161 Wall Part 1 (1/2)

Chapter 161: Wall Part 1

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Inside the Cardiff Millennium Stadium's VIP suite, a golden-haired beauty, who was dressed fashionably, could not help but yawn, as she changed her sitting position somewhat uninterestedly. She was not a professional fan. In fact, she could not even be considered a football fan at all.

She felt that, the more important the match was, the more exciting the match should be. However, the match situation a mere ten minutes in, was so dreary, that it had made her extremely disappointed. In the eyes of this beautiful girl, this match was extremely tasteless and boring.

Actually, this beautiful girl was not the only person, who presently found the match boring. The football fans, who were seated on the stands and in front of the television, felt this way as well.

As this was an extremely important finals match, playing conservatively and steadily was the way to go. The commentators, Martin Taylor and Andy Gray, knew this very well, and therefore, did not complain during their commentary.

Instead, Gray questioned Nottingham Forest's concentrated defensive play style — defending like, ever that since the match started, how much longer could Twain's team continue on? Forty-five minutes? Ninety minutes? Or… One hundred and twenty minutes?

”Massimo Maccarone attempts a distance shot! It had hit the body of a Nottingham Forest player, before going out of bounds. This is a corner kick. The Italian has appeared to be very excited, ever since the match started. In a mere eleven minutes, he has already attempted two shots at the goalpost!” remarked one of the commentators.

For this match, Middlesbrough sent out an offensive lineup. Evidently, McClaren did not think that crucial matches should be played conservatively, or at least he didn't choose to play conservatively, when facing off against Nottingham Forest.

Actually, ever since Robson had become the manager of the team, Middlesbrough's tradition tactic was to use technique-centric, offensive football. Among the Premier League teams, they were nicknamed the ”giant slayers”, as they had a lot of experience playing against strong teams. However, when playing against teams, which were adept at snatching and had players with exceptional physiques, they would become somewhat at a loss for what to do.

Their greatest characteristic was having a strong offense and a weak defense. Although McClaren did not know what Tang En's plans were, he still decided to launch an unrelenting offense, right from the start of the match. He hoped to make use of this momentum in order to secure a leading advantage, as this would make things easier for Middlesbrough, which had more skilful players, in the rest of the match.

His plan for the match was the complete opposite of Tang En's. McClaren did not intend to fortify his defences during the match, but instead, chose to maximize their offensive advantage. He hoped to completely destroy this League One team's fighting spirit, by consecutively blasting balls into Nottingham Forest's goalpost.

As a result, McClaren had chosen to dispatch his most offensive lineup for this match. The frontline consisted of the power duo of Massimo Maccarone and Joseph Job. The former was the most accurate with shots, while the latter was extremely proficient with dribbling.

The four people in the midfielder positions were Middlesbrough's stars of hope. From left to right, they were: the nineteen-year-old genius football player Stewart Downing; Juninho, the 1.65metres tall Brazilian midfielder with exceptional techniques; the Dutch midfielder George Boateng, who defends aggressively, runs fast, and was not afraid of body rams; and finally, Gaizka Mendieta, the Spanish midfielder, who was on loan from Lazio.

The lineup for Middlesbrough's full backs did not have much change, but McClaren also did not have much choice in the selection of players. The French left back, Franck Queudrue, was a player that posed a huge threat to Tang En, as he was a player that could execute both defense and offense seamlessly.

Although he was only 1.83 meters tall, Franck Queudrue possessed exceptional header and free kick skills. In the two most recent seasons, he was one of the most outstanding left backs in the Premier League.

The right back position was assumed by Danny Mills, an England national team player on loan from Leeds United. The two center backs were thirty-one-year-old veteran player Ugo Ehiogu and the young twenty-three-year-old Chris Riggott. The goalkeeper was Australian national team goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

With this lineup, aside from Juninho, almost everyone else was part of Middlesbrough's main line-up in the English Premier League. Among the four midfielders, only Boateng was a defensive player. The other three midfielders were all better in terms of offense. McClaren's intentions were extremely obvious — and that was to go on the offense!

Playing defensively was never a style that Middlesbrough adopted. They liked executing give and go, a type of offensive football that was seamless. But today…. They still did not know that, the offense, in which they took so much pride, was about to hit a major wall.

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Juninho kicked off the ball, but Queudrue, who was being heavily marked by Nottingham Forest's players, was unable to receive the ball. As a result, Middlesbrough's offense was temporarily stopped.

Very quickly, Middlesbrough players, in their yellow jerseys, went on the offensive once again, because Nottingham Forest did not have any means of counterattacking at the front. Only Crouch was there, so even if he managed to snatch the first point of contact with the ball, using his height advantage, the goalkeeper could easily run over, and there was nothing Nottingham Forest could do to stop their opponent from regaining possession of the ball during the second point of fall.

Although Nottingham Forest's formation, which had been decided prior to the match, was supposed to be 442, during the actual match, only Crouch was positioned at the forefront. In the past, Tang En would arrange for Eastwood to roam around Crouch, keeping a lookout for the second point of fall. However, he did not ask Eastwood to do this today. Instead, he positioned the Gypsy slightly backwards in the field, for defense.

Nottingham Forest had almost completely given up on offense. This was done precisely to build a high wall in front of its goalpost, and to completely shut down all of Middlesbrough's offenses.