Lynn sat calmly on the bench and watched the match.
He was no longer as easily stirred as he had been when he first began coaching, when his heartbeat would race at every turn.
Now he was far more capable of remaining composed.
The cheers echoing around the stadium filled his ears. They could certainly stir a man's emotions, but through the self-suggestion he had long practiced, forcing himself to stay restrained and calm, Lynn was able to place the noise of the arena far away from his mind.
On the pitch, Swansea and Rochdale were locked in a fierce contest.
Rochdale's strength was ordinary.
On top of that, they were playing away from ho, so their fighting power was not especially strong.
Nor had they produced any tactical approach that could catch Lynn off guard. Swansea's setup today was highly targeted.
In their previous twelve league matches, Rochdale had conceded nineteen goals.
Their defense was poor, and a major reason was their inability to defend aerial balls.
Their two centre-backs were not actually at a huge disadvantage in height — 184 centiters and 189 centiters — but they often lost track of their n while defending, and they had serious problems judging where high balls would drop.
That was a fatal weakness!
Because of that, Lynn had sent out two tall strikers, Charisteas and Ibrahimović, to wait in the penalty area while their teammates created chances for them.
Both flanks were focused on delivering crosses and supplying ammunition.
On the right, Jas Cook and Hanno Balitsch took turns attacking. On the left, it was Grosso and Tobias Rau.
The middle focused mainly on defense, with Nilsson and Pedretti restricting the opponent's attack, while one defensive midfielder could also drift wide to help defend.
Rochdale were left scrambling by Swansea's repeated attacks down both wings.
Swansea's four wide players frequently bombarded the box with crosses, and Ibrahimović and Charisteas were also quite busy inside the penalty area.
On one hand, they had to fight physically with the opposing defenders to seize favorable positions. On the other, they had to read their teammates' crosses and look for shooting opportunities.
The match was open and expansive. Every ti Swansea pushed their attack into the opponent's half, the full-backs charged forward fiercely.
Either the wide midfielder would go directly to the byline, or after attracting defensive attention, he would pass to the overlapping full-back making a run down the line.
Then the wide player would send in a cross, and the ball would drop into Rochdale's penalty area. Everyone's attention would imdiately focus on the ball, waiting for Swansea's forwards to power it into Rochdale's net.
Ibrahimović and Charisteas were not without chances, but neither of them managed to take them.
Seeing so many chances wasted, the supporters in the stands were beginning to grow restless.
But Lynn remained perfectly composed on the bench.
In the 53rd minute, Tobias Rau received Grosso's pass and drove to the byline. After being surrounded, he passed the ball back to Grosso, who delivered a forty-five-degree cross from where he stood.
The ball dropped directly toward the far post of the six-yard box. Charisteas overpowered the Rochdale defender beside him, and while retreating, headed the ball toward the far corner.
The goalkeeper jumped, trying to pluck it out of the air, but Charisteas's header had produced a perfect arc!
It lobbed the goalkeeper completely!
The ball dropped into the net near the upper inside of the far post!
Boom!
Swansea's aerial bombardnt finally produced results.
The entire Liberty Stadium erupted with deafening cheers.
Perhaps because more than seventy percent of the supporters here had placed bets before the season on Swansea winning promotion, they were naturally even more excited than usual now that Swansea were sweeping through the league.
Victory.
Joy.
And a financial return.
The supporters sang a song to cheer the team on.
"Forward, keep moving forward!Victory, keep winning like this!The Swans are taking flight!The Swans are soaring to the sky!"
After Rochdale's goal was breached, they began to show signs of complete collapse.
Ten minutes later, Charisteas once again t a teammate's cross. This ti, it ca from Jas Cook after he reached the byline.
The ball dropped into the middle of the goalmouth, and Charisteas used his height advantage to rise and head it straight at goal, leaving the opponent with no chance.
Another goal!
In a corner of the stands, quite a few female fans were already cheering madly for Jas Cook.
Sitting on the bench, Cromwell saw this scene and laughed. "Ha, Study Baby has quite a few female fans now.
What a pity, though.
He's a block of wood who doesn't understand romance! Studying, football, and listening to his brother — that's his whole life!"
Many of the teammates around him laughed.
Jas Cook really was obedient, so obedient that it left people speechless.
And his brother's control over him was unbelievably strict. Yet Cook himself had no objection at all.
Hearing Cromwell's words, Lynn turned and smiled at him. "Oliver, are you jealous?"
Cromwell shouted, "I have plenty of female fans too, all right! Boss, don't you know I'm the little prince of Mansel Street athletics?"
Lynn exclaid dramatically, "Oh! So it's His Little Highness. Then why did I hear you lost to Zlatan yesterday?"
Cromwell replied indignantly, "My God! Going boxing with him is completely playing to his strength. If I compete with him in sothing else, I'll definitely win!"
Beside him, Villa's gaze remained fixed on the pitch. At that mont, he suddenly said softly, "All right. I'll tell him after the match."
"Damn it!"
When the match ended, Lynn stood up with the players. He hugged assistant coach Emlyn Hughes, then walked over to Rochdale's manager.
After shaking hands, he entered the players' tunnel.
"Swansea have defeated Rochdale 3-0 at ho. Charisteas scored twice, and Ibrahimović added the finishing touch in the final monts. The two teams above Swansea in the table, Brighton and Cardiff City, also won this round. However, fourth-placed Chesterfield only managed a draw, allowing Swansea to open up a three-point gap over them. Swansea have consolidated their position in the top three. This is their seventh consecutive victory. We have every reason to believe that Swansea, in such excellent form, can complete their promotion mission this season!"
In the mixed interview area, Lynn walked over with one hand in his pocket and his head held high.
A group of reporters stood in front of him.
He saw Carter, glowing with satisfaction and clearly in high spirits, but his eyes remained calm as he said flatly, "Sa rule. Three questions."
The reporters raised their hands one after another, naturally including Carter.
However, Lynn pointed toward ITV Wales reporter Hoddle Grant instead.
After David Livingstone was fired by ITV Wales, Lynn's cold war with them had ended as well.
In this small patch of Wales, the dia's influence was limited to the local area.
Once they entered England, that would be Fleet Street's chaotic world.
Lynn knew very well that Swansea's future lay in England's top flight.
Before that, building a good relationship with the Welsh dia and establishing better cooperation would help them deal with the far more troubleso Fleet Street in the future.
Grant smiled and asked, "This is Swansea's seventh straight victory. Swansea's recent performances have been so outstanding. What is the secret?"
Lynn replied, "Hunger! The team's hunger for victory, and hunger for honor.
"Youth! When the outside world criticized my team for being too young, perhaps they never thought that precisely because this team is so young, the players are less likely to be satisfied. They want even more to prove themselves, and they enjoy the happiness and satisfaction that cos with winning."
Grant still wanted to say sothing more, but Lynn had already pointed to Raleigh.
Walter Raleigh's question was simple. "When will Swansea's winning streak co to an end?"
Lynn shrugged. "How would I know sothing even God doesn't know?"
His implied aning was that perhaps Swansea's winning streak would continue forever!
Raleigh quickly wrote Lynn's words down in his notebook.
Lynn gave the final question to Leo Sharp of the Western Mail.
The Western Mail had initially been part of the camp opposing Lynn, but they had quickly switched sides.
Swansea were too hot!
Lynn was too hot!
The storm they had stirred up in Wales, and the topics they had created, were attracting more and more interest.
If they were shut out by Swansea and Lynn, and only blindly sang the opposite tune while throwing mud, readers would soon grow disgusted.
After all, Wales only had a handful of clubs competing in the English league system.
It was not like Fleet Street in England, where even if one club disliked the dia, journalists could simply go elsewhere to find stories.
They could even force a club to soften by collectively shutting it out.
The relationship between football and the dia was becoming closer and closer because of profit.
But in Wales, the situation happened to be reversed.
If the dia could not unite to shut Swansea out, then as long as Swansea provided news to one dia organization, that organization could gain enormous benefits.
Leo Sharp asked curiously, "Why didn't David Villa play in this match? He is first in the scoring chart. Is he injured?"
Lynn shook his head. "David has no problems at all. It's simply that according to the opponent's characteristics and tactical needs, David sat on the bench today. As you can see, both of our starting forwards scored today. This was a pleasant match. Everyone, goodbye."
After saying that, Lynn strode away.
Among the reporters, Carter lightly stomped her foot.
Beside her, Raleigh teased, "From what I've observed, Lynn is a very smart man. If you think that just because he has fallen under your skirt, you'll be able to get whatever you want from him without difficulty, hehehe, then your intelligence is about the sa as those girls from the countryside. But I suppose you must have prepared yourself ntally, because you aren't stupid. What he gives you will be even more. I really envy won like you."
Carter glared at Raleigh and said, "I'm only annoyed that he didn't even look at properly. If you ask , you n are the heartless bastards. Besides, this kind of interview is just routine business. What difference does it make whether I ask or soone else asks? When there's real exclusive news, then we'll see. Hmph."
"Hey, Cath, I said you weren't stupid. When I said he'll give you more, I ant… why don't we cooperate? We can share information."
Carter swayed her waist as she left. Before walking away, she turned back and made a face at him.
Raleigh shivered, feeling that a woman really did beco sowhat different after being nourished by a man.
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