Chapter 34: The Man on which Nottingham Forest Depends
Nottingham Forest's solid defence is mainly due to three men, one is their main goalkeeper, Peter, who is only 21 years old this year. Johnson
He is also now the first-choice goalkeeper for the England national team. ※r/>
Two metres tall, but not clumsy, very agile and with a particularly long reach, he can easily save on many balls that the average goalkeeper would struggle to save.
This is his strength.
He is a supernova who rose from Nottingham Forest two seasons ago, and has been touted by the English media as Casillas II - meaning that although he is tall, he is agile, good at saving the ball, quick second reaction and, most importantly, his role in the England national team is almost equivalent to Casillas's role in Real Madrid's most chaotic period, and the defense is basically up to him......
So in fact, this nickname sounds more like the English media's self-deprecation of the poor defense of the England national team......
However, his performance was indeed outstanding, and because of his rapid rise, the 34-year-old England international Joe Hart has stepped down from his position in the national team to give Peter a new position. Johnson came off the bench.
The goalkeeper is the last line of defense for a team, but if a team's defense wants to be good, it is obviously impossible to always expect the goalkeeper to play beyond the norm and fly to the rescue.
Nottingham Forest are unlikely to be England's best defensive team and keep a clean sheet in the Champions League group stage if they rely solely on goalkeepers.
They defended well, mainly in midfield.
At this time, it is necessary to mention two other important figures in this team.
Chen Jian.
At the age of 26, he plays as a midfielder and is the main player of the Chinese national team and Nottingham Forest. He was also a player sent abroad by the "Star Project" company that year, at first he won Spain, he was still very young at that time, and then he gradually played out and became more and more famous.
He was selected for the Chinese national team. He played a lot of games and was valued by Nottingham Forest, who poached him from the yellow submarine after being promoted to the Premier League.
He is characterized by his agile body, and his defense mainly relies on excellent positional awareness and agile running, and his physical confrontation ability is slightly weaker, but his brain makes up for this disadvantage.
In the Chinese national team, it is enough for him to be responsible for sweeping the midfield, and the rest of the Chinese team can attack with confidence, which shows how good his defensive ability is.
In the Nottingham Forest team. He and George. Wood partnered, and the two worked together tacitly.
It was only last season that he won the Premier League's award for best foreign player.
And Nottingham Forest has just renewed his contract, giving him a six-year long-term contract, with a significant increase in annual salary and bonuses. In the press conference of the successful contract extension, Don directly told the teams that were interested in Chen Jian. Chen Jian is priceless and will not be sold.
George. Wood.
The captain of Nottingham Forest, who is only twenty-four years old, is already a world-renowned midfielder.
Nottingham Forest's own youth system is a representative of the best local players who have produced them.
He's very physical, fast, physical, and top-notch. He is a top midfielder.
At only 24 years old, he has already had a four-year international career, which means that he has already become an international for England at the age of 20.
With his strength, he should actually play for those European giants. And the European giants did not seduce him less.
However, he is a native of Nottingham, and he has a deep affection for the Nottingham Forest team, so he would rather stay with Nottingham Forest than leave.
After playing his first professional first-team game for the Forest at the age of eighteen. He has always been Nottingham Forest's main midfielder.
With him, everyone will feel at ease.
Except for defense. George. Wood also has an excellent long-range shot and long balls, and the main reason for Nottingham Forest's sharp counter-attack is that he is very precise in his long passing.
In the midfield defence, George. Wood is generally responsible for the grabs, while Chen Jian is responsible for filling in behind him.
The two cooperate very well, which can be seen from Chen Jian's first game at Nottingham Forest.
Their tacit understanding is also reflected in the transition between attack and defense.
After Chen Jian grabbed the ball, he would hand over the football to George as soon as possible. Wood, by George. Wood counters with a long pass.
And if Wood grabs the ball, he passes the ball directly when he has the opportunity, and if he doesn't have a chance, he divides the football into Chen Jian next to him, and then runs by himself.
Chen Jian will quickly pass the football to George, who is in the air cutting position. Wood, and then by George. Wood goes on the offensive.
Chen Jian and Wood will not hesitate in this regard.
The tacit understanding and efficiency of the two of them is another major reason why Nottingham Forest counterattacked sharply.
Because they don't have the slightest drag in the midfield, they do a very good job of attacking and defending.
In modern football, the better the team does the transition between attack and defense, the more advantageous.
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In addition, if you want to study Nottingham Forest, there is another person who can't get around it anyway.
That's their head coach, Tony. Dawn.
The Sherwood native of Nottingham North West joined Nottingham Forest at the age of twenty, albeit not as a player, but as a coach.
He started as an ordinary training coach at the grassroots level, worked hard to learn and improve himself, and climbed up little by little.
At the age of 34, he replaced his predecessor who had been sacked for poor coaching performance, becoming the youngest manager in Nottingham Forest's history.
Since then, Nottingham Forest have entered Tony. Donn's era.
He started in the Academy, boldly used young players in the face of the club's financial woes, and opted for defensive counter-attacking tactics based on the actual situation of the Forest team.
In the end, it took Nottingham Forest three years to make a triple jump under his leadership!
Promoted from English First Division to English Championship and from English Championship to English Premier League!
He then continued to refine his counter-attacking tactical thinking and brought in a large number of players who were suitable for counter-attacking.
It took two years to gain a firm foothold in the Premier League, and the next two years to impact European competition.
Finally, in his seventh year in charge of Nottingham Forest, he led the team to Champions League qualification!
Fourth in the Premier League last season and in the Champions League play-offs. Defeated Lyon in the play-offs to qualify for the main draw.
Tony. Done has become one of the most sought-after young and promising managers in English football.
The 41-year-old has received a number of coaching offers from major clubs, but he has remained unmoved and has chosen to stay at Nottingham Forest.
As he told the Nottingham Forest fans, he is a Nottinghamman and he will not leave his home team unless someone chases him away.
But for such a capable manager, the chairman of Nottingham Forest got rid of him because of his brain......
Coaching in England and coaching in Italy can be completely different in England. The head coach has a lot of power, almost more power than the president of the club, and he is still well-known, which is a matter of course, and no one will feel abnormal.
But in Italy. That's the deviant thing......
Chang Sheng is more concerned about the tactics chosen by Donn.
Over the past decade, Lazio's unprecedented success has led to a whirlwind of attacking football in European football, affecting almost everyone.
Many teams look very homogeneous.
It's like the same team.
Pick a team and you'll find that they're all based on passing on the ground, focusing on possession, and defending to get around the opposition. Start from the front court.
These characteristics are similar to those of Lazio.
Of course, this kind of football is very beautiful.
But there are still people who complain that everyone plays this kind of football, and when I watch all the teams play, I feel like I'm actually watching one team...... So what's the point of football like this?
Despite such complaints. But there are more voices in favor of this direction.
Because it makes football look better on top of the victory.
The fluid attack, the precisely calculated back and forth, and the outstanding individual performances are mesmerizing.
In the eyes of supporters. That's how football should go.
Such ideas are really deeply influential, even around the world. There are quite a few teams that have embraced this style of play. For a time, all teams were imitating Lazio.
It was in this environment that Tony. Donne, on the other hand, opted for defensive counter-attacking tactics and has publicly stated on several occasions that he looks down on many teams in their current football.
“…… There are a lot of teams that are imitating Lazio, and the media is full of praise for this imitation, saying that they have made football better and free from the low taste of utilitarianism...... It's ironic. Are these teams imitating Lazio because Lazio's football is beautiful? Bullshit! They imitate Lazio just to win, because Lazio's football can win, it's as simple as that, and it has nothing to do with whether it looks good or not! Isn't this in itself a very utilitarian idea and practice? When football is full of such utilitarian ideas, how can it be said that today's football is free from utilitarianism? ”
When interviewed by reporters again, Tony. Donn spoke about his disdain and contempt for today's football ethos.
At the same time, he threw out his "theory of the uselessness of ball control".
"The more complicated you are with the ball, the more useless it is. It looks good, but it's just looking, and it's actually useless. The vast majority of the goals that really led to goals were possession within five passes. Too much possession can lead to too much football sitting at your feet, and if you run into teams that are very pressing, you will die ugly. I don't think it's useful to have too much possession, you just have to chase what you need. Let's give up possession, give it to the opponent, and let them worry about the ball at their feet! ”
That's what Don said, and that's how he practiced what he said.
His Nottingham Forest have had less possession than their opponents in almost every game, but they can just win.
It's not pretty, but it's very practical.
In this way, a team that had been silent for a long time was brought back to the Champions League by him.
This is also the reason why so many public opinions scolded him, but his fame is getting bigger and bigger, and his status is getting higher and higher.
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