champion godfather

Chapter 572
Ancelotti is not a "stone Buddha". When one goal is behind, he can still sit on the Diaoyutai and watch the changes with a calm face on the coach's bench.Now when he is behind by two goals, he still has a calm face, which makes people suspect that he is not normal.

What does it mean to concede two goals first in such an important final?If it weren't for AC Milan, if you change to an ordinary team, you might want to raise your hands and surrender.

Ancelotti stood up from his seat with a very ugly face. He didn't intend to make any adjustments, because the first half was coming to an end soon.He wanted to tell the players in this way-he was a little angry.

Even if the opponent's defense is very tight, that George Wood has real talents, and our offense has been under great pressure.It is not an excuse for the defense to concede two goals in a row.

Defense is defense and offense is offense.

Of course Ancelotti is aware of AC Milan's defensive problems. These days, there are not many strong teams that have no defensive problems. The problem with AC Milan is that the defense line is seriously aging and has frequent injuries.Ancelotti let Maldini play as a central defender. Of course, he knew Paul was old and had the weakness of slow turning speed, so he arranged for Nesta to protect him.

Unexpectedly, the Forest team used a quick counterattack and a set kick to easily tear apart AC Milan's defense. In the first half, the Forest team only got four offensive opportunities and scored two goals.This efficiency... In England, everyone said that Tony Twain is a head coach who pays attention to efficient football, and his team is an efficient killer.Ancelotti didn't quite believe it at that time, but now he has to believe it if he doesn't believe it.

He just stood on the sidelines, looking at the inside with a cold face.At the same time, his brain was rapidly analyzing the current situation, and he was thinking about what kind of targeted adjustments he should make during the intermission.

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The frenzied celebration was forcibly stopped by the referee. When he pulled up the forest team players one by one, he saw Tony Twain in a suit lying on Albertini's body, and he couldn't laugh or cry.

"Mr. Tang En, you shouldn't be here." He said to Tang En with a cold face.

Tang En, who was pulled up, straightened his suit before saying with a smile: "I'm too emotional, I hope Mr. Referee can understand."

"If you don't go back, I will punish you to the stands." Fandre made a gesture to draw his card, and Tang En hurriedly waved his hand and walked out.

"I'm leaving now, I'm leaving now..."

Of course, he didn't forget to give the players thumbs up along the way, and then kept waving his arms to make the Forest fans in the stands sing louder.

Every time he swung, the singing in the stands became louder.Like an orchestra conductor, he made the Forest fans at the Olympic Stadium follow his instructions to cheer for the team.

"This kind of thing is usually done by the players when the ball is dead, but the forest team is their head coach. Tony Twain is an unusual head coach just as the rumors say. Leading by two goals, His level of coaching is also extraordinary!"

When Twain walked back to the coach's bench, the only sound in the stadium was the singing and shouting of the Nottingham Forest fans. The AC Milan fans once wanted to fight back, but they were suppressed by the English singing as soon as they opened their mouths.

This moment belongs to the Nottingham Forest fans, and they will not allow others to disturb their celebration banquet.

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Albertini finally emerged from the enthusiastic celebrations of his teammates.Due to Tang En's sudden attack, he was still at the front of the opponent's penalty area at this time.

He stood up, just in time to see Maldini not far in front of him.

The joyful smile disappeared, and the two just looked at each other for a while, until Maldini looked away, and Albertini turned and walked away.

No matter how deep the friendship is usually in private, at this moment, everyone is an enemy when they meet.

If the Forest team won, he would hug Maldini after the game.But now, he couldn't even give the other party a smile.

The game restarted, Ancelotti did not return to the coach's bench, he stood on the sidelines, with a cold face like an Italian sculpture.This is how he puts pressure on his players.

As for Tony Twain, he had regained his composure and sat on the coach's bench to observe the game.With nearly five and 10 minutes to go, this is not the time to take things lightly.

The overwhelming singing in the stands finally gradually stopped, and everyone could hear the voices of AC Milan fans again.But don't think that the fans of Nottingham Forest have died down. They are just brewing another way to cheer for their team-to attack their opponents.

After a while, when the game entered No. 403 minutes, there was a burst of singing from a stand of Nottingham Forest fans.

This time Forest fans are using Joe Dolles' fake Italian classical song "What's wrong with your face" to stimulate Ancelotti standing on the sidelines, and they believe that Ancelotti will understand the meaning of it .

"What's wrong with you? Why do you look so sad?"

Tens of thousands of Forest fans sang together, which was truly spectacular.

Only fans from England have such abilities, and there are endless new ways to stimulate people.Don't think that only swearing and the middle finger are fighting.

The singing continued until the end of the first half before it turned into a burst of laughter.Forest fans were delighted to see their side end the first half with a two-goal lead.

The Forest players kept waving their hands to encourage the Forest fans in the stands when they left the field. Throughout the first half, they always felt that the fans were fighting side by side with them, and they were never alone.As players of the Forest team, they are used to this kind of game. No matter when, the fans always stand firmly behind them, encourage them, and do everything possible to attack their opponents.

"The halftime whistle sounded! The first half of the game belonged entirely to Nottingham Forest! In these 45 minutes, although AC Milan had the upper hand in terms of possession rate and possession time, they created scoring opportunities and seized They lived in Nottingham Forest. To be fair, AC Milan had nothing but high possession of the ball. They did not create any offensive opportunities that could threaten Van der Sar. Pirlo and Kaka were replaced by Albertini and George Wood respectively. Staring and freezing, the rest of the team fell into the forest's impenetrable defense. Tony Twain's tactical opponent suppressed Ancelotti. In the confrontation between the two head coaches, Twain temporarily took the lead."

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With a sullen face, Ancelotti lowered his head and quickly walked into the corridor.Tang En deliberately let him walk in front. He patted the shoulders of the Forest players outside and walked back with his own people.Of course, before going in, he did not forget to applaud the fans in the stands.

When Tang En entered the locker room, everyone had already entered before him.Everyone was excited and excited about the first half of the game.Who would have thought before the game that they could lead AC Milan by two goals so easily?
You must know that they are not leading the ordinary cats and dogs, but the giants AC Milan who have won the Champions League six times!
Dunn didn't stop the excitement of these players. At this moment, he couldn't find anything to stop them from being excited.

After waiting for a while, he coughed, indicating that he had something to say, and the locker room immediately fell silent.

"I'm proud of your performance in the first half!" Tang En's first words caused applause and whistles to resound in the locker room.

"2:0!" He stretched out two fingers, which looked like a "V" for victory, "I can't fault it at all, and I believe those of us who are in front of the TV, in the stands, with a magnifying glass Opponents can't find a problem! Continue this performance in the second half. If we finally win the game, no one will have the guts to say that we won the championship by luck. Maybe before this game, some people will think that AC Milan deserved to win this game because they won six titles in their history and we only had two. But you slapped them with your performance in the first half!"

After the players finished cheering, Tang En pressed his hands down: "But don't get too excited, after all, our opponents are not those low-level teams. Be careful of being bitten by them in the second half. In the second half, we still insisted on defensive counterattack. The tactics of pressing. If the ball is lost in the frontcourt, counterattack on the spot, and stop the attack immediately after grabbing it. But don’t waste opportunities blindly, the team that wastes opportunities will definitely be punished. I think the two-goal lead is not enough. Don’t let go of the chance to score, and play as if we were still in a draw. Score a few more goals until the opponent is completely desperate!”

Everyone said that Tony Twain was a conservative guy, and his football was negative, ugly, and unprogressive.But he always told his players that "1:0" is the most unsafe score in the world, and he always hoped that his team would score as many goals as possible during the game.

In fact, Tang En was not conservative, it was just that everyone misunderstood the meaning of defensive counterattack.Tang En believes that the basis of offense is defense, just like building a house or building a high-rise building. The higher the floor, the stronger the foundation must be.He doesn't believe that there are such things as castles in the air in this world, he is very realistic.An offense without a solid defense as a foundation cannot stand the real test, just like a building with an unstable foundation may collapse when a gust of wind blows, not to mention disasters such as earthquakes.

Why did Barcelona fail in the league because their offense was so flashy that they forgot to defend.Barcelona's midfielders often don't have a defensive central midfielder. Once their front offense is blocked and they can't open the situation for a long time, the problems in defense will gradually be exposed, and finally form a blowout trend and collapse thousands of miles.

This kind of offensive football is not what Tang En wants.

What he wanted was stability, and stability overwhelmed everything else.If defense is not solid, resolutely do not attack.Unless the situation has become critical to the point of no choice, he will fight desperately.

Now that the Forest team is two goals ahead of AC Milan, he can imagine what kind of pressure his team will face in the second half with his knees. AC Milan will definitely launch a counterattack like crazy, and the team's defensive pressure will further increase.At this time, it is even more necessary to stabilize the defense.Then... the old rules, wait for an opportunity to sneak attack.

As long as they hold on to the beginning of the second half, as time goes by, the opponent will inevitably become more and more impatient, and the gap between the two goals will be like a boulder on top of their heads, making them unable to sit still.At that time, when the opponents are busy fighting on the front line, more and more loopholes will appear behind them, and catching loopholes is what the Forest team is best at.

"...So, the key to the second half of the game is not to concede a goal in the first 15 minutes. Even a single goal will cause them to counterattack like a school of bloody sharks. So defend firmly..." Dunn raised his index finger, " It is the highest requirement, the first standard. During that time, we can sacrifice offense and wait for these 15 minutes before waiting for an opportunity to attack."

"Finally, remember!" Tang En raised his voice, "Victory must belong to us!"

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Unlike the high-spirited atmosphere in the forest team's locker room, the atmosphere in AC Milan's locker room was a bit depressing.

Most people choose to spend these precious 15 minutes in silence.

How many people can think of the first half of the Champions League final like this?They, the famous AC Milan, were poured two goals by Nottingham Forest in 45 minutes.What is even more embarrassing than this is that they were completely stunned, unable to find their way, and without a single threatening attack, they were as powerless as if they were stuck in a quagmire.

What's going on here?Almost all AC Milan fans are asking questions in the stands, which is why they haven't fought Forest fans.

At the same time, such questions are also circling in the minds of Milan players.

There is a problem with our offense, and we can't find a specific direction.Once Pirlo and Kaka were marked to death, the team's offense seemed to have lost the lighthouse guiding the ship.This is not something that happened once or twice... But facing such a tight defense from the opponent, what can we do?

Ancelotti, who had been gloomy all this time, finally spoke.

"Does anyone find the current situation familiar?" He asked. Everyone raised their heads and tried to search their memories. How many games did they experience in their lives? There must be dozens of scenes of deja vu. How did they know? Which game is similar to this one?
Or Ancelotti announced the correct answer: "In the Champions League final in May 2005, we played against Liverpool. Remember? At that time, we led them by three goals in the first half, and the result?"

Needless to say the rest, there are not many people in the current AC Milan team who don't know the situation at that time.Maldini opened the scoring in that game. AC Milan had a first half that couldn't have been better. How similar is it to Nottingham Forest in today's game?During the intermission, AC Milan players who led by three goals couldn’t wait to start the championship celebration in the locker room. The sound could not be blocked even by the walls made of bricks and stones. The carnival of the Milanese made the Liverpool people listen. , inspired their inner fighting spirit and madness.

As a result, in that game, AC Milan, who thought they were sure of winning, was chased by the opponent for three consecutive goals in the second half. Their confidence and morale were greatly hit. They completely collapsed in the penalty shoot-out and lost to Liverpool, giving up the champion. .

That game was a great shame for AC Milan, and it also achieved Liverpool's reputation as the first reversal in the history of the 50-year Champions League final.

"We are only two goals behind now. What is there to worry about? The opponent is three goals behind us and can turn the game into victory. Why can't we?"

When he said this, everyone's eyes lit up again.

Yes, why can things that are reversed only happen to us and not to others?

Do we lack the belief and strength to win?Have we lost interest in the championship?Don't we all want to take this trophy in front of us?

Neither, so why can't we reverse Nottingham Forest?
Ancelotti was delighted to see the players regain their confidence immediately.He believes in the strength of AC Milan and has never doubted it.No matter whether the opponent in front of him is Nottingham Forest, or Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona...he has the confidence to win.The key is whether the players still have the confidence to win. As long as they have the confidence to win, then it is not a problem.

In the match against Liverpool that year, it was because the opponent chased three goals in a row within a period of time, which caused the players' confidence to be severely damaged. In the next game, even Kong Ming would not be able to score... Think about Shevchenko , a world-class shooter, who would believe that he can face almost empty goals and can't score?But that's what happened.

It is precisely because of that lesson that Ancelotti is convinced that the important thing at this moment is not to tell the players what tactics we will adopt in the second half, and nine out of ten will not be listened to.The most important thing now is to restore the confidence of the players, let them know that even if they are two goals behind, it is not the end of the world.

"We continued to strengthen our offense in the second half." When the players were convinced that there was still hope in the second half, Ancelotti began to arrange specific tactics. "We have no other way to go except to attack. But we must also think behind our own, and don't give the Forest team a chance to counterattack quickly. If the ball is lost in the frontcourt, counterattack on the spot. If you can't grab it, you will foul! Pirlo."

Pirlo looked up at the coach.

"Albertini is old and cannot keep up with you physically. You have to keep running, don't stay in one place all the time. Run up and throw him away! In addition, the opponent can use set kicks to score our goal. We Why not use set-pieces too? In the first half we had four free-kicks up the pitch and you didn't take any of them."

Pirlo remained silent in the face of Ancelotti's criticism.

"In the second half, if we strengthen our offense, we will increase their defensive pressure, and we will get more frontcourt positioning balls. Don't waste it for me. Seize the opportunity and score!"

In addition to the full-court press, the Forest team also retreated very quickly. Facing the overcrowded 30-meter area, Kaka's breakthrough and speed did not even have room for the slightest use.At this time, we can only rely on Pirlo's scheduling and positioning.

Ancelotti decided to do this for the time being, and made adjustments according to changes in the situation in the second half.

Who made himself a laggard instead of a leader...

However, things are not as bad as people think.

In long-distance running, the most stressful person is often the leader who takes the lead.Experienced long-distance runners will choose to follow the leader all the time, and only sprint to exert strength at the last moment, throwing the exhausted leader far away, and then cross the finish line with their arms high.

For a football game, nine 10 minutes is undoubtedly a long run.Nottingham Forest has no experience as the frontrunner, but can they persist until the end?Who can guarantee that they will not be crushed by the pressure of the lead?Ancelotti decided to be a shadow lurking behind the leader, waiting for the time to come, always biting the leader, not allowing him the slightest chance to relax, allowing the pressure in his heart to accumulate until he could no longer bear it When living...

At that time, it was when AC Milan became the champion.

I know what Tony Twain once said: a one-goal lead is the least insurance.

Then, Mr. Tang En, do you think it's safe to lead by two goals?
(End of this chapter)