Tang En stood on the sidelines with his arms crossed over his chest, but the camera was focused on the grandstand at the far side of him. The electronic scoreboard there clearly showed the score so far — 2: 1. The home team, Nottingham Forest, was ahead of the visiting team, Chelsea.
Mourinho also stood on the sidelines. Unlike Tang En, he had both hands in his pockets.
Earlier, when they had lost the goal, Mourinho had grabbed Lampard and told him to cancel the plan and put all his energy into finding the weakness in the Forest team's defensive line.
The expressions on the two managers' faces were very serious. The game was not over yet. Tang En, who was leading, did not want Mourinho to catch up. He did not want to repeat Mourinho's mistakes. He knew that Mourinho's Chelsea was a tough nut to crack. There was nothing to be happy about now that they were leading by a goal. Who knew what would happen in the following game?
The trailing Chelsea did not give up. There was still half an hour left in the second half of the game. They had time to equalize the score. The game was not at the end of the road for them.
What did they rely on to remain undefeated for 41 rounds? It was not just Abramovich's rubles. Strictly speaking, this Chelsea team did not have any superstars that were truly recognized worldwide. Although their value was not low, it was also Abramovich who had stirred them up. This team was able to win the league title with an absolute advantage last season because of the level of their manager, Mourinho, who had integrated the team's combat power. He instilled an unyielding fighting spirit and a thirst for victory into the mercenaries who relied on money. This was very similar to Tang En's Forest Team. As a result, they managed to emerge victorious in the face of adversity and escape from danger time and time again.
Today's game was just one of those times for them.
Mourinho's team never knew how to write the word "admit defeat."
After losing the goal, Chelsea launched a frenzied counterattack against the Forest team, so much so that the Forest team, who was leading, ended up in a sorry state.
Mourinho had the entire Chelsea team press their formation forward to press against the Forest team's defensive line. At the same time, they trapped Anelka and Viduka by creating offside tactics.
In this way, Chelsea's formation was more compact. When they pressed forward to attack, the possibility of it landing at the feet of the Chelsea players was very high even if the Forest team kicked forward. Then, they would organize a second, third, and fourth attack. This gave the Forest players the impression that Chelsea's offense was continuous. For the defensive players, the pressure gradually increased until they could not bear it and finally collapsed. The specific phenomenon was active mistakes.
George Wood was tightly entangled by Lampard and had no time to take care of Chelsea's other attacks.
Chelsea, on the other hand, identified a point for a strong attack and repeatedly hit the ball in that direction — their right flank and the Forest team's left flank.
Duff and Robben would occasionally switch positions during the match. Who was on the left and who was on the right wasn't fixed. This time, the two of them switched positions even more frequently. Leighton Baines was the weakest of the Forest team's four starting defenders. Mourinho and the Chelsea players were well aware that they kept attacking Baines' defensive zone in order to make him collapse earlier than the other Forest players.
"Push them out! Push out! "Tang En shouted from the sidelines, waving his arms vigorously, but no one noticed. Even if he noticed it, it was useless. The Forest team's front line could not be pressed out just because he shouted "press out."
Chelsea pressed too hard, and the Forest team had completely fallen into their rhythm. What good would it do to follow the other team?
Even though the situation was critical, Tang En did not intend to make adjustments through substitutions. Because he did not have a suitable candidate to replace in the current situation.
Any match would face such a situation — the opponent suddenly exerted force and formed an absolute advantage for a period of time, surrounding their goal and bombarding them indiscriminately. But it was precisely at this time that they could not panic. Blind and hasty adjustments would instead give the opponent a real opportunity to take advantage of.
Tang En did not make any adjustments. He believed that the 11 Forest players on the field could withstand this wave of Chelsea's attacks.
As long as they withstood it, Chelsea was bound to be discouraged. Mental discouragement brought physical fatigue, and then it would be the Forest team's turn to counterattack.
There was only one key point — withstanding Chelsea's storm-like attacks during this period.
But the more crucial question was — could the Forest team withstand it?
They were not facing a team in the middle or lower reaches of the league, but Chelsea, who was ranked first and had scored the most goals in the league's ten rounds and conceded the least four goals.
This was truly a severe test …
※ ※ ※
Leighton Baines felt very tired. Even though the match had only been going on for sixty-five minutes, he was not the kind of player whose stamina was not up to standard. In fact, his stamina was very good and he could run very well. But if you let him face a team's attack alone, he would be worn down no matter how well he could run.
He had made his debut at Wigan Athletic and had even received a greeting from Wigan before playing against his former team in the season's opening game. As the most accomplished player who had made his debut at Wigan, he had become a brand in Wigan's youth training — that rugby enthusiast town could also produce a football star.
Although he had joined the Forest team, his favorite team was still Wigan Athletic.
Back then, Tang En had used the "main position" to attract him to transfer to the Forest team, and he had quickly become the main player in the left back position. Even though he was only twenty years old, he already had a full Premier League season's experience. He was no longer a rookie who had not seen the world. He was now Nottingham Forest's main left back, the main left back of the England U21 team, and rumored to be a future star that Ferguson had his eyes on.
But he had played so pathetically in this game …
He certainly knew who he was facing — the Irish national player, Damien Duff, and the Dutch national player, Robben. These were all first-class players in European football, and there was still a gap between his strength and theirs. But even though his opponents were far stronger than him, he was unwilling to admit that it was natural for him to be in such a sorry state.
None of Tang En's players were willing to admit that they were inferior to others.
Like their boss, they liked to be competitive and could not afford to lose.
Ribéry came back to help him defend, but the Frenchman was not good at doing such things. Furthermore, the Forest team had been pressured to the point where they could not lift their heads. What they needed most was to counterattack with offense. If he came back again, who would counterattack?
Anelka and Viduka successively fell into Chelsea's offside trap.
Only a side midfielder like Ribéry, who was fast and could plug in from the back, had more chances to break the trap.
He did not want Ribéry to come back. Otherwise, even if he intercepted the ball, the two men were too close, and the ball would still circle around in a small area. It would not be able to get out for a long time and could only be intercepted by Chelsea again. Then, he would have to repeat what he had done before.
It was too tiring!
Usually, Wood would often support the defense of the two flanks. Because of his stamina and speed, Tang En also requested him to expand the defensive zone. But today, he was entangled by Lampard.
There was one time when he rushed over to help with the defense, and Duff did not hesitate to pass the ball to Lampard in the middle. The Chelsea number 8's long shot forced Edwin van der Sar to make a wonderful save, but it also caused the Forest fans to exclaim.
The defensive barrier in the middle could not be moved. All the attacks on the flanks were for the sake of finding an opportunity in the middle. Wood ran over to support Baines. What about Lampard? What about Tiago?
This time, Robben and Duff switched. He came to face Baines' defense, while Duff went to the other side.
Robben's characteristic was that he ran with small steps and a fast pace. His upper body was perfectly straight, and he almost relied on the rapid alternating swinging of his two legs to shake off his opponent.
Baines stared intently at Robben, who held the ball in front of him. He knew that Robben was fast. Half a second of negligence and distraction could cause the opponent to break through.
Ribéry moved closer to Baines, but Baines only had Robben in his eyes.
"Stick close to him! Don't make a move so easily! Block the inside line! "Even Albertini anxiously roared from the sidelines.
Tang En turned his head to look at the Italian. Demetrio had said more than once that he wanted to be a manager after his retirement. His favorite and best games were the CM and FM series. It looked like he had to deliberately cultivate his ability on the training ground.
※ ※ ※
The Chelsea fans were excited by the continuous bombardment. The large amount of adrenaline secreted made them roar and cheer for the team with red faces. On the other hand, the Forest fans greeted Chelsea with boos.
In such a noisy environment, it was impossible for Baines to hear Albertini's roar. But he knew what the old captain shouted. It was the basic requirement of a defensive player.
Robben's speed did not look fast, but Baines did not dare to let his guard down. It was not the first time he had played against the Dutch "Peter Pan" in this game. He knew that this seemingly slow dribble contained a very strong explosive power.
Robben moved the ball inwards, and Baines blocked the ball in advance. The Dutchman pulled the ball back fiercely. The cut inwards was just a feint. The purpose was to trick Baines into moving his center of gravity inwards. His real goal was still to go underneath!
(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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