No matter where he was on the field, George Wood's eyes were always fixed on the opponent's number 22, the Brazilian Kaka.
The day before the game, as well as in the final preparation before the game, the coach emphasized that Kaka was his goal for the game. In fact, there was no need to emphasize it so repeatedly. He knew in his heart who was the most threatening player on the team. He was a defensive midfielder. Studying the opponent's ace player was one of his jobs. He had no special hobbies, so other than training and games, unless he had commercial work, he would always quietly watch videos when he returned home.
He had to study the Forest team's opponents in the league tournament and in the European arena. Albertini had long told him that relying only on his physical instincts to defend could not last long, because as he grew older, the body he was now proud of would go downhill. What would he do then? Would he slowly be forgotten on the substitutes' bench?
There was a ready example now — Chelsea's Makelele.
What was hindering Wood from becoming the world's number one defensive midfielder was not the long-famous star players, nor was it Wood's physical fitness, but his awareness. He still had a lot of room for improvement in this regard.
Playing more games was a good way, but the game also had a time limit. No matter how good a player was, he could only play more than seventy games a year. What about the rest of the events and experience? He had to rely on watching videos to make up for it.
Wood knew that he was different from those who began to receive professional football selections from a young age. He lacked more than a decade of experience and awareness. Although he had a gratifying talent that allowed him to gradually catch up. But Wood's goal was not just to catch up.
Remember what he said to Twain at the door of Twain's house? Remember Twain's parting words when he came out of Wood's house?
To become England's best player.
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In addition to paying attention to his teammates' positioning, Kaka often turned his eyes to his opponent, Nottingham Forest's number 13, the Englishman, George Wood, who was eyeing him covetously not far away.
AC Milan adopted a defensive stance in this game. Ancelotti did not want to take any risks. He would be satisfied as long as he could get a point in the away game. Therefore, Kaka's position was also very far back. He cruised in front of his own penalty area, waiting for a chance to fight back. Because of his speed, if AC Milan wanted to fight back, it would basically be initiated by him and Pirlo. Pirlo relied on passing, while Kaka relied on his invincible dribbling speed.
Nottingham Forest's defense against AC Milan was to press up and attack, so George Wood's position was also moved up. The two men were not far apart, and whether it was intentional or coincidental, they always appeared in each other's line of sight.
As Kaka had expected before the match, he would still be facing George Wood one-on-one in this match.
It was time for AC Milan to defend and Nottingham Forest to attack.
George Wood would also participate in the attack, but he did not have many scenes. With van der Vaart around, organizing the attack was the Dutchman's task.
He was only responsible for protecting and restraining the other party.
That was why he had time to observe Kaka.
Kaka ignored Wood and ran back to defend.
AC Milan's defensive formation remained intact. No matter how the Forest team mobilized, they never panicked. This gave the Forest players a headache on the field. Just as Ancelotti had said, they were an Italian team, and he was an Italian coach. Defense was ingrained in his bones. If they were determined to defend, it would be difficult for Nottingham Forest to find any good opportunities.
The match was in a stalemate.
But Twain knew that AC Milan was hiding their killing intent.
Speaking of which, what opponent was AC Milan most afraid of?
It was a team like Nottingham Forest, but not the current Nottingham Forest. Because the current Nottingham Forest was attacking with all its might.
AC Milan's headache was the kind of opponent who would not come out. Just like the Nottingham Forest of the past, no matter how much they besieged outside, AC Milan would find it tricky if they did not come out and did not give them space to attack.
But now? No, they might look a little ugly on the field. In fact, the advantage might be shifting to the visiting team, AC Milan.
Twain walked out of the technical area and stood on the sidelines. He made a gesture for the team to continue pressing up. He also shouted George Wood's name, telling him to go up a little more.
How could Ancelotti, who was next door, turn a blind eye to his loud voice and exaggerated body language?
Seeing Twain anxiously signal for the team to press up and attack, a smile appeared on the former AC Milan player's face. But the smile was quickly hidden under the wrinkles on his face.
After roaring on the sidelines, Twain turned around and walked back, muttering. It looked like he was very dissatisfied with the current situation on the field.
It was reasonable. This was his home ground, but the team had not been able to attack for a long time. If they could not get three points in the end, it would be a failure for the home team. A draw or a loss was equivalent to being half dragged out of the Champions League.
Even if they won, they had to try not to let the opponent score. It was dangerous to win with a one-goal gap. Look, it was hard for Twain to play the home team first.
So, Twain had a hundred reasons to show his anger here. Even the commentator thought that his anger was reasonable. "Tony Twain can't sit still. The game has been going on for twenty-seven minutes, and the score is still 0: 0. This is not what he wants to see, especially on the field where his own offense does not benefit at all. "
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Ancelotti looked at his watch. There was not much time left until the end of the first half. He believed that when it was almost over, it would be time for AC Milan to fight back. Who wanted to draw in the away game? Our goal is to win the game!
Tony Twain was a hot-tempered manager. Would his team also be as easily irritable as their manager? In the situation of not being able to win in the first half, would they become impatient in the final moments and use a simpler and more direct offensive method, while at the same time increasing their own mistakes and leaving the back defense empty after the entire team pressed forward?
These were all things that AC Milan could take advantage of.
Nottingham Forest still wanted to press forward?
Well, continue, continue to press forward. I was afraid you wouldn't dare to come up, Tony Twain.
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Ribéry lost the ball when he forced a breakthrough. Pirlo received the ball from his teammate and transferred it to Kaka. Kaka caught a glimpse of Wood coming up from the corner of his eye. He hurriedly passed the football back and then ran into the empty space himself. He was not afraid of Wood running without the ball.
Kaka or Pirlo?
Wood saw the two men appear in front of him and hesitated a little.
Kaka ran into the empty space, while Pirlo held the ball. Should he continue to rush up and take advantage of the situation to intercept Pirlo's ball? Or should he turn around and run with Kaka? It looked like he was in a dilemma. The distance between Kaka and Pirlo was very "ambiguous." It was so close that George Wood had the urge to rob them, but it was a little far, so George Wood could not guarantee that he would be able to make it in time.
Just as Wood was in a daze, Pirlo passed the ball again.
An overhead ball! The football passed over Wood's head and fell straight behind him. Over there was Kaka, who turned to receive the ball!
"AC Milan's counterattack!" The Italian television commentator roared at the top of his lungs. After being pressed for almost half the game, he had finally waited for this good opportunity.
Yes, a good opportunity!
As Twain signaled for the team to press forward again and again, the Forest team's back defense was empty. As long as Kaka received the ball, with his dribbling speed, he could instantly shake off the Forest players who were desperately returning to defend. Then, the sky would be wide open. Of course, the first person he needed to shake off was George Wood.
Wood turned faster than people thought. Before Kaka had received the football, he had already turned around and pounced on the Brazilian.
Kaka stretched out his foot to lead the football forward, and at the same time, he moved horizontally to block Wood behind him. He protected the football very well, but …
Kaka sighed in his heart. He still did not get rid of this trouble at the first opportunity.
The time difference between him and Pirlo's play was to cause Wood's hesitation. Unfortunately, this man's physical fitness was really at the alien level.
He protected the football and began to dribble the ball forward. Things were not so bad that he could not do it. As long as he blocked his position and dribbled the ball, George Wood at the back would not be able to act rashly. Tackle the ball? That would basically be at least a yellow card. If he met a stricter referee, it would be a straight red card. Speed suppression? It was difficult to even move one's leg when blocked at the back, let alone sprint at full speed. If he had to do that, he would trip Kaka's leg. When Kaka fell to the ground, it would be a little more painful. At the very least, it would be a yellow card.
Kaka leaned back and hit Wood. With the reaction force, he rushed forward. Wood was hit by him, and when he started again, Kaka had already run away.
Pato and Seedorf were in front to help him tear apart the Forest team's defense so that he had a chance to go straight for the opponent's heart. At the same time, AC Milan's two flanks were also quickly following up. They had invested a lot of troops, hoping to succeed in one shot.
Tang En stood up from the technical area. He seemed very nervous.
Kaka felt that Wood was still chasing behind him. He had not completely shaken him off. He looked around for his teammates to see if they had kept up. As long as there was a suitable opportunity, he would pass the football out. Now he did not want to be entangled with Wood. Although he really wanted to beat George Wood in a one-on-one, he knew that the team's victory was more important.
Pirlo cut in. He decided to pass the ball.
But when he swung his leg out, he found that he had kicked empty air!
Kaka was fast, but George Wood was a little dissatisfied. He took advantage of this moment to shovel the football at Kaka's feet!
The football fell at the feet of Nottingham Forest.
Kaka, who had kicked empty air, staggered and fell to the ground!
The visiting fans booed, but the referee just waved his hand and motioned for Kaka to stand up. Wood did not foul!
Nottingham Forest launched a quick counterattack after they took the ball. They did not hesitate or look for AC Milan's loopholes. For them, who were good at playing defensive counterattack, looking for the opponent's defensive loopholes was something they did every minute for ninety minutes.
Wood shoveled the football out and Pepe ran up to receive the ball. The AC Milan players thought he was going to pass the ball to van der Vaart, so they temporarily stepped up their guard on van der Vaart.
They did not expect Pepe to resolutely dribble the ball forward after a feint!
AC Milan's midfield defense immediately fell into disarray. Despite being only thirty years old, Gattuso could not keep up with the pace in front of his young and strong companion. He intended to use a foul to stop Pepe, but it only slightly slowed down the Brazilian's dribbling speed.
The Nottingham Forest players, who had just rushed back to defend, instantly plunged into the offense again. Van Nistelrooy, Eastwood, Ribéry and Beckham, who previously felt that it was too late to return to defend, had now become nails nailed in AC Milan's defense.
It took almost a second for Ancelotti to react. He had been tricked!
What if the opponent stubbornly defended and waited for an opportunity to sneak attack?
Then he would find a way to lure them out!
Fortunately, his entire defensive line had not yet moved. The players who went up were all offensive players.
It was not good news for Nottingham Forest.
Although Pepe escaped from under Gattuso's feet, he fell into the opponent's encirclement. Van der Vaart wanted to directly hit behind him and pass the ball in a straight line. But when he looked up, he found that the opponent's defensive formation had not dispersed at all. Although Maldini was old, his experience allowed him to block the route van der Vaart wanted to pass the ball. The ball at his feet could not go out …
If he forced the pass, it would either be intercepted by the opponent directly because Maldini had seen through his intentions. Or, the strength of the pass would be too great for his teammates to receive the ball.
The Dutchman sighed and moved the football away horizontally.
Tang En, who saw the scene off the field, jumped up and turned around to slap the ceiling of the technical area.
The hard-won opportunity was gone.
"AC Milan is really experienced …" he said angrily.
He did not blame van der Vaart, who chose to move horizontally, because the opponent was too cunning.
Before the game, he told his players that if they wanted to give them a chance to score, they had to lure the snake out of its hole. He did not expect AC Milan to be much more experienced than he thought. Even if they seized the opportunity to fight back against the Forest team, their entire rear defensive line did not move. If the opponent's defensive line did not move, the Forest team's offense would not be easy to play. His original intention was to tear apart the opponent's defense …
He turned his head to look at Ancelotti. The fat man looked harmless, but he had a lot of tricks up his sleeves …
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Tang En thought of Ancelotti as much as Ancelotti thought of Tang En. At first, he really did not think that Nottingham Forest's misunderstanding was a trap. Now that he thought about it, he was a little scared. Tony Twain was too crazy.
While he was scheming against the opponent, the opponent was constantly scheming against him.
It looked like getting a point in this game would be the biggest victory.
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AC Milan did not dare to put in more troops for their counterattack, and Nottingham Forest did not have a good way to deal with the Italian-style defense. Sometimes, when facing such an opponent, they needed to rely on some luck. Unfortunately, luck was not on Nottingham Forest's side tonight.
When the whistle finally blew to signal the end of the game, the Italians clenched their fists and cheered. They got the result they wanted — 0: 0.
Ancelotti's face, which had been tense for 90 minutes, finally blossomed into a smile — when he shook hands with Tang En.
Tang En naturally kept a straight face and did not say a word. He shook hands routinely and turned to leave the field. He did not want to see the Italians cheering and celebrating on his own territory.
Instead, the Italian reporters waited expectantly for the post-game press conference, intending to embarrass Tang En at the press conference. Unfortunately, their wishful thinking fell through.
Tang En did not come at all. The person who came to the press conference was assistant manager Kerslake. The reason he gave the Italians did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Tony is sorry that he can't attend the post-game press conference, but he did not deliberately miss it. It was because he suddenly felt unwell. He entrusted me to attend and apologize to everyone. "
An Italian reporter very "concerned" asked, "May I ask what happened to Manager Tony Twain's body?"
Kerslake spread his hands. "If I knew, I wouldn't be sitting here answering your questions, but going to the hospital to be a doctor."
Looking at his expression, the Italians had every reason to believe that these words were taught to him by Tony Twain. This tone was too much like Tony Twain's!
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In fact, the Italian media had really wronged Tang En this time. Although the words that came out of Kerslake's mouth were taught by Tang En, Tang En did feel a little unwell just now.
His chest felt tight, but it disappeared very quickly.
He was in a bad mood to begin with, so he used this as an excuse to not attend the press conference. He did not care what the outside world thought of his actions. If it really blew up, he would look for Dr. Constantine to do a physical examination for himself and issue a hospital certificate to prove that there was indeed something wrong with his body. As for whether the problem was big enough for him to find an excuse to not attend the press conference … it did not matter.
At this time, Tang En was in the locker room facing a group of dejected players.
"Hey, did you forget what I said? Nottingham Forest's football is one that refuses to admit defeat. It's just a draw, is there a need to be so depressed? If you're not happy, wouldn't it be better to kick them out on their home ground the next time? "
He spread his hands and shrugged.
"Don't think about it. Shower and change, go home and sleep. Tomorrow is a new day! "
Tang En said through gritted teeth. He was even more indignant than the people present …
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