The Greatest Manager of All time

One week after Swansea lost their opening match of the Second Division season, the second round of league fixtures arrived.

On the first home matchday of the new season, Swansea would welcome Wycombe Wanderers to the Liberty Stadium.

Before the match, Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth declared in an interview that "Swansea are only a relegation-fighting team!"

He also talked about how Swansea's local fans had eagerly poured money into betting on Swansea's promotion and title chances, calling it extremely stupid and claiming Swansea Football Club bore an undeniable responsibility for it.

Lynn could not be bothered to get into a war of words with some unknown nobody.

On the afternoon of August 15, Swansea was bright and sunny, with a warm breeze drifting through the city. The Liberty Stadium was packed to capacity, and the fans had unfurled banners and signs across the stands. Most of them were still messages supporting the team, or individual displays of admiration for certain players, but there were also a few signs that felt extremely刺眼 to Lynn.

"Lynn, give Ibra one more chance!"

"We want Zlatan!"

Ibrahimović sat on the bench with his arms folded across his chest. He had also noticed the signs nearby where fans were voicing their support for him. He remained unmoved.

He knew this pressure would fall on Lynn's head, not his own.

Right now, all he needed to do was wait patiently for the moment Lynn had no choice but to use him.

Wycombe Wanderers arrived at the Liberty Stadium carrying an air that was hard to tell apart from confidence or arrogance. In the players' tunnel, they loudly mocked the painted designs along the corridor.

Swansea's starting players were already holding a fire in their chests. Losing to Brighton in the first match of the new season had left them full of resentment!

And just as they were preparing to enter the pitch, the grating voices of the Wycombe Wanderers players drifted over.

"Look, Swansea painted this place like a circus. Black and white everywhere."

"Bloody hilarious. They've turned themselves into a bunch of clowns."

"There's even a Champions League logo right at the front. Are they daydreaming? Do they think painting that there will make this feel like a Champions League match?"

"Don't say that. They're still young. Young people are supposed to dream, aren't they?"

"If they go back down to the Third Division next season, are they going to repaint this whole place again?"

If it had been any other time, Swansea's players would have snapped back immediately, but today, they all remained silent.

Standing on the black floor, with the black swan totem on the wall behind them, Swansea's players looked cold enough to radiate killing intent.

Their attitude toward the match was no longer just high fighting spirit.

It was a violent desire to destroy the opponent!

Out on the pitch, Lynn stood on the touchline. Just like in the previous match, he had both hands in his pockets, head held high, waiting for the match to begin. Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth also stood at the side of the pitch, wearing an expression that showed he did not take Lynn seriously at all. Lynn, meanwhile, treated him as if he did not exist.

When the officiating crew led both teams out onto the pitch, the Liberty Stadium erupted into thunderous noise!

The fans shouted, "Swans! Forward! Forward!"

After Swansea lost their previous match, the other Second Division clubs had not paid much attention to them. They believed that even though Swansea had come up as Third Division champions, they were still newly promoted and limited in strength.

On top of that, their summer transfer activity had been banned!

Swansea had not strengthened their squad through signings.

And in the first match of the new season, they had lost 0–2 to Brighton, another promoted side.

What did that mean?

In their eyes, Swansea were still a Third Division-level team. They had merely been outstanding in the Third Division, but they were completely unable to establish themselves in the Second Division.

Wycombe Wanderers viewed Swansea the same way.

Although Swansea had won the Football League Trophy last season, it still had not made Second Division clubs raise their guard, because to Second and Third Division teams, the Football League Trophy was merely a training ground. Promotion was the true priority.

Inside the explosive atmosphere of the Liberty Stadium, the match began.

Lynn assessed Wycombe Wanderers' combat strength and suddenly revealed a faint smile that vanished almost as soon as it appeared.

Wycombe Wanderers had a pretty good presence at the start. They looked as if they had come to the Liberty Stadium to swallow the Swans whole.

But their tactical play was still very rough.

Especially in terms of tactical design, they seemed rigid and unimaginative.

Their crosses from the flanks were repeatedly dealt with by Swansea. Their players basically had no real dribbling ability, and in the final third, they could not string together more than five passes.

Three or four consecutive passes were pretty much their limit.

When they used a traditional 4-4-2—a formation that could be called balanced, but also mediocre—to face Swansea, they could not produce any distinct attacking features. In contrast, Swansea's smooth team combinations repeatedly created danger in attack.

In the fifth minute, James Cook and Cromwell played a series of wall passes down the right side of the front line, after which Cook reached the byline and crossed the ball toward the outer edge of the penalty area on the far side.

Grosso chested the ball into the box from outside the area without slowing his forward run. He charged into the penalty area and struck a direct left-footed shot, only for the ball to hit the goalkeeper and rebound away.

The Swansea fans let out a disappointed sigh, but not long after, Tobias Rau pushed forward and combined with Grosso in a one-two, ripping apart Wycombe Wanderers' flank defense. After reaching the byline, he cut the ball back toward the top of the penalty arc.

Facing the opposing defensive midfielder, Cromwell controlled the ball, nudged it aside, and slipped away in one smooth sequence before threading an angled pass into the penalty area.

Villa made a diagonal run into the space behind the defenders, received the pass successfully, half-turned, and fired a low shot into the near corner!

"Wow! David Villa's first goal of the new season! After missing a golden chance in the last match and receiving some criticism, Villa has immediately used a goal to prove himself. He is still Swansea's scoring king! That goal showed his instincts inside the penalty area, as well as his sharp movement and superb finishing!

"Swansea have continuously created danger through their attacking combinations in the final third. Wycombe Wanderers' defense simply cannot withstand them!"

As Villa went off to celebrate, the Liberty Stadium erupted into deafening cheers.

The sound shook Wycombe Wanderers' players badly. They felt that their attack could barely shake Swansea's defense. They could not even make Swansea's defenders panic.

And their own defense, meanwhile, looked almost helpless!

Gareth Ainsworth angrily shouted at his players from the touchline, scolding the back line for making a basic mistake. Perhaps in his eyes, losing track of a marker was a basic mistake, and had nothing to do with ability.

Lynn smiled and clapped before turning around and walking back to the dugout to sit down and watch the match.

Wycombe Wanderers truly did not have much that was worth paying attention to. Their attack and defense were both half-baked.

It was just as Lynn had told the whole team after losing the previous match.

If Swansea's first match had been against a different opponent, they probably would have won!

But unfortunately, it had been against Brighton, a team that valued Swansea to an extreme degree. That was what had caught Swansea off guard.

In terms of strength, Swansea could not say they were utterly unmatched in the Second Division, but as long as their opponent failed to take them seriously, the storm raised by the Swans would completely tear that opponent apart!

After conceding, Wycombe Wanderers increased the aggression of their pressing, and Swansea immediately raised the speed of their match rhythm as well.

The players moved more actively to tear open space, ran to offer support, released quick one-touch passes, and their smooth, continuous combinations soon left Wycombe Wanderers unable to keep up with Swansea's tempo.

In the 22nd minute, James Cook received Pedretti's diagonal pass on the right side of the front line. He adjusted on the spot, lifted his head to glance at the situation inside the box, and delivered a cross.

The ball was lofted into the penalty area, dropping behind the defensive line.

Charisteas made his forward run before the opposing defenders could turn. By the time the defender turned to chase him, Charisteas had already entered the box and used his body to block off the defender's running lane.

Charisteas brought the ball down in the penalty area. Although his touch was not perfect, he still rushed to the ball before the goalkeeper and stabbed a shot between the keeper's legs and into the net!

Wycombe Wanderers were two goals down!

They were starting to panic!

"Charisteas! The Greek has opened his scoring account as well! Swansea's starting strike partnership have both scored. Lynn was fiercely criticized by the media for dropping Ibrahimović and using Charisteas in the last match, but his trust in Charisteas has not been betrayed. Now Charisteas has repaid Lynn with a goal!

"Swansea lead Wycombe Wanderers 2–0 at home!"

The Swans fans in the stands were full of joy. They roared excitedly, as if they had returned to familiar scenes from last season, where the team's performance on the pitch was convincing and they beat their opponents until they could barely stand.

Gareth Ainsworth panicked!

Two goals down!

With a wave of his hand, he urged the Wycombe Wanderers players to attack, attack, attack!

"Score for me! Equalize!"

Compared with Ainsworth's panicked helplessness, Lynn sat calmly in the dugout.

After Charisteas scored, he subconsciously turned and glanced at Ibrahimović.

Ibrahimović was looking at Charisteas on the pitch. After sensing Lynn's gaze, he turned to look at Lynn.

Lynn did not look away. He and Ibrahimović stared at each other for three seconds before both of them withdrew their gazes.

Should Ibrahimović panic?

At least not yet.

But from Lynn's still, unreadable gaze, he understood some of the meaning behind it.

'Maybe Charisteas isn't as ridiculously gifted as you, but in the Second Division, he can still be devastating!'

'Still not going to lower your head?'

'Still going to keep acting cold and untouchable?'

'When you said you wanted to go to a bigger club and didn't want to stay at Swansea playing that "everyone's happy together" game, did you ever think about what your Boss heard?'

It had been the sound of something shattering deep inside him, sharp and piercing, enough to make a man ache with pain!

Wycombe Wanderers' frantic attacks were nothing more than simply piling attacking players into the front line.

Lynn did not understand. The Swansea players on the pitch did not understand either.

What right did Wycombe Wanderers have to act so arrogant in front of Swansea?

Was it because they did not know each other well before, or simply because Swansea were a promoted side?

Did that mean they could look down on them?

It was baffling, but there were plenty of baffling things in the football world.

In the 34th minute, Tobias Rau won the ball in the back line, then dribbled forward. With a series of changes of direction and sudden bursts of acceleration, he overtook two Wycombe Wanderers players before threading a through ball behind their defensive line.

Villa made a lightning-fast anti-offside run and went clean through!

One-on-one with the goalkeeper, Villa looked full of confidence. His speed was terrifying, and when the goalkeeper rushed out toward him, he calmly changed direction with the ball. The moment he rounded the keeper, every Swans fan inside the Liberty Stadium rose to their feet, waving their arms and shouting Villa's name.

Facing an empty goal, Villa easily slotted the ball into the net!

Gareth Ainsworth stood frozen like a wooden statue. The Wycombe Wanderers players looked as if their souls had left their bodies. Under the gaze of twenty thousand fans, they looked so miserable and...

Ridiculous.

Yes, a little ridiculous!

Before the match, they had been so full of arrogance, yet once they arrived at the Liberty Stadium, they were beaten dizzy before the first half was even over, completely unable to find north!

"What are Wycombe Wanderers doing? They look like they haven't even woken up on the pitch!

"And what on earth did Tobias Rau just do?!

"What he did just now was criminal!

"He used brute, unreasonable force to break past two Wycombe Wanderers players in a row, drove the attack forward fifty yards, then sent in a wonderful pass. Villa easily beat the offside trap, rounded the goalkeeper, and finished into an empty net!

"What the hell! After losing their opening match, Swansea have clearly learned from the shame and found their courage. They have immediately shown unbelievable fighting power. They are three goals ahead! The match hasn't even reached the 40th minute!"

After seeing Villa score, Lynn instinctively stood up from the dugout. The other coaches stood up as well, along with Joseph Levin, who had requested Lynn's permission before the season to sit on the bench and watch matches live.

Lynn punched the air hard and roared, "Brilliant!"

Levin's reaction was even more exaggerated than his. He jumped and bounced around, looking unbelievably excited, then threw an arm around Emlyn Hughes and shouted, "That's a goal? That's a goal?! Those two took down Wycombe Wanderers' entire team by themselves! They're incredible! I wish I could be like them. That was absolutely beautiful!"

Hughes chuckled. "First, you'd have to be able to run faster than them."

"Haha, then I'll buy myself a pair of rocket boots!"

On the pitch, Wycombe Wanderers' players felt as if their heads were about to explode!

Their minds were buzzing, roaring like thunder!

This was even more intense than Swansea's disbelief when they lost to Brighton.

Because at least Swansea and Brighton had been bitter enemies last season.

But in Wycombe Wanderers' eyes, Swansea were supposed to be a soft target, a promoted side anyone could bully!

They never expected to be stepped on by the promoted team instead!

After Swansea celebrated for the third time, Cromwell spoke to everyone in a firm voice.

"We can't relax! It's been a long time since we won a match. Today, if we're going to win, then let's win properly!"

In fact, if judged purely by matches, Swansea had only gone one match without winning.

But the "long time" Cromwell referred to was the entire offseason. For nearly three months, they had not tasted victory.

Today, they would use Wycombe Wanderers as the sacrifice to raise their banner for the new Second Division campaign!

Before the end of the first half, Swansea launched a ferocious bombardment against the Wycombe Wanderers defense, whose morale had already collapsed.

In the middle of a chaotic scramble, Pedretti struck a long-range shot from outside the penalty area. After taking a deflection, the ball changed direction and somehow rolled into Wycombe Wanderers' goal!

Swansea led 4–0!