The flanks could not fly, and there was no chance in the middle. How could they still win like this? They really had to hope for God to bless them again. But Tang En did not think that God was a "God" who waited for miracles for everything. What was the use of him as a manager?
In fact, his problem now was not to worry about what would happen to Bolton Wanderers. It was clear that Allardyce was very satisfied with the 1: 0 away score. The team retreated as a whole. Kevin Davies was just putting on a show in the front field. He took the initiative to give up some balls where everyone had a 50-50 chance — after all, he had not fully recovered from his injury and did not dare to work too hard.
Tang En's problem was … he could not change players now. Through the last few matches, Rebrov had just played with confidence. If he was replaced in the first half, it would really be a waste of effort.
After watching the match for nearly 30 minutes, Tang En completely gave up on letting Rebrov play as the forward. He did not even want to occasionally make a cameo appearance. The 29-year-old "veteran" had reached the point where he needed to use his experience and passing to help the team instead of scoring goals. After all, he and Shevchenko are not the same type of players …
"Rebrov!" He stood on the sidelines and shouted into the stadium, his voice drowning out the shouts of the Bolton Wanderers fans in the south stands of the City Ground stadium. "Retreat!" He waved his hand at the center line. The meaning of this gesture was clear.
Rebrov, who had played in the midfield for a few games, now felt uncomfortable playing in the front as a striker. He was happy for the manager to make such a change.
Rebrov, who returned to the midfield, performed much better than he did in the previous thirty minutes. The Forest team was also able to organize some effective offense. At the same time, because of his presence, Bolton Wanderers' three defensive midfielders had to divert their attention to defend the middle. They were clearly aware of the fact that Rebrov had been scoring goals with long shots recently. This gave McPhail and Ashley Young a chance to be active on the flanks.
After Ashley Young received Rebrov's pass, he used his speed to force his way past Ivan Campo and Simon Charlton, and then crossed the ball into the middle. Eastwood deftly moved into position to shake off the center-back who was marking him, and then swung his head to attack the goal. Unfortunately, his header was slightly over! Although there was no goal, the City Ground stadium still rang with loud cheers. It was a rare chance for the Forest team to score in the first half.
Looking at Freddy Eastwood scratching his head in regret, Tang En was not as regretful as his men, because he knew the forest had come back to life.
※ ※ ※
"Eastwood! Oh — he missed a chance to score! "
"This kind of opportunity doesn't come by often! It was not until the second half of the first half that the Forest team woke up from their slumber, and their offense gradually became a threat. But this was far from enough! Tony Twain was right to let Rebrov return to the midfield. With him around, Forest's offense flowed as smoothly as if it had been lubricated. Look at Ashley Yang's breakthrough just now! It was beautiful. His speed left Ivan Campo and Simon Charlton helpless! But that was thanks to Rebrov's pass – he passed the ball to the front of Ashley Young's sprint, not to his feet. This way, Yang can fully utilize his speed advantage … "
Allardyce sensed the threat of Rebrov in midfield and signalled to Nolan on the sidelines to keep an eye on the Ukrainian.
Nolan was younger and had better stamina. He was more than enough to deal with the 29-year-old Rebrov. But just as he made this adjustment, Tang En followed suit and changed his move.
When he saw Allardyce gesturing to Nolan on the sidelines, Tang En knew what he was going to do. It was nothing more than letting a defensive midfielder stick close to the core of Forest's offense and do everything possible to restrain Rebrov's play.
In the 06-07 season, Spanish La Liga managers often used this move against Real Madrid's midfield core, Guti. As long as they defended against Guti, it was tantamount to defending against the entire Real Madrid team, because Guti was the key figure in controlling Real Madrid's offensive rhythm.
Rebrov also played this role for the current Nottingham Forest team. His experience could help the team control the rhythm, when to split the sides, when to control the ball, when to be fast, when to be slow … He was a cut above his teammates around him. After all, he was a veteran who had played in the Champions League. He was not on the same level as the young lads in Forest's midfield.
Bolton intended to use the young Nolan to wear down Rebrov, but … Have you asked for my opinion, Mr. Allardyce?
The away team played defense to the death, and Okocha appeared dispensable on the field. As for Wood, he was still following him …
"George!" Twain shouted at the top of his lungs on the sidelines. Wood temporarily shifted his attention away from Okocha and turned to the technical area below the field.
"Protect the Ukrainian!" Twain pointed to Rebrov, who was entangled with Nolan. "Don't let him lose the ball so easily!"
In such a noisy environment, he could only make it short and could not give detailed instructions like he did in the locker room. Now it was up to Wood to see how much he could comprehend.
Rebrov intended to dribble past Nolan, but the ball under his feet was poked down by Nolan. Cheers rang out again in the south stands. This was Bolton's chance to fight back!
But just as Nolan had bypassed Rebrov and was about to kick the ball away, he found that a man had also rushed to the front of the ball, and he was wearing the red home team jersey!
This was a fifty-fifty chance! Nolan did not intend to easily return the ball that he had just snatched. He desperately rushed over, intending to use the momentum of his success to snatch it twice in a row!
But the person he faced this time was not Rebrov, but …
"Bang!" The two men fiercely kicked at each other, and the ball went wide. Nolan wanted to snatch it, but he could not do anything because he had already fallen to the ground. Even though his opponent also staggered a little, the man was still able to maintain his balance. He ran past him without looking back.
The entire stands of the City Ground erupted in loud cheers — the "Boy Wonder" George Wood, who had frantically intercepted in the midfield in the last game and sent a 60-meter assist in the end, was back!
Rebrov looked back to see Wood and immediately abandoned his plan to turn around and snatch it back. During training, he knew that this kid was good at snatching the ball one-on-one. With him by his side, he only had to think about how to attack. He did not have to worry about the opponent counterattacking if he lost the ball. He could not do anything if he was afraid of the tiger in front and the wolf behind.
Wood caught up to the ball and did not hesitate. He chose to pass the ball to the nearest person in his line of sight, the easiest to pass to — Rebrov!
Nolan was completely powerless. He lay on the ground and looked back to see that his defensive zone had been broken through. There was not a single Bolton Wanderers player around Rebrov. He had plenty of time to decide whether to shoot or pass after he got the ball …
"Offense and defense switch owners! Nottingham Forest's attack! Rebrov is unmarked … Long shot! "Martin Taylor shouted.
Seeing that Nolan had been broken through, Bolton Wanderers' goalkeeper, the Finn Jaaskelainen, had been guarding against Rebrov's long shot. When he saw Rebrov raise his leg, he leaped up and punched the powerful shot out with both fists!
"Beautiful! Jaaskelainen! He did his best to keep the goal intact! "
There was a loud sigh in the stands, but soon the fans gave their applause to Rebrov who had shot and George Wood who had intercepted the ball and launched a counterattack.
Although the attack still did not score, it brought great confidence to the Forest team, especially to the attacking players. They all knew that there was such a person standing behind them: He was tireless, and his ability to snatch was outstanding. He was like a silent wall standing on the center line, giving them support and reassuring them — Attack boldly, I'm here.
Yes, Tang En's response was to provide the core of the organization with a dedicated bodyguard.
Mr. Allardyce, do you think Kevin Nolan, Janakopoulos, and Ivan Campo are good at snatching? Very well, now let them see who is better at snatching!
(To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support the original reading!)
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