Swansea's tactical habit of exerting themselves in the latter stages of matches had already begun to be noticed by their opponents.
McMahon had no desire to repeat the mistakes of others.
In his view, Swansea had rarely launched fierce attacks during the first sixty minutes of their previous matches.
Even at their own Liberty Stadium, they had patiently built a defensive fence, then concentrated their strength in the final thirty minutes, often producing impressive results — especially after Lynn made substitutions.
It was precisely because Lynn's substitutions so often produced excellent effects that his coaching ability was gradually being recognized by the outside world.
Even the fans would privately discuss how Lynn might use magical substitutions in the next match to change the course of the ga and ultimately decide the result.
But Lynn did not expect one trick to conquer the world. Besides, his flexible use of Super Subs had been forced by necessity.
After more than three months of team integration, he believed Swansea's understanding had reached a certain level. Now, they could try incorporating new tactical ideas.
Amid the noisy shouting behind him, Lynn observed the match seriously.
McMahon also stood by the touchline, his expression solemn, as though his fighting spirit had been fully stirred.
After the match began, Blackpool imdiately launched a fierce offensive.
McMahon would not wait until after the match had reached a stalemate beyond sixty minutes, only to let Lynn use substitutions to change the situation!
Was Swansea good at closing matches?
Then he would destroy them in the first sixty minutes!
O'Leary, Jenkins, and Jones, the three players discarded by Swansea, had all secured starting positions at Blackpool. Now, no matter what, they could no longer act arrogantly.
Seeing Swansea ranked higher than Blackpool in the league, they naturally kept their mouths shut and only wanted to defeat Swansea on the pitch to strike back at Lynn's ruthlessness.
But once the match began, its direction was sowhat unexpected.
Swansea did not completely shrink back into their own penalty area. Instead, they fought bravely with Blackpool in midfield.
Under the influence of the Tracking Back P-card, Ibrahimović had now beco accustod to frequently dropping deeper to participate in defending.
Of course, he would not retreat all the way into the back line, but when there was an opportunity, dropping back to the center circle and harassing the opponent's attacking organization was already a major contribution.
Cromwell and Pedretti pushed forward.
Friedrich also stepped up.
Brunel stayed deeper.
Swansea's defensive structure through the central spine was extrely tight!
Blackpool found it extraordinarily difficult to circulate the ball in midfield and organize their attacks.
On the touchline, McMahon frowned deeply as he watched.
What the hell were Swansea doing?
They were no longer concentrating their forces on defending?
Who said that?
Lynn raised his chin slightly.
Swansea's defending was now more efficient. After building team chemistry, they made fewer mistakes when defending, and the success rate of their collective defensive work had increased as well.
In the fourth minute, Pedretti successfully dispossessed Blackpool attacking midfielder Hertzog and imdiately launched an attack from the spot. He sent the ball diagonally to the left flank, where Tobias Rau lofted it forward. Grosso sprinted ahead along the wing and, after beating the offside trap, created attacking depth down the flank.
From a forty-five-degree angle on the wing, Grosso swept the ball across into the penalty area.
Villa was a little slow attacking the near post. He launched into a sliding shot but failed to reach the ball.
It rolled less than twenty centiters in front of his toes. Ibrahimović in the middle was even slower and could only watch helplessly as the team missed a golden opportunity.
Even so, that attack sent a cold sweat through the Blackpool supporters, known as the Seasiders!
Four minutes later, after Friedrich blocked an opponent's cross, Swansea launched a quick, smooth passing move through the middle.
Cromwell, Pedretti, and Jas Cook ford a triangular passing pattern.
After Cromwell's more active off-the-ball running pulled open space, he slipped a straight pass into the channel inside the penalty area.
It was Grosso again!
He overlapped down the flank and went around Jones, then, just before reaching the byline, chipped the ball into the middle of the penalty area.
Relying on his height advantage, Ibrahimović reached the ball first.
With what was practically half an open goal in front of him, he had a huge chance to score.
But he headed a wonderful opportunity wide!
On the touchline, Lynn covered his face.
Unbelievable.
Even the comntator could not help but exclaim in amazent.
"This really is strange! Zlatan Ibrahimović has a height advantage of nearly two ters, but his heading ability is extrely amateur! If his heading were even half as good as his footwork, that ball would already have gone in!"
Lynn had never particularly emphasized heading training for Ibrahimović.
This Swedish tower seed far more obsessed with technical play at his feet and did not think his slightly weaker heading ability was a major issue.
But this was England after all!
In this place, whether one liked it or not, long balls and aerial duels always existed. Whether in attack or defense, heading was one of the essential qualities for a forward!
Of course, that did not an there were no forwards here who were poor in the air.
Wasn't Arsenal's king at Highbury, Henry, a classic example of soone whose heading ability was painfully bad?
Blackpool's back line repeatedly found itself in danger, leaving them increasingly frightened.
Once the defense lost the ball in midfield, they quickly retreated to strengthen the protection inside the penalty area.
In the sixteenth minute, after forward Taylor's weak shot from outside the box went straight into Glendower's arms, Glendower himself launched an attack.
With the influence of the Powerful Goalkeeper Throw card, he carried the ball and ran to the edge of the penalty area, then hurled it with great force directly toward the left side of midfield.
Before Jenkins could close him down, Grosso headed the ball into the middle to Cromwell, who had co to receive it. Cromwell released it first ti with a diagonal through pass.
Grosso continued sprinting forward. After carrying the ball for two steps, he saw Blackpool's defensive line — from defensive midfield to the back four — quickly surround Ibrahimović and Villa.
These two Swansea forwards were currently competing at the top of the league scoring charts!
They were neck and neck, almost impossible to separate.
It was a rather rare situation.
Their threat naturally went without saying.
Grosso could not find a passing lane to either forward, but he noticed that space had opened up in midfield!
Jas Cook had cut inside from the right into a position just to the right of the penalty arc. Grosso passed the ball across to him.
Jas Cook controlled the ball, pulled it slightly to the right, adjusted, then shot from the spot!
He was better at curling crosses, a skill he had developed since making his first appearances this season.
His average number of crosses per match ranked first in Division Three.
This ti, however, he chose to shoot himself.
And with no one marking him, the ball he struck curled along a slight arc toward the top-right corner.
That dazzling trajectory left the Seasiders stunned!
The ball magnificently crashed into Blackpool's net!
Jas Cook's first goal of the season had arrived!
He shouted excitedly. Cromwell rushed up behind him and laughed, "You fluked that, didn't you?"
A charming smile appeared on Jas Cook's handso face.
He said proudly, "Of course not! Give another chance and I can put it in the sa spot again!"
"All right, all right, Wales's David Beckham. Congratulations on the goal!"
Cook laughed and embraced his teammates.
The local Swansea dia who liked Jas Cook had already begun calling him the Welsh Beckham.
Apart from his similar position and playing style, Cook's looks were not inferior to Beckham's either.
Now, after every training session, many female fans specifically waited for Cook to ask for his autograph and take photos with him.
Especially at Swansea University, Cook was already quite famous.
When Lynn saw Cook score, he restrained his emotions and nodded.
At the sa ti, he clenched his right fist and pumped it twice in front of his body with small movents.
Steve McMahon looked as though he had been struck by lightning on a clear day.
His eyes were filled with shock, and he muttered, "Different. Completely different!"
Today's Swansea was completely different from the Swansea he had studied across their previous matches!
He even began to wonder whether the match tapes he had studied had really been Swansea's matches at all!
He turned his head and looked toward Lynn.
The young Swans manager noticed his gaze and turned to look back.
Lynn's calm, undisturbed eyes made his image in McMahon's mind instantly beco deep and unfathomable!
Swansea had indeed shown an entirely new posture.
This posture could be described as a mainstream style of European football that would only truly take shape many years later.
Full-pitch pressing combined with fast attacks.
Those who controlled midfield controlled the world.
But in midfield, the past had always emphasized creativity, while opponents mostly focused blindly on defending.
The future trend, however, would be a tighter integration of attack and defense, with transitions between the two becoming faster and faster!
When defending, one had to already be preparing to attack!
After Swansea built team chemistry, and as the players' strength steadily improved until they could overpower opponents, this style would bring an enormous impact to the other side.
Blackpool could not organize their attack at all.
Without better team coordination or stronger individual ability as a foundation, they had no choice but to resort to simple, crude long balls.
There was no possibility of tearing through Swansea's defense with positional build-up.
Instead, they faced a great risk of losing the ball and being hit by fast attacks.
Blackpool could not react.
After conceding, they urgently tried to equalize, pressing forward even more aggressively.
But that only gave Swansea better chances to launch fast breaks and counterattacks.
In the 29th minute, after a chaotic midfield battle, Jas Cook and Gabbidon worked together to dispossess Blackpool left midfielder Burns.
Gabbidon passed diagonally into the middle to Cromwell, who imdiately sent a lofted through ball forward.
Blackpool's defensive line, which had pushed up too high, turned and looked back, only to see David Villa racing away like a lone rider breaking free from the dust.
They chased back desperately.
Villa calmly carried the ball into the penalty area.
With the goalkeeper rushing off his line, he unexpectedly dragged the ball back behind him, then passed it across into an empty area.
Ibrahimović followed up from behind and faced an open goal.
With one simple push, he sent the ball into the net!
After scoring, Ibrahimović pointed at Villa.
The two embraced, showing the outside world the explosive power of Swansea's twin stars in attack when they combined.
After clapping in applause, Lynn turned and walked back to the bench to sit down.
In his eyes, the overall outco of the match was already decided.
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