Chapter 219: Forgone Conclusion Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Playing football was like fighting a war; it was a fight between the teams' morale. In his face-off with Henry, George Wood's successful defense greatly boosted the Forest players' morale; it told them that they were not inferior to Arsenal. Even the opponent's captain, their strongest forward, was unable to get an edge over Wood. In the face of the Forest team, the rest of Arsenal would be the same!
Soon after, Arsenal adjusted. In the 67th minute, Wenger replaced Pennant, who was not performing well, with Ljungberg. Even though the young man was Nottinghamian, he received the most jeers from the spectators when he was fielded. He was a player nurtured under Notts County, Forest's rival.
Next, Wenger replaced Bergkamp, who had been completely clamped down by Wood and Albertini, with Reyes. As Reyes was entering the field, Wenger pulled him aside and told him to relay one thing to Fàbregas: "Keep your cool."
George Wood performed brilliantly, not just in his successful face-off against Henry, but in his close-marking defense with Fàbregas; it rebuffed his advancement countless times. Against such an unreasonable defender, the Spanish lad really had no better ideas about what to do.
Still, Wenger insisted that Fàbregas stay on the field. On one hand, he had no better option to replace the Spaniard; on the other, he felt that the experience would be good training for Fàbregas. If Cesc wanted to become a player like Vieira, this match was necessary for him. Only after experiencing setbacks would he be able to take a step forward; otherwise, this could be as far as he went.
He needed to learn to cool down and use his brain, not just his body, to play football. That could be very helpful to him. After all, Fàbregas's physical capability was far from Wood's, and a competition of physical abilities between players would continue to occur in all sorts of matches. If Fàbregas always failed to play up to his usual standards just because he was faced with a fierce defender, he could not amount to much.
The appearance of Ljungberg and Reyes on the field increased the offensive abilities of Arsenal, improving their initially weakened wings. Wenger's players were gradually taking back control, but time was running out for them.
"The match is already into its 75th minute and the score remains 1:0. Home team Nottingham Forest is leading against Arsenal. Against Forest, who is aggressively pressuring them in defense, Arsenal's players are lacking options. They've made too many mistakes. If the situation continues, it's only a matter of time before Forest wins their first three points in this league's season."
Only a matter of time...
That must be what the players from Forest were thinking in their hearts. Though it was not impossible, whether in theory or reality, for a newly promoted team to defeat the defending champions, the notion of defeating defending champions, who had not yet lost in 42 matches, still stirred the players up.
The veterans with experience who had already gone through all sorts of similar situations knew exactly how to handle the match. But there were too few veterans on Forest team; they could not stop the young players, who were thinking in their hearts, "We're about to defeat Arsenal! We'll soon become an amazing dark horse that overturned the defending champions! Their streak of 42 no-losses is going to end at our feet!"
It really was a seductive future.
Just like Medusa's alluring face, it tempted the young of Forest team to forget that they were still in the midst of an intense match; to forget what sort of dangerous creature they were facing.
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The match time passed into its 80th minute. Forest maintained its lead and the enthusiastic cheers from the spectators' stand rose and fell with no sign of stopping.
As the players began losing their focus, Forest's oppressive-style defense started to show cracks, with more and more of them appearing quickly. This resulted in Arsenal's players beginning to feel that they could keep possession of the ball for a longer time. In fact, some of Forest's players no longer tried to press for the ball in the first place. Instead, they looked and waited to see if they should go for the ball or simply retreat and box them out.
Tang En sensed the danger in the air. He took up a position at the sidelines and hollered while gesturing with his hands agitatedly, "Press for the ball! Press for the ball! PRESS FOR THE BALL! Don't give them a chance to get it! Dammit!"
What Tang En wanted from the forwards was the use of counter-pressing as an oppressive play, but both Viduka and Eastwood were obviously not as eager as they were at the beginning of the match. George Wood was still running without a pause, but would he be able to cover the entire field? Albertini too was still running, but he was 32; he had the will but lacked the strength.
Ribéry, Ashley Young, Baines, and Chimbonda… all of them looked like they could no longer run. The match had them constantly running forward and retreating, retreating and then rushing ahead. It had had too much of a toll on their stamina. Even so, Tang En still stood on the sidelines asking them to continue pressing for the ball; to not let Arsenal have even a sliver of an opportunity. How did Forest do so well in the initial 80 minutes? It was because they had sacrificed their stamina to prevent Arsenal from falling into a match pace that they were familiar with.
Now that their stamina was beginning to wear out, Arsenal was slowly making their way back into a rhythm.
Fàbregas had also cooled down. He had no more intentions of toughing it out against George Wood. If Wood came up to press against him, he would immediately pass the ball out. After that, through his positional awareness, he would try to create opportunities for himself to receive the ball again. He was not going to get into any more useless entanglements with Wood in the midfield.
What makes a strong team strong? Their experience and their patience.
Despite the chaos in the first half of the match and Henry's failed solo runs on two separate attempts, Arsenal's disadvantageous situation in the field did not cause their players to fall into a panic. Wenger's substitutions stabilized Arsenal's conditions and their players waited patiently for an opportunity.
At the 83rd minute, after a one-two combination from Pirès and Henry, the ball was not passed into the crowded penalty area but went outside instead. Gilberto Silva came up suddenly from behind and took a long shot, but it went high. This, however, was not the crux of the matter. The crucial matter at hand was that before the Brazilian took his shot, there were approximately three seconds that passed without a single Forest player trying to interrupt him.
Tang En was extremely displeased with the situation and decided to make a substitution.
84 minutes into the match, Aaron Lennon was fielded to substitute Ashley Young. This was an attempt to increase the threat from the wings and to use Lennon, who was younger, to suppress Ashley Cole.
Before Lennon even made any contact with the ball after being fielded, Arsenal launched another attack. Fàbregas and Ljungberg attempted a combo attack. After attracting George Wood's attention, Fàbregas passed the ball to the Swede and quickly continued cutting forward. From this, it looked as if he was about to do a one-two combination with a wall pass. George Wood continued pressing Fàbregas, attempting to block him from receiving a pass.
As expected, Ljungberg passed the ball back to Fàbregas. Under George Wood's close-marking defense, Fàbregas had to switch directions quickly to protect the ball. With Arsenal's offense already in the penalty area, Fàbregas did not believe Wood would dare to risk a foul. Gilberto, on seeing that Fàbregas had control over the ball, rapidly pressed forward.
The earlier long shot from the Brazilian had alarmed Forest. This caused Center back Upson to immediately press Gilberto when he rushed forward again. Fàbregas faked a side pass. Upson who thought he was going to pass quickly, surged forward another step. At that moment, the young Spaniard champion suddenly used his back heel to pass behind him instead. Separated from George Wood, the ball penetrated the defensive line and was received by Henry, who had gotten past them unnoticed.
No one expected that. With Fàbregas completely disabled by George Wood's defense throughout the match, the rest of Forest's players paid little heed to the area where they were engaged. Instead, all their attention was caught by Gilberto, who came up from the back. With Wood in his way and his back against the direction of the attack, how did he know there would be a break? And how did he even anticipate Henry's appearance there?
Regardless of how Fàbregas had managed it, his pass created an opportunity for Henry to get his third solo run in this match. If he could not score a goal off of such a ball, he would not be Thierry Henry!
The Frenchman took his shot at the goal. Grazing the turf, the ball flew rapidly and slid off Darren Ward's hand, bouncing off the inner pole on the far end of the goalpost and bounced in!
"Magnificent! Arsenal scores an equalizer in the last moment!! Thierry Henry! Arsenal's king! This could be a record-making goal!!!"
Three-quarters of City Ground's spectators fell into silence while the away team fans gathered at the viewing platform loosed a cacophony of cheers. The players from Arsenal were also celebrating wildly as members of Nottingham Forest stood shock still in their positions, not believing what they saw.
They had persisted for 85 minutes but had still failed to guard it in the end. Tang En, who was on the sidelines when the ball was lost, threw a punch at the glass board next to the manager's seat. He could not put his rage and disappointment into words. He only knew that he was angry. Very angry. How could Upson have rushed forward so rashly?