"Welcome to Calderón! You are now watching a 10-11 UEFA Champions League Group C match between Atlético Madrid and Nottingham Forest. The two sides have never played against each other before. For each other, it is a blank piece of paper. Nottingham Forest beat Celtic 1: 0 at home in the first group game, while Atlético Madrid tied with Juventus in the away game. In terms of points, Nottingham Forest is temporarily in the lead. But this is Calderón, the home of Atlético Madrid. Nottingham Forest can't take it lightly! "
At night, the Calderón Stadium was brightly lit. Towering lights shone from all directions, illuminating the stadium in a snowy white. In a city plunged into darkness, this was the place where the light converged. Fans walked through the narrow streets and poured into the stadium in a steady stream. The noise was like water droplets being carried into the ocean by the river, and the stadium slowly became a boiling cauldron of voices. The entire south side of Madrid was caught in a frenzied atmosphere.
The people here did not care to use a day's income to buy a ticket, just to rush in and roar for 90 minutes, and then leave satisfied or unsatisfied to go home to sleep. Football was not a pastime outside of life for them. It was almost the goal of life.
This was a frenzied stadium, and any visiting team would be under great pressure here.
"But we f * * king grew up in this pressure! No pressure to play an away game? I don't believe such nonsense. "Twain was in the visiting team's locker room at Calderón Stadium, doing the final pre-game agitation for his team. "As professional players and professional coaches, all of us face all kinds of pressure. I don't care about a mere Calderón. Atlético Madrid wants to use their home advantage to scare us. Tell me, are you scared? "
"How is that possible, boss?" Eastwood stood up and spread his hands. "Who do they think they are? King Kong? Godzilla? Or Jurassic dinosaurs … "
Twain hurriedly gestured for him to stop, or else the protagonist would be changed before the game.
"All right, Freddy. I know your determination. This game is related to whether we can advance out of the group … In fact, every game is related. So I ask you to go all out! Aquilo is a key figure. Everyone, stay alert and keep a close eye on him. Freeze him completely. If I thought that Aguero didn't grow after the match, you guys would have won! He's very fast, so I asked the rear defensive line not to easily press on him. The wingbacks' assists were also minimized to not give Atlético Madrid a chance to play a quick attack. Pay attention to protecting the space behind each other. George. "
Wood straightened his back.
"If Aguero retreats to the midfield to provide support, you go up to defend. If you want to foul, stay away from the penalty area. "
Wood nodded.
After giving instructions to Wood, Tang En said to the team, "When attacking, stick to the flanks. There's Camacho in the middle, and that's a problem. Go around him and wait for him to be distracted to defend the flank. George, you and Tiago will wait for an opportunity to plug in. "
In the away game against Atlético Madrid, Tang En arranged for a double defensive midfielder lineup. He almost gave up the tactics of attacking in the middle and focused on the flanks. On the one hand, it was to play to the strengths of the field and avoid the weaknesses of the Forest team. On the other hand, it was to prevent Atlético Madrid's attack. He deliberately compressed the distance between the two players in the middle of the midfield and the rear defensive line, not giving Aguero and the others a chance to stir up trouble in the front field.
The next attack would depend on how effective Matías Fernández and Lennon could be on the flanks.
Tang En glanced at Fernández. His translator was not allowed to enter the team's most private place — the locker room. So, he could only rely on his experience and intuition as a player and guess what tactics the team was going to play.
Tang En did not speak Spanish, but he spoke fluent Chinese. Unfortunately, Fernández, a Chilean, could not understand.
But Fernández was the key to this game. He had to be very clear about what he should do.
He called Fernández's name.
Fernández looked up at the sound of his name, which he could still understand.
Tang En drew his position on the tactical board. Then he used a black marker to draw a straight line from the circle representing Fernández, all the way to the vicinity of the opponent's penalty area. He looked at Fernández with his eyes.
The Chilean nodded to show he understood.
Tang En then split into two lines at this point. One continued to walk near the end line, drawing a dotted line near the end line all the way to the front of the goal. The other suddenly turned to the penalty area from that point, then drawing a dotted line pointing to the goal.
Tang En kept looking at Fernández throughout the drawing process. He only continued to draw when he saw him nod.
After he finished drawing, Fernández basically understood what he was going to do. Then Tang En said to him in very simple English, "No defense."
"No" and "defend" were two simple English words that Fernández could understand. He nodded and said, "Yes."
Tang En raised his voice and said to him, "Attack! Attack! "(Attack! Attack!)
Fernández was led by Tang En to also raise his voice to answer, "Yes! Yes！”
"OK!" Tang En gave Fernández a thumbs up.
After doing this, Tang En clapped his hands and said, "All right, guys. Remember one thing in this game — I don't need a draw or a defeat, I just want a victory! Take down Calderón and take down Atlético Madrid in the away game! "
※ ※ ※
At the beginning of the game, Atlético Madrid launched a fierce attack on Nottingham Forest's hinterland, relying on the fact that this was their home ground. The offensive came wave after wave and seemed to never stop.
Tang En stood on the sidelines with his hands crossed over his chest, coldly watching the changes in the field. He was not in a hurry. He was still quite reassured about Nottingham Forest's defense — as long as they focused on defense, there were pitifully few teams in the world that could break through the Forest team's goal.
Maybe Barcelona could?
But it was just a guess. It would only be clear after the two sides met and actually fought.
Five minutes later, Atlético Madrid returned without any success. They slowed down their pace a little. While guarding against the Forest team's quick counterattack, they brewed the next wave of attack.
Nottingham Forest fought back.
The attack launched from the midfield directly passed the football to the flank and handed it over to Matías Fernández.
The Atlético Madrid players showed a certain amount of attention to Fernández. But more often than not, they still put their eyes on George Wood.
The latest intelligence told Atlético Madrid's manager, Pellegrini, that George Wood had been in very good form recently, and what gave the Forest team's opponents a headache was that the player in the defensive midfielder position now had a unique skill of plugging in from the back to attack. As the saying went, "It's easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against a stab in the dark." Fernández was good at defense, and George Wood, a defensive midfielder who did not know when he would rush up and launch a world-class kick, was too annoying.
Fernández began his performance on the flank.
His speed was not too fast, but his technique was excellent. In a competition like La Liga, which emphasized technique, he was also outstanding.
Tang En gave him the most freedom in this game, allowing him to play at will under the premise of going from the bottom or cutting inside. He also did not ask him to defend, which was Fernández's favorite thing.
He first used his own start to quickly evade Simao, then suddenly passed the ball when facing the Greek right back, Setaridis, and then went from the bottom. Agbonlahor passed the football out at the first instance. It was a two-versus-one!
Next, Fernández did not wait for the defensive center-back, Ze Castro, to come up. He passed the football in. His target was the tall center-forward, Žigić, who was 2.02 meters tall!
In this game, Tang En did not use the technical striker, Eastwood, nor did he let Ibišević, who came in in good form, start. Instead, he used two extremes — one was the extremely fast Agbonlahor, and the other was the extremely tall Žigić.
Pablo, who was the tallest among Atlético Madrid's center-backs, was 1.92 meters tall. But he had been injured a month ago and had not recovered yet. He was not even in the squad list for this game.
The two center-backs in Atlético Madrid's starting lineup were the 1.83 meters tall Ze Castro and the 1.80 meters tall Heitinga.
Tang En decided to make a big deal out of the height of the opposing center-backs and use Žigić's jump and header to create trouble for Atlético Madrid.
He succeeded!
"Žigić jumps high … header!!"
"GOOOOOAL —"
When Žigić jumped, there was no one around him who could compete with him in height. Fernández's pass was also very comfortable. He did not even need to adjust his posture. He only needed to tilt his head slightly in the air and then swing with force!
Atlético Madrid's goalkeeper, Leo Franck, was already very good to be able to react at such a close distance. He pounced sideways but was a step too late. He could only watch the football enter the goal …
"Nottingham Forest scored a goal in the sixth minute! This is their first attack since the start of the game, their first shot at goal! They're in the lead! Atlético Madrid has suffered a heavy blow! "
They were indeed stunned by the blow. Conceding a goal so early in the game was definitely not part of their tactical plan. How should they play next?
Atlético Madrid suddenly had no idea.
Should they attack?
After hesitating for a few minutes, Atlético Madrid launched another fierce offensive. Amidst the cheers of the home fans, their offensive wave almost drowned the goal guarded by Akinfeev.
Tang En looked on from the sidelines with delight. He liked it when others pressed him down and hit him. While he was being beaten, he would sneakily look at the other side's gaps and then sneak an attack.
Why did he arrange for two defensive midfielders? He was waiting for this moment to come. It was just that this moment came much earlier than he had expected …
※ ※ ※
The next game was completely in Nottingham Forest's orbit. Atlético Madrid, who had lost a goal, attacked fiercely. They got carried away in the fanatical atmosphere at home.
Even Pellegrini did not think there was anything wrong with doing so — he had originally told the players to stick to the attack at home and try to use the home advantage to take down Nottingham Forest and pave the way for the group to advance.
Fernández, who cruised near the midfield, looked at the lively backfield and chose to continue cruising. The boss did not seem to signal him to return to defense off the field. He certainly knew the situation the team was facing, so he was also well aware that his personal skills would be the key to the team's counterattack.
So he continued to cruise in the midfield with a peace of mind.
The opportunity came again towards the end of the first half.
Fernández received the ball from Baines and dribbled the ball along the sideline. This time he succeeded in attracting the attention of two Atlético Madrid players. Heitinga and Camacho came in a pincer attack. He did not choose to go down blindly, nor did he force an inside cut. Instead, he found a passing route in the gap between the two men and poked the football out from between Heitinga's legs …
Quickly, Agbonlahor arrived!
Since he plugged in from the back, he was not offside at all. Taking advantage of Atlético Madrid's massive pressure and the defense was empty, he did it again!
Agbonlahor accelerated again after receiving the ball, relying on his speed to shake off Agüero, who had chased all the way back to this point, and then faced the goalkeeper, Franck, and tricked him to the ground with a feint.
What was there to hesitate in the face of an empty goal? Push!
"GOOOOOAL — the second goal!! In the 41st minute of the first half, Nottingham Forest had a classic quick counterattack! It can be written into the textbooks! Fernández, who assisted the two goals, was undoubtedly the Forest team's best player in the first half. His two passes brought the team two goals! A perfect performance! "
Tang En applauded the goal with his colleagues off the field. He was far from being happy with the two-goal lead over Atlético Madrid and seeing Fernández in his best form.
※ ※ ※
During the halftime interval, Tang En praised Fernández's performance, praising him so much that his face seemed to bloom. Although there were too many English words that he still did not understand, he could still understand what "good" and "very good" meant. He finally began to think that his initial choice to transfer to Nottingham Forest might not have been a failed risk.
In the second half, Atlético Madrid stepped up their defense against Fernández. As a player who was still fighting in La Liga last season, Atlético Madrid was no stranger to him. This somewhat limited Fernández's play. Even Camacho noticed that Fernández had repeatedly interfered with his possession of the ball.
Under such circumstances, Tang En instructed Wood on the sidelines to actively plug in and participate in the attack. There was no need to always defend from the back.
This move disrupted Pellegrini's arrangement during the halftime interval. If Camacho went to stop Wood, then Fernández must be handed over to the full backs and midfielders to defend, which was tantamount to sacrificing the team's attack on the right side. How could they equalize the score with one leg? The attack in the middle was tightly blocked by Tiago and Wood, as well as Pepe and the others.
At the beginning of the first half, Aguero was still waiting for support from the midfield. Later, he found that the passes from the midfield were all cut off by Wood and Tiago. After that, he tried to retreat to receive the ball, and then he fell into Wood's tight defense.
George Wood was rated as a man who could defend against Messi one-on-one. Aguero had no way to deal with it and was silent throughout the first half. Atlético Madrid had a lot of offensive opportunities, but Aguero never got the kind of particularly threatening shooting opportunity.
In the second half, Wood wanted to go up and attack. His opportunities increased slightly, but he was entangled by Pepe and Tiago. Even without Tiago, with Pepe's ability, he would not be at a disadvantage against Aguero alone.
Aguero met a strong enemy today …
In the past two years, Atlético Madrid was almost Aguero's team because of Aguero's outstanding performance. The advantages and disadvantages of this were obvious. When Aguero was in good form, Atlético Madrid could almost destroy anyone in sight. But once Aguero was frozen, Atlético Madrid immediately became a second-rate team.
In this game, Twain did a good job of freezing Atlético Madrid's core, Aguero.
Coupled with Fernández's big burst, the victory came as no surprise.
Aguero only ushered in the last five minutes of the game. His two consecutive shots almost broke through the city guarded by Akinfeev. Unfortunately, the morale-boosting performance came too late and was of no use in changing the score.
In the end, relying on Fernández's two assists and the defensive counterattack tactics of the two defensive midfielders, Nottingham Forest defeated Atlético Madrid, the third-tier team in the group, by 2: 0 in the away game. Two wins in two games had already given them the lead in the competition with Juventus to advance out of the group. If they could keep winning like this, then the group would really become, as Twain said, the group of death for the other three teams.
Pellegrini looked a little depressed in the post-match press conference. He admitted that it was Nottingham Forest's goal in the sixth minute that disrupted the team's entire deployment. As a result, for the next 84 minutes, his team was in a completely passive situation, led by the nose by Tony Twain's team.
What about Tony Twain?
"It's just a wonderful night, and we've won. Fernández has found his form, and I have no other requests. "
A reporter asked him what he thought after the game against Atlético Madrid was over and they would soon face Juventus.
"It's always exciting to see old friends." Twain smiled very charmingly. It was as if the opponent was really his own old friend.
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