Football: The Journey of a Coach

35. Aston Villa 2

At the beginning of the game Aston Villa controlled more balls, the players Crsytal Palace waiting in their respective regions.

Daniel actually wanted Crsytal Palace to have more of the ball, because then the team's chances would be more. And by having more chances, goals will be easier to get.

But how else, the current Palace player did not convince him to play more attacking. In midfield there are only Sean Derry, Nick Corle, Neil Dunns and free transfer Joe Allen.

Daniel has tried all of these players, except for the new Joe Allen. And of the three, only Sean Derry satisfied him a little. As for Corle and Dunns they are both completely unable to adapt to Daniel's new Crsytal Palace style.

Then there is Sean Derry himself, with his tendency to defend making Crsytal Palace attacks sometimes deadlocked. Also due to the age factor that is getting older, Derry stamina does not make it able to play well during full time.

That's why Joe Allen's arrival in the Palace midfield was like a breath of fresh air for him. During team training, Daniel observed that Joe Allen seemed to be able to carry out the task as a cornerstone of Crsytal Palace's midfield.

Joe Allen did not immediately become the key to Crsytal Palace to the premier league, due to his young age of 19 years. His young body had not been able to bear such pressure, Daniel was afraid that this would destroy him instead.

So in the January transfer market, Daniel plans to use the money from the generosity of Simon Jordan. By bringing in players who will not only lift the team, but can also provide a little rest for young players.

After this match, Daniel will have a meeting with his team and Palace manager Wayne Collins. To determine the direction of the transfer of the team, as well as who will go and who will stay.

It did not feel like time had passed for Daniel who was thinking about the problems of the team, the match time had already gone twenty minutes. And the score is still 0-0, Aston Villa difficulty attacking neat defense Crsytal Palace.

With the whole team defending in their own area, leaving Alan Lee in front, Crsytal Palace's defence was impenetrable.

Daniel heard angry cheers from home fans seeing Crsytal Palace's defence as impenetrable as a turtle shell. Since the beginning of his coaching, Daniel has focused on using a high-pressing defense system.

It may not be as high as Jurgen Klopp's gigant-pressing era at Borussia Dortmund, but for this championship level it is enough to overwhelm opponents. With the pressure of two or three players, as well as the closure of space between friends, will make the opposing team make a lot of mistakes.

As it was in the 27th minute, James Milner was under sporadic pressure from N'golo Kante and Joe Allen. Losing the ball, the ball captured by Allen then he brought it forward quickly. Under a one-two pass with Derry, Joe Allen took the ball straight to the penalty area.

Martin O'Neill on the sidelines of Aston Villa was surprised, although he had already watched the video of Crsytal Palace's counter-attack, but the feeling of being on the pitch was completely different.

With just one or two touches, Crsytal Palace players are already in front of the box. O'Neill saw his players still dazed on the pitch due to the opponent's counter-attack, making him shout alerting them.

Joe Allen saw a lot of space that could be exploited by him, with the rise of Clyne helping the attack. Crsytal Palace's wiggle room has opened wide, having defrauded Villa's defensive midfielder. Allen gave a measured pass to the right side of the field the area Clyne rose helped.

Nathan Clyne skilfully received the ball from Joe Allen and ran across Aston Villa's right flank, the Villa left-back looking painstakingly following Clyne's pace.

After that he gave a pass to the middle of the penalty area, Alan Lee was already observing closely was waiting there. Unfortunately the ball came late and he was already forward.

But who would have thought, behind Alan Lee there was Jamie Vardy who received the ball with one perfect touch, before kicking it hard using his right foot.

The ball slid past Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

Crsytal Palace are one goal ahead of the home side, Jamie Vardy who scored already celebrated crazily in the stands of Crsytal Palace supporters.

" Crazy, crazy. A counter-attack that might not have been there from three minutes, immediately broke Villa's goal. " Joey spoke indistinctly, so in disbelief.

" It's enough celebration, we're only one goal ahead, not already won the game. Don't be too happy first. " Lawrence said, as a player he certainly knows that winning one goal does not necessarily guarantee victory.

" Lawrence is right, one goal hasn't won us. " Daniel chimed in on Lawrence's words.

After that he assigned his coaching staff to remind the players not to fall asleep, and stay concentrated on the game.

***

Martin O'Neill is vaguely like seeing Crsytal Palace attack similar to when Manchester United counterattacked at a time when there was still a trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez.

The counter-attacks of both teams are very fast, and it only takes a few touches to score. But he can still distinguish the two attacks a bit, the Manchester counter-attack is purely due to the individual skills of the players, whereas for Palace it is like a cooperation that has been trained hundreds of times.

This is the difference between the two attacks, Martin O'Neill glanced at the young coach next to him Daniel Ward. For a young age that has been able to make a game system, although there is still a lot that needs to be improved again, he feels that alone is very great.

With Martin O'Neill impressed, Daniel has already made two coaches acknowledge his prowess in crafting the system. The first is Neil Warnock, this old coach has been impressed by the tactics created by Daniel.

Daniel, who did not know that he left a deep impression on the two coaches, only continued to perfect the system of gigant pressing. With Jurgen Klopp still struggling in the German league, the glory of this formation is still not widely known to many coaches.

Although a little embarrassing, Daniel could be said to be the first pioneer to use this tactic in England, with more time to perfect this system, Daniel believes this can lead him to enter the ranks of world-class coaches.

With the whistle from the referee, the match was back, Aston Villa were surprised by the Palace counter-attack goal, now playing more carefully.

Martin O'Neill has also shouted at his team to focus more on the field.

With Aston Villa playing calmer, the pressure on Palace's players also increased, many times Daniel saw Kante running around the team's defence.

Tiringly continue to try to disrupt the rhythm of Aston Villa game, Derry as a metronome midfield seems to be starting to struggle against the onslaught of talented players opponents.

Then Joe Allen, after playing a key role in Crsytal Palace's goal, he was heavily guarded by Villa's Defensive players. This is where the lack of flying hours of play began to be seen, under the double pressure of the opponent's defense, Joe Allen had difficulty setting the direction of the team's attack.

Although Palace had several chances after stealing the ball from the feet of Aston Villa players, the attack always ended when the ball was controlled. His small body is not even twenty years old, losing against the opposing midfielder's body, even James Milner who is 3 years from his age alone has a strong and muscular body.

Under the suppression of the home team, the defence Crsytal Palace finally had to break down in the 41st minute. Through the individual action of Ashley Young, the young star managed to trick Nathan Clyne who was guarding him. Afterwards Ashley skilfully provided a pass to a deep crossing to Villa striker Agbonlahor.

Agbonlahor with a half-volley shot the ball into the bottom corner of the goal in the guard Speroni, Aston Villa equalized to 1-1.

Until the end of the first half both teams could not add to the goal, Aston Villa and Crsytal Palace would resume the match after a fifteen-minute break.