Coaching legend

On January 10, the first game of the League Cup semi-final will be held at Ewood Park.

The League Cup is the least important cup championship in England. But when the first game of the League Cup semi-final was held at Ewood Park, the whole stadium was crowded.

Blackburn is a founding member of the Football League established in 1888.

With a long history, it is definitely ranked among the English clubs. And at the beginning of the English League, Blackburn was also a strong team. At the beginning of the English League, it won two top league championships. There are also six English FA Cup championships.

This result is not very shabby.

However, these honors were won eighty or ninety years ago. For Blackburn now, except for flipping through the honor book, there is no use at all. Those English clubs in many low-level leagues have many glorious moments if they turn over their history.

Of course, Blackburn has no achievements worth mentioning afterwards. Only the Premier League championship in the 94-95 season is worth mentioning.

After George took over, he first helped Blackburn win the League Cup and then the European Super Cup. These championships filled the gaps in honor for Blackburn.

In domestic competitions, Blackburn has not won the League Cup.

The League Cup has appeared in the English football world for half a century, but Blackburn has never won the League Cup. This time, they entered the League Cup semi-finals, and all Blackburn fans hope that George can bring back the first League Cup for Blackburn.

Although the weight is low, it is a championship anyway.

And the first one is always exciting. The League Cup is also. The first League Cup championship is still a dream for many fans.

"The fans are very enthusiastic."

It seems that the fans are more enthusiastic about the League Cup than George. George smiled and talked to Evan next to him.

"Is it the first time?"

George nodded.

George also took this game very seriously. After this game, Blackburn will have another Premier League game on January 13. But George didn't care about that, and all the main lineup played in this game.

"It seems that George is determined to win the League Cup. Look, George doesn't care about the next league game."

After getting the starting list, Mortensen smiled and said to Alan Hansen.

"Blackburn has won the top league championship and the FA Cup, but has never won the League Cup. It is understandable that they attach so much importance to it."

The opponent in the League Cup semi-final is Birmingham from the English League One.

As a club, Birmingham is really not famous. Even in the English football world, Birmingham is a dispensable role. Only after a few years of ** in the 1960s, it immediately withered.

The only honor Birmingham can show is the League Cup championship won in the 1960s.

However, Birmingham is still well-known in China. Because later, Hong Kong tycoon Yang Jiacheng took over Birmingham. In the end, Xtep signed a five-year contract, and then Birmingham was relegated. So much so that it was ridiculed by fans.

As the second largest city team in England after London, Birmingham really doesn't deserve the name of Birmingham City.

Birmingham is a large industrial city in the central and Midlands regions of England. According to statistics in 2002, the city has a population of 989,956. The total population within 80 kilometers around Birmingham is about 2 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in the UK except London.

Of course, Birmingham is more unlucky than other teams because they have a city rival Aston Villa with an extremely glorious history.

Villa's glorious history, if Manchester United had not been taken over by Ferguson, would be no less than Manchester United and Arsenal. Seven top league titles, seven FA Cup titles, five English League Cup titles, Champions League, European Super Cup, Toyota Cup.

With such a powerful city rival, Birmingham's depression can be imagined.

Birmingham is now a League One team. With limited strength, it has been trying to advance to the Premier League in recent years, but unfortunately it has not been able to do so.

George was not careless about such an opponent. Even if all the main players were on the field, George emphasized the importance of this game again and again in the locker room. George was unwilling to waste energy in the second game of the semi-finals.

George wanted to completely resolve the suspense in the first game of the semi-finals.

All Blackburn players saw George's determination. Since George took over Blackburn, he has always been willing to pass domestic cup games if he can, and he doesn't care if he can't. But this season's League Cup, George's attitude is very clear.

Blackburn players are also working hard.

When Blackburn attached importance to this game, Birmingham could not stop Blackburn's attack at all.

First, Panucci scored the first goal with Pires' free kick.

Less than five minutes later, Miku received Pires's pass from the wing and scored a long shot.

Before the end of the first half, Pires made another cross, and Klose headed in a goal. This season's goals have exceeded 20. And Pires completed an assist hat trick. At the end of the first half, Blackburn was leading Birmingham 3-0.

But Blackburn's goals were not over.

Just as the second half began, Klose received a long pass from Ferdinand, stopped the ball and passed the defender, scoring the second goal of the game.

Then George replaced Miku with Hleb and Drogba with Klose.

Before the end of the game, Riise scored the fifth goal of the game with a 34-meter long shot from a free kick created by Hleb. In the end, Blackburn defeated Birmingham 5-0 at home.

"The game is over. Blackburn leads Birmingham 5-0. Blackburn has entered the League Cup final, and the second game of the semi-final is no longer useful."

"This is the second time George has led the team to the League Cup final. The last time was three years ago, when George led Burnley to the League Cup final, defeated Chelsea in the League Cup final, and won his first League Cup championship."

"What will happen this time? Let's wait and see!"

Motson looked at the score of 5-0, which had already sentenced Birmingham to death. But it is true, with Birmingham's strength, how could it possibly make up for the five-goal disadvantage.

The fans at Ewood Park Stadium were already celebrating the team's entry into the final in the stands.

George was very happy.

Facing the reporter after the game, George smiled and accepted the interview. "I feel good to enter the League Cup final again. I want to add a League Cup championship to Blackburn's honor book!"

George's words caused a big stir after the game.

Although they were leading by five to zero, George said so loudly that he felt good to enter the final. This made the Birmingham club very dissatisfied. You are so frivolous before playing the second game.

Of course, in addition to Birmingham, the other two clubs, Liverpool and Ipswich, were also angry.

You said that you entered the final, which is not impossible. After all, you are strong, and you are already five goals ahead in the first game. But you haven't played the final yet, and you say that the League Cup championship is yours. Isn't this ignoring other clubs?

It's really intolerable.

Especially Liverpool, it's the most intolerable. The Liverpool Echo severely criticized George, saying that George was arrogant. George is immune to such accusations. When every newspaper criticizes George, the first sentence must be words like George is arrogant and does not know how to be humble.

George only responded to the criticism of the Liverpool Echo. "Wait until you can enter the League Cup final before you talk!"

Liverpool was 1:3 behind Ipswich away in the first game of the League Cup semi-final.

Hearing George's words, Liverpool was furious.

But there was no way. Who made Liverpool not live up to expectations. Ipswich beat three goals.

Maybe entering the League Cup final boosted the morale of Blackburn players. Facing Charlton three days later, Blackburn performed very well. A 3:1 ended the game.

Manchester United continued to be strong, defeating Bradford 3:0 away.

Arsenal continued to be sluggish. Chelsea tied 2:2 at home. In the past three rounds of games, Arsenal has two draws and one loss, and its status is not as good as the relegation team. George also sympathizes with Arsenal and Wenger.

Wenger has bad luck this season, and both group matches in the Champions League are in the group of death.

And the problem of Arsenal's bench depth has always existed. Now such a high-intensity game makes Wenger have no way. Unless Wenger continues to recruit good players and increase the depth of the team's bench.

After this game, Blackburn leads Manchester United by six points and leads Arsenal by thirteen points. Arsenal has completely bid farewell to the competition for the Premier League championship.

…………

All media highly praised Blackburn's recent strength.

Arsenal has also given up. The league championship is impossible, after all, Blackburn is in a very stable state. There is also a Manchester United with rich championship experience above. What Wenger is more worried about now is that if he fails to qualify for the Champions League, the problem will be big.

Liverpool's recent performance is also good, not far from Arsenal.

George's idea is very simple. Before the Champions League restarts, try to consolidate the team's position in the league. If possible, of course, hope to open up points with Manchester United. Because Manchester United is famous for its efforts in the second half of the season.

Unless they start to pull away from the points gap now, they will most likely be dragged down by Manchester United in the end.

Just when everyone was discussing Blackburn's status, The Sun dropped a powerful bomb. It shocked all the English media. Not only the British media, but also the English football world was stunned by the news.

"To take over Tottenham?"