118 The Hard-Nosed Millwall Part 1 (2/2)

Rebrov had originally wanted to show off his personal skills in front of the Millwall players, but he had just move the football before it was kicked out by Wise. The referee's whistle rang and caused a hissing sound of dissatisfaction from the stands.

Looking at Wise with a fierce look on his face and gritted teeth and listening to the endless stream of hissing and abuse, Rebrov realized today's match was far more difficult than he'd imagined.

Tang En, who witnessed this scene from the technical area at the sidelines, muttered to himself, ”The hard-nosed Wise, the hard-nosed Millwall team, the hard-nosed Millwall fans…” He now felt more and more how awful it was that he could not give the team specific tactics because they had encountered the rival fans on the subway.

If football could be paused like basketball, he would make changes accordingly. Unfortunately, he could only wait until the halftime interval and hope that their opponents did not score a goal in the first half.

For the defensive counterattack, the two defensive midfielders were the key, and he hoped that Eugen Bopp and Gunnarsson would be able to hold on.

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”Fifteen minutes have passed! The match is going at a speed of a hundred miles per hour and the ball is zipping over the heads of the players. Under the leadership of their captain 'The Roaring Mouse' Dennis Wise, the Millwall players have launched a frenzied offense and attack against the Forest team. Any footwork tricks and tackles were crushed by the ruthless closing in of the 'Double Lions'.” Motson summarized the 15 minutes of the match in such a way that was both accurate and vivid.

In the first half of the season, under the leadership of the Forest team's new manager, Collymore, who used to play the forward position, the team once again returned to the tradition of paying particular attention in containing the situations and the fondness for playing with meticulous coordination. With regard to the failure of Collymore's coaching career, the tactical side of things only accounted for a tiny fraction of the reason, but it could not be overlooked.

He asked the players to do more ground coordination, even in front of the penalty area, they must pass the ball as far as possible into the goal area before shooting a goal. At that time the commentator's appraisal of the Forest team's style of play was, ”Collymore hopes that his striker will be able to get past the goalkeeper and then shoot the goal when the goalmouth is empty.”

This style of play looked very good, but it was too complicated and difficult to score a goal.

In order to take on this characteristic of the Forest team, Alan McLeary, the Millwall manager, specifically designed the offense tactic of pressing on and tackling the opponent. At present, he was quite successful.

The kind of momentum that the Millwall players were showing at their home ground totally intimidated the Nottingham Forest players who were exhausted and tormented from having to switch to riding the subway because of the traffic jam, then encountering a group of seemingly vicious fans, and battling and fighting them. Plus they had to deal with the tension and panic of having to run hundreds of meters in a hurry to quickly change and get ready for the match and only pathetically emerge on the field three minutes before the start of the match.

Yes, that was exactly what was happening in the match now. The Forest team was gradually losing it. It was almost impossible to say that the things which had happened before the match did not affect the team. But what could Tang En do? This was luck. He only hoped the team would be able to make it through this period until the halftime interval when he would have plenty of time to adjust the team. He still believed there was no problem in defeating Millwall.

The key to it all was the Forest team must defend its core against the wave after wave of offensive from Millwall.

The situation was not good. Gunnarsson and Eugen Bopp were overwhelmed and in a frenzy. The pressure on Michael Dawson and Wes Morgan was also very high.

Within the Millwall formation, besides Dennis Wise, there was another player which Tang En recognized, an Australian attacking midfielder wearing the number 4 jersey, the 23-year-old Tim Cahill.

Tang En knew him through the 2006 World Cup in Germany in the Australia versus Japan match where Australia had a remarkable massive reversal at the final moment. Cahill alone scored two goals and became a hero. It was also that match that made Tang En an Australia fan during the World Cup. Unfortunately, they lost to Italy in the end.

At the present moment, Cahill was not as mature as he was at the World Cup, but his offensive ability was enough to give Tang En a headache.

Nottingham Forest finally had a chance to counterattack after great difficulty. The ball had just been passed to David Johnson's foot, and it was intercepted by the Millwall midfielder, an Australian player, Kevin Muscat with a ferocious tackle.

”Foul!” Tang En leapt up from his seat in the technical area. It had been a tackle from the back!

But the referee ignored his shout, and David Johnson fell to the ground in pain. But Muscat kicked the football to the captain Wise, who returned to assist, before Wise organized the offensive again.

”B*stard! He didn't even whistle at a tackle from the back!” Tang En waved his fist and cursed. But other than the fourth official who paid a little attention and glanced at him, no one else heeded his complaint.