Chapter 101 Change
Since the game against Sunderland, Nottingham Forest has once again entered closed training. The English media complained that no coach has ever used closed training as frequently as Tony Donn to prepare for the game.
Carl Spike then said that this fully proves how frightened Tony Don is - he dared not let the media and opponents know what he is doing now. This means that he has no confidence.
Tang En's actions are naturally confidential, because he wants to give Juventus a "big surprise". But he doesn't feel that he has no confidence. Confidence and blind arrogance are two different things. After all, he is also facing the most powerful opponent in the group. On the surface, arrogance and arrogance from the bottom of his heart are also two different things.
In fact, what Tang En said to the media before coming to Italy was not entirely to cause some trouble for Ranieri's brain. He really had to be careful.
He also told the team this point.
When the team arrived in Turin, they would train to adapt to the field at the Alpi Stadium. The media could enter the field to shoot for the first fifteen minutes. This is what the regulations must allow, otherwise Don En would not even give them a second. However, the media actually couldn't shoot anything meaningful within these fifteen minutes. Because the team has been doing simple physical training. After spending these fifteen minutes, watching all the media pack up their things and leave, the team started real tactical exercises - but just practiced some set pieces tactics.
Don knew that there would be Juventus people staring at him in a corner of the stadium so that he would not show the real thing on the enemy's territory.
After the training, there was a pre-match press conference. Don Eun met Ranieri again. Both sides were very low-key. It was normal for Ranieri to be low-key, but it was not normal for Don Eun to be low-key. Don Eun repeated his words in England, but he deliberately acted so that people seemed to be teasing, not saying these words seriously.
He just wants others to guess what he is going to do.
"Juventus is a very strong opponent... I have said before that the teams qualifying are Nottingham Forest and any team? Well, yes. But isn't Juventus among them? Do you have to let me say the specific name? In that case, I said a qualifying. What do you think of b and c? I'm not so stupid as to make enemies everywhere..." Tang En smiled and completely overturned his previous arrogant image.
Many media muttered below: "If you just said it not long ago, you can turn your back on your face. It's so shameless!"
"If he is shameless, he will not be Tony Don..."
Don Eun seems to want to show kindness to Juventus, but the Torino media will not give him this opportunity. They repeatedly mentioned the two group matches two seasons ago and asked Don Eun what he thought.
"What do you think? Winning and losing on the football field is normal. Besides, is there any point in talking about what happened two seasons ago now? Winning too much or losing is useless for tomorrow's game. I only care about tomorrow, not the past."
"Have you ever thought about a successful revenge at Alpi Stadium, Mr. Don?"
"I respect Juventus very much. This is a very great team. She has obtained a total of... "Donn began to memorize Juventus' introduction and took about two minutes. After memorizing it, he said to the reporter who asked the question: "Do you understand what I mean?"
The Italian journalist's brain has temporarily lost the ability to think.
But it is impossible to let the media let him go so easily. Another reporter came on the bench: "You know Juventus very well, Mr. Done. But you still haven't explained whether the game will become a revenge battle in Nottingham Forest."
Tang En stared at the reporter who stood up for a while, his eyes slowly became cold. The reporters were all expecting Tang En to suddenly slam the table and curse, and that would make a good show. But that look only appeared for a second. He suddenly laughed and said, "When will the revenge be revenge? I am not interested in revenge, I am only interested in winning."
This answer disappointed the reporters.
They had to throw the question to Ranieri and ask him if he was worried that Nottingham Forest would complete his revenge at Alpi Stadium. Ranieri was not fooled by the media, and his answer was exactly the same as that of Don Eun: "I am not interested in this kind of problem."
Due to Tang En's sudden abnormality, many highlights and press conferences should have ended in a semi-cold atmosphere.
When leaving the press conference, Don En stopped Ranieri and wanted to shake hands with him: "I hope tomorrow will be a wonderful game." He said in Italian with a smile.
Ranieri was a little surprised: "I don't know you can speak Italian, Mr. Don."
"Little bit." Actually, I don't know anything at all. This sentence was written down by Tang Enlai's temporary attack before and memorizing it by rote.
So Ranieri also smiled: "I hope so too. Mr. Tangen."
After Tang En said goodbye, the smile on Ranieri's face gradually disappeared. He felt that he was getting more and more confused about this man. Since he was going to play with him, his performance has become increasingly abnormal. Faced with the reporter's provocation, he did not get angry on the spot. He had a heart disease, so he had a much better temper?
Is there anything wrong with his abnormal performance?
Ranieri shook his head and stopped thinking about such meaningless things. Anyway, Juventus only plays his own football. No matter what tricks Done plays, it is meaningless in front of Juventus.
This is a desperate team.
"No one asked me how to play the game with Juventus. Their attention was scared to something else." In the hotel room, Don was chatting with Tang about the afternoon press conference. "Tomorrow we will surprise them!"
At the same time, in the hotel where Juventus stayed, Ranieri gathered all the players and coaches to hold the last tactical meeting. At this meeting, we must clarify the tactics used by the team tomorrow and the countermeasures to the opponent's possible tactics.
This is a meeting that is directly related to the results of the second day's competition and everyone must take it seriously.
"Nottingham Forest focuses on wing attacks. This is their tradition. No matter what opponent they face, Tony Don will not give up on this in any situation." Ranieri explained the forest team's tactics to everyone present in front of the tactical board.
"Matias Fernandez is in good shape recently. Donne will definitely pay attention to the wing in tomorrow's game. However, judging from the last two games, Fernandez and other Forest players are not tacit enough. Most of the time, he is fighting alone on the wing. This is our opportunity. Cut off his contact with other Forests, and he has nothing to be scared about."
"Our defense focuses on the wing, as long as the two wings of the Forest team are not allowed to fight. Their offense will be no threat. I think in tomorrow's game, Don will also line up the same starting lineup as they play at Atletico Madrid away. The two midfielders - George Wood and Thiago, are mainly used to intercept our offense. Their offense center is on the left and right sides. But we must also be prepared to deal with the opponent's two trunks and insert them. Sissoko."
Ranieli named the team's midfielder Mohamed Sissoko.
"You are in the middle tomorrow, stop them."
Sissoko nodded vigorously, obviously very satisfied with Ranieri's arrangement. The head coach did not choose Paulson and Marcisio, who are also defensive midfielders. This shows that in a head-on game, the head coach trusts himself more than the other two.
He actually wanted to compete with the opponent's George Wood. As a midfielder with excellent physical fitness, he regarded Wood as his biggest competitor. In recent years, Wood relied on his team's fame and value, and soared all the way with his team's fame and value. He came from Liverpool to Juventus, and he was always in a semi-black and not red.
He believed that his strength was not as weak as Wood, and Wood's strength was more likely to be hyped up by the English media. He had played football in England and he was very clear about the virtues of the media there.
When he was still at Liverpool, there were several matches with Nottingham Forest. At that time, Wood was a highly-anticipated rookie player, but in Sissoko's opinion, he was no different from himself. Both were physically excellent, with rough skills, and good at defense. That's all, but just because Wood is a local English player, he was clamored by the media and seemed to be quasi-world-class...
At that time, he was marginalized at Liverpool and could not even play the main force. After having himself as a full-time midfield engineer, Benitez also introduced Mascherano, who overlapped with him. He knew that his days at Anfield were over.
Juventus faced Nottingham Forest two seasons ago, and he was sent off for a red card in the previous game. Missed those two games. This time he will finally not miss it again.
The back midfielder is against the back midfielder? He is looking forward to it.
Ranieli only left one Sissoko in the middle and then asked the others to focus on the wing. Although he was at home, he still planned to use defensive counterattacks to deal with Nottingham Forest. Two seasons ago, he used this tactic to defeat the then arrogant defending champion Nottingham Forest, and he believes that he can still do it after two seasons.
"First stabilize the defense, then wait for an opportunity to counterattack. Nottingham Forest is a team that uses counterattack to deal with others, but they are not good at dealing with others' defensive counterattacks. Five minutes of each half-time start and end are good opportunities for us to score goals, try to seize them. If we want to attack, use the middle lane. Nottingham Forest will focus on the side lane, and the middle lane will be our opportunity."
After explaining the tactics, Ranieri announced the starting list for tomorrow's game.
Veteran Del Piero, who will turn 36 next month, does not start, but he is on the roster. If the situation is not open, Ranieri may replace him and use his experience and skills, as well as his ability in set pieces to break the deadlock.
The starting strikers are Amauri and Yaqunta, with the midfield lined up, from left to right, Maluda, who spent 7 million pounds this summer, was the talented young player Chovinco (sebastian_giovinco), a strong defensive midfielder Mali Sisoko, and the old and strong Camoranesi. The defense line is from left to right, christian_maolinaro, Chiellini, Lerotale, and Czech Grigra. The goalkeeper is naturally Buffon.
At the same time, there were old captains Del Piero, Christian Paulsen, Jango Falke Silva (iago), Mellberg, Domenico_criscito and other players with great strength.
This is the strongest lineup that Ranieri can come up with in the near future.
It can be seen how much he attaches importance to this game.
But after the game started the next day, after observing for a few minutes, after seeing the formation of Nottingham Forest, he was immediately stunned - Tony Tangen did not stick to his wing offensive characteristics for the first time, but instead stationed heavily in the middle!
4132!
This is the formation that Tony Donn arranged in this game.
Goalkeeper Akinfeyev. Centre-back Pepe and Kompani, left-back Leiden Barnes, right-back Rafinia. Mid-back George Wood, three central-forwards are Matthias Fernandez, Thiago and Shahin. The forwards are Ibissevic and Eastwood.
"What is this?" Ranieri murmured to himself while standing on the sidelines.
None of the information he collected shows that Nottingham Forest has ever tried to use such a formation. The fool knows that the wing is the basis for the success of the Forest team. Judging from the signings every summer, Tony Donn always attaches great importance to wing players. Almost every wing player who qualifies in the Forest team's lineup is world-class.
On the contrary, the ability of the players in the middle is slightly inferior. After being promoted to the Premier League, Van der Fate may be the best player in the midfield offense, but he has now been sold to Real Madrid. Shahin is talented, but he has never given people the feeling of being able to take on heavy responsibilities, let alone Thiago. He is not the kind of star player who can change the course of the game.
With this midfield lineup, why does Tang En play the three-center forward?
Although Fernandez can also play in the middle of the forward. But he is the most suitable one. Isn’t it self-destructing the Great Wall?
Soon Ranieri knew why Don Eun made such arrangements.
Juventus plans to score a goal within five to ten minutes of the game, dragging the game into their familiar rhythm. But their offense was stubbornly blocked by Nottingham Forest in the midfield. This time, even Fernandez was asked to actively defend.
There are four people in the middle, three in front. One drags back, forming enough depth to protect each other. At the same time, it can also launch an attack directly from here. Once attacking, Fernandez and Shahin on both sides are dispersed like a wing, and Thiago will sort out the team's offensive order in the middle. George Wood protects behind him. Sometimes the two of them will also complete the position change, and Wood comes forward. Thiago drags behind.
At the same time, Eastwood frequently retreated and responded, like a shadow striker, a bit like a libero in the frontcourt, and there was no fixed position. Ibissevic stood against Juventus's defense line in front, making them afraid to act rashly. This lineup seemed to give up the wing. But it greatly strengthened the defense and offensive ability in the middle. It gave Shahin and Fernandez the opportunity to face the goal directly.
In addition, the Forests did not really abandon their wings. Donn asked Barnes and Rafinia to step forward if they had the chance in the game. Actively participate in assists.
This combination of sides and middle made Juventus stunned. They performed a little at a loss in the first ten minutes of the game. The tactical arrangement before the game was to keep a close eye on the wing and defend and counterattack. Nottingham Forest used the middle as the main attack direction. And after letting go of four people in the middle, they were not afraid of Juventus' possible counterattack.
Ten minutes passed, and although Juventus' offensive was strong, it was ineffective. Most of the time their offense was stopped when they advanced to the midfield. Nottingham Forest's midfield was blocked as if it had been out of a series of car accidents. No matter how fast the attack was, it had to slow down or even stop completely.
Chapter completed!