Chapter 47 Tenacious Lazio (One Hundred and Twelve/One Hundred and Thirty-Four)

Changsheng chose to play for a draw, of course, because the field was bad.  m

But he was also confident that the team could get a draw.

His confidence came from his understanding of Nottingham Forest.

The team's defense was excellent, but its offense was relatively poor...

Otherwise, why would Tony Twain choose to use defensive counterattack as their common tactic?

If they had excellent attackers, wouldn't they choose offensive tactics?

Based on Changsheng's understanding of Tony Twain, he believed that he was not a fanatical believer in defensive football. He was actually a pragmatist like himself. He chose to play defensive counterattack football simply because this football tactic was suitable for Nottingham Forest and was easier to achieve results.

That's all.

There was absolutely no other meaning.

So why was it suitable for Nottingham Forest?

Nottingham Forest's strong defense was one reason.

The other side was naturally because Nottingham Forest lacked talent in offense.

Tony Twain's Nottingham Forest played 451. Except for the forwards, everyone had to retreat deep when defending to assist in defense.

The one who stayed in front and was responsible for the counterattack was Adriano Mok, the current starting striker of Nottingham Forest.

This striker started playing for Nottingham Forest's first team last season.

He had been in the youth team and the reserve team before.

He is only 22 years old now.

He is short and a little thin, but he has one characteristic, that is, he is fast enough! Very fast!

So Tony Twain saw him put on the forward line and let him be responsible for the counterattack.

When Nottingham Forest attacked, they directly passed the ball to Mok in the backcourt. After he got the ball, he used his speed to threaten the opponent's defense.

Mok's 100-meter quadruple reached an astonishing 10.56 seconds.

In today's Premier League, this speed can be ranked in the top three.

Nottingham Forest relied on Mok's speed to become the fourth in the league last season and the dark horse of the Champions League this season.

The indestructible defense plus Mok's sharp speed attack is the main tactical style of Lazio.

Their personnel configuration must also meet these two requirements.

First of all, it is natural to defend well, and secondly, the offensive and defensive transitions must be fast enough. There are many straight passes and long passes, so the players are required to have high accuracy in medium and long distance passes.

Such teams mainly pass in straight lines, and they are used to counterattacks. How can they be good at positional warfare?

Therefore, Changsheng shrinks the defense, the purpose is to force Nottingham Forest to fight a positional war with them.

In this way, the only thing Nottingham Forest can rely on is probably the bad field.

But no matter how much Nottingham Forest does, it is impossible to dig the field into the appearance of being bombed by landmines, right?

It is too crazy, but it will be punished by UEFA.

So although the field is bad. Lazio players can still barely cope with it.

The situation was deadlocked for a while.

Until the end of the first half, Nottingham Forest was unable to break Lazio's goal.

Of course, the colors of the jerseys on the Lazio players have become colorful-all of this is rolling on the ground, looking very embarrassed.

But no matter how embarrassed they were, for Lazio players, they could leave the court with their heads held high.

Because they did not lose the ball under extremely unfavorable circumstances!

Why were they so embarrassed?

Isn't it just to avoid losing the ball?

Now. Their goal is halfway completed. In the second half, as long as they continue to defend like this and don't lose the ball, they will win!

Yes. Facing so many unfavorable conditions away from home, even a draw is a victory for Lazio!

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In fact. When walking off the court, Lazio players did look very energetic. They were not tired at all from being suppressed by Nottingham Forest for 45 minutes.

On the contrary, Nottingham Forest players seemed a little... confused at the end of the first half.

Yes, confused.

When the whistle sounded at the end of the first half, the TV broadcast gave many Nottingham Forest players close-ups.

In the close-up shots, the Nottingham Forest players looked a little confused, their mouths were open, and their eyes seemed to have no focus.

If you only look at this scene, you will think that Nottingham Forest is the one who is behind, and the visiting team Lazio has taken the lead early...

The English commentator was also very dissatisfied with this result.

"In the first half, we almost had the advantage, but we were unable to score a goal! We had three excellent opportunities in front of the goal! What happened? One was meaninglessly squandered by our own players, and the other two were resolved by Ter Stegen who performed heroically... I think this performance is not satisfactory. There is a popular saying in the football circle, that is, 'wasting opportunities will be punished'. With so many opportunities, Nottingham Forest did not seize any of them. So what will happen in the second half? It's really hard to say..."

In addition to the English commentator, commentators from other countries also thought that Nottingham Forest had too many opportunities in the first half, but did not seize any of them, which was a pity.

The Italian commentator seemed very excited.

"The first half is over! 0:0! Lazio kept the goal intact in an extremely unfavorable situation! This is amazing! Lazio showed us their resilience in this game! People may have forgotten that Lazio holds the record for the fewest goals conceded in a single season in Europe! In terms of defense, I think they are not afraid of any team!"

When Lazio went to Nottingham, they all thought that Lazio would definitely beat Nottingham Forest. It was hard to say how many goals they would win, because they had already seen Nottingham Forest's defense. Even Lazio tried their best and could only score one goal. It would be even more difficult to score more goals.

But no matter what, they can win.

Who would have thought that after coming to Nottingham, Lazio players were injured in the warm-up before the game started. This cast a shadow on Lazio's prospects in this game.

The following situation made the Italian commentator dare not hope that Lazio could win, and even began to worry that Lazio would lose a few goals away from home...

Although Nottingham Forest was the biggest dark horse in the group, and the other two teams were tied by them, they did not lose to them. Is Nottingham Forest going to be the first strong team to lose to Nottingham Forest?

The various dangers in the game also made the commentator in a highly nervous state, fearing that Nottingham Forest's next attack would cause Lazio to lose the ball, or the football would bounce on the uneven grass and bypass goalkeeper Ter Stegen and fly into the Lazio goal...

Never expected that Lazio did not lose the ball in such an extremely unfavorable situation!

This made the Italian commentator very excited.

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The Lazio players and the Italian commentator were satisfied with the result of the first half, but Tony Twain did not think so.

His ideal situation was that in the first half, Nottingham Forest would completely end the suspense of the game and make Lazio completely lose its fighting spirit.

But who would have thought that Lazio would be so tenacious. Instead, their defense was very solid, and they ensured that they did not lose a single goal!

This made Tony Twain very unhappy.

He thought that the morale of the players was fine, and his tactics were fine.

But he underestimated the tenacity of Lazio.

In the case of an unfavorable field, Lazio solved this problem with very concise defensive actions, trying to minimize the possibility of risk.

Moreover, in this game, Lazio's main goalkeeper, Germany's No. 1 goalkeeper Ter Stegen, also played very well. He tried his best to keep the goal intact.

Tony Twain calculated a lot of things, but he did not calculate the performance of Lazio players.

When Lazio's main players were injured during the warm-up, Tony Twain felt that he had a sure win, because this accident would definitely have a big impact on Lazio's players. It made them more timid in the game.

This will help Nottingham Forest seize the initiative and even score a goal.

What else can Nottingham Forest do in this situation?

There seems to be nothing to adjust during the halftime break.

All we can do is look at the performance of the players.

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Although he was a little dissatisfied, Tony Twain did not show it.

During the halftime break, he praised the players' performance.

He affirmed the players and gave them confidence.

Then he told his players to continue playing like this in the second half, and to play harder and continue to put pressure on Lazio's defense.

"They were very tenacious in the first half, but that was just a balloon that looked very resilient. As long as we exert enough pressure, we can break through their protective shell and then beat them hard!"

Tony Twain can only explain this to the players now, and then look forward to the game, the bad field will make the game have some dramatic scenes...

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In the Lazio locker room, Changsheng was also praising his team.

Because they were very tenacious in the first half.

There is not much to say about the tactical arrangement. Anyway, it is like this, shrink the defense, and then end with a long kick. Try to minimize the possibility of accidents in your penalty area.

Don't think about anything else.

The more you think, the more miserable you will die.

Finally, Changsheng told everyone with a serious face: "This game is the most difficult game Lazio has faced this season. But this is not a reason for us to surrender. We can certainly choose to lose this game cleanly, and it should not pose any threat to our group qualification. But I still don't want to lose. The situation is very unfavorable, but I still don't want to lose. We can lose this game, and no one will blame us, but I still don't want to lose. I think this is my stubbornness. This is also the stubbornness of Lazio!"

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