Football: The Journey of a Coach

53. League Cup first leg semi-final

    On February 5, the match against Doncaster was both deadlocked. It was an away game against Crystal Palace. Doncaster are not a strong team, it must be said that they are weak, but they are under coach Sean O Derrick.

Under Derrick's leadership, they've played very steadily this season, so far they've collected 40 points, it has to be said that relegation is not too difficult.

Crystal Palace have added new things to the game, Daniel asking his team to play a positional foul at times and strengthen midfield control.

The recent ball control training accounts for most of the tactical training, this strategy to deal with the conservative tactics of opponents in the game.

Everyone plays well in training, but the actual fight is completely different from the practice. The head coach hopes his team can play what is shown in practice, but it is difficult for the team to do so in actual combat.

The same thing happened to Crystal Palace, the offense was not as smooth as expected, in the end the game ended 0:0, and Crystal Palace failed to score three points.

However, throughout the January game, Cystal Palace who played well in that month made Daniel awarded the best coach in January.

Player of the month in the British Championship in January was also won by Newcastle United's Alan Smith. Leading Newcastle as the top of the table, which he deserved.

Daniel doesn't really care about the best awards of the month, he cares more about the best of the year.

But it seems that his expectations are not very high, after all, it is difficult for him to be picked if Crystal Palace cannot be directly promoted to the English premier league. The result will not wait until the end of the play-offs, and there are some people who perform better than him, such as Chris Hughton, who have led Newcastle to prosperity.

"I am so happy to receive this award! It's a kind of confession to our team! We will turn this recognition into motivation and strive for better performance in the future!" What to say on stage still had to be said, still a relaxed-faced answering a reporter's question.

"Daniel, do you think Crsytal Palace has any hope of making the top two?!. Maybe you could consider upgrading!" The reporter asked Daniel with a smile.

“There is certainly hope, but the situation in the current standings is very complicated. There are many teams that may compete for a play-off spot. At the same time, I still have to say that we will fight as much as possible.! I can only say Let's see what happens next!". Daniel answered subtly, not wanting to be known as big nonsense.

"So what about the League Cup?! Crystal Palace have not had the feeling of lifting the Cup for a long time, and now it seems the team's chances are very good!. What do you expect from this?!" Ask the reporter again.

"We have now reached the semi-finals, and we are not far from the final. I'd be lying if I said we didn't want to!. Of course we are very excited, and you can even say very excited!. But every team left is very happy. Great, we're great too! As a Croydon native, I am also a huge Crystal Palace fan, and I can understand the expectations of the fans for the League Cup!. But now I stand from the perspective of the head coach, I can only promise, we will do our best to fight for it!”.

   

***

February 9, Saturday afternoon, Selhurst Park Stadium on the weekend was revived, and the crowd was full.

Today was one of the most important matches of the season. To be more precise, this should be the most important match so far. The first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur will start here.

Tickets for this match are hard to come by, and there are plenty of Crystal Palace fans gathered outside the stadium, some holding signs asking for tickets, he said, but true Crystal Palace fans will only hand over their tickets if they are stupid.

Daniel's extended family all had no concerns of fans asking for tickets outside the door, because Daniel had already sent tickets home, and everyone except grandparents got a share.

Daniel has to say that he's still lucky. Since he took over the team, except for a minor injury Kante, his injury problems have not been too serious, and most of them could be back in a week or two.

In this game, Crystal Palace did not even sustain a single injury, and everyone had enough adjustments for a few days, Daniel was still very satisfied.

Everyone has their own tactical set-up, which was shared with everyone since yesterday, everyone was targeted, and the coaching staff made it in great detail.

It's nice to have Deco and Derry in the middle row. Both are experienced players and have their own qualities. Coupled with Shawcross and McCarthy's defensive centres, they can command their teammates well on the pitch.

Although the previous days have been emphasized to the players before, Daniel still emphasized some important points before the game. Today's tactics are different to last time against Reading and Doncaster.

He has to remind the players in various positions repeatedly, Tottenham Hotspur is not an arbitrary club. This is probably the toughest opponent since Daniel became coach of Crsytal Palace.

" okay! I won't talk much about the opponent!. You all know what Tottenham Hotspur is like!" After stopping the chatter about tactics before the game, Daniel raised his wrist and looked at his watch.

"Friends! The game is about to start!. Tottenham Hotspur are not the same team we have played before, they are stronger, richer and bigger. But are we daunted, of course not. "

"Our goal is only one, and that is victory! Each one of you understands what this game means! You understand the expectations of the fans, and they were our strongest supporters today"

Daniel doesn't need to say a great win, just remind the players that they don't play alone, there are still their supporters out there.

The desire to go to Wembley to win the League Cup has long been entrenched in the hearts of everyone, and the desire to win has been ignited. Daniel didn't need too much incitement from him.

The players screamed and came out.

After a while, players from both sides followed the refereeing team and entered the field, and the match was about to begin.

The Crystal Palace Formation was 4-3-3 as usual.

Goalkeeper: Julian Speroni

Defender: Nathan Clyne, Ryan Shawcross, Patrick McCarthy, Butterfield.

Midfielder: Sean Derry (C), Deco, N'golo Kante

Attacks: Wilfred Bony, Alan Lee, Jamie Vardy.

Daniel only made one change in the starting lineup. That maximizes Deco's role as a regulator of Crsytal Palace's attack, supported by two defensive midfielders behind him, Derry and Kante. It is expected that beautiful passes will come from the Portuguese veteran.

Soon the pre-match ceremony was over, and amidst the cheers of the fans, the official match began.