All players: …
Gu Ran was also full of black lines...
This was the first time Gu Ran had seen such a brief pre-match speech.
Not only was it the first time for Gu Ran to see it, it was also the first time for other veteran players to see it.
But it makes sense when you think about it. Coach Adkins doesn't like to talk normally, let alone say anything motivating. It's good enough that he can just say something like "play well".
"Yes, Coach!"
Led by captain Davis, the players formed a circle, put their hands on top of each other, and shouted in unison: "Saints will win!"
The sound of “Allez Allez Allez” in the stadium was so loud that the word “win” could not be heard at all.
Of course, most of the players are not very confident. After all, facing such a fanatical home atmosphere and facing the Premier League giants Liverpool, shouting "must win" is indeed a bit arrogant.
At 2:40, both teams entered the stadium for the final pre-match adaptive warm-up training.
When Gu Ran stepped onto the green grass of Anfield Stadium and looked at the red color all over the field, his pores suddenly burst out uncontrollably.
There is no need for a competition, just being in such a fanatical atmosphere can make your adrenaline surge and it's hard to suppress!
Britain truly deserves to be called the capital of modern football. The football cultural atmosphere is truly shocking!
When the Southampton fans who came from afar saw their team come on the field, they immediately cheered excitedly.
Especially the women of the Southampton team, their screams instantly resounded throughout the Anfield stadium.
Elizabeth, who was one of the wives, was watching football in person for the first time, and it was also her first time to feel such an explosive atmosphere. Her eardrums were almost shattered.
When her eyes finally found Gu Ran among the players, she ignored the pain in her ears and jumped up and waved to Gu Ran.
The atmosphere of watching the game live was really contagious, and Elizabeth's melancholy was also diluted a lot.
However, Gu Ran had already started warm-up training and did not notice Elizabeth’s waving gesture at all.
Linda, who was sitting in the main stand, couldn't hide her excitement and took a deep breath. "I finally brought Gu Ran to Anfield to play football. Even though it's just once...but this is a start..."
Edwards, who was sitting behind Linda, couldn't help but sigh in his heart:
Ms. Linda, this is really crazy.
Just one sentence can make the entire Liverpool team play football with Gu Ran...
Edwards also secretly calculated in his mind:
Normally, the ticket revenue split between the home team and the away team is 9:1. The average ticket price for Liverpool is 42 pounds. Today, there are less than 50,000 people attending the game. Normally, Liverpool could have received 1.8 million pounds in ticket revenue from this game, and Southampton could have received about 200,000 pounds.
In order to invite Southampton to play, Liverpool took the initiative to give up the ticket benefits, giving Southampton 1.4 million pounds, and only took 600,000 pounds...
From 1.8 million to 600,000, a loss of 1.2 million pounds in revenue, just to watch Gu Ran play football...
It's really crazy.
Edwards turned his gaze to Gu Ran who was warming up on the field, and vowed in his heart: I must bring Gu Ran to Liverpool and dedicate him to Ms. Linda! I must!
At this time, the die-hard fans in the KOP stands also noticed No. 8 Gu Ran.
"That boy? He's Chinese, right?"
"He looks skinny and doesn't look like a football player."
"Oh, no wonder he has so many female fans, it turns out it's just because he's handsome."
"Hehe, can handsomeness be used as a ball?"
"He dares to wear the No. 8? Isn't this a bid to challenge our G8 Gerrard?"
"Southampton is ridiculous! They let a new player wear the number 8! This is a football field, not a catwalk to see who is more handsome!"
The die-hard fans in the KOP stands booed Southampton.
Of course, most of the booing was directed at Gu Ran, who was wearing the No. 8 jersey.
Haldin deliberately walked up to Gu Ran, who was warming up, and said sarcastically, "Boy, did you hear the boos from the audience? This is all because of you."
Gu Ran said without even looking up: "So what? Some people want it but don't have it yet."
"You!" The muscles on Haldin's face twitched slightly. "Humph, I'll wait for you to make a fool of yourself! After this game, you will become a laughing stock in the whole club!"
Gu Ran sneered, "Then just open your eyes wide and watch me."
Haldin took a step closer to Gu Ran and shouted angrily, "Fuck! How dare you call me a dog? Apologize now! Otherwise, this matter will not end!"
Seeing the two were about to confront each other, Captain Davis immediately intervened, holding Gu Ran's shoulders with one hand and Haldin's shoulders with the other, and said with a smile: "Are you playing? Don't play like this! This is a game! Our fans are watching, and the opponent's fans are watching too! If you have any problems, go back and solve them, don't make a fool of yourself here!"
Haldin gritted his teeth and said, "This kid called me a dog! He must apologize to me!"
Gu Ran smiled indifferently, "Okay, I apologize - I shouldn't insult the dog."
"Fuck!" Haldin's whole face twisted.
Fortunately, Davis pressed down on his shoulders hard, making him unable to move.
Davis said coldly, "Gu, stop talking! Harding, you're a veteran, can't you just hold back? Just finish the first preseason game smoothly, and when we get back to Staplewood, you two can do whatever you want."
Gu Ran shrugged, "As long as he doesn't mess with me, I won't fight back."
Harding's teeth were almost broken. "Good boy, you are lucky. Even Davis is on your side now. But don't get complacent. The game is the only criterion for testing a player! We'll see!"
After saying that, Haldin got rid of Davis, turned around and walked to the other side to warm up angrily.
Davis patted Gu Ran on the shoulder, gave him a comforting look, and walked away without saying anything else.
Lambert ran over and smiled at Gu Ran, "Gu, don't be nervous, and don't pay attention to Harding. You are a substitute. Even if we lose this game, no one will put the blame on you."
Gu Ran also smiled at Lambert, "Thank you, Lambert."
Lambert grinned and said, "Let's do it together!"
"Um."
This little episode at Southampton went unnoticed due to captain Davis' early intervention.
However, head coach Adkins on the sidelines saw it all.
Coach Adkins crossed his arms across his chest, still with a poker face.
This team has many problems, but now is not the time to solve them. We have to finish this preseason game first and let all the problems surface...
Shortly after Southampton started warming up, Anfield Stadium cheered wildly again.
The DJ on the scene screamed crazily: "Let us welcome our Liverpool team with the warmest applause!!!"
Captain Steven Gerrard, with a wrinkled face and wearing a red No. 8 jersey, waved to the wildly cheering Liverpool fans while leading the other players to trot onto the green field.
Anfield Stadium was about to explode! All the Liverpool fans stood up and applauded and cheered for their team soul Gerrard and other players.
Behind Gerrard are No. 1 goalkeeper Brad Jones, No. 2 defender Glen Johnson, No. 3 defender Paul Konchesky, No. 4 defensive midfielder Raul Meireles, No. 5 defender Danny Agger, No. 6 defender Fabio Aurelio, No. 10 midfielder Joe Cole, No. 14 forward Milan Jovanovic, No. 16 defender Sodirios Kyrgiakos, No. 17 midfielder Maxi Rodriguez, No. 18 forward Dirk Kuyt, No. 19 forward Ryan Babel, No. 21 midfielder Lucas Leiva, No. 23 Jamie Carragher, No. 24 forward David Ngogo, No. 25 goalkeeper Jose Mnuel Reyna, No. 26 midfielder Jay Spearing, No. 28 midfielder Christian Poulsen, No. 32 defender Stephen Darby, and No. 37 defender Martin Skrtel.
The live DJ introduced the names and positions of the Liverpool players one by one with the greatest enthusiasm.
Each name received a warm response from Liverpool fans.
The Liverpool players whose names were called happily waved to the fans who supported them.
As for the Southampton players, the on-site DJ simply briefly read out the list of Southampton's starting 11.
The names of other substitute players, including Gu Ran, were not announced.
The visiting fans were obviously very dissatisfied with this. The beautiful cheerleaders shouted Gu Ran's name in unison, and all the fans in the north stand of Anfield Road followed suit and shouted Gu Ran's name.
For a time, Gu Ran's name resounded throughout Anfield Stadium.
MaxxRT, who was sitting in the fifth row of the north side away team stand, said excitedly: "The atmosphere at the scene is so explosive! I really want to take out my phone to live broadcast it!"
Sanqiu Guan said: "Yes, yes! Just be patient, we will definitely get the rights to the live broadcast before the league starts!"
Higuchi Seijuro said: "The most anxious ones right now are not us, but the netizens in China who can't see Gu Ran play football. Why don't we broadcast it live in our forum in the form of text, and by the way, we can also attract traffic to our APP in advance."
Qiao Shan, who dunked over Jordan, immediately said, "Okay, leave it to me!"
Qiao Shan, who dunked over Jordan, immediately took out his cell phone and created a thread titled "Gu Ran's Debut Text Live Broadcast" in a forum called "Ran Live Broadcast", updating the situation on the court in real time by hand.
——Ran Live, which is also the name they gave to the live broadcast software.
The “Ran” in “Ransheng” represents the burning passion of competitive sports, and it is also a homonym of the word “Ran” in Gu Ran’s name.
After all, this live broadcast software was created just for watching Gu Ran’s game.
As soon as the topic post was released, it instantly became a hot post.
Although it was already late at night in China, the fans there were still as enthusiastic as ever.
This is also the first time they can know about Gu Ran's game after such a long wait! In less than 2 minutes, this topic post was viewed tens of thousands of times, and the number of comments and interactions reached thousands! Every domestic fan who knew about Gu Ran wanted to accompany him to witness his debut!
At this time, the KOP fans in the South Stand stopped singing and cheering for their own team, and all booed at the North Stand opposite.
The boos from KOP completely suppressed the cheers of "Gu Ran".
More than 5,000 Southampton fans who came from afar roared at the top of their lungs, but they were unable to defeat more than 40,000 fanatical Liverpool fans.
Gu Ran smiled, applauded and bowed to express his gratitude to the Southampton fans who came to support him.
Although the voices of Southampton fans are not as loud as those of KOP and other Liverpool fans, as a new player making his professional debut, Gu Ran is already very satisfied and happy to leave his name at Anfield as soon as he arrives.
Gerrard, who was warming up on the pitch, couldn't help but curiously asked his teammates: "What are the Southampton fans shouting?"
Carragher shrugged. "Who knows? It seems to be the name of a Chinese player."
Gerrard looked at Gu Ran who was training seriously in the opposite half and couldn't help laughing: "It's rare! I can actually see Chinese players in a British game! The last time I met a Chinese player was when I met Sun Jihai in the game against Manchester City a long time ago."
Joe Cole couldn't help but frown, "Steven, did you see that? That guy actually wears No. 8 - the same as you."
Gerard laughed, "...Interesting."
At this time, Gu Ran happened to look towards Gerard.
Gu Ran smiled at Gerrard and the others from a distance: These are the skills of a walking star!
Gerrard immediately smiled and said to his teammates: "This kid looks quite friendly and he even smiled at us."
Glen Johnson, the strong god, sneered: "He looks so thin, he doesn't look like a football player at all, he will be useless if he goes on the field."
Gerrard smiled and said, "Glenn, be gentle. It's a friendly match and the opponent is a League One team. Relax, relax."
Glen Johnson shrugged. "Sorry, a friendly match is also a match. If he wants to pass through me, I don't care if he is rare or not. Even if it is a Chinese giant panda, I will still tackle him."
Gerard shook his head helplessly, "Well, God bless that kid not to run into you."
The pre-match adaptive warm-up ended quickly.
The substitutes of both teams returned to their respective benches, and the starting players of both teams returned to the player tunnel, held the hands of the caddies arranged by the stadium, and waited to enter.
As soon as Gu Ran walked to the visiting team's bench, he saw Elizabeth Olsen waving at him, "Gu! Gu! I'm here!"
Oh my god! It’s so spectacular.
Sister Ao, you are free on weekdays, but you are also free when you come to the stadium to watch the game? Well, you foreign girls are really thrifty.
Gu Ran trotted over to Elizabeth, facing the bouncing waves, "Hi, Liz!"
Elizabeth was so excited that her eyes were full of stars. "Wow! Gu! I didn't expect that you would look even more handsome in a jersey than without anything on! Uh, I mean, you look so handsome in a jersey! Moreover, you actually have so many fans! The entire north stand is shouting your name! Are you really a substitute?"
Gu Ran smiled and said, "It really is."
Elizabeth asked anxiously again: "When can you play? I can't wait to see you play!"
Gu Ran smiled and said, "This is not decided by me. It is decided by the head coach, and the head coach will also decide based on the situation on the spot."
Elizabeth asked in surprise, "Isn't it the kind where you go up and play for a while, then come down to rest, and then go up and play for a while again?"
Gu Ran said helplessly: "You said that was basketball. Once a soccer player is substituted off the field, he cannot be substituted back in, even in a friendly match where there is no limit on the number of substitutions."
Elizabeth said, "Oh!" "The rules of football are so unreasonable. Basketball has all the rules."
Gu Ran: ...
Elizabeth laughed again and said, "Oh, right, isn't the No. 8 player on the opposite side the equivalent of a Hollywood-level football star?"
Gu Ran smiled and said, "Yes, I never thought that you, Liz, can't even understand the basic rules of football, but you still know that number 8 is a big football star."
Elizabeth smiled and said, "In terms of football, I still know a few big stars. I don't know anyone else here, but I know Liverpool's No. 8... Lampard!"
Gu Ran: ...
I shouldn't praise you.
Okay, as long as you are happy.
Gu Ran didn't correct her either. Anyway, there wouldn't be much point in correcting the silly and cute female fan who didn't understand football.
Gu Ran smiled and said, "The game is about to start. I'm going back to the bench. You can watch Lampard here."
"Okay! Gu!" Elizabeth added, "But he's not as handsome as you!"
"Thanks……"
Gu Ran returned to the bench with a look of confusion on his face.
3:00 p.m. sharp.
Led by three international referees, players from Liverpool and Southampton lined up in two rows and officially appeared on the field!
The starting players of both teams shook hands, and the captains of both teams came to the referee to guess the side of the coin.
Southampton's on-field captain is Davis, while Liverpool's starting captain is No. 10 Joe Cole.
Liverpool's captain Gerrard and vice-captain Carragher were sitting leisurely on the home team's bench.
Joe Cole guessed the pros and cons correctly and got the priority to choose the side.
Joe Cole immediately pointed to the north half, as all Liverpool captains would do - in the first half, Liverpool would attack from north to south.
Such a choice is also the superstition and metaphysics of the Liverpool team.
In the first official game after the establishment of Liverpool in 1892, Liverpool's first captain chose to attack from north to south, and the final score was 8:0.
Liverpool fans were very happy with this big first win. They believed that attacking from north to south was God's blessing on Liverpool.
Therefore, this has become a tradition of the Liverpool Club. As long as weather conditions permit, successive Liverpool captains will choose to attack from north to south when choosing sides.
Because of this, the KOP stand on the south side is the favorite stand of Liverpool fans, because standing here you can see Liverpool's goals most clearly and intuitively.
Of course, the venues will be changed in the second half. All kinds of metaphysics, luck, and blessings will be used, but the KOPs don’t think so. They think the second half is garbage time. With the strength of the Red Army, they can win the game in 45 minutes in the first half.
As for the second half, that is the time for KOPs to taunt their opponents and sing songs to celebrate.
In short, captain Joe Cole maintained Liverpool's tradition and chose the north half, so Southampton was assigned to the south half.
Southampton also got the kick-off right.
Amid the crazy cheers of the KOPs, the caddies left the field, the players took photos in their respective half of the field, and then took their positions.
…
(End of this chapter)