Chapter 157: An Own-Goal Gift
After Swansea tightened up their discipline, the team's fighting spirit and overall look were completely refreshed.
Although their first league match in early October had ended in a draw against Wigan Athletic, they remained unbeaten throughout the entire month!
From league rounds 12 to 17, Swansea achieved a brilliant record of five wins and one draw.
At home, they beat high-flying Huddersfield 2–1.
Away, they defeated Northampton 3–1.
At home, they beat Notts County 2–0.
Away, they swept aside league strugglers Cambridge United 6–0.
At home, they comfortably edged Colchester United 1–0.
Away, they played out a dull 0–0 draw with Peterborough United.
Across the whole of October, Swansea recorded five wins and two draws in seven league matches. With Villa, Cromwell, and Brunel all absent, Ibrahimović and Charisteas took on the heavy responsibility in attack, combining for ten goals!
Poulsen, Kalunbel, Nelson, and Cristiano Ronaldo also performed excellently when coming off the bench.
Badenberg, meanwhile, was frozen out by Lynn for three weeks as punishment.
When November arrived, Cromwell and Villa announced their returns together!
At the start of November, Swansea immediately began winning match after match!
In the first round of the FA Cup, the newly recovered Villa went on a killing spree, leading a substitute lineup to slaughter amateur league side Morecambe 11–0 at home.
Then, in the third round of the Football League Trophy, Swansea defeated Bristol City 3–1 away from home and advanced into the semi-finals.
In league round 18, Swansea staged another massacre at home. The attacking combination of Ibrahimović and Villa both scored twice as Swansea sent visiting Wrexham away with a 6–0 defeat.
In league round 19, Swansea continued at home, facing their Welsh derby rivals Cardiff City, who had been promoted to the Second Division with them last season.
The Swansea of today were no longer the Swansea of the past, and they won 4–2 at home.
On November 25, Swansea traveled away to challenge Chesterfield. They were held to a 1–1 draw, ending their winning streak across all competitions in November.
Before the final match of November arrived, Swansea had achieved a proud record of sixteen wins, three draws, and one defeat in their first twenty league rounds!
With 51 points, they ranked top of the Second Division, five points ahead of second-placed Reading and seven points ahead of third-placed Brighton!
Before 2001 had even ended, there was no longer any Fleet Street media outlet that dared to talk down Swansea!
The bookmakers had even directly suspended betting on Swansea winning the Second Division title!
This black swan shocked everyone. The strong sides of the Second Division all looked at Swansea with fear.
On November 27, the day before Swansea faced the Red and Whites, Lynn stayed in his office and operated the card system.
Over at Toulouse in France, Lynn had just injected £30 million into the club's account, allowing Will Taylor to live a little more comfortably.
Toulouse were performing well in Ligue 1. The young talents the club had brought in during the summer were developing in a way that satisfied Lynn, and he planned to continue expanding aggressively next summer.
However, his idea of signing a midfielder after the winter transfer window opened had ultimately fallen through.
After searching and searching, he could not find a suitable target. Either the player would not come to Second Division Swansea, or Lynn did not rate him.
Even Thomas Hitzlsperger, who had been bought by Toulouse, was now thriving in Ligue 1. Why would he be willing to run to the Second Division?
Lynn gave up on the idea of searching for talent and opened the points account in his system again.
He now had 62 points in his account.
He reviewed the team's squad and began exchanging cards to strengthen the side.
First was goalkeeper Glendor. Lynn exchanged two S-cards for him: Soft Touch and Two-Footed Touch.
He planned to refine the team's tactics from next season onward and fully commit to team-based ground attacking play. The goalkeeper's ball-control ability needed to improve. At the very least, better technique with his feet would help in every aspect.
The first team's skill setup had already taken shape. The current focus was to improve the technical training of the substitutes.
Kalunbel had performed excellently among the substitutes this season, so Lynn exchanged three cards for him: One-Touch Passing, Soft Touch, and Outside Foot.
Besides those three cards, Poulsen also received Breakthrough Interception to increase his defensive ability.
Horatio Nelson received two new cards: Two-Footed Touch and Outside Foot.
Apart from the center-backs and the backup goalkeeper, there was only one player in the squad who was still completely clean of cards: full-back Arthur Wellesley.
After thinking about it, Lynn simply gave him six cards directly.
Super Sub, One-Touch Passing, Soft Touch, Breakthrough Interception, Outside Foot, and Long Throw.
Although Wellesley's development had been relatively slow, he had always worked extremely hard in training. His presence was very low, but Lynn could see his effort. As long as conditions allowed it, as the manager, Lynn was willing to do his best to develop such hardworking players.
With that, Lynn used 51 points in one go.
Only 11 points remained, enough to exchange for just three S-cards.
After thinking it over, he exchanged two cards for Friedrich: One-Touch Passing and Soft Touch. He also exchanged a Soft Touch S-card for Brunel.
His points account instantly had only 2 points left.
But Lynn was very satisfied.
He had basically completed his current investment of S-card types into the team!
Next, he needed to accumulate points to exchange for P-cards. P-cards such as Speed Merchant were extremely effective, allowing players with good pace to combine explosiveness and speed perfectly in matches. Villa was the typical example.
Full-Pitch Runner and Tracking Back were also very practical P-cards.
On November 28, Lynn led the team to London to challenge the Red and Whites, Brentford, with whom they had formed a "death feud" last season.
Before the match, both managers were very calm. Lynn and Dean Smith did not make any forward-looking comments about the game. Lynn looked down on Dean Smith, while Dean Smith was afraid of humiliating himself.
Last season, in the two-legged Football League Trophy semi-final, the Red and Whites had been brutally defeated by Swansea, leaving Dean Smith thoroughly embarrassed.
After that crushing defeat in the Football League Trophy, Brentford's morale had also collapsed. They had originally been in the promotion play-off zone, but in the end, they did not even make it into the play-offs.
Swansea had three difficult matches remaining before the first half of the league season ended.
Brentford, fifth in the table.
Queens Park Rangers, ninth in the table.
Reading, second in the table!
If they played these three matches well, Swansea might be able to extend their lead. Then Lynn could attack the FA Cup in the second half of the season!
His players needed a bigger stage, and as the manager, he would naturally do his best to satisfy them, allowing them to face stronger opponents, improve themselves, and achieve breakthroughs and leaps forward!
Returning to Griffin Park with his team, Lynn looked full of spirit.
He strode into the stadium with his head held high and shook hands with Dean Smith on the touchline. The two did not speak. After all, this was the kind of scene where enemies met and their eyes turned red.
The Red and Whites fans booed Lynn. Most opposing fans did not like him.
Whether it was racial discrimination, resentment toward the rich, or the fact that Lynn's Swansea somehow frightened them, in short, not many rival fans liked Lynn.
Lynn stood calmly on the touchline, receiving the boos and curses with a composed expression.
He was very calm now. The more fiercely opponents cursed, the guiltier they were inside!
When the Swansea players and the Red and Whites players walked onto the pitch together, the atmosphere at the stadium became extremely heated.
After all, this was a heavyweight clash at Second Division level.
A meeting between teams near the top of the table.
But in reality, the points gap between Swansea and Brentford was a shocking eleven points!
The season was not even halfway through, yet the Red and Whites had already been left double digits behind by the Swans. If this trend continued, Brentford fans did not dare imagine it. A year ago, one team had been in the Second Division and the other in the Third Division. Now?
Swansea were top of the Second Division!
A position that made people envy, resent, and hate them!
"Welcome to Griffin Park! The focus match of the 21st round of the Second Division is about to begin here!
"League leaders Swansea are away to the Red and Whites, Brentford. Both teams have performed well this season, but Swansea have been superior. They are the dark horse that has shocked everyone. Since losing to Brighton in the opening round of the league, they have gone twenty matches unbeaten! At one point, they even recorded an astonishing nine-match winning streak!
"Brentford have been excellent and steady this season, and they are currently fifth in the table.
"These two sides met in last season's Football League Trophy semi-final. Swansea beat Brentford in both legs and advanced to the final by a huge aggregate score before eventually lifting the trophy.
"Brentford's heavy defeat in last season's Football League Trophy was widely seen as the result of underestimating their opponent. They thought Swansea were weak, only for Swansea to display fighting power that caught them completely unprepared.
"Today, the two sides meet again. Let's take a look at the starting lineups.
"Brentford start in a 4-4-2.
"Goalkeeper: Alan Julian.
"Defenders: Danny Allen-Page, Danny Thomas, Matt Smur, Andrew Frampton.
"Midfielders: Robert Terrell, Kevin O'Connor, Eddie Hutchinson, Stephen Hughes.
"Forwards: Mark Peters, Lloyd Blackman.
"Swansea start in a 4-4-2.
"Goalkeeper: Glendor.
"Defenders: Balitsch, Gabbidon, Friedrich, Tobias Rau.
"Midfielders: James Cook, Cromwell, Pedretti, Grosso.
"Forwards: Villa, Ibrahimović.
"The match is about to begin. Let us look forward to this clash between the Swans and the Red and Whites!"
With the referee's whistle, the Red and Whites kicked off at home.
Lynn stood calmly on the touchline, observing the direction of the match.
He discovered that Brentford had withdrawn their formation immediately after the match began. It seemed they intended to play on the counterattack at home!
The Red and Whites' posture made the fans in the stands feel aggrieved. If an English team did not take the initiative to attack even at home, it would also damage the morale of the fans cheering them on.
Dean Smith stood on the touchline with a face as still as water.
He had drawn up a very detailed battle plan for this match.
In the first half, they would swallow humiliation and bear the burden!
Withdraw defensively and play on the counterattack!
If they managed to ambush Swansea successfully, then Dean Smith would not change tactics in the second half.
But if they failed to score through counters in the first half, then in the second half, Dean Smith would have the team attack wildly!
An extreme change in posture would bring a shift in rhythm, and it would definitely make Swansea suffer!
Before the match, Dean Smith had repeatedly told his team to stay calm.
Only by stabilizing their position and making Swansea attack for a long time without success could they wait for fortune to bloom.
Swansea were now playing a 4-4-2 that emphasized balance between attack and defense. Their wide attacks, in particular, were already extremely mature. After kickoff, the Red and Whites retreated voluntarily, so midfield naturally became Swansea's territory!
In the 4th minute, Swansea attacked in the front field. After several passes between the flank and midfield players, Cromwell controlled the ball thirty-five yards from goal. He noticed that the Red and Whites defenders had retreated fairly deep, and there was no pressing pressure around him.
That was right. Brentford had focused their pressing area within thirty yards of their own goal.
Cromwell dribbled forward two steps, then unleashed a long shot!
Because no one pressed him, the quality of this long-range effort was extremely high.
The ball, struck with the outside of his foot, drew a drifting, unpredictable trajectory as it flew between the bodies of players inside the penalty area. Although it looked as if it was heading toward the middle of the goal, the ball was swerving heavily, and goalkeeper Alan Julian actually tried to catch it with his hands!
When the ball reached five yards in front of him, it drifted again with another sudden change in trajectory. Caught off guard, Julian's hands failed to touch the ball. Instead, his raised forearm blocked it away!
The ball rebounded diagonally downward at high speed!
Inside the penalty area, Brentford's retreating defensive line turned back. One of the two center-backs, Matt Smur, turned to see whether the goalkeeper could hold the ball.
He never expected the ball Julian had blocked to fly straight toward him. He instinctively lifted his leg to control it, only for the ball to hit his shin and rebound back!
Julian watched the ball fly toward the goal again, and he was so frightened his soul nearly left his body. His face even went pale!
In the stands, many Red and Whites fans could not help muttering to themselves.
"No way?"
"What the hell?"
"WTH!"
After the series of rebounds, the ball lightly touched the ground inside the six-yard box, bounced up, and flew toward goal. Julian made a save, but his reaction was still slow—or rather, the angle of this bouncing ball was simply too awkward!
It brushed the inside of the post and rolled into the net!
Julian fell in front of the goal line and turned his head to look, his face full of disbelief!
Smur looked equally shocked, then covered his face!
Griffin Park instantly fell silent.
Even the Swansea players and fans did not react immediately.
That ball went in?
How?
God knew!
"Wow, wow, wow! Brentford have handed out a huge gift right after the match began! Cromwell's long shot was blocked by goalkeeper Julian's arm, but the rebounding ball was then knocked back into the goal by his own defender, Smur!
"This is an own goal!
"Swansea have luckily scored at Griffin Park. This is simply a dream start! Swansea lead the Red and Whites, Brentford, 1–0 away from home!"
At first, Cromwell thought Ibrahimović, who had been standing beside Smur, had deflected the ball back into the goal. He ran toward Ibrahimović, only to see everyone running toward him instead, and he was immediately confused.
Villa rushed up to him, and Cromwell asked, "Who scored that?"
Villa laughed loudly. "It was an own goal, but your long shot created it. We're leading!"
Hearing that, Cromwell smiled and embraced Villa.