Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 380 League Cup Fourth Round
The English League Cup is a competition between all 92 clubs in England regardless of level.

This cup was established by the English Football League in 1962 to allow clubs to have a knockout-based competition outside the league to challenge the FA Cup, which is run by the Football Association of England. At that time, the status of the fans' hearts was much higher than that of the league.

The competition is divided into seven rounds. Except for the semi-finals, the winner is determined in the form of a single knockout match.Each team will draw lots to determine the opponent and the home and away games. This cup is different from the European Cup, and there is no discount for away goals.

The teams participating in the first round include all the English Championship, League One and League Two teams. Except for the teams participating in European competitions who join in the third round, other Premier League teams start to join in the second round.

The League Cup final is usually held at Wembley Stadium in London at the end of February every year.The winner gets a place in the Europa League.

The status of the League Cup is already behind the Premier League (League One before 92) and the FA Cup. For the top clubs in the Premier League, the League Cup is just a game for training substitute players.

Of course, for the giants, it is helpless to ignore the League Cup, because in addition to participating in the League, FA Cup, and League Cup, they also have to participate in the lucrative Champions League or Europa League. There are nearly 9 games in 70 months of the season, and nearly two games in a week, and the players are not iron-clad.Therefore, some Premier League giants will send a large number of bench players and even youth troops to participate in the game.

Clubs in the middle reaches of the Premier League, who have long been unable to win the league championship, can win the League Cup to boost morale when the rich clubs do not pay attention, and at the same time use it as a second way to qualify for the Europa League.

Some small and medium-sized clubs can use the League Cup to gain the opportunity to play against strong teams. By being on TV and newspapers, they can not only obtain tickets and TV broadcast income, but also expand their influence.

In addition, if a low-level club accidentally makes an upset, it will be a great joy for the fans, and the big clubs will not feel overly sad about the failure of this kind of game, and each has his own place.

Klopp has always been unimpressed with the various cup competitions in England, but Zhang Mai wants to win the domestic triple crown this year, and the uncle can only let Zhang Mai come, but the teammates allocated are still the bench players and youths of the first team military.

On November 11st, Liverpool is about to usher in the League Cup 1/1 finals against the Championship team Derby County at Anfield.

Liverpool beat Huddersfield 5-0 at home in the previous league, while Derby County drew 1-1 with Middlesbrough. Both teams have been in good form recently.

Derby County also eliminated Manchester United with a penalty kick in the League Cup before, and Liverpool eliminated Chelsea in the third round of the League Cup. Lampard, who avenged his mother team as a coach in this game, is also a big player. Aspect.

Derby County led by Lampard has 7 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses in the Championship this season, temporarily ranking sixth in the standings. This result is quite satisfactory for them.

What really surprised people was that in Derby County's away game against Manchester United in the League Cup, scoring two goals for the Red Devils at Old Trafford was quite an achievement for the Championship team, and finally eliminated them with a penalty kick. Despite the opponent's upset, Lampard's team has also maintained an unbeaten record of 5 rounds in the near future.

Although Derby County is far behind Liverpool in terms of strength, the Red Army's rotation lineup will not be much stronger than them. There are also many players on loan from Chelsea in this campaign. They definitely hope to be able to play at Anfield. A good performance earns attention.

Liverpool is undefeated in all competitions this season, and they are also triumphant in the League Cup. The elimination of Chelsea in the last round boosted the morale of the team. Facing their opponents in the English Championship this round, winning is the only goal.

Derby County, led by the old Blues Lampard, eliminated Manchester United with a penalty kick in the last round of the game. Facing their old enemies in the Premier League this round, Lampard was booed by the audience.

In this game, players from both sides wrapped their arms in black yarn. Before the game started, the audience stood up to pay tribute to Leicester City owner Vichai who had just passed away in a plane crash.

Yes, the boss of Vichai refused to listen to Zhang Mai's advice, and finally died in a helicopter crash from the King Power Stadium.

Starting lineups for both teams:
Liverpool starting: (4-3-3)

1 - Pickford;

2-Klein, 6-Lovren, 32-Matip, 18-Moreno;
10-Zhang Mai, 20-Lallana, 68-Chiribella;
15-Sturridge, 27-Origi, 29-Solanke.

Derby County starters: (4-4-2)

1 - Carson;

5-Tomori, 6-Kog, 7-Wilson, 8-Monte;

9-Waghorn, 10-Lawrence, 14-Marriott, 37-Borg;

44- Huddlestone, 46- Malone.

Lampard still dispatched the main lineup that defeated Manchester United in the last round, and the Blues star is still going all out for this game.

For Liverpool, Zhang Mai played with a group of substitutes. There are also two young players Chirivella and Solanke who have never set foot in the Premier League.

In the first half of the game, Liverpool took the lead in kicking off, and even the Red Army, which was a rotation lineup, quickly suppressed Derby County in an all-round way.

In the 3 minutes of the game, Lallana took the lead in trying to shoot outside the Derby County penalty area, and the ball missed the left baseline.

In 5 minutes, Liverpool sent a throw-in from the right. Moreno made a pass from the bottom line. Derby County defender Tomori made a clearance error and directly scored the ball into his own goal.

Lampard's men messed up and Liverpool led 1-0.

Liverpool scored shortly after the start. The Red Army, who had been out of battle for a long time, was a little slack in the rotation, and soon tasted the bitter fruit.

In the 9th minute, Lovren was playing with fire in the backcourt. Derby County intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and made a diagonal pass to Liverpool's ribs. Marriott received the ball and calmly shot the goalkeeper. The ball went into the lower right corner of the goal.

1-1, Derby County equalized after 4 minutes.

Zhang Mai quickly reminded his teammates to concentrate, and Liverpool began to attack aggressively again.

In the 17th minute, Derby County once again stole the ball in the frontcourt. Waghorn and his teammates played a two-for-one cooperation and faced the goalkeeper directly. Unfortunately, Matip blocked the goal with his foot and missed the chance to score.

In the 20th minute, Liverpool attacked Derby County's backcourt. Moreno made a low pass from the 45-degree position on the right again. The Derby County defender made another defensive mistake in the middle.

2-1!Liverpool took the lead with two own goals from their opponents. The Red Army fans in the audience were dumbfounded, and Lampard was also depressed and sighed on the sidelines.

The game continued, and the superior Liverpool gradually controlled the situation on the field.

In the 23rd minute, Lallana broke through the penalty area continuously with his personal ability on the right, raised his foot to hit the goal and was blocked by the defender from the bottom line.

One minute later, Zhang Mai and Sturridge hit the wall at the front of the penalty area to cooperate, and finally Sturridge hit the goal above the crossbar.

In the 27th minute, there was another change on the field. Derby County sent a throw-in from the left side of the front court.

2-2!Derby County equalized again.

Derby County scored four goals and the score was 2-2. The Red Army soldiers who were ashamed and angry were fully fired.

In the 37th minute, Liverpool entered the penalty area with three passes and two downs. Origi hit the goal from the right side of the penalty area and was blocked by the defender.

In the 41st minute, Liverpool entered the opponent's penalty area through a pass in the middle of the front court. Zhang Mai took advantage of the chaos to keep up with the goal and Liverpool took the lead again 3-2.

In the first half of the game, the two sides played very well, and Liverpool temporarily led 3-2.

In the second half of the game, the two sides changed sides to fight again, and the rhythm of the two teams dropped significantly. It was not until the 62nd minute that the two teams ushered in the first shot of the second half:
Lallana made a cold shot from outside the penalty area, and the ball hit the defender and bounced off the baseline.

Zhang Mai sent a corner kick, and Sturridge grabbed a header from the middle of the penalty area and was resolved by the opponent's goalkeeper.

In the 68th minute, Derby County made a quick counterattack. Marriott received a through ball from his teammate and faced the goalkeeper with a volley, which was blocked by Lovren.

In the 78th minute, Klein made a pass from the side, and the ball hit Solanke's head and bounced off the baseline.

Two minutes later, Liverpool's offensive player made a pass from the left, and Sturridge followed up with a header from the center and failed to head straight.

Shortly thereafter, Sturridge again headered the goal with a corner kick, which was bravely saved by the goalkeeper.

In the 84th minute, Derby County launched a continuous attack. First, the forward player received a long pass from the backcourt and rushed to shoot before the defensive player and was blocked by Matip. Then the long-range shot from outside the penalty area was steadily obtained by goalkeeper Pickford.

In the 88th minute, Liverpool got a free kick in the frontcourt, and Zhang Mai's elevator ball went straight to the upper left corner of the goal.

4-2!Zhang Mai scored twice to help the Red Army seal the victory.

Three minutes into stoppage time, the two sides made no further achievements. In the end, Liverpool won 3-4 at home.

The whole game was full of strange phenomena. In the first half of the game, Liverpool received two own goals from the opponent, but Derby County equalized the score in a short period of time. Zhang Mai's goal before the end of the half-time game gave Liverpool another lead. Chelsea lead 3-2.

In the second half of the game, Chelsea controlled the situation. Zhang Mai's free kick helped the home team expand their lead. After that, the two teams made no achievements.

In the end, Liverpool defeated Derby County 4-2 at home and advanced to the top 8 of the League Cup. Lampard's hope of revenge for his home team Chelsea fell through.

Objectively speaking, Lampard should be proud of Derby County's performance at Anfield:
Although they fell behind twice in the first half, Derby County still played very well when they were away, tying the score twice.

Tomori and Keogh scored own goals successively, but the team was able to pull back the score through the goals of Marriott and Weghorn in adversity, and even had a chance to drag the game into a penalty shootout at the end of the game .

In the Sky Sports program, the Red Army star Redknapp Jr. said:

"Derby really had a couple of golden chances towards the end of the game, Keogh and Nugent both came close. But Lampard will be proud of the way the team played and the passing they showed. Today's game, will Gave him a lot of insight into the players. This team has exceeded expectations under his short-term leadership. I think they played really well today. The players showed today that if they go to the Premier League, they can They have the ability to compete with the Premier League powers. But now that they are out, they can focus on the Championship game, which is the most important thing at the moment. Lampard is sad that they will lose, but they can take a break now and re-attack the Championship game .The goal is to succeed in the Premier League and then gain a foothold in the Premier League."

Together with Redknapp Jr. as a guest commentator, there is also the famous former Blues striker, Hasselbaink.

The Dutchman was impressed by the trouble his former team-mate had caused Liverpool.

He believes that for the Rams now, it is necessary to bring this kind of performance to the British Championship every week:
"I was really impressed with the way they pressed the front three and the midfield. They caused a lot of trouble for Liverpool. But now the most important thing is consistency, such good performances need to be consistent. Sex. That's what they're going to focus on next."

……

Except for Leicester City's game against Southampton, which was postponed until November 11, the results of the fourth round of the 28 English League Cup have all been released.

Bournemouth, Tottenham, Burton, Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Manchester City have all advanced to the quarter-finals.

Liverpool will face Bournemouth at home on December 12 in order to compete for the semi-finals of the English League Cup this season.

(End of this chapter)