Greatest Of All Legends-Chapter 799: Conference League Playoffs First Leg II

"Not one... Not a single shot on target throughout the first half..."

"If you’re going to play like this then I have no choice but to doubt your hunger for the game,"

"They’re saying you haven’t found your rhythm, but can someone explain to me why that is?"

"You guys are acting like you haven’t been training together. Your bad performance is unexcusable, but it’s too early to give up,"

"I don’t want to see this kind of body language in the second half. Don’t think that you can take it easy because this is only the first leg,"

"You should know better than to allow your opponents to have the momentum,"

"In the second half, defend tight hit them hard,"

"Dane, try to get into more dangerous positions, but don’t forget to put your teammates into consideration,"

"We don’t have Debruyne on our team so all those tight positions you’re jumping into is only making things difficult for the others,"

"Bryan, Steven, if it’s too difficult to find Dane, look for other options. Also, don’t just run into your opponents if you can’t be sure of getting past them,"

"You guys in the center, move around more, don’t compromise on our safety, but when the forwards need support, do your part, don’t just send wayward passes forward and then stick back like the rest of the game doesn’t concern you,"

Jason sat calmly watching the manager give tactical order after order to the players.

After all, it was one thing to lose a game and it was another thing to lose badly. Apart from keeping possession, the Tottenham team had been poor everywhere else, even defensively.

The only reason why the scoreline wasn’t worse than it currently was, was because they had been keeping the ball to themselves most of the time.

Boavista had already managed to hit Tottenham on the counter quite Sa few times and they had already scored once.

Of course, the Tottenham players could argue that they weren’t able to get into their rhythm because the line-up was unusual, but the fact of the matter remained that the players on the pitch were professionals.

If they as professionals couldn’t deal with this much, then for what reason were they getting paid the big bucks?

Jason simply watched the manager spend the whole break period giving tactical orders and giving the players ideas and instructions on how to break down the opponent.

Surprisingly, despite the dismal showing from the players in the first half, Nuno didn’t make any changes during the half-time period and the same lineup marched back onto the field at the beginning of the second half.

Before they headed out, Nuno had told Jason to stay ready as he would soon be subbed on.

Clearly the manager wasn’t intending on taking any risks and he didn’t trust the game to change rapidly despite all the instructions he had given.

After the second half began, the Tottenham players looked visibly sharper than in the second half and they began to show signs of breaking down their opponents, but just as the Tottenham players had received instructions, so had the Boavista players.

If Tottenham had received instructions to break down their opponents’ defense line by any means necessary, Boavista had received the counter order.

No matter what happened, they did not seem willing to be broken down.

Starting with defending with all but one man behind the ball, they even opted to clear the ball upfield and rearrange themselves as soon as they sniffed any danger.

They also did not hesitate to waste time whenever they could despite the second half having just begun.

Tottenham still managed to get a few shots away with a header from a corner by Romero being the closest they got to being on target, but the ball went narrowly wide.

#62nd minute...

"Tell Jason to change and meet me for instructions," Nuno said to an assistant, finally fed up with the rubbish he was watching.

If any changes weren’t made quickly enough, the team would end up losing and Nuno didn’t want his first loss with the Tottenham team to come against an opponent like Boavista.

Especially in the new continental competition. A loss would affect morale and he didn’t want that.

Jason who had been warming up for a while quickly changed into his jersey and walked up to Nuno.

"I need you to turn this game around. Bait them by moving infield when on the press and make them come forward to take advantage of the space your leaving position would open up,"

"If we can force them to come out, then we can try to get the ball up the field as fast as possible,"

"When you get on the ball, you have to draw the attention of the opponents. They will see you as the greater threat and that can free up the others,"

"So, draw away as many players as you can and then get the ball to the others as quickly as possible," Nuno instructed and Jason nodded.

Seconds later, Jason was beside the assistant referee who held up the board in his hand with Jason’s No.17 in green.

Bergwijn was the one coming off for Jason and Jason quickly jogged to his position on the right flank.

#68th minute...

Jason immediately got to work on what the manager told him to do.

Whenever he got possession of the ball, he would run at the opponents, using feints to confuse his opponents and pull them away after him, forcing them to chase him before he quickly released the ball to a teammate.

If his team wasn’t in possession, he joined the players in the center to press, leaving space on the right flank and baiting the Boavista players to try attacking down that side of the field.

It was a lot to ask of one player, especially one who was new at the club, but Nuno had no choice.

He had picked a weaker lineup and it was too difficult to make the changes that could save them now.

If he did force himself to make those changes, the players he had been trying to rest would stress themselves out chasing the game and with the Boavista team playing what many would term as ’haram ball’, the players would definitely overstress themselves.

That would defeat the whole point of trying to rest them in the first place.

{Ball stolen by Nile John! Can he start a counter!?}

Nile quickly sent a through pass down the right into Jason’s path and Jason quickly caught up to the ball, pushing it past the halfway line.

A Boavista player came rushing at Jason from the front, but on getting close enough, Jason pushed the ball between his legs with the tip of his toe and jumped over the tackle, continuing to chase after the ball.

Another player came rushing forward, forcing Jason to slow down a little before once again flicking the ball forward past the Boavista man.

The ball made it safely past, but the Boavista player did not allow Jason to do the same and with a sweeping outstretched leg, he whacked Jason’s shin, sending waves of pain through Jason and sending Jason crashing down.