Benítez thought that George Wood could be the breakthrough point for Liverpool, but he realized he was wrong after 15 minutes of the game.
Wood, who did not perform well in the previous games, did not continue his bad form in this game. Gerrard was in trouble in the midfield, and George Wood's stubborn interception prevented him from advancing a step. He had no choice but to pass the ball to Mascherano behind him.
Mascherano did not have an easy job, because he had to face Gago's attacks.
In the Argentina national team, he was the absolute main force, and Gago hovered between the main force and the substitute. But Gago performed very well in the Forest team. This might have something to do with the different tactics used by the national team manager and the Forest manager.
In Nottingham Forest, Gago could receive George Wood's unreserved protection and support, but he did not receive such treatment in the Argentina national team. In the national team, Gago had to take care of more defense when he played. He was not the kind of master who could play both offense and defense, and it was easy for him to attend to one thing and lose sight of the other. Mascherano thought that the Gago in the club was the strongest Gago, but in the national team, he sacrificed some of what he was best at in order to get a chance to play.
But the premise for Gago to perform well in the club was that George Wood's form was fine.
In the previous few games, Gago's performance was also unstable when Wood's form was problematic. In this game, it seemed that number 13 had woken up?
Liverpool followed Benítez's previous arrangement and attacked the middle, but it was useless. George Wood's form seemed to have returned overnight. He ran tirelessly in the middle, judged the position well, and decisively made steals. He used his strong body to reasonably collide, or chose to foul at the very right time to stop Liverpool's attack … Pepe's line of defense seemed to be very safe, and Akinfeev did not even have anything to do.
Benítez realized that he had misjudged, so he walked to the side of the field and gestured for the team to change their attacking strategy — to return to the side.
When the pressure on George Wood's defense lessened, Nottingham Forest's attack also became active.
Wood frequently passed the ball to Gago, and he would pass the ball to start the attack. Do not underestimate this step. All the attacks came from here, and the importance of a defensive midfielder was demonstrated through this step. If the football was always inexplicably lost at the defensive midfielder's position, then it would be useless no matter how good the team's strikers and wingers were. Not only was it a problem of not being able to attack, but his team's rear defensive line would also frequently face the opponent's counterattacks on the spot. Therefore, a defensive midfielder who could snatch the ball was only considered half excellent. A defensive midfielder who could snatch the ball, control the football, and send it to where it should go was truly world-class.
George Wood was one of those players.
On the other hand, when Gago focused on defense, the success rate of his passes would plummet. Moreover, his ability to protect the ball was not high, and it was easy for the opponent to intercept on the spot. It was no wonder that Gago was not the main force of the Argentina national team …
When Gago gets the ball, he will face his national team partner, Mascherano. Gago, who was focused on attacking, was not afraid of Mascherano's defense. He knew that even if he lost the ball, someone would help him snatch it back. Therefore, he could rest assured and boldly pass the ball that required a lot of technique and awareness. For example, he could use the outside of his foot to rub the ball into the empty space on the side, or directly pass the ball over to the back of Liverpool's defensive line without stopping the ball.
If Mascherano was aggressive in snatching the ball, he would pass the ball to Wood behind him. He would then run into position to pull Mascherano away and create an opportunity for Wood to plug in from the back. If Mascherano did not run after him and went to defend against Wood, then Wood would pass the ball back to Gago.
In short, both of them could attack and defend. It was just that Gago was better at attacking, while Wood was better at defending. If they wanted to defend against Forest's offense, it would be useless to simply defend against Gago or Wood. It would be difficult to defend against both of them together. Therefore, the best way was not to tangle with them in the midfield, but to freeze the attacking players of Forest who were closer to the goal. Because no matter how the midfield passed the ball, it would still reach their feet in the end, and they would be the ones to finish the shot.
When Tang En played 4-5-1, he needed to keep an eye on the spearhead and attacking midfielder. Sometimes, it might be the shadow striker. But after Eastwood retired, there was no one in the Forest team to be the shadow striker. In a 4-5-1, the players most likely to score were not the "1," but the attacking midfielder and side midfielders. They were more like wingers at times. In a match, a 4-5-1 could become a 4-5-3.
But this match, Tang En played 4-4-2. There was no attacking midfielder, so the burden of scoring fell on the forwards.
Benítez signaled for the defenders to pay attention to marking Forest's two forwards. It was a little difficult.
Because the two starting forwards that Tang En had sent out for this match were very difficult to deal with.
The 1.88m tall "Super Ibi" Ibišević and 2.02m tall Aaron Mitchell.
This combination really gave all the English Premier League managers a headache.
Ibišević's shooting was exquisite and well-rounded. On the other hand, Mitchell's technique was excellent and his headers were excellent. Although his shooting skills were slightly inferior, his dominance in the air was still very obvious. Sometimes, Nottingham Forest only needed to rely on the flanks to deal with some opponents. The combination of these two was not often used, but as long as they were together, they could bring victory to the team. Tang En let them start for this match. He really did not want Liverpool to mess up his anniversary.
Liverpool's tallest center back, the 1.91m tall Martin Skrtel, was ordered to defend against Mitchell. He felt a great deal of pressure.
Today's Mitchell was not the Mitchell who made his debut in that match in Barcelona. At that time, Mitchell still looked a little inexperienced. Now, Mitchell was more mature, and Tang En did not forbid him from showing off his skills in the match.
Don't think that Mitchell, who used his feet to control the ball, was not scary. Although his shooting skills were lacking, it was not a problem for him to control the ball and get rid of it before passing the ball.
Ibišević supported from the side, while Agger was responsible for marking.
Mitchell made a feint and did not pass the ball to the tightly marked Ibišević. Instead, he distributed the ball to Fernández, who plugged in from the flank. Then he ran inside himself.
This was an effective offensive tactic for Forest. The center forward distributed the ball to the flank, and then plugged in without the ball. The center forward would fight for the header and shoot.
Liverpool was familiar with Forest's tactics. When Mitchell ran to the middle, Agger immediately pounced on him and attacked from the front and back with Skrtel. They sandwiched Mitchell tightly in the middle, preventing him from jumping and fighting for the header comfortably.
Since the Forest team's offensive routine was fixed, the way they defended was also fixed. Unfortunately, they forgot this time that Forest did not play 4-5-51, but 4-4-42 …
Mitchell still struggled to fight for the header between the two tall defenders. He successfully attracted the attention of all the defenders. Even the goalkeeper, Reina, turned his body to face him, forgetting that there was a Forest player in yellow behind him …
Mitchell did not fight for the ball under the defense of Agger and Skrtel. However, the two center backs also did not touch the ball due to his interference. Just like that, the ball flew past the front of the goal …
Ibišević jumped high in the back. He saw Reina's panicked face when he turned around.
"Ibišević's header!"
With a header that was within reach, there was no doubt about the outcome …
"The ball's in!" The commentator shouted. "It's only 21 minutes into the game and Nottingham Forest has actually taken the lead! 1: 0! The away team is in the lead! "
※ ※ ※
Tony Twain, who was sitting in the manager's seat, clenched his fists and stood up from his seat. He faced the stands and waved his fists, demonstrating to the entire Anfield stadium.
You want to disrupt my dinner? You can't do it!
What he received in response was a fierce booing.
Benítez felt very helpless about this goal concede. The team's rear defensive line made a mistake that should not have, and Forest successfully seized on it.
This was indeed Forest's specialty — efficiency.
However, he did not make any adjustments. He believed that his team was a team that had been through a lot, and conceding a goal was nothing.
When Beesley saw the goal from the press box, he had just written, "Nottingham Forest's offense looks unthreatening, and it's the same old way of passing from the flank …"
Then he heard the television above him explode with a cry of surprise, "GOOAL!!"
He looked up at the television screen, where Ibišević and the other Forest players were running wildly in celebration, and then looked at the words he had typed in the Word document and cursed. Then he unwillingly deleted the words he had just written.
The screen showed the scene of Twain provoking the Anfield fans again.
"Damn it, don't be smug for too long!"
With a cigarette in his mouth, he fiercely raised his middle finger at Twain on the screen.
Not far away from him, the Nottingham media were cheering for the goal with their hands raised high.
※ ※ ※
The game resumed. As if to retaliate against Tony Twain's provocative actions, the Anfield stands rang with the song "You'll Never Walk Alone". The song grew louder and louder, encouraging the Liverpool players on the field to launch a counterattack against Forest.
This period belonged to Liverpool, and Nottingham Forest was completely suppressed. The Forest players, who were previously excited about the goal, clearly did not expect Liverpool's counterattack to come so quickly and so fiercely.
That song must be the source of strength for the Liverpool players.
George Wood also felt that the Gerrard in front of him had suddenly become more difficult to deal with. His movements were stronger and faster than before, and his fighting spirit was even stronger.
Perhaps it was the backwardness that motivated him?
Gerrard's spirit and willpower were famous in English football. The more difficult the situation, the better his performance. Wood did not dare to let his guard down.
"George Wood and Gerrard face to face!" The commentator got excited. This was the kind of scene that the audience wanted to see. No matter how wonderful the tactics were, laymen might not be able to see the subtleties. But a one-on-one battle between star players like this would definitely make the audience's blood boil.
This time, Gerrard did not pass the ball when he encountered Wood's defense. When he faced Wood, he made a posture that he was going to force a breakthrough. Wood retreated a little to open up a distance from Gerrard to prevent him from breaking through.
Gerrard saw through his defensive intentions. It was too obvious. He did want to break through before, but now he changed his mind — he directly raised his leg to do a long shot!
George Wood did not expect Gerrard to do this. He froze in place and did not react, watching the ball fly past his eyes.
Akinfeev also did not expect Wood to let Gerrard succeed with a long shot so easily. Fortunately, Gerrard's shot was a little straight and he awkwardly blocked the ball out of the end line.
"Hey, George." Pepe shouted from behind. He was still worried.
Wood waved at him to indicate that he was fine.
He turned his head to look for Gerrard again and found that the other side had entered the penalty area, ready to fight for a corner kick. He naturally ran in to defend against Gerrard.
But just before the corner kick was sent out, Gerrard suddenly retreated.
Wood's intuition told him that danger was coming.
He did not have time to remind his teammates and rushed out alone.
He was still a little too slow …
Agger and Skrtel both rushed into the penalty area, giving the impression that they were going to participate in the attack. But in fact, Liverpool's corner kick was directly outside the penalty area!
Gerrard waited at the top of the penalty arc. He turned his head to look at the flying ball and adjusted his position so that his body was sideways to the goal.
Wood was running from the crowd. He was confident that after Gerrard stopped the ball, he would rush up and stop Liverpool's attack.
Don't give me time, Gerrard. Don't give me even a second!
Okay, as you wish.
Gerrard looked at the ball and his body fell towards the goal. He swung his right leg.
Ball! Leg!
Player!
"Direct volley in the air!!"
The ball whizzed past Wood's face. The wind that blew up actually caused a dull pain on his face.
This shot, which was like a heavy cannon, directly penetrated the Forest team's defense and the crowd in front of the goal. When it flew into the goal, Akinfeev did not have time to react …
"World Wave! World Wave!! It's so exciting! The Reds' captain finally exploded! He scored the first goal in the duel with George Wood! "
After the goal, Gerrard did not run to the sidelines to celebrate. He stood in place, waving his fists and roaring. It looked like he was celebrating the goal, but his eyes were always fixed on George Wood opposite him.
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