Football: The Journey of a Coach

28. Drinking Milk

    The end of December was bland for Daniel, he was really focused on preparing for the next game against Ipswich town. Two days of vacation, he was accompanied only by player documents and draft tactics Palace.

With his family in Paris, N'golo Kante chose to return home. Actually Kante's income will be enough for him to rent his own apartment, but Daniel said it's better to wait for the end of the season alone.

And after getting a call from Neil Warnock, Daniel is now always checking who his players are interested in by other teams, and sure enough. After Morgan Schneiderlin, there are several more players who have been approached by other clubs.

Like Victor Moses, Ryan Shawcross, Alan Lee, N. Clyne, even N'golo Kante too. These names are what other clubs have asked through Crsytal Palace, he does not know those who are approached behind the club.

And Daniel is also not just silent to see his players hunted by other clubs, he passed his cousin Joey Collins. Looking for talented players he remembers from the future. Like Joe Allen from Swansea city, then Dani Rose Tottenham Hotspur and Andy Carroll who will be bought tens of millions by Liverpool in the future.

January 1, 2010.

At 10:30 a.m., the team began training. The volume of morning practice is not very large, as there are games in the afternoon, morning exercises are mainly for warming up everyone and knowing the status of the player.

At three in the afternoon, Selhurst Park Stadium was full of spectators as usual, the fans of today's game had greater expectations, as their opponents this time Ipswich Town were in poor form. And there have been issues that coach Roy Keane is facing dismissal, due to a barrage of disappointing results Ipswich.

After the last game, Crystal Palace scored three more points, amassed 40 points, and reached 5th place. Ipswich Town now has 26 points, ranked 19th in the standings.

Crystal Palace want to move up to the English premier league, must collect as many points as possible. If there is one more chance to win, Palace will have to keep stepping on the opponent hard. On the contrary, Ipswich Town thought so too. They need a win not to fall on the brink of relegation.

The head coach of Ipswich Town is famous Manchester United star Roy Keane. Daniel has just taken charge of the team in the last two games, he met the famous Manchester United star. Compared to Mark Robbins' Barnsley, Ipswich Town under Roy Keane always played in a rough and militant manner.

In the press conference before the game. Daniel still adheres to the habit of speaking soberly, with no sky-high words. Roy Keane said he would finish the amateur coach and his team at Selhurst Park Stadium.

Daniel just laughed a little at Roy Keane's high words, he was not provoked by this man's words. Everyone already knew that the Ipswich town coach could now only speak big, to cover up his failure in coaching.

Crsytal Palace again lowered their flagship formation 4-2-3-1, this formation has proven capable of destroying the classic formation typical of England 4-4-2 in use by Ipswich Town this time.

It looks like Roy Keane did not learn from his previous match against Barnsley, both teams using the same classic England formation. By relying on long balls directly towards a tall striker, then bounce it to a speed-type striker.

Compared to the match against Barnsley, the Crystal Palace player's tacit understanding has improved. It's still the first half, but it feels a little different. The players move more smoothly, covering each other's movements.

Playing in unison following the strategic direction of Daniel, changing positions to suppress opponents Looking for gaps with silence like a wild animal hunting its prey.

The Ipswich Town side. The ball flew around in circles in the sky, Daniel was completely speechless. Do the coaches in the English league, this is so like to play relying on the top ball like this.

Did they not see Manchester United immersed by Arsenal in the early 2000s, 4-4-2 which brought Sir Alex Ferguson's foster children won three trophies at once in the year 99. Destroyed with the beautiful game of the Gunners Arsene Wenger.

***

This is what Daniel did not like, the game only went 20 minutes but Ipswich Town had already committed more than ten fouls. With two yellow cards received by Roy Keane's team, Daniel is actually happy to get an opponent like this.

With emotions easily peaked he could manipulate the opposing player to get a red card. But there is also the downside of meeting an opponent like this, the team will tend to get injured more easily. Because it has to clash a lot with the opposing team.

Eventually the deadlock split in the 32nd minute. Derry who controlled the ball in the middle of giving a breakthrough pass to the left side of the field, Ambrose passed the guard of the opposing defender broke through and sent a flat pass to Alan Lee in the middle of the penalty box. The striker numbered 9 back was done well, the ball darted past the goalkeeper Ipswich Town.

Alan Lee, who scored his 11th goal of the season, skated in the corner of the match court. His colleagues followed behind.

After winning 1 goal, Daniel instructed his players to lower the tempo of the match. Since Crsytal Palace took the lead, they were in no hurry to return to attack.

The wheels now spin into Ipswich Town, whether they choose to strike blindly, or calmly hold back from conceding any more goals.

From this situation Daniel can learn whether Roy Keane is a great coach, or just nonsense. If Keane rushed to attack, Daniel would not hesitate to destroy it.

Not only can a coach be judged by this situation, players can also. For example Sean Derry, the Palace midfielder patiently and with experience controls the rhythm of the match.

He was the one who determined where Palace's attack began, despite his talent in mediocre grades. But the experience of the 32-year-old is not playful, he can see the gap just from a glance. The start of Palace's previous goal was also from his skill set.

If Daniel is told to choose who is the most important player of the season at Crsytal Palace, he will without a doubt choose Sean Derry.

" BASTARD ".

Daniel's thoughts were sidetracked by the sound of a loud curse from the opposing team's bench.

Because now the back line duo Crsytal Palace is Shawcross and McCarthy. Lawrence directed the players more, while Daniel watched the game and looked for gaps in the opponent's strategy.

So he didn't know who was swearing earlier, It wasn't hard to find. Because the person earlier cursed back this time was no less harsh than the first.

" Wear your eyes, STUPID ". Roy Keane swore at his defender who fooled Moses' movement.

" Keep her legs ".

" That's right, STUPID ".

Daniel saw Victor Moses in a hard tackle by an opposing defender, when his emotions exploded.

" HEY. BASTARD, watch your players ". Daniel said directly.

" HA, YOU'RE THE ASSHOLE ". Roy Keane, don't take it.

The two coaches directly face to face with each other, Daniel who was pulled by Lawrence had said. " Teach your players to play right. Bastard ".

" What do you know about playing, huh, I've been playing since you were drinking milk." Reply Roy Keane.

The two coaches were eventually separated by their respective staff. Daniel and Keane, both got warnings from the head referee.

The first half ended with tense tension between the two teams, Crsytal Palace still leading 1-0 from guests Ipswich Town.