152 Backfired Part 1 (2/2)
Tang En believed that once both his wings soared, the Bolton Wanderers would not be able to stop them. Just look at the tall man in Forest's penalty area! If they used two players to guard Crouch, then Eastwood would have more freedom. And if they brought in their fullback to fill the gap to defend it, the space in the wing would be free.
Now, all Tang En had to do was wait on the sidelines for a goal.
He hoped he wouldn't have to wait for long…
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Seventeen minutes had passed in the second half, and the Forest team had the upper hand. They pressed on the Bolton Wanderers with their offense coming in like the tide. Fat John jumped and yelled in the stands, ”That's right! That's right! This is how the home team should be playing!”
There were a lot of people who shared his views. The tired and feeble Forest team in the first half greatly had depressed these people. So what if they were playing a Premier League team? As far as the ambitious Forest fans were concerned, any opponents in their way would be beaten.
The Forest team was not even frightened of Liverpool, who had once dominated English and European football in the past.
Brian Clough's team had had such a diehard temperament that they were not even afraid of their strong opponents. Instead, they would only be more motivated. Now, if Tony Twain wanted to achieve the same success as Clough, his team would have to be the same as that Forest team: whether it was against a Premier League team or a big European club, they had to be fearless.
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When Nolan saw George Wood's ferocious interception, he suddenly had an idea. Since the Forest team's only defensive midfielder position is occupied by that stupid boy alone, why not lure him out, and then launch a counterattack to remove the obstacle?
Kevin Nolan marveled at his own ingenuity in finding an effective tactic in such a complicated situation on the field. Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, he called Okocha and Giannakopoulos over to tell them about his tactic. They all thought it was feasible. Okocha also detested Wood. It would be really perfect if they could lure him out of the defensive zone.
Therefore, the three men put their heads together and, after a simple discussion, they separated and waited to execute their plan.
Allardyce had always wanted Nolan, the young player, to become Bolton Wanderers' future commander of the midfield. Consequently, he exhorted him during training to use his brain to play. Now, Nolan felt that he already knew how to use his brain to play, because he could set up specific tactics based on actual circumstances during the game.
His heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment, excitedly looking forward to the following scene:
Starting from Okocha, Wood would be slowly drawn out and progressively kept away from the defensive zone. Then, through continuous back-and-forth passing, they would completely pull him apart, and swiftly pass the ball to Okocha to launch a counterattack. After that, they just had for the cheers to come from the south stand. He, Kevin Nolan, would be extolled in the media for personally engineering the strategy, and the birth of another commander of the midfield would be proclaimed! It really was so exciting to think about!
Okocha received Nolan's pass; his back was facing the attack direction. As expected, Wood rushed up. Okocha looked up and saw Nolan's signal to him. It was time for action.
]He used all his efforts to protect the ball and not let it be poked out by Wood, while he slowly dribbled back, giving the illusion that he was tightly pressed on and forced to backpedal. At the same time, he paid close attention to the situation behind him and was relieved to see that pressure was still there.
Now, he had to make his act even more genuine, so that the inexperienced kid would be completely fooled...
He felt the pressure behind him getting stronger, and he hastened to pass the ball to Nolan, who came to his rescue.
Nolan, who had just received the football, looked up and was delighted to see George Wood give up Okocha to charge towards him.
So, he pretended to turn around in a slight panic to guard the ball.
Even Martin Taylor and Andy Gray in the press box were deceived by Nolan's performance: ”George Wood is on the go, pressing on Okocha so much that he can only choose to pass the ball back. And now, it's Kevin Nolan's turn!”
If Nolan could have heard the commentary, he would have been pleased with himself. Wood was aggressively hammering him from behind, and he seemed agitated. What an inexperienced idiot, Nolan thought.
Nolan was going to further provoke Wood, so he slammed backwards. Then he passed the ball to Giannakopoulos, who was further behind. Then he saw Wood drop him to rush towards the Greek. The smirk on his face deepened. He could almost the coming scene: Giannakopoulos would kick a long pass after receiving it, and Okocha would dribble and break through to the penalty area to shoot the winning goal... No, Nolan corrected himself. Dribble the ball into the penalty area, then get tripped up by the opposing defender, and it will be a penalty kick! We lost a point because of a penalty kick, so we need to get back the score through a penalty kick!
Because Giannakopoulos's distance to Nolan was very close, he did not use much strength to make the pass; this was out of consideration for his teammate, and should have allowed him to stop the ball more easily. But the still fantasizing Nolan did not notice how fast Wood was running… running right past him.