Shania wanted to remind Tom to change out of his black and white Newcastle jersey a few times when he was talking excitedly about the match that was going to take place in the afternoon. But in the end, she resisted the urge to do so.
She wore a red jacket, but it did not attract her cousin's attention.
So, when she was in the away team's stand at St. James' Park, surrounded by Forest fans in red, she was very calm. As for her poor cousin, he was in a miserable state …
Imagine a Newcastle United fan wearing a black and white jersey in a red square formation. How eye-catching would that be!
Tom Sawyer cowered in the crowd, and the Nottingham Forest fans around him looked at him maliciously. Look at the physiques of these people. Fat men, tough fat men! Their arms were as thick as his thighs … Such people were not to be trifled with. He could only pray that these men did not drink too much, or else the outcome would be unpredictable …
"Should I hope for Newcastle to win or lose …" He muttered in his seat.
No one cared about his whining. The Forest fans were raising their arms and cheering for the team. Shania also jumped and cheered with the men. Tom had never seen Shania so crazy in his own home. He had always wanted to groom the Brazilian girl into a Magpies fan, but he did not expect her to be a Nottingham Forest fan. Was it because of that "Uncle Tony"?
Tom stood up and leaned over to look at the away team's technical area.
"Uncle Tony" seemed very excited. He waved his arms on the sidelines, his movements large and exaggerated.
Tom glanced at the scoreboard: Newcastle 1: 0 Nottingham Forest. The goal had happened six minutes ago, and the scorer was the "Angel of the North" in the hearts of the Newcastle people, Alan Shearer. When he saw Newcastle score, he reflexively jumped up and wanted to raise his arms and cheer, but seeing the silent Forest fans around him, he immediately sat down.
"Maybe a draw … is a good result …" He thought to himself.
※ ※ ※
Ever since the team lost the goal, Tang En had been standing on the sidelines and did not return to the technical area.
Later, David Kerslake also walked over from the technical area to his side and stood with him on the sidelines.
"Alan Shearer is really amazing …" Tang En sighed. "He's already 30 years old and still has that kind of impact …"
He was referring to the goal that the Forest team conceded, a very typical Hillerian goal — speed! Power!
The young and strong Piqué was completely defeated in the face of Shearer's sudden sprint and then gliding in the air to compete with him for a header.
He jumped a step too late, which resulted in him being firmly pinned down by Shearer. He could not resist and could only watch as his opponent headed Bowyer's pass over his head into the goal.
Compared to Drogba, Shearer was obviously better at combining his body, technique and experience. Piqué had no excuse for losing.
Kerslake, who was standing next to him, nodded. "We underestimated him before …"
The Forest team's previous tactical arrangement was to focus on Newcastle United's best striker so far this season, Dutchman Kluivert. Because Souness had not announced his starting lineup for this match, the Forest team did not know who he would send. Tang En chose the first two out of the three of Kluivert, Michael Chopra and Alan Shearer. Alan Shearer was injured in the last match when Newcastle narrowly beat Manchester City with a score of 4: 3 and was substituted early.
Tang En believed that Shearer would be on the substitutes' bench for this match. After all, although Shearer was old, he was still an important figure in the Newcastle team. Souness had no reason to let Shearer play with an injury — before the match, there had been news that Shearer had not recovered from his injury.
Unexpectedly, it turned out to be fake news!
Not only did Shearer play, but he also scored a goal!
"The goal machine — Alan Shearer!" Tang En said through gritted teeth.
Compared to Shearer's outstanding performance, the other striker, Kluivert, appeared a little weak. He did not run very actively and his shots lacked accuracy.
"He must have left his shooting boots in a private room in a nightclub!" The television commentator teased the Dutchman, who liked to enjoy the nightlife.
The Newcastle fans did not care about Kluivert's performance. Alan Shearer alone was enough to attract the attention of the entire stadium. Ever since Shearer scored the goal, the Newcastle fans' singing had not stopped. They were all praising Shearer. Nearly 50,000 fans used different ways to praise their "God" with their singing.
Such an away atmosphere made even Tang En, who was playing on the sidelines, feel a little suffocated, not to mention the players running on the field.
"David, we need to score." Tang En turned around and said to Kerslake, "The sooner we score, the better. We have to beat down Newcastle's arrogance! Get Viduka to withdraw and tell the Romani Romani that if the opponent's No.6 (Jean-Alain Baumsong) is pulled out, then firmly plug in. Then, send a few more diagonal passes from the two flanks to the gaps behind Newcastle's defenders. "
Every time Tang En said a word, Kerslake would nod once. When Tang En finished speaking, he began to turn around and gesture to the field. At the same time, he used a whistle to remind the players to pay attention to his gestures. These were things that the Forest team would specially practice during training. If they did not want the opponent to easily guess their tactical intentions, they needed to use some "secret signals."
Compared to Newcastle's powerful offense, their defense was not flattering. Heavy offense and light defense was Newcastle's style that had been passed down since Kevin Keegan's time. The Highlanders were complacent about this because their football was not conservative at all. Of course, these fans were happy for 80% of the season. Then, in the last 20%, they could only spend it in sadness and disappointment. They could play offensive football that would make neutral fans cheer and applaud, but they could not win a league title for their own fans.
Should one say that the Newcastle fans were blessed or unfortunate?
※ ※ ※
Baomsong discovered that the opposing striker, Viduka, who was always at the front in the previous matches, had begun to retreat outwards to receive the ball. He naturally believed that it was the work of his defense. It was his constant defense against the Australians that forced the opponent to retreat and receive the ball.
The television commentator had the same thought as him. "Newcastle's morale is high after scoring a goal. Nottingham Forest doesn't have many good chances. They can't even get into Newcastle's penalty area. Look at Viduka. He's at the front but can't receive the ball. He can only retreat and look for opportunities. "
You want to get rid of me?
Baomsong grinned as he watched Viduka's back as he ran out.
Dream on!
He followed and forced his way forward.
Off the field, Souness saw Baomsong run out of the penalty area and chase after Viduka. He suddenly stood up from his seat in the technical area. He saw that the strong center forward had uncharacteristically retreated out of the penalty area. He smelled danger in the humid air.
Baomsong ran out. The other young center back, Stephen Taylor, was also dragged out. Viduka was the Forest player who was mentioned the most by Souness before the match. That was because Viduka was the only player in the Forest team that the English coaches were most familiar with.
Souness told his players that Viduka was very strong, very good, and could score goals. He was the Forest team's current top striker and needed to be taken care of.
Taylor, who was only eighteen years old, firmly remembered these words. He only had eyes for Viduka. As for his surroundings? Leave it to your teammates!
Nottingham Forest's captain, Albertini, was in control of the ball. Newcastle's Senegalese defensive midfielder, Mustapha Faye, went forward to snatch the ball, but Albertini used his skills to bypass him. The experienced Italian did not rush to pass the ball after he bypassed Faye. He only made a feint to pass the ball, and it caused a chain reaction in Newcastle's defensive line.
Newcastle's other defensive midfielder, Nicky Butt, pounced on Albertini, completely forgetting that Freddy Eastwood was next to him. Maybe he saw it, but he did not think the Romani would pose any threat. The match had been going on for more than thirty minutes. Eastwood's chances to shoot were few and far between. He did not pose any threat to the goal guarded by Shay Given at all.
For Butt, the dribbling man in front of him was far more of a threat than Eastwood.
Souness suddenly widened his eyes and rushed to the sidelines to yell, "Keep an eye on that kid!"
He was referring to Freddy Eastwood. Souness, who was watching the match from the sidelines, could see clearly that after Butt pounced to defend against Albertini, there was a vacuum around Eastwood. No one was looking!
Taylor finally noticed this blind spot. He turned and ran to Eastwood. At this time, Albertini passed the ball. He did not pass it to Taylor's target, Eastwood. Instead, he surprisingly split to the side and passed it to Franck Ribéry.
The Frenchman had attracted more and more attention with his outstanding performance in the recent rounds of the league tournament. As a result, the Newcastle players were particularly concerned about the scar-faced player. When Taylor saw Ribéry receive the ball, his first reaction was that he would go past him. He had to cover for the defense. The defensive line needed to be deep. Otherwise, if Karl was bypassed, there would be an opening!
At the thought of this, the young center back could no longer care about what he had just seen. He ran past Eastwood and together with Karl, they went to meet Ribéry.
Ribéry, who was in possession of the ball, saw Taylor move. He had been waiting for this moment. Without any extra movements, he kicked a diagonal line. The ball passed between Taylor and Karl!
(To be continued, if you want to know what happened next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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