Chapter 75 Wood's debut (Part 1)

Although Don Eun didn't say it, the media and fans, and even the players themselves knew that this was a game he gave up. He didn't say it just because no head coach would say to his players before the game: "Guys, I gave up on this game today, you can do it." Instead, he hopes that those players who played today know that as long as they perform well, they have the opportunity to get more opportunities to play. This is a game where you fight for your own interests.

Therefore, I don’t have much playing time and have all experienced their performance time with the players who have just joined the team.

The starting goalkeeper is the 21-year-old Irish young player Barry Roche, who rarely plays, and the central defender is a brand new combination - Clint Hill and Robert Hutt. They have just transferred or loaned to the team and practiced together for less than a week. It is very clear that Don't sends such a central defender combination.

In addition to the new combination of the central defender, Donn also made some adjustments to the two fullbacks. In the last game, Chris Doig, who played central defender, went to play left back, and the right back gave John Thompson a rest, and Matthew Louis Jean.

There are still two defensive midfielders in the midfield. Blanya Gunnarson still starts, and Eugen Pope is replaced by George Wood. Donne arranged this way to prepare for the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals, because the two people appearing in the middle of the midfield will be Gunnarson and Wood, and Eugen Pope cannot participate due to suspension.

On the left side, Donn chose to let Chris Commons play, and Stephen McPhee played the right. His instructions to Commons were to make more crosses, and the order to give McPhee was to cut inward shots. Ashley Young, Moore had just gotten in contact, and there was no result yet, so he could only do so. Brian Cash was completely abandoned by Donn. If a team offered a suitable price at this time, he could leave immediately.

The combination sent by Donn on the front line is David Johnson and Freddy Eastwood. Johnson basically can't play in the game now, but he can still be a qualified substitute. As for Eastwood, Donn hopes to use the game to help him improve his form so that he can attack the city and siege for him in the League Cup.

Players sitting on the bench include goalkeeper Darren Ward, defenders Wes Morgan and John Thompson, midfielder Sergei Rebrov, and forward Gareth Taylor.

Looking at this lineup, no wonder even Forest fans think it is normal to lose this game, because there is a more important League Cup semi-final behind it.

Reading's head coach Steve Kopel is an old acquaintance of Tony Donn. He failed to coach at Brighton last season. Donn also defeated him at Brighton at home. After that season, Brighton was relegated, but their coach "good guy" Mr. Kopel found a better job - to go to Reading as the head coach.

Reading is currently ranked fourth in the league and looks like the situation is good. Mr. Koper's head coaching path seems to be on the right track.

Kopel was also very impressed by Don En, because after that game last season, he spent two days to figure out why Don En called himself a "good person" at the post-match press conference. The conclusion he came to was very angry because he was fooled by this young coach who was not as experienced as himself.

When the two teams met in the first half of this season, his team beat Forest 3-0 at home. The only regret was that the Forest was not the Forest coached by Tony Tangen. This made him feel that the victory became boring.

This time he visited the city stadium, he hoped to win a victory to revenge against Tony Donne. Of course, he also believed that with the strength of Reading, facing such a Forest team with almost all substitutes and new players, it should be no problem to win.

But he was wrong.

These Nottingham Forest players practice together for no more than a week, which is right. So more than 20 minutes of the game have passed, and the Forest team cannot pose any threat to the Reading goal. But the Reading team also found that they cannot easily break through the Forest team's goal.

Originally, I thought that the two central defenders who had never partnered together would create many loopholes in the Forest's defense line. Although the facts were similar to this expectation, Kopel did not expect that Don N would actually play a defensive tactic at his home court!

Eleven people, except Eastwood, all others have to return to the penalty area to participate in the defense while defending. So you can often see such scenes as David Johnson not going out in his own penalty area for a long time.

Don Encai doesn't care about the team being beaten by the away team at home, which is thrilling and thrilling. Although the victory of this game is not planned, the famous Argentine football coach Bianchi once said: "If you can't win a football game, don't lose." Don Encai didn't expect the team to beat Reading. But this does not mean that he allows him to lose at home. In order not to distance himself too much from other competitors, he must not lose in this game.

Because the two central defenders are partnering for the first time, there will inevitably be various omissions, so the task of the defensive midfielder is very heavy. They not only have to organize the first line of defense outside the penalty area, but also must withdraw the penalty area in time to act as a central defender and even a scavenger. Gunnarson doesn't need Tang En to worry, his experience and ability is completely competent, as for Wood...

Tang En unconsciously glanced at the upper floor behind him.

There was a row of VIP boxes. George Wood's mother Sophia was sitting inside. She watched her son's game with Evan.

With her here, Wood shouldn't have any problems, right?

A sharp and rapid whistle sounded. He pulled back Don't think. He saw a player from Reading lying on the ground, their number one scorer, Bermuda Shaun Goater! He was also a teammate of Sun Jihai at Manchester City last season. He scored 86 goals in seven seasons and is one of the favorite players of Manchester City fans.

Now this old shooter who scored 28 goals in 2001-02 helped Manchester City return to the Premier League, and scored nine goals in half a season with Reading. He is lying on the ground holding his calf in pain and stretching out his hand to ask for a stretcher.

The man standing beside him was George Wood with a calm face, and even the referee showed him a yellow card. He did not change his expression.

Walker looked at Tang En, who had always valued Wood, and Tang En scratched his head. Uh, was this kid a little too excited?

The stretcher carried Gott down, and then Donn saw a mixed-race young man called by Kopel. While obeying the coach's instructions, he took off his coat and revealed the number and name inside - No. 22, Tyson.

"Nathan Tyson. Forward." Walker said from the side, and Don nodded. Unexpectedly, Wood replaced the opponent's main forward with a yellow card, which is worth it. It is not so difficult to draw in this game. Reading is now ranked fourth in the league, and Gott's joining plays a big role. Kopel's tactics are almost all formulated around the tall Bermuda.

Although I don’t know how Gott’s injury is, seeing his actions of lying on a stretcher covering his face with his hands... Tang En knew that this time the injury was not light, and it should not be the kind of injury that would have been missing for a week or two.

Wood, you kid... are really a midfield meat grinder, ace killer.

Tang En didn't know what Sophia felt when she saw his son eating cards. But he was very happy. Because Wood exceeded the task he gave him before the game. For defensive players, fouls are normal, and the number of fouls and the number of cards won are also important data for judging the ability of the midfielder.

Modern football also requires defensive players to not only be able to tackle the opponent's ball, but also be as clean as a gentleman. They don't have a yellow card in their entire career. That's simply God.

Gott's injury caused a warning to the opponents of the forest: Reading's boys, whoever dares to make a rash in front of George Wood, will that old man end up!

As a result, the Reading team's offensive, which was originally as crazy as the tide, slowly subsided. The two sides entered a stalemate in the midfield. Wood and Gunnarson became the busiest players in the Forest team and the most photogenic players.

Tang En gave these two defensive midfield division of labor as follows: Wood is physically strong and fast, and he likes to grab the game, so he lets him go a little ahead and grab the game first. Gunnarson is experienced and calm, so he protects Wood behind him. If the opponent breaks through Wood, he will immediately pounce on and stubbornly entangle the opponent, giving Wood time to return to position.

Judging from the nearly thirty minutes of the game, the two of them cooperated very well, not at all like they had only been training together for half a month. Gunnarson also liked the feeling of cooperating with Wood, as they seemed to be born with tacit understanding.

"George Wood, an 18-year-old young player, joined the Nottingham Forest Youth Team for training at the age of 17. We don't have any information about him playing football before. I don't know if it's because he is too famous. I can't find the relevant information, or... there is no one at all." Motson looked at the detailed information of the players playing in the Forest Team in his hand. Others have at least a few hundred words of introduction and explanation, but George Wood's archives before 2003 were blank. "This is his first team for the Forest Team.
Chapter completed!