Chapter 13: Identity Change

Moyes didn't expect that Everton fans didn't expect that even Nottingham Forest fans didn't expect that the goal of the opening game of the new Premier League in the new season would come so quickly.

"This is the first goal in the English Premier League in 2007-08, ten seconds! If you haven't turned on the TV, then you missed such a wonderful goal! This is not someone's flash, this is the overall flash of a team! Tony Donn's overall football is undoubtedly reflected in this goal!"

The commentator was quite excited. Record-breaking things are always worthwhile. There will be various news about this goal in the Astronomy network.

On the court, the players of the Forest team hugged each other. They are the director of the goal. Van Nistrui knew the accuracy of Beckham's long pass and how fast Arshaven was at Ribery. So he suggested to everyone during the warm-up to win the lead. Ribery has double insurance. If Arshaven is blocked, Ribery will complete the shot.

This plan is faithfully implemented.

Beckham's long pass and Ribery and Al Shavin's speed perfectly combined to create this goal.

Ribery was a contributor to the goal, but when he scored, Van Nistrui was still in the middle circle. When he saw the ball enter, he did not pounce on Ribery, but turned around and ran to David Beckham on the right.

He and Van der Fate hugged Beckham, and the three of them ran forward in a cluster, meeting with the others.

"David Beckham, this is his first game back to England. He reintroduced himself ten seconds into the game. This iconic long pass makes us feel like we are recalling him at Manchester United... Although we are also wearing a red jersey, we are already a member of Nottingham Forest... No matter what. Welcome back, David!"

Beckham raised his arms, a bright smile that was as bright as the sun, and surrounded by his teammates, it was particularly dazzling.

Perhaps some people who are not aware of the inside story will think that Beckham can dissolve so quickly into the Forest team because he is a world-class star and many people have to give him this face. In fact, it is not the case. The Forest team is a team that values ​​strength, just as Tang En said to Beckham's agent Simon Fuller, "As long as you have strength, you will be treated as your own person, and you will never treat you badly."

Moyes sat in the chair and didn't come back to his senses for a long time. He was not unfamiliar with Tang En at all, nor was he unfamiliar with this team. Before the game, he made very careful preparations. In order to restrain the attacks of the Forest's two wings, he also asked the team to actively advance on the wings. Use the offense to suppress the opponent.

Unexpectedly, this really didn't expect... The Forest team walked fast on the right and was good at breaking through Ashley Yang, and his strength did not decline. Because they had a Beckham who could tear the opponent's defense with just one pass.

Is it the person running fast or the ball running fast? Isn't this nonsense? Of course it's the ball. Beckham is on the right side, which makes the opponent's defense a little uncomfortable.

In the past, I was fine with defending Ashley and Yang. I either rely on offensive suppression or garrisoned heavy troops to defend. The space was compressed and Ashley and Yang did not give Ashley and Yang a chance to break through. How should I defend Beckham now? Offensive suppression? After the Forest intercepted the ball in the backcourt, he didn't need to press the ball at all. He gave the football to Beckham and let him pass it accurately, which was just in line with the Forest's best defensive counterattack tactics.

From this point of view, although there is a shortage of a fast wing, the Forest team's wing offense is actually more difficult to defend. Because there are more changes.

Moyes, who was like a stone Buddha just now, finally responded. He scratched his head and the team fell behind ten seconds at home. What should we do? It would be too early to adjust now. He really has no way to do it now, so he can only wait and see what to do.

Everton was definitely not a soft persimmon that he had deliberately pinched. After being led by the Forest team, the players on the field soon completed their self-adjustment.

Nottingham Forest is the European champion and is already a strong team in the Premier League now. Everton did not think that even if he was playing at home, he could easily defeat his opponent. The goal was conceding within their plan, but the team was so early. They were a little surprised - despite careful preparations before the game, it was fully estimated that the game was difficult. However, the improvement and strength of the Forest team were still somewhat unexpected.

Everton, who had completed his self-adjustment, began to try to fight back amid the cheers of home fans.

There are two people worth noting in the midfield in Everton, one is Australian Tim Cahill, and the other is Mikel Arteta who has just transferred from Nottingham Forest. Cahill has been operating in Everton for many years, and Arteta is the new core of the midfield that Moyes plans to get up in the woods in the new season.

From this game, we can see that when Everton attacks, the football will be handed over to Arteta and he will command it.

Cahill is not a midfielder who is good at organizing offense, he is more like a midfielder with outstanding scoring skills. Arteta is a typical "No. 4" from Barcelona training camp, which is quite like the "quarterback" in rugby - responsible for passing the ball and launching the offense and controlling the rhythm of the team.

Donn is no longer familiar with Arteta, after all, he has played under his command for two and a half years. He knew that Moyes bought Arteta to build a core organization belonging to Everton. Arteta will definitely be entrusted with important tasks in this game, so before the game, he told Wood that his target person in this game was Arteta.

Other people's tasks are assigned by Tang, and only Wood's tasks are done by Tang En. On the one hand, Tang En got used to this job and how to talk to Wood. On the other hand, he was talking to someone else, and Wood might not be able to listen.

Freezing Arteta is really simple for Wood. Donn didn't even tell Wood what Arteta is, what are its technical characteristics, what are its habits, and what do you like... The two have been training and playing in the same team for two and a half years. Do you still understand this?

Done only told him: "Free Arteta completely."

Mikel Arteta received a pass from his teammate. The game felt very wonderful. Although the person wearing a blue jersey is his teammate, sometimes he always has the illusion of treating the person wearing a red jersey as a teammate. He has been with the Forest for two and a half years and has only been in Everton for a month and a half. The opposite side is full of familiar faces. He knows their playing habits and interests in life. But he doesn't know enough about Everton's teammates...

He wanted to find a pass target, but when he looked up, the people in red jerseys were filled with vision. He became accustomed to it... Arteta shook his head, trying to get rid of this inexplicable idea.

Spain's midfielder hesitated for a moment. The ball was cut off by Wood.

The strong pain from his body made him return to reality all of a sudden - he was already a member of Everton. He could only be one-on-one with Wood in the team competition. Now there will be at least two real-time guns and ammunition confrontations in a season.

Wood had just cut the ball and was about to find someone to pass the ball, but was pushed to the ground by Arteta who came to his senses.

The referee's whistle sounded, and Arteta was awarded a foul, giving Nottingham Forest a free kick near the center circle.

Although he was fouled, Arteta won thunderous applause from Goodison Park Stadium. He announced his breakup with the Forest team with his practical actions. He also won the favor of the new club fans.

Wood was about to get up, but there was an extra hand in front of him. When he looked up, he found that it was from Arteta.

Wood did not take his hand, but said with a stern face: "You need to shake hands and wait for the game to end."

Arteta was not annoyed either. He knew the boy's character. Once he entered the competition, there were only two types of people left in the world - his own people and his enemies.

He used to be his own people in Wood, but now he is an enemy. He used to be protected by Wood, but now he...

Hi. What do you want to do so much? Let’s play!

Everton and the Forest were in a stalemate in the midfield, both sides were in heavy troops and fiercely fought for it here. Wood strictly guarded Arteta, and Van der Fate was also surrounded by Lee Karlsley and Thomas Gravesen.

Tony Donn had no dissatisfaction with this stalemate, and he was even happy to see the stalemate. The forest team was most afraid of was the stalemate, especially when they were already leading the way.

Slowly waste your opponents and consume their patience and fighting spirit. Make them become impatient, and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack and lead two goals, and the situation will be more favorable.

So the Forests' games are not very good... They are all stalemate like this, can they look good?

But should the game continue to be stalemate like this?

If the Forest team had encountered such a stalemate, they could only wait for their opponents to be impatient, otherwise they would not be able to open the wing. The offensive effect would be greatly reduced. If the score is not 1:0, the Forest team will lead. When encountering an experienced and cunning opponent, Tang En really has no more suitable solution.

It's different now. The Forest team can fly without space on the side.

Van der Fate passed the ball to Beckham on the right under the double-team of the two. David didn't break through very much, and compressing the space was useless for him. Preventing his pass was the best... But how to defend the pass? Punch it up and entangle it, so that he won't let him pass it out?

What about the gap in the back? Beckham can choose not to pass long and distribute it to his teammates who are supporting him on the side, then run without the ball and throw away the defense. As long as the football passes out, there are dozens of ways for professional players to move forward.

Therefore, players who only know how to dribble and break through are not scary, and those who know how to pass the ball are the most scary...

With Beckham's long pass, Moyes has only two paths. One is to compress the space behind so that the Forests' forwards can easily receive the ball, but this can only be limited to verbalism. The game format is ever-changing. The important thing in the defense line is to maintain the formation, rather than follow the two forwards everywhere. The second is to create offside. This is the easiest and most used method. Beckham's long pass is very penetrating, and penetrating sometimes also represents offside.

Everton was offside in the game, and the defense line was pressing very well. Al Shavin and Van Nisstruy had offside twice in a row.

Seeing this, Tang En stood up and walked to the sidelines, blew a whistle, and after attracting the attention of the players, he made a gesture to let the players continue to pass directly, and at the same time increase the cooperation between hitting the wall.

Moyes wants to make offside, let him make it. The Forest team is now constantly passing and passing. Even if the first nine out of ten times are offside, as long as the last time is successful... that is a decisive kill!

There are great risks to offside. Moyes of course knew that Donne was very considerate and sent the risks to himself.

Van der Fate took advantage of a dead ball and said to several teammates in the midfield and frontcourt: "We will cooperate in front of their defense line, don't be afraid of mistakes, there will be George behind the ball if he loses the ball! Just succeed once..." He clenched his fists, and everyone understood what he meant.

Nottingham Forest has never been turned over by his opponent with a two-goal lead!

The next game. The referee's continuous whistle sounds interrupted and started again, and it started again. Foul, offside...there was continued to be stalemate.

At the halftime break, the score was still 1:0, Nottingham Forest led the away game.

During the halftime break, Tang En praised the team's performance. Although the goal was a credit to a few people, the score was the result of the team's unanimous efforts.

In particular, Arteta. It is obvious that after a month and a half, he has been transformed into the Everton midfield core by Moyes. But Wood completed the task successfully.

At the end of the first half, Arteta's blue jersey was almost rubbed into blue, and there were some grass chips on his face.  It looked very embarrassed, but Arteta must be familiar with it.   Because most of Wood's opponents ended up like this.

Wood doesn't look much better either.

He was sitting in his seat to rest while listening to Donn talk about what to do in the second half. Bell came over and touched his arm gently: "George." He called in a low voice.

Wood glanced at him.

“How does it feel to be one-on-one with Mikel in the official match?”

"You can experience it yourself."

"You know I didn't play..." Bell said frowningly.   It was difficult to dress up carefully, but he couldn't appear in front of TV viewers across the country, which was a big blow to morale.

Wood looked at the little monkey's troubled look. He couldn't help but smile.

"It's all my dad. I have to hold me up and teach me a lesson for a long time when I go out, which makes me late. It turns out that I really want to start the show..."

Bell was still chattering quietly, but suddenly he heard someone calling his name.

"Bell, Gareth Bell."

He suddenly stood up: "Ah?"

This made the locker room burst into laughter.

Tang En looked at Bell who was "outstanding the crowd" with laughter and cry, "Are you distracted just now?"

"Ah.  Uh..." Bell scratched his head, "I'm... sorry, boss, I'm distracted."

"I said if we still have 1:0 in the second half twenty minutes, I will consider scheduling you and be ready." Tang En had to repeat what he said just now.

"That's great!" Bell couldn't help but scream, as if he had obtained his favorite toys. He made everyone laugh.

Bell sat down happily in laughter and blinked at Wood.

Tang En continued: "...If we can stick to this score until twenty minutes in the second half, Everton will inevitably be anxious. At that time, they will not be able to make offsides so neatly and uniformly in the first half, there will definitely be loopholes. If Bale is on the court, the main task is not defense, but offense, to assist the team's offense on the left."

Bale nodded repeatedly. Although he is now a left-back, his offense is far stronger than defense, because he was originally a left-frontback. When he needs to defend, Don will rely more on Leiden. Barnes, and when he needs to let go, Bale is undoubtedly the most suitable.

It doesn't take much time to talk about tactics, and the situation is beneficial to the Forest team. Don't talk nonsense. The remaining time of the halftime break allows the players to move freely and relax.

Beckham is very popular because he never puts on airs in the locker room. After getting to know him, everyone likes to chat with him. There are many people around him, and Bell also squeezed over and became a world-class star like Beckham. Of course, it is his goal to improve his fame and strength at present, so it is only the most convenient and quickest to improve his appearance.

His hair was covered with a lot of hair spray and was meticulously combed into a moxidan hairstyle, reflecting the lights of the locker room, which was very eye-catching.

"Hey, little monkey, are you going to go out for a date with your girlfriend?" Van Nestroy noticed Bell standing beside him, and smiled and wanted to touch his head, but let the other party avoid it.

"Hey, don't touch Luther. It took me a long time to get it done!" Bell jumped away from Van Nistruy's "black hand".

"It's a mess when you get on the court." Wood suddenly said behind.

This was the same as his father said, and Bell glanced at Wood. Wood had black hair, which was not as long as a woman, but not as short as a woman, and was almost shoulder-shoulder. His hairstyle was...no hairstyle. He simply split the hair from it and split it on both sides of his cheeks. He was scattered when playing football, and he used his hand to restore their order. It was simple and easy to deal with.

And it is said that this is the image designed specifically for Wood by Wood's agent Billy Wood - Wood's image is his true nature. Wood believes that this world is full of all kinds of pretentious stars, and every move and every sentence they make and say is thought out ten thousand times in their hearts. Men who are obviously passionate must make tender and graceful in public. And everyone likes this dislocation beauty.

So he asked Wood not to pretend to be anything, and to show his appearance in public. People with such a true temperament believe that they will definitely win more applause.

"There's hair spray." Bell retorted.

Wood did not continue the topic either. He said nothing and moved his eyes away.

The locker room door was pushed open, and Chris Lack appeared at the door, and he slapped: "Okay, guys! It's time for us to show up!"

Wood was the first to walk towards the door, and everyone followed him out of the locker room.

As Beckham passed by Bell, he patted his shoulder and blinked at him.
Chapter completed!