Aggborough Stadium, Kidderminster's home ground, was far from full, with almost the same number of people in both stands.
Because Kidderminster's home kit was also bright red, New Manchester United wore their white away kit, but the two green and gold stripes on the shirt were still very conspicuous.
Most of the New Manchester United fans who had travelled from afar were also wearing white shirts. Although only about 700 people had followed the team to the away match, the number of Kidderminster fans was surprisingly similar to that of New Manchester United, showing just how poor their home attendance was.
Recently, the FA had also been troubled by the decline in home attendances at lower-level clubs and was trying to find ways to solve it. After all, weaker teams had no way to attract many sponsorships, and ticket revenue had become their biggest source of income. If they lost even that, they could only go bankrupt or fall into debt.
Since the numbers were similar, the fans of both sides occupied one stand each, clearly separated as they cheered for their respective teams.
In the past year or two, incidents involving English fans causing trouble had been repeatedly cracked down on, but they still happened. So for this match, the local Kidderminster police station had also dispatched many officers to maintain order at the scene.
...
Ethan walked from the car park toward the stadium and arrived at the main entrance, just in time to see Scarlett getting out of a news van with the logo of the local Manchester television station. Dressed in a neat presenter's outfit, she carried a bit of the charm of a professional woman.
"Hey, Miss Reporter!" Ethan walked over to say hello.
"Hello, you seem to be in a good mood!" Scarlett said with a smile.
Ethan's eyes swept over her, and he pointed. "Is this... the new uniform issued by the newspaper?"
"Oh, no, the TV station is going to broadcast this match, so they borrowed people from our newspaper and asked me to serve as their guest commentator," Scarlett explained.
Ethan frowned. This girl did not seem to have a very good impression of New Manchester United and always liked to criticize and find faults. Letting her serve as a commentator, would that not give her a chance to target New Manchester United on television?
"Can you do it well?" Ethan asked suspiciously.
Scarlett shrugged prettily. "You don't need to worry about that, Mr. Yu. What you should be more concerned about is your team. If your team has no problems, then I won't be able to find any faults, right?"
After speaking, Scarlett turned to leave, but as if she had thought of something, she turned back, took a piece of paper from her bag, and handed it to Ethan.
"Mr. Yu, you should take a look at this starting lineup. I heard that Steve Bruce wants to give up this match!"
"That's impossible!" Ethan replied without thinking.
Scarlett had expected Ethan to react this way and smiled. "Take a look!" After speaking, she turned and left.
Ethan unfolded the paper and saw that it was indeed New Manchester United's starting lineup.
The lone striker was Žigić. This young Serbian and Montenegrin player had performed very well this season and was New Manchester United's most reliable source of goals.
In Ethan's previous life, Žigić's performances in the Serbia and Montenegro domestic league were very outstanding. Now that he had been brought to the English National League, the level was lower, and the overall standard of the league was not as good as the top flight in Serbia and Montenegro, so it was understandable that Žigić was performing well. Even now, the other teams in the National League had not yet found a way to restrain this tall centre forward.
The two wingers were Olić and Hleb. The former was appearing at left wing for New Manchester United for the first time, and in training, it seemed he had not been seen in this position much. As for Hleb replacing Darren Lyons in the starting lineup, that was somewhat unexpected. After all, with Žigić there, Darren's role was huge.
Without Darren, who would provide sharp crosses for Žigić?
But that was not the only thing that surprised him.
What also surprised Ethan was the configuration of the midfield.
Juninho started as the central midfielder, with Essien and Poulsen playing as the double defensive midfielders. Karl Marginson was injured, and it was understandable for either Essien or Juninho to start, but Bruce had actually put both of them on.
Was he trying to strengthen the midfield defense?
The changes in defense were not big. Evra firmly occupied the left-back position, Abidal was the absolute first choice at left centre-back, Distin replaced Gary Turner, who had started in the last round, the right-back was Steinsson, and the goalkeeper was the team captain, Schmeichel.
Such a starting lineup was indeed a bit puzzling.
Krzynówek and Darren had both played the full 90 minutes in the league match three days ago. If Darren was old and physical fitness was being considered, replacing him with Hleb was understandable, but why replace Krzynówek with Olić?
However, Ethan had one advantage as an owner, which was that he knew very well he was not an expert in team tactics. So he did not worry too much and simply walked to the stands with his doubts.
...
In the New Manchester United dressing room, Bruce stood in front of the tactical board, with assistant coach Cassel beside him. All 11 starting players sat in front of him, looking intently at the tactical board.
"Nikola, your task this time needs to change slightly. The opponent must have studied our team's tactics, so they will definitely try their best to restrict you. Look, their starting centre-back is 1.93 meters tall and good in the air. He is clearly being used specifically to deal with you!"
Bruce said this with a smile, which immediately made the players in the dressing room look at Žigić with smiles as well. The latter scratched the back of his head a little shyly.
"In this match, you need to play more flexibly, Nikola. Once your height and aerial advantage are restricted by the opponent, you need to change, run more, pull their defenders around more, and ideally drag the opponent's defensive focus away."
After hearing this, Žigić thought about it and immediately nodded, indicating that he understood.
"Alexander, you will be the most important part of our team in this match. If Nikola can successfully suppress the opponent's defense and make full use of his height and aerial advantage, you should deliver as many crosses as possible, just like when Darren was there. Conversely, if Nikola is suppressed, you need to cut inside, try to create opportunities, shoot yourself, or pass to your teammates. I am giving you complete freedom. Both wings are yours!"
Hleb felt his blood boil. This was the first time he had been valued so highly by Bruce, so he quickly nodded in agreement.
"Ivica, although you are a left winger, you are more of a link between the forward line and the midfield. Use your running. Do you understand what I mean?"
Olić nodded. The thing he was best at was constant running, and that was exactly what Bruce wanted to use to connect the forward line and the midfield. This was not hard to understand. The key was what he would do once he got on the pitch. That could only depend on his performance in the match.
"In this match, I want to push the defensive line forward by 5 to 10 meters, so Eric, Sylvain, you need to pay attention to defending the opponent's through balls, especially quick counterattacks. Patrice, Gary, you need to pay attention to covering, hold your positions, and don't let the opponent break through easily!"
The so-called pushing the defensive line forward did not mean simply moving the entire back line up. When attacking, the defensive line still stood as usual, but when defending, the defense would normally have to retreat into their own half, and consequently, the midfield and forward lines would also have to drop back, maintaining the balance between the three lines.
But pushing the defensive line forward by 5 to 10 meters meant that whether attacking or defending, the defensive line basically remained unchanged and did not retreat, so the midfield and forward lines also did not retreat. The three lines would counter-press on the spot, first slowing down the opponent's attacking rhythm through tackles and interceptions. If they could win the ball back, that would naturally be best. Even if they could not, they could then gradually retreat.
Another feature of moving the defensive line forward was that the three lines would remain compact, compressing the opponent's attacking space and not allowing them to easily threaten their own goal.
"Ribeiro, after you go onto the pitch, you will play as an attacking midfielder. The team's main passing responsibility will fall on you. I won't arrange defensive tasks for you. After you go on, you only need to think about one thing, and that is how to pass the ball to Nikola, Alexander, Ivica, and the others. You don't need to worry about losing the ball, because Christian is behind you, and he will be responsible for helping you win it back!"
Juninho and Poulsen looked at each other after hearing this, and the latter nodded at the former, as if telling him not to worry.
Poulsen's performance this season had been very eye-catching, especially the double defensive midfield partnership he formed with Karl Marginson, which was the guarantee of New Manchester United's defense. And the former was only 19 years old this year, with still plenty of room for improvement.
"Michael, this is your first start. Don't worry, you can do it!" Bruce smiled reassuringly at Essien. "Once you are on the pitch, you don't need to think about anything. Your duty is to take care of the defense across the entire midfield area. You don't need to think about protecting the back line. That is Christian's duty. And you don't need to worry about the team's attack either. That belongs to Ribeiro."
"Then what do I do?" Essien looked up at the head coach very innocently.
That one sentence immediately made the whole dressing room laugh.
Bruce could not help but smile. He admired Ethan's eye for talent, digging out such a pearl from an unknown small club in Africa, and one so young at that. In time, he would definitely become the club's priceless treasure.
Besides Essien, just look at New Manchester United's several signings this season. They were all young and capable players. As long as they continued developing along this trend, they would definitely have a bright future.
"You just focus on winning the ball!" Bruce gave his answer with a smile.
Essien was stunned. Winning the ball?
When he saw Bruce's hand covering that large area between the opponent's penalty area and their own penalty area, he immediately understood. The head coach was giving him freedom to make full use of his strengths, while letting Poulsen assist from the side to cover up his shortcomings.
"Don't worry, sir. I won't easily let even one ball get past me!" Essien nodded and promised!
(To be continued.)