In the VIP box at the Millennium Stadium, a fashionably dressed blonde beauty could not help but yawn and change her sitting position with flagging interest. She was not a professional fan. She could not even be considered a fan. She believed that the more important the game, the more exciting and intense it should be. However, the EFL Cup final had been going on for 10 minutes, and the dull scene disappointed her. The game was dull in the eyes of the beauty.
It was not just the beauty who felt dull. The fans in the stands and in front of the television felt the same.
This was the final of an important cup competition. Being conservative and dull was the main theme. Martin Taylor and Andy Gray, who were in charge of the commentary, were well aware of this and did not complain in their commentary. Instead, it was Gray who raised questions about the Forest team's defensive play from the start. If they defended like this from the first minute of the game, how long could Tang En's team last? Forty-five minutes? Ninety minutes? Or … a hundred and twenty minutes?
"Massimo Maccarone attempts a long shot! It hits a Forest player and bounces off the end line. It's a corner kick. The Italians appear to be very excited after the start of the game. In just 11 minutes, they've already shot twice! "
Middlesbrough had deployed a strong offensive lineup for this game. Clearly, McClaren was not the one who thought they should be conservative in the crucial game. Or rather, McClaren did not choose to be conservative when facing Nottingham Forest.
In fact, ever since Robson took charge of the team, Middlesbrough's tradition had been technical, offensive football. They had the title of "Giant Killers" in the English Premier League and were quite experienced in playing against strong teams. However, they were at a loss when playing against teams that were good at tackling and whose players were physically strong.
Their biggest characteristic was their strong offense and weak defense. McClaren did not know what Tang En was planning. In any case, he decided to launch a fierce attack at the start of the game, hoping to use this momentum to establish a lead. The rest of the game would be easier for the technically better Middlesbrough. Contrary to Tang En's pre-match plan, he did not intend to strengthen his defense in the game. Instead, he wanted to maximize his offensive advantage. He wanted to blast open Nottingham Forest's goal with consecutive goals and crush the fighting spirit of this League One team.
As a result, he deployed the strongest offensive lineup he could deploy for this game. The forward line consisted of the Italian striker, Massimo Makaroni, and the Cameroonian, Joseph Job. The former had a precise shot, while the latter dribbled well.
The four players in the midfield, from left to right, were Middlesbrough's star of hope, the 19-year-old genius player Stewart Downing; the Brazilian midfielder Juninho, who was only 1.65 meters tall but had excellent skills; the Dutch midfielder George Boateng, who was fierce in defense, fast, and unafraid of collisions; and the Spanish midfielder Gaizka Mendieta, who was on loan from Lazio.
There was no change in the arrangement on the defensive line, and McClaren did not have much choice.
The left back was the Frenchman, Franck Queudrue. He was a player who posed a great threat to Tang En. Whether it was defense or offense, he could handle them with ease. Although he was only 1.83m tall, he had excellent heading skills and free kick shooting skills. He was one of the best left backs in the English Premier League in the last two seasons. The right back was the England international footballer, Danny Mills, who was on loan from Leeds United. The two center backs were the 31-year-old veteran, Ugo Ehiogu, and the 23-year-old Chris Riggott.
The goalkeeper was the Australian national goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer.
With such a lineup, other than Juninho, it was basically Middlesbrough's main lineup in the English Premier League. Of the four midfielders, only Boateng was a defensive type. The other three were stronger in offense than defense. McClaren's intention was clear — to attack!
Defense was never the way the Middlesbrough people were familiar with playing football. They liked to play beautiful passes and cuts, and they liked to play attacking football smoothly.
But today, they still did not know that the offense they were most proud of was about to hit a wall.
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Juninho sent out a corner kick. Queudrue, who was heavily guarded by the Forest players, did not head the ball, and Middlesbrough's attack ended in vain.
Soon, the Middlesbrough team in their yellow away jerseys charged over again, because the Forest team basically had no counterattack power in front. There was only Crouch, and the goalkeeper sent a long kick over. Even if he could fight for the first point with his height advantage, he could only give up the second point to his opponent.
Although the Forest team reported a 4-4-2 formation before the match, in reality, when they fought, only Crouch broke through at the front. In the past, Tang En would arrange for Eastwood to hover beside the tall man and search for the second point of landing. Today, he did not ask for that. Instead, he let the Romani pull back to defend.
Nottingham Forest had almost given up on attacking. They did so to build a high wall in front of their goal and completely seal off all of Middlesbrough's attacks.
Italy had a tradition of "chain defense," which meant that the entire team paid attention to defense, one link after another. Tang En had spent more than a week building the defensive system for the Forest team before this match. He called it "wall defense." It was a comprehensive reinforced concrete defensive system.
The rear defensive line would never press forward or create an offside position. The three lines would maintain a close distance and a complete formation. Within the 30-meter area of their own goal, they would form a small situation where they outnumbered the opponent, requiring the entire team to defend and compress the opponent's attacking space. You can rely on your superb ball control to make horizontal shifts outside my defensive line, but my players will not impatiently pounce on you just because you pass from right to left and then from left to right. No! No matter how you pass horizontally, as long as you don't pass directly, then I will watch you play ball control from behind the defensive line. It doesn't matter even if you control the ball 80% of the game in the final statistics.
But if you intend to change the direction of your attack from horizontal to vertical and want to pass directly through my defensive zone … then I'm sorry, I can't let you do as you wish. A fierce tackle, a blockade of two to three people, an airtight penalty area … that's the situation you have to face.
The range of the Forest team's defense was like a muddy swamp that was difficult to traverse. There was no problem if you did not step into it, but once you did, it would make it difficult for your offense to advance even an inch!
In most people's minds, defense seemed to be the job of the rear defensive line and defensive midfielders. The strikers and attacking midfielders could stand in front and wait for opportunities to counterattack when their own team defended. Such a defense was like a piece of plywood. It looked like it could block the wind and rain, but in reality, it would break with a little force. Why? Because they did not have enough strategic depth. An exquisite direct pass was enough to tear this paper tiger-like defensive line.
But Tang En's defensive philosophy was not like that.
What was a "wall"?
It had height, length, and thickness. It was a wall that could not be easily overcome, built by huge stones.
Height: George Wood was 1.86m tall, had an outstanding jump, and was not weak in headers. Robert Huth was 1.90m tall, had height, and was good at headers. Wes Morgan was 1.88m tall, had an outstanding air defense ability.
It had length: From the left side of the field to the right side of the field, it was all within the control of Tang En's overall defense. The two starting midfielders, Chris Commons and Ashley Young, were not to pass the ball over Crouch's head in this match, but to act as full backs.
It had thickness: Could a one-centimeter-thick board be called a wall? Nottingham Forest was a moving wall, and the area between the forwards and the defenders was a defensive zone. From the moment Crouch and Eastwood faced Middlesbrough's offense, the Forest team's defensive system began to operate.
It was a real wall that was 2.5 meters tall, 60 meters long, and 30 meters wide!
Middlesbrough's offense gradually weakened after 15 minutes. It was not that they did not want to attack, but that they had expended twice as much energy as usual in their defensive confrontation with the Forest team.
Tang En requested the team to dare to make a move in defense. They had to be fast, and their movements had to be fierce. They had to stick close to the opponent, and their small movements could not be stopped. Even if they could not shovel the opponent's ball, they had to make enough movements, because that would affect every time the opponent received the ball and passed the ball. Over time, when they started to make mistakes in their offense, the Forest team's goal of defense would be achieved.
Tang En firmly believed that no matter how skilled Middlesbrough was, their players' individual skills and teamwork could not be compared to a team at the level of Real Madrid. Real Madrid was at a loss when faced with a team that was frantically pressing and shrinking its defense, not to mention Middlesbrough, who was in the middle of the English Premier League.
This kind of defense made it very difficult for Middlesbrough to play. Whether it was their manager, Steve McClaren, or the players themselves, they did think before the match that the weaker Nottingham Forest might adopt a defensive strategy to contend with the English Premier League team, Middlesbrough. But none of them thought that the Forest team's defense would be so thorough, so … crazy.
Juninho Sr. was a player with excellent footwork skills. But in his three appearances at Middlesbrough, other than his first impressive performance, Middlesbrough ended up relegated. The next two times he returned to the team, his form was not as good as before. Especially after he had his leg broken, his performance was even worse.
McClaren had originally intended to use his individual skills to create trouble for the Forest team's rear defensive line when he played him. He watched the two semi-finals between the Forest team and Bolton Wanderers, especially the first one. He believed that the biggest mistake of the Bolton Wanderers manager, Allardyce, was that he did not fully utilize Okocha's individual skills. George Wood's performance in that match was very active, but McClaren believed that he lacked the experience to deal with various changes at the last minute. If Allardyce had given Okocha full freedom from the start and let him disrupt the Forest team's defense, then Bolton Wanderers would have completely crushed the debut of the newcomer, Wood.
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