Chapter 118 One-on-one

Arsenal tried to regain the initiative of the game within five minutes of the second half. Henry was more active than in the first half, frequently going to the wing and Pirey to seek cooperation, and then trying to break through the ribs. Once they almost succeeded, Henry and Pirey made a two-pass-one cooperation on the wing, then cut into the penalty area and came up to defend him. Matthew Epson slipped under his feet and suddenly fell down when facing Henry!

This emergencies didn't even expect Henry, and he shot the ball to the stands behind...

The Nottingham Forester took a breath, and even Don Eun, who was sitting on the coach's seat, was so shocked that he almost jumped up.

Epson got up from the ground, turned his head to look at the goal in a daze, and Yero came up and patted his shoulder to comfort him.

On Arsenal, Henry held his head with both hands, and he never thought that his ball would fly. When Epson fell down, he was in front of him with a huge goalkeeper, and he was sure to win such opportunities in daily training and even in games...

Wenger looked even more regretful than Henry. He stood up from his seat, saw that the ball did not enter, and waved his hand suddenly and sat down helplessly.

Arsenal's luck doesn't seem to be very good today...

The Forest team, which escaped the disaster, launched an offensive. Tang En told them during the break that a ball was the most unsafe. He almost hit it just now, and the Forest team players also understood this truth.

Albertini was responsible for organizing the offense. Borgkamp came up to steal. Albertini did not choose to break through. Although he was sure to pass the Dutchman in front of him. But he glanced at George Wood, who was standing not far away beside him.

He remembered the separate conversation between Don Eun and him after a certain training session.

"Dimi, what do you think of George's kid?"

"Not bad, very good." His English is not very good and he can't say much.

"I believe you can see that too. I value him very much. He is impeccable in defense now. But there are too many things that are lacking in offense. I hope you can help him."

"I understand, sir."

...

Borgkamp saw Albertini push the football to the right, thinking that he was going to break through, so he quickly moved the center of gravity. His opponent did run to the other side, but he also passed the football to George Wood with his heel.

Wood received the ball, but Albertini was entangled with Borgkamp. What should he do?

Fabregas saw Wood get the ball. He gritted his teeth and rushed up. He wanted to take revenge and couldn't always let this kid press on his head. You rob me, I rob you too!

Wood, who received the ball, didn't know what he should do next. He wanted to pass the ball to Albertini, but he found that Albertini had someone around him, so he gave up the idea. Just when he was a little at a loss, Fabregas rushed up!

There is no suspense. George Wood, who is not good at controlling the ball, conceded the ball...

"Counter-stealing! Beautiful! Fabregas' steal created a chance for Arsenal to counterattack. The Forest team pushed up and had not had time to return to defense yet!"

Taylor said it was pretty good. After seeing Albertini get the ball, the players of the Forest team all pressed up with confidence, especially the two sides, who rushed up to interrupt the team's offensive.

Unexpectedly, Albertini did not pass the ball to Ribery. or Ashley Young, but gave it to George Wood, who rarely participated in the team's offense! Now, Barnes and Zimbonda had to run back desperately, just like doing sprint training, and their physical fitness was wasted.

Wood saw his eyes flashing and his feet were empty.

Lost the ball?

At this time, Wood would not ask himself "what to do" in his heart. Almost a physical instinct, he quickly turned around and pointed to Fabregas. With his super physical fitness, he suppressed his opponent, making the Spaniard unable to accelerate and could not get rid of him.

Fabregas was hit by Wood from the side, his body lost balance, his footsteps changed, and the football was knocked out by him and left the control area. Jero came up very quickly to receive the football, and the ball was returned to the foot of the Forest.

Done, who saw this scene in the coach's seat, shook his head. He said to David Chris Lack: "It seems we should strengthen Wood's offensive training..."

Chris Lack nodded in agreement: "Compared with defense, his offense is simply amateur level."

When it first appeared in the official first team of the Forest team, it was indirectly assisted Freddy Eastwood in 60 meters to score.   It never happened again in later games and training.   It has to admit that Wood might have really possessed God that day.

Jero passed the ball to Albertini, the retreating response. This time the Italian did not pass the ball to Wood, but directly passed it forward to Viduca. Viduca turned around under Toure's pressing, so he could only pass it to Ashley Young on the side. Facing Ashley Kerr, the young Young had no choice but to pass it to Zimbonda, the right back who was trapped in. The Frenchman just received the ball, and his compatriot Pire forced it up, so he could only pass the ball to Albertini in the middle. Albertini cleverly missed...

After a long round of football, he returned to George Wood's feet.

So everything that happened on the court seemed to be a repeat of more than a minute ago - Fabregas stepped forward again to press, George Wood conceded the ball, but he immediately broke the football back through his defensive instinct and superman's physical fitness...

"I really don't understand! When did Wood become the core of the Forest team?" Someone in the stands complained dissatisfied. Maybe they thought that Albertini had already hit the opponent's penalty area, so there was no need to do such untechnical entanglement with the opponent in the midfield.

Even Chris Lack saw that Albertini was deliberately giving the opportunity to George Wood. He turned his head to look at Donn, and Donn also looked at him, and then shrugged, saying that it was not his idea.

In fact, Donn knew very well that Albertini's actions must have something to do with asking him to teach Wood.

What was Albertini thinking?

Donn put his chin in his hand and watched Albertini running.

Albertini believes that for someone like Wood, nothing is better to teach him a way to a situation he has to face. He passes the ball to Wood again and again to force Wood to think about how to pass the ball forward rather than crossing it across and back.

Wood received the ball again. He saw Fabregas pounce, so he passed the ball back conditioned.

Albertini waved to him and shouted: "Forward!"

Wood was stunned for a moment, sure that he was shouting to himself. Then he ran forward obediently and passed by Fabregas who was rushing up. At the same time, Albertini passed the ball in front of him - two by one!

Arsenal players did not expect George Wood to dribble the ball into the attack. Even Fabregas didn't react. He looked at Wood, who was still clumsy in the dribble, and even forgot to return to defense as soon as possible.

Wood is not surrounded by anyone wearing Arsenal's yellow away jersey at least five meters. What should he do now?

Albertini ran up from behind and waved at Wood: "Here!"

Wood obediently passed it to him, and Albertini shouted again: "Forward!"

Wood continued to step forward. Arsenal players realized that the Forest team planned to break through the cooperation of the two people in the middle!

How can you get what you want?!

Sigan rushed up to block Wood's running route, and Toure protected Sigan's behind him at any time on the wing. At this moment, both Arsenal's central defenders focused on George Wood who suddenly stepped forward, and ignored the others.

Albertini flew and suddenly pushed a straight pass from the middle!

No one expected this. Viduka received the ball in the position of not offside, and then...a single shot!

The city stadium burst into deafening cheers, and this opportunity... Everyone's minds also come to their minds: If we lead 2:0, we will definitely win!

Lehman attacked. Viduka received the ball and turned around, and had no time to aim at the goalkeeper's position, so he raised his foot to shoot!

The shooter's instinct made him choose the shooting angle, hoping to bypass Lehman. But when the tall German fell down, his toes still rubbed against the football. The ball jumped and rubbed the post and rolled out of the bottom line...

"The ball was not in! This is the best opportunity for the Forest team so far in the second half, better than Henry's opportunity! Viduka didn't catch it. It's such a pity..." Taylor shook his head and sighed, "Lyman saved the team and saved Wenger."

Taylor said it right. Seeing that the team was actually penetrated directly from the middle by the opponent, Wenger couldn't sit still. He suddenly stood up from the position and then walked towards the court. The team's performance did not improve. Forest's oppressive defense was completely a tactic to restrain Arsenal.

He turned his head and glanced at Tang En, who was also standing on the sidelines. The opponent was focusing on the game. He didn't notice himself.

Wenger walked back and told his assistant Pat Rice: "Let Loneberg and Reyes go to warm up."

The old partner Rice heard it. The professor's voice was no longer as gentle as before.

Viduka only got a corner kick in the end, but Tang En's heart suffered a great stimulation. He felt that his heart was about to jump out of his throat at that moment...

When he rushed to the sidelines, he found that the ball did not enter and scratched his head awkwardly.

But he was not disappointed because he saw a scene full of hope.

Albertini was running forward with George Wood with his feet, teaching him how to pass the ball and run the ball step by step, and Wood was doing a good job.

He rarely emphasizes the offensive in the middle. The Forest team is a team that focuses on the offense on the wing, but if Wood can grow up quickly, the middle will also become an important firepower point.

Viduca wasted Albertini's wonderful pass, and such an opportunity was almost impossible to appear for the second time in this game, because opponents at this level of Arsenal are very good at making self-adjustment.

But Albertini did not complain about Viduca, but stepped forward and patted the Australian on the shoulder and grabbed his short hair. He didn't say anything and ran to the corner kick point - he was also the first pick in the Forest team's set-ball serve.

When the set-piece attack was on the ground, Donn gave Wood a task to drag behind the defense. Both Yero and Epson ran up, while Wood turned around and ran back. Standing in his position. Looking at the crowded penalty area, he was still savoring his insertion just now.

Donn asked him to learn how the Italian played and how to handle the ball. So he paid great attention to observing Albertini during the game. He remembered the scene where Albertini asked him to insert it, but did not pass the ball to himself, but passed it to Viduca's feet. To be honest, he didn't even expect it... because he didn't see Viduca's position at all at that time, and he was still facing Viduca, and Albertini had his back to that direction. How did he know that Viduca was in the penalty area?

There is also the long pass in the first half... so accurate! He never played a pass that exceeded fifteen meters, and the captain's pass was probably fifty meters at that time, right? He seemed to know in advance that there was no opponent in that place, and in advance that Ashley and Yang would run up, and then calculate the time to pass... It's so amazing!

Wood almost never admires people and doesn't say good things about others, but at this time, he admires himself from the bottom of his heart the captain and teacher who doesn't speak English very much.

Just when he came to his senses, the Forest's corner kick had already taken.

Lehmann was not very relieved about Sigan, the central defender. He played the corner kick taken by Albertini through two people. Fabregas beautifully removed the ball outside the penalty area. George Wood was still in the Forest's half. No one could threaten it now. He can finally handle the ball under his feet comfortably...

Henry started!

He swept this out of the corner of his eyes and immediately made a direct pass. He accurately sent the football to the captain's feet.

"Arsenal's counterattack! Very fast!"

The players of the Forest team ran back desperately, but veterans like Jero were really powerless...

"The single shot of the Forest team just now increased the morale of the players, and almost everyone rushed up with a corner kick. Maybe they felt that it was very close to the goal... But now, the Forest team's huge pressure made Arsenal players feel that they were closer to the goal!"

"Now except goalkeeper Darren Ward, the Forest players in the second half were all full-backs Layton Barnes and George Wood! Arsenal's counterattack was very fast, except Henry, Pennant, and Pirey quickly followed, three-for-two! Arsenal's great opportunity...not to be missed!"

Taylor shouted excitedly, and Don Eun was not excited at all. He scolded: "It's so damn!"

He suddenly remembered Henry's goal. Arsenal played against Tottenham, but Tottenham's out-of-bounds ball was taken but Arsenal players pushed the ball out. Then Henry received the ball in the midfield and started a long-distance raid. Through the change of speed and rhythm, he continued to intercept Etherington, Carl, Ridley King and other Tottenham players, and finally shot the ball into the Spurs goal, helping Arsenal win the North London derby 3-0.

That happened in November 2002. Could it be that he would copy it again at the 2004 city stadium?

Ribery chased Henry at full speed. He risked his red card and flew toward the opponent from behind.

Henry, who was dribbling the ball, seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. He accelerated the ball forward, then jumped up and just avoided Ribery's flying shovel and continued to move forward!

Everyone in the stands, whether it was Forest fans or Arsenal fans, stood up from their seats.

Will this be another great goal that Arsenal fans talk about? Or is it a moment that makes Forest fans feel ashamed?

"Henry broke through Ribery! The person who is now on his way forward is George Wood!"

George Wood looked up and saw Henry who was driving the ball towards him. He was not at a loss and panic...or rather, he had no time to let him do such a thing - Henry came like the wind.
To be continued...