Seeing that Cardiff City's regular defending could not effectively cut off Swansea's attacks, Alan Cork hamred his fist into his palm on the touchline and bellowed at his players in a rough, booming voice.
"Be harder in the tackle! Harder!"
By "harder," he ant increasing the aggression in their defensive actions.
In other words, rougher.
But before Cardiff could truly rough things up, Swansea were the ones who made Cardiff's players suffer in a physical duel first.
In the 12th minute, Cardiff right midfielder Jason Bowen received Gareth Whalley's pass on the flank and tried to knock the ball directly down the line, only for Tobias Rau to slam him cleanly over the touchline with his body!
Over the past half season, Tobias Rau had been a key focus of the coaching staff's physical training. His muscular endurance and strength had clearly improved. His technical foundation had already been decent, and now that it was combined with a stronger body, his overall combat power had risen considerably.
Jason Bowen stumbled over the line and fell to the ground. The Bluebirds supporters nearby imdiately accused Tobias Rau of committing a foul, while Swansea fans were thrilled, applauding and cheering passionately for him!
When Tobias Rau heard the cheers and applause from the away end, he had still been slightly worried that his challenge might have gone too far. But in an instant, he beca fearless. He felt it was only natural. With the support of his own fans, a man could gain unlimited courage.
There was a reason the Swans supporters applauded Tobias Rau after seeing Bowen tumble out of play.
Jason Bowen had once been one of Swansea's own. The winger had co through Swansea's academy. During his five years with the club, he had spent his first two seasons as a substitute without many appearances, then beca a starter for the following three seasons. As a wide midfielder, he had scored 26 league goals in total — an extrely eye-catching figure.
That form had earned him a move to Birmingham City. Unfortunately, he had failed to make his mark at a higher level. After that, he had spent two frustrating years at Reading before transferring to Cardiff City. In the two years he had been with Cardiff, he had scored more than 20 goals, seemingly rediscovering the brilliant form he had once shown at Swansea.
But at twenty-six, he had proved only one thing:
He was suited to Division Three, and Division Three only.
Jason Bowen looked at Tobias Rau, who was at least five years younger than him, with anger suppressed in his eyes. Losing a physical battle on the pitch was considered rather humiliating in English football.
The referee awarded a foul against Tobias Rau, but did not show a yellow card.
Seeing this from the touchline, Lynn felt slightly concerned. The referee's threshold looked rather lenient. It was not that Lynn wanted Tobias Rau to be booked, but from the perspective of controlling the whole match, the looseness worried him.
Jason Bowen's free kick from the flank flew straight out for a goal kick. He had misjudged his technique, and his teammates looked at him in confusion. After all, Bowen's delivery was considered excellent within Cardiff's squad.
Swansea continued with the ground-based pass-and-move patterns they had focused on in training.
In the 16th minute, Cromwell and Grosso played consecutive one-twos down the left side in the attacking third. The first man they shook off was Jason Bowen. Once they carried the attack into advanced territory, they were t by the combined defense of Kavanagh and Vidmar.
Two against two seed evenly balanced between attack and defense.
But when Cromwell received Grosso's pass again, he played the ball out toward the touchline, while Grosso turned and cut inside!
Full-back Vidmar's defensive attention was instantly disrupted.
Because Tobias Rau had overlapped!
Vidmar hesitated over whether to step out and close Tobias Rau down, but Grosso's run could not be ignored. Still, following his defensive instincts, he "did his duty" and moved within the full-back zone to confront Tobias Rau.
But he was late!
Tobias Rau sent a precise diagonal through ball into the penalty area.
Grosso, having cut inside and burst into the box, t Scott Young. He smoothly pushed the ball toward the byline, then took two long strides forward, keeping Scott Young one or two steps away from blocking his delivery.
From just before the byline, Grosso drilled the ball hard across the face of goal.
He had created depth in the attack. With a cross like this, as long as the goalkeeper did not co out, defenders would struggle to deal with it. Swansea's forwards had a major advantage attacking the ball.
Because the ball was moving too fast, Villa could not reach it at the near post. Goalkeeper Alexander had moved toward the near post imdiately. His judgnt had been wrong. He thought Villa would get to the ball, but both n could only watch as it flashed past in front of them.
The best chance was for Ibrahimović at the far post!
Lynn clenched his fist slightly, his eyes full of expectation as he stared into Cardiff's penalty area. Grosso's dangerous cross caused the atmosphere in the Ninian Park stands to tense abruptly.
The Bluebirds fans could see at a glance that their goal was in danger!
But just as the ball was about to roll in front of Ibrahimović, he took one step forward, only to suddenly stop and bend slightly.
He did not shoot.
He did not attack the ball!
Alan Cork and more than ten thousand Bluebirds supporters all wore the sa expression at that mont. They instantly relaxed, the joy of surviving disaster appearing on their faces.
On the touchline, Lynn flew into a rage.
He swung his arm and muttered darkly, "Zlatan, what the fuck are you doing? Even a three-year-old could score that, and you just wasted it!"
"Wooo! Swansea nearly changed the score! Italian Fabio Grosso drove a low cross from near the byline inside the box. As the ball rolled toward the far post, Cardiff's goal was practically empty, but Swansea center-forward Ibrahimović failed to shoot!
"He had already started his run, but after the first movent, he suddenly stopped, as if he hadn't adjusted his steps properly, and then gave up trying to score. That should not be his level!"
Ibrahimović was furious too when he saw the ball roll past him. He turned to look at the center-back who had been marking him just now.
Rhys Weston.
Weston still looked calm and composed, as if he were harmless.
After all, this was a Division Three match. The broadcaster would not set up many cara angles inside the stadium. So the broadcast coverage in Division Three was not like the Premier League or other top-level matches, where the view was comprehensive.
More caras ant even the smallest incident on the pitch could be replayed to reveal the truth.
But what had just happened might only be known clearly by Ibrahimović and Weston.
Just as Ibrahimović had been about to sprint, Weston had covertly reached out with his right hand and grabbed Ibrahimović between the legs!
A hard squeeze, then he let go.
That made Ibrahimović feel discomfort after taking just one step. Having soone grab a private area was already deeply uncomfortable, and Weston had even squeezed his balls!
A man's balls were fragile!
No one had seen Weston's dirty little trick. That ant Ibrahimović could not go after him afterward either. If he did, he might only drag himself into trouble.
Ibrahimović gritted his teeth, his gaze dark as he stared at Weston.
But Weston acted as if nothing had happened, turning forward to watch his teammates begin their attack.
In the 19th minute, Gareth Whalley attempted a one-two with Maxwell, only for Pedretti to intercept the ball.
After Pedretti won possession, Cardiff manager Alan Cork's eyes widened in surprise. He felt as though his scalp was about to explode!
He could not help muttering, "That French kid doesn't look like much…"
Pedretti was exactly the kind of player who did not stand out at first glance, but in reality, his interception success rate while sweeping across midfield was extrely high.
When Lynn trained him, he specifically had the coaching staff collect video clips of Makélélé's defensive performances, then made Pedretti study them repeatedly.
Pedretti also worked hard to make himself as calm, decisive, precise, and cunning on the pitch as his senior countryman.
In Lynn's mind, there were only three templates for a modern defensive midfielder.
The first was the Vieira type: dominant, capable of guarding the gate alone while contributing both attack and defense.
The second was the Makélélé type: sharp and relentless, able to sweep across the pitch and destroy the opponent's attacks almost single-handedly.
The third was the Pirlo type: intelligent, sitting deep as the hub of transition between defense and attack.
Right now, Swansea only had candidates for the first two types.
Pedretti was the first, being developed with Makélélé as the reference.
Poulsen was the second, growing in the direction of Vieira.
That did not an they would beco the new Makélélé or Vieira. But developing them broadly in those directions was certainly not wrong, because it suited their own circumstances. If Lynn tried to turn Pedretti into Vieira, the final product would definitely be sothing malford.
Swansea's attack in the 23rd minute was ended by a foul.
Cromwell had just received Cook's pass in the middle of the attacking half when Graham Kavanagh brought him down.
On the touchline, Lynn repeatedly made a card gesture, but the referee still did not produce one.
This made Lynn rather angry.
If the foul threshold kept rising, Swansea would definitely suffer more. Their players were younger on average, which ant they were more vulnerable to injury, and injuries would be more damaging to their developnt.
A free kick in the attacking half.
After Cromwell passed the ball to Jas Cook, Cook, stationed on the right flank, had just played it back to Pedretti when Cardiff left-back Gary Croft charged into him from behind. Jas Cook cried out and fell to the ground.
The referee imdiately blew his whistle.
Although Jas Cook's cry was loud, he was not seriously hurt. Still, the kick from behind by Croft had genuinely hurt.
The referee finally showed a card.
Gary Croft was booked.
Cromwell ca over and pulled Jas Cook up. After asking a couple of questions, Cook said there was no problem. Only then did Cromwell move toward the central area outside the box to wait for an opportunity.
A free kick on the right side of the attacking third.
Jas Cook would take it.
Swansea's defenders and midfielders all ca forward to join the attack.
After the referee's whistle, Jas Cook delivered an outswinging cross that dropped into the penalty area.
The ball carved a beautiful, seductive arc through the sky. To everyone watching, it was pleasing to the eye. But the Bluebirds supporters knew that behind this beautiful, unpredictable curve was poison sared for a silent kill!
Inside the seemingly chaotic penalty area, as the outswinging ball dropped toward the danger zone, soone charged forward two steps, leapt, and headed at goal!
The ball happened to fall perfectly in front of his forehead as he rose. With a powerful nod, the ball's path changed and flew straight toward the top-right corner of Cardiff's goal!
Goalkeeper Alexander reacted a step late, and his dive ca too late!
Goal!
From the crowd in the penalty area, one man burst out, roaring wildly as he sprinted toward the away end.
"Swansea have scored! It's Friedrich! Swansea center-back Friedrich has headed it in! He has drawn first blood for the Swans in the Welsh derby!
"Jas Cook's set-piece delivery was top class. Absolutely beautiful. Friedrich initially stood beside Ibrahimović, using him as cover. Then, as the ball ca in, he curved his run toward the near-post area before rising to head it ho!
"Clever movent and a calm header. This German has not only beco the backbone of Swansea's defense, he has also beco the hero who broke the deadlock!"
In the Ninian Park stands, the Bluebirds supporters were downcast, deeply frustrated that their team had fallen behind first.
The Swans supporters, however, were ecstatic. They waved the banners they had made for Christmas. So fans had even prepared a mock championship trophy in advance.
Lynn raised his fist and shouted.
Not far away, Alan Cork lowered his head and cursed under his breath. Then he clapped repeatedly toward his players, urging them not to be affected by conceding.
"There's still plenty of ti! Pick yourselves up! Pick yourselves up!"
At the sa ti, Alan Cork had realized sothing from the earlier phase of the match:
Ground-based pass-and-move would not work against Swansea!
So before the restart, he gave his team the order.
Play long balls.
Simple, crude long-ball football!
After the match restarted, Cardiff City imdiately began launching crosses from both wings, sending artillery shells toward their frontline.
In the 27th minute, Maxwell crossed from the left. Cardiff's young forward Earnshaw cleverly ran to the near post, shook off Albrechtsen's marking, and glanced a header at goal.
The ball flew just wide of the post and out for a goal kick.
A sigh rose from the Cardiff City supporters around the ground.
"Milliters away! Cardiff City nearly equalized! Cardiff City's talented youngster Robert Earnshaw almost scored. That was the only good chance he has had in the first half, but he missed it by the finest of margins!"
Lynn exhaled softly.
He was actually a little envious of Cardiff City.
Because they had dominated Welsh football for so long, Cardiff City had enormous appeal to local players.
Good players who failed to break through in the youth systems of English giants were willing to return to Wales and join Cardiff City. Good players who had once played for Swansea also tended to choose Cardiff when they ca back.
When it ca to attracting promising local talents, Cardiff City still had the stronger pull!
Robert Earnshaw was one such example. He was only eighteen this year, but in the scoring charts, he sat behind only Ibrahimović and Villa.
This match had already made Lynn realize what the next step in building Swansea needed to be.
Raise Swansea's influence locally.
Then monopolize Wales's talent pool!
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