Chapter 162: Bad Calls Are Part of Football
At the Madejski Stadium, Swansea had run into a group of seasoned old hands from Reading. It could not be said that Reading were a squad of mighty warriors who had fought a hundred battles, but at the very least, they were a group of veterans long hardened by experience.
They were smarter on the pitch. Their fouls were never too heavy, yet they achieved their purpose. When attacking, they seized Swansea's weak point and hammered it mercilessly.
For a while, Swansea were being suppressed so heavily that they almost could not breathe.
In the 18th minute, John Salako carried the ball forward down the left side of the front field. James Cook chased him from behind. Salako nudged the ball toward the flank, opened an angle, then half-turned and swept the ball back behind him.
Full-back Nicky Shorey had pushed forward. He sent a diagonal pass to the edge of the penalty area, where attacking midfielder Watson ran over to receive and control it. Pedretti moved over to defend him from the front, while Cromwell closed in from behind. Watson had never intended to break through. After controlling the ball in place and judging the situation, he gently laid it back diagonally.
Icelandic defensive midfielder Ingimarsson arrived from deep and met the ball with a thunderous shot!
The strike was extremely solid. The ball flew toward goal like a cannonball, half a meter above the ground.
It still had a dipping trajectory in front of goal.
Glendor dived and blocked the ball with his arm!
The scene was extremely dangerous.
Friedrich rushed to the goalmouth at the first moment and kicked the ball Glendor had blocked behind for a corner.
He had noticed Reading forward Forster charging toward him, so to be safe, he still cleared the ball over the byline.
"Reading have entered the match quickly after kickoff. They are performing better than Swansea. Wave after wave of attacks has begun to leave Swansea scrambling, and here is another beautiful attack. The Icelander Ingimarsson's long shot was blocked in time by Glendor, and Friedrich cleared the ball out for a corner. If Swansea continue like this, how long can they hold on? Let's wait and see!"
On the touchline, Alan Pardew repeatedly showed expressions of regret and unwillingness.
He believed Swansea had gotten lucky!
Otherwise, Reading would have scored already.
He was very satisfied with today's tactical arrangement. Their main attack on Balitsch's side had produced excellent results. Reading now had the feeling of attacking one point to draw the rescue.
As long as Swansea could not sit by and watch Balitsch be torn apart, they would have to fix the flaw there. Once that happened, problems would very likely appear in other defensive areas. Reading could then quickly switch the direction of attack and produce very good results.
Unfortunately, their luck was just a little lacking!
In the stands, Reading fans saw their team starting with powerful momentum, looking as if they were pinning Swansea in their own half and beating them wildly. That made them extremely excited, and they began singing one song repeatedly with passion.
The song echoed around the Madejski Stadium, and it sounded extremely uncomfortable and frustrating to Swansea's players and fans.
"We're playing bloody Swansea! We're playing bloody Swansea!"
The song had originally been an Irish drinking song.
Its earliest creator could no longer be verified. Among the many Irish folk songs, "The Wild Rover" was one of the most widely known.
Its original lyrics told the story of a young man who had wandered for years and returned to his hometown, wanting to have a drink, only to unexpectedly encounter all kinds of hardships.
But now, in English football, fans had adapted the lyrics to mock and suppress their opponents!
More than two thousand Swansea fans had traveled to the away match. Hearing that song constantly echo around the stadium, Richard Cork shook his head slightly. He felt the situation was not good.
They had not prepared any songs to mock or suppress Reading. Perhaps Swansea had enjoyed comfortable days for too long. They had become the lofty strong side in the league, making them look down on many opponents. Reading were no exception. Just like Lynn, they psychologically despised their opponents.
Kevin Reeves rarely had the chance to watch away matches. As a working-class man, he only had the opportunity to travel with the team and cheer them on during public holidays. He did not want to spend ninety minutes being humiliated by the opposing fans. For him and the fans around him, their battlefield was in the stands!
Kevin Reeves clapped his hands and called for everyone to sing back.
But everyone had the same question: what should we sing?
Kevin Reeves could not think of anything either. He did not know what song to adapt on the spot to fight back.
So he simply shouted to everyone, "We all know 'The Wild Rover' too! If they sing it, we'll sing it too!"
When everyone heard that, they felt it was the only solution they had. Fine, they would sing. It was still better than staying silent. If they only roared, their throats would not last.
So before long, songs rose and fell across the stands.
"We're playing bloody Swansea!"
"We're playing bloody Reading!"
The two sets of fans were singing the same song, only changing the target of their attack to the opponent's name.
That atmosphere made the battle inside the stadium even more intense and tense.
Reading were beginning to show signs of attacking for a long time without breaking through. On Swansea's side, however, it was not easy to find a good attacking method. Their attacks were full of twists and turns, always being interrupted in midfield, after which Reading would quickly arrange an even tighter defensive line to wait for Swansea to break it down.
Lynn stood on the touchline with a face as still as water. He wanted to see how the team would respond in adversity. Could the pressure Reading applied draw out even stronger fighting power from the team?
Cromwell took the initiative to drop back and play as a defensive midfielder. This allowed him to organize better. At the very least, the opponent's double pivot did not dare easily step into dangerous areas in the front field to press him. If they did, the space behind them would become too large!
In the 24th minute, Swansea produced a very successful attack.
Gabbidon took the ball from Forster's feet as he tried to dribble through, then played a direct pass to Cromwell ahead of him. After controlling the ball, Cromwell dribbled sideways in place for two steps, avoiding Kevin Watson's press. Then he passed the ball across to Grosso on the flank.
Until now, Grosso had repeatedly been forced into mistakes when changing direction with the ball because the opponent's wide midfielder had used collisions, shirt-pulling, or early sliding tackles to pressure him.
This time, before stopping the ball, he had already noticed that the opposing wide midfielder Scott Murray had come nearby. So he took the initiative and ran toward the ball, moving infield.
Scott Murray also changed his running direction and chased Grosso. He looked extremely determined.
In Murray's mind, he had already decided that as long as he caught up with Grosso, no matter what method he used, he had to delay Grosso's attacking advance.
But just before he could get close, Grosso passed the ball back to the flank!
Murray immediately stopped and turned. He saw Tobias Rau speeding forward, reaching the ball before it rolled over the touchline and knocking it ahead. Then Tobias Rau advanced the attack at great speed. Murray wanted to chase again, but it was already clearly too late!
Tobias Rau pushed the attack forward rapidly. This time, Reading had failed to block or delay Swansea's attacking advance, and their defensive line also became somewhat panicked.
Ibrahimović and Villa began moving actively, while Cromwell followed up from behind through the middle.
When Tobias Rau dribbled the ball to an area forty yards from goal, he passed diagonally to Villa, who had pulled away with his movement.
Villa, positioned slightly left in front of the penalty area, had just stopped the ball when Ibrahimović began running forward and right along the edge of the box. His movement made Reading's center-backs nervous, and they immediately acted to follow him.
One of the two defensive midfielders, Ingimarsson, rushed toward Villa. The Spaniard calmly passed the ball back diagonally behind him.
Cromwell followed up and stopped the ball, shaping as if he was going to play a direct pass forward. Ibrahimović had already drawn the attention of Reading's defense.
The players began gathering around Ibrahimović and Villa. It looked as if Cromwell had no good passing option at all.
But in front of Ricky Newman, Cromwell knocked the ball sideways, turned his own body toward the left, and then used the outside of his right foot to send the ball into the empty left half-space inside the box!
What Reading's back line had not expected was that Tobias Rau, a full-back, had actually charged straight into the penalty area and formed a one-on-one chance!
He received Cromwell's pass in the left channel of the box, stopped the ball with his left foot, and then shot with his left foot as well. From close range, his fierce strike blasted the ball into the near corner!
Seeing Tobias Rau score, Lynn roared with excitement!
This was Swansea breaking through difficulty by drawing out the energy within the players themselves under enormous pressure!
This phenomenon showed that Swansea still had great potential to be stimulated!
Wonderful!
Tobias Rau was also extremely excited after scoring, but before he could run more than two steps, he stopped!
He turned his head and saw the linesman raising his flag for offside!
Tobias Rau was stunned. He remembered it very clearly. When he made his forward run, he had gone past full-back Graeme Murty. He was absolutely not offside!
Lynn's celebration on the touchline also came to an abrupt halt. When he saw the linesman's flag, rage surged straight to his head, and he immediately cursed in Chinese.
"Offside? Offside your ancestors for eighteen generations!"
Lynn rushed straight to the fourth official and roared, "Even if he were blind in one eye, he shouldn't have seen that as offside! What the fuck is the referee team doing? Are you targeting Swansea? Will you only be satisfied if you destroy Swansea?"
Before the fourth official could say anything, Alan Pardew walked over and snapped at Lynn, "You piece of trash, don't try to pressure the referee here. I know your filthy tricks. This isn't a place where you can run wild. I'm telling you, get back there and behave. There was nothing wrong with that call. It was offside!"
Lynn pointed at the nearest live broadcast camera and roared at Alan Pardew, "You idiot, get over here. Say that into the camera, say it to the whole world. Repeat what you just said to everyone: tell the whole world that you're fucking blind. That was offside? Are you watching the match with your arse?"
Alan Pardew strode quickly toward Lynn, looking as if he was about to fight him!
The fourth official reacted quickly, stepping forward to block the two men and using his hand to push Alan Pardew backward.
"I've put up with you for long enough! You'd better fucking understand where you are!"
"Are you an idiot? What's so impressive about the Madejski Stadium? Forget this being Reading's home ground. Even if it were 10 Downing Street or the White House, I'll say whatever I want! You want to fight? Have you considered how much of a beating you can take?"
"Kid, come here. Get the fuck over here!"
Alan Pardew shouted emotionally, but at the same time, he was being pushed back by the fourth official.
The referee noticed the conflict between the managers on the touchline. He jogged over to Alan Pardew and issued a warning, then ran over to Lynn and warned him as well.
Lynn, however, spoke rudely to the referee. "Control yourself first!"
He was clearly extremely dissatisfied with the referee disallowing Swansea's goal just now!
When the referee heard Lynn's words, his face turned livid. He scolded him, "Do you want to go home right now? Say one more word, and I'll make it happen!"
Lynn suppressed his anger and walked back to the dugout without saying another word.
On the pitch, the Swansea players were furious.
They had finally scored a goal to take the lead, only for it to be ruled out!
The boos from the Swansea fans in the stands were piercing, while the home fans sang happily.
"Through the replay footage, we can say with certainty: the referee has made a serious misjudgment!
"Tobias Rau was not offside at the moment Cromwell made the pass. He was very clearly not offside!
"But perhaps Tobias Rau was simply too fast, and the timing of the pass and run between him and Cromwell was so perfectly synchronized that when he controlled the ball, having successfully beaten the offside trap, he looked very far offside inside the penalty area.
"In any case, a perfectly good Swansea goal has been disallowed. But this is also part of football. Although many people believe this view is absurd, bad calls are part of football. Every week across European football, there are plenty of controversial decisions and refereeing mistakes."
Lynn sat in the dugout with a gloomy face.
Although Christmas was not a festival he personally cared much about, before becoming a coach, it had merely been an excuse to find some fun.
But after coaching a team, there were too many people around him smiling happily during this holiday, making Christmas become a somewhat special day in his world as well.
On a day when everyone should have been happy, they had ended up at the Madejski Stadium for this match. From Alan Pardew coming over to provoke him before kickoff to now having a goal disallowed, Lynn's mood was terrible.
But he could not show it too intensely.
If he were sent off, it would be equivalent to abandoning his team on the pitch. That was not something an excellent manager should do.
He also needed the players on the pitch to calm down quickly.
So he first had to control his own temper.
The atmosphere around him also became somewhat oppressive. Whether coaches or players, everyone felt deeply unhappy that a good goal had been ruled out, and that the manager had gone to protest only to nearly trigger a conflict, ending with a warning from the referee.
No one felt good about it, but there was nothing they could do. They could only stay silent and suppress it.
Sitting behind Lynn, Joseph Levin looked indifferent.
Those eyes of his, which looked very beautiful when he smiled, were now cold and devouring.
He slowly turned his head and looked toward Alan Pardew, who was standing at the touchline in front of the home dugout, directing the match. His still, dead-water eyes stared at the man's figure for a long time.