Both sides went straight into the game from the first second.
There was no warm-up, no probing, no pretense of attack. From the first second, both sides were completely in the game. Every attack was aimed at the goal of scoring.
Gerrard tried a long shot and almost broke the goal. Fortunately, Edwin van der Sar was very focused and punched the football out with both fists. Faced with Gerrard's long shot, he did not dare to directly hold it with both hands for fear of losing it.
The powerful long shot instantly ignited the atmosphere in the Stade Louis II.
Tang En sat in the technical area. Behind him was the stands of the Reds and Liverpool fans. Loud cheers filled every inch of space around him, stirring his eardrums. Long used to it, he did not even turn his head. He was just thinking about his own problem.
It looked like Liverpool really could not wait to defeat themselves. The only question now was whether this was Benítez's idea or the Liverpool players' own idea.
He turned his head to look at Liverpool's technical area next door. Benítez sat in his seat, surrounded by his assistants. Tang En could not see his expression, nor could he hear what they were saying.
The Forest team was never afraid of teams that could not wait to win. Or rather, the Forest team liked to meet such teams the most. They launched a fierce attack as soon as they came up, surrounding the Forest team's goal and bombarding it. They could not wait to shoot through the goal and take the lead.
In that case, the Forest team's best defensive counterattack would be useful.
Tang En decided to wait a few minutes to see Liverpool's true intentions before making a decision.
Five minutes into the game, Liverpool took advantage of their kickoff to launch a siege on the Forest team's goal. Nottingham Forest also cooperatively shrank their defensive line and let the opponent press up to attack.
Looking at the scene alone, anyone would come to the conclusion that Nottingham Forest was in a passive situation and was battered by Liverpool's powerful attack. But the real experts would not see it that way.
For people familiar with the Forest team, this was the most dangerous time for the Forest team's opponents.
Everyone had seen a spring, right? When it was about to rebound, it would be compressed into a ball by the external force. The strength of its rebound was related to the degree of compression. If a sharp knife was installed at the top of the spring, then when it bounced out …
The Forest team's three lines contracted very tightly. Except for Eastwood, everyone else came back to participate in the defense. No matter how ferocious Liverpool's offense was, the three lines remained intact.
It was like a spring that had been compressed to the extreme …
"Liverpool's offense is fierce, but when we look at Manager Tony Twain, he doesn't seem to be worried. Of course, the Forest team's style of football was always to stabilize the defense first and then look for opportunities to attack. It's not the first time I've been suppressed like this. " There was a hint of sarcasm in the commentator's tone. No one liked a team that prioritized defense over offense. Tang En was right. Forest Team was not welcomed by the public.
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While stabilizing their defense, they looked for opportunities to attack. Twain did not need to stand on the sidelines to remind the players of such a thing. Most of the Forest players knew what to do. Those who did not know must be the newcomers who joined the team this summer. In the current Forest team's starting list, the only player who had recently joined the team was Beckham.
Whether it was at Manchester United or Real Madrid, the football that Beckham came into contact with was about offense and advocated for it. Other than his last season at Real Madrid, he rarely thought of putting so much emphasis on defense in a game.
After coming to the Forest team, the defensive part of the training took up a large proportion. He needed to adapt from the beginning.
Fortunately, he had been a defensive midfielder at Real Madrid. Even if he played as a right midfielder, he would actively participate in the defense. Although his defensive level was average, his mentality was right. That was enough.
In this game, Tang En let Beckham start not only because he valued his tireless running and professionalism, but also because he needed to rely on his set pieces and passes from the flank.
Edwin van der Sar pounced on Torres's close-range shot. He pressed the football firmly under his body and did not give the opponent's other players a chance to make up for the shot. Although Akinfeev returned to the team from Russia this season, Russia's number one goalkeeper would probably have to sit on the bench to adapt to the English Premier League for a period of time.
Edwin van der Sar got up and threw the football in his hand to Beckham, who came back to receive. The Forest team's offensive players all rushed up. Ribéry, van Nistelrooy, van der Vaart, Eastwood … were all in the front field. Only Beckham ran back to the front of the penalty area to receive the ball.
This was the Forest team's new offensive tactic. They used Beckham's precise long passes to help the team get rid of the opponent's crazy interception in the midfield and directly hit behind the opponent's defensive line. Other than the possibility of their own strikers falling into the opponent's offside trap … everything else was fine.
After Beckham received the football, he turned around and prepared for a long pass. But as soon as he turned around, he was pushed down by Gerrard.
The referee's whistle sounded, indicating that Liverpool had committed a foul. But such a foul would neither give Gerrard a yellow card nor a verbal warning. Instead, it ended the Forest team's counterattack in the cradle.
The Forest team took a free kick from the back field. Pepe's long pass was headed back by Liverpool's Danish center back, Daniel Agger. The Forest team had no chance to fight back even if they wanted to. At this time, Liverpool's 30-meter zone was full of people. The Forest team had no other good way to break through Liverpool's defense other than to pass the ball back and forth and look for opportunities.
Tang En's brows furrowed. He thought he roughly knew what Benítez planned to do.
It looked like the Liverpool people had not been blinded by anger yet …
They pressed forward when it was time to attack and withdrew very quickly when it was time to defend. If the Forest team wanted to play a quick attack, they would find ways to delay, even if it was a foul.
The tactic was clear, and the players executed it decisively.
It looked like this game would not be easy to play.
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It was common sense that the more a spring was compressed, the more powerful the rebound force would be. This was the principle of defensive counterattack.
But what if the force applied to the spring was suddenly greater than the force that the spring itself could withstand? What if the force applied was not purely from the top down?
What would the result be?
There was a "click" sound.
"Fernando Torres!!" The commentator shouted the Spanish striker's name. Liverpool's number 9 opened his arms to accept the congratulations of his teammates.
Eleven minutes into the game, just as Tang En was racking his brains to think of how to deal with Liverpool's tactics, the Forest team's goal was lost.
With a beautiful coordination in the front field, Gerrard attracted Wood's attention after taking the ball. He then successfully brought Wood out of his own defensive zone and made a long shot. Just as all the Forest players were focused on him, he pushed the ball out in a straight line. Torres plugged in from the front of the rear defensive line and made a small anti-offside move. He received the ball behind the Forest defenders, and the next thing was simple. He took advantage of the angle that Edwin van der Sar had not blocked to shoot at. He pushed the ball into the far corner, and the ball easily rolled into the goal.
Liverpool led 1: 0 in the 11th minute. This made the Reds fans in the Stade Louis II jubilant, while the Forest fans were temporarily silent.
Tang En sat in the technical area and scratched his head. This was the only movement he made after seeing the goal concede. He did not jump up from his seat angrily and smash the water bottle in his hand. The opponent's tactical coordination was exquisite. His own side's defense made a habitual mistake. In that instant, the defensive players only cared about whose feet the ball was at. There was really no need for him to be too angry about this goal concede.
Besides, the game had only started for 11 minutes. The Forest team still had time. He was not in a hurry.
With that thought in mind, Tang En adjusted his sitting posture and crossed his legs again.
If a spring was pressed too hard, it might break and become deformed. But for Twain, it was nothing more than a spring becoming two, two becoming four, four becoming eight, eight becoming sixteen … Forget it.
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The leading Liverpool continued to strengthen their offensive against the Forest team in the first half. They were not satisfied with one goal, and Benítez also knew that a one-goal lead was the least secure.
Nottingham Forest was completely at a disadvantage in front of the strong Liverpool team. Of course, this was still the opinion of outsiders. Tang En did not think it was as simple as being at a disadvantage. He still remembered when he was a high school fan of martial arts novels, he had read Jin Yong's The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre. There was a sentence in it that was very suitable in the current situation and was also very suitable to summarize the Forest team's football tactical style:
If he is strong, let him be strong; if he is tyrannical, let him be tyrannical; if he is tyrannical, let the bright moon shine on the great river.
No matter how strong or ferocious the enemy is, it can all be regarded as a cool breeze brushing the mountain, or a bright moon shining on the great river. Although it can be added to my body, it does not harm me in the slightest. But how can I do it without harming my body?
If he is tyrannical, if he is evil, I will be full of energy.
In the world of football, as long as we are strong enough, we will not be led by the nose by the opponent. No matter how fiercely they attack, our defensive formation remains intact, disciplined, and unified. The opponent's attack is nothing more than a cool breeze brushing the mountain, or a bright moon's projection on the great river. There is no threat to speak of.
This is the temperament of a strong team. This is a performance of confidence.
Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, the besieged Forest team was surrounded by danger and could concede another goal at any time. But the Forest people themselves knew how safe they were now.
That goal concede was just an accident. An accident was enough.
The Liverpool players on the field now deeply experienced Nottingham Forest's "immovable as a mountain" style of football. It looked like they surrounded the opponent and had several times more chances than the opponent. But how many times could they really threaten the opponent's goal? It could be counted on one hand.
Moreover, everyone knew that the Forest team was good at defensive counterattack, which would cause the Liverpool players to unknowingly think about what was behind them when they attacked. Although Benítez's tactics had been set up to deal with this point, the psychological inertia of a person was terrible. Nottingham Forest repeatedly staged a good show of a quick sneak attack to kill the opponent in various competitions. Would they not think if you did not let them think?
The result of the long run was that the Liverpool players clearly felt tired even before the first half was over. Other than that goal in the front field, they could not break the situation. There was also the possibility of being sneak attacked by the opponent at any time. How could they not be tired?
As everyone knew, Tang En was actually a Chinese through and through. He had a very strong Chinese background. These things were not only reflected in the more superficial aspects of speaking the Chinese language and liking to eat Chinese food.
After he became the Forest team's manager, he slowly thought about how to integrate the wisdom of the East with modern football.
The Forest team's tactics incorporated the wisdom of Sun Tzu's Art of War.
Due to the influence of Japanese anime and games, many people thought that "Wind, Forest, Fire" came from Japan. In fact, it was purely "Made in China."
In order to fool Yang Yan, Tang En placed a lot of books related to China on the bookshelves in his house. Tang En often took out very few, like "XX Travel Notes" and put them on the shelf. But Sun Tzu's Art of War was a book that Tang En often flipped through and studied.
In Sun Tzu's Art of War, there was a saying: "Be as swift as the wind, as gentle as the forest, as aggressive as fire, as still as a mountain, as elusive as the shade, and as moving as thunder."
This sentence was a high summary of the Forest team's tactics:
When attacking, it was as fast as the wind. When quietly waiting for an opportunity, it was like a well-organized forest. When attacking, it was as fierce and merciless as a raging fire. When defending, it was as steady and calm as a mountain, making it difficult for the enemy to guess your intentions. In that way, once you moved, it would be as powerful as thunder and unstoppable.
Static was defense, and attack was movement. Static was the root of movement, and movement was the subject of static. Offense was built on the foundation of defense. In a match, most of the time, both sides were facing each other in a stalemate. The offense that solved the problem was often something that happened in an instant. It was just like how after the Forest team defended for eighty-nine minutes, they used a lightning-fast sneak attack to end the battle.
Of course, Tang En did not read Sun Tzu's Art of War to his team members. Although the British Museum had translated it, he did not have to worry that he would not translate it well. He only felt that reciting these words verbatim to his subordinates was proof of a leader's low standards, because they did not have their own understanding and could only copy from books. He himself incorporated much of the wisdom from Sun Tzu's Art of War into his daily training and commanding in matches.
The things of China's ancestors had gone through more than 2,000 years of trials and had yet to be eliminated. Moreover, they were constantly being carried forward. This proved that they were indeed unique, and indeed had areas that made modern people sigh at their inferiority. Although the standard of China's football was extremely low, Tang En never thought that everything in China was low. At the very least, he felt that using the ancient wisdom of the East, he could also command the team to achieve victory.
I love Chinese culture. That is not just a lousy excuse for me to speak Chinese in the future. I truly love this country's culture because it has never become outdated, and has surpassed this era.
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Unmoving like a mountain, the Nottingham Forest team finally found a good opportunity in the final moments of the first half. Three Forest players completed three passes in front of Liverpool's penalty area, and then the football flew into Liverpool's goal.
After George Wood intercepted Liverpool's counterattack, he launched a counterattack on the spot. He passed the ball to Ribéry, and Ribéry passed it to van Nistelrooy. Van Nistelrooy rushed to shoot in front.
Reina's line of sight was blocked by his own players, and his reaction was half a beat slower. He only had time to watch the ball enter the net.
This was a sneak attack, a sneak attack that was as swift as the wind and as fierce as fire.
Benítez knew that Nottingham Forest had been defending like this and must counterattack, but he did not know when the Forest team would counterattack — if it was known, it would not be called a sneak attack.
He did not expect Nottingham Forest to choose to counterattack in the final moments of the first half, when the Liverpool players were generally exhausted after forty-five minutes of tense play.
Besieged and beaten was not necessarily the most difficult, and besieged and beaten was not necessarily the easiest.
Swift as the wind, gentle as the forest, aggressive like fire, immovable like a mountain, unpredictable like the shadow, and moving like thunder.
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