Chapter 19: Stop guarding

Nottingham Forest equalized the score at the last moment of the first half, which caused a huge mental impact on Liverpool. Fortunately, the first half ended, giving them the opportunity to adjust their emotions during the halftime break. Otherwise, if the game continues like this, Nottingham Forest might score another goal soon.

This is not a joke. Countless examples have proved that after the first ball is the most dangerous moment, it is easy to be defeated by the opponent in one go. The morale and confidence of the loser will be severely hit and they may almost collapse directly.

Of course, Liverpool will not collapse like this. They have made too big reversals in key games countless times. Donne also knows this. Benitez will definitely summarize the first half during the break, soothe and boost morale, so as not to suffer any further blows in the second half.

And what Donn had to do was to put all the efforts Benitez made during the intermission.

He did not tell his own people that he would strengthen the offense in the second half, but continued to deal with the opponent like in the first half.

Respond to all changes with the unchanging. This is the wisdom of our ancestors.

"Whether we are leading or falling behind, defense is very important. I believe that at the beginning of the second half, Liverpool will play with us slowly. Benitez is a coach who cares about "stability" and will not let his team take risks easily. All Europe knows that besides defense, what we are best at is counterattacking and sneak attacks. The final goal in the first half strengthened our image in their hearts. This is very good. "Donn nodded vigorously,"

Nites will not let his team bombard the game at the beginning of the second half because he is afraid of our sneak attack. So we are safe at the beginning of the second half. As long as we hold this draw, as the game goes by, even if Benitez does not have instructions, Liverpool players will become impatient and they will not accept the draw. They will want to beat us in ninety minutes. That is our chance. Remember."

Tang En raised his right index finger, "You must be patient and wait for the opponent to start impatient. When we start a large-scale attack, we will fight back. At other times, stable defense is the most important thing."

"Then, it's the set piece.   Add to increase the quality of the set piece, even if you don't score, it must pose a certain threat to the opponent, so that they know how powerful our set piece is.   In this way, they will not dare to foul in dangerous areas easily, that's our chance."

The threat of a set piece is not limited to the direct score of a set piece. If the opponent is afraid of giving you too many set pieces and dare not foul the ball, it will also pose a great threat to the opponent's goal.

Unlike Nottingham Forest, Benitez did not set up tactics for the team at the beginning, just as Don En thought. He was indeed comforting and boosting morale. Because the last goal conceded in the first half was really a big blow, he worked hard for 45 minutes, and he had to go into the locker room with the lead. Everyone was in a happy mood. At the last moment, he was tied by the opponent...

The Liverpool people can understand what their opponents were feeling when they reversed repeatedly.

After soothing people's hearts, Benitez began to arrange the team's second half tactics.

This time, completely contrary to Don En's thought, the first thing he said to the players was: "The second half begins. A fierce attack."

Hearing this, the spirit of Liverpool players was revived.

"Tang En would definitely think that we would not dare to increase the offensive force because we were worried about their sneak attacks and did not dare to increase the offensive force. Their defensive strategy was as follows and there would be no change. So, from the beginning of the second half, we would increase the offensive force. We should suppress their defensive rhythm and score again while the chaos was in the process. They would definitely not have thought of it, certainly."

Benitez used two "certainty" and was quite sure. He knew that Tang En was very conceited. Once he made a decision, he would go all the way to the end. If he thought he was a steady person and would not take risks easily, he would definitely think so firmly. Then use this as a basis to designate the forest team's response strategy.

This is something that can be exploited.

Forests thought Liverpool did not dare to attack with all their strength after the second half. They still had to retain the power to counterattack, so what if we attacked with all our strength from the beginning of the second half?

"In addition to strengthening long shots in the middle, the two sides actively pressed to suppress the Forest's wing offense. The key to victory or defeat is in the first half of the second half. I don't care what method you use, you must score a goal!"

The second half of the game started again, and the two sides fought again. After fifteen minutes of rest, the fans of the Earth were also resurrected and became active again.

In total contrary to what Don N expected, after the kickoff, Liverpool cut off the Forest's attack and did not deal with the midfield at all, and directly hit the football in front. If Kuyt had not made any effort in shooting skills and was too far away from the goal...

Two minutes later, Forest's offense returned in vain and Liverpool made a comeback. Liser firmly stepped in from the second half, ran a long distance and cooperated with his teammates in a row on the wing, and then made a cross. Kuyt hit the ball, but under Pepe's close interference, he pushed the ball high.

Liverpool is attacking, which is in line with what Donne said during the break. The Forest players are all defending step by step. They have seen so many situations in this way that there is nothing to make a fuss about.

What's more, Kuyt plays well in any position, but he can't be a striker, and his shooting ability is too poor.

Next is Liverpool's offense and the Forests' time to defend.

During this period, the Forest Team organized several counterattacks, but because the troops were not invested enough, it did not cause any substantial threat.

Liverpool is still attacking, constantly attacking...

From the hot air of Louis II Stadium, Don Edward gradually smelled something wrong.

Liverpool's offensive was too fierce, far exceeding his expectations. In particular, Benitez actually allowed two full-backs to frequently press assists, as if he was completely ignoring the Forest's counterattack.

This was not the case in the first half. No matter how Liverpool attacked in the first half, their two full-backs rarely assisted to the frontcourt and occasionally came up. They also went back soon and rushed back and forth.

Now it's better. On a few occasions, he saw Liser coming up and stopped going back at all, and kept waiting for the opportunity in front.

This is a completely "soldiers are approaching" scene!

Isn't Benitez afraid that his rear will be attacked by the Forest Team?

He turned his head and looked over. The Spaniard was sitting on the coach's seat, surrounded by his assistants, and he still couldn't see anything.

He felt that things were not right, but why was it wrong? He still couldn't say what impact did this have on himself and what impact it had on Liverpool for a while. He still needs time to observe and analyze.

Tang En left his seat, walked to the sidelines, wrapped his hands around his chest, frowned and observed the situation on the field.

Gerald was getting the ball, and opposite him was George Wood, the England national teammate.

The failure of the World Cup has become a thing of the past. Gerald's position in the national team was not shaken at all, and McLaren trusted him very much. Beckham, who was in the Forest team, was not so lucky. He was selected for England at the last moment of last season and was injured and was defeated again.

George Wood is also recruited into the national team every time, but he has never won a starting chance. In the World Cup. George did not get a minute of game time. After Erikson left, McLaren came on stage, and George Wood still could not gain the trust of the head coach. Although he was a main player in Nottingham Forest, the best rookie in England. Last season, the best local player in the English Premier League and one of the captains of the European Champions League team, he was selected for the best eleven team in the European Champions League. In the England national team, he still did not get the chance to prove himself. Erikson did not give him, and McLaren did not give him.

Regarding the latter, some people say that it was because of the personal grudge between McLaren and Tony Donn, which led to Wood being implicated. What is the truth? No one knows.

Since he is a teammate of the national team, Gerald naturally knows how powerful Wood is. When he was training in the national team, his defense made it impossible for many people to overcome.

Gerald did not use dribbling as his strength, and he didn't even think about it.

His task is very simple, attract Wood, and then pass the football, and get rid of George Wood's marking by passing. No player in the world can defend a team's pass, even George Wood, who is called "monster" by the media, can't do it.

When Gerald saw Wood pushing him, he passed the football out. Wood did not follow him to chase the ball. He continued to follow Gerald. Others in Liverpool, others from the Forest team will deal with it. Gerald is Wood's goal in this game.

Gerald is not worried about being frozen.    The team has Alonso in it to organize the offense.                                               �

The task is to pull Wood out of the defense zone and then give his teammates an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Alonso saw Wood following Gerald in the running position, and he took this opportunity to pass the ball to Torres.

Torres did not break through outside the penalty area, but instead shot from a long shot. The football was shot out of the baseline by Van der Sar and Liverpool won a corner kick.

Gerald ran to serve the corner kick. Wood returned to the goal to participate in the defense. Although they were teammates of the national team, they had never fought side by side. Among the few games Wood played for the national team, he must have replaced Gerald.

Gerald drove the football out, but he found Ag, but was beaten by George Wood before the Danish defender.

Although he is not as tall as Ag, his jump is better than Ag. In addition, he is better at carding, so Ag has no chance in front of Wood.

Liverpool's offense is not over yet. Wood pushed the ball out, and after Mascherano received the ball, he put on a long shot. The players of the Forest team have received repeated advice from Donn to make them pay attention to prevention. Seeing Mascherano swinging his legs, Pepe immediately pushed out and prepared to use his body to block the opponent's shot.

But Mascherano did not shoot directly. He took advantage of Pepe's back to him and rubbed the football. The football passed the crowd in the penalty area and flew to the right.

That's exactly where Gerald is!

After playing corner kick, Gerald had not had time to run back to the middle when he saw Mascherano pass the football over. Before receiving the ball, he looked back at the lineman behind him and was not offside!

After stopping the football with his chest, no one in the Forest team had time to come up to defend. The penalty area was full of people, and Gerald chose to pull the football to the goal. In this way, if no one blocked it, he would go directly. If someone blocked it, then most of them would block the goal...

The football flew all the way to the goal, and during this period, no one blocked its origin. Except... Van der Sar appeared in the right position and made a timely save. Gerald's long-range shot was very powerful and amazing. Van der Sar did not intend to hold the football with both hands. He wanted to hit the ball directly out of the baseline. But unfortunately, the ball was too fast and too powerful. Before Van der Sar finished his movements, the football suddenly bumped into it.

The result of not completing the ball-holding action was that Van der Sar fell backwards into the goal, while the football flew straight into the sky.

Everyone, including the TV camera, followed the football upward and downward…

The Liverpool players who reacted desperately squeezed into the goal, hoping that when the football fell, they would be pushed into the goal. The players of the Forest team naturally tried every means to block the opponent outside and prevent them from getting close.

Wood looked up in the crowd and saw that the football had risen to its peak and was falling. Van der Sar was still inside the goal, struggling to get up.

It is dangerous to head the ball in this position because he is facing the goal. When he jumps up, the opponent's player will definitely interfere below. At that time, the header will be the one-time goal, but it may turn into an own goal.

But it is definitely not possible to not clear the ball. Once the football falls down, there will be chaos in front of the goal. Anyone who touches it at that time may touch the football into the goal close to the close.

How to end?

Wood looked up at the falling football while leaning back.  This position...

George Wood suddenly jumped high from the crowd, and he leaned back, not to head the ball to clear the ball, but... barbs to clear the ball!

The football was kicked by him with his right foot and flew directly out of the sideline!

"George Wood! Barbs to clear! So beautiful!"

This action won a lot of applause for Wood, and the fans of Nottingham Forest collectively shouted the name of their captain to cheer for his rescue.

But Tang En, who was standing on the sidelines, had no intention of being happy at all, and his brows frowned even tighter.

He turned his head and looked at the next door again. It happened that Liverpool coach Benitez came out of the coaching seat at this time. Obviously, he felt sorry for the ball that didn't make the ball just now, or... still a little dissatisfied?

Benitez did not wave his arms or shouted loudly on the sidelines. He just stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets, as if he was not interested in everything in front of him. But if he was really as calm as he showed on his appearance... why did he come out of the coaching seat?

You know, this is the first time he left the coach's seat in this game and appeared on the sidelines.
Chapter completed!