Chapter 76 New organizer

Barcelona's corner kick did not pose any threat to Nottingham Forest's goal. In front of "experts" such as George Wood, Pepe, Pique, and Bentner, Barcelona, ​​which was not good at heading, could not take advantage of it at all.

Barcelona knew this, so they took a corner kick with a low and fast, but they were still rushed to the front point and pushed out.

This is his first time in a TV close-up, a successful defense, but Messi was not defending. Behind him was the poor Mexican central defender Marcos.

Messi did not go in outside the penalty area to join in the fun. He knew that Barcelona was not good at heading the ball in set pieces, and the ball was likely to be pushed out by Forest. The worst case was that it was directly confiscated by Van der Sar. But if it was pushed out, he could grab the second place to land the gun, and then form a second attack, and continue to maintain pressure on Forest's goal.

The football did bounce toward him, but it was knocked off by a faster man.

Frank Ribery is in the limelight this season. He snatched Messi's ball and made the city stadium cheer for the first time. Messi's previous wonderful performance made the Forest fans very angry. Now, they also have people to be proud of!

Ribery tapped the football with his head, then accelerated to chase the ball, and instantly threw away Messi. When Messi reacted and turned around to chase, it was too late.

Ribery successfully intercepted the ball, and the Forest team instantly changed from defense to offense. At this time, both Rijkaard and Messi clearly saw George Wood, who was heading the ball in the penalty area just now, shot out like an arrow from the string - and ran to the frontcourt!

Ribery faced Barcelona's black midfielder Yaya. Toure's front defense without taking a few steps. He didn't bother with Toure, and then continued to step forward with the football a little.

The person who received his pass was Arshavin who was retreating. Although he received the ball, he turned his back to the attack direction. Under Abidal's close-fitting defense, it might not be easy to turn around.

He had no intention of turning around. Yaya. Toure was taken away by Ribery, and he was waiting for someone.

Like Ribery, after passing the football out, he turned around and ran forward. Since this was a counterattack after the corner kick, Barcelona players had not had time to run back to organize the defense, so Abidal did not chase the ball, but retreated with Arshavin, and the gap in the midfield was pulled out.

So who are the people who are Al Shavin and others and the past targets?

"Wow. George Wood!" the narrator exclaimed.

He really didn't expect that when counterattacking, George Wood would rush so far. His current position was no different from a front midfielder. After receiving the pass from Arshavin, he did not pause, but instead dribbled the ball forward in a straight line.

"This job was done by Van der Fate before... At that time, George Wood was protecting him from behind, now..." The commentator suddenly understood. "It turned out that Tony Donn wanted George Wood to be the midfield organizer of this game!"

"This is a bit crazy..." the judge sighed.

For him, facing the powerful Barcelona, ​​it is indeed a bit crazy to use the people who are best at defending to do offense.

Seeing that Ribery had almost entered the area where the defenders were responsible, Yaya Toure resolutely abandoned the Frenchman and turned to take the ball to George Wood who was running towards him.

He knew that this man was a defensive midfielder like himself, and organizing offense was not their specialty. As long as he put some pressure on him, he would be in a hurry...

He just rushed forward, but George Wood passed the ball. He poked the ball with a toe and passed it to Ribery in front.

When the three of them passed and cooperated in this way, neither Barcelona nor Nottingham Forest players had time to run to the position. Al Shavin was the player who stayed in the front to meet the corner kick in the Forest team, and there were only Yaya Toure and Abidal near Barcelona's penalty area, as well as Gabriel Milito.

Ribery made a pass after receiving the ball. When Milito, who was standing in front of him, dodged a little, but he did not hesitate to shoot on the spot!

The football rolled quickly towards the goal against the turf. Fortunately, Valdes was always on guard against Ribery and was not surprised by his direct shot. He fell to the ground and pressed the ball firmly under his body in the future.

Seeing that the attack was not done, and the football was confiscated by the opponent's goalkeeper, George Wood, who had just rushed to the front of the penalty area, turned around and rushed back without any hesitation - he still had to prepare for defense, although he was not defending Messi, but defending the rest of Barcelona.

He is not Van der Fate or other midfielder who has partnered with him. After one attack, he can stay in the frontcourt and wait for a second attack opportunity. Sidwell cannot help him cut off the football and then hand it over to him to launch an attack. All his energy must be used to defend Messi. So offense and defense depend on him.

Valdes saw George Wood running. He knew that the key figure in Nottingham Forest in this game must be him, not Ribery. Since Wood has not had time to return to his defensive position yet... he threw the ball with his hand and launched a fast attack.

Yaya Toure received the ball, and Ribery next to him gave up just by making a defensive look. He didn't want to waste his energy here. Toure passed the football to Harvey who had just run back, and his mission was completed. At this time, George Wood had just run through the middle circle.

Harvey obviously knew that Wood was the key, and he would not give the opponent a chance to return to his defense to reorganize the defense. While Wood was still back to defense, he quickly passed the ball.

Messi got the ball again, and there were very few Barcelona fans in the stands in the city stadium cheering, wanting to see Messi perform a good show that has passed several people again.

Messi did not satisfy their desires. Such performances can only be achieved under extreme conditions. Most of the time, the offense is still more threatening to achieve by passing and cutting.

He passed the football to Iniesta. He did not choose to break through himself and there was another reason he could not say - facing Sidwell, he really couldn't be interested in breaking through...

Iniesta's straight pass was intercepted by Pepe, and George Wood just ran back. The ball blocked by Pepe rolled to his feet. He turned around and went into the attack again.

There was no time to rest and breathe. George Wood ran tirelessly around the stadium. It was rare for him to play a midfielder like him...

"The pace of offense and defense conversion between both sides is very fast! This game is so good!" When the commentator discovered that Tony Tangen's team did not really want to defend at home, he became excited.

Judging from the game in these few minutes, this Champions League semi-finals does show this sign. But the commentators should be cautiously optimistic about looking forward to Tony and Don...

Nottingham Forest and Barcelona fought for five minutes before they shrank back. The game scene became Barcelona's advantage. The ball-handling time ratio once reached 67%. Nottingham Forest once again used their magic weapon to defend and counterattack.

At this moment, the commentator really wants to slap himself. For Barcelona fans, this game may indeed have become better, but for the majority of neutral fans, the one-sided game will not arouse their interest in any case.

Tony Donn sat in the coaching seat, touched his chin and said to the two assistant coaches next to him: "George Wood needs to accumulate more experience as an organizer in the game... He performed well at the beginning, and when the team overall contracted the defense, he didn't know what to do. If that guy Demin saw George's performance now, he must hate me, right?"

Chris Lark grinned silently next to him.

Tang said: "With Van der Fate and Ribery there, he really didn't have more opportunities to get involved in this kind of work. I don't think I'm impatient for his training."

Tang En nodded: "This is just the beginning, not the end."

Just as the three Forest coaches were discussing George Wood's future, Rijkald frowned, and his frown became tighter and tighter.

There is no secret to Tony Donn's tactics. Everyone knows that he can defend and fight back. So before he came to Nottingham, he asked the team to do targeted training - how to break intensive defense.

What he didn't expect was Tony Donn's special use of George Wood.                                                                                                                      

When Barcelona was doing defensive tactical exercises, they imagined that the opponent was Van der Fate or Ribery, and the last time was Al Shavin. Who would have thought that George Wood would be pushed to the midfield organizer by Donn in this game?

Wood's basic skills have been very solid after years of practice. His training results are reflected in the game, which makes the opponent feel very troubled. Because of his good basic skills, it is difficult for you to easily cut off his ball, and his dribbling and passing are very simple. It is most useful in actual combat - because he will not waste fleeting opportunities because he wants to play fancy techniques. As long as he sees the opportunity, he will pass the football out without delaying a second. This is easy to say, but it is difficult to do it - players with excellent skills often want to show off their skills by inertia.

Originally, George Wood's level was average at other times, and it could be curbed if another opponent focused on him tightly. But the current situation was very suitable for Wood's performance. Because Nottingham Forest is a defensive counterattack, their offense was focused on one word - fast!

If it were those midfielders with excellent aura and skills, they might hesitate when they took the ball to counterattack. Or use a beautiful technique to win loud cheers from the audience outside the field. And what about the opponent? They had already quickly returned to the defense. Then a fast attack turned into a siege position battle.

George Wood would not let the coaches have such concerns. When the Forest team counterattacked, his first choice was always to pass the ball - as long as he had the chance, pass the ball, pass the ball through the midfield as fast as possible, and hit the opponent's hinterland directly without any drag. If there is no way to pass the ball, he would drive the ball forward by himself, and observe the surrounding situation and find the passing point.

Like some midfielders, if he does not have a suitable ball point, he will wait for his teammates to insert it. Although his teammates have inserted it, the opponents have also returned to defend. And he may also be surrounded by his opponents for a long time and concealed the ball.

His ball-taking disrupted the opponent's defensive plan, and the opportunity would come out naturally.

This is also why Donn used George Wood as the organizer in this game. With such defensive counterattack tactics, such opponents, and such games, there is no more suitable candidate than George Wood.

Faithfully executing the head coach's tactics, excellent physical fitness, calm psychological quality, and stable performance, why does any head coach's dream of appear in Nottingham Forest?

Rijcard clenched his fists when he thought of this. He had many factions in the locker room, but talented players always had problems of one kind or another. Ronaldinho lingers in the place of sensuality, and Deco has greater demands... Why don't he have George Wood?

Barcelona is indeed very powerful. Their offense suppressed Nottingham Forest, leaving them with only defense but no strength to attack. Nottingham Forest’s overall defense is not paper-based. Barcelona’s offense is loud and thunder is small, and they cannot break the defense at all.

Messi is indeed amazing, no matter how powerful he is, he is only one person. He has played five consecutive players in the Cup against Getafe and replayed Maradona's classic goal. It is just because Getafe's defense line is too long to pull it deep, allowing Messi to pass one by one calmly. Nottingham Forest is not so stupid that he can pull the defense line away from one behind and create opportunities to let Messi pass several people in a row.

To compress the defense line as much as possible, Sidwell followed Messi in an endless step, with one or two people on the wing protecting him at any time. If Messi plans to fight against the entire defense line of Nottingham Forest alone, he will be crushed to pieces on this thick "wall of sighs".

If he is smart and does not defeat the opponent's entire team alone, then Nottingham Forest's overall defense is not just for Messi.

In the first half, after a fierce attack between the two sides returned to calm, and the game returned to the track that Tony Don was most familiar with and good at.

No one can do anything to anyone, the score is 0:0. The referee blew the whistle to the end of the first half.

As soon as the whistle sounded, Tang En got up and left the coach's seat. In front of the TV camera, he had no expression on his face, making people unable to guess how he was feeling at this moment.
Chapter completed!