Hearing the loud noise of the car window, all the Southampton players screamed and subconsciously lowered their heads and bent over to avoid it.
The cheerful atmosphere on the road just now suddenly dropped to freezing point!
Fortunately, the car window glass was made in China and was of very good quality. The coin only left a small impact point on the glass before bouncing off.
The players looked out through the car windows and saw a group of Portsmouth fans outside the bus with red faces and necks, obviously they had just come out of the bar after drinking morning wine.
There were about a dozen Portsmouth fans, all wearing blue Portsmouth jerseys.
When these extreme fans saw the Southampton players looking through the glass, they were not afraid at all. Instead, they arrogantly made international gestures to the Southampton players and swore incoherently.
Captain Davis couldn't help but frown, "Fuck, damn the remnants of the 6.57 gang!"
——The 6.57 Gang is a famous football hooligan organization in Portsmouth.
In the 1970s, football hooligan culture was rampant in England, and almost every club had a football hooligan organization.
For example, Everton has the "County Road Knifemen", Arsenal has the "Beast Herd", Aston Villa has the "Villa Youth Army", Birmingham has the "Zulu Warriors", Chelsea has the "Headhunters", Newcastle United has the "Gremlins", Sheffield United has the "Blade Business Gang", Wolves has the "Metro Army", Coventry has the "Ancient Roman Legion", Millwall has the "Guerrillas", West Ham United has the "Town and Country Gang", Manchester United has the "Scarlet Army", Tottenham Hotspur has the "Jewish Army"...
Almost every one of these famous football hooligan organizations in the 1970s was responsible for murders.
It was not until after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 that these football hooligan organizations were restrained, transformed and disintegrated under the official crackdown.
Portsmouth's 6.57 Gang is also very notorious. In the fourth knockout round of the FA Cup in 1984, football hooligans from the 6.57 Gang hit Southampton players playing on the field with coins, which then triggered a large-scale fan conflict. From then on, whenever Portsmouth and Southampton met, fighting was inevitable.
After the 6.57 gang collapsed in 1989, most of their core members formed a new fan organization, the "Flatton Brotherhood".
Although the brotherhood's behavior has been restrained a lot, when they met their arch-rival Southampton, their football hooligan nature was revealed again.
"Everyone, please be calm," head coach Adkins said solemnly, "We are here to play football, not to reason with football hooligans. Mr. Driver, please keep driving."
"Yes." The driver drove forward carefully.
The extreme fans of the Fratton Brotherhood booed the Southampton bus.
One fan even unbuckled his belt and urinated on the Southampton bus.
The police officers who were maintaining order nearby just grinned and showed no intention of stepping forward to interfere.
The fans of the Fratton Brotherhood sang proudly at the top of their voices: "We Portsmouth people ride on 10,000-ton warships to plunder the world! You Southampton people are only fit to ride on shabby fishing boats to catch your ray relatives!"
Hearing such humiliating singing, the Southampton players in the car were so angry that their teeth were chattering.
Gu Ran, who had been keeping calm about the South Coast Derby, couldn't help but get furious after hearing the lyrics of Fratton Brotherhood!
Fuck! You damn bastards!
If I don’t give you a good beating today, I’ll be letting down my ancestors!
——Southampton’s bus entered Fratton Park safely.
Fratton Park is also a small stadium, named after the Fratton Park it is located in, with a total capacity of only 21,000 seats.
Portsmouth was considered a top team in the Premier League more than a decade ago. In 1949 and 1950, they won the English Football League One (the top league at the time) championship consecutively under the leadership of legendary coach Jack Dean.
This result made neighbor Southampton jealous.
But Portsmouth's fate is very similar to that of Southampton, both of which have recently encountered a huge financial crisis.
Although Portsmouth did not get relegated to League One, they were actually in a worse situation than Southampton.
Just half a year ago, to be precise, on February 26, 2010, the Premier League officially issued a statement that Portsmouth Club was insolvent and bankrupt, and the club was officially taken over by the bank. This was the first time a club was placed under trusteeship since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992.
During the trusteeship period, Portsmouth cannot buy or sell any players, all profits will be turned over, and the players will only receive basic wages without any bonuses or benefits.
Portsmouth was also deducted 9 points due to financial problems and fell directly into the relegation zone of the Premier League.
Despite such great pressure, Portsmouth still defeated Tottenham Hotspur, only falling behind Chelsea by one goal, and won the FA Cup runner-up.
Portsmouth theoretically qualified for the Europa League, but because the team was placed under trusteeship, the Europa League qualification was cancelled and the sixth place in the Premier League was appointed as the substitute.
In June 2010, the team appointed former Notts County head coach Steve Cotterill as the team's new head coach.
——Although Portsmouth was only relegated from the Premier League to the Championship, it lost the qualification for the European war, which is obviously much worse than Southampton.
Moreover, up to now, Portsmouth is still in bankruptcy administration, so maintaining the stadium is even more impossible.
Fratton Park is an old-style stadium. The most special thing about this stadium is that other stadiums are oriented north-south, while Fratton Park is oriented east-west.
Although this stadium is small, its designer is very famous.
The designer is Archibald Leach. Stadiums such as Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, Liverpool's Anfield, Manchester United's Old Trafford, Villa Park, Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane, and Everton's Goodison Park are all designed by this famous designer.
Of course, these stadiums have now been renovated, and only Fratton Park has basically maintained its original appearance.
With the rapid development of modern football, the public facilities of this stadium have obviously fallen behind.
The largest stand at Fratton Park is the West Stand, also known as the "Fratton's End", which is the stand for the Fratton Brotherhood and die-hard fans.
The corresponding East Stand is a dedicated stand for visiting fans, called the Milton Stand. It is very small, with only more than 4,000 seats.
Today's south coast derby was a good draw for Portsmouth.
Professional betting company William Hill gave the odds early on: win 1.61, draw 3.87, lose 5.82.
This odds clearly favors Portsmouth, which is playing at home.
If you buy Southampton to win away, and Southampton actually wins in the end, then you can get the bookmaker to pay 5.82 times to 1 - because the risk is high and the probability is small, the odds are high.
The Southampton team conducted two hours of adaptive training on the field in the morning, had lunch in the players' restaurant, and then stayed in the visiting team's locker room to rest, stretch and maintain physical condition.
Coach Adkins also asked all players not to leave the locker room without permission to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.
At around 5pm, fans began to enter the stadium.
Today is Tuesday, a weekday, but the fans arrived at the stadium early.
Portsmouth fans wearing blue jerseys flocked to the stands, especially the west stand "Fratton's End". In less than half an hour, it was full, and the loud and rhythmic Pompey military song rang out over the stadium.
Portsmouth fans call themselves the Pompey Army.
Pompeii is also another name for the naval port of Portsmouth.
The Southampton Saints fans also entered the stadium from the visiting team entrance early and filled the entire Milton Stand on the east side.
The appeal and value of the League Cup are not high, but because it is a south coast derby, a lot of fans came to watch the game today.
In addition, Southampton is very close to Portsmouth, and can be reached in less than half an hour by car, so many Southampton fans also came.
Every Southampton fan hopes to see Gu Ran crush their mortal enemy with his own eyes.
However, Portsmouth only reserved 4,000 away stand seats for Southampton, which resulted in at least 3,000 Southampton fans being unable to buy tickets. They could only wait at the stadium entrance for kind people to refund their tickets, or grit their teeth and pay a higher price to buy Portsmouth's high-priced scalper tickets.
The attendance for today's game is full.
Judging from the atmosphere in the stadium, the 4,000 Saints were obviously no match for the 17,000-man Pompeii Legion.
But outside the stadium, Saints fans almost occupied the entire Fratton Park.
The game hadn't even started yet, but fans from both teams were already calling each other "traitors".
In addition to the fans of both teams, all major British media, including print media, television media and online media, were all present today.
After all, derby matches are the easiest to dig up big news, as both sides of the game will definitely play hard.
Moreover, Gu Ran will also participate in this derby. Wherever Gu Ran is, scandals can be dug out even if there is no news.
The top management of Portsmouth Football Club also appeared in the main stand. They certainly would not miss this derby battle that concerns the club's honor.
The three major scouts from Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City also arrived early - watching Gu Ran play football has become their primary job.
At 6 pm, the head coaches of both teams exchanged harsh words at the pre-match press conference.
Steve Cotterill, the new head coach of Portsmouth, said in front of the media that they would not show any mercy to Southampton today and would at least win by more than 3 goals.
Southampton coach Adkins said that defeating Portsmouth would not make him particularly happy, because winning the first round of the League Cup would be a normal operation for Southampton.
Coach Steve Cotterill said he sympathized with Adkins, after all, Southampton had to go home and feed after just the first League Cup knockout match.
Coach Adkins also expressed his sympathy for Coach Cotterill, because Coach Adkins could not imagine the bitter taste of losing to a bitter rival at home.
Coach Steve Cotterill advised Coach Adkins to focus on the English League One and wished Coach Adkins could lead the scabs to successfully avoid relegation in the English League One.
Coach Adkins extended a subtle but cordial greeting to Coach Cotterill’s family…
The pre-match press conference was tense, with the coaches from both sides full of hostility, and there was no politeness of "friendship first, competition second" at all.
In one word: do it.
At 7:00 p.m., the referee team entered the field to inspect the venue and players from both teams entered the field for adaptive warm-up.
The Southampton players, as the visiting team, were the first to enter the field to warm up.
Southampton fans stood up and cheered and applauded Gu Ran.
Chamberlain seemed very excited. He stood in front of Gu Ran and applauded the fans who stood up and applauded.
The Portsmouth fans at the scene booed.
Every time a player's name was read, the Portsmouth fans at the scene, led by members of the Fratton Brotherhood, cursed "scab".
When the name "No. 8 left back Gu Ran" was called, Southampton fans cheered wildly, while Portsmouth fans booed wildly, and some extreme frontcourt fans even pulled their eyes towards Gu Ran and made humiliating gestures.
Gu Ran just sneered and then concentrated on warming up.
The shouts of 17,000 “labor scabs” were deafening, and the entire Fratton Park stadium was shaking steadily. The scene was extremely shocking.
The Southampton fans in the away stands were almost furious, but as they were playing away from home and were outnumbered, they could only watch helplessly.
When the home team Portsmouth came on the field, the Southampton Saints immediately booed back!
Some people even turned their backs, took off their pants, and shook their buttocks to humiliate the Portsmouth players.
When it comes to humiliating opponents, Portsmouth and Southampton are really brothers.
When the live DJ introduced the Portsmouth player list, every time a name was read out, the Southampton Saints shouted "scabs" at the top of their lungs.
Although the number of Southampton fans is four times less than that of Portsmouth, Southampton is not much behind Portsmouth in terms of swearing.
The verbal war between the fans of both sides has escalated and has already involved the families of both sides.
There are also a lot of security personnel in the stadium today. In previous Portsmouth games, there were only a dozen security guards to maintain order. But in today's South Coast Derby, in addition to more than 100 professional security guards, more than 100 armed police officers were also deployed to prevent fans of both sides from causing trouble.
Portsmouth is now under administration. If there is another fight during a match, the club may be directly demoted to the English League Two.
Because of the verbal battle and exposure of body parts on the field, the domestic live broadcast had already received the signal, but at this time it could only temporarily maintain a black screen and muted state to avoid being censored and removed.
After half an hour of adaptive warm-up, players from both sides temporarily left the field and returned to their respective locker rooms to make final preparations.
Southampton fans sang "The Saints March On" in unison.
Portsmouth fans sang the "Pompeii Army Song" to the melody of "Westminster Abbey": Play up Pompey, Pompey, play up, play up...
Before the game officially started, fans from both sides had already started singing.
In the visiting team's locker room, Southampton's players formed a circle with murderous intent.
When playing against a sworn enemy, there is no need for mobilization at all, everyone is in the most enthusiastic state of mind.
Coach Adkins looked around and said in a deep voice: "Let's play according to our tactical deployment yesterday! For the fans! And for ourselves!"
Captain Davis took the lead and shouted: "For the fans! And for ourselves! Kill Pompey!"
"Death to Pompeii! Death to Pompeii! Death to Pompeii!"
Chamberlain yelled the loudest! Gu Ran felt like his eardrums were about to be pierced by Chamberlain's yelling.
At 7:40, players from both teams lined up to enter the field under the guidance of the referee and linesman!
The fans at the scene were waving their flags and cheering crazily for their respective teams! The handshakes between the two players were also very intense, with sparks almost flying out of the eyes of each starting player.
The live broadcast signal of Ranzhibo was also restored immediately.
"Shit! The signal is finally restored!"
"I thought I couldn't watch the game today!"
"I watched the game at 3am after handing in my homework. I really love Gu Ran!"
"Why is the atmosphere so heated today? Players from both teams look like they want to eat each other!"
"This is the South Coast Derby! From the 1960s to the 1990s, the South Coast Derby was the most popular derby, even more popular than the Manchester United Derby! Not only do the two teams have a deep feud, but the residents of the two cities are also mortal enemies!"
"The Reds derby is fun to watch because of the high level of competition and the big names of the teams, but the South Coast Derby is real! It's super real!"
"That's right, when these two teams meet, there will be a fight!"
"I bet there will be God of War cards today! There will be no less than 5 yellow sapphire cards!"
"Ah? Are they really going to fight? That's so uncivilized!"
"You know shit! Watching the game without watching the fight is like eating dumplings without dipping them in your sister-in-law!"
"What the hell! What kind of family is this..."
"Gu Ran, please don't get a red card!"
At this time, the handshake ceremony between the players of both sides ended, and the captains of the two teams came to the referee to choose sides.
Before the coin toss, the referee sternly warned the captains of both teams that no one was allowed to behave aggressively during the game, otherwise they would receive a red card.
Neither captain paid much attention to the referee's warnings.
Southampton captain Davis guessed the directions and got the priority to choose the side.
Portsmouth captain Aaron Mokoina got the priority to kick off for Portsmouth.
Davis then chose the west half - the west stand is "Fratton's end". Although choosing the west stand as the defensive half puts a lot of pressure on Portsmouth, it can also make the start of the game less comfortable.
After taking a group photo, the players from both teams quickly took their positions.
In this game, Southampton used their most common 442 formation.
The tactics arranged by Coach Adkins before the game were defensive counterattacks. The man-to-man marking method focused on man-to-man marking plus zone defense stranglehold. The passing method was mainly long passes and 45-degree diagonal passes. The breakthrough method was both wings flying together to support the middle. The mentality required for the game was caution, and the core of the organization was the left back.
On the forward line, the center forward Guli, who has been in good form in recent games, continued to start, while Lallana moved slightly back and to the left, taking on some of the responsibilities of the attacking midfielder in order to better connect Gu Ran and Guli.
The left midfielder is Chamberlain who has returned from suspension, and the right midfielder is Schneiderlin.
The two midfielders are Lambert and Hammond - they are positioned slightly behind and take on some of the responsibilities of the defensive midfielder.
The left back is naturally Gu Ran, and the right back is Richardson who has performed very stably in recent games.
The two central defenders are vice-captain Walton and senior defender Jaidi.
The goalkeeper is captain Davis.
——This starting lineup configuration can be regarded as Southampton’s absolute main lineup.
The opposing Plymouth team also sent all their main players to the field today.
In this game, Plymouth also used their usual 442 formation, but their 442 is different from Southampton's 442.
Portsmouth's two center forwards are No. 10 David Nugent and No. 27 Nwankwo Kanu.
David Nugent is only 175cm tall, but he is extremely fast, has a keen sense of smell, and is a first-class positional player in front of the goal. Now 25 years old, he is already an England international and has scored one goal in an official national team match.
And Nwankwo Kanu is a legendary football star.
As Nigeria's top star, Kanu has won the African Footballer of the Year award many times. He has made 69 appearances for the Nigerian team and scored 11 goals, many of which were key goals that could turn the game around.
Kanu was already a brilliant talent at the age of 17. He represented the Nigerian youth team and won all the games. He became the most dazzling star in that year's World Youth Championship. After the game, he was directly selected by Ajax coach Van Gaal.
Kanu, who is 197cm tall, has been shining brightly since entering the Eredivisie. Almost all Eredivisie scouts believe that he is the successor to the Ice Prince Bergkamp.
At the 1996 Olympics, Kanu, as the captain of the Nigerian team, won the Olympic gold medal for Nigeria, a historic achievement.
That year, the African ostrich boy was only 20 years old. It was also in that year that Inter Milan recruited this talented young man and prepared to dominate the Champions League.
However, less than three months after joining Inter Milan, Kanu was diagnosed with heart disease and the doctor concluded that he was not suitable for playing football.
Kanu experienced a very serious setback in life, and his career, which was once favored by everyone, fell into a free fall.
Most people would probably just give up and accept their fate.
But Kanu didn't. With his love for football, he gambled with his life.
After undergoing a series of heart surgeries that could have led to more serious consequences, Kanu tenaciously returned to the field and was spotted by Wenger and brought to Arsenal.
Kanu has enjoyed a second spring in his career at Arsenal.
The most glorious moment in Kanu's career was at Arsenal.
In the 1999-2000 season, when Arsenal was two goals behind in the match against Chelsea, Kanu came on as a substitute and scored a hat trick in 15 minutes, making a comeback from 2-2 down to 3-0. Kanu became a legend in one fell swoop! His inspirational legend has become a role model for countless football players at the beginning of the new century.
Unfortunately, heart problems have always troubled Kanu, and he can only be a substitute in Arsenal, which is full of talented players.
Kanu then moved to West Bromwich Albion, but his form was not good.
It was not until he moved to Portsmouth that he regained his form and led the Pompey team to win the FA Cup and the runner-up.
Kanu's nickname is Ostrich. Ostrich is very fast and flexible on his feet. He has a high awareness of running and is good at passing the ball to teammates in better positions, serving as a tactical fulcrum in front of the goal.
Although Kanu, now 34 years old, no longer has the sharp world-class competitive form of his past, his experience and his back-to-the-basket ball-stopping skills are still world-class.
Kanu is also Portsmouth's most famous player at present.
Kanu's weakness is that although he is nearly two meters tall, he is very poor at heading, and because of his heart disease, his condition fluctuates greatly. In addition, his age makes his physical confrontation and physical fitness decline significantly compared to his peak period.
And today, Gu Ran’s main target of defense is Kanu!
…
(End of this chapter)