Aston Villa really didn't have much confidence against Liverpool's reserves. This situation was common this season. Two seasons ago, people would have found it laughable.
Now, with Liverpool reserves' performance, most people have recognized their ability.
This is a team that could stay in the Premier League if they were in it.
After the game started, Aston Villa performed respectably, without launching a fierce attack or simply surrendering.
Although they lacked confidence, they still took the game seriously. How long they can hold on depends on their confidence.
Faced with Aston Villa's respectable performance, Liverpool's reserves were not impatient. Their composure was not like a reserve team, but a first team.
Since Aston Villa did not press forward with a barrage, they didn't either. The two teams were deadlocked on the field.
"This reserve team is really impressive! Who would have thought that less than a season ago, they were still a group of green youngsters? Now, they look like battle-hardened veterans!"
The TV commentator introduced the information of both participating parties.
This game was broadcast live nationwide, and many overseas TV stations purchased the live broadcast signal.
Just an FA Cup semi-final, yet it enjoyed the treatment of a final.
All this is due to the Liverpool reserves.
The English FA should really thank Chen Hero.
With the strength of the Premier League, the FA Cup has become more and more dispensable, which can be seen from Liverpool's initial plan to have the reserves participate throughout. Many wealthy teams no longer value this championship very much. Even a team like Liverpool, which has been without a title for many years, is like this, let alone a super-rich team like Manchester United.
The English FA is also very distressed about this.
The Premier League belongs to the Premier League Alliance, and the income has little to do with the FA. The Premier League Alliance only turns over a portion of the money to the FA every year, but this money is like a drop in the bucket compared to what the Premier League Alliance gets.
The Premier League's broadcast rights now cost as much as 2.2 billion pounds for three years, making it the most expensive broadcast contract in world football. La Liga, which has always been dissatisfied that the Premier League is the number one league in Europe, only has a broadcast fee of 600 million pounds, a huge gap between the two sides. Not to mention the declining Serie A, Ligue 1 and Bundesliga are still far behind.
So much money all goes to the Premier League Alliance, and the English FA is really envious.
So they desperately operate the Championship, integrate lower-level events, promote the League Cup...
The FA Cup, as the oldest modern football event in the world, is naturally the English FA's top brand. In England, the FA Cup has always enjoyed a lofty reputation, second only to the Premier League.
But now, although they are still second, the gap between them and the first Premier League is getting bigger and bigger...
At this moment, Chen Hero led the Liverpool reserves on the journey of the FA Cup and the League Cup.
Then everything changed.
In the beginning, even people within the FA thought that Chen Hero was a madman, an idiot, and that Liverpool's approach was a naked insult to the FA Cup and the League Cup—well, even if other wealthy teams wanted to give up these two competitions, they still had to hide it. Half of the reserve players and half of the first-team substitute players, everyone could say it on the surface. On the surface, at least the dignity of the FA Cup and the League Cup was maintained.
But Martin O'Neill's approach was completely slapping the English FA in the face, telling the FA bluntly, "I just want to give up these two dispensable games, so what?"
So at that time, they especially hoped that the Liverpool reserves would lose the game at the beginning, so that other teams who planned to follow suit could see—this is the consequence of not respecting the FA Cup and the League Cup!
It's just that when the Liverpool reserves won one game after another under the leadership of Chen Hero, everyone also saw the changes.
The media began to be interested in the League Cup and the FA Cup. Because this is really a sensational thing.
A reserve team that is completely underestimated can defeat so many opponents and reach the League Cup semi-finals, just one step away from Wembley Stadium, under the leadership of a star player... This story is so inspiring and so magical!
Their hard promotion has made more readers and fans also interested in the League Cup and the FA Cup.
Everyone wants to see how far this Liverpool reserve team can go.
Similarly, everyone's attention to the Liverpool reserves has also spread to the entire cup, the attendance rate of each game has slightly increased, and the ratings of all Liverpool games have surged.
These have brought real money benefits to the FA - the ratings have soared, advertisers have benefited, TV stations' advertising revenue has increased, and the TV broadcast fees are naturally expected to increase. This has given the FA more confidence when negotiating broadcast fees with those TV stations for the next season.
So from the beginning of hoping that the Liverpool reserves would lose, they became sincerely hoping that the Liverpool reserves would go far enough in the two cups, and it would be best to reach the final all the way, so as not to waste the ratings of each game.
However, Liverpool's practice of changing to the first team in the League Cup semi-finals and finals made many people lose their appetite—what's the point? Anyone can play the League Cup with the first team. With your Liverpool's strength, even if you win Manchester City in the end, there is nothing to be proud of. Everyone knows that you are Manchester City's nemesis.
Martin O'Neill's decision greatly reduced the media and fans' interest in the League Cup, and also affected the FA Cup.
At that time, the English FA was extremely disappointed and anxious.
Fortunately, soon in the FA Cup, everyone saw the Liverpool reserves all the way into the final, and Chen Hero made a bold statement that he would win the championship with the reserves...
This time, the enthusiasm of the masses was completely ignited.
Although the media still had to set up a memorial arch to accuse Chen Hero of being arrogant and whimsical. But deep down, they all hope that Chen Hero will continue to implement his idea.
Because this is too suitable for them to hype!
Everyone has seen the final result.
In this season, Liverpool still insists on using the reserves plus one Chen Hero to play in the domestic cup. The media, fans, and the English FA, as well as those sponsors who have spent a lot of money to sponsor these two events, are all smiling.
With the support of the English FA, the "Liverpool Reserve Team Legend" that happened in the English FA Cup and League Cup was promoted all over the world. Everyone on earth knows what kind of thing Liverpool is doing. They have never heard of this thing before, and Chen Hero's whimsical and bold behavior is even more staggering.
But it is precisely because it is rare that everyone is interested.
In today's world, the rarer things are, the more valuable they are to hype.
In this way, an FA Cup semi-final actually attracted the broadcast of many countries' TV stations.
Dozens of media from all over the world came to do live reports.
Among them, the Chinese media are the most enthusiastic.
The Chinese local TV station alliance has purchased the broadcast rights for this season's League Cup and FA Cup, and they have already planned to continue to purchase the broadcast rights for the next three seasons' League Cup and FA Cup.
Chen Hero's huge popularity in China makes Chinese fans not let go of even competitions like the FA Cup and the League Cup. In the past, not many Chinese fans were interested in competitions like the League Cup and the FA Cup...
This is Chen Hero's credit.
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Under the attention of the world's media, this game is really not exciting, and it can definitely not be used as a model for the English FA to promote the FA Cup.
But it doesn't matter, in this season, there is no shortage of classic games. Especially the two matches between Liverpool reserves and Arsenal, one in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup, watching these two matches together is very enjoyable. This is a duel between masters.
The Liverpool reserves have long proved their ability, and the FA Cup has also proved their glorious tradition - this is a hotbed of upsets.
Weren't the Liverpool reserves the biggest upset in the beginning?
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Aston Villa's resistance lasted for thirty minutes, and finally they couldn't resist it anymore.
After all, lack of confidence prevented them from holding on for a longer time.
Because of the lack of confidence, every minute of perseverance is a torment for Aston Villa's players.
They can't see any hope of winning this game at all.
Being able to persevere for thirty minutes without seeing any hope has already proved their bravery and professionalism.
But the gap in strength is still there after all.
This huge gap will not be fundamentally changed because of your bravery and professionalism.
In the thirtieth minute, the brave but pitiful Aston Villa lost their first goal of the game.
The goal was not scored by Chen Hero, but by Carlton Cole, who stood out from the reserves through the League Cup this season. He has been called into the first team to train with the team many times this season, and has also entered the big list several times. But so far, he has not had the opportunity to play in the first team.
But I believe this day will not be too far away. After winning the league title in advance, players like Carlton Cole, who are outstanding in strength and work hard in training, will definitely get the opportunity to represent the first team in the Premier League in the remaining four league games.
This is also a reward for his hard work this season.
Watching Cole, who scored a goal, running on the field, the wind blew his jersey and his hair, and his young and immature face was filled with a bright smile.
The commentator sighed: "Liverpool's youth training camp has finally reappeared a promising young man after a long time. In fact, he is not the first, but thanks to Chen Hero, thanks to the reserves, Cole has experienced the tempering of blood and fire in the reserves, and has grown rapidly. He has reached the requirements of the first team. Now, I think the legend of the Liverpool reserves will become a real...legend with the emergence of more and more players like Cole in the future!"