensio, Ignacio and Perisic

This is the starting lineup for both sides today.

To be honest, today's starting lineups for both sides are a bit beyond everyone's expectations.

The biggest surprise for Liverpool was that it appeared in his defense. Reva, who originally played as a defensive midfielder, actually appeared in the central defender position. This was something no one expected. Before the game, I didn’t hear that Skrtel and Lovren were injured.

It's hurt. He didn't appear in the starting lineup today. Let a defensive midfielder play as a central defender?

However, at this time, everyone understood that Liverpool should have no central defender available.

Otherwise, Liverpool would not force Reiva to play as a central defender. There is no central defender on the bench, which shows that Skrtel and Lovren are really injured.

Seeing Liverpool's lineup, the media reporters and fans at the scene were very worried. They all felt that Crystal Palace should win. Liverpool don't have a decent central defender anymore, how can they defend Ignacio? Could Liverpool's defense be broken by Ignacio?

But some people also said that Liverpool's starting performance was a fascination.

How could Klopp let a guy less than 1.8 meters tall play as a central defender to defend Ignacio? It is obvious that it is Can who will play as a central defender, not Lucas.

After all, James is also 186188cm tall. He is much more reliable as a central defender than Lucas.

However, many media reporters and fans believe that even if James goes back to play as a central defender, it is impossible to defend Ignacio. This game is really hanging in the balance for Liverpool.

Liverpool fans were very worried when they saw this starting lineup. They also felt that it would be difficult for Liverpool to win with this lineup. Because Crystal Palace's Ignacio is really not something their improvised central defender combination can defend, and Liverpool is in danger.

The starting lineup of Crystal Palace is also a bit surprising.

We can understand your Crystal Palace rotation. But your rotation area shouldn’t be so large, right?

We can understand the two substitutes above the full-back, after all, the strength of these two substitutes is not bad. But what does it mean that Witsel is not playing Casemiro in the defensive midfielder position? Is this underestimating the opponent's offense? Or do you want to besiege your opponents like crazy in this game and not give them any chance to attack?

The most surprising thing is this striker. Are both Salah and Mane taking turns today? Why use these two winger combinations? Some media reporters are even wondering, is this guy Tong Yi letting someone off the hook?

Are you going to give Klopp an English League Cup title?

Anyway, looking at the offense of the two teams in this game, to be honest, the media reporters felt that this game was full of suspense.

However, most people are still more optimistic about Crystal Palace. After all, Liverpool's defensive center-back combination is really too abstract. Can this temporary central defender really defend Ignacio?

Everyone thinks it’s impossible!

Therefore, everyone is more optimistic about Crystal Palace in this game.

beep!

At this time, the referee of this game blew the whistle to start the game.

The first to kick off was the home team Liverpool. Liverpool were wearing traditional red autumn clothes and attacking from the right side of the screen to the left, while the Crystal Palace people were wearing yellow away jerseys and attacking from the left side of the screen to the right side. .