Chapter 172 Volume 2 Nottingham's Sky Wall (Part 1)

In the VIP box of the Millennium Stadium, a well-dressed blond beauty couldn't help but yawned, and changed her sitting position somewhat dispirited. She is not a very professional fan, she is not even a fan, she believes that the more important the game, the more exciting and intense it should be. But this English League Cup final lasted for ten minutes, and the scene was so dull that she was very disappointed. In the eyes of a beautiful woman, this game was very boring.

Not only is this beauty feeling bored, but so are the audience fans in the stands and in front of the TV.

This is the final of an important cup match, and conservative and dull is the main theme. Martin Taylor and Andy Gray, who were in charge of the commentary, knew this well, so they didn't complain in the commentary. Gray, on the other hand, questioned the forest team's defensive style of shrinking from the first minute of the game - how long can Tang En's team defend like this from the first minute of the game? Forty-five minutes? Ninety minutes? Or... one hundred and twenty minutes?

"Massimo_Maccarone tried a long-range shot! It hit the player of the Forest team and bounced off the baseline. It was a corner kick. The Italian looked very excited after the start of the game. In just 11 minutes, there were already two shots. !"

Middlesbrough has a strong attacking lineup for this game. Obviously, it is not McLaren who thinks that key games should be conservative, or in the face of Nottingham Forest, McLaren did not choose to be conservative.

In fact, since Robson coached this team, Middlesbrough's tradition has been technical offensive football. They have the title of "giant killers" in the Premier League, and they have a lot of experience in playing strong teams. But playing teams that are good at pressing and have excellent players is a bit at a loss.

Strong offense and weak defense are their biggest characteristics. McLaren doesn't know what Tang En's plan is. Anyway, he decided to launch a fierce attack at the beginning of the game, hoping to use this momentum to establish a leading advantage first. The rest of the game will be more technical. Good Middlesbrough is easier. Contrary to Tang En's pre-match plan, he did not intend to strengthen his defense during the game, but to maximize his offensive advantages. Blast open the gate of Nottingham Forest with successive goals, smashing the fighting spirit of this first-tier team.

Therefore, in this game, he formed the strongest attack lineup he could form. The forward line consists of Italian striker Massimo Maccaroni and Cameroonian Joseph Jobi (Joseph_Job). The former shoots accurately and the latter is excellent in dribbling.

The four midfielders from left to right are Middlesbrough's star of hope, 19-year-old talented player Stewart Downing (Stewart_Downing), a Brazilian midfielder who is only 1.65 meters tall but has excellent skills. Juninho, Dutch midfielder George_Boateng (George_Boateng), who is fierce defensively, fast, and not afraid of physical collisions, and Spanish forward Gaizka_Mendieta (Gaizka_Mendieta), who is on loan from Lazio.

The arrangement at the back line has not changed much, and there are not many options for McLaren to choose from.

The left back, Frenchman Franck Queudrue (Franck_Queudrue), is a very threatening player to Twain. He can do both defense and offense with ease. Although he is only 1.83 meters tall, he has excellent header skills and free kick shooting skills. He has been one of the best left-backs in the Premier League in the last two seasons. On the right back is the England international Danny Mills (Danny_Mills), who is on loan from Leeds United. The two central defenders are the 31-year-old veteran Ugo_Ehiogu (Ugo_Ehiogu) and the 23-year-old Ugo_Ehiogu. Chris Riggott (Chris_Riggott).

The goalkeeper is Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer (Mark_Schwarzer).

Such a lineup, except for Juninho, is basically Middlesbrough's main lineup in the Premier League. Among the four midfielders, only Boateng is defensive, and the other three are more offensive than defensive. McLaren's intention is obvious - to attack!

Defense has never been the way Middlesbrough people are familiar with playing football. They like to play beautiful passing and cutting cooperation, and attacking football with smooth flow.

But today... They still don't know that the attack they are most proud of is about to hit a wall.

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The great Juninho took the corner kick, and Quedrew, who was heavily guarded by the Forest players, missed the ball. Middlesbrough's offense ended without a problem.

Soon, the Middlesbrough team, wearing yellow away jerseys, came over again, because the Forest team basically had no counterattack force in front, only one Crouch, and the goalkeeper drove past him even if he alone could compete with his height advantage. When it comes to the first point, the second point can only be given to the opponent.

Although the formation reported by the Forest team before the game was 442, in fact, there was only one Crouch in the front of the fight. In the past, Tang En would arrange for Eastwood to hover beside Gao Lao, looking for a second landing point, but today he did not make such a request, but let the gypsy pull back to defend.

Nottingham Forest almost gave up their offense. This was done to build a high wall in front of their own goal and completely block all Middlesbrough's offenses.

Italy has a tradition of "chain defense", which means that the team as a whole pays attention to assisting defense, one link after another. Tang En spent more than a week building a defensive system for the Forest team before this game. He called it "wall defense". It is a comprehensive reinforced concrete defense system.

The back line will never press up, never cause offside, and the three lines will maintain a close distance and a complete formation. Form a small situation within 30 meters of one's own goal, requiring the entire team to help defend and compress the opponent's offensive space. You can make lateral transfers outside my defense with superb ball control, but my players won't jump on you just because you pass from right to left and then from left to right. No! No matter how you pass horizontally, as long as you don't pass directly, then I will watch you play ball possession from behind the defense line, even if the final game counts 80% of your ball possession in a game, it doesn't matter.

But if you plan to change the direction of attack from horizontal to vertical, and want to pass straight through my defensive area... then sorry, you can't get your wish. Fierce shoveling, siege by two or three people, an impenetrable restricted area...that's what you have to face.

The forest team's defensive range is like a muddy swamp, there is no problem if you don't set foot on it, once you enter it, it will make it difficult for you to attack!

In most people's minds, defense seems to be just the work of the back line and defensive midfielders. Forwards and attacking midfielders can stand in front of their own team's defense and wait for opportunities to counterattack. This kind of defense is like a three-ply board, which seems to be able to protect against wind and rain, but in fact, it can be broken with a little force. Why? Because there is not enough strategic depth, an exquisite direct pass is enough to tear through this paper tiger-like defense line.

But Twain's defensive philosophy is not like this.

What is a "wall"?

There is a height, a length, a thickness, an insurmountable wall made of huge stones.

Height--George Wood is 1.86 meters tall, with excellent bounce and not weak header. Robert Huth, with a height of 1.90 meters, has height and is good at heading. Wes Morgan is 1.88 meters tall and has excellent air defense capabilities.

There is a length - from the left side of the court to the right side of the court, it is within the control range of Twain's overall defense. The starting two fullbacks, Chris Commence and Ashley Young, will not play a role in this game. Crouch passed the ball head-on, but acted as a full-back.

There is a thickness—can a board with a thickness of one centimeter be called a wall? The mobile wall of Nottingham Forest is a defensive zone from striker to defender. From the start of Crouch and Eastwood's attack against Middlesbrough, the Forest team's defensive system began to work.

This is a real wall with a height of 2.5 meters, a length of 60 meters and a width of 30 meters!

Middlesbrough's offensive gradually weakened after fifteen minutes. It wasn't that they didn't want to attack anymore, but that they consumed twice as much energy as usual in the defensive confrontation with the Forest team.

Twain asked the team to dare to make moves in defense, to be fast, to move fiercely, to press close to the body, and to make small moves without stopping. Even if they can't tackle the opponent's ball, they must make enough moves, because it will affect the opponent's Every time they catch and pass the ball, over time, when their active mistakes in the offense begin to increase, the forest team's defensive goal will be achieved.

Twain firmly believed that no matter how skilled Middlesbrough was, their individual player skills and teamwork could not compare to a team at the level of Real Madrid. Don't talk about Middlesbrough in the middle of the Premier League.

This kind of defense made it very difficult for Middlesbrough to play. Whether it's their head coach Steve McLaren or the players themselves, they did think before the game that the weaker Nottingham Forest might adopt a defensive strategy to deal with the Premier League team Middlesbrough, but neither of them To think the Forest defended so thoroughly, so...crazy.

Juninho is a player with very good skills at his feet, but he came to Middlesbrough three times. Except for the first time, his performance was impressive. Unfortunately, Middlesbrough was finally relegated. The next two times he returned to this team, his state was not as good as before, especially after he was kicked and broke his leg, his performance plummeted.

McLaren put him on the field, originally intending to use his individual skills to cause trouble for the Forest team's defense. He watched the two semi-finals between Forest and Bolton, especially the first one. He believes that Bolton coach Allardyce's biggest mistake is not giving full play to Okocha's personal technical ability. George Wood was very active in that game, but McLaren believes he lacks the experience of how to deal with various changes in an impromptu manner. Defense, then Bolton will completely smash that rookie Wood's debut.

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