Chapter 25: The gap in strength

Of course, although Tang En said he wanted to win, football matches cannot be won by saying it. Without careful preparation and careful arrangements, plus the opponent's tactics, winning is just a matter of empty words.

Sunderland is not strong, and the newly promoted teams also perform very much like the newly promoted teams - the team's performance is fluctuating. The first round of the league began, and they faced Tottenham Hotspur at home. The two sides played very dull in this game, but Sunderland continued his performance in the English Championship last season. On the basis of tenacious defense, they actively launched a counterattack and finally knocked on the Tottenham Hotspur's door at the last minute and got a good start.

Keane's debut in the new season also looked very successful and amazing.

Experts have already been eager to announce that Sunderland this season is likely to become the Wigan Athletics in the first two seasons.

But Keane really didn't give this expert face. In the second round of the league, Sunderland drew 2:2 away with Birmingham, and lost 0:3 away to Middlesbrough in the third round. In the fourth round, he lost 0:2 at home to Liverpool.

Then, on September 2, Keane returned to Old Trafford. Before the game, he said goodbye to former Manchester United teammate "legend" Solskjaer - Solskjaer, who had been troubled by injuries, announced his official retirement. Although the atmosphere on both sides was very good before the game, Manchester United fans also gave warm applause to Roy Keane, who led the team back to Old Trafford. Keane also hugged Ferguson in front of many media, without any gunpowder to fight.

But after the game started, all these warm side were not visible. The final score was 1:0. Sunderland performed very tenaciously, but was pierced by Portuguese young player Nani, who had joined Manchester United this season, with a world-class long shot. On the surface, Sunderland was very lucky, and Manchester United scored the goal in the worst way to score. In fact, Manchester United had many opportunities in normal games, but after Rooney was injured and absent, Manchester United's forward line suddenly couldn't find the direction of the attack.

After Tevez came on the court, he did not have a tacit understanding with his teammates. He could not form an effective offensive cooperation.

As for Cristiano Ronaldo, he sat in the audience with Rooney to recuperate.

Dong Fangzhuo, the "King Dong" who Chinese fans are very concerned about, has been on the roster and sits on the bench. But no matter how hindered Manchester United's offense is, he has never gotten the chance to perform. He sat on the bench for 90 minutes, which also made Chinese fans look forward to it for 90 minutes.

In the end of that game, Manchester United defeated Sunderland, the territory led by Keane with Nani's goal.

Sunderland, who lost three consecutive times, suddenly shut up the experts who were optimistic about them. Although Wigan Athletic lost to Nottingham Forest in the first game of the new season, their performance was quite good later, otherwise they would not have been regarded as a big dark horse. Sunderland's performance is really far from the image of a "dark horse". Just like their nickname, "Black Cat" is a cat after all, not a horse.

In the sixth round of the league, Sunderland finally ushered in their second league victory this season, and they defeated Fulham 2-1 at their home court.

Sunderland fans believe that the previous three consecutive losses were just a minor accident. The team always lost because their luck was not as good as their opponents. The team was slowly adapting to the pace of the Premier League, which can be seen from the changes in the scores of their losses. The first was a three-goal loss to Middlesbrough. Next they lost two goals to Liverpool, and then when they arrived at Manchester United, they only lost one goal. Until now, the game against Fulham. Sunderland won even more! What does this mean? It shows that the team's condition is getting better one game after another. In this round, we won one goal in Fulham, and in the next round we will win Nottingham Forest... two goals?

This sounds a bit funny. It is almost impossible to have the strength gap between Sunderland and Forests. But who is Sunderland's head coach? Roy Keane, who is fearless. With him, there will be miracles. Think about the tragic situation of our championship last season, who can believe that we can finally advance? Even we don't believe it. Roy Keane is here. He said at the press conference of his inaugural office: "I'm not here to lead the team to relegation." As a result, he did what he said.

It is not impossible to defeat Nottingham Forest away, there is no invincible team in this world.

But unfortunately, Don Eun does not intend to get Sunderland fans to get what they want.

Facing the newly promoted Sunderland, Donne sent the strongest lineup he could. Goalkeeper Van der Sar, central defenders Ayala and Pepe. Left defender Gareth Bale, right defender Rafinia. Central forward George Wood and Van der Fate, left forward Ribery, right forward Beckham, forwards Van Nystruei and Al Shavin.

Because of a minor injury, the continuous battles were not good for his injury recovery, so after the group match against Porto, he was excluded from the roster by Donn. He allowed him to cultivate well at home.

This lineup is different from what he had against Porto four days ago. Donn rotated in several positions: Gareth Bale replaced Grosso, Ayala replaced Pique, and Alshaven replaced Eastwood. Despite this, this lineup is still considered to be extremely powerful in England.

Don Eun doesn't want others to think that he intends to let his good friend Roy Keen go, which is the biggest insult to his professional ethics.

Roy Keane won't be willing to let his opponent go. He sent the strongest lineup away, hoping to score three points.

Sunderland used the tactic of steady defense and counterattack when facing the Forest. This tactic is familiar with and is not surprised. Because now, as the Forest team becomes more and more famous, more and more defensive counterattacks are used to deal with their teams.

Sunderland is just one of them.

Nottingham Forest's unbeaten record of five wins and one draw in six rounds of the league this season was not conquered by luck. Many of the teams hope to defend and counterattack when facing the forest, but what was the final result? It was not a result of losing.

Nottingham Forest is not a team that is helpless in the opponent's iron barrel formation. Settings, long shots, short passes in the middle, and two wings fly together... They have many ways to open the opponent's deadlock. Van der Fate's ability to organize offense at the front of the opponent's penalty area is much better than Albertini and Arte. With him, the Forest team's frontcourt organization has a backbone. In addition, centers like Van Nystrue and Bentner who are not afraid of physical confrontation and are smart, even if the opponent sets up heavy troops in front of the goal, Don Eun is not as troubled as before.

Now the Forest team has practiced to insist on defensive counterattacks in training. It also focuses on practicing how to break the opponent's iron barrel formation and how to deal with the opponent in positional battles. One advantage they have is that they are experts in defensive counterattacks, know the weaknesses of defensive counterattacks, understand the psychology of defensive counterattackers, and clarify the way to deal with them.

When attacking, Van Nestroy immediately rushed up to attract the opponent's defensive attention and pressed the opponent's defense back.

But it is often not the center who actually completes the fatal blow. It is Eastwood, or Al Shavin, or even Van der Fate who is inserted in the back.

Now the center is not more of a goal-scoring, but performing tactical tasks. As long as the center is up, the opponent's defense line has to retreat, and they dare not be unpredictable. Because no matter what tactics it is, the center is the opponent's player closest to the goal, and is the most capable of scoring. As for whether the opponent is affected by other offensive players who are going to be inserted, it depends on the coordination between the midfield defense and the defenders.

Instrumenting the attack in the back row is one of the mainstream tactics in the world football world. The reason why it has been tried and done is its diversity and uncertainty. No one knows when the opponent will be in the back row, no one knows who will be in the back row, and no one knows whether the opponent wants to be in the back row, which gives the offensive party the basis for implementing this tactic. Soldiers. The trick is also true. To put it bluntly, the same is deception and anti-deception.

Seeing Van Nystruey squeeze into the penalty area with great momentum, Sunderland's defenders dared not be unpredictable. One was getting worse and the other was getting worse, and they put their defensive forces into the penalty area. The defense against the front of the penalty area was weaker. Van der Fate took the ball at the front of the penalty area. For a moment, Sunderland's defender did not go up to press, but was worried that he would leave room behind after he went up, so that the opponent could seize the opportunity and pass it straight...

The Dutch seized this opportunity and made a powerful long shot.

The football hit the goal frame and was hit by Sunderland's main goalkeeper Clegg Gordon flew out of the baseline. Gordon was the main goalkeeper of Scotland who had spent 9 million pounds before the season. In the first game, Sunderland sealed Tottenham Hotspur and won a small goal. His performance received unanimous praise. Next, he performed with Sunderland and his performance was unstable... He lost six goals in three consecutive losses. Only in the last game against Manchester United, he received praise, and the experts' opinion was "If it weren't for Gordon, Sunderland would have lost five goals."

Don N has never been optimistic about Gordon because the goalkeeper lacks the most important element - stability. This person may be able to perform like a god in a game, but if he swallows three eggs in more games, it will be useless to the team as a whole.

Okay, now the question is. In this game. Will Gordon be as good as God's help? Or will he swallow three eggs?

Bale of the Forest team went to take the corner kick, and he was a left-footed player. He took the corner kick on the right, and the ball must have been turned toward the goal. Suddenly, the defenders and the attackers were all concentrated in front of the goal, preparing to compete for the top. At this moment, Beckham, who was originally in the far end, suddenly ran over. Is he going to play?

No, Bell pulled out the football, and Beckham made a cross without stopping the ball!

The football that was originally spinning inward turned into an outwardly spinning arc ball, and Sunderland's previous defensive arrangements were all lost. Pepe and Van Nisstruy were also proved to be just a cover. Their function was to attract the opponent's defensive attention and then create opportunities for teammates who were inserted behind.

Ayala, who was originally wandering outside, suddenly broke out, and he headed the ball in front of everyone...

"The ball has entered!! No one thought! Ayala was the target of the header this time... Look at the corner kick taken by Beckham, it was simply aimed at the Argentine defender! 1:0! Nottingham Forest took the lead at home!"

Setting balls are the best way to break the opponent's intensive defense.

Seeing the goal conceding, Keane rushed from the coach's bench to the sidelines with some dissatisfaction, expressing his anger at the missed defender's defense just now.

Tang En sat on the coaching seat with his annoying cross-legged legs, leisurely.

After having two set-piece masters, Bell and Beckham, the Forest usually puts various tactical exercises of set-pieces in a very important position. This sudden change from long corner kicks to short corner kicks is just one of them.

Next, after leading, the Forest team changed its attitude as a strong team, gave up the practice of besieging the opponent in positional battles, but instead recycled it in a planned manner and dealt with Sunderland in the midfield. Donn knew that with Keane's personality, if he fell behind with one goal, he would definitely ask the team to score a goal and pull back the disadvantage. The Forest team did not recycle the backcourt, and just waited for Sunderland to come up in the midfield. In terms of midfield strength, Sunderland was not as good as Nottingham Forest.

George Wood is now the hottest defensive midfielder in the Premier League and even European football. I wonder what Keane feels when he saw the boy he had been directed by, and now he is blocking his players on the court...

Sunderland's offense seems too monotonous when facing Forests, and his personal technology is completely at a disadvantage. It can be said that Sunderland is now a typical English football - it does not mean the tactic of "long passes and rushing", but refers to their importance to body and will, but lacks technical characteristics. With the transformation of Donne and the foreign legions, the Forest team has already been considered a relatively excellent level in the Premier League in terms of technology. At least they rarely stop the ball more than five meters. This is not funny. Sunderland's players frequently experience such low-level stops under the Forests' press. If they can't even stop the ball well, what else can they talk about organizing the offense?

Donn is not worried about Sunderland's counterattack at all, because he has carefully studied Keane's team. Keane has been in charge of this team for too short. No matter how many grand plans he has in mind, he has no time to let him realize them one by one. Today, Sunderland still retains the style of playing in the English Championship, with physical and will first and technology second. This set is very good in the English Championship, but it will not work well in the Premier League with a higher level. If you want to have great development, it is essential to have a technical route, whether it is an art stream like Arsenal, a comprehensive stream like Manchester United, or the "pseudo-technical stream" of other Premier League teams... technology must be taken seriously.

As the personal technical gap accumulates, it becomes a huge gap between the two teams. This gap leads to the Forest team controlling the rhythm of the game on the court, and Sunderland just wants to equalize the score, which is quite a bit "powerless".

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. Keane unwillingly adjusted his offense and wanted to forcefully tear open the overall defense of the Forest team by strengthening the offense. Helplessly, it was because the personal gap accumulated and the gap between the team as a whole, and he was unable to make a comeback.

After firmly controlling the pace of the game, the Forest team slowly accompanied Sunderland to find an opportunity... and then hit a fatal blow.

In the 17th and 39th minutes of the second half, the Forest team scored two more games.

The final score of the game was 3:0, Nottingham Forest won. Poor Clegg Gordon swallowed three eggs again. The goalkeeper who was favored by Keane was a little dejected after the game.

After the final whistle sounded, Don Edward took the initiative to look for Roy. Keane shook hands: "I want to say it's so regretful, Roy."

Keane curled his lips: "Come on, Tony. Put away your hypocritical smile, we lost, you won, there is nothing to say."

Tang En spread his hands with an innocent look on his face: "But we always have to act in front of the media, right?"

Keen, who lost the ball, was in a bad mood, but when he saw Tang En doing this, he couldn't help laughing: "Tonight, let's have a bar." He stretched out his hand and held the two of them together.
Chapter completed!