At 7:35, players from both teams lined up in the aisle, holding the hands of their caddies, and officially entered the court under the guidance of the referee.
The live broadcast received the live signal, and the number of viewers in the live broadcast room instantly exceeded 300,000! Today is not the weekend, and this game is not the finals, but this is a game between Gu Ran's Southampton team and the Premier League powerhouse Everton. The gold content is extremely high, so it also attracted a large number of fans and non-fans.
Domestic sports lottery also opened single bets, and the fans in the live broadcast room had already bought lottery tickets predicting Everton would lose by 1 goal, waiting for Gu Ran to realize his goal of owning a villa by the sea.
As long as Southampton can draw with Everton in the 90 minutes of regular time, the fans in the live broadcast room will win. It would be even more exciting if they can beat Everton in 90 minutes.
Amid the crazy cheers from the fans in the stadium, players from both teams lined up and shook hands.
The referee motioned the captains of the two teams to come over to play coin toss.
Everton's captain is the No. 10 player Mikel Arteta, while Southampton's captain is still goalkeeper Davis.
In fact, Arteta is not Everton's first captain.
In fact, Arteta is not Everton's first captain, because head coach Moyes prefers tall, muscular and strong players, such as Rooney, Rodwell and Fellaini. Arteta is a handsome young man and looked a little feminine when he was young. Therefore, even though Arteta is the core brain of the team, Moyes only makes Arteta the second captain.
Everton's first captain is Philip Neville, the younger brother of Manchester United legend Gary Neville.
These two brothers were at Manchester United together, one on the left and one on the right, they were simply the twin wingers.
Gary Neville thinks his brother is a fool.
Philip Neville thought his brother was an idiot.
But they all have a very good relationship with Beckham, and the three of them grew up training together.
The elder brother Gary Neville just retired last season, and the younger brother Philip Neville is already 33 years old this year. After a serious injury, he can still play as a starter in Everton and can also serve as the captain of Everton.
However, in today's game, Philip Neville, the captain, did not start, but sat on the bench.
Head coach Moyes knew that Southampton was not a weak team. After all, they had made it all the way to the fourth round of the EFL Cup. Even a League One team could not be considered weak. But deep down in his heart, Moyes still did not take Southampton seriously.
Moyes believes that Southampton's tactics are very simple. It is nothing more than utilizing the left side, especially Gu Ran's personal ability. As long as Gu Ran is restricted, Southampton will be like a toothless old lady and can be easily teased.
Therefore, in this game, Moyes did not let captain Philip Neville start, but let Arteta, the second captain, take the role of captain on the field.
Southampton captain Davis guessed the wrong coin, so Everton got the priority to choose the side, and Southampton got the right to kick off in the first half.
Arteta chose the south half for Everton and attacked from south to north.
The captains of both teams shook hands and exchanged team flags according to the procedure. The players of both teams also took photos in their respective half of the field and then formed their formations.
In today's game, the away team Southampton still adopted the 442 formation. The strategy in the first half was to defend with all their strength and press in the half court.
In the past, when playing against English League One, Southampton usually pressed high throughout the entire court. However, when playing against Premier League team Everton, Southampton did not dare to press high right away. After all, Everton is very confrontational, and Moyes likes to use the width of the court very much. If they blindly press high right away, Southampton's defense will find it difficult to withstand Everton's quick attack.
Southampton also sent out its full lineup this time.
The two forwards are Gourley and Connolly.
These two forwards are both experienced veterans. Although their goal-scoring ability is not very good, their ability to serve as a fulcrum in the frontcourt and their ability to intercept and counter-attack in the midfield are still good.
Their triangle cooperation with Lallana is also very tacit, and in this respect they are much better than Jarrod and Ronald.
The attacking midfielder is naturally Lallana.
After several games after recovering from injury, Lallana's physical fitness and competitive state have almost recovered.
Although Lallana lacks confrontation in the attacking midfielder position and he did not play as an attacking midfielder at the beginning, his awareness and skills are still very strong, and the "Gulala" connection has always been an important scoring method for Southampton.
Therefore, Lallana is the most suitable person for the attacking midfielder position.
The position of defensive midfielder is played by Lambert, who has performed very stably.
The left midfielder is still Chamberlain, and the right midfielder is still Schneiderlin.
Chamberlain is very fast, although not as fast as Gu Ran, but he can also form very sharp cooperation with Gu Ran on the wing. With Chamberlain in the front, the ball passed by Gu Ran behind him has a good chance of being caught by Chamberlain and forming a breakthrough.
Right winger Schneiderlin is very stable and comprehensive, and can also form a diagonal cooperation with Gu Ran.
Naturally, Gu Ran will still be the left back.
Although Gu Ran is a greater threat in the middle, Coach Adkins still chose to put Gu Ran at the left back position.
Southampton still has to rely on physical strength to win.
Physical fitness is absolutely the most important thing for a team that mainly plays in the traditional British style.
Conserve your own energy and drain Everton's energy, then you will have a chance in the second half.
As for whether the scene is good looking or not?
unimportant.
The more pragmatic a coach is, the less he cares whether the scene looks good or not, especially in a knockout match, when he only looks at the final score.
What's more, Southampton is playing against a strong Premier League team, so coach Adkins' strategy in the first half is defense, and the defense mainly depends on Gu Ran.
Another reason for placing Gu Ran at left back is to protect him from being fouled by Everton's animals.
Everton played very aggressively during the Moyes era, and the players who were targeted often found it difficult to withstand the pressure.
Putting Gu Ran at the back at the beginning can also prevent Gu Ran from being targeted and injured.
Southampton's right back is Richardson, and the two central defenders are Jaidi and Fonte.
Fonte can play as a right back or a center back. In comparison, Aaron Martin is too young and needs more experience in games. Although vice-captain Walton has more experience, he has lacked actual game experience in recent times and his physical fitness is not enough.
The defensive pressure in the first half of today's game was definitely very high, and Coach Adkins was also worried that Walton would not be able to hold on for even half a game and would waste a precious substitution spot.
The goalkeeper is still captain Davis.
The formation Everton used was Moyes's most adept 4411 formation, with 4 defenders, 4 midfielders, 1 shadow striker and 1 center forward.
The shadow striker's position is similar to that of the attacking midfielder, but he is closer to the goal than the attacking midfielder, and their roles on the field are completely different.
The attacking midfielder's responsibility is more to connect the midfield and the frontcourt, and also to participate in the defensive interception in the midfield and frontcourt.
The shadow striker follows closely behind the center forward and needs stronger dribbling and off-ball movement skills as well as the ability to get in from the back and a nose for the goal.
The shadow forward is actually a forward, but his position is in front and behind the center forward, not in parallel.
4411 is an unpopular formation, but for Moyes, who is good at building a team, this formation is very consistent with his tactical philosophy.
The wing space of 4411 is very large, and the two wingers can make full use of the width of the field to cross the ball, but the real core of this formation is not the shadow striker, nor the wingers on both sides, but the midfielder.
4411 needs a strong midfielder to connect the two players. The two midfielders must have all the abilities of the attacking midfielder and the defensive midfielder. They must be of the B2B type, sprinting all over the field. They must be able to control the field and pass the ball.
Such players are very important no matter which team they are in.
Once their waist strength is not enough, their center forward and shadow forward will be out of touch with the midfield, and the two center forwards and shadow forwards in the 4411 formation can only watch helplessly.
As the head coach of Everton, Moyes' formation is unpopular, but his actual tactical system is still traditional British.
Moyes likes to use tall and strong men very much, and he himself has a nickname: Empress Moyes.
This doesn't mean that his coaching style is feminine, but that he likes tall and powerful players, and the more the better.
Of course, Moyes has many other nicknames, such as Mosiah, which is a new word created by combining his name with the savior Messiah. It is a title that fans use to praise him.
However, three years later, after he took over Ferguson's job at Manchester United, his nickname became "81" and "The Eternal Injustice Moyes".
Because of this nickname, there is also a very famous couplet: Van Gaal in June Snow.
This couplet of nicknames refers to the fact that famous coaches like Moyes and Van Gaal were unable to lead Manchester United after Ferguson retired.
As for "81", it refers to the famous "81 crosses" after Moyes coached Manchester United.
At that time, Manchester United played against the farmers Fulham at home. Manchester United pressed the team all over the field and attacked frantically. In the normal game, they kicked 81 crosses in total, and Fulham's defense was kicked to pieces and was in a precarious situation. The scene was as ugly as a disaster movie. Even dogs shook their heads and sighed when they saw it... In the end, Manchester United tied Fulham 2:2 at home with an absolutely crushing 81 crosses.
But that’s all for later.
Although Moyes is not a first-class tactical coach, his team-building philosophy and his adherence to traditional playing style are still remarkable.
...(End of this chapter)