At Cardiff City Stadium, Sheffield United fans all stood up, raised their hands and sang the team song.
"In this only one city l love, Back in 1889...!!"
This is a deep team song, which is rare in British teams, but it contains their deep love for the team.
"Beep! Beep--!" When the referee blew a short and a long whistle, indicating the halftime break.
Their singing did not stop, and they also covered the noise and boos of Cardiff City's home fans.
The atmosphere of Sheffield United fans is definitely stronger than most Championship teams.
The first two games did not play well, because the team as a whole was too depressed, so they could not see hope.
This first half, finally saw it!
In the visiting team's locker room, Sheffield United players returned here to replenish water and rest, waiting for Kevin's arrangements later.
Since you want to play well, it is necessary to work together. Many people decided to temporarily put aside their personal grudges with Kevin and play this game well first.
"Well done."
"A good young man, I thought you could do it during training."
Maher sat in his seat, and people passing by kept congratulating him, and he smiled and replied one by one.
A sense of fatigue rose in his heart. The intensity of the Championship is still quite scary, and players are often required to make anaerobic runs and fight with all their strength.
His body has not yet fully developed, and it is really a bit unbearable to do this for 45 minutes in a row.
But it's okay, grit your teeth and hold on, it should be no problem to hold on for 65 minutes.
Kevin quickly walked in from the door, without any communication with the players, and went directly to the tactical board, "Before the end of the first half, Maher and Ward's several crosses in the penalty area posed a considerable threat.
"The opponent's overall air defense is obviously weak, so we have to be more decisive and kick the ball more frequently in the second half.
"Players in the midfield, if there is an opportunity, must not hesitate to enter the penalty area to grab points and increase the number of attackers."
He moved a few tactical chess pieces on the tactical board and gave other instructions: "Before the game, the team analyst said that the opponent is prone to invest too much manpower in counterattacks, resulting in the backcourt..."
Now that they have reached the professional team, the players have basic technical and tactical qualities.
What the professional team coach needs to tell the players is mostly the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents in this round of games, targeted methods, and early prevention of some risks, set-piece attack and defense routines, and changes of tactics.
They also have an important task, which is to control the team's locker room.
From Kevin's negative example, this second task is much more difficult than the first task.
"Okay, Lorton will rest in the second half."
After arranging everything, Kevin glanced at Gary Speed standing next to him, "Gilbert is on the court, and he will warm up quickly and make substitutions before the start."
Gilbert, who was sitting next to Maher, had a look of joy in his eyes, and then forced himself not to show his excited and proud face, and ran out of the locker room with his head down.
Maher looked at his back and cheered for him secretly. They were finally going to fight side by side.
......
"Beep!"
When the players on both sides of the field finished their positions, the referee blew the substitution whistle and pointed his finger at the end of the center line.
The fourth official raised the substitution card, and No. 17 Gilbert came on the field to replace the starting midfielder Lowton.
Gilbert took a deep breath, stepped into the field with his left foot first, touched the ground with his right hand, then made a cross on his chest and rushed onto the field.
He saw Maher's encouraging smile, and his heart was filled with excitement, and his leg muscles trembled.
"Beep!"
The referee blew the whistle to start the second half of the game. This time it was Sheffield United's turn to kick off.
"Bang!" Center forward Evans passed the ball to Gilbert who had just come up with a short pass, hoping that he could touch the ball more and activate his foot feeling.
Gilbert took the ball for a few steps, and waited until the opponent's forward rushed over before turning around and kicking the ball to the side defender.
The players on both sides moved quickly, either closing their formations to press or running to empty spaces to receive the ball, and the situation changed rapidly.
After most Sheffield United players got serious, their overall fighting power gradually emerged and they were no longer suppressed by Cardiff City.
In the 54th minute of the game, Gilbert got a chance to shoot from a distance at the front of the penalty area.
"Bang!"
He swung his leg and kicked the ball, and the ball flew directly to the fan area of the South Stand.
"Hiss..." Gilbert took a breath and waved his hands to apologize to his teammates with a guilty look. He still didn't have the long-range shooting skills of Maher.
Maher saw his long-range shot and felt itchy, and wanted to shoot again.
He had a chance to shoot from a distance in the first half, but unfortunately his mentality was not stable at that time, and the opponent's flying tackle interfered, so he didn't have the opportunity in the end.
If he had another shot, it might have tested the goalkeeper.
However, in such a high-level arena, you can't have whatever you want. The arrival of all opportunities is linked to the performance of other people on the field.
If he wants to get a chance to shoot easily, someone has to run to him to create space, and someone has to pass the ball to him.
But... this is also not realistic. The score is tied at 1-1, and the pressure is always there.
No one can put all their hopes on him at this time, unless he can first make a name for himself in this field.
He can only wait slowly and do what a winger should do first.
"Bang!"
In the 59th minute of the game, Gilbert made a long pass to the wing where Maher was.
Maher was under great pressure when he unloaded the ball, which caused him to have some problems with stopping the ball and almost stopped it out of bounds.
"Bang!" In the subsequent scramble for the second half of the ball, his shoulder collided violently with the opponent's full-back Gabor's shoulder, shaking his internal organs and making him feel uncomfortable.
Fortunately, he won a small victory!
While Gabor had not stabilized his body, he controlled the ball, blocked Gabor and dribbled the ball towards the bottom line, and ran on Gabor's chasing route.
In this way, even if he is not fast, he can use the advantage of a straight line being shorter than a diagonal line to shake off Gabor.
"Bang!!"
After reaching the baseline, he did not wait for Gabor and the opponent's defensive midfielder Drinkwater to come back, and simply adjusted the ball to his right foot to send a cross.
This was a pass with an aim, because there was no pressure, the quality was higher than all his previous crosses, and the football line was erratic and rushed to the back point!
The light of hope rose in Maher's eyes, and this ball had the hope of causing a threat.
"Oh..." He then heard a faint sound of expectation from the fans in the south stand in front of him, and many people stood up from their seats and looked at the situation at the back point of the penalty area.
"Bang!"
There, a figure rushed from outside the penalty area with an unstoppable impact, jumped high and smashed a header!
"Gilbert!"
Maher noticed the figure, and his face burst into excitement.
"Shua!!" Almost no one could see how the ball went out, they only saw the ball hit the net, making the net protrude several feet outward.
The ball went in again!
2-1, Sheffield United reversed the score!
"Yeah...!!" The cheers from the South Stand rang out again, this time right next to the ears of Sheffield United's offensive players, everyone heard it clearly and excitedly.
Maher roared from the spot, lowered his head and waved his arms to celebrate, he didn't expect that he would get his second assist like this.
Assisted to score twice!
This is also a good achievement!
What's more rare is that the person he assisted was his good friend who came to Sheffield with him!
"Maher!"
Gilbert ran towards the sideline near this side with high enthusiasm, one hand pointing at him and the other hand pointing at the sky, "I scored, brother, I scored!"
It was like returning to the training ground full of boredom and sweat. He received Maher's cross again and again, and completed countless wonderful headers.
However, this time it was on the field!
"Haha!"
Maher ran after him and laughed, "Shouldn't you treat me to a meal?"
"Of course!"
Gilbert didn't care about anything else at this time. Even if he was asked to take out all his savings, he might agree. He had lost his mind, "Eat the best!"
The two Arsenal players ran and laughed, and then threw their bodies out in tacit understanding, and combined together to complete the four-bar slide kneeling.
"Kachakacha!" A photographer at the side of the court quickly recorded this rare scene.
The two players in the camera looked at each other and laughed wildly, and slid and knelt with their arms open. Behind them were countless fans who stretched their bodies and punched them, and behind them were excited teammates running towards them.