The referee blew the whistle and the game officially started.
Lazio won the kick-off, so they attacked first.
From the very beginning of the game, everyone could clearly see that this was a collision between two completely different football styles.
After the game started, Nottingham Forest did not step forward to press Lazio's players and allowed Lazio to pass the football back.
They quickly returned to their own thirty-meter area and formed a defense line.
After doing all this, they waited for Lazio to attack.
Although at this time, Lazio's ball-controlling players were still in the second half, nearly fifty meters away from them...
Seeing this scene, the Spanish commentator couldn't help laughing: "Nottingham Forest, which is good at shrinking defense, is really well-deserved! I think Nottingham Forest should not play in the Premier League. They should ask to be merged into Serie A..."
The guest next to him said: "The Italian league now has a very strong offensive football style..."
The Lazio fans in the stands also laughed at Nottingham Forest's actions.
In their eyes, Nottingham Forest is like a coward who ran to the corner screaming as soon as the fight started, then squatted down with his head in his hands...
When encountering such an opponent, I'm afraid there will only be ridicule and helplessness, right?
Such a team can become the most popular dark horse in the Champions League this season, which is really an insult to the word "dark horse"...
They immediately felt that it was not worth it for Real Madrid and Dortmund to be tied by such opponents.
At the same time, in their minds, they believed that if Lazio took action, they would be able to easily defeat their opponents, get into the penalty area early, confirm their lead, and then let the game enter the "Lazio rhythm."
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However, it is somewhat different from what these fans expected.
When the game started, Lazio, who had the ball at their feet, did not rush to attack. Instead, they frequently dropped their feet in the backcourt and slowly pushed forward.
If something goes wrong, he quickly passes the football back and continues the same trick. Then he slowly advances forward.
Just repeat the cycle...
The scene that fans expected for Lazio to launch a massive attack and then completely cripple Nottingham Forest like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves did not appear.
For the whole five minutes, the whole five minutes of the opening, the football was still under Lazio's control, but Lazio didn't even have a shot. They just moved back and forth in the midfield and backcourt.
If Lazio had been replaced by Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid would have been booed by Real Madrid fans who have high standards and strict demands for being noble and cool.
However, at Lazio's home court, although Lazio fans were a little surprised, they still expressed support for Lazio's choice.
The singing never stopped, and the shouting also continued.
Even when the Lazio players passed the ball back and forth, they would count loudly.
The commentators expressed confusion about Lazio's approach.
"Lazio was going back and forth in the backcourt... They've been passing the ball like this for five minutes! But they didn't even get a shot. What are Lazio going to do?"
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Tony Twain, who was standing on the sidelines directing the game, turned his head and glanced next door.
Chang Sheng sat on the coach's bench and did not come out. He could only see Chang Sheng's crossed legs.
This move again!
Tony Twain gritted his teeth in his heart.
Not only Roma fans hate Chang Sheng crossing his legs when directing the team to play, but many people in Europe don't like it because they think it is disrespectful to their opponents, a kind of provocation and ridicule.
Tony Twain quickly put Erlang Leg aside and didn't think about it because it wasn't the key.
The double leg is like a verbal spat before a game, it is a kind of psychological warfare.
What the other side does is just to anger their players and make them lose their cool.
If you are fooled, you are doomed.
Therefore, you must not follow the other person's rhythm.
As for whether Lazio really doesn't value Nottingham Forest, Tony Twain can guess what the real answer is from some details.
Does Chang Sheng not value Nottingham Forest?
No, never.
Tony Twain did not believe that a legendary coach who could win nine Champions League titles could be so incompetent and make such a low-level mistake.
Although they are a fourth-tier team, they started to perform very well. After the media's publicity, I believe Chang Sheng should have fully realized what kind of team Nottingham Forest is.
It is absolutely impossible for him to be arrogant and underestimate the enemy.
Not only are they not arrogant and underestimate their enemies, on the contrary, they also take themselves very seriously.
This can be seen from Lazio's performance in the first five minutes.
If Lazio really does not value Nottingham Forest, they should launch a fierce offensive towards Nottingham Forest's goal after the game starts, hoping to score as soon as possible. This is also what many teams that despise Nottingham Forest will do.
But Lazio didn't do that, they chose to keep passing the ball from behind.
Although this approach is not very positive, it is even negative, conservative and ugly.
But for Tony Twain, this is the most correct approach.
Lazio did not attack forward rashly, but just passed the ball back and forth from behind. Occasionally, when it came up, when it saw something was wrong, it would immediately pass it back, always keeping the football under its control.
For a team like Lazio with excellent ball control ability, this is the safest.
Lazio's doing this shows that they attach great importance to Nottingham Forest and are even a little afraid of Nottingham Forest's defensive counterattack.
Therefore, Lazio would rather not shoot than give Nottingham Forest a chance to attack.
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Tony Twain made a good guess.
Lazio attaches great importance to Nottingham Forest, far more than Real Madrid and Dortmund.
On the one hand, it is naturally because of the strength that Nottingham Forest showed in previous games.
Another reason is that Nottingham Forest has entered the Champions League for the first time in 40 years, and they are very unfamiliar to Lazio.
From coaches to players, we don’t know much about them.
Naturally, you should pay special attention to your first encounter.
Afraid of any accidents.
The first time they met, it was an encounter, but this was not the case for Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest must know Lazio well enough, but Lazio does not know Nottingham Forest, so naturally they have to be cautious.
In order to prevent Nottingham Forest from having a chance to defend and counterattack, Chang Sheng weakened the intensity of the offense. This game mainly emphasized control.
The safest time is only when the football is firmly under your feet. This is true whether you are attacking or defending.
Of course, this does not mean that Lazio will not attack at all. Eighty percent of the entire game was spent in this kind of back and forth.
Although Lazio is shameless, it is very utilitarian. What benefits does this do to Lazio?
Challenging Lazio away from home, for Nottingham Forest, it would be great if they could get a draw.
And if Lazio never attacks, this is naturally what Nottingham Forest hopes.
I'll look for more things when I get back home.
If it were Tony Twain who always won, he would do the same thing.
In a football match, when there is a gap in strength between the two sides, but the gap is not absolute, the biggest fear is actually that the weaker side thinks too much. Once it thinks too much, it is easy to find a loophole and be caught by the master.
And use it.
Nottingham Forest's tactic from the beginning was to defend, and defending 0:0 would be the best result.
Tony Twain did not tell his players what they would do if they could win.
So if Lazio keeps dragging on like this, it will not be good for themselves.
So in the end Lazio has to attack.
It’s just that attacking also requires attention to methods.
To attack blindly is a dead end.
Lazio is constantly passing the ball and kicking the ball, not to delay time pointlessly, nor to increase the ball possession rate.
Instead, he constantly tested Nottingham Forest's defensive system by passing the ball back and forth to find their loopholes.
Although they have watched Nottingham Forest's game videos and defensive highlights, they have also listened to the coach's analysis.
But there are some things that you still have to experience in person to know what they really feel like.
There's nothing like actually experiencing it during the game.
Through these five minutes of testing, Lazio already knew more or less how Nottingham Forest's defensive system worked.
In fact, Nottingham Forest's overall strength is really not strong. Except for those three players who can be considered first-rate, the rest of their players are quasi-first-rate or even second-rate.
This kind of staffing is also in line with Nottingham Forest's financial situation. They are not a very rich club.
Nottingham Forest has as many as four players who were trained by their own youth academy.
The reason why Nottingham Forest can draw with teams like Real Madrid and Dortmund is that, in addition to the important roles played by those three players, they also have an excellent head coach and the team's super execution ability.
Whatever Tang En said it was, that was what it was.
The whole team had no objections and complied with the instructions.
From this point of view, it is quite similar to Lazio, which always wins.
The reason why Lazio can dominate Europe has a lot to do with their superb execution.
Many people always have many successful ideas, but why do they always fail?
This has nothing to do with their brains, but with their execution ability.
People with poor execution ability will not be able to turn them into reality no matter how many genius ideas they have.
The Forest team's outstanding execution ability ensures that they faithfully implement Tony Twain's tactics and are meticulous.
Just like a group of robots.
But the effect is really good.
In this team, the core of defense is obviously the two midfielders, Chen Jian and George Wood.
These two people have a clear division of labor, a tacit understanding of cooperation, and very outstanding personal abilities. Together, these two people naturally form an excellent defense.
Finally, there is Nottingham Forest's last line of defense.
If there was an attack that was accidentally missed, it would be resolved by Peter and John one by one.
This kind of double insurance ensures that Nottingham Forest's defense line is almost airtight. (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!)
