Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Ranieri was not a manager who was good at changing tactics according to the situation on the field. He was as slow as his team when faced with Tony Twain’s abrupt change in tactics.
Nottingham Forest quickly took control of the midfield while Juventus was unresponsive. There was a saying in modern football—the player who seizes control of the midfield takes the world. It was slightly exaggerated, but the importance of the midfield was evident.
Nottingham Forest must first take control of the midfield if they were to break the opponent’s steady counterattack and defeat Juventus in the away game. Only then would they have the ability to push ahead step by step.
Juventus simply could not pass the ball in the midfield, with all four of Nottingham Forest players taking care of both offense and defense at the same time. George Wood, in particular, tirelessly ran and intercepted in the midfield. He harassed Juventus’ every attack. Juventus’ rate of failure in its passes began to rise after the Forest team’s fast-paced tackling in the midfield.
Another weakness of Juventus’s lineup also gradually emerged—they lacked a midfielder who could keep the ball under his feet and control the entire team’s pace of attack and defense. Camoranesi was a winger and too old already while Giovinco was too young. His control of the ball was good but did not know what to do about the pace. As for Malouda… He was more of a raider than a midfield playmaker. Sissoko, the muscular man, needed not to be mentioned. He was only a worker bee. He was very talented in stealing the ball, but he was horrible at passing. Del Piero had the ability in this area, but he was on the substitutes’ bench. Ranieri did not dare put his captain at risk for any minor injuries.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Nottingham Forest took control of the midfield and fully pressed on, completely ignoring their away team disadvantages. As the whole team pressed on, the goalkeeper Akinfeev’s range of activity changed from the goal area to the entire penalty area, even extending outside pf the penalty area to act as a scrounger. The distance between the three lines was sufficient: even if the first wave of attacks were blocked, there would be a follow-up attack so that an unsuccessful attack would not result in the opponent’s counterattack. The midfielder’s double layer of interception also ensured that Juventus’ attack could not get through quickly, buying time for the Forest team’s defense.
The target that Ranieri set for the team in the opening five minutes of the game failed to materialize. It was Nottingham Forest’s turn to play. The Forest team who controlled the midfield had many ways to send the ball near Juventus’ penalty area. It was no longer the monotonous pass from the wing to the byline.
George Wood kept the ball under his feet. Sissoko wanted to rush up to intercept from a distance, yet he didn’t. If he were to do so, he would have left the goal wide open behind him and allow Nottingham Forest a direct shot to their goal. Then he would risk being replaced. Sissoko’s role became even more important when it became clear that Nottingham Forest’s main line of attack was not on the two sides, but the middle.
Wood could not remember if he had ever faced off against Sissoko. In his eyes, all opponents were the same. Very few deeply impressed him. He ignored Sissoko’s provocative expression and passed the football to Tiago. Nottingham Forest started an attack from the middle, but it did not mean that they had to strike the opponent’s penalty area straight from the center. In fact, Fernández and Şahin could disperse to the two wings during the attack.
This time, for example, when Fernández saw Tiago receive the football, he knew intuitively to plunge diagonally ahead. Sissoko looked at him and let him go. He did not keep an eye on him. His task was in the middle. Once Tiago passed the ball to Fernández, he also ran forward. Juventus’ defense swiftly retreated. Fernández soon encountered resistance. He had to stop and turn around to protect the ball. The Italian defense was not that easy to break.
Wood looked at the situation ahead and decided to go up to support. Fernández handed the ball to Wood and continued to pull to the side. When Fernández went to the side, Juventus could not help but defend. The corresponding right-back, Grygera, came up to mark him. However, Wood passed the football to Eastwood, who came from behind.
Eastwood did not keep the ball and gave it to Tiago again. Tiago already faced the goal head-on when he took the ball, so he did not hesitate and shoot from afar. Buffon fought hard to save, but he did not touch the football. The ball flew off the end line after a brush against the goalpost. The stunned Juventus fans at Stadio delle Alpi broke out in cold sweat.
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In the next few minutes, Nottingham Forest had three chances to shoot, but they were all from afar. This slightly reassured Ranieri. Although the Forest team suddenly changed tactics which somewhat caught him off guard, Juventus’ traditional football was still very effective—we do not care how the opponent changes, we just stick to our football and content with the opponents. Juventus football must first put ourselves in an invincible position!
Although their attack is aggressive, they can only use long shots to threaten our goal. As long as they can’t get into the penalty area, they were not a threat. He walked to the sidelines, whistled and made a gesture, instructing the team to push the Forest team outwards and not give them a chance to enter the penalty area. They did not need to fear long shots as that shooting method had the lowest rate of scoring goals.
Even the commentator realized the point and said. “Juventus’ defense is solid, and their defensive formation is pretty good. Nottingham Forest passes the ball back and forth to find a suitable attacking point but can only play a few long shots from outside. It seems Tony Twain is still unable to find a better solution in the face of Juventus’ tactics.”
After a few waves of attack from the Forest team, Juventus began its counterattack. The standard procedure of the game should be Nottingham Forest would attack, and Juventus would use a defensive counterattack.
This time, though, they encountered aggressive interception in the midfield. Giovinco’s body was almost like a kindergarten kid in front of George Wood. Unless he dribbled the ball far away from Wood, the football at his feet would most likely be lost once he entangled with Wood.
The shaved Sebastien Giovinco was a bit like the former Italy team captain and center back, Cannavaro. But his height was a different story. He was only 1.64-meters tall, and he weighed sixty-one kilograms. He was not particularly thin, but in front of George Wood, his agility and physique did not work.
Wood was as agile and stronger than him. That kind of chance had a fifty-fifty percent chance. As long as Wood use a little bit of force, Giovinco would undoubtedly lose control of the ball. Perhaps the best solution was a quick pass to get rid of the man who was like his shadow.
But he could not find a way forward and could only pass the ball back. The pace of the team’s attack was then forced to slow down. With Nottingham Forest’s two wingers returning from the front, Juventus found that they also had to face a well-fortified defense during their attack…
Since Juventus had found a way of making Nottingham Forest only able to threaten their goal with long shots, surely Nottingham Forest would have a counter-measure too? For a while, everyone’s offensive ended with a long shot, and as a result, the quality of the attack was not high. The score was still 0:0 thirty minutes into the first half.
The commentator really wanted to give a yawn. The game was too dull—the quality of the offensive was low, the pace was dragged to a crawl by the “joint efforts” of both teams, there was neither passion nor highlights. Both sides were careful not to make mistakes. Their play-it-safe mentality made the game was absolutely unlikeable.
Ranieri was happy with the current situation as he intended to play a defensive counterattack. Juventus’ real chance was at fifteen minutes before the end of the first half. He still remembered how it went down the first time the two sides met in the Champions League—Tony Twain was anxious to take three points in the away game, so he ventured boldly with the tactics, and lost to Juventus’ defensive counterattack. They scored one goal each just five minutes into the first and second halves to completely crush Nottingham Forest.
He believed that with Tony Twain’s character, he would never learn his lesson on things he had decided on. Even though he appeared to manage the game in a low-key manner, he was, in fact, more eager than anyone else to win the game on the inside.
Why? Because his record against Juventus was a loss and a tie. There was no other team in the world that he had not defeated more than Juventus. Ranieri might have let the resentment over it passed, but for Tony Twain, he would absolutely not take it lying down. He would definitely attack, and aggressively as well! That would be Juventus’ chance!
For the ten minutes, the two sides remained in a deadlock on the pitch, threatening each other’s goal with long shots and occasionally hitting the ball into the penalty area, but the shots posed no real threat to the goalkeepers. Perhaps only the fans of both teams would be interested in such a game.
The neutral fans must have been disappointed—before the game, the media hyped it up as Tony Twain’s revenge battle and “a showdown for the giants.” But in reality? Every game with Juventus was dull, and any game with Nottingham Forest would not be too exciting either. When these two teams came together, the dullness had doubled. How could it be thrilling at all? A football game requires passion! Such a game is simply a disgrace to modern football! Those people complained in their hearts.
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Ranieri looked at his watch. With six minutes left in the first half, he got up from the technical area and was ready to signal to the players to fully attack. Meanwhile, Tony Twain, who had been standing on the sidelines for forty minutes, finally seemed to feel the ache in his legs. He turned around and walked back to the technical area.
Buffon wonderfully blocked a long shot from Eastwood. This time instead of kicking the ball afar, he looked up at the midfield and threw a handball to launch an attack! Sissoko’s header tipped the ball forward, and Camoranesi withdrew to pick it up. He passed the ball to Giovinco, who was sprinting ahead at full strength.
Giovinco looked back at the ball rolling toward him and looked up ahead of him—there was no one there, but he caught a glimpse of a shadow on the left from the corner of the eye. He did not have to look carefully to know who it was. George Wood followed closely next to Giovinco like a silent wolf. He had entered a state of a hunter.
Although Wood did nothing yet and was still some distance from Giovinco, the Italian prodigy suddenly developed a state of anxiety. He felt that if he continued to dribble the ball, he would most likely be tackled by the silent number 13 near him. If the opportunity that Juventus had gotten after much difficulty were to perish in his own hands, he might be replaced in the second half. The team captain, Del Piero, had already been called by Ranieri to warm up. He must be dissatisfied with his performance …
Since he could dribble the ball to break through this man’s defense, then he must pass the ball! No matter how good he was, he could not take care of the entire backfield. Giovinco made up his mind and suddenly braked. He then looked up to find a target to pass the ball to.
He should not have stopped the ball—the stop placed him in the “dead zone.” Wood crossed in front of him and the position chosen was so good that he sealed almost all the routes he might have dribbled the ball to break out—unless he turned to dribble the ball back.
Wood was in no hurry to tackle as that could easily cause him to be bypassed. He just blocked in front of Giovinco and prevented him from dribbling the ball forward. It slowed down Juventus’ counterattack while he waited for his teammates to return to defend. Ranieri saw Giovinco suddenly stop in the field and waved his fists in a hurry.
“Giovinco is stuck near the sidelines by Wood! The Nottingham Forest players have already returned to defend, and Juventus’s quick counterattack was unsuccessful!”
Giovinco understood his situation when he saw Wood as soon as he looked up after he stopped. He knew he could not dribble the ball forward. Giovinco panicked, even more, when he saw Wood’s calm expression. He felt that his ball might be intercepted. At this time, he could only hurry to get the ball out of the way! He thought so and caught a glimpse of a man in the corner of his eye— that’s it!
“Giovinco passed the ball straight to Tiago’s feet! Did he think that Tiago was his teammate? Juventus is in trouble—they had just finished a pressing attack, and the ball was inexplicably sent to the feet of the opposing player.”
Nottingham Forest gladly accepted Giovinco’s generous gift. “Thank you.” Tiago did not forget to use Italian to thank his former teammate. The phrase suddenly provoked Giovinco, who rushed at Tiago with a furious look in his eyes.
Wood called Tiago’s name at the back to warn him that Giovinco had pounced. Tiago had clearly anticipated Giovinco’s reaction. He directly pushed the ball to Wood with his heel. Giovinco pounced on empty space and then turned to rush toward Wood. This time Wood passed the ball directly to Şahin, who was further ahead.
Nottingham Forest pressed and counterattacked Juventus! Şahin dribbled the ball forward when he was brutally shoveled by Sissoko, who threw him out along with the rolling ball. But the referee did not whistle for a foul. Even though it looked like Sissoko’s shovel was ferocious, it was clean.
Malouda, who was next to him, was going to rush up to get the ball and then continued to counterattack Nottingham Forest. Just as his foot was about to hit the football, the ball in front of him suddenly disappeared! Sissoko had just climbed up and saw a man with the yellow team caption’s armband and clad in a red Nottingham Forest jersey, flew past in front of Malouda like the wind. The football was at his feet! He did not even think and rushed toward the man’s figure to press on. We’re finally face to face, boy!
Instead of shoveling the ball first, Sissoko crossed his body and knocked into George Wood, intending to knock Wood to the side. He succeeded. George Wood was hit by him to the sidelines, but the ball at his feet was not lost. He hooked the ball, and it went with him.
Sissoko saw that the ball was not intercepted. Then he sped up and tried to push Wood to the sidelines. Just like what Wood did to Giovinco just now. This time he did not succeed. Just as he rushed at full speed toward Wood, Wood suddenly stopped, parked the football at his feet, and Sissoko overshot!
Sissoko crossed in front of Wood with a look of dismay as he could not stop in time. If Wood had a good sense of humor, he could even wave goodbye to Sissoko, who had rushed past himself.
“He shook him off with a brilliant pause!” The commentator could not help but applaud Wood for his sudden halt. “That’s so clever! Sissoko was completely deceived!” George Wood, who shook off Sissoko, had plenty of time to adjust the football. He swung his right leg. It looked like he was going to do a long shot…
“Chiellini rushed up to defend … A pass?” Wood did not shoot at the goal. Although his movement looked like a shot, the ball drew an arc and flew to the right side of the penalty area.
Ibišević stood there, but he was offside—apparently, he was behind Juventus’ entire rear defensive line just as Wood passed the ball. Another center back, Legrottaglie, raised his hand high and gestured to the referee and the assistant referee. Ibišević did not plan to receive the ball. He ran back and completely ignored the football that flew to where he was.
“Offside!” The commentator could not wait to announce the end of Nottingham Forest’s attack. Unfortunately, the referee and the assistant referee did not hear his shouts. The referee did not whistle, and the assistant referee did not raise the flag. Their eyes were clearly not on Ibišević who was running back with his head lowered, but on another red figure that was plugging in from the back at high speed.
Rafinha! Rafinha ran forward when Tiago passed the ball to Wood. When he saw Şahin’s ball being cut off by Sissoko, he still hesitated and stopped running. He thought whether or not to turn around and run back to defend. But after he saw George Wood snatch the ball back, he had no further qualms and was determined to move forward.
Wood had intended to shoot directly after he stopped. But he saw Rafinha, who had plugged in from the side, and changed his mind immediately. He passed a high ball to the right side where Rafinha arrived just in time!
The ball and the player arrived at the same time. Rafinha did not stop the ball. He directly slid to the ground and shoveled the ball for a volley shot!
Buffon clearly did not expect Nottingham Forest to make a move. He had focused all his attention on George Wood just now. Who would have thought that an opposing right-back would appear in front of his own goal? The football drilled through the gap between Buffon and the goalpost!
The ball went in!
The ball went in?!
The Juventus players seemed unable to accept the reality—they had wanted to use the last five minutes of the first half to break the deadlock, but they did not expect Nottingham Forest to successfully plot against them…
Which team was actually counterattacking?
