424 Looking On The Verge Of A Loss Part 2 (1/2)

Arteta's appearance on the field indeed ended up disrupting Inter Milan's planned defense. Cambiasso's man-to-man against Albertini completely lost its meaning; when Albertini was being marked, Forest's players could pass the ball to Arteta instead. Alternatively, if they sent some of the defending troops to guard against Arteta, the pressure on Albertini would inevitably be reduced… Regardless, the two Forest midfielders demanded all the defensive capabilities of Inter Milan. Any one of them could independently take charge of organizing the attack. It was as if there were two cores. Placing a limit on only one of them was useless. Left with half of the second half, Nottingham Forest with their double core began gunning their engines. Inter Milan's players gradually started feeling that something was wrong.

After gaining the lead, Inter Milan's press for the ball became less severe. Following Mancini's request, they gradually retreated to attract Forest to advance in their attacks, while Inter Milan took available opportunities to counter.

Mancini knew that the Forest Team, who was now behind, faced two choices. One was naturally to go on the offense to equalize the scores, while the other was to ignore Inter Milan's retreat and continue buckling down on defense in hopes of defending to the final second. For them, it would mean bringing back the results of gaining an away goal and losing a goal back to the home field, strategizing from there.

Regardless of which situation it would turn out to be, both were advantageous to Inter Milan. If Forest advanced forward to attack, the defense in the back would surely have many gaps that could be made use of. Inter Milan could take the opportunity to counterattack and steal a few goals. If they chose not to attack, it was also a good option for Inter Milan to get a victory in their home field.

Tang En chose the first option; that conformed even better to Mancini's hopes than the second would have. But Mancini had not expected Tang En to be that bold. Not only did he remove a full back whilst facing such enormous defensive pressure, he even put two playmakers in the midfield. Wasn't he afraid of an overlap in their positions, or a clash in their intentions?

Unexpectedly, the two cores did not conflict with each other at all. Instead, they complemented each other so well as to draw out each other's capabilities.

Furthermore, even with only three rear defenders, Forest's defensive line stabilized after letting George Wood focus only on the defense.

”How could it be…” Without managing to even warm the seat under his bum, Mancini stood up again.

Nottingham Forest had very simply split into two parts of offense and defense. The defense cared nothing about the offense, while those going on the attack were almost entirely relieved of defensive duties. Both parties could put all their energy into their primary function. In this way, Inter Milan began feeling the strain.

After Albertini faked a pass to Arteta, he pulled the wool over Cambiasso's eyes and took the ball for a breakthrough instead. When Cambiasso managed to refocus his aim on him, Albertini did a one-two combination with Ribéry via a wall pass. After entering the 30-meter range of Inter Milan's field, he executed a beautiful long shot, announcing his awakening in the match.

”What a pity, it grazed the crossbeam and flew out!”

”Dammit… mark him closely…” Outside the field, Mancini was biting his lip tightly.

”Oh, oh! Mikel Arteta! Breaks through into the penalty area and shoots! Júlio César's extraordinary performance saves Inter Milan! This is unexpected. Manager Twain made only one substitution, but it's managed to revive Nottingham Forest.”

”Anelka! It slipped right by the goal!”

”Mark Viduka! The header is too strong, but this disappointment is to be expected…”

During that period, the words emerging from the commentator's mouth were mostly filled with the names of Nottingham Forest's attacking players. With the rise of Nottingham Forest's offense, the jeers in the air of Giuseppe Meazza Stadium also increased.

Both managers stood at the sidelines. Mancini bit his lip tightly with a serious expression, while Tang En stuck both hands in his pockets with a calm face. Each was worrying about something.

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