For Liverpool, the FA Cup Final was a match where no surprises were allowed - because if they lost the FA Cup, Liverpool would once again end the season empty-handed, which would be absolutely humiliating for this English super giant club.
And for Gao Bo, the FA Cup Final was also a match he couldn't afford to lose.
This was because of the ambition in his heart!
Leading Luton to win the League Two championship this season, plus the FA Cup championship.
Such qualifications might get Gao Bo some job opportunities at Premier League teams, but for those true giants, they wouldn't consider a coach like Gao Bo, first of all, because Gao Bo wasn't famous enough!
Whether it was the League Two or the FA Cup championship, the value wasn't actually that high; at most, it was winning a domestic cup in England. For those truly famous players, such a championship record wasn't much.
If Gao Bo wanted his professional career to take a great leap, winning the Europa League next season would be the best way! Leading Luton to win the Europa League!! This would be a hundred times more shocking than Luton winning the FA Cup, and by then, no giant club on the European continent could ignore the name Gao Bo.
Gao Bo suddenly remembered Mourinho and Boas; both master and apprentice became famous by winning in European competitions before taking charge of those big teams.
If it was just taking over a small team and finally achieving results after one or two seasons of adjustment, Gao Bo would rather take a big gamble!
And his capital for gambling was to first win the FA Cup!!
Liverpool were, after all, Champions League winners two seasons ago, and it wouldn't be easy to beat them.
If comparing the strength of the players on both sides, even if the current Kante and Vardy were in their prime, they couldn't compare to the current Liverpool.
The current Liverpool have Torres and Kuyt up front, Gerrard, Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, and others in midfield, plus their other players are at least stars capable of being starters in the Premier League. This lineup has a huge advantage over Luton's League Two cobbled-together lineup.
If Gao Bo had one advantage, it was that he had a magical system.
In the apartment, the light screen of the Football Card System appeared before Gao Bo again.
At this moment, before his eyes, the screen flickered, and a box appeared.
"Congratulations on completing the 'Save Luton' mission. Would you like to claim the mission reward now?"
Gao Bo didn't waste words; he silently thought to himself.
"Yes!"
"Congratulations! You have received eight thousand experience points! One blue card redemption voucher! And one hundred chances to draw cards!!"
Gao Bo looked at the shimmering light screen before him and suddenly felt like a nobody turning into a rich man... He even suddenly had the urge to do a hundred consecutive draws.
However, Gao Bo managed to resist. He didn't have much confidence in his luck, and the cards drawn might not be suitable for Luton to use.
Sixteen draws could be exchanged for a green card redemption voucher. These one hundred draws were enough for Gao Bo to upgrade his pile of white and yellow cards.
However, with a pile of cards in hand, the only thing restricting Gao Bo was his level - because this was related to the number of card slots.
After getting eight thousand experience points this time, his level successfully rose to 3, and the card slots also expanded to five.
Although five card slots were one more than before, it wasn't really that much more.
Gao Bo had already thought about which blue card to redeem with the blue card redemption voucher.
He therefore quickly used this voucher.
[Match Card (Blue): Sharp Counter-attack,
Using this card can increase the success rate of the whole team's counter-attacks by 15%!!]
This card was naturally used in conjunction with the other card that increased the whole team's interception efficiency. After intercepting, the success rate of the counter-attack should also increase!
These two cards were considered core cards. They both boosted the ability of the entire team, which was much more cost-effective than individually boosting players' personal abilities. Gao Bo didn't plan to replace these two cards.
And now there were only three card slots left. Gao Bo hadn't made a decision on how to set up the card deck for a while.
However, one card was definitely needed.
That was a card related to the goalkeeper.
Claude Rondo wasn't a genius goalkeeper, but he had good fundamentals and was very reactive. However, Gao Bo was ultimately not too confident about the goalkeeper position.
As the saying goes, a good goalkeeper is worth half a team, so Gao Bo used the first green card redemption voucher on the goalkeeper.
[Match Card (Green): Goalkeeper Save Success Rate Increased by 15%, designate one player to use!]
In the last match against Arsenal, Claude saved several Arsenal shots. Gao Bo didn't know if the card played a role in this, but he still decided to use this card in the match.
In any case, the goalkeeper position is still very special in a match.
But in this way, he would only have two adjustable cards left to use in the match.
This required careful planning.
Gao Bo simply exchanged all the drawing chances he had for green card redemption vouchers - because redeeming a higher-level card required 16*16 drawing chances... Gao Bo now needed to focus all his energy on dealing with Liverpool.
[Match Card (Green): Speed Increased by 15%, designate one player to use!]
[Match Card (Green): Goalkeeper Save Success Rate Increased by 15%, designate one player to use!]
[Match Card (Green): Defensive Positioning Increased by 15%, designate one player to use!]
[Match Card (Green): Long Shot Accuracy Increased by 15%, designate one player to use!]
[Match Card (Green): Penalty Area Poaching Success Rate Increased by 15%, designate one player to use!]
Gao Bo exchanged all the drawing chances he had for green cards in one go. As a result, Gao Bo's hand of cards became unprecedentedly rich.
For the match against Liverpool, Gao Bo's confidence gradually solidified!
At Wembley, Luton definitely had a chance to defeat the powerful Liverpool!
...
Early the next morning, Gao Bo met Roy Thorsall on his way to the training ground.
Gao Bo saw him every day on his way to work, but he had a bad relationship with this reporter, so usually, they just acted as if the other person wasn't there.
But this time, Roy Thorsall stopped: "Coach Gao Bo, how long will your media silence last!"
"Luton has been training behind closed doors for eight days!"
"Until the FA Cup match begins!" Gao Bo replied without looking back.
Roy was a bit discouraged. As the mouthpiece of Luton, 'The Hatter' newspaper hadn't been able to get any internal team news for several days.
He wondered what Luton's closed-door training was really about?
Gao Bo didn't trust reporters, not even Roy Thorsall.
Reporters always want to create big news, and what Luton was doing now absolutely couldn't be seen by reporters!
Gao Bo had made changes to Luton's tactics in the past few days. Of course, the overall defensive approach and counter-attacking routines hadn't changed; the changes were mainly on the left flank, on Adam and Hassan's side.
They would be the surprise players in the final. Before the final began, Gao Bo's starting lineup absolutely couldn't be leaked!
To defeat Liverpool, Gao Bo had truly exhausted all his efforts.