May 20th, Morning.
Waking up from his sleep, Gao Bo opened the hotel curtains and looked at the drizzling rain outside.
The weather in England is always so rainy.
The FA Cup final will be held at 5:00 PM today. Therefore, the team will not be training this morning. The players can fully relax on this day. The team will also hold another meeting at noon, mainly to motivate and mobilize the players. However, Gao Bo will not arrange tactics at this meeting.
The tactics that needed to be said, and the details that needed to be emphasized, Gao Bo had basically instilled his ideas into the players during the ten days of closed training. The rest was up to the players' performance on the field.
At the noon meeting, Gao Bo announced the starting lineup.
Although everyone basically knew the starters during this week of training, the final decision still had to be announced by the head coach himself.
The meeting was very short. After announcing the starting lineup, Gao Bo said a few simple words and left the meeting room.
Adam was mentally prepared to start. Gao Bo had placed him on the main team's side for the past ten days of training, and the players in the team basically knew this. However, when Adam actually heard his name on the starting list from Gao Bo's mouth, the anxiety in Adam's heart finally subsided.
But soon he was shrouded in a new sense of confusion. To some extent, this was Adam's first time starting a game.
The players left the meeting room one by one. Some would seize the time for a nap, trying to sleep a little longer, while others might find a few teammates to play cards or chat.
Noon was the players' free time. Before nap time, as long as they didn't leave the hotel, basically no one would bother them.
"Go, Adam! Your strength has long been enough for a starting position." Captain Kevin Keane came over, ruffled Adam's head, and then walked out.
"Hey, Adam." Vardy came over, "What did I tell you? Get ready to make a scene at Wembley!!"
Kante was behind Vardy. He grinned at Adam and then walked out by himself.
Adam also stood up, taking a deep breath.
Appearing at a big event like Wembley would make anyone nervous.
But as a professional player, he had to overcome this nervousness.
"The difference between a star player and an ordinary player is actually just a fine line. That is, those big shots can always bring out their strength at critical moments. They are fearless."
Adam remembered Gao Bo's encouraging words.
He turned and walked out of the meeting room.
I am also... fearless!!
.....
"Adam is under a lot of pressure to start in this situation..."
Inside the room, John said to Gao Bo with some concern.
"Pressure is everywhere, John," Gao Bo said, standing by the window and turning his head.
"If he can overcome this pressure, it will be a great thing for both him and the team."
Gao Bo always seemed optimistic.
"Let's not talk about this. After this game, the team will go on vacation. Where are you going then?" John asked.
Regarding Gao Bo's background, John and others only knew that he was a Chinese and had worked as a coach at Chelsea for a while. As for his family, his network of relationships, etc., John and others had never heard Gao Bo mention it.
"I have to go back to China..."
Gao Bo had not returned to China for more than five years since he came out to study abroad.
Now it was time to go back and take a look.
Gao Bo picked up his phone, looking at the phone number that he would dial almost every once in a while,
but never got through...
.....
At 3:00 PM, the players began to gather in the hotel lobby one after another.
At this time, outside the hotel, many Luton fans had already gathered here. When they saw the players appearing in the lobby, the fans cheered.
With two hours left before the game, Gao Bo also came down from his room. After the players and coaching staff members were all present, everyone boarded the bus and headed to Wembley Stadium.
The team slowly drove through the city of London for nearly forty minutes before arriving at Wembley.
This time, the team drew the home team's locker room. Compared to the away team's locker room, the home team's locker room was much larger, but the equipment was the same. The players had been to Wembley once, and now they were familiar with it.
Under John's urging, the players quickly changed their equipment and went out to the stadium to warm up before the game.
Just as the players on both sides were warming up on the field, the two head coaches had already received each other's starting lineups.
Benitez frowned in the away team's locker room, looking at the starting lineup that Luton had put out.
Unexpectedly, there were such big changes in Luton's starting lineup on the left.
The formation cannot be seen from the starting list, but Benitez still believed that Gao Bo was fielding a 442.
The two players on the left were replaced. Adam and Hassan Ali replaced Lewis and Solo Davies as starters.
Benitez thought for a while, but he couldn't figure out the purpose of this adjustment.
Adam White was already a regular substitute for Luton. He would usually be substituted on when the team needed to attack, and his position was also very flexible. He would sometimes play as a right midfielder or left midfielder, and sometimes his position would be moved forward to play as a left or right winger, or even a shadow striker or center forward. Adam had played in all of these positions in Luton's games.
But without exception, these were all substitute appearances.
Benitez thought for a while, and he was a little unsure.
Was Adam White making his first start in a Luton game?!
Benitez had also specifically inquired about why Adam White, the player hailed as the new English genius, basically only got substitute opportunities at Luton. A big reason for this was the young player's physical limitations. Seventeen-year-old Adam White was a player Luton brought in from street football. Although Adam could be considered a genius in terms of skills due to his outstanding talent, the young player was obviously unable to adapt to ninety minutes of intense competition in terms of physical fitness.
The other adjustment was that Hassan Ali replaced Solo Davies. Benitez felt that Luton would most likely not play with three at the back—because their right back was not the kind of player who could play as a center back!
Hassan Ali was likely to play as a left back!
Letting a defensive midfielder with some defensive ability play as a full-back was actually nothing. This might even be a measure to strengthen the defense.
Benitez looked at the starting list in his hand. It seemed that Luton's left side was the direction where their key changes would occur!
At this time, the players had already returned from warming up. Benitez put down the list and looked at his players.
The starting players were busy taking off their training clothes and putting on their game uniforms. Gerrard put on his game socks, changed into his game shoes, inserted the shin guards printed with the Liverpool team emblem into his socks, then took off the long-sleeved training jacket he was wearing on his upper body, put on his number eight jersey, and then carefully put on the captain's armband.
"We have emphasized the specific details a lot in these two days of training. Before the game starts, what I need to emphasize is that everyone should be mentally prepared. This will be a tough battle!" Benitez said as the players were busy changing their equipment. "The opponent's defense will be very dense. We need a little patience. Even if we can't score for a long time, don't worry! There are ninety minutes in the game, and we only need one goal to win!"
As soon as Benitez finished speaking, Gerrard had already changed his equipment. He stood up abruptly: "What the boss said is right, this game is a ninety-minute game!"
"Settle them in ninety minutes!!!"
Gerrard clenched his fist and said forcefully.
The Liverpool locker room immediately responded loudly.
Compared to everyone's lukewarm response when Benitez spoke, Gerrard was the real leader of this locker room!