Chapter 163: A Crack Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Middlesbrough, who was driven far away from the penalty area by the Forest team’s defense, was able only to attempt to breach the Forest team’s goal with long-range strikes, which might have been the best way to break the intensive defense. However, their team lacked a player with excellent long-shot ability. Sometimes, the shots might make the Forest fans break out in a cold sweat, but they did not threaten the security of the Forest team goal.
Tang En remained unmoved. He felt that his team’s current tactics were very good, and could restrain Middlesbrough’s attacks. As long as McClaren did not make a move, he had no need to adjust his original intentions.
The two managers sat in their seats, plotting their tactics, and the fans in the stands thought this final was very boring. The first half was almost over, and the Forest team had only attempted one shot. Although Middlesbrough seemed to be fierce in their offensive, there was no good opportunity. More often than not, they could only cross, pass, and pass the football to each other in front of the Forest team’s defense line. If they moved forward, they would soon be cut off.
Nottingham Forest’s defense had left the Middlesbrough players helpless. Without further instructions from their manager, they could only play according to the formation set before the game … But the tactics laid out before the game were obviously unsuitable to deal with the current Forest team.
Only Downing was working hard. This was the EFL Cup final. Like what Tang En had said, this was the best opportunity for a young rookie to make his mark and become famous with one shot. At this time, if he did not perform, what was he still waiting for?
But he, who wanted to be famous, had picked the wrong opponent. The heavily defended and compact Forest team was definitely not the best opponent for Downing to bring his strengths to play. His two rivals, which he currently faced, were the Forest team right back, John Thompson, and right midfielder, Ashley Young, the more imposing of whom looked to be the right back.
Ashley Young was fast and physically flexible. He was definitely on par with Downing one-on-one. While John Thompson was inferior to his opponent with his personal ability, he had a very good advantage, which allowed Tang En to buy so many players during the winter transfer period, that he had not introduced a right back.
For Thompson, who had switched playing as a center back to now playing as a right back, his assist ability could not compare with Leighton Baines, who played on the other side, and his personal skills could not be compared with Ashley Young, who was now in front of him. It looked as if he did not seem to have any essential skills. But, he had been the Forest team’s unwavering, main right back, ever since Tang En took over.
He was chosen for this position, because he played cleanly and played his defender position very well. If the passing was inaccurate, or the pass speed was slow, he would not go in for an assist. If his technique was not good, he would just kick the ball out. With him around, the Forest team’s right wing was safe. Therefore, Ashley Young could do several passes in the game, because he knew that if he lost his ball, Thompson would be behind him.
In this game, because Ashley Young came back to play defense, Thompson’s position was closer to the midsection of the penalty area, in order to prevent the opposing striker and offense from taking advantage of this gap to make a breakthrough. Of course, he was really here to increase the defense of the wing.
Downing’s personal ability was excellent, and Tang En knew that Ashley Young, the interim defender, was absolutely unable to mark him, so he arranged for Thompson to be the second guard. When Downing dribbled the ball over, Thompson would help Ashley Young defend. When faced with such a dedicated and unyielding right back, Downing really had no other good ideas.
“Downing was closely marked by Ashley Young and John Thompson. In this way, all of Middlesbrough’s offensive tactics were rendered ineffective. Does McClaren have a new plan?” Even Martin Taylor and Andy Gray, who were in the press box, could see it, and they believed that it was impossible for McClaren not to see it also.
In fact, it was not difficult to figure out the problem, as even fans who had watched football for more than a few years could see it. The difficulty lay in how to solve this problem, and this was the manager’s job.
“Actually, to break the intensive defense, there are several ways to try it. One of them is a long shot, and the other is to let a player with outstanding foot technique come forward, and then use this player to break through and disrupt the Forest team’s defense, which would expose the gap …” Andy Gray gave McClaren some advice in the press box.
McClaren understood all these principles, as he was also a manager. The problem was … he knew that this method might be possible to break the Forest team’s intensive defense, but he did not have such a player in his team, who could do so. The player in his team with the best technique was Juninho, but he was closely marked by George Wood on the field, who was also making fierce interceptions and tackles, regardless of his physical strength. Thus, he was completely out of action.
Adding to this, there were no players on the substitutes’ bench, who could take on this important responsibility. Boudewijn Zenden was quite skillful in breakthroughs, but he could only play on the wing, and he also had to replace Downing. McClaren thought Zenden could not be as effective as Downing. If he brought off Downing, it was a clear waste of a substitution quota.
Maybe… if he let Juninho come off the substitutes’ bench, it would be more effective than his starting lineup. Just when the Forest team’s defensive lineup had adapted to the Middlesbrough starting lineup, to suddenly bring on a player with outstanding personal skills, excellent foot technique, and the ability to dribble past several players to create opportunities for his teammates, could completely upset the balance of the field … Unfortunately, such a player could not be found on the Middlesbrough substitutes’ bench.
The skill level of the Middlesbrough’s substitutes was the biggest factor in restricting their ranking with the Premier League. In this important final, it had unexpectedly put McClaren in a difficult predicament.
McClaren now regretted his initial decision. His idea of having a strong offense at the outset, trying to break the deadlock and establishing the tone of the game as soon as possible, was proving to be a mistake now. He had no idea that Manager Tony Twain would be so hard to deal with.
The Bolton Wanderers manager, Sam Allardyce, had an encounter with him, which should have sounded a warning to him. But the League One team, the south locker room … all this nonsense had caused him to lose his guard. He overestimated himself and Middlesbrough, and underestimated Tony Twain and Nottingham Forest, with its mostly young players.
The first half of the match calmly passed. Apart from both sides’ hardcore fans, no one was satisfied with this first half. Filled with much anticipation, what kind of game did they see? There were no brilliant shots at the goals, let alone the actual making of an exciting goal. Middlesbrough did its best, yet failed in its attacks, and Nottingham Forest was so conservative, that it dared not attack at all. In this way, forty-five minutes were all used up, without the referee giving any injury stoppage time. He simply whistled at the end of the first half.
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Besides George Wood, all the other Forest players, who returned to the locker room, were gasping for breath, without exception. The first half’s forty-five minutes was really tiring for them, with the non-stop running, sprinting, slide tackling, then climbing up and repeating the same series of actions.
This set of tactics was very physically demanding on the players. Hence, the intensity of Tang En’s training in this one week was not minor. In addition to the tactical training, the physical training was essential every day. One must know that it was easy to play for forty-five minutes, but it was not as easy to play for one hundred twenty minutes as one might think.
Looking at these exhausted players, Tang En smiled, then asked, “How is it? How are you feeling in the first half, guys?”
“Not bad, boos. They don’t stand a chance!” Wes Morgan, gasping for breath, replied in high spirits. This was reassuring to Tang En.
“I can also see that they don’t have a chance. I think McClaren certainly would not have thought we would play with them in such a way in this game. They must have thought we were going to press on and counterattack, but that’s what a fool would do.” Tang En shrugged, “We will continue to play like this in the second half, and they are going to get more impatient. You guys all saw it … A Premiership team is only so-so. Nothing to worry about, listen to me, we can win our first championship! We will take more and more championships in the future! Do you believe me?”
“We believe it, Boss!” The players answered in unison.
“Excellent.” Tang En nodded, “Now it’s your free time, so have a good rest. The game will become tougher after this.”
He rarely made any adjustments or tactical arrangements during the halftime interval, and especially because the team was currently in good shape, no adjustment was obviously required. It would help the players to relax, instead, during this time, by leaving them alone to rest. Sometimes a manager was required to keep talking, but sometimes it was better for the manager to keep quiet.
Now, the one who should be talking nonstop would be … perhaps the one next door.
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McClaren looked at the players in front of him with a dark expression. No one had expected before this game, that the team would be confronted with Nottingham Forest’s stubborn resistance. Some even thought it would be the most relaxing EFL Cup final ever played. Would anyone still think that now?
Like the Nottingham Forest players, the Middlesbrough players were also out of breath. In fact, their fatigue was more a result from the psychological burden. The game was far from what they had imagined before. Their opponents’ tenacious resistance, the crisis of not being able to score … Over time, this pressure had only increased.
Perhaps it was inconceivable to some people, how the dominant teams would be more pressured than the inferior teams. But this was football, and there were many things on the field which could not be analyzed with simple common sense.
If it was possible, McClaren wanted very much to put pressure on the team. But this was not possible. At this crucial moment, when the team was already nervous, if he said to the players, “Hey, guys! Don’t be so nervous, it doesn’t matter if we don’t win this game. Even if we lose, it’s ok, as long as we do our best. Don’t worry about the result, just enjoy playing football!”, it would not to lessen the pressure on the team. Instead, it would discourage the team.
After all, which manager would say such words to his players at such an important final? He would be an idiot. If he did this often, it would also make the players feel that the manager lacked the desire to win, and even perhaps had no confidence in the players. As time passed, his days as the leader of the team would also come to an end.
