The Midfield Master

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Aston Villa fans will close their shops for half a day when the team has a game, or ask the boss for leave. If you meet the owner who is also a Villa fan, why not just watch the game together.

This is a leisure opportunity during the working day, which is not rare in the UK. Of course, you have to be a die-hard fan, have a season ticket for the team, or dare to risk being scolded by the owner to cheer for the team this winter.

Obviously, Aston Villa, as a veteran team, will have enough diehard fans, and the people who appeared outside the stadium today are enough to fill the Villa Park stadium.

The Villa Park Stadium was first built in 1897. It was called Villa Park Stadium at the time. Because it was adjacent to Villa Park, it was renamed Villa Park Stadium in 1914. After several expansions, the current capacity is 42,788.

This stadium is slightly younger than Everton's home stadium, Goodison Park, but it also has a history of more than 100 years. The name "Villa Park Stadium" has also been used for more than 100 years.

Such century-old buildings do not seem to be uncommon on British soil. But in Xia Ze's ears, Villa Park is as familiar as Old Trafford, because he has heard the name of this stadium since he was a child.

Looking up at this building, which is not too grand and its design is not modern, Xia Ze was fascinated.

Although the red stands were smaller than Old Trafford, Xia Ze vaguely returned to the day when he was reborn from nirvana a month ago, that dream theater.

It's just that he sat on the bench today, and his teammates lined up in front of him, as well as the Villa players who were at home.

The Villa Park Stadium, which can accommodate 42,788 people, was not fully booked today. About 40,000 fans entered the stadium, and the area for away fans has obvious vacancies. Even so, the momentum of Everton fans does not seem to be weaker than that of Villa fans.

Villa fans were as frowning as their manager, Paul Lambert. The team is deep in the relegation zone, and it is too late to avoid relegation. How can they have the energy to cope with the FA Cup?

But their mood is also contradictory, because they hope to use this game to boost the morale of the team. These conflicting emotions are limited to the fans in the stands.

Although Paul Lambert, who had been sitting on the coach's bench since the start, frowned, it could already be seen from his formation that he planned to give up this game.

Even if let him pass this level,

In the FA Cup semi-finals in April, there is no doubt that it will also make way for the league relegation battle. What Lambert is worried about at this time is that another loss in this game will cause the team to lose nearly 7 games, which will further lower morale.

On the other side of the bench, Martinez and his assistants obviously don't have this contradiction. Although they rotated some players in this game, as long as the team's situation is unfavorable, he will send players who can change the situation.

Although the team is also at a critical moment of competing for a place in the European competition in the league, but at this stage of the FA Cup, no matter which team it is, there will be such a glimmer of hope that they can break into the finals and even win the cup .

The referee blew his whistle, the game started, and there was a lot of noise on the scene. Most of these excited noises were made by the thousands of Everton fans.

"Xia Ze, look, they seem to have given up the game." Gibson, who was sitting next to Xia Ze, smiled and said.

"For their fans, this is really difficult. The team can't win so many games." Xia Ze shook his head and said with some pity.

"Actually the most difficult thing is the players on the field, they don't know what to do."

"yes?"

"Well, before you came, our team also experienced a trough for a long time. At that time, we didn't even have the confidence to win." Gibson said with a curled lip.

Xia Ze nodded slightly when he heard the words, looked at the front thoughtfully, and did not answer.

Strictly speaking, he has not experienced such a long period of trough, whether it is in the team or his own state.

Not winning 7 games is equivalent to not trying to win the game in the past two months. That feeling may really drive people crazy.

However, the Villa players on the field did not seem to be under such a great pressure. On the contrary, the Everton team, which had half of the main players on the field, played haphazardly.

After the players of the Villa team knew that the head coach planned to give up this game, these players who had not had many chances to play, instead wanted to seize this opportunity and stormed towards Everton's gate after the opening.

The Everton team, which lacks the main players such as Xia Ze, Gibson, Miralas, and Lukaku, cannot compete with the "Villa Second Team" in the midfield, which is really surprising.

Anyway, this is also a team with 5 consecutive victories and ranked 7th in the league. How can it let a team that is deep in the relegation zone and almost give up this game be suppressed?

Xia Ze was very surprised. He was even more worried when he saw Howard's bald head shaking in front of him.

Without this American goalkeeper in the goalkeeper position, the stability of the defense is indeed worrying.

Ten minutes later, the situation on the Everton team has not changed. Villa's offensive wave after wave has rekindled the enthusiasm of more than 30,000 Villa fans. If these players hadn't been out of battle for a long time, I'm afraid Everton would have fallen behind.

Martinez couldn't sit still. After whispering to the assistant next to him, he immediately walked to the sidelines and yelled at the blue shirt players on the field.

"Leon, keep the ball down, slow down, don't play against them!"

After he yelled, the situation on the field remained unchanged. Everton, who lacked a metronome, lost the ball frequently in the midfield, and the ball was still flying around in the penalty area.

Osman, as the team's starting midfielder today, is a veteran who has been playing in the Premier League for more than 10 years. Why can't he stand up to the opponent's pounce?

Xia Ze couldn't figure it out, and Martinez didn't seem to understand it either.

In the other coach's bench, Lambert's frown relaxed slightly, but there was a trace of hesitation in his eyes.

He didn't intend to win this game, but judging from the current situation, it might give the team an unexpected victory and boost morale.

It's just that once he wins, how should he deal with the next semi-final at Wembley Stadium?

The momentum of the Everton fans in the Villa Park Stadium has been overwhelmed by the singing of the waves of Villa fans, but this game has just begun. c