Chapter 98: Leaves fall back to their roots

"I thought in such a major final, both teams would be surrounded by stability. The opening ten minutes must be a stage of testing each other. After all, this is the first time in history between the two teams. But I was wrong. AC Milan might want to be stable first, but Tony Don did not give them such a chance. Nottingham Forest's series of offensives since the kickoff was not a bluff. They successfully knocked on AC Milan's door in the eighth minute! There was no temptation at all... It seems that they are very, very familiar with AC Milan's team!"

The commentator said excitedly.

This is true. Don Eun is very familiar with AC Milan, and Albertini is also very familiar with AC Milan. What else should I test first?

When Tang En was a fan, he didn't understand why some team coaches would say "I don't know this team" when talking about their opponents. This happens from time to time, especially in the head coaches of those wealthy clubs. Because the opponent is a weak team, he disdains to understand? But when heavyweight duels occur, such things still exist.

So after he became the official head coach of Nottingham Forest, he attached great importance to the intelligence collection of opponents. At first, the club did not have the strength, so he paid for the money to hire temporary workers to help him collect intelligence. Later, when the team's performance became better and better, the club's requirements for him were all met. Today, Nottingham Forest has a complete intelligence collection system. Before, Tang once told Tang Jing that they didn't care who the opponent was. Anyway, they had intelligence for the teams that entered the top 16, and they would draw out whoever they got. This is the work result of the intelligence collection system.

Tang En firmly believes in the ancient Chinese wisdom of "knowing yourself and knowing your enemy, and never winning a hundred battles." No matter how powerful his team is, he cannot ignore the collection of opponents' intelligence. Even if it is not used in this game, he does not know when it will be needed.

From the first day he took over the official position of Nottingham Forest head coach, he took the information collection of European giant clubs as a long-term job. You should know that his team was still in the League One (later called the League One), and he paid for this kind of thing and did not bother the club. After waiting for the team to succeed in the Super League, he took out the information he collected and asked the club to take on the job.

The intelligence collection work for AC Milan started from that time. He did not know that he would meet AC Milan in the final of the 2007 European Champions League in 2007. At that time, he just thought that if Nottingham Forest wanted to grow and grow, he would embark on the road of a wealthy family. Then these wealthy teams will inevitably become his opponents and enemies in the near future. We should collect intelligence as early as possible and have to be systematically continuous, otherwise there would be no reference and research value at all.

Now, the defense of AC Milan was broken in the first eight minutes. In addition to the players' outstanding performance and tactical development, the years of intelligence collection work has also contributed.

Tang En hugged and celebrated with everyone around him. The first ball came so quickly that everyone felt that the championship trophy was closer to them.

On the other hand, after venting his anger at the coach's tent, Ancelotti did not hurry up like some head coaches and rushed to the sidelines, reminding the players how... he just sat in his position.

AC Milan is a traditional strong team. After countless times of tests, each of these players is an elite among the elite. They have seen big scenes and know how to deal with them. They just concede the ball. They won't panic the whole team, especially since it's only eight minutes. For AC Milan, they still have 82 minutes to equalize and overtake.

Sure enough, Maldini put the captain's authority on the court. He comforted his teammates and loudly encouraged them. The teammates who were slightly shocked to conceal the ball too early quickly calmed down and their morale gradually recovered. The impact of the goal conceding on them was slowly fading.

Of course, Tang En saw this scene. He snorted from his nose. He naturally didn't expect a goal to defeat a team like AC Milan, otherwise the world would be too easy to win.

This is a tough final and it is never easy for either side...

The game started again, and after the kickoff, AC Milan gave up the plan to continue testing and launched a fierce attack on the heart of the Forest. However... in the face of the Forest's wall-style defense, the results were very little...

Pirlo discovered that when the whole Nottingham Forest team contracted their defense, the blank area between the midfield and the backcourt would no longer exist. He could no longer use this to attack. He could only deal with the Forest team slowly outside.

The Forest sent Albertini to specifically guard him. Kaka handed it over to George Wood, who could not die.

The Forest team used unremitting running, frequent fouls, and rough movements to stop AC Milan's attack. This move looked very useful.

Pirlo couldn't comfortably deliver the football to where it should go. Even if he sent it out, Kaka might not be able to get it steadily under Wood's close-fitting press. Even if Kaka got it, Inzaji could not come out in the crowd to receive the shot. In the end, Kaka or Shidorf could only end an attack with a long shot.

This is really a helpless thing.

Nottingham Forest used unreasonable active running and full-game defense to disrupt AC Milan's defense.

This tactic has achieved very good results within twenty minutes of the game.

AC Milan intends to find opportunities with ball control and passes according to their own pace, but they did not receive the results they wanted during these twenty minutes of game time. Because they control and passes the ball control and passes were in chaos at the Forest's press.

Kaka has basically been frozen by Wood and rarely performed. Pirlo did the most under Albertini's defense, but not the direct passes he is good at, but the back passes and crosses.

Time passed minute by minute, and the score was still 1:0, Nottingham Forest led the lead.

Ancelotti stood up from the coach's seat and walked to the sidelines, but he didn't say anything, just quietly observed the situation in the game.  The vision of standing up is much better than sitting on the coach's seat.  You can clearly see some situations.

It's only twenty-five minutes now, and he is not in a hurry. Despite losing a goal, he believes that the final victory must belong to his AC Milan. Why is he so confident? Because he saw Don'ten's tactics clearly and he knows what Nottingham Forest is going to do.

Running like this is a very physically consuming work. Look at George Wood's defense against Kaka now, he has really been in a state of inseparable steps and follows like a shadow. Kaka just wants to turn around and it is difficult. Not to mention attack. There are other people, Seidov, Pirlo, Inzaghi... They are all facing the "meticulous" personal care of their opponents. The Forest team's goal is crowded in front of the goal, and it is simply a downtown area. It is too difficult to launch an attack under such circumstances. Ancelotti is not in a hurry.

He knew that the Forest team could not last for ninety minutes without any physical strength. There were not many teams in the world who could hold such a high-intensity game rhythm for ninety minutes. Maybe the Koreans could... right?

Ancelotti doesn't believe that Forest can hold on to such an indefinite defense of 90 minutes. He believes that as the game goes by, Forest's seemingly indestructible defense will definitely reveal loopholes, and the experienced AC Milan will definitely seize this opportunity. The game situation will be reversed instantly.

The most important thing now is not to be disrupted by the opponent's defense. They snatch their game. AC Milan still has to stick to their football style. Ancelotti knows that Donn wants to drag the slow AC Milan into the fast pace of the Premier League and win with speed and chaos. He can't let the opponent get what he wants.

He observed on the sidelines. Then he shouted Pirlo's name loudly and made a gesture of pressing down on him with both hands.

Pirlo nodded to show his understanding.

He also has the same idea as his own coach.                                                                                                                          

Now for AC Milan, the focus of the game is not to equalize the score, but to control the football more under one's own feet, stabilize the situation, and slowly deal with the opponent.

"Ancelotti is an old fox... Although I don't like him, I have to admit that he does have two tricks." Don murmured to himself on the coach's seat.

Ancelotti saw his intentions, and he also saw Ancelotti's idea. This final is the best stage for the head coach to fight wits and courage. His opponent is not a fool who can defeat him casually. Instead, the head coach who has won the Champions League once. Just win the championship, the opponent has much more experience than him.

Fatty An wanted to drag the forest team to lose energy, and then use AC Milan's experience and the experienced Taoist to decide the outcome.

Don En does not deny that his team cannot stick to such a defensive tactic for 90 minutes, but he will not give Ancelotti a chance to turn the tables. The only way is to enter more earth before his team's physical energy is exhausted, lay the victory as soon as possible, and completely crush AC Milan's remaining hope of turning the tables.

Do you want to turn the tables? I'll score a few more goals and see how you turn the tables!

Could it be that you can turn the sky over?

Don Ng doesn't think his team is AC Milan in 2005, and he will never admit that AC Milan in front of him is Liverpool in 2005. He arrogantly believes that he is the sky above his head.

"Does it need to be strengthened? Tony?" Chris Lack asked from the side.

Tang En turned his head and looked at Tang who was silent.

Tang, who was staring at the stadium, noticed two gazes from the side. He turned his head and shook. "No. I think this is good now. I have firmly stabilized the defense and have the chance to counterattack. It depends on whether Ribery and the others can seize it."

Tang En nodded in agreement: "I also have this opinion. Strengthening the offense requires investing enough troops, and we are defending now and can't draw too many people. And David, you have to know that AC Milan is very cunning... If we take the risk, we will let Pirlo and Kaka seize the opportunity... It is in good condition now and nothing needs to be changed."

"Tony is so conservative..." Chris Lark had to draw such a conclusion in his heart, although he had made it many times... If it were him, before the game, the team would have a heart-warming offensive battle with AC Milan, and you must win happily! He doesn't like conservativeness, but he expresses understanding and respect for Don Eun's decision. After all, this is the final of a major game. No head coach dares to take risks in such a game, that's just a joke about their own coaching career.

Think about the extremely dull final held at Manchester Old Trafford Stadium in 2003. The two Italian teams tied 0:0 in 120 minutes, and finally relied on penalty kicks to decide the outcome. Chris Lark watched this game in front of the TV. He was very disdainful of Italian football, so it came from this. He believed that the penalty kick final was planned by the head coaches of both sides since before the finals, and there was no sense of accomplishment in getting such a champion.

He didn't know that Tony Donn studied the final countless times. For most fans, that game had no viewing value. But for the head coaches, it was indeed a good textbook for learning and research.

After Ancelotti explained Pirlo on the sidelines, letting the team stabilize again, and after entering their own rhythm, he walked back and sat in the coach's seat again, and stopped getting up.

That year, sweeping Barcelona 4:0, was certainly a long time to miss it. But how many years did it take to play like that? If all the finals were prepared for the finals, the head coach himself would collapse after conceding the ball.

Ancelotti doesn't think that the second European Cup championship in his coaching career is easy to win. He made the worst plan and prepared to do his best with his opponent.

It is now the 37th minute of the first half, and it is only more than eight minutes before the end of the half. The score has not changed. The 1:0 score on the big screen has made AC Milan fans a little silent, and the Athens Olympic Stadium only has singing from the Forest fans for a while.

They sang the somewhat ancient team song, singing it over and over again.

At this moment, the Forest fans felt as sweet as drinking honey, and this old song was also very exciting.

Michael Bernard and his guys sang and shouted loudly regardless of the hoarseness of their voices. The Forest fans became the protagonists in the stadium stands, and they vented their emotions accumulated over the past twenty-seven years and did not care about their opponents' feelings.

"We are the strongest team in the world!"

In the 40th minute, AC Milan began to change the rhythm and recover slightly after the continuous besieging the Forest team goal failed. The first half is about to end, and AC Milan also needs to maintain its physical strength.

Nottingham Forest launched an offensive, although this time it was not a fast attack, it was still threatening. The Forest team did not only have fast attacks. Don En lined up with a single forward lineup. He put five people in the midfield and played 4411 against AC Milan's 4411. Van Nie was the single arrow, and the person responsible for organizing the team's offense behind him was Van der Fate. The Dutch started because Don En set up the attack when he considered that he needed to play positional battles, he asked him to organize the attack and share the pressure of Albertini. After all, Demi still needed to firmly defend Pirlo. There were not many opportunities to really organize the attack.

The football was handed over to Van Nestroy's feet. He was closely guarded and could not turn around. He could only pass the football back to Van der Fate from the midfield.

As soon as Van der Fate got the ball, Gattuso leaned on it.

Ancelotti knew that Van der Fate was the midfield commander in Nottingham Forest. In this game, Done asked him to start, so he must organize the offense. Then as long as Van der Fate is frozen, the Forest's offense has no other way to go except for defensive counterattacks.

Since George Wood can curb Kaka and Albertini can entangle Pirlo, why can't our Gattuso freeze the opponent's Van der Fate? Moreover, Ancelotti always believes that Gattuso is the best defensive midfielder in the world.

George Wood? That's just a star blown by the English media who likes to brag...

Well, before this game, Ancelotti really thought so.

Now, he must correct his evaluation of Wood. The defensive midfielder who can make the world's best midfielder Kaka has done nothing for nearly 40 minutes can't be blown out by the media.

Kaka went back to participate in the defense, and Wood followed. He was no longer the rookie who had nothing to do with the team's offense. After three consecutive years of training by Albertini, he had learned how to participate in the team's offense.

He saw that Van der Fate needed support, and Gatuso's defense made the Dutch miserable, if no one came up to pick it up. The Forest's attack only had two results - one, Van der Fate hurriedly passed the ball and lost the ball; the other, Van der Fate's ball was directly cut off by Gatuso.

Either way, it won't be a good result for the Forests.

Albertini is older, so it is better to let the young and strong Wood do such things that require back and forth.

George ran up, he didn't shout, believing that Van der Fate knew he was coming up.

Sure enough, Van der Fate passed the football to Wood under the constant harassment of Gattuso.

After Wood took the ball, he didn't stop for much, so he directly distributed the football to Ribery who was pulling into the middle.

After missing the ball, Van der Fate's pressure was much lighter. He threw away Gattuso and ran to the left. Donne asked him and Ribery to switch positions frequently in the game. Since both of them both play in the middle and have the ability to play in the left side, this kind of transfer can effectively enrich the Forest's offensive routines and disrupt the opponent's defense.

Ambrosini followed Ribery to the middle. Gattuso hesitated for a moment and decided to go with Van der Fate. Who knows if Ribery will pass the football back? Van der Fate's performance on the left side cannot be ignored.

Ribery found that the opponent's defense did not appear because of the transposition between him and Van der Fate. Ambrosini still followed him closely, and he passed the football back to Wood again.

Wood's position is even further back, and no AC Milan player has come up to force him.

After carefully observing the two games between Nottingham Forest and Chelsea, Ancelotti determined that although Wood was attacking, he could not use it freely. As long as he was as far away from the goal as possible, his threat would plummet.

So in this game, Wood's defensive strategy is to prevent him from getting close to the penalty area, he passes the ball? Let him pass outside.

Ribery passed the football to Wood and wanted to cooperate with Wood in a wall-to-blocking relationship. In fact, Wood thought so too. He saw Ribery suddenly turned around and penetrated into the penalty area, and then made a straight pass.

Unfortunately, Ambrosini saw through the simple tactical cooperation of the Forest team and knocked Ribery to the ground just as he turned around, preventing the attack.

The referee's whistle sounded, and Ambroseni made a foul. Nottingham Forest received a free kick nearly thirty meters away from the goal.

The specific number shown on the TV screen is twenty-eight meters.

Albertini, who was originally in the backcourt, saw the Forest team obtain a free kick in the frontcourt and started running forward. The Forest team members seemed to be waiting for him. Before he ran, no one went up to put the football and let the football stop at the foul spot.

"Albertini ran up. It seems that he is going to take the free kick!" The commentators from England and Italy were excited at the same time.

"A wall of five people!" After confirming that Albertini was to kick this free kick, Maldini shouted loudly in the penalty area.
To be continued...