champion godfather

Chapter 846 The Challenge of Gerald, Heart of the Seven Lion King
Benitez thought that George Wood could be a breakthrough point for Liverpool to use, but only 15 minutes into the game, he found that he was wrong.

Wood, who performed poorly in the previous games, did not continue that bad state in this game.Gerrard had trouble in midfield, with George Wood's tenacious blocking holding him back.He had no choice but to pass the football to Mascherano behind him.

Mascherano's job is not very easy, because he has to face Gago's offense.

In the Argentine national team, he is the absolute main force, while Gago hovers between the main force and the substitute.But Gago's performance in the forest team is very good.This may be related to the different tactics used by the head coach of the national team and the head coach of the Forest team.

In Nottingham Forest, Gago could get George Wood's unreserved protection and support, but he didn't have such treatment in the Argentine national team.In the national team, Gago needs to take into account more defense when playing. He is not the kind of master who can play both offense and defense. He is easy to focus on one thing and lose another.Mascherano believes that Gago in the club is the strongest Gago, but in the national team, he sacrificed some of his best things for the chance to play.

However, Gago can perform well at the club only if George Wood is in good condition.

In the first few games, Wood's state had problems, and Gago's performance was also unstable.This game... It seems that number 13 has awakened?

According to Benitez's previous arrangement, Liverpool stormed the center, which had no effect at all.George Wood's state seems to have come back overnight. He runs tirelessly in the middle, excellently judges the position, steals swiftly and decisively, uses his strong body to charge reasonably, or chooses to foul at a very suitable time Suspend Liverpool's offense... Pepe's line of defense seems very safe, and Akinfeev even has nothing to do.

Benitez realized that he had made a mistake in his judgment, so he walked to the sidelines and gestured for the team to change their offensive strategy-come back to the wing.

When George Wood's defensive pressure eased, Nottingham Forest's offense also became active.

Wood frequently gave the ball to Gago, and he passed the ball to launch the attack.Don't underestimate this step.All offenses come from here, and the importance of a defensive midfielder is expressed through this step.If the football is always inexplicably lost in the midfielder, then no matter how good the team has forwards and wing assaulters, it is useless.It's not just a problem of not being able to advance offensively, but the defense of your own team will frequently face the opponent's on-the-spot counterattacks.So a midfielder who can grab the ball is only half good, a midfielder who can grab the ball and control the football and then send it to where it should go is truly world-class excellence.

George Wood is one such player.

When Gago concentrates on defense, his passing success rate will drop significantly, and his ball protection level is not high, it is easy for opponents to counterattack on the spot.It's no wonder that Gago is not the absolute main force of the Argentine national team...

When Gago gets the ball, he will face his partner Mascherano in the national team.Concentrating on offense, Gago is not afraid of Mascherano's defense, because he knows that even if he loses the ball, someone will help him get it back.So he can safely and boldly pass the kind of ball that requires skill and awareness, such as rubbing the football with the outside instep into the wide space, or passing the long pass directly behind Liverpool's defense without stopping the ball.

If Mascherano presses hard, he will pass the football to Wood behind him, and then move himself, pulling Mascherano away, and creating a chance for Wood to get in.If Mascherano didn't run with him, but went to defend Wood, then Wood would pass the ball back to Gago.

In short, these two people can both attack and defend, but Gago is better at offense, while Wood is better at defense.If you want to defend against the Forest team's offense, it's useless to simply defend Gago or Wood, and it's very difficult for the two to defend together.So the best way is not to entangle them in the midfield, but to freeze the offensive players of the Forest team who are closer to the goal, because no matter how much the midfielder passes, the football will still reach their feet in the end, and they will complete the shot.

When Twain played 451, he needed to mark the arrow and midfielder, sometimes it might be a shadow striker, but after Eastwood retired, there was no one in the Forest team to be a shadow striker. At 451, it is not "1" who is most likely to score goals, but the attacking midfielder and winger - they are sometimes more like wingers, and 451 can become 433 in a game.

However, in this game, Twain played 442 and did not set up a midfielder, so the scoring burden rested on the striker.

Benitez signaled to the defenders to be mindful of marking Forest's two strikers...it was difficult.

Because the two starting forwards that Twain dispatched in this game are very difficult to deal with...

"Super Ibi" Ibisevic, who is 1.8 meters tall, and Aaron Mitchell, who is [-] meters tall.

This combination is really a headache for all the coaches in the Premier League...

Ibisevic's shooting skills are superb and more comprehensive.And Mitchell has excellent skills and excellent headers. Although his shooting skills are slightly inferior, his dominance in the air is still obvious.Sometimes Nottingham Forest only needs to cross from the side to solve some opponents.The combination of these two people is not commonly used, but as long as they are together, they can bring victory to the team.In this game, Twain let the two of them start. He really didn't want Liverpool to mess up his anniversary.

The tallest central defender in the Liverpool team, Martin Skrtel, who is 1.9 meters tall, was ordered to defend Mitchell, and he felt tremendous pressure.

Today's Mitchell is not the Mitchell who made his debut in the Barcelona game. At that time, Mitchell was still a little green, but now Mitchell is more mature, and Twain is not He was forbidden to show his skills in the game.

Don't think that Mitchell, who controls the ball with his feet, is not terrible.Although his shooting skills with his feet are not good, it is still no problem to get rid of the ball and pass the ball.

Ibisevic supported from the side, and Agger was in charge of marking.

Mitchell feinted a shot and failed to pass the football to Ibisevic, who was strictly marked, but was assigned to Fernandez who was inserted on the wing.Then he ran in by himself.

This is a useful offensive tactic for the Forest team.The center forward distributes the ball to the wing, and then interpolates without the ball.

Liverpool is familiar with this method of forests. When Mitchell ran to the middle, Agger immediately pounced on him and pinched back and forth with Skrtel, sandwiching Mitchell firmly in the middle, making him uncomfortable. Take off and compete for the top.

Since the Forest team's offensive routine is fixed, the way to defend this routine is also fixed.It's a pity they forgot this time, the Forest team is not 451, but 442...

Mitchell was still fighting for the top between the two tall defenders. He managed to attract the attention of all defenders. Even the goalkeeper Reina turned his body to him, forgetting that there was a forest in yellow behind him. team player...

Under the defense of Agger and Skrtel, Mitchell did not win the football, but under his interference, the two central defenders also did not touch the football, so the football passed in front of the goal...

Ibisevic jumped high at the back point, and he saw Reina's panicked face after turning around.

"Ibisevic's header!"

The header was close at hand, and the result was simply no suspense...

"The ball is in!" the commentator yelled. "Only 21 minutes into the game, Nottingham Forest took the lead! 1:0! The away team leads!"

※ ※ ※

Tony Twain, who was sitting on the coach's bench, stood up from his seat with clenched fists. He waved his fists towards the stands, demonstrating to the entire Anfield stadium.

Want to mess up my dinner party?You are not good enough!

He was met with violent boos.

Benitez felt very helpless about the conceded goal. The team's defense made an undue mistake and was successfully caught by the Forest team.

Sure enough, it is the characteristic of the Forest team-high efficiency.

But he didn't make any adjustments.He believes that his team is a team that has seen big storms, and a conceded goal is nothing.

When Bascombe saw this goal in the press box, he had just written that "Nottingham Forest's offense looks unthreatening, and it's the same old way of crossing from the wing..."

Then he heard an exclamation from the TV above his head: "GOOAL!!"

He looked up at Ibisevic and other Forest players who were running wildly and celebrating on the TV screen, and then looked at the sentence he typed in the Word document, and cursed.Then reluctantly deleted the sentence I just finished writing.

There was another picture of Twain provoking the Anfield fans on the screen.

"Damn, don't be complacent for too long!"

With a cigarette in his mouth, he viciously raised his middle finger to Tang En on the screen.

Not far from him, the Nottingham media were cheering for the goal with their hands up.

※ ※ ※

The game restarted, as if in response to Tony Twain's provocative actions just now, the singing of "You'll Never Walk Alone" rang out from the stands at Anfield. Launch a counterattack.

This period of time belonged to Liverpool, and Nottingham Forest was completely pushed back.The Forest players, who were still excited about scoring goals before, obviously did not expect Liverpool's counterattack to come so fast and so swiftly.

That song must be a source of strength for the Liverpool players.

George Wood also felt that Gerrard in front of him suddenly became more difficult to deal with.His movements are stronger, faster, and more aggressive than before.

Perhaps backwardness inspired him?
Gerrard's mental will is well-known in English football, and the more difficult he is, the better his performance will be.Wood dare not take it lightly.

"George Wood and Gerrard head-to-head!" The commentator was excited. This is what the audience wanted to see. No matter how wonderful the tactics are, laymen may not be able to see the subtleties, but stars like this one-on-one , will definitely make the audience excited.

Gerrard didn't pass the football this time because he encountered Wood's defense. He made a posture of forcing a breakthrough when facing Wood. Wood stepped back a little and kept a distance from Gerrard to prevent him breakthrough.

Gerrard saw his defensive intentions, it was too obvious, he really wanted to break through before, but now he changed his mind-directly took a long shot!
George Wood didn't expect Gerrard to do this. He froze on the spot without any reaction, watching the football fly past his eyes.

Akinfeev also did not expect that Wood would make Gerrard a long-range shot so easily. Fortunately, Gerrard's shot was a bit straight, and he blocked the football from the bottom line in embarrassment.

"Hey, George." Pepe called out from behind, but he was still not at ease.

Wood waved his hand at him, indicating that he was fine.

He turned his head to look for Gerrard again, and found that the opponent had entered the penalty area and was about to compete for a corner kick.Of course he ran in to defend Gerrard.

But just before the corner kick came out, Gerrard suddenly withdrew.

Wood's intuition told him that danger was coming.

He didn't bother to remind his teammates, and rushed out alone.

He's still a little slower...

Both Agger and Skrtel rushed into the penalty area, giving the impression that they were going to participate in the attack.But in fact Liverpool's corner kick went directly outside the penalty area!
Gerrard waited at the top of the penalty arc. He turned his head to watch the flying football, adjusted his posture, and turned his body sideways to the goal.

Wood is running through the crowd.He is confident that after Gerrard stopped the football to force up and stop Liverpool's attack.

Don't give me time if you can, Gerald.Don't give it a second!

OK, as you wish.

Gerrard watched the football fall towards the goal and swung his right leg.

The ball arrives!feet!
People are here!

"Shoot directly into the air!!"

The football whizzed past Wood's face, and the wind hit his face with a dull pain.

This heavy artillery-like shot directly pierced the forest team's defense and the crowd blocking the goal. When it flew into the goal, Akinfeev hadn't reacted yet...

"World wave! World wave!! It's so exciting! The captain of the Red Army finally broke out! In the duel with George Wood, he took the lead!"

After the goal, Gerrard didn't run to the sidelines to celebrate, he just stood there, shaking his fists and roaring.It looked like he was celebrating a goal, but his eyes were fixed on the opposite George Wood.

Challenge?
Wood clenched his fists.

(End of this chapter)