Chapter 53 It's Alfred Again!

Nottingham Forest head coach Hart is sitting firmly on the coach's bench, watching the game on the field, full of confidence.

The two teams from the East Midlands are also in the same League One, and the two teams pay attention to each other a lot. Hart knew quickly when Wan Sheng became Derby County manager.

He didn't pay too much attention.

But before the game against Derby, Hart studied the last Derby-Bradford game, which was the only game under the new manager. . From a coach's point of view, it can be seen that the key to Derby County's goal in that game was the substitution adjustment in the 80th minute.

The local Moyes played, and Derby County's counterattack was much smoother immediately.

That is to say, this young Chinese coach from Derby County is not as 'sloppy' as the media said. Winning is not entirely dependent on luck. He still has a little ability, so Hart is not sloppy when dealing with the game. main idea.

But when he got the Derby County squad, Hart was still puzzled, because a very unfamiliar name appeared on the Derby County starting list.

Baker-Alfred?

Who is this?

Hart was completely at a loss. After a little understanding, he realized that he was a player promoted by the Derby County youth team. He was not even twenty years old, so he was considered very young, and he did not have any professional league experience before. He didn't even make a substitute appearance or a warm-up match, and he only participated in the youth league in central England.

How could such a young man start in League One?

What a surprise!

Hart couldn't understand why Alfred would start. He felt that it was a mistake made by the opponent, and as an opponent, all he needed was to seize the opponent's mistake.

Derby County used to have Marcus and Nico Herzig at the center back, but now it's Marcus and Alfred. Nico Herziger is good and his performance is better than captain Marcus. The duo's centre-back combination has always been calm and sophisticated, and it is the cornerstone of Derby County's defense. And now, this point of Alfred is likely to be the key to their victory.

So Hart kept exhorting to find more opportunities at Alfred's point before the players came out.

As long as they can find a breakthrough in Derby County's defense, even if they defend with all their strength, it will be useless. No matter how good the formation is, there will be loopholes if there are gaps. It is useless to defend well in other places. As long as this loophole is seized, Nottingham Forest will be able to play. It's smooth and easy to find critical strike opportunities.

Hearing what the head coach said, Nottingham Forest's players were also in high spirits.

They are gearing up to 'teach the rookie a lesson'. In the professional league, being able to teach the rookie a lesson is really an interesting activity.

In this way, the game has just started. Nottingham Forest launched a fierce offensive against Alfred's point. Their football was constantly passing in the direction of the penalty area. They wanted to find a gap in Alfred. Chances of a fatal blow.

Such a targeted attack will put considerable pressure on any defensive player.

Faced with such pressure, some inexperienced young players are likely to collapse. Almost every Derby County player is worried about Alfred, and the Derby County fans in the stands are also sweating for Alfred. .

Many media reporters have made a conclusion to Alfred——

"...Maybe he will be an excellent central defender in the future, but now, his future has been cut off in advance. It's just that he met a rookie coach who didn't leave him any room for growth, so let him face it directly. Against the cruel professional league!"

...

Wan Sheng sat on the coach's bench with a calm expression, but his eyes kept staring in Alfred's direction.

He knew the pressure Alfred was going through.

When he chose to make Alfred the starting center back, he knew that he was bound to face these, but he chose to do so, not only because the team was in this position, there was no better choice, but also because of his Alfred's trust.

He chose to trust Alfred.

At the same time, he also believes that Alfred believes in himself, and as long as he believes in himself, and this strong belief will allow him to show his ability, then the defense will not be a problem.

What gives Wansheng confidence is Alfred's evaluation of spiritual attributes.

Whether in pursuit of the 'firmness' evaluation of winning the game, or the evaluation of the 'will' to fight against the difficulty, or the evaluation of the 'confidence' that Alfred lacked before, the values ​​are very high, the only one that is slightly lower It is 'confidence'. After all, Alfred has not participated in the professional league, and his confidence in his first game is still a little lacking. This evaluation is only '71' points.

But what Wansheng is betting on is that Alfred can increase his confidence in himself and the game after successfully defending again and again.

As long as he can complete a few successful defenses, Wansheng believes that he will definitely overcome the obstacles in his heart and grow into the cornerstone of the team's stable defense. Slowly, he will also stand out, become a defensive general, defensive backbone, and become a famous star.

And this game is used to hone him.

Yes, Wansheng used the game against Nottingham Forest as a platform to hone Alfred. As long as he succeeds, he can harvest an excellent young central defender talent. If he fails, Alfred will not be able to use it for a short time.

That's all.

Like he said to Diamares, he can afford to lose!

However, Wan Sheng didn't like failure, he stared at Alfred, hoping that Alfred could perform well, which would also represent his success.

...

On the Derby County bench, there is also someone who is not satisfied with Wansheng sending Alfred, that is Peter Kennedy. When Gregory coached the team, Kennedy was the team's midfielder. Although he did not have a clear main position, he often started.

Originally, he saw Nico Herziger being sent to the youth team, thinking that he would become the main center back, but he did not expect Wansheng to choose Alfred.

A competitor never thought of.

In fact, Peter Kennedy doesn't care that he can't become the starting center back. After all, he is not a pure center back. Even if he becomes the main center back now, after the summer and the next season, he will still return to the midfielder position.

The starter of a few games is not called the main force.

But not competing with Alfred, still makes Kennedy feel resentful, even if he is not a pure center back, but the defensive ability is not as good as a rookie?

He had some hope that Alfred would be crushed soon.

...

Nottingham Forest's attack is quite fierce!

An attacking team, they held down Derby County at the start of the game at the familiar City Square ground.

The players of Nottingham Forest formed a sharp spear, the tip of the spear flashed a cold light and stabbed towards Derby County, while the players of Derby County formed a hard shield to meet the attack of the spear. This is a spear and a shield. contest.

Alfred, the point of contact between the spear and the shield.

Although there are other teammates to help support him, he still has a lot of pressure to face. If he collapses, the shield will collapse completely, and he has become the top priority of maintaining Derby County's defense.

For a rookie who is participating in the professional league for the first time, but facing such pressure, it is really worrying all the time.

Almost everyone looked at it.

Just like everyone thought, Nottingham Forest has been actively looking for Alfred's point to attack. When Nottingham Forest attacked, Alfred didn't even have time to catch his breath. Football would always pass to him. Positionally, he has to face defensive pressure all the time.

again and again……

When the opponent passes the ball to the penalty area, he has to defend the opponent's player closely, and does not allow the opponent to break through him and find a chance to steal; the opponent dribbles the ball horizontally in front of the penalty area, he needs to hold his position tightly and be ready to block the shot with his body at any time; To hoist the ball into the penalty area, he needs to fight with the opposing forwards, contend for points, and push the ball out of the danger zone.

In the face of repeated attacks, Alfred needs to be stable every time without making any mistakes. He knows that the most important thing for a central defender is stability.

At first, Alfred was a little nervous.

He was really excited when he played in the professional league for the first time. He was inspired by the captain Marcus, but when the football really came and he needed to face the defense, he still didn't know if he could response.

But the first defense was successful.

He personally defended the opponent's striker, did not let the opponent have a chance to shoot, and even some passes were not in place, and the football was thrown out of bounds by other teammates.

The second time was successful.

The football flew high from the flank, he carried the opponent's striker hard, jumped up with his height advantage and pushed the ball out of the penalty area.

The third defense was still successful...

the fourth time……

The defensive success time after time gave Alfred great confidence. When he first started, he didn't know if he could cope, but he gradually discovered that professional football is just like that. Just like on the training ground, he only needs to do his own defense work well. Able to deal with the opponent's attack--

He found himself capable of dealing with these!

Self-confidence leads to better performance. Success brings self-confidence, and self-confidence leads to better performance. This is a virtuous circle, and Alfred is using his performance on the field to prove it.

Derby County coaching bench.

Wan Sheng watched Alfred's defensive performance time and time again, he breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

...

Many people at the scene paid attention to Alfred's performance.

Among them are media reporters, players of the two teams, coaches, and many fans in the audience. As long as you pay close attention to the game, whether you are a senior football player or not, you can see that Alfred's point is very important.

This is a rookie rookie.

They all felt that the rookie rookie would not perform well. They also saw that Alfred's defensive performance was indeed a little difficult and a little immature. He was constantly adjusting himself to face the attack of Nottingham Forest.

His face was grim.

It seems serious, but also like fear, fear. There are many ways to interpret the expressions of the players on the field. The interpretation of the commentator Lyle Woodgate is the latter. When the big camera is pointed at Alfred, he is very high. With a shout, "See? This young man is worried about defense!"

The messy jersey, the dirt on the face, seemed to say what Woodgate said.

All that was needed was a chance for validation, and that was when the youngster made a defensive mistake before Nottingham Forest took advantage of the opportunity to put the ball in the Derby County goal.

"Nottingham Forest are making a stormy attack on Alfred's point, and it looks like Alfred is nervous, he's running out of steam, and it's only a matter of time before the home team scores!" Lyle Woodgate emphasized.

Many people support his argument.

Then they start expecting Alfred's mistakes, they're expecting Nottingham Forest's goals, they wait and wait, it's just a matter of time, just wait.

One minute.

five minutes.

ten minutes.

twenty minutes.

The score on the field is still 0:0. Alfred did not see any big mistakes, but everyone found that Derby County's defense is getting more and more stable.

At the beginning of the game, Nottingham Forest still had a chance to shoot, but in the five minutes just now, Nottingham Forest didn't even have a shot. What they expected, breaking through at Alfred's point, seemed to be a joke, because Alfred Red didn't make a big mistake at all, and his defense has been very tenacious.

In the face of Nottingham Forest's offensive against him, he withstood for 20 minutes!

Twenty minutes is a critical time point. No team will attack continuously for more than 20 minutes. Not only is the physical fitness unable to keep up, but the confidence of the players is also a big problem - if you don’t score for 20 minutes in a row, then this is the case. Can you score goals if you keep going?

So generally speaking, at the 20-minute point, the offensive tempo will slow down a bit, and they also need to make some adjustments to complete the 90-minute game.

But Nottingham Forest did not.

Attacking for 20 minutes in a row doesn't matter if they don't score a goal. The most unacceptable thing for them is that they didn't break through the opponent's rookie defense once!

This is really unacceptable.

Each of their frontcourt players felt that facing the rookie, they would definitely have no problem breaking through the defense. Everyone saw the failure of others and thought it was a mistake, or it was definitely careless, etc., and they didn’t really face it. They simply don't believe how good a rookie defense can do.

So their offensive was even more violent.

over and over again……

Alfred's pressure has not decreased, but has increased a lot. But after 20 minutes of the game, he has adapted to the constant attack of the opponent. When he adapts to this rhythm, all he needs to do is to persevere, defend steadily, perform steadily, this is what he needs to do, know how to do it, Do it according to the idea. For him, defense is just a task that is repeated again and again, and the pressure is gradually reduced.

With the attack of Nottingham Forest, Alfred is better!

He became the center of attention...

"Alfred steals the ball!"

"Alfred! He blocked the shot with his body! He's a tough guy who bravely blocked the hole with his body!"

"Alfred again, he pushed the ball out of the box and made a clean clearance!"

What a lot of people don't notice is that their mindset has changed as they watch Alfred perform.

They had been wondering when the young rookie would make a mistake so that Nottingham Forest could take advantage of the opportunity to score the ball, and now they want to see Alfred again successfully defending, the phrase 'Alfred again. Fred', that sounds really good!