Football: The Journey of a Coach

34. Against Aston Villa

After Neil Warnock's mid-season departure, Daniel Ward was Crystal Palace's most controversial object.

Daniel is considered too young and inexperienced to lead the championship team, but as time goes on, if any of the reporters say that Daniel is not qualified to be head coach of Crystal Palace, there will be people who think differently.

Talented people emerge from generation to generation, each leading for hundreds of years.

Daniel is no longer the target of the fans, but the target will still appear. All Crsytal Palace fans and journalists and tabloids turned to their usual target, owner Simon Jordan.

After selling young star Victor Moses to Everton for 5 million pounds, the name Simon Jordan again rose among observers Crsytal Palace. The owner is considered too greedy because it has sold the club is still looking for other benefits.

    

All sorts of very interesting strange complaints appeared, but no matter how interesting it was. It had no effect at all on Daniel, as he was never too concerned with matters outside of coaching.

But reporters looking for fresh news won't let the head coach, so he doesn't know when it starts. The reporters were eager to ask Daniel about the owner's controversy at the pre-match press conference.

"I'm sure the chairman has his own considerations as to why he sold Moses when Palace were in need" . Daniel samar replied.

" Now everyone is saying that he is the worst chairman of Crsytal Palace. Daniel, what do you think of this statement?." A reporter raised his hand and asked.

" A statement like this is ridiculous. We all know that Mr. Jordan saved Crsytal Palace from bankruptcy a few years ago, so on what basis do you label someone with the worst. " Daniel asked flatly, a reporter like this should never be given a chance.

" Uh.." . The reporter heard Daniel's question.

Another reporter just shook his head slowly seeing his partner made speechless by Daniel Ward. Despite only briefly serving as coach of Crsytal Palace, they have guessed that this young coach is a difficult person.

" If you can't prove it credibly, you shouldn't point the finger at someone. " Daniel spoke again after being content to leave the reporter speechless.

" Then how do you judge Mr. Simon Jordan so far, whether he is credible. " Task the glasses lady reporter sharply, named Kelly Cates. This beautiful woman is actually the son of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish, now that she married two years ago she is using her husband's name.

Then why is Daniel the only coach knowing Kelly's history, because he knows from future memories that this reporter is not easy to mess around with. Even Alex Ferguson's class manager was bothered by him.

" Can you tell us ?. " Seeing Daniel shut up after speaking, Kelly Cates immediately went on asking.

Daniel just looked at the female reporter flatly and said. "No comment ".

He then stood up and left the press conference.

***

Attending regular press conferences before and after games is a must, and that is the FA's strict rule. The coach doesn't have to leave, but there will be fines waiting. After the first time Daniel missed it, he was fined 100,000 Pounds for it.

Daniel, whose salary has risen to 5,000 pounds a week after becoming coach of Crsytal Palace, does not want his salary to run out due to a huge FA fine.

    

Reviewing the new strategy 4-3-3 with Joe Allen as the master of attack, Daniel has forgotten the press conference.

After the 4-2-3-1 formation began to blunt due to Nick Corle playmaker Crsytal Palace playing badly and the departure of Winger Victor Moses fast, Daniel plans to rearrange the Crsytal Palace game system. And it just so happens that the next league cup game will be Daniel's experimental ground for the new Strategy.

January 14th, coming soon.

The league cup may not have as much influence as the FA cup, the FA Cup is a traditional event in English football. It has a history of more than 100 years and can be considered as the historic day of the formation of the most prestigious sport in the world. The FA Cup has always been very popular among local fans in the UK.

The FA Cup winners can go straight into the Europa League group stage next season, while the League Cup winners can only enter the second round of Europa League play-offs. In terms of influence, the League Cup is also much weaker than the FA Cup.

Although not very popular compared to the FA Cup, the league cup is still very popular for lower-class clubs such as Crsytal Palace. This is the reason why the veterans of the team want to fight hard in the league cup, because they know that only this cup is the possibility of the team being champions.

Basically Aston Villa supporters are not expecting the team to be champions of the premier league, now their only hope is the FA Cup and the league cup.

Martin O'Neill just shook hands with Daniel at the entrance of the player's hall. The two of them said a few polite words, then returned to his seat.

Martin O'Neill is not an easy coach to deal with, the 50-year-old has coached Aston Villa since 2006. After gaining success in the Scottish team Celtic FC, he was brought to Villa Park in hopes of bringing again the glory of Aston Villa.

   

But the Premier League is not an easy league like the Scottish league, having served for three years. Aston Villa are consistently in the mid-table, if not for their many mainstay players being hunted by top-flight teams.

Aston Villa can still do a lot, but what else. Indeed this is the fate of the premier league middle-class teams. They are only used as a stepping stone by the players to play at a bigger club.

As Daniel predicted before the game, Aston Villa dropped their best line-up at the moment. As hopes for a million premier leagues were wiped out, they were only eyeing the league cup and FA Cup.

The Aston Villa coach is aware that underestimating opponents will only be bad for him, so he does not want to be eliminated in this game. Because the winner of the match will play in the quarter-finals of the league cup.

Therefore he lowered his best squad, and used a 4-3-1-2 formation.

goalkeeper : B. Guzan (KG)

Defense : A. Young (BCR), C. Corolla (CB), R. Dunne (CB), C. Beehunt (LB).

Stroker : J. Strapon (RM), N. Reo-Croker (DM), C. Downing (LM).

Assault : G. Agbonlahor (CF), Emil Heskey (CF), J. Carey (AM)'s.

O'Neill used their mainstay tactics in the premier league, with two attackers in the middle, one high and one fast. Agbonlahor and Heskey and one second striker Carey, this formation had made a hassle of the top teams of the English league.

Altitude does not necessarily determine that the player is useful in the penalty area, when there is a fierce confrontation on the field, a little interference will have a big impact on the receiver. In addition, his height will also limit his flexibility, and his running ability will not be too good.

For this reason O'Neill paired the large-bodied Heskey with the small-bodied Agbonlahor. In the history of modern world football, many small players have an important role in the team.

Of course with the current Aston Villa attacking formation, it will be a test for the Crystal Palace defence.

After seeing the composition of the host players, Daniel decided to keep using a new formation 4-3-3. Palace players have been training for the past week with Joe Allen at the centre. Now it's time to test the results of the training the players are doing.

To limit Aston Villa's initial attack, Daniel sent Derry and Kante to help Shawcross and McCarthy's defensive duo.

With Kante going to disrupt and stick tight to James Milner as the brain of Villa's attack, then Derry who sacrificed a lot in the new system will help Joe Allen to set up Crsytal Palace's attack.

With Alan Lee in the middle as a finisher, Jamie Vardy and D. Ambrose on the right and left will supply the ball and create chances for Lee to score.

The game was about to begin, and Finally the referee blew the whistle sign of the game, the fans rumbling signifying the start of the first half.

As before, the Crystal Palace players controlled the defensive line within the 40-meter area and defended calmly and patiently. Aston Villa at the beginning tried a few crosses from the wing. But the effect was less satisfactory, the ball was successfully countered by the Palace defense.

Daniel lets Lawrence aim at the start of the game, while he observes and searches for weaknesses from both the enemy formation and the formation itself.

Before the game, Martin O'Neill had already watched a few Crsytal Palace games this season. He predicted the style of young coach Daniel like this, his team will wait and press tight players who hold the ball.

With pressure from two or three opposing players, the ball holder will usually make a mistake when passing to his friend. It was at that time that the Palace player would make a quick strike from that small mistake, and he had to admit that the team's counter-attack from this championship division scared him a little bit.

Unlike their coach who was wary against Crsytal Palace, the Aston Villa players are in a different mood. They felt the opponent was easy because they came from the championship, although coach O'Neill had warned at the beginning of the game not to underestimate the opponent.