“YES！ Its_GOOOOOAL！！”
At the same time that Freddy Eastwood scored, the stands erupted with loud cheers. All the Forest supporters raised their arms and jumped out of their seats.
"This is Nottingham Forest's first Premier League goal of the season! The real first! Who would have thought that it would be Arsenal's goal! A beautiful counterattack, a beautiful long pass! Albertini's ball of leaves! "
Freddy Eastwood did not run to the sidelines to watch with the fans. Instead, he turned and ran to the midfield, hugging their new captain Albertini tightly.
At least 85% of the credit for this goal could be given to old Demetrio.
Seeing the ball enter the goal, Tang En and Kerslake both jumped out of their seats and rushed to the sidelines with their arms raised. He did it! His tactic succeeded!
"Nottingham Forest is leading Arsenal at their home ground. It looks like this game is not going to be a relaxing celebration for Wenger for breaking the record. Even though Tony Twain said that he does not care if the record from 25 years ago is broken, he also does not want to lose. "
After cheering for Eastwood, the Forest fans began to sing a song of praise for Albertini. "We have an Italian, with curly and messy hair! Don't look at him just because he's 32 years old. Underestimating him will not end well! Underestimating him will not end well!! "
As a player, he only needed one beautiful performance to win the hearts of the fans.
Albertini, who was surrounded by his teammates, could not understand what the fans were singing. It was too noisy, and his ears were filled with excited roars. But there was one thing he was sure of — his choice to leave Italy and come to England seemed to be the right one!
It felt so good to be surrounded by his teammates, to have high hopes and responsibilities placed on him, to have his name shouted by the fans. It felt so good, so good … It was as if he had returned to his days at AC Milan.
I, Albertini, am still far from old!
※ ※ ※
Pat Rice, who was beside him, covered his forehead. The goal was lost too suddenly.
Wenger turned to look at Tang En, who was celebrating the goal with his assistant on the sidelines, and then stood up. They could not let this man drag the game into the Forest team's rhythm. They had to shift Arsenal's offensive focus to Bergkamp.
He stood on the sidelines, and the Arsenal players turned their heads to look at him. They all knew in their hearts that the manager would definitely give new instructions after conceding a goal.
Wenger made a gesture to Bergkamp, telling him to retreat appropriately and support Fàbregas.
Bergkamp nodded.
Although the Dutchman's starting position was as a striker, partnered with Henry, he was not bad as a playmaker in the midfield. If he retreated back to organize the offense, he could take some of the pressure off Fàbregas, and he could also look for opportunities to take advantage of the holes that Wood left behind.
Wenger's adjustment had a certain effect. Bergkamp and Fàbregas shared the responsibility of the offensive organization and also diverted the Forest team's defensive attention. Henry's position was more flexible. He often moved to the left flank to coordinate with Pires. As a result, the Forest team's rear defensive line had to follow Henry. After all, the Frenchman was Arsenal's most threatening player.
Moreover, Arsenal's goal did not rely on the Frenchman, Henry. Whether it was Pires, Bergkamp, Pennant, or even Gilberto and Ashley Cole, they all had the ability to rush up and score goals. They had many points of attack, and any one of them had the ability to participate in the offense. The coordination of two or three people passing and running was enough to pull out the needed gaps.
Henry successfully received the ball, turned around, and blasted the ball onto the goalpost. Tang En stood up from his seat in the technical area amidst the gasps in the City Ground stadium.
He could also see that Arsenal had given more of the responsibility of organizing the offense to Bergkamp, and not Fàbregas.
Since Wenger had made changes, Tang En also made his own changes. Wood's task remained the same. He continued to force Fàbregas, and with him as the center, the Forest team's formation pressed forward as a whole. The Forest team, who was ahead of Arsenal, did not withdraw their defense like a tortoise. Instead, they pushed the area of defense further forward.
Tang En did not give up on Arsenal's close encirclement. He was well aware of Arsenal's strengths and weaknesses. Like almost all technical teams, they could not be given the slightest space and could not be allowed to play with their skills. Otherwise, it would be a dead end for the technically weaker Forest team.
Bergkamp pulled back to focus on organization. He clearly wanted to make use of the space left by George Wood's charge. Since that was the case, they would use the whole team to fill up the space. The whole team's formation moved forward to continue pressuring Arsenal, keeping the initiative of the match in their own hands.
The formation pressed forward and creating an offside position was a natural tactical choice. At the same time, Tang En did not restrict the offense just because they had to defend. On the contrary, he requested the two side midfielders, Ribéry and Ashley Young, to actively plug in and assist. Once the Forest team had an opportunity to attack, the side midfielders and full backs had to resolutely plug in and suppress Arsenal's offensive power on the flanks.
In addition, when attacking, they had to use the most efficient method: as long as they could pass the ball out, they would not let the ball stay at their feet for more than a second. The idea that Tang En instilled in the players during training was that opportunities and gaps were not created by dribbling the ball, but by the entire team's movement and passing. This was the future direction of the Forest team's offense: create opportunities while running, and kill people while running.
Don't always think about relying on your own strength to get past five defenders and then score the ball into an empty goal. They were facing Arsenal, not some amateur team.
Even though Arsenal had Jermaine Pennant and Robert Pires on the flanks, Tang En did not think that Ribéry and Ashley Young would be much worse than the two, especially Ribéry. Tang En even thought that Pennant was not as good as the Frenchman.
Unlike Arsenal's manager, Wenger, Wenger believed that the current Forest team was not on the same level as Arsenal in terms of strength. However, Tang En believed that what the current Forest team lacked was not strength, but experience. The experience of a top league match was more important than anything else.
Encountering Arsenal just three rounds into the league, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and fight this tough battle. However, Tang En believed that the experience this match could provide him and the entire team was equivalent to five normal matches.
※ ※ ※
Wenger also quickly noticed Tang En's change, but he would not make any adjustments to it. In a sense, what the two sides were competing on now was not the manager's wisdom, but the strength of the team.
Wenger had to admit that the current Tang En had improved a lot compared to the first time he met him. The first time, the youth team manager, Tony Twain, only knew how to use some crooked moves to deal with Arsenal. Now, he could already compete with him in terms of tactics.
Looking at George Wood's active figure on the field, Wenger thought that perhaps he should have put in more effort to poach that young man over. Even though Wenger himself did not like young men with rough techniques and only knew how to play football with their bodies, he had to admit that this number 13 would become a threat to him in the future.
The Forest team's pressing continued. Because it was their home ground, the referee blew the whistle more loosely. There were a few defensive actions that looked like fouls, but the referee did not give any indication. So, even if Wood overturned Fàbregas from behind and then passed the ball to Albertini, the Spanish young player would sit on the ground and slap the turf with all his might. It could not get the referee's attention to him.
To be fair, it was not that Fàbregas's ability was inferior to George Wood's. It was that the tactics that Tang En had specially formulated to deal with Arsenal were too in line with Wood's characteristics. At the same time, it greatly suppressed Fàbregas's characteristics.
After watching the match for another ten minutes, Wenger shook his head at Pat Rice, who was sitting beside him. "Tang En has studied us very thoroughly, and we know very little about this Forest team. The situation is too passive. "
Rice nodded in agreement. "I thought he'd been arguing with the media for the past four days."
"No, Pat. What the Forest team has shown in this match is definitely not something that can be done in four days. "
Hearing Wenger's words, Pat was a little surprised. "You mean …"
"That Tony Twain has treated us as an important opponent since he was promoted to the Premier League." Wenger's tone was normal, without the slightest fluctuation. "A newly promoted team views the defending champion as their main opponent. Isn't it funny?"
Pat did not know what to say. Arthur had once told him to be careful of Forest's Tony Twain. When he asked him why he had to be careful, the Frenchman did not say why. Now, he could more or less understand.
"No … They're really a newly promoted team with wild ambitions."
Wenger lowered his head to look at his watch. The first half was unknowingly nearing its end.
Almost all of the match's time was spent in snatching and being snatched. Arsenal's most prided attack, which was exquisite and smooth like flowing water and gorgeous and sexy like dancing, was completely not played.
He no longer considered making any adjustments before the end of the first half. The current situation was no longer something that could be changed by shouting a few words from the sidelines and changing a player.
The half-time break was a very good time.
Alright, Tang En, you won the first half.
In the second half, we'll compete again!
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