The Greatest Manager of All time

The noise inside Griffin Park surged into the sky, shaking every corner of the stadium.

The supporters of both teams poured every ounce of passion into cheering for their sides.

From the very first minute, Hughes was sweating nervously on the touchline.

Brentford's momentum was far too fierce!

Of course, the Red-and-White Army were playing at home.

Their chairman had personally gone into the dressing room before the match to fire up the squad, offered an extra win bonus, and given the players the motivation to reclaim dignity for him and earn rewards.

After kick-off, Brentford quickly spread out and charged at Swansea's defense.

For a while, they pinned Swansea so deeply that the visitors could barely move within forty yards of their own goal.

But from Lynn's perspective in the stands, everything was normal.

Brentford, who spent every day being tested in the Second Division, were not actually weaker than Swansea in overall combat strength.

Even if there was not a single well-known star in their squad, they were still a team near the upper reaches of the Second Division, with strength close to the First Division.

Their players were more experienced, had been playing together longer, and their teamwork naturally lifted their overall performance.

Even so, in Lynn's eyes, Brentford were not worth fearing.

If the Red-and-White Army played steadily and carefully, Swansea might really have to endure a hard battle.

But if they were impatient and tried to swallow Swansea whole in one bite, then they had probably underestimated Swansea's counterattacking ability.

Cliff Boya, seated in the VIP stand, did not see it that way.

He wanted nothing more than to grind Swansea into dust. He wanted to see Swansea battered and bruised, then look at Lynn's expression after the match.

His hatred had gone mad.

Either you die, or I do!

In the third minute, Brentford launched an attack down the right. Robert Terrell sent a cross in front of Tobias Rau. The cross looked dangerous, but it died in front of Brunel.

Standing at 1.9 meters tall, Brunel was not particularly agile, but he was absolutely excellent in the air!

When Brunel cleared Brentford's cross, Lynn applauded from the stands and said to Fred Davis beside him, "If they're relying on crosses from the wings, the Red-and-White Army will struggle to find chances today!"

Before Davis could speak, Matthew Bode turned around with a smile and said to Lynn, "Of course! With Brunel's height, he's an aerial monster in the box! Gabbidon has played a few matches at centre-back too, and his positioning has improved a lot. If the Red-and-White Army think they can break us open with crosses, they're treating Swansea like we're made of paper!"

"Oh? Looks like you lot know the team even better than I do now," Lynn teased.

Standing behind Lynn, Richard Cork laughed loudly and said, "Of course. These past few matches, you've just been a fan like the rest of us."

"Hahaha, then from the next match onward, I won't be keeping you company anymore. I'm going back to the touchline to command the team."

"You'd better hurry back! This isn't where you belong!" Kevin Reeves shouted.

Three minutes later, Brentford came again. This time, they switched to attacking down the left.

Hanno Balitsch stepped out recklessly to press and was beaten by a one-two.

Stephen Hughes burst down the flank with great speed, received a diagonal pass from his teammate, and swept the ball across into the penalty area.

Danny Gabbidon met the waist-high cross at the near post and cleared it with a big kick!

At the beginning, Swansea could not quite match the opponent's tempo. Their midfield organization was not smooth, and Cromwell twice attempted forward passes into space but failed to place them properly, preventing Swansea from launching their quick attacks.

But that was not a problem.

The Red-and-White Army had raised the tempo to the maximum from the very start, so Swansea naturally needed some time to adapt.

In the first ten minutes, Brentford only completed one shot, a long-range effort from Eddie Hutchinson that went wide.

Seeing that Swansea had no way to fight back, the Red-and-White Army became even more arrogant, and their full-backs also began pushing forward.

At this point, their shape pressed even higher, while Swansea's formation contracted. Cromwell and Pedretti were almost acting as a double pivot in front of the defense.

In the 13th minute, after left-back Andrew Frampton pushed forward, Brentford created another attack that looked threatening.

After receiving a pass from Kevin O'Connor, Frampton charged straight toward the byline. Just as he was about to meet Hanno Balitsch, he squared the ball to wide midfielder Stephen Hughes, who had cut inside.

Hughes slid a diagonal pass into the feet of Mark Peters, who had dropped off the front line.

At that moment, Mark Peters had his back to Danny Gabbidon. If he could get past Gabbidon, he would be through one-on-one, and that was exactly what he tried to do.

He shifted the ball sideways, turned, then drove it hard into the penalty area.

But at the instant he touched the ball forward, Pedretti stuck out a foot and disrupted it, sending the ball rolling diagonally toward the flank.

Mark Peters threw his head back and sighed in frustration.

At that moment, Hanno Balitsch reached the ball first near the wing. In front of him, Frampton was rushing in to press and win it back.

Balitsch directly played a diagonal pass into the feet of Cromwell, who had moved laterally into space.

The Red-and-White Army had pushed their shape high, leaving Swansea with very little room to control the ball in their own half.

As Stephen Hughes and Eddie Hutchinson closed in together to press him, Cromwell immediately knocked the ball sideways to the flank.

Balitsch, who had just passed to Cromwell, had immediately pulled wide and pushed forward after releasing the ball, because he had seen a huge stretch of empty space down the right channel.

In truth, once Frampton and Stephen Hughes both joined the counter-press instead of retreating, Brentford's entire left-side defense was empty!

Balitsch received the ball near the touchline and strode forward with it.

He quickly carried the ball past midfield. Red-and-White defensive midfielder Kevin O'Connor rushed over at once to block him. Before O'Connor could get close, Balitsch saw Ibrahimović in the central attacking area and sent a precise pass into his feet.

Right-back Danny Allampage and right centre-back Danny Thomas immediately rushed forward to press together.

As long as Ibrahimović controlled the ball and turned, they were one hundred percent confident they could win it.

But Ibrahimović also released the ball with one touch. He directly slipped a diagonal pass back out to the right flank, into the vacant space in Brentford's left-side defensive zone.

James Cook had already sprinted forward the moment Cromwell touched the ball.

He had thought Cromwell would pass directly to him, only for the ball to go to Balitsch instead.

But that did not matter. He knew what role he had to play.

James Cook charged straight to the edge of the penalty area.

When Ibrahimović's pass arrived, left centre-back Matt Small rushed toward him. But then an unexpected scene unfolded.

James Cook also did not stop or control the ball.

Instead, he met the rolling pass and used the inside of his foot to lift it into the penalty area.

A waist-high cross!

Matt Small turned his head and looked back, only to see an unmarked David Villa already set near the penalty spot. Villa had positioned himself along the ball's flight path. As the ball arrived in front of him, he leaned slightly and struck a volley with the top of his foot!

Red-and-White goalkeeper Alan Julian stood on the goal line without reacting.

The ball was too fast!

It flew cleanly into the bottom-right corner of the net!

All of Griffin Park was stunned!

Even the away fans, whose team had just taken the lead, replayed the entire move in their minds.

Every touch had been first-time!

The counterattacking storm was breathtaking.

The whole Swansea team had moved like a precise machine operating at high speed, and in the end, David Villa delivered the final hammer blow!

"David Villa! Super Villa! Swansea's top scorer strikes again today!

"This is a beautiful goal, a truly intoxicating goal!

"Swansea have shown on the pitch what real team football looks like!

"Pedretti broke up the opponent's attack, then Balitsch, Cromwell, Ibrahimović, James Cook, and Villa used rapid one-touch passing to push the counterattack forward with almost magical precision!

"They have shown a style of football different from the British game. This is true team football. They have taken the basic skill of one-touch passing and displayed terrifying power with it!

"No wonder Brentford want Swansea's players. Although the season is only just past the halfway point, Swansea's players are improving at astonishing speed. Not only have they gone from being written off to finding their feet in the Third Division, they have quickly grown into a team capable of dominating the league. Every player in this side deserves attention!

"Now Swansea lead Brentford 1–0 at Griffin Park. The Swan Sea have struck first away from home!"

As Villa came to the away supporters' stand with his arms open to celebrate his goal, Lynn grabbed Fred Davis in the stands and shook him up and down while shouting, "Did you see that? Did you see that? I knew we could make the Red-and-White Army understand who's boss on their own ground!"

"Lynn! Lynn! My neck is about to snap! If you don't let go, I'm telling your mother!"

Fred Davis, who like Tang Yue was a teacher at Swansea University, cried out in misery.

Lynn immediately let him go, then turned around and hugged Matthew Bode instead.

In the VIP stand, Cliff Boya's expression finally changed dramatically.

He looked furious. He lowered his head and cursed bitterly under his breath. When he raised his head again, his face had become extremely cold.

Today was supposed to be a feast of revenge.

Not another humiliation at the hands of the enemy!

His mood instantly became terrible. He could only comfort himself again and again.

The match had only just begun.

There was still plenty of time!

On the touchline, Emlyn Hughes let out a breath of relief. He kept applauding toward the pitch, praising the players' performance.

But if Lynn had been in his position at that moment, he would definitely have told the players to calm down.

Brentford manager Dean Smith looked utterly helpless.

His match plan had been disrupted.

Disrupted by his own chairman!

He had studied Swansea. He knew Swansea's counterattack was unstoppable in the Third Division.

So even if he would not defend deep at home, he would not have pressed forward too aggressively either.

But the chairman had gone into the dressing room to stir up the players and urge them to attack and win the match, even offering an extra win bonus.

All of that had ruined Dean Smith's setup.

Now the situation was even worse.

The Red-and-White Army were behind!

They had to attack proactively at home now. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to overturn the deficit.

Dean Smith stood on the touchline with both hands in his pockets, instructing his full-backs to pay more attention to their defensive positioning.

Just now, it had been Frampton pushing forward and failing to get back, while Hughes had also failed to cover in time because he had joined the counter-press, which left a huge gap on the flank.

The Red-and-White Army fans in the stands also became very unhappy.

Their chairman had just embarrassed himself publicly.

Fortunately, they were facing Swansea soon afterward, so teaching Swansea a lesson on the pitch would have been the perfect way to reclaim face and vent their anger.

But no one expected their team to concede first at home!

How could that not make them angry?

Brentford were seventh in the Second Division!

The Red-and-White Army players were a little dazed.

They felt that Swansea's style of play was completely different from any opponent they had faced before.

They did not seem like an English football team at all!

Of course, Brentford had never had the chance to leave England and play against teams from the various tactical schools of Europe.

There had always been a saying in England: Europe had two styles of football.

One was the English style, and the other was the European style.

The English style did not need much explanation. It emphasized physical confrontation and pressing, with a direct, forceful, and simple approach.

The European style, meanwhile, was crafty and varied, placing greater focus on technique and tactical flexibility.

When Spanish players could string together consecutive first-time passes, when Italian coaches could change formations and tactical approaches more than three times in a single match, when French teams could develop the romantic and beautiful Latin style to its fullest, and when German teams emphasized collective strength and fighting spirit, most teams in English football still seemed to be stamped from the same mold.

But that did not erase the unique charm of English football.

For example, fierce pressing and physical battles made matches intense and explosive.

A heavier fixture burden forced clubs to focus on strengthening players' physical qualities, gradually creating a gap in long-term endurance compared with continental Europe.

Manchester United's miraculous three-minute comeback against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final — who could say that was not a chance carved out in the final moments through United's tenacious will and strong bodies?

It could not be fully explained as just a simple pass and a seemingly accidental goal.

In the stands, Lynn was especially excited.

He had equipped most of his starters with one-touch passing S-cards for technical training, and he had always waited patiently.

He knew that when enough quantitative accumulation finally produced qualitative change, Swansea's transformation would shock every opponent.

After the Red-and-White Army restarted the match, they continued attacking, but their defense became steadier.

In the 17th minute, Kevin O'Connor played a diagonal pass from midfield to right midfielder Terrell.

Terrell immediately sent the ball diagonally into the path of forward Blackman.

The agile forward controlled the ball, turned, and drove toward the penalty area.

He carried it diagonally past Brunel, but when he saw Tobias Rau about to close in, he immediately chose to shoot.

The ball struck the side netting.

Glendower raised a hand to his teammates, signaling that there was no problem and no need to worry.

The Red-and-White Army fans in the stands let out a long sigh. Chairman Cliff Boya even lowered his head in frustration and stamped his foot discreetly.

Five minutes later, Swansea's counterattack created another threat.

This time, it came through the combination of Tobias Rau and Grosso on the left.

The two were becoming increasingly in sync down that flank. Whenever Tobias Rau overlapped and pushed forward, Grosso would attract the opponent's defensive attention.

Once Tobias Rau had built up speed, Grosso would then play the ball behind the opposing full-back before observing the situation himself, no longer recklessly treating himself as a traditional wide midfielder.

This was also Lynn's tactical design for the left flank: allowing Grosso and Tobias Rau to interchange positions.

This time, Tobias Rau overlapped quickly down the line. Grosso, just three yards past midfield, chipped the ball behind Danny Allampage.

Tobias Rau relied on the speed he had already built up to leave Allampage behind.

After turning around, Allampage knew he clearly could not catch Tobias Rau, so he immediately ran toward the penalty area to mark instead.

After catching up to the ball, Tobias Rau calmly brought it under control.

He glanced at the situation inside the penalty area, then played a diagonal through ball.

The sharp Villa made a diagonal run into the channel between the defenders, controlled the ball before the byline, then pushed it outward and turned to adjust his angle.

When Danny Thomas rushed toward him, Villa sent the ball diagonally back toward the top corner of the penalty area.

Ibrahimović charged in from behind and met the ball with a fierce shot!

He thought this one was certain to go in, but unexpectedly, centre-back Matt Small launched himself into a sliding block almost at the same moment.

His raised leg touched the ball, causing it to deflect high into the stands.

Ibrahimović stood in place, clapped his hands in regret, and muttered to himself.

"Couldn't you at least give me some respect? This is my first match back from suspension!"