After the match started, Moyes's anxiety grew even worse.
He was constantly worried that his team's problems would become Liverpool's breakthrough, and this emotion affected him, leaving him no time for anything else.
He worried that his team would concede the first goal, maybe within five minutes, maybe ten, maybe fifteen.
And he was helpless to prevent it.
But what he feared didn't actually happen.
The FA Cup final had been going on for twenty minutes, and the score was still 0-0, a stalemate.
It wasn't that Everton's performance was particularly tenacious, nor that Liverpool's attack was especially weak.
The reason for the tie was... the referee's calls.
The referee for this match, James, was the same referee who had caused huge controversy this season. When he officiated the Merseyside Derby, he made many calls that were clearly biased towards Everton.
The FA's decision to let him referee the FA Cup final had also caused some controversy.
However, the FA's reasons were impeccable. As a leader among England's young referees, Jameson was naturally qualified to officiate the FA Cup. Although he had made mistakes in the Merseyside Derby, he had been punished by being suspended from officiating the remaining league games of the season, which was enough. They couldn't very well ban this referee they were focusing on developing for life, could they?
Everyone could see that the FA letting James referee the FA Cup final was meant to comfort, or rather, compensate, this young referee who had been suspended until the end of the season.
Some media said that they were deliberately targeting Liverpool, but the FA had something to say about that.
"When we made this decision, the FA Cup semi-finals hadn't even started yet. We didn't know that Liverpool would ultimately reach the FA Cup final. So, any suggestion that the FA is targeting Liverpool Football Club is unreasonable!"
Taken literally, the FA's words were perfectly reasonable. They weren't prophets who could foresee the future, so at the time they didn't know whether Liverpool could reach the final, so saying they were targeting Liverpool was wrong.
Even if Liverpool's reserves were strong, the ball is round, and who knows what might happen?
What if Liverpool were eliminated?
Even if the odds were small, they still existed, even if it was only 0.001 percent, they couldn't be ignored.
So, the FA's explanation was perfect. Even if everyone knew what was going on, there was no way to accuse them.
James's calls were very lenient in this match.
A lenient officiating style ensured that the game flowed smoothly, which should have been a good thing.
But specific problems required specific analysis.
Lenient officiating isn't always good.
For example, when Everton players made big moves...
This time, James wasn't obviously biased towards one team. He didn't make a lot of calls that favored Everton, or a lot of calls that were unfavorable to Liverpool, like he had in the previous game.
This time, whether Liverpool fouled Everton, or Everton fouled Liverpool, James's calls were very lenient, not calling anything if he could avoid it, allowing the game to proceed smoothly.
It seemed like fairness.
But anyone who watched the game, as long as they weren't stupid, knew that there was a big problem here.
Because Everton was on the defensive. They defended more, and needed to make big fouls more often.
Therefore, this lenient officiating style was actually more beneficial to Everton, and Liverpool enjoyed fewer opportunities.
As a result, Liverpool's attacks were repeatedly interrupted by Everton's rough defense, but referee James made no indication.
Of course, Liverpool players could also use rough moves to counterattack.
But after all, Everton still had the advantage.
At first, no one noticed.
An Everton player made a tackle from behind on Carlton Cole, knocking Cole and the ball to the ground. The stadium stands were filled with exclamations, and even the commentators shouted: "That's a foul! That should be a card!"
The Everton player who committed the foul was also frightened after the foul. As a professional player, he knew very well what this move meant.
So, he quickly jumped up to defend himself, saying that he had tackled the ball, and it wasn't a deliberate foul.
In fact, this defense was very weak. Everyone could see how hard he had kicked just now.
The problem was that James actually believed his defense!
Although he called the foul, he didn't issue a yellow or red card. He just verbally warned the player a few times.
If this was the first call of the game, it wouldn't necessarily indicate a problem, but then, when he didn't call fouls that the commentators said were fouls, and only verbally warned for fouls that the commentators said should be carded, everyone suddenly understood.
James's calls were very lenient in this game, very lenient.
Of course, James wasn't so lenient on all calls. Sometimes he would still issue a card when he needed to. But that was only occasional, and didn't affect his overall officiating style. Otherwise, everyone wouldn't think that James's calls were so lenient in this game.
You have to know that even acting requires skill. If it's too blatant, it will always leave too many excuses for others.
This thing is like a thin sheet of paper on a window. Everyone knows, but it's hard to break through.
Everyone knew why James's calls were so lenient in this game, but as long as he made some disguises, then everyone couldn't call him out.
But some people didn't care so much.
※※※
Chen Hero was very unhappy right now.
He knew what James was doing this for. Wasn't it just to encourage Everton to use even bigger moves to defend Liverpool's attack?
Look now, he had achieved his goal. With his tacit approval and even encouragement, Everton's players' defensive moves were getting bigger and bigger.
And Liverpool's players, for fear of getting injured, had begun to hold back in their attacks.
The initiative of the game was slowly shifting from Liverpool to Everton.
Everton was defending to the death, and facing such a defense, Liverpool was actually a little helpless.
It had been more than twenty minutes, and Liverpool still hadn't been able to break through Everton's goal.
And the reason for all this was the referee who made him very unhappy.
Chen Hero regretted that he hadn't just taken this bastard down to the ground last time.
But now he still had a chance.
He even felt that Liverpool's biggest enemy right now wasn't Everton, but that damn referee James.
He was waiting for a perfect opportunity.
※※※
More than twenty minutes had passed, and Everton still hadn't conceded a goal.
Moyes's anxious heart finally calmed down slowly.
No matter what unknown flaws his team had, Liverpool hadn't scored yet, which meant that his team was safe.
Of course, he also knew the main reason why Liverpool hadn't scored yet.
But since his team was benefiting from it, he couldn't say anything, and just pretended he didn't see it. Just like last time.
Because of Liverpool's monopoly on various championships, Moyes now felt that as long as he could get the championship, he didn't care what means he used. Facing a consistently strong Liverpool, Moyes would also have this kind of thought.
Feeling relieved, he sat back down on the coach's seat.
This was the first time he had sat down since the game started.
※※※
Almost thirty minutes were up, and Liverpool, under the rough defense of Everton's players, lacked ideas, so the score was still 0-0.
Chen Hero waited for a few minutes, but didn't get a chance. He decided to take the initiative.
Taking advantage of a dead ball, he found a teammate on the defense line and asked him to give a message to the goalkeeper Stella.
"Next time you kick a long ball or a goal kick, kick the ball at the head of referee James!"
The player who was passing the message was stunned for a moment.
Chen Hero didn't have time to explain to him, and just patted him on the shoulder: "Just tell him that!"
He had absolute authority in the reserve team, so this player didn't ask why, and obediently ran back.
Soon goalkeeper Stella heard Chen Hero's words from him.
He also didn't quite understand why Chen Hero wanted him to do this.
But out of absolute trust in Chen Hero, he decided to follow his instructions.
For a goalkeeper to be able to kick a goal kick or a long ball and hit where he's aiming is a basic skill for a goalkeeper. A goalkeeper who can't even kick a goal kick or a long ball well is definitely not a qualified goalkeeper.
Even the reserve team's goalkeeper had this ability.
So, Chen Hero's request wasn't difficult for Stella.
If you want to know why Hero wanted him to do this, it's simple, just kick the ball over there.
※※※
It wasn't that Everton had no chances to attack, but they were just very few compared to Liverpool. But they did have some.
Three minutes later, they took another shot, but it went wide.
Liverpool got a goal kick.
Stella placed the ball, and then looked up to observe the front. Of course, he first looked for the referee.
The referee was wearing a bright yellow uniform, which was very conspicuous among the red and blue jerseys.
After he found the referee James, he noticed Chen Hero near James.
Was he using Stella as a passing target to launch an attack?
But he couldn't figure out what was special about the referee's position at all.
Forget it, thinking so much is useless. Just kicking the ball out is all that matters. Thinking this way, Stella kicked the ball out.
Next, he waited for something to happen.
But nothing happened.
He kicked the ball out, and the referee James saw the ball flying towards him, so he moved out of the way. In the end, Chen Hero headed the ball.
Nothing happened.
Chen Hero passed the ball to his teammate, and then turned around and ran forward, pretending to be open for a pass.
Everything was normal, so normal that it couldn't be more normal.
Goalkeeper Stella stood in the penalty area, looking at Chen Hero in confusion.
He still didn't understand why Chen Hero wanted him to do this.