Since the game against Sunderland, Nottingham Forest had once again entered closed-door training. The English media complained that there had never been a manager like Tony Twain who used closed-door training so frequently to prepare for the game.
Carl Spicer then said that it fully proved how frightened Tony Twain was — he dared not let the media and opponents know what he was doing now. This showed that he had no confidence in himself.
Twain naturally did this with the nature of confidentiality in it, because he wanted to give Juventus a "big surprise." But he did not feel that he had no confidence. Confidence and blind arrogance were two different things. No matter what, he was facing the strongest opponent in the group. Being arrogant on the surface and being arrogant in the heart were two different things.
In fact, what Twain said to the media before coming to Italy was not entirely to create some trouble for Ranieri's brain. He really had to be careful.
He had told the team about this as well.
When the team arrived in Turin, they trained to adapt to the venue at the Stadio delle Alpi. For the first 15 minutes, the media could enter the field to film. This was required by the rules. Otherwise, Twain would not even give them a second. However, the media couldn't capture anything meaningful in these 15 minutes. Because the team had been doing simple physical training. After these 15 minutes were up and they watched all the media pack up and leave, the team began the real tactical practice — but it was just a practice of some set-piece tactics.
Twain knew that there must be someone from Juventus watching him in a corner of the field. He would not show his real skills in the enemy's territory.
After the end of the training, there was a pre-match press conference. Twain saw Ranieri again. Both sides were low-key. It was normal for Ranieri to be low-key, but it was not normal for Twain to be low-key. Twain repeated what he said in England, but he deliberately made it look like he was joking and did not mean it when he said it.
He just wanted others to be unable to guess what he was going to do.
"Juventus is a very strong opponent. I said before that the qualified teams were Nottingham Forest and any other team? Well, yes. But isn't Juventus among them? Do you have to make me say the specific name? In that case, if I say A will qualify, what would B and C think? I'm not stupid enough to make enemies everywhere for no reason … "Tang En laughed and completely overturned his arrogant image from before.
Quite a number of reporters were muttering, "How could he go back on his word just a moment ago? How shameless!"
"If he still had a sense of shame, he wouldn't be Tony Twain …"
Tang En seemed to want to express goodwill to Juventus, but the Turin media would not give him the chance. They repeatedly brought up the two group matches from two seasons ago and asked Tang En what he thought of them.
"What do you think? It was normal to win or lose on the football field. Besides, what's the point of talking about something that happened two seasons ago? Whether he won or lost, it would be useless for tomorrow's match. I only care about tomorrow, not the past. "
"Have you ever thought of successfully taking revenge at the Stadio delle Alpi, Mr. Twain?"
"I have a lot of respect for Juventus, they are a great team. Since its founding in 1897, it has obtained a total of … "Tang En began to memorize Juventus' introduction, which took about two minutes. After he finished reciting, he said to the reporter who asked, "Do you understand what I mean?"
The Italian reporter's brain had temporarily lost the ability to think.
But it was impossible for the media to let him go so easily. Another reporter came on as a substitute. "You know Juventus very well, Mr. Twain. But you still haven't said whether tomorrow's match will be Nottingham Forest's battle of revenge. "
Tang En stared at the reporter who stood up for a while, his eyes slowly turning cold. The reporters were all looking forward to Tang En suddenly slamming the table, turning hostile and swearing. That would be a good show to watch. But that look only appeared for a second before he suddenly laughed. "Revenge breeds revenge, when will it ever end? I'm not interested in revenge. I'm only interested in winning. "
The answer was too disappointing for the reporters.
They could only throw the question to Ranieri and ask him if he was worried that Nottingham Forest would complete its revenge at the Stadio delle Alpi. Ranieri did not fall for the media's trick. His answer was the same as Tang En's. "I'm not interested in this kind of question."
Due to Tang En's sudden abnormality, the press conference, which was supposed to have a lot of highlights, ended in a semi-awkward atmosphere.
As he left the press conference, Tang En stopped Ranieri and took the initiative to shake his hand. "I hope tomorrow is a wonderful game." He smiled and said in Italian.
Ranieri was a little surprised. "I didn't know you could speak Italian, Mr. Twain."
"A little." In fact, he did not know at all. Twain had only managed to memorize this sentence at the last minute when he had to memorize it.
So Ranieri smiled. "I hope so too, Mr. Twain."
After Tang En said goodbye, the smile on Ranieri's face gradually disappeared. He felt he could not understand the man more and more. His performance had become more and more abnormal since the game against him. In the face of the reporter's provocation, he did not get angry on the spot. Was his temper much better because he had a heart attack?
Did his abnormal performance have anything to do with the game?
Ranieri shook his head and stopped thinking about such meaningless things. Anyway, Juventus only played their own football. No matter what tricks Tang En played, it was meaningless in front of Juventus.
This was a team that was hopelessly stable.
※ ※ ※
"No one asked me how the game against Juventus was going to be played. Their attention was attracted elsewhere." In the hotel room, Tang En was talking to Dunn about the afternoon press conference. "Tomorrow, we'll surprise them!"
At the same time, in the hotel where Juventus was staying, Ranieri gathered all the players and coaches for a final tactical meeting. At this meeting, it was necessary to clarify the tactics the team would use tomorrow, as well as countermeasures against the tactics that the opponent might use.
This meeting was directly related to the results of the next day's game. Everyone had to take it seriously.
"Nottingham Forest focuses on the flanks, which is their tradition. No matter what opponent they face, no matter what the situation, Tony Twain will not give up on this point. "Ranieri explained the Forest team's tactics to everyone present in front of the tactical board.
"Matías Fernández has been in good form recently. Tang En will definitely pay attention to the flanks in tomorrow's game. But judging from the last two games, Fernández's cooperation with the other Forest players is not tacit enough. More often than not, he fights alone on the flanks. This is our chance. Cut him off from the rest of the Forest team, and he has nothing to fear. "
"Our defensive focus is on the flanks. As long as we don't let the Forest team's two flanks fight, their offense will not be a threat. I think in tomorrow's game, Tang En will still deploy the same starting lineup as they did against Atlético Madrid in the away game. The main role of the two defensive midfielders in the midfield — George Wood and Tiago — is to intercept our attack. Their offensive focus is on the left and right flanks. But we also have to be prepared to deal with the opponent's two defensive midfielders. Sissoko. "
Ranieri named the team's defensive midfielder, Mohamed Sissoko's name.
"You'll be in the middle tomorrow. Stop them."
Sissoko nodded vigorously, apparently satisfied with Ranieri's arrangement. Because the manager did not choose Poulsen and Marchisio, who were also defensive midfielders. This showed that in a head-on game, the manager trusted himself more than the other two players.
He had long wanted to compete with the opponent's George Wood. As a defensive midfielder with excellent physical qualities, he regarded Wood as his biggest competitor. In recent years, Wood had relied on the team's results to become famous and worth like a rocket, soaring all the way. And he came to Juventus from Liverpool and had always been in a state of semi-fame.
He believed that his strength was not weaker than Wood's. Wood's strength was more likely to be hyped up by the English media. He had played in England before and was well aware of the conduct of the media there.
When he was still at Liverpool, he had played against Nottingham Forest several times. At that time, Wood was a high-profile rookie player. But in Sissoko's view, he was no different from himself. They were both physically excellent, technically rough, and good at defense. That was all. However, just because Wood was an English player, he was praised by the media and became a world-class player …
At that time, he happened to be marginalized at Liverpool and could not even play as the main force. After Benítez had a dedicated defensive midfielder like himself, he also brought in Mascherano, whose role overlapped with his. He knew his days at Anfield were over.
Two seasons ago, when Juventus played against Nottingham Forest, he missed those two games because he was sent off in the previous game. This time he would not miss it again.
Defensive midfielder against defensive midfielder? He was looking forward to it.
Ranieri only left Sissoko in the middle and let the others focus on the flanks. Despite being at home, he still intended to use defensive counterattack to contend with Nottingham Forest. Two seasons ago, he used this set of tactics to defeat the then arrogant defending champion Nottingham Forest. He believed he could still do it two seasons later.
"First, stabilize the defense, and then wait for the opportunity to counterattack. Nottingham Forest is a team that is used to using counterattacks to deal with others, but they are not good at dealing with other people's defensive counterattacks. The five minutes at the beginning and end of each half is a good opportunity for us to score. Try to seize it. If we want to attack, we will use the middle. Nottingham Forest will focus on the flanks, and the middle will be our chance. "
After Ranieri explained the tactics, he announced the starting list for tomorrow's game.
The veteran, Del Piero, who would be thirty-six next month, was not in the starting lineup, but he was on the squad list. If they could not break through the situation, Ranieri might bring him on and use his experience and skills, as well as his ability on set pieces to break the deadlock.
The starting strikers were Amauri and Iaquinta. The midfield was lined up in a row. From left to right, they were Malouda, who was brought in from Chelsea for seven million pounds this summer, the talented young player Sebastian Giovinco, who was groomed by his own youth training, the tough defensive midfielder Sissoko from Mali, and the old but sturdy Camoranesi. The rear defensive line, from left to right, was Christian Maolinaro, Chiellini, Legrottaglie, and the Czech midfielder Rigera. The goalkeeper was naturally Buffon.
At the same time on the bench were the old captain, Del Piero, Christian Poulsen, Iago Falque Silva, Mellberg, Domenico Criscito and other strong players.
This was the strongest lineup that Ranieri could bring out in the near future.
It could be seen how much importance he attached to this game.
※ ※ ※
But after the start of the next day's game, after observing for a few minutes and seeing clearly Nottingham Forest's formation for this game, he was immediately dumbfounded. For the first time, Tony Twain did not stick to his characteristic attack on the flanks. Instead, he amassed a large number of players in the middle!
4132！
This was the formation that Tony Twain had arranged for this match.
The goalkeeper, Akinfeev, the center backs, Pepe and Kompany, the left back, Leighton Baines, and the right back, Rafinha. The defensive midfielder, George Wood, and the three center midfielders, from left to right, were Matías Fernández, Tiago, and Şahin. The strikers were Ibišević and Eastwood.
"What is this?" Ranieri stood on the sidelines and muttered to himself.
None of the information he had collected indicated that Nottingham Forest had ever used or tried to use such a formation. Even a fool knew that the flanks were the foundation of the Forest team's success. Judging from the signings every summer, Tony Twain always attached the most importance to the flanks. Almost every winger in the Forest team's lineup was world-class.
In contrast, the ability of the players in the middle was slightly inferior. After being promoted to the Premier League, van der Vaart was probably the best player in the offense in the middle of the midfield, but he was now sold to Real Madrid. Şahin was talented, but he never gave people the feeling that he could shoulder the heavy responsibility, not to mention Tiago. He was not the kind of star player who could change the course of the game.
With this midfield lineup, how could Twain play the configuration of three center midfielders?
Although Fernández could also play as a center midfielder, he was most suitable as a side midfielder. Wasn't putting him in the middle destroying the Great Wall?
Soon Ranieri knew why Twain arranged it this way.
Juventus planned to score a goal in the opening five to ten minutes to drag the game into their familiar rhythm. But their attack was stubbornly blocked by Nottingham Forest in the midfield. This time, even Fernández was asked to actively defend.
The four players in the middle, three in front and one at the back, formed enough depth to protect each other. At the same time, they could launch an attack directly from here. Once they attacked, Fernández and Şahin on the left and right sides spread out like the flanks. In the middle, Tiago would sort out the team's offensive order, and George Wood protected behind him. Sometimes the two of them would also complete a position swap, with Wood going forward and Tiago dragging behind.
At the same time, Eastwood frequently retreated to receive, like a shadow striker, and a little like a free man in the front field. He did not have a fixed position. Ibišević in front held up Juventus' rear defensive line, so that they dared not act rashly. Such a lineup seemed to give up the flanks, but it greatly strengthened the defense and offensive ability in the middle. It gave Şahin and Fernández a chance to directly face the goal.
In addition, the Forest team did not really abandon their flanks. Twain asked Baines and Rafinha to plug forward when they had a chance in the game and actively participate in the assists.
Such a combination of the flanks and the middle suddenly stunned Juventus. They were at a loss in the first ten minutes of the game — the pre-match tactical arrangement was to keep a close eye on the flanks and steadily defend and counterattack. Nottingham Forest used the middle as the main direction of attack. And after putting down four players in the middle, they were not afraid of Juventus' possible counterattack.
Ten minutes passed, and although Juventus' offense was fierce, it was ineffective. More often than not, their offense was stopped when they advanced to the midfield. Nottingham Forest's midfield was blocked like a highway with a serial accident. No matter how fast the offense was, it had to slow down or even stop completely here.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
