Chapter 779: Volume Six, Crimson Fights the Old Woman Again
The league has gone through seven rounds. Nottingham Forest has two draws and five wins, temporarily ranking fourth in the league.
This season has been competitive from the first round. Up to now, in October, the difference between the top six in the league is only three points. The top two Manchester United and Arsenal have exactly the same points, and they are actually only one point behind Nottingham Forest.
But now that the season has only started for two months, it is too early to say who will win the championship in the end.
Dunn's plan for this season is to keep the top four in the league and ensure his qualification for the European Champions Cup next season. In the Champions Cup, at least the quarter-finals to the semi-finals, if they can win the championship, then of course they will fight for it at all costs. As for the League Cup and the FA Cup, they are still used for team practice.
The Champions League away game against Atletico Madrid helped Fernandez regain his form, but whether he can also show that form in the league is still a question mark in everyone's mind.
In the eighth round of the league, when Nottingham Forest challenged Sunderland away, Tony Twain continued to let Fernandez start the game. He continued his performance against Atletico Madrid in the game. In addition, due to Bell's injury, Barnes is not a full-back with excellent attacking ability, so on the left, Tang En does not require Barnes to assist or Fernandez to return to the defense. The Chilean can focus on dealing with the enemy's attack. Defensive players, threatening the opponent's goal with breakthroughs or passes.
Fernandez's skills are undoubtedly outstanding in the English Premier League. Sunderland is not the kind of delicate technical team, they are more like a traditional English team. Long pass, rough personal skills, many active mistakes in passing and catching the ball, but good physical fitness, dare to fight and grab, and likes to make physical contact.
Fernandez performed better than them in the game-he didn't consider whether he would be injured in the fierce physical collision with the opponent. He only knew that if he didn't work harder, he would not be able to sit in this main position for long.
The Chilean's body is very thin, but his technique is good, which more or less made up the gap between the two sides. He can use his superb foot skills to protect the ball in the double-team of three Sunderland players. In this case, the Sunderland players have only two choices-one is to let Fernandez bring football to success. Go out; the second is foul.
Sunderland's head coach is no longer Roy Keane. Dunn felt that even if Keane was still there, he would probably ask the players to be tough on Fernandez. It's not polite at all. Well, because he is also the head coach who will demand such things from his own people...
Fernandez was taken care of, and he was violated five times in 45 minutes of the first half. Fortunately, he was not injured. In return, three of Sunderland's four defenders received yellow cards for him.
In the second half Sunderland finally suffered from their rough tactics, Fernandez dribbled the ball into the penalty area and was tackled to the ground by Sunderland centre-back Paul McShane.
The referee awarded a penalty kick without hesitation. Although this caused collective protests from the home team players and fans, the referee did not change the penalty. Not only that, he also showed a second yellow card to McShane who already had a yellow card on his back!
The excited McShane was about to pounce on the red card in the hands of the referee, and on the other side, Fernandez, who made a penalty and sent off Sunderland, was receiving hugs from his teammates. He felt that he was gradually integrating into this team, and he no longer wondered whether it was the right move to the cold and wet England.
There is no turning back when you open the bow, no matter what, he must succeed here!
The penalty kick was taken by Eastwood, the team's top penalty shooter. After a long run-up, he shot vigorously. The goalkeeper judged the right direction, but the ball was too fast. When he rushed over, the football had already hit him. net!
Nottingham Forest took the lead in the away game with this penalty.
Sunderland, who was sent off a central defender, had to adjust his strategy, replacing Paraguayan striker Oscar Cardoso and replacing him with central defender Anton Ferdinand, who is the younger brother of Manchester United central defender Rio Ferdinand, but The ability is not as good as his brother, and he is still young, so he can only play for the middle and lower teams.
This time a completely passive substitution disrupted Sunderland's deployment.
At the same time, when Fernandez got the ball again, the Sunderland defenders had to hesitate again and again - they were afraid that they would follow in McShane's footsteps. This made Fernandez even more arrogant. He was not satisfied with continuous breakthroughs on the side, so he simply moved to the center and pushed Shaheen to the left.
Long shots, passes, and breakthroughs are all good, which caused headaches for Sunderland's defenders.
In the 87th minute, Sunderland made a big push, trying to equalize the score by relying on tenacious fighting spirit. But a long run from the back with the ball from Fernandez shattered their dreams.
Due to his previous active performance, this dribbling has attracted the close attention of two Sunderland players. Instead, he passed the football to Ibisevic, who was completely unmarked.
Super Ibby slightly adjusted the ball at his feet outside the penalty area, and then took a long shot, which directly penetrated the ten fingers of Scotland's main goalkeeper Gordon.
After the goal, Ibisevic ran towards the camera behind the corner flag, then swung his right hand and slapped hard.
This is his fifth goal of the season!
This was the goal that sealed the victory, and it was also the one that made the Sunderland team lose their fighting spirit.
In the remaining five or six minutes, Sunderland could no longer organize an effective offensive, so the game came to an end.
Nottingham Forest beat Sunderland 2-0 with Mathias Fernandez's wonderful performance in the away game.
After the game, Fernandez got the best champagne on the spot. Surrounded by reporters, he smiled happily.
Dunn also praised Fernandez by name at the press conference. He now wants to do everything possible to make Fernandez feel that he has a future in the Forest team and that Nottingham Forest is a team worthy of his playing.
Anyway, there is no cost to say good things, and the more natural history, the better.
Fernandez also mentioned life in the Forest team in an interview with the media in his hometown.
He said: "...I like this team and I am getting used to life here. Everyone is very friendly and the boss - that's what they call the coach here - is a unique charm. This team is different from other teams, and I want to win a championship here. I enjoy my life here."
"Will the language barrier become an obstacle?" The reporter asked him.
He shook his head: "Playing football depends on your feet, not your mouth. I think my teammates and I are forming a tacit understanding."
He was right, "a tacit agreement is being formed".
Although he won the match against Sunderland, Twain also praised Fernandez who won the best of the game. But in fact, his heart is not as happy as he shows.
Fernandez has found his status, but the tacit understanding still needs to be cultivated slowly. Being able to beat Sunderland actually depends on personal ability, not the overall strength of the team. Fernandez chose to fight alone more often, which can be seen from the attack data of his ten violations throughout the game.
Twain affirmed Fernandez's outstanding performance in this game. But if this happens every game in the future, he will criticize the team with a black face. Nottingham Forest has never been the kind of team that insists on individualism first, and overall football is the goal he pursues. If it is necessary to say that this team has individual heroism, then that hero can only be Tony Twain himself.
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After playing the league with Sunderland, Nottingham Forest will once again leave the UK and fly to Italy.
This time their opponent is the old rival Juventus two seasons ago.
Before leaving, Tang En accepted an interview from the media. Unexpectedly, he did not show his usual arrogant style. Instead, be cautious: "Playing Juventus away is a certain degree of difficulty. Of course I hope to win, but it is really meaningless to say whether I win or not. Football is round. Until the last second, who knows the result? "
The media interpreted Tang En's attitude as a deliberate show of weakness, but it was actually just a kind of psychological warfare - he wanted Juventus to think that Nottingham Forest was afraid of them, so that they underestimated the enemy. Actually? When Juventus underestimates the enemy, suddenly give them a fatal blow!
This is simply in line with Tony Twain's style.
So he absolutely cannot believe what he said!
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Claudio Ranieri - it's a miracle he's still in charge of Juventus. Everyone thought he was an over-coach, but it turned out that three seasons passed after this transition...he still sat firmly in this position.
Now the gray-haired old man is studying Nottingham Forest, their strongest opponent in the Champions League group stage.
Judging from the current points ranking, the seeded team Juventus has one win and one draw, and is still below Nottingham Forest, which has won two games and two games.
Tony Twain's conversation before coming here naturally couldn't escape Ranieri's eyes.
He was thinking about the motive behind Tony Twain's sudden and positive statement...
According to Tony Twain's habit of looking forward to the game and the future, he should say arrogantly: "The three best teams in the world are Nottingham Forest, Nottingham Forest and Nottingham Forest. So our opponent is only ourselves, I don't care whether the game is against Juventus or Barcelona, because there is only one result - we win!"
That's the only way to fit his character.
Suddenly being cautious and voluntarily low-key, this abnormal phenomenon has to make Ranieri more careful.
He wants us to underestimate the enemy?
Is Juventus that kind of team?
Does he really think that the away game against Juventus has little chance of winning? So find a good step for yourself in advance?
Ranieri always feels that this possibility is too low, too low...
What kind of trick did Tony Twain have? What is he trying to do?
If his purpose is to deceive Juventus to underestimate the enemy, then he must hope that Juventus will attack aggressively at home and then wait for an opportunity to fight back. But Juventus is not a team that will get carried away. Even in his home court, Ranieri will not take the risk of doing so. No matter when, Juventus always takes "stability" as the priority factor. Otherwise they wouldn't be called "old women" either. This is a team style that will not change no matter how many coaches change.
Ranieri believed that Tang En's IQ would not be low enough to think that Juventus would attack at home and leave a large space in the backcourt for the Forest team to counterattack.
After all, two seasons ago, Juventus defeated Nottingham Forest, not relying on strong offense, but overall balance. Whether it is offense or defense, they may not be the best, but their overall strength is very strong, and there is no obvious weakness.
A football game is a game of hiding one's weaknesses, finding and exploiting the opponent's weaknesses. In this regard, Juventus' team style has made them "invincible".
Thinking about it gave him such a headache that he couldn't figure out the reason why Tang En suddenly lowered his posture at this time. Ranieri simply stopped thinking about it. No matter what medicine Tony Twain sells in the gourd, as the home team, as Juventus, the biggest giant in Serie A, he only needs to stick to his own style and football.
Juventus football is not the kind of football that adjusts to different opponents. If the football of today's football overlord Barcelona is "aggressive like fire", then Juventus is "immovable like a mountain".
Ranieri decided to stick to his own style, to respond to all changes with the same.
Just like the two sides played against each other for the first time. He doesn't know much about Nottingham Forest than the average person, so he insisted on Juventus' own style of play, and finally succeeded in defeating Nottingham Forest at home, and retreated unscathed in the away game. He felt that he didn't need to make any changes, Juventus was almost born with Nottingham Forest.
What is a "natural enemy"?
Juventus is the natural enemy of Nottingham Forest!
Tony Twain's tactical style doesn't seem to have changed much from two years ago. If it's still like this... Ranieri thinks that if nothing else happens, it shouldn't be a problem for him to score three points at home. As for the away game, you really need to be more careful.
He didn't underestimate the enemy at all.