Chapter 158: What’s That Got to Do With Me?
Lynn had not expected the goal to arrive so quickly, and so suddenly!
What else could he do?
Of course he was happy!
He began applauding, but then, as if prompted by some sixth sense, he turned toward the home team's technical area.
What he saw was Dean Smith hurriedly shifting his gaze away from him.
In that brief glance Lynn had caught, the look in Dean Smith's eyes seemed full of resentment!
Lynn was baffled.
Your own player performed badly. What's that got to do with me?
Yes, I came back here with cheats, but that doesn't mean I can control your players!
Dean Smith's mood had hit rock bottom. His team had not even lasted four minutes!
In truth, the Red and Whites had kept their composure. But Cromwell's long shot had swerved unpredictably. If the goalkeeper had decided from the start to punch the ball clear, then none of what followed would have happened. Yet he had insisted on trying to catch it, causing the ball to rebound along a trajectory no one could have predicted, directly catching his teammate Smur off guard!
The fans in the stands were speechless over that own goal!
It seemed that whenever they met Swansea, they were doomed to bad luck!
Dean Smith shouted a few words toward his players on the pitch, telling them not to let the goal affect them and to continue keeping the defensive fence secure!
He believed that Swansea, now sitting top of the table, would not become so pragmatic as to sit back and counterattack after taking the lead.
Keep defending!
Hold on!
Hit Swansea on the counter!
The Red and Whites players were heavy-hearted.
An own goal dealt a huge blow to morale, and they could only comfort themselves: the match had just started. There was plenty of time!
Coincidentally, the Swans players were thinking the same thing.
The match had only just started!
After the Red and Whites kicked off again, their organized positional attacks produced almost no effect. Usually, they relied on forty-five-degree crosses from wide areas, and they did not dare go all the way to the byline, because they were worried about not having enough defenders on the flank. If there was only one full-back there, the wide defensive zone could easily be torn apart.
Because of that, their crosses were easier for Swansea to defend head-on.
At the back, Friedrich reminded his teammates, "We only need to mark their forwards. Block them from the front!"
In the 12th minute, Swansea carried out a passing move in the front field. Grosso played the ball sideways from the left flank to Cromwell. After controlling it and dribbling laterally two steps, Cromwell suddenly sent a direct pass forward. Villa, who had been moving around in front of the box, received the pass and immediately used the inside of his foot to knock the ball into the penalty area.
Ibrahimović made a diagonal run behind center-back Thomas. The moment he stopped the ball, full-back Allen-Page rushed over to make a recovery tackle.
Ibrahimović pulled the ball back flexibly under his foot, turned, then nudged it toward the middle, completing his adjustment for a shot.
But the instant he swung his leg, defensive midfielder O'Connor slid in. Ibrahimović's shot was intercepted by O'Connor's sliding tackle and rebounded away.
Hutchinson controlled the ball in front of the penalty area.
At that moment, Dean Smith kept making gestures on the touchline, shouting for the team to launch a counterattack immediately!
Hutchinson did not hesitate. He sent a diagonal pass to left midfielder Stephen Hughes.
Hughes dribbled forward with the ball, and full-back Balitsch rushed up to press him. This defense was not reckless, because there were no supporting teammates around Hughes!
It was time to test one-on-one ability.
Perhaps only Balitsch thought so.
Because Hughes gave him no chance at all. He directly lifted the ball into Swansea's penalty area.
But Peters and Blackman had not even reached their positions yet!
Glendor expanded his defensive range and rushed straight to the front of the penalty spot, catching the ball in his arms.
Peters and Blackman were helpless, and they were full of resentment toward Hughes' decision.
Peters spread his hands toward Hughes in confusion: who was that ball meant for?
Hughes had no choice but to raise his hand in apology.
On the touchline, Dean Smith closed his eyes in disappointment. About five seconds later, he reopened them.
The Red and Whites' counters looked difficult to execute too.
Lynn knew the opponent wanted to counterattack Swansea, but the key problem was that Swansea had not pushed forward recklessly!
In ordinary attacking situations, Swansea could create obvious advantages with five against seven or six against eight, because Swansea's individual ability and the combined strength produced by their team play were stronger than the Red and Whites!
Since that was the case, Swansea had no need to take risks by committing even more players forward.
If the Red and Whites had an advantage in counterattacking speed, perhaps Lynn would still be wary. But they did not!
If their attacking progression relied entirely on long balls and aerial deliveries, then unless chaos or mistakes appeared, Swansea would not give them excellent chances!
However, Swansea's attack was also showing signs of running into a parked bus.
Lynn gestured to the players on the pitch, trying to change the attacking approach.
The players immediately understood the manager's intention after seeing his signal.
In the following attacks, Swansea frequently focused their play down the flanks.
In the 17th minute, after Grosso and Tobias Rau combined repeatedly down the wing, Grosso reached the byline and crossed. Ibrahimović made a diagonal run from the center of goal toward the near post and threw himself into a header!
The ball went over the bar!
"Ibrahimović's header goes high!"
Two minutes later, the Red and Whites' counterattack failed in the middle of the front field after Pedretti made a precise interception. Blackman tried to dribble past him and did get his body past, but Pedretti kept the ball behind.
In the 25th minute, James Cook controlled the ball on the right flank. Andrew Frampton defended him head-on. James Cook suddenly passed the ball between Frampton's legs, then sprinted at full speed around the outside. After Frampton turned, Balitsch had already chased down the ball before it could roll over the byline and sent in a cross.
It was a half-height cross. Near the penalty spot, Villa struck it first-time on the volley without stopping the ball. The movement and control of the technique were perfect.
Unfortunately, defender Danny Thomas was standing in front of him. Villa's shot hit Thomas and bounced away!
The Red and Whites' counters became increasingly dispirited. Too many players stayed in the backfield, and in defense, Swansea used excellent coordinated positioning to cut apart their already thin attacking shape.
In such circumstances, the Red and Whites needed their counterattacking players to have individual dribbling ability, but they held no advantage one-on-one either. As a result, their counters always ended with the ball being intercepted.
Swansea's attacks struck the Red and Whites' defensive line repeatedly like waves, and Swansea's wing play left them somewhat dizzy.
Because every Swansea attack down the flank resulted in a byline cross, the Red and Whites' defensive line could only drop even deeper to avoid allowing crosses to be played behind them, where Swansea's forwards could make runs and directly create shooting chances.
In the 32nd minute, Balitsch once again reached the byline and sent in a cross. But this time, he cut the ball back toward the area outside the middle of the box!
The Red and Whites defenders, who had retreated too much into the penalty area and were too close to the goal, looked up and only then realized how much space there was in front of their box!
Cromwell rushed forward, controlled the ball, and shot!
The Red and Whites defenders in front of him all rushed out. This shot struck Smur's leg, changed direction, and almost flew into the Red and Whites goal again. Fortunately, it only skimmed the outside of the post and rolled over the byline.
The Brentford fans in the stands watched with their hearts pounding!
Swansea were even stronger than they had imagined!
Neutral fans might have shared the same question: how did a Swansea side with such sharp attacking and solid defending lose to Brighton?
Was it really just complacency and underestimating the opponent in the first match of the season?
But over the past twenty league rounds, why had they never underestimated anyone again?
In truth, if someone went back and watched Swansea's first match of the season now, they would clearly discover that today's Swansea had become stronger!
A very obvious change!
Because this Swansea team was too young. Every day of training and every match's experience made the players' physical quality and competitive strength improve!
This was something many people would overlook.
Lynn had really analyzed why Brighton, under Micky Adams, were still ranked in the top three as the season approached the halfway mark.
Brighton were very similar to Swansea. At least half of Brighton's main players were young men in their early twenties. They were also improving and growing!
The difference was that Brighton's young players would soon reach their growth ceiling, while Swansea's young players were still very far from their limits!
In any case, compared to other Second Division teams whose overall strength changed only within a very small range, Brighton and Swansea were absolute outliers. They improved through growth, and while improving, they swept all before them!
Looking at the Red and Whites, who were already a little panicked, Lynn smiled slightly.
His tactical adjustment was for the team to create depth and threat through wide attacks, forcing the opponent's defensive line to retreat even further, then suddenly creating long-range shooting chances closer to goal from in front of the box!
This kind of tactic would make the Red and Whites extremely uncomfortable.
Their defensive line did not dare push out, but they also could not defend the area in front of the box. Unless their forwards could come back, and their two midfielders were both purely defensive midfielders, they would not be able to completely cover the space in front of the penalty area through positioning and anticipation!
Swansea failed to create a threat from the corner, and the Red and Whites gained a chance to build a positional attack.
They tried to stabilize themselves and catch their breath, but Swansea's attacking players pressed like mad dogs.
The two forwards also joined in the counter-pressing. Villa and Ibrahimović made the opponent afraid to hold the ball too much in their own half, so Brentford were forced to attack.
Right midfielder Robert Terrell tried to play a direct pass to forward Peters during the attack, but Friedrich occupied the key position, used his body to withstand Peters' attempt to gain position, and successfully intercepted the pass.
Swansea continued attacking. In the 36th minute, this time they launched from the left.
Grosso received Villa's layoff in the front field after Villa dropped back to take Cromwell's pass.
On the left flank, he suddenly accelerated, changed direction, and wiped past full-back Allen-Page.
When he dribbled the ball near the byline, the Red and Whites defensive line once again retreated toward the edge of the six-yard box.
Grosso sent a low diagonal cutback to the top of the arc.
Cromwell stopped the ball there. Facing the goal, he looked as if he was about to fire another long shot.
At that moment, the Red and Whites midfielders O'Connor, Hutchinson, and Hughes pressed toward him from different directions. O'Connor, in particular, focused on blocking Cromwell's shooting angle from the front.
The Red and Whites defenders were confident they could block Cromwell's long shot this time.
Yes, with their bodies!
In any case, they definitely would not allow Cromwell's shot to fly into the goal!
But Cromwell did not shoot. Just as he was about to be surrounded, he gently passed the ball sideways.
Everyone's attention immediately shifted. Following the direction of the rolling ball, they saw Swansea full-back Tobias Rau sprinting forward from deep, and his run was cutting inside!
He took a big touch forward without slowing down, charging ahead like a sharp blade piercing straight into the heart of the Red and Whites penalty area!
The Red and Whites defensive line was shocked. Center-back Danny Thomas immediately moved across, trying to intercept Tobias Rau.
But the moment he moved, Tobias Rau used his left foot to knock the ball diagonally into the space Thomas had originally occupied.
Before Danny Thomas could stop and turn, he already smelled the scent of death!
Who was the forward he had originally been marking?
David Villa!
By the time he stopped and turned, he had already seen Villa, two meters away, sweep the ball toward goal with his left foot in one smooth half-turn without taking a touch!
Villa's shot was extremely sudden. Even though goalkeeper Julian made a diving save, it was already too late!
The ball rolled inside the near post and into the net!
The Red and Whites defenders helplessly raised their hands, signaling that Villa was offside!
But the linesman made no reaction.
After scoring, Villa turned with a smile and pointed toward Tobias Rau. Tobias Rau ran over, and Villa wrapped an arm around his shoulder as the two sprinted together along the touchline, Villa's other hand clenched into a fist and held high.
The Swansea fans who had traveled to Griffin Park were ecstatic, cheering for them wildly!
"Swansea have scored their second goal! What a brilliant team move! This is a Swans side that will terrify every team in the Second Division!
"Grosso, Cromwell, Tobias Rau, Villa — Swansea's combination play is wonderful beyond words. They have every reason to succeed, every reason to be league leaders, because whether in terms of player characteristics or the team's overall tactical style, they are unique, completely different from traditional English football. That makes Swansea stand out, and it also makes more and more fans fall in love with them!
"The Red and Whites are now two goals down at home. What should they do? Does manager Dean Smith have any clever plan to turn the situation around for his team?"
The Red and Whites fans were also hoping Dean Smith could command from the touchline and reverse the situation, because they could see that the players on the pitch were already somewhat lost!
Dean Smith's current expression actually looked a little wronged.
He really had prepared thoroughly for this match, but reality was telling him: everything you did was useless!
Before his team could strike later and seize control, the situation had already taken a sharp turn downward. The Red and Whites had arrived at the edge of the cliff.
Dean Smith looked toward Lynn again.
Lynn was currently raising both fists and jumping in celebration of Villa's goal.
By chance, he saw Dean Smith's expression as he looked at him, and Lynn froze again.
Dean Smith had truly confused him!
In his view, the Red and Whites' plan today was to play on the counter.
But your counterattack didn't work. You can't blame Swansea for that, right?
Lynn was not a mind reader in Dean Smith's stomach. How would he know that Dean Smith had prepared a battle plan he thought was excellent and had a very high chance of success?
Unfortunately, reality was that his battle plan could now be thrown into the rubbish bin.
Seeing Dean Smith turn around with that gloomy figure, Lynn suddenly felt that Dean Smith's resentment toward him seemed to have grown even heavier!
He rubbed his nose and muttered, "What's that got to do with me?"
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