Benitez thinks George. Wood could be a breakthrough point for Liverpool to exploit, but after only fifteen minutes of play, he found himself wrong.

Wood, who had not performed well in the previous games, did not continue that poor form in this game. Steven Gerrard was in trouble in midfield, George. Wood's stubborn resistance kept him from taking a step forward. He had no choice but to pass the football to Mascherano behind him.

Mascherano's job wasn't easy either, as he had to face Gago's attack.

In the Argentine national team, he is the absolute mainstay, while Gago hovers between the main and the substitute. But Gago's performances for the Forest team have been outstanding. This may have something to do with the difference in tactics used by the national team manager and the Forest manager.

At Nottingham Forest, Gago's can get George. Wood's unreserved protection and support, which he did not receive in the Argentine national team. In the national team, Gago's play needs to juggle more defense, he is not the kind of master who can play both offense and defense, he can easily take care of one or the other. Mascherano believes that Gago is the strongest Gago in the club, and in the national team, he sacrificed some of what he does best for the opportunity to play.

However, Gago's ability to excel at the club is only possible thanks to George. Wood's form is fine.

In the first few games, Wood's form was out of order, and Gago's performance was inconsistent. This game...... Looks like that number 13 seems to have woken up?

Liverpool, according to Benitez's previous arrangement, attacked the middle, but it didn't work at all. George. It was as if Wood had all returned overnight, running tirelessly down the middle, judging the position well, making quick and decisive tackles, using his strong body to make reasonable charges, or choosing to foul Liverpool at the right time to stop Liverpool's attack...... Pepe's line of defense appeared to be safe, and Akinfeev even had nothing to do.

Benitez realised he had misjudged, so he walked to the sideline and gestured for his team to change their attacking strategy – to return to the wing.

When George. After Wood's defensive pressure eased, Nottingham Forest's attack began to come alive.

Wood frequently fed the ball to Gago, who passed it to attack. Don't underestimate this step. This is where all the attacks come from, and an important midfielder is shown through this step. If football is always inexplicably lost at the back, then it doesn't matter how good the strikers and wide attackers the team has. It's not just a matter of not being able to go up offensively, but your team's backline will also frequently face the opponent's on-the-spot counter-attacks. Therefore, a midfielder who can snatch the ball is only half excellent, and a midfielder who can snatch the ball and control the football and then send it to the place where it should be is truly world-class.

George. Wood is one of those players.

And when Gago concentrates on defense, his pass success rate will drop significantly, and his ball protection level is not high, and it is easy for opponents to break on the spot. It's no wonder that Gago is not the absolute main force of the Argentine national team now......

When Gago gets the ball, he will face his partner in the national team, Mascherano. Focused on attacking, Gago is not afraid of Mascherano's defence, knowing that even if he loses a goal, someone will help him get it back. So he can be confident in making bold passes that require a lot of skill and awareness, such as rubbing the ball on the wing with the outside of his instep, or passing a long ball directly behind Liverpool's defence without stopping.

If Mascherano is pressing hard, he passes the football to Wood behind him, and then runs himself, pulling Mascherano away and creating a chance for Wood to plug in. If Mascherano hadn't run after him and had gone to defend Wood, then Wood would have passed the ball back to Gago.

In short, both men can attack and defend, except that Gago is better at offense and Wood is better at defending. If you want to defend against the Forest's offense, it's useless to simply defend Gago or Wood, and it's very difficult for the two to defend together. So the best thing to do is not to dwell with them in midfield, but to freeze Forest's attacking players who are closer to goal, because no matter how much the midfielder passes, in the end the football will still be at their feet and they will finish the shot.

When Donn played 451, he had to keep an eye on the arrowhead and the midfielder, sometimes maybe a shadow striker, but when Eastwood retired, there was no one in the Forest team to be a shadow striker. At 451, it's not the '1' who is most likely to score, it's the midfielders and wing-backs – they are more like wingers at times, and 451 can become 433 in a game.

However, in this game, Don played 442 and did not have a striker, so the burden of scoring fell on the striker.

Rafa Benitez signaled defenders to keep an eye on the Forest's two strikers...... It's a little difficult.

Because the two starting strikers that Donn sent in this game were very difficult to deal with......

"Super Ibby" Ibisevic, who is 1.88 meters tall, and Aaron, who is 2.02 meters tall. Mitchel.

This combination is a real headache for all the coaches in the Premier League......

Ibisevic's shooting skills are superb and more versatile. Mitchel, on the other hand, has excellent technique, excellent headers, and although his shooting skills are slightly inferior, his dominance in the air is still obvious. There were times when Nottingham Forest only needed to play wide crosses to solve some opponents. These two don't use a combination very often, but when they are together, they can bring victory to the team. Don started them both in this game, and he really didn't want Liverpool to mess with his memorial.

The tallest central defender in Liverpool's team, Martin, who is 1.91 meters tall. Skrtel was ordered to defend Mitchel and he felt a lot of pressure.

Mitchel is not the Mitchel who debuted in Barcelona at that time, Mitchel was still a little young at that time, and now Mitchel is becoming more and more mature, and Don does not forbid him to show his skills in the game.

Don't think Mitchel isn't scary with his feet. Although his shooting skills at his feet were almost good, it was still no problem to get rid of the ball and pass the ball.

Ibisevic was on the sidelines, while Ag was in charge of the mark.

Mitchel didn't get the ball to the heavily marked Ibisevic and instead got to Fernandez, who was plugged in on the wing. Then he ran inside on his own.

It's an attacking tactic that works for Forest. The center divides the ball to the wing, and then there is no ball inside, the side kicks the ball, and the center shoots over the head.

Liverpool were familiar with Forest's approach, and when Mitchel ran down the middle, Ager pounced and struck back and forth with Skrtel, holding Mitchel firmly in the middle, making it impossible for him to comfortably jump for the top.

Since Forest's attacking routine is fixed, so is the way to defend it. It's a pity that this time they forgot that the Forest team was not 451, but 442......

Mitchel still struggled between the two tall defenders and managed to catch the attention of all the defenders, even goalkeeper Reyna turned his body towards him, forgetting that there was a Forest player in yellow in the space behind him......

Mitchel didn't fight for the ball under the defence of Ag and Skrtel, but the two central defenders also didn't touch the ball under his interference, and the ball passed in front of the goal......

Ibisevic leaped high at the back post and saw Reina's panicked face as he turned.

"Ibisevic's header!"

The header on goal from close range was nothing to be desired......

"The ball is in!" The narrator shouted. "Just 21 minutes into the game, Nottingham Forest took the lead! 1：0！ Away team leads! ”

※※※

Tony sitting in the dugout. Donn rose from his seat with his fist clenched and waved his fist towards the stands as he demonstrated to the entire Anfield stadium.

Want to stir up my dinner party? You can't do it yet!

He was met with violent boos.

Benitez was frustrated by the goal, and Forest managed to catch an undeserved mistake at the back.

Sure enough, it's the hallmark of the Forest team – efficiency.

But he didn't make any adjustments. He believes that his team is a team that has seen big winds and waves, and a goal conceded is nothing.

When Bascombi saw the goal in the press box, he had just written that "Nottingham Forest's attack looked unthreatening, and it was the same ......old way of sending crosses from the wings"

Then he heard an exclamation from the TV overhead, "Gooal!!" ”

He looked up at Ibisevic and the other Forest players on the TV screen as they ran wildly in celebration, then at the sentence he had typed out in the ord file and cursed. Then unwillingly deleted the sentence that had just been written.

The screen showed Donn provoking the Anfield fans again.

"Damn, don't be too complacent for too long!"

He took a cigarette in his mouth and gave Don the middle finger viciously on the screen.

Not far from him, Nottingham's media were cheering on the goal with their hands in the air.

※※※

The game restarted, as if to ridicate back to Tony just now. Donn's provocative move, the Anfield stands resounded with the song "You will never walk alone", and the voice became louder and louder, inspiring the Liverpool players on the pitch to launch a counterattack against Forest.

This period belonged to Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were completely pressed back. The Forest players, who were still excited about the goal, obviously did not expect Liverpool's comeback so quickly and so quickly.

That song must have been the source of strength for the Liverpool players.

George. Wood also felt that Gerald in front of him suddenly became more difficult to deal with. His movements are more powerful and swift than before, and his fighting spirit is even greater.

Maybe it was backwardness that inspired him?

Steven Gerrard's mental will is well-known in English football, and the more difficult it is, the better his performances are. Wood didn't dare to take it lightly.

"George. Wood and Gerald go head-to-head! "The commentator is excited, the audience wants to see such a scene, no matter how wonderful the tactics are, the layman may not be able to see the subtlety, but a star like this one-on-one, will definitely be able to make the audience's blood boil.

Gerrard didn't pass the ball out of Wood's defence this time, he made a stance to force a breakthrough against Wood, and Wood stepped back a little to distance Gerrard to prevent him from breaking through.

Gerrard saw his defensive intentions, it was too obvious, he did want to break through, but now he changed his mind - straight to the distance shot!

George. Wood didn't expect Gerrard to do this, he froze in place and didn't react, watching the football fly past his eyes.

Akinfeev also didn't expect Wood to let Gerrard shoot from distance so easily, but fortunately, Gerrard's shot was on target, and he blocked the ball out of the line in embarrassment.

"Hey, George." Pepe shouted from behind, but he was still not very reassured.

Wood waved at him, signaling that he was nothing.

He turned his head to look for Gerrard again and found that the opponent had entered the box and was ready to take the top corner. He ran in to defend Gerrard, of course.

But just before the corner kick was taken, Gerrard suddenly withdrew.

Wood's instincts told him that danger was coming.

He didn't bother to remind his teammates, and rushed out alone.

He's still a little slower......

Both Ague and Skrtel burst into the box, giving the feeling that they were going to be involved in the attack. But in fact, Liverpool's corner kick was kicked directly outside the penalty area!

Gerrard waited at the top of the penalty arc as he turned his head to look at the flying ball and adjusted his posture so that he was facing the goal.

Wood was running through the crowd. He was confident he would press on after Gerrard stopped the ball and halt Liverpool's attack.

Don't give me time if you have the ability, Gerald. Don't give a second of time!

Okay, as you wish.

Gerrard watched as the ball fell to the goal and picked up his right leg.

Ball to! Foot to!

People are here!

"Direct volley!!"

The soccer ball whistled past Wood's face, and the wind hit his face with a faint pain.

The cannon-like shot cut straight through the Forest defence and through the crowd in front of goal, and when it flew into the goal, Akinfeev didn't react......

"World waves! World Wave!! It's so exciting! The captain of the Red Army finally broke out! In and George. In Wood's duel, he goes first! ”

Gerrard didn't run to the sidelines to celebrate, he just stood still, brandishing his fists and roaring. It looked like he was celebrating a goal, but his eyes were always on George. Wood.

Challenge?

Wood clenched his fists.

(To be continued)