Chapter 20 Super Cup

Chris Lack used his loud voice to tell the players on the court the latest instructions, telling them not to continue defending and to start trying more offenses. Since Liverpool is desperately attacking, the Forests will be reciprocating.

It is inappropriate to come but not come.

The Forests began to fight back.

Liverpool was pressing heavily, which gave the Forest a chance to attack. Nottingham Forest tore offensively tore offensively, revealing the sharp dagger hidden underneath, and a green cold light flashed on the blade.

Mascherano is an iron gate arranged by Liverpool in the midfield. He will be responsible for cutting off the connection between Forest's midfield and backcourt and frontcourt and blocking the opponent's counterattack. This is the weapon arranged by Benitez to deal with Forest's counterattack.

Argentina's midfielder is a player that Don N has always admired before traveling to become the head coach. He has excellent physical fitness, first-class consciousness, and not rough skills. He is a very excellent defensive midfielder. Currently, Liverpool has only loaned him, but Benitez has considered buying him completely after the end of this season. For this reason, he gave up Sissoko, who is also excellent in defense but not as comprehensive as Mascherano, and put the Malis on the bench.

If the Forest had not had George Wood, Donne would have used his prophet's ability to defeat Mascherano two years ago.

Since I like Mascherano, I naturally know him and know how to deal with him.

Benitez placed Argentina's midfielder in the midfield. In order to disrupt the Forest's counterattack, he did not hesitate to run physically and fiercely snatch, as well as the right foul, which did cause some trouble to Forest's offense in the previous game.

However, that was because the Forest team was not interested in attacking with all their might at the time, but it was just a small fight. Only two or three people went up and shot when they had the chance. They didn't have the chance to retreat as soon as possible, and did not give the opponent a chance to seize the empty local area behind them.

It's different now.

Mascherano found that it was impossible for him to stop the Forests' counterattack wave alone. Beckham, Van der Fate, Ribery, and even Pepe, who is a central defender, and George Wood, may be called the Forests' offensive starting point.

He went to play for Beckham, but the football was passed to Wood's feet. Gerald went to defend Wood, but Wood passed the football to Pepe who was inserted from behind!

This Brazilian-born central defender who has become a Portuguese nationality has the offensive nature of a Brazilian. He took advantage of the fact that Liverpool's midfielders were busy defending the Forest's offensive players, he dribbled the ball from the middle and rushed directly to Liverpool's 30-meter area. Although his breakthrough was blocked by Hypia in the end, this breakthrough won Pepe's cheers from Forest's fans in the stands.

It's also very encouraging.

Don't think that offense is just the job of a frontcourt player, and the central defender can also become the sharpest knife.

Apart from the abdomen, the hedgehog is full of thorns. Nottingham Forest is such a hedgehog that is not easy to mess with.

Does hedgehog have weaknesses? Of course, there is. Its soft abdomen is a fatal weakness. But the Forest team, which insists on defensive tactics, is equivalent to curling up the body and wrapping the soft abdomen inside. Their multi-point offensive strategy seems to erect the thorns on the back, like a piercing ball, leaving the enemy unable to get down.

The forest team's sudden activity in offense surprised Benitez. He looked at his watch and the second half was not over half... Why did they suddenly stop hudding behind and defending to the death?

He turned his head and looked at the coach's seat of the Forest Team, except for those crossed legs. He could not see anything.

The forest team's sudden counterattack made Liverpool a little busy. In a panic, they defended Ribery to break through, tripped him and gave Forest a free kick in the frontcourt.

As a Premier League opponent, Benitez must remember how the Forests won the first game of the season.

Seeing the Forest get a free kick at the front of the penalty area, he stood up from his seat, walked to the sidelines for the second time, staring at the field nervously.

Fortunately. In the end, Beckham did not enter the free kick, which was slightly off, but it was enough to make Liverpool supporters sweat.

Benitez made a dissatisfied gesture, and he said not to give the opponent a set piece easily. This foul is really fearless - we have stood up the defensive formation, and the Forest can only transfer the football horizontally at most, and the team's goal is not very threatening. Once you foul, you give the opponent a chance to attack without any interference. What's more, there are still many set piece masters in the Forest team's formation. Bale has long proved the power of his left-foot free kick in the Premier League. As for David Beckham, do you still need to prove it?

After Liverpool scored the goal, Benitez made another gesture to let the team push up and attack. The goal must be scored as soon as possible.

He knew Tang En's series of provocations before the game. Even if he could hold it back, could his subordinates? They were all talented and passionate young people. If they were really impulsive, they would not need any reason.

If the time goes by, the score will still be 1:1, and it is hard to guarantee that my subordinates will not become anxious. Even if he is the head coach, he will still be unable to control the situation. So during the break, he said that he would strive to lead again in the first half of the second half, because he knew that his players had been aroused by Tang En's unpredictable provocation. He could use this anger to increase Liverpool's combat power in a short period of time, but could not control it for a long time. Angered by his opponent, this is a double-edged sword, which can improve combat power and also make the players lose their calmness.

Provocation before the game, plus the desperate counterattack in the game, plus the current score...

Over time, Benitez believed that his control over the middle of the team was slowly fading.

If you cannot destroy your opponent before this, you may end up self-destructing.

The Forest team's offense is strengthened, and they have not relaxed their control over defense at all. Don't think that after the Forest team starts to increase their offense, Liverpool will have an opportunity to take advantage of it, and in turn will fight the Forest team's counterattack. The person who is good at counterattacking will not be so stupid that he gives the opponent a chance to counterattack himself.

It is still a defensive counterattack, but when there is a chance to counterattack, the Forest team dares to invest their troops and dares to push forward on both sides. Although the tactics have not changed, the effect is different.

The offense is more three-dimensional. There are more layers and more changes.

The tactics are still defensive counterattacks, but they are more threatening than before, which makes the Liverpool people sweat in a cold sweat every time.

If you can't catch up for a long time, you must always pay attention to preventing your opponent's quick counterattack. The Liverpool people are slowly getting anxious.

The Forest team needs to do very simply now, just wait patiently for the opportunity to appear and then seize it!

Benitez made a very bold substitution after he couldn't defeat for a long time, and he did not adjust the defense. He adjusted the forward.

The tall Crouch replaced Kuyt, who performed poorly in normal games.

This is a substitution with a gambling nature. When we knew that the Forest team would definitely counterattack, we still pursued the offense. Benitez's courage to substitution is worthy of praise, but it is definitely not a random adjustment on impulse.

Crouch is different from Kuyt. Kuyt is very comprehensive, but another meaning of comprehensive is to say "all-round mediocrity". Crouch is very prominent at a certain point, which is a good choice to break the deadlock. Although Crouch is gradually losing the starting striker position at Liverpool. But in some specific occasions, he is still quite useful.

For example, at this time, the forest's intensive defense and the tactics of paying attention to preventing long-range shots have made Liverpool unable to find a better way to score goals. Torres is not a powerful center forward, and Kuyt is even more so.

In this case, is there anyone more suitable to play than Crouch? His height and heading ability are like a lighthouse in front of the Forest's goal, guiding the direction of Liverpool's offense. After Crouch came on the court, Liverpool players all understood - the next time is air combat.

Whether it is a header directly or creating opportunities for teammates with header ferrying. Crouch can do better than Kuyt.

Liverpool made adjustments, but Nottingham Forest made no statement. Don was not worried at all.

Are Pepe and Pique standing in front of the door as decorations?

The ball passed by Liverpool on Crouch's head was directly caught by Van der Sar, while Crouch did not jump up under the attack of two tall central defenders.

In this game, Donn did not let Ayala start, but was guarding against Benitez's move. There are several ways to break intensive defense, among which the most commonly used ground is long shots and set pieces. A powerful center stands at the stands is also one of the means to break intensive defense. Although Crouch does not look as strong as Vieri. In fact, he is not as thin as he looks to him. Donn is very clear about this, because Crouch once played for him. After a few years, Crouch is no longer the young boy he used to be. He has accumulated more experience on the football field and knows how to make rational use of his god-given body.

How to deal with Liverpool's adjustment? The tall central defender and goalkeeper Van der Sar expand the defensive area, which is enough.

The key to solving the problem is not how to freeze Crouch. But to score another goal...

After Crouch headed a few times on the court, he fell silent again. Because the Forest's offensive gradually became stronger, Liverpool's momentum was suppressed. After lacking support from the midfield and backcourt and both wings, Crouch's role became much smaller.

Van der Fate held the ball in front of Liverpool's penalty area. He made a long shot, but divided the ball out. After Beckham received the ball, Rafinia inserted from the back with a tacit understanding. Liverpool's left defender Riser saw Rafinia passing by Beckham at high speed and penetrated directly behind the defense line. He did not dare to neglect and then retreated to defend.

Rafinia is just a false run. His role is not to receive the pass, but to create a false image to attract the opponent's defense. The reason for this move is not to whether the receivers run like they really want to catch the ball, but to the fact that as long as the full-back runs up to assist, the frontcourt holder will have an extra choice. The defense must run with him. If he doesn't run, the opponent will pass through the entire defense line by one pass.

Riser ran back with Rafinia, and Beckham took the opportunity to cross it.

The football drew a wonderful arc and fell straight to the back point!

Van Nistrui appeared there, and he jumped high and prepared to head the ball. Van Nistrui is not a center forward who is famous for heading, although he is 1.87 meters tall. But Beckham's cross is very good. Even if someone who doesn't know how to head, he just needs to jump up and appear on the ball's flight trajectory, and then block the football with his head to the goal.

Also leaping with him was Danish central defender Ag.

In a fierce scramble. Van Nistroy fell in the penalty area!

At that moment, no one could see clearly whether Ag pushed Van Nistruei or Van Nistruei fell to the ground. But they all heard the referee's whistle.

Is it a fake fall or a penalty kick?

The referee pointed at the penalty spot!

"Punishment! This is a big blow to Liverpool!"

Benitez, who had always been calm and calm, jumped up from his seat, rushed to the sidelines in anger, and protested with fists inside.

His team has not been defeated by the Forest team's counterattack, nor has he been defeated by his own anger, but he fell under the referee's commander! He does not accept such a result and will never do it!

Tang En was just as excited as him. However, Tang En's movement of waving his fists was not protesting, but celebrating.

Whether he was a fake fall or a real foul, he couldn't see clearly at this position. Anyway, he had the chance to lead now and then took advantage of the opportunity to win the game. The fat meat sent to his mouth was no reason to spit it out!

There was a mess in front of Liverpool's goal, Liverpool players were protesting the penalty, while Forests were celebrating.

In slow motion replay, it is clear that Ag and Van Nistrui do have physical contact in the air. But... it is unknown whether this level of physical contact is enough to cause Van Nistrui to lose the center of gravity and fall to the ground.

It is impossible for the referee to make a change in the penalty. Both the referee and the lineman agreed that this was a foul, which was a foul.

The protests from Liverpool were invalid, and the referee stood at the penalty spot. He pointed at his feet firmly, and then asked Forest to come and punish the penalty.

If Liverpool players continue to get entangled, it's great, the yellow card in their pockets is waiting.

Gerald drove all his other teammates out. He knew that the penalty could not be changed. Now is not the time to quarrel with the referee here, so he should spread his anger on the Forest. Besides, goalkeeper Renner is very good at saving the penalty, and the Forest team is not sure to score this goal.

In the second half, the Liverpool fan meter was in the stands behind Liverpool goal. The referee pointed his finger at the penalty kick, and the harsh booed him, and when Van Nisstruy walked to the penalty kick with the football in his arms, he reached the peak.

Huge noise interference.    An inherent psychological pressure on penalty kicks, coupled with a goalkeeper who is good at saving penalty kicks, the situation is not as bad as imagined.

After Van Nystruey put the football down, he stepped back and prepared to run and shoot.

Except for him and goalkeeper Renner, all players on both sides were asked to leave the penalty area.

The boo on the head did not stop at all. Amid the booing, the referee blew the whistle in his mouth, and the whistle was instantly drowned in the booing of the Red Army fans.

Van Nistruy runs up. He kicks off and shoots!

The Dutch forward pushed the ball into the middle. Reina rushed to the left, which was no surprise. But Reina was a little hesitant when he rushed out. He was not very powerful and not fast. When the football flew over, it hit his feet and bounced out!

"Renner!"

The boo turned into cheers in an instant, and then stopped abruptly in the next moment.

Renner did save Van Nystruei and shot, but Nottingham Forest was not the only one Van Nystruei. No one expected that the moment Van Nystruei hit the ball, a thin figure came in. The time was just right, and the referee could not judge him to enter early.

The football was blocked by Reiner's feet, and it did not fly to the bottom line, nor to the side, but it flew directly back to the middle.

Van Nystruey hastily wanted to make up for the shot, but he couldn't pull himself away and couldn't play football.

Behind him, a man appeared in front of the landing point of the football.

Without hesitation and without any fancy moves, he pulled the ball in the air into the empty door in front of him.

"Freddy Eastwood! He appears in the deadliest position, and there is nothing Reiner can do!"
To be continued...