Ferguson felt that everything was in his control, but the first goal was Nottingham Forest.

Ten minutes after the game, Nottingham Forest's formation was slightly recovered. Manchester United believed that this was a signal that Forest would give up the defensive counterattack in the frontcourt, so they began to push forward the offense and seize the initiative.

When they just reached the midfield, they encountered resistance beyond their imagination. Nottingham Forest did not return to the entire half-time defense in one breath, but did not overwhelm the center line like the previous ten minutes.

Cristiano Ronaldo's dribble was hit by Rafinia and Abonrajo. He planned to force a breakthrough, but when he looked up, he glanced at George Wood standing not far away, and he temporarily changed his mind.

The football was passed to Carrick in the middle, and Ronaldo ran forward, wanting to go two to one with Carrick. However, Carrick's receiving posture was not very good. If he wanted to pass the ball to Ronaldo, he had to adjust it. It was this that made him entangled by Wood.

If he forced a turn and pass, he might be cut off. So Carrick passed the football back.

After Ferdinand received the ball, Van Nistroy tried hard to press from the top. He wanted to pass the ball forward, but found that there was no suitable target. Almost everyone had players from the Forest team nearby. He could not hold the ball for a long time, so his space would only be pushed smaller and smaller by the Forest team players, and finally the ball was intercepted. In desperation, he passed the ball to his partner Vidic next to him.

Vidic also met his opponent - Eastwood.

Nottingham Forest was not directly recycled as Ferguson thought. Instead, they launched active pressing in every corner of the court.

This really made the whole Manchester United team unexpected.

After careful observation for a few minutes, Ferguson found that the overall formation of Nottingham Forest was not actually recovered and he was still in an attacking position. But the old coach was hesitating. He was not sure that this was Tang En's strategy to lure the enemy. Or something else...

He intends to continue observing.

After another five minutes of observation, Nottingham Forest scored a goal.

In the 20th minute, Ferdinand received a return pass from his teammates in the backcourt. He wanted to pass it to his teammate closest to him. Hargreaves retreated and responded. But Shahin from Nottingham Forest was also with him...

He couldn't pass the ball to a player who was pressed close to the opponent's player and his back was facing the attack direction. So he chose to pass the ball forward with his big feet, allowing Berbatov and the defenders of the Forest team to compete for the top.

Berbatov successfully pushed the ball down in front of Woodgate. He planned to pass the ball directly to Tvez in the air, but the ball was cut by George Wood.

Seeing the captain breaking the ball, Abanglaho, who was helping defend in the second half, Lennon changed his role in an instant. He switched from defense to offense and instantly inserted into the opponent's half.

Shahin, who had just followed Hargreaves into the opponent's half, retreated and responded to George Wood. After Wood passed the football to him, he did not rush up, but stayed there. Since he had to play against Manchester United at Old Trafford, only Wood was responsible for midfield defense, so the defense requirements were relatively higher. Generally, there were no special requirements, and he would not go forward to participate in the offense.

After Shahin got the ball, he turned around and brought two games forward. He distributed the football to Abanglaho on the right.

Abanglaho relied on his own speed to rush Evra, and the two of them entangled on the wing.

Don Eun stood up from the coach's seat and shouted Abang Raho's name, reminding him not to be too sticky.

Maybe he heard Don En's shout, maybe he just found it difficult to break through Evra so simply and roughly. Anyway, Abanglaho passed the ball.

He passed the football directly to the other side of the stadium. Lennon received the ball.

The Forests did not pass the football into the penalty area as simply and roughly as Ferguson thought. If there was no suitable opportunity, they would rather pass it back and forth outside to find gaps.

Neville's defense was impeccable. Lennon did not force a breakthrough and made a cross. He passed the football back to the feet of Leighton Barnes!

Even the full-back Barnes, who rarely assists, has come up. How can this be a defensive counterattack?

Barnes came up, but Wood still didn't.

Barnes passed the football back to meet Shahin. Shahin looked at the sidelines, and Rafinia was also on the sidelines. When Barnes and Rafinia rushed up, Manchester United's defensive attention was naturally attracted to the sidelines. After all, they all knew that Nottingham Forest's wing attack was famous all over the world.

Shahin turned his body to the right. He made a gesture to pass the football to Rafina, and Ronaldo had to follow up to prepare for defense. Several other Manchester United players, including Evra, turned their bodies toward the other side, as if they were following the sunflowers...

But Shahin's body was only half turned, but suddenly passed the football straight to Eastwood in front!

Hargreaves rushed to Eastwood, and he felt that the situation was still under his control. Because Eastwood received the ball with his back to the offensive direction. As long as he didn't let him turn around, he could only pass the football back.

Hargreaves pounced on him and planned to stick to Eastwood from behind. Unexpectedly, Eastwood had no intention of stopping the ball at all. He put Hargreaves sideways with one hand. Then he shook his left ankle and directly gave the ball to Van Nistruy behind him!

Hargreaves' attention was attracted by the pass, and he did not notice that after the pass was completed. Eastwood turned around and wiped it inward.

Van Nistroy is the center forward at the forefront. Although he is old and has suffered serious injuries, he is still a dangerous person in the eyes of his opponents. Because he is a center forward who can still control the football under his feet during the heavy siege, with such a frontcourt offense, the Forest team has infinite possibilities for offense. He can not only shoot by himself, but also attract the opponent's defensive attention and create opportunities for his teammates. For example, this time...

Before he could receive the ball, Vidic and Rio Ferdinand rushed towards him at the same time, one left and one right, intending to clamp him.

But Van Nistrouy didn't want to get the ball by himself at all. Then he scored. He made the same choice as Eastwood - shaking his ankle and passing the ball directly across.

Eastwood is here!

He swung his left leg, which he was not very good at, and kept shooting hard!

The ball was a bit off, but it just rightly deceived Ben Foster. The football scraped the inside of the goal post, and a strange and crisp sound made, and then flew into the goal!

Ben Foster did not react to the shot that was so close that he could not bear to be strong. He just turned his head and watched the football enter the goal...

"A beautiful cooperation! Nottingham Forest led Manchester United 1:0 away! Eastwood was in a good shape!"

Old Trafford, which was still noisy just now, suddenly became quiet for a moment, and then a huge boo sounded.

Amid this booing, Eastwood slid on his knees and rushed towards the corner flag. His passionate celebration also ignited the enthusiasm of Nottingham Forest fans, who sang a song written for Eastwood: "You have Rooney, and we have it too! He is a gypsy! He lives in a box car and rides a horse to warm up. If you look down on him, he will call you good-looking! Use goals! Use goals! Our gypsy Rooney! Olala, ohlala!"

On one side are Manchester United fans booing. On the other side are Nottingham Forest fans singing loudly, Old Trafford has really become a "theater".

Seeing Eastwood pulling the football into the goal, Donn jumped up on the sidelines as excited as the man who shot. He waved his fists hard and demonstrated to Manchester United fans in the stands. Naturally, responding to him was another more violent boo...

"Ha. It seems that Tony Donn doesn't want to please Manchester United fans. He really doesn't want to coach at all."

Ferguson was a little annoyed by the goal concealed. He kept muttering, but was not chewing gum, but cursing fiercely.

"Our mid-lane defense is useless! Are they all wooden stakes? Just watching the opponent play two and one in the middle of our penalty area! He also scored the goal! Why didn't Hargreaves foul? What was he thinking?"

In fact, what annoyed Ferguson more than losing the ball was that he found that the situation was never in his control.   It was in the hands of the young man next door...

He felt a sense of frustration.

Although he had a good personal relationship with Tang En, he also hoped that Tang Enlai would coach Manchester United. But in the game, he was a stubborn old man who would not want to lose. He hoped that he would still be the controller of the whole world and the best head coach in the sport. He was smarter than anyone, always ahead, and hold everything firmly in his hands. No one can defeat him. Unless he doesn't want to do it.

For more than 20 years, he enjoyed a verbal battle with Wenger because he had the upper hand most of the time. He also enjoyed fighting with Kevin Keegan because the poor old man was almost driven crazy by himself. Mourinho's arrival did not shake his position in the Premier League, because Mourinho's departure in the end proved that he was not qualified to be a "strong man" in the Premier League.

He became Manchester United's head coach before the establishment of the Premier League. He has experienced so many storms and waves that other coaches have combined. He fought with countless famous coaches, but he always laughed to the end. Mark Hughes, George Graham, Kenny Dalglish, Sones, Kevin Keegan, Arcena Wenger, Mourinho, Benitez, Scolari, Erikson, Rijkaard... But he was the one who was elected the best coach of the Premier League in the decade, not anyone above.

He also enjoyed the tit-for-tat confrontation with Tony Donn. But this coach, who is nearly thirty years younger than him, made him feel that he is really old.

He should have seen through Tang En's trick earlier...

Ferguson finished scolding Hargreaves. He stood up from his seat. He was about to leave the sidelines to command the game.

Tang En noticed that Ferguson got up from the coach's seat for the first time in this game, and turned his head to look at the old coach. And when the old coach also noticed him, he smiled at the other party.

Ferguson's face was not very good. He ignored Donn and reached out to call Neville while the Forest players were still celebrating the goal and gave him a face-to-face opportunity.

After applauding on the sidelines, Tang En turned around and walked back with a smile.

According to previous management, the Forest team will shrink its defense line after leading and then counterattack against the opponent. If Ferguson still thinks so in this game, then Manchester United will be in trouble.

But it is obvious that Ferguson is much smarter than Donn thought.

Through this conceding, he discovered Donne's true intention - Nottingham Forest did not intend to play a defensive counterattack at Old Trafford, but instead played offensive football abnormally. It seemed that they planned to defeat Manchester United by attacking.

Ferguson bravely fought.

Since you want to attack, then you can attack with great pleasure!

Ferguson adjusted the team's tactics, strengthened defense and interception in the midfield, and strived to control the midfield. In this game, whoever controls the midfield will have a great chance of winning.

When the game started again, the most common scenes the fans saw were the fierce fighting between the two sides in the midfield and the overwhelming crowd.

After discovering Ferguson's meaning, Donn also strengthened the midfield defense. Shahin retreated and maintained the same line with Wood's position, making the Forest's middle lane look less empty. The diamond 442 became parallel 442 again. Under Ferguson's pressure, Donn was forced to temporarily give up his plan to continue his strong attack on the away game.

Anyway, he was leading with one goal, so he was not in a hurry and slowly got into the midfield with Manchester United.

In the remaining stages of the second half, Manchester United gradually gained the upper hand, but they had too few threatening shots. Berbatov and Tvez were trapped by the Forest's strong overall defense. After Manchester United pressed up, objectively causing the Nottingham Forest's defense to shrink. The space gained by Berbatov and others was greatly reduced. In many cases, they could only fight against the Forest's strong central defenders near the penalty area.

The situation cannot be opened in the middle lane, but the two sides are very active.

Rooney and Ronaldo frequently broke through on both sides, causing great trouble to the Forests' defense. A large part of the reason Nottingham Forest was forced to shrink its defense was also due to the two of them.

Rafinia has strong offense and weak defense, and Abon Rajo is not a defensive player. Wood had to go over to fill in the position many times, which limited Ronaldo's sharp attack.

Nottingham Forest's defensive tradition played an important role in the case of Manchester United's attack. No matter who faces such a solid defense line, he will feel a headache. Even Ronaldo and Rooney.

As a result, Manchester United did not score until the end of the first half. The score was still 1:0, with Nottingham Forest leading the way.

When Ferguson left the coaching seat, his face was gloomy. The staff around him knew that in the locker room where the halftime was about to be in trouble. Although he was already 69 years old, he would never show mercy when he should scold people.

When Tony Donn, who was leading the team, left, his face did not look much better. He was not dissatisfied with the performance of the players on the court, but felt a little worried about the second half. Ferguson would not be willing to accept the score and result, and he had seen through what cards the Forest wanted to play, so he would definitely make adjustments to this during the break. How should he deal with the challenge?
Chapter completed!