Chapter 16: The Head Coach in the Stands (Part I)
Sitting in the stands with his two MI6 bodyguards, Don found that the hosts were really "considerate" of him, placing him in the worst place of view. 108,000 miles away from the Forest bench, it seems that Coventry is more worried about him than the FA, and directly cut off his most primitive communication channels.
Sitting in the middle of a crowd of fans wearing Coventry jerseys, Donn had to keep a low profile and a low profile. England is notoriously a football hooligan, and if one of the guys comes in and drinks too much, it would be unimaginable to be impulsive. Don is not afraid of fighting with people, he is afraid that he will be recorded and reported by the two plague gods around him, maybe his career as a professional coach will really end......
He didn't want to be the first football coach to end his career because of a brawl with a fan.
The game starts at two o'clock in the afternoon. The moment the whistle blew, the Highfield Road pitch became a pot on the heat, and the stands were bubbling like boiling water. Donn couldn't hear anything but the shouts of the home fans.
Don opened his mouth and said a word that he found he hadn't even heard...... It's a lot crazier than the atmosphere you feel in the dugout at Forest.
The Coventry fans stood up to cheer on their players, and Don followed suit, raising his hands in the air, but instead of cheering on his opponents, he cursed loudly.
"Damn Old Trafford security system! Can this kind of fan also be considered a B level of security? "He wasn't worried about causing any confusion, because the people around him wouldn't be able to hear what he was saying at this moment." Damn it! The fans at Coventry are not friendly at all! ”
After complaining, Don honestly sat down and watched the game. Those around him must think that this is a loyal Coventry City fan.
Perhaps it was the two words he said before the start of the game that aroused the fighting spirit and ambition of the Forest players, or maybe it was the crazy performance of the Coventry fans that stimulated the self-esteem of the whole Forest team. In short, when the game began, the Forest team played attacking football against Coventry City at Highfield Road.
In this game, Donn specifically let Gareth; Williams started the game and was a big part of the win over Coventry City in the first half of the season, scoring the only goal of the game to help the team win at home. Today, Donn hopes to use Williams' fortune to bring good luck to the team.
Watching his team play against the home team away from home, Don only smiled. The coaching staff really didn't eat dry food, and the tactics they worked out were very right. Watching Coventry's assistant coach anxiously walk around the sidelines, Donn felt that maybe winning this game wouldn't be a problem.
His work hasn't been in vain these days, and he is confident he knows a lot about this team compared to when he first found out that their next opponent would be Coventry.
Looking at the league stats from round 28, Coventry's attacking power is less than satisfactory. In 28 league games, they have scored only 35 goals and conceded 30. Nottingham Forest, on the other hand, scored 44 goals and conceded 31 goals with a game in hand.
Donn figured out what he could use from this data, and of course he needed to watch the game to make sure it was confirmed. It's just that...... This damn seat is very unsuitable for watching the game live, at least not for him to watch the game with a clear and calm mind.
Coventry managed to find a counter-attack, but their shot ended up on a billboard behind the goal. There was a loud sigh from the stands, and everyone around Don held their heads in their hands in a look of pity. Don and the two people beside him were like black reefs in a blue ocean, something different. Thankfully, the fans' attention was on the game, otherwise he would have been known as a recent news figure soon. Donn was already thinking about getting the two guys around him to negotiate with Coventry at half-time and give them a new seat, at least in the stands close to the Forest fans - he was afraid that he would be recognized by these unfriendly guys.
Three years ago, when Coventry was still playing in the Premier League, there was a young talent in the team - Irish teenager Robbie; Robbie'Keane, who made his debut at Wolves and performed well for three seasons, was then bought by Coventry City for £6 million and only played for one season. Twelve goals were scored in thirty-one games, when he was just twenty years old. A season later, Coventry was unable to resist a £13 million cheque thrown at Inter Milan and sold Keane Jr. to the Italian giants. However, his time at the Italian star black hole has not been very happy, with only six league games played without a single goal. A season later, they were brought back to England by the rising youth guards Leeds United on a loan-to-buy basis. He is now at Tottenham Hotspur in north London, and has long since parted ways with the team he played for a season.
Now Coventry fans must miss that passionate Irish lad back then, why? Because their strikers can't score goals. It is sad that most of the team's scoring has to rely on the set-pieces of the 38-year-old manager and player McAllister.
After watching more than 20 minutes of the game, Donn was convinced that the conclusions he had drawn from the data were correct. There are two reasons for the lack of attack, firstly, the Coventry players are not good, and secondly, their coaches are not good. McAllister is a great player, but not a great coach, not to mention that this is his first season as a manager. Not everyone can be like Roy; A natural leader like Roy'Keane, who was just kicked out of home by the Red Devils, could lead Sunderland to the Premier League.
Coventry's starting striker in this game was Julian, a twenty-seven-year-old black man; Julian 'Joachim, he is only 1.68 meters, which is a very classic height, but Joakim does not have the ability of Maradona and Zola, Carlos and others. According to Donn's observations, this man's speed was not bad, but his marksmanship was not flattering, and he had a chance to fly close at hand. It was a chance to fly more than to score. The loud cheers that erupted from the stands at Highfield Road almost stopped Don's heart for a second.
Joakim has made nine league appearances in the first 28 games, scoring just two goals. Such a result can only be described as "dismal" for a goalscorer.
Partnering with the black man was David, who was only eighteen years old; David 'Pipe, a youngster who has only been promoted from youth to first-team this season, has made eleven appearances so far without scoring a goal.
Look at this poor forward combination. Look at Forest's forward line: David; Johansen made 20 appearances and scored 10 goals. Malone; Halewood made 19 appearances and scored eleven goals. It's the same forward combination that forced superteam West Ham into a scramble 14 days ago, and Donn feels it will be just as effective against first-division teams.
Behind these two men, there are four parallel midfielders, from left to right, Andy; Reed, Ricardo; Rardo'Scimeca and Gareth; Williams, Ian; Jess. Of the four, Smeka is mainly responsible for defense, while Williams is responsible for organizing the attack, Reid and Jace are one left and one right to assist him, and most of the Forest's attack comes from the midfield combination of these four people, and it is also the midfield configuration that Forest uses the most in the early stage.
He has not touched a single part of the squad except to rest the aged Jace on the bench in the FA Cup. This is Paul; Hart left him a legacy, and he believed that his teacher did not fail because of tactical configuration.
That trust was quickly rewarded and after Pipe also wasted a chance, Forest quickly counter-attacked. goalkeeper Darren; Darren'ward kicked the ball forward, and Coventry's defensive midfielder Moroccan Shafari successfully fought for the ball, pushed the ball forward, and Dawson, who pressed into the midfield, snatched the ball halfway and pushed it back.
With his excellent physicality, Hailewood controlled the ball and waited for his team-mates to come up and pick it up.
McAllister saw his intentions and shouted at his teammates to come back and come up to rob, hoping to disrupt or delay the Forest's attack. The 38-year-old McAllister was defeated in a physical conversation with the 22-year-old Helewood, who easily pushed the opponent behind him, and then deflected the ball to Andy on the left with a beautiful diagonal pass; Reed.
Reid was in the youth team and his long-range shots and long balls set him apart. Although this is only his second League One game, he has already shown exciting qualities. He used everything he was good at in the youth team on the senior level. Seeing that Coventry's defensive line was urgently deflected to the right, while his right side was unmarked, it was a vacuum, and he passed the ball to the right again, and the football crossed the pitch and hit directly to the back of the Coventry defence!
Appearing here is David, who has suffered enough for West Ham with a strange speed; Johansen, he slammed Reid's ball forward, accelerated and left the Coventry defender behind!
The Coventry right wing-back turned around and saw only Johansen's back, and his first reaction was not to start the chase, but to raise his right arm and signal to the linesman that Johansen was offside!
"The more you mother!" Donn stood up from his seat, his mouth cursing uncleanly. He doesn't have to worry about being the target of the Coventry City fans because he's surrounded by Sky Blue fans who are out of their seats.
Johansen raced down the flank with the ball and just a few steps closer to the Coventry penalty area. He looked up at the linesman and was running after him, indicating that he was not offside. Take another step and look up, and the people from Coventry are rushing towards him like crazy, and both centre-backs are running towards him......
Don in the stands couldn't help but make a cross gesture of his own, which is an attacking routine that has been practiced in training these days: the striker attracts the attention of the opposing defender, but the real killer is the midfielder who cuts in behind. In the four midfielders, except for Smeka, who is more defensive and more defensive, they all have good scoring ability.
Johansen flicked the ball to the centre of the box with the outside of his right foot, and from all glances he looked like he was about to dribble sideways and shoot with his feet. Coventry's attention from defenders to goalkeepers was so caught up in his every move that they completely forgot about the Forest midfielder who was coming in at high speed.
Johansen had arrived in the middle of the box with three Coventry defenders at his side and he was on his feet...... But instead of shooting, he turned the football behind him! It's a blank space there!
All the Coventry players were deceived by him, and when a red figure ran past him, Coventry's Danish goalkeeper Morten 'Hyldgaard was still standing in the middle of the goal.
"Gareth; Williams! ”
Forest's number eight received Johansen's clever pass from the corner of the six-yard box and then didn't hesitate to shoot with his foot! The soccer ball rolled into the goal with the turf fast!
“goal!! 1:0! Thirty-three minutes into the first half, the visiting Forest team leads Coventry! It looks like the Forest team has come out of the shadow of the sluggish form in the first half of the season, and they are playing proactive and anti-away away from home! ”
The Coventry fans in the stands booed, and Donne couldn't express his excitement in this boo, so he could only clench his hands into fists and put them on his head to feign regret to celebrate the goal. Looking at the jubilation of the Forest coach's bench in the distance, he was really a little jealous.
It was the first time he had watched the game from the perspective of a fan, and as he watched his players gather around the pitch to celebrate a goal, he felt a little bit of confidence in the team's future. Bowyer's fears of leaving were also diluted.
After scolding the visitors, the Coventry City fans quickly sat down and continued to watch the game, still cursing and swearing. Don also sat down and continued to watch the game in silence, forgetting that he had two "bodyguards" by his side, so he was surprised when he heard the man next to him say to him, "Congratulations, Mr. Donn".
"Ah, you are ......"
“…… We are the ...... of the FA Disciplinary Committee"
"Is there such an institution?"
"Mr. Donn, stop making jokes like this."
Don laughed, ignored them, and watched the game to himself.
Starting Point Chinese Network welcomes the majority of book friends to come and read, the latest, fastest and hottest serialized works starting point original!;