Logically speaking, according to the principles of defensive matchups, George Wood's defensive target should be Manchester United's midfielder, Paul Scholes. The person opposite him was this "ginger head."
Wood glanced at Cristiano Ronaldo.
In this game, Tang En did not ask Wood to specifically mark Ronaldo. He only placed Wood on the right side. If Ronaldo took the ball, Wood could go over to support the defense. Because he studied Ronaldo's performance this season, he found that it was not practical to let the team's only defensive midfielder specifically mark Ronaldo. Ronaldo was not fixed to one side. His position was very flexible. To be able to score so many goals, he did not just play on one side.
He was on the side when the team was arranged before the game. Once the game started, his position was much more flexible. He could be on the left side, on the right side, and he could even be the rightful center forward!
Ronaldo did score a lot of goals this season, but he had scored them as a midfielder. He had never played as a center forward. Not only that, Wayne Rooney, who was supposed to be Manchester United's center forward, actually appeared on the side in this game.
Scholes did not choose to fight to the death with George Wood. Although he had already announced his retirement from the national team when Wood entered the England team, he was still very clear about the ability of this junior. He passed the ball to Rooney on the side.
As Manchester United's striker, Rooney played as a midfielder in this game, which confused everyone.
Even the commentator kept asking, "What is Ferguson thinking? Pulling Rooney, who is suitable as a center forward, out of the penalty area and far away from Nottingham Forest's goal. But letting Ronaldo, who was originally a winger, play as a center forward, sandwiched between Forest's tall defenders and unable to play to his strengths and technical characteristics. "
Before this, Manchester United had never had such a change in formation. Perhaps it had happened in training, but it had never happened in a game.
Seeing Rooney take the ball, Tang En shifted his gaze from the field to Ferguson. Sir Alex was directing the game on the sidelines. In fact, there was no need for him to come out and direct, so he just stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets.
As for this personnel adjustment … what was he thinking?
Tang En pondered in his heart.
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Nottingham Forest naturally lined up in the 4-4-2 formation that they were best at. The goalkeeper was Edwin van der Sar. On the defensive line, from left to right, were Gareth Bale, Pepe, Piqué and Rafinha. From left to right in the midfield were Ribéry, van der Vaart, George Wood and Beckham. The forward line was van Nistelrooy and Arshavin's partnership.
It was almost the strongest lineup.
Manchester United used a 4-5-1.
The goalkeeper was the young Ben Foster. On the defensive line, from left to right, were Evra, Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Brown. The midfield was different from the lineup Tang En was familiar with.
The left midfield that should have belonged to either Ryan Giggs or Park Ji-sung was occupied by Wayne Rooney. Both Giggs and Park Ji-sung did not get the chance to start today. Park Ji-sung did not even make the squad list.
Carrick and Scholes stood parallel to each other, but there was an additional defensive midfielder, O 'Shea, behind them. O 'Shea was originally a defender, but his defensive ability was better than Carrick and Scholes'. Ferguson placed him behind the two and in front of the center back. His intention could not be more obvious — to help defend and stop the Forest team's offense.
Hargreaves appeared on the right. He was an all-rounder who could play in any position in the midfield. Most importantly, on top of a certain level of defensive ability, his offensive ability was not weak either.
This was Manchester United's midfield configuration. Cristiano Ronaldo was the only one deserving of being a striker.
For the audience, this was a strange formation. The player who should play as a center forward did not play as a center forward. The player who should play as a side midfielder did not play as a side midfielder. The player who should play as a defender did not play as a defender. Could it be that Ferguson's brain was muddled by the pressure?
Tang En clearly did not think so.
What kind of person was Alex Ferguson? He had survived the thrilling scene of the 1999 Champions League final. Was there a need to be muddle-headed for a decisive battle for the league title?
Therefore, Ferguson must have his reasons for making such an arrangement.
It made sense for O 'Shea, as a center back, to play as a defensive midfielder because Ferguson wanted to increase the defensive strength in the midfield to prevent the Forest team's counterattack. Since Roy Keane's departure, Ferguson could no longer find a world-class midfielder like the Irishman who could attack and defend. Carrick originally came with the title of "Keane's successor," but he was better at being a midfield dispatcher who controlled the rhythm. His defense was far worse than that.
In that case, what was going on with Rooney and Ronaldo's exchange of positions …
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While Tang En was secretly pondering, Rooney had already begun to dribble the ball to break through on the flank.
Rafinha's defense was not good compared to his offense, so he struggled against Rooney. Beckham ran back from the front and unceremoniously hooked Rooney from behind.
There was a burst of boos in the stands. It was gratifying that it had not reached the point where it was overwhelming. It showed that although there were people who hated Beckham, not all of them. This time, Beckham had, after all, destroyed Manchester United's attack. Even if the Manchester United fans did not hate him, it was impossible to stand up and applaud the saboteur just because their own attack was destroyed.
The boos reached Beckham's ears. He heard them clearly, but his expression was as usual. He did not even cast a glance at the stands.
The referee ruled that Nottingham Forest had fouled, and Rafinha retreated to form a human wall. Beckham stood in front of the ball and Rooney, blocking him from sending out the free kick quickly. At the same time, he also took the time to turn back to signal his teammates to quickly set up the defense in the penalty area.
Rooney got up from the ground and looked at Beckham standing in front of him. When Beckham left Manchester United, he was still rising to prominence at Everton. He only transferred to Manchester United after the 2004 UEFA European Championship in Portugal. He had not been teammates with the man for a day, but he had the experience of playing together in the England team. However, he also had a small conflict with Beckham in the game.
At other times, he had a variety of impressions of the man. He was the England captain, a Real Madrid star, a big star in the business and football world, and so on. Among these impressions, he would not have a shadow of him wearing the Manchester United jersey.
Ronaldo ran over to take over for Rooney to take the free kick. Beckham still stood in front of the ball and did not move out of the way, so Manchester United's number 7 signaled to the referee. Was Beckham doing this against the rules?
The referee came up to let Beckham go, and Beckham slowly retreated back to Rafinha's side to form a double human wall with him.
Ronaldo ran up and passed the ball. The football quickly streaked past the front of the goal. Whether it was Pepe, Piqué, Edwin van der Sar, Rooney, Ferdinand, or Vidic, no one touched the ball.
The football flew past the most crowded area in the center of the penalty area and flew to the other side.
Hargreaves appeared at the football's landing point and stopped the ball. The Forest team's defenders had just wanted to press out collectively when they saw Hargreaves get the ball, so they had to stay in front of the goal to defend against Manchester United's second attack.
Of course, they could not let Hargreaves get the ball so easily outside. Someone had to force his way up. The left back, Gareth Bale, rushed out and went straight for Hargreaves.
Hargreaves did not tangle with Bale. He passed the ball to Scholes, who pulled out to receive him. After Scholes dribbled horizontally, he decisively raised his leg to shoot. The football was not confiscated by Edwin van der Sar in time and was directly blocked in the crowded penalty area.
Unfortunately, the person who blocked the shot was Manchester United's own player — Carrick.
The Manchester United fans could only hold their heads in their hands and lament the bad luck of the attack.
The football bounced out and was picked up by the Forest players. Nottingham Forest took the opportunity to launch a counterattack. But their ball was stopped by O 'Shea just after it crossed half the field. At the same time, Rio Ferdinand and Vidic had already returned to defend at high speed. Ferguson did not have to worry about the Forest team's quick counterattack. At the same time, O 'Shea's performance also proved his brilliance in arranging such a number one figure in the midfield.
Nottingham Forest's quick counterattack did not happen, so they had no choice but to continue to retreat.
The more the game went on, the more uncomfortable the Nottingham Forest players felt.
The strategy arranged before the game was that Ronaldo was a dangerous figure and needed to be heavily guarded, so the two flanks became the areas where the Forest team was heavily guarded. Rooney was the number two figure. At the same time, as a center forward, Rooney liked to retreat back to get the ball, so George Wood and the center backs also needed to take care of the middle.
But now that Rooney and Ronaldo had switched positions, they were at a loss.
And the pressure did not just come from the two dangerous figures. More importantly, Ferguson's team had adopted an all-out attack on their home ground! Even O 'Shea had to press past half the field. Manchester United was not some unknown team. If they wanted to go all-out, it would bring a lot of pressure to the defensive side.
This was the second point that Tang En did not expect.
He thought that in such a crucial game, the old man Ferguson would be more steady and cautious, first solidifying the defense before contending with the Forest team.
He did not think that the old man did not have such a plan at all. He very boldly let the team go all-out to crush Nottingham Forest at home.
As for guarding against the Forest team's counterattack … O 'Shea was a barrier, but in reality, it was more important to rely on their offense to suppress the Forest team's offense.
Tang En thought that the Forest team would play defensive counterattack in the away game and test the waters first. Who would have thought that they would face such a huge pressure at the start of the game?
He could not sit still.
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Although Ronaldo was a center forward, he did not just stay in front of the goal. His position was as flexible as ever. It was just that he was closer to the goal than when he played in the midfield. With his current form of scoring goals, the closer he was to the goal meant the closer he was to scoring.
Moreover, Ronaldo's footwork was outstanding, and he was 1.89 meters tall. His heading skills were not bad either.
Tang En knew this. He decided to first ignore Rooney and squeeze Cristiano Ronaldo out of the penalty area.
He walked to the sidelines and loudly signaled to the defenders not to let Ronaldo enter the penalty area.
Ronaldo did not enter. After receiving a pass outside the penalty area, he directly shot a long shot, which brushed past the goalpost and flew out. It shocked everyone in Nottingham Forest and made them break out in a cold sweat.
Tang En realized that his efforts were futile. Originally, Ronaldo did not have to be fixed in the penalty area. Ferguson's arrangement was probably based on his form and feeling of scoring goals consecutively. He thought that he could also score goals in this game. So, he was put in the striker's position, which was logically closer to the goal. In reality, there were many ways for an excellent player to score goals. It was not enough to just prevent him from entering the penalty area. Moreover, Ronaldo used to be a midfielder. Many of those 30 goals were scored outside the penalty area. In any case, he would have a way to score.
This time, Tang En frowned. How could he guard against Ronaldo? Let Wood go one-on-one? This was not on the sidelines. It was in the middle, in front of the penalty area. It was impossible for Wood to freeze Ronaldo for 90 minutes without a single violation of the rules.
This season, Ronaldo had scored six free kicks in various games. Almost all of them were spectacular and beautiful. The free kick he scored in the game against Portsmouth left a deep impression on Tang En.
Even if he relied on fouls to block Ronaldo's frontal breakthrough in the middle, he could still use the free kick to score. If it had been two seasons ago, no one would care about his free kicks. He could not ignore it now. If he did not, he would concede the goal.
Tang En bit his lip and said nothing.
※ ※ ※
The performance of the Forest players on the field was affected by Manchester United and did not play well. Under Manchester United's powerful offensive, they could only temporarily be in a completely defensive posture and had no time to fight back.
Manchester United launched a tide-like attack on the Forest team's hinterland amidst the cheers of the home fans, wave after wave, each higher than the last.
Ferguson's intention was clear. It was to use the home advantage and strive to use tactics that Tang En could not think of to lock in the victory in the first half. At the same time, he would bring the game into the rhythm that Manchester United was best at. When the time came, as long as enough of a lead was established and the players were in the right state, how the game would be played would not be decided by Manchester United. Coupled with the deafening cheers at Old Trafford, home advantage, home advantage was not something that could be talked about.
Ferguson observed for a while on the sidelines and found that the game was still in his control, so he turned and walked back.
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