<h4>Chapter 476: Absolute Strength</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio <strong>Editor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio
Appendix: Nottingham Forest’s final list in the 2006-07 season (jersey number in brackets).
Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (1), Paul Gerrard (25), Igor Akinfeev (12, on loan to CSKA Moscow)
Defenders: Leighton Baines (22), Gareth Bale (2), Pascal Chimbonda (3), Sun Jihai (21), Gerard Piqué (24), Vincent Kompany (33), Pepe (6), Wes Morgan (5)
Midfielders: George Wood (13), Demetrio Albertini (4), Martin Petrov (8), Rafael van der Vaart (23), Kris Commons (20, on loan to Watford), Ashley Young (18), Aaron Lennon (17), Franck Ribéry (7), Mikel Arteta (14)
Strikers: Freddy Eastwood (11), Nics Bendtner (9), Ruud van Nistelrooy (10), Nics Anelka (39)
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“Guys, don’t you think it’s amazing?” Twain asked his team in the locker room before the first game of the season. “Our first gamest season was here too, against the same opponent.”
When he said that, everyone thought about it. He was right, it was exactly the same.
Nottingham Forest had hosted Wigan Athletic inst season’s first game. Everyone still had an impression of this team, because they had been called “the second Nottingham Forest” by the media, both before and after the game. The opposing manager had also named Twain as his idol during the interview and said that Nottingham Forest was a role model for his team to learn from top to bottom.
“It looks like you all remember. So, does anyone remember the course of that game?” Twain continued to ask.
ordingly, everyone thought again. Other than the newly joined Van Nistelrooy, Van der Vaart, and Petrov, everyone else remembered what that game was like.
“Chief, we yed badly in the first half,” Albertini stood up and answered. Although George Wood spent more time on the field wearing the captain’s armband, the Italian was still the team’s first captain.
“Not bad.” Twain motioned for Albertini to sit down. “I was furious with you all during the halftime interval and then we won in the second half, but I don’t want to a repeat performance. I’m sure you don’t want to see me like that again, do you? I’m actually very good-natured.”
The yersughed.
“At that time, we were still young and naive enough to feelcent just because our opponent gave us a few words of praise. Now, it’s different. We’ve all been through a lot of important games and have more experience!” Twain and his yers met gazes and in the exchange, the yers understood what Twain was referring to when he said experience—the UEFA Champions League final. “We’re no longer the same as we were a season ago.?We’ve weathered a lot and will not trip over such a small game. Bring your best form! We have a magnificent goal for the new season. Do you all know that?”
“Yes, Chief!”
“The Champions League title! WOOOW!”
The yers shouted in unison, impassioned by this goal.
“Very good. Now, this is our first official game for the new season. So… give me a good start!”
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“This coincidence was wonderful for Nottingham Forest, whose opponents inst season’s first round appeared in the first round of this season. The weaker Wigan Athletic cannot threaten the Forest team’s defense. The Forest team’s big-name stars will show their offensive strength as much as they like in the front field, and poor Wigan Athletic can only choose to defend their goal to the death.”
“Twain shows no mercy to their little brother… Haha!”
It was almost a replica of everything that had happenedst season. Even the twomentators for the game were Twain’s old acquaintances—John Motson and n Hansen.
The only difference was that the twomentators joked about the two teams in the game in an easy manner and didn’t mock or ridicule Nottingham Forest’s poor performance as they hadst year, because Nottingham Forest was gaining the upper hand, both in terms of the game situation and the score.
The game’stest score was disyed on the electronic scoreboard: Nottingham Forest 1:0 Wigan Athletic.
“This is a more mature team.” Motson critiqued the Forest team as such.
He was right to say that. After that important defeat, the Forest team had matured a lot. It was obvious, judging by how they dealt with Wigan Athletic.
They didn’t give their opponents any chance and took advantage of their overwhelming advantage of their home ground and strength. They controlled the pace of the game firmly. The team’s overall tactics were no different fromst season. At the beginning of the new season, Twain ced importance on stability. They had to first strengthen their performance before they considered a change of tactics. During this game, the Forest team’s two nks repeatedly shuttled up and down. On the left side, Ribéry agitated Wigan Athletic’s defense on the right until they were confused and jittery. Ashley Young, who was back in action after his internal ban had ended, repeatedly used his passes to salvage his image in the manager’s mind.
Other than the major changes on the forward line where Van Nistelrooy reced Viduka and Eastwood reced Anelka, the rest of the team was no different fromst season.
Van der Vaart, who had been bought for 5.7 million dors, entered the team’s main list, but didn’t make his debut. The Forest team’s midfieldbination in the middle was still the unstoppable George Wood and Arteta. Therefore, the team formation was still the t four positioning, 4-4-2.
Although they had repeatedly practiced new tactics during the summer training session, Twain was still not reassured. The new tactics were still hasty and not as dependable as the old tactics that the team had practiced for two years. At the start of the new season, he chose to be steady, and at the end of the day, the utilitarian in him was at work.
The team performed well year after year: They ranked fourth in the English Premier League in their first season and were in the top eight in the UEFA Europa League. In the second season, they were the runner-up in the Premier League and the Champions League… What extent would be satisfying for them this season? The Forest team would have to bear more expectations in the future seasons. The Forest team’s rocket-like ascent made everyone feel that this miraculous team’s outstanding performance was to be expected as a matter of fact. Otherwise, the World Ser magazine wouldn’t have rated Nottingham Forest “a strong team” instead of “a dark horse.”
Just as Twain was flushed with sess, the pressure on his shoulders grew heavier… Certainly, this was part of the price he had to pay for sess. As the hottest manager of the moment, he had to be aware of this.
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The yer who scored a goal for the Forest team was Franck Ribéry. With his excellent performances in the World Cup and the UEFA Champions League, he had be a world-renowned yer. Wigan Athletic specially arranged to closely mark him but still failed to block him. With a corner kick, Ribéry shot Nottingham Forest’s first goal of the new season.
The City Ground stadium fell into a frenzy. Even though everyone had be familiar with Tony Twain’s team bringing victory after victory, every goal could still ignite the passion.
After the goal, Ribéry ran to the corner g, followed closely behind by Van Nistelrooy, the yer nearest to him. This newly joined yer waved his arms to signal to his teammates toe up and celebrate.
Twain had once told Dunn and Kerke that he wasn’t worried at all about the question of Van Nistelrooy’s integration with the team. It had now been proven.
Twain knew this. Van Nistelrooy was a very professional yer. A new environment for him meant that he had to start over. He needed to adapt to everything in the new team. He knew how to integrate faster and better with this team. It was normally a good idea to take the initiative to be friendly.
He wasn’t peculiar like Anelka, who wasn’t likeable.
Van Nistelrooy’s assimtion into the team was smooth, so it wouldn’t be difficult for Van der Vaart, either. The team had three Dutch yers, and the first to join was Edwin van der Sar. Twain didn’t mind the men from same country sticking together. The old yers could help the new yers be familiar with the team. It was a virtuous cycle when done properly.
As for the wrangling between the factions from various countries, Twain wasn’t worried. The days were long, and there was time for them to recognize who the people were that the team couldn’t do without.
※※※
At the end of the first half of the game, the score was still at 1:0, with Nottingham Forest dominating. The home fans weren’t worried about the oue of this game. Tony Twain’s team was reassuring. The quality of the team’s determination would not easily lead to failures like a “dark three minutes,” where a foregone conclusion at thest moment could bepletely reversed.
During the fifteen minutes interval at halftime, Twainuded the team’s performance with reservations and specially praised each yer after roll call. He didn’t gloss over his words, but truly praised everyone from the bottom of his heart.
No one disliked praise. Twain was also not stingy with his praise, which was a means of management. He was reminded only after Kerke mentioned Bale at that time that it was easy for a person to pay apliment, but it might be an important incentive for those who received it.
Of course, he also wasn’t stingy with telling them off.
With regards to this point, Twain was rather inventive with rewards and punishment…
During halftime, Twain didn’t say much tactical stuff other than praising everyone on the team. All the coaches knew that when their team did well and upied the dominant position in the first half, there was often no need for anything else to be said at halftime. It was the best option for the team to continue ying the way they had in the first half. This was the same principle for the reason not to hastily change tactics and deployment of yers when the lineup continued to win games.
Therefore, towards the end halftime, Twain just pped and said to the yers, who were ready, “y like you did before!”
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The Forest team carried out this remark in the second half and continued ying in the second half as they had in the first half.
Wigan Athletic was definitely not willing to lose this game. After all, they were no longer newly promoted from a season ago with a dream to sessfully stay in the English Premier League. Last season’s excellent results had made them more ambitious this season—to qualify for the next season’s UEFA Europa League.
Since they were called “the second Nottingham Forest,” how could the Wigan Athletic manager, Paul Jewell not study the team in front of his eyes?
He admitted that he understood Twain’s team and Twain as a person and was fully confident that he could make aeback in the second half—conceding one goal in the first half was well within Jewell’s n.
Much aplished at a young age, Twain was currently flushed with sess. He had chosen to take it lying down in the first half so as to make Twain underestimate his opponent. The second half was a good time for Wigan Athletic tounch a massive counterattack. He still remembered the Forest team’s performance in the first gamest season.
It would have been possible for Wigan Athletic to go home with three points had it not been for Twain’s admonishment of his yers at halftime.
But right now, Manager Twain, you won’t be scolding them during halftime… Jewell thought, feeling a little smug.
Ten minutes after the start of the second half, Wigan Athletic suddenly powered up and threatened the Forest team’s grounds with three consecutive attacks.
Dunn looked at Jewell, who walked to the sidelines from the technical area and reminded him, “Tony…”
Twain smiled and waved, “I know. It’s not nice to be number two. Take a look, guys. No one is willing to be someone else’s recement. Jewell thought that he had studied me and the Forest team, so let him continue to think so.”
“Do you want to make any changes?” Kerke asked.
Twain stared at the field for a moment before answering, “No.”
Kerke was surprised by his reply. He had thought that Twain was going to adjust his tactics. “But the opponents have seen through our tactics, and they’ve stepped up their defense on the sides…” he said and pointed to the field.
Twain smiled, “You’re right. They’ve seen through our tactics. But… what about it?”
Kerke was rendered speechless by his rhetorical question.
“Does he know how to deal with it when he sees through our tactics? If he knows how to deal with it, does that mean he’ll be able to do it?” Twainughed more and more happily. In Dunn’s eyes, he was giving off a feeling that his prank had seeded.
“David.” Twain decided to give his assistants a good lesson. “In this world, these petty maneuvers do not mean that everything will go smoothly and unhindered. You know that they are still some distance away from us in terms of ability. But do you know how big a gap there is between them and us? Sometimes, an absolute advantage in strength can make all schemes and ploys ineffective. The gap between them and us…” He pointed confidently to the darkened sky and said, “Is like the distance from Earth to Mars.”
Kerke’s mouth was agape. He had trouble epting this reference.
“Nothing has to change. This lineup and this set of tactics will remain the same. We’ll let Wigan Athletic understand why they can only be ‘the second Nottingham Forest,’ and not the real one. As you know, it’s dangerous to believe oneself infallible in a fantasy.”
With that, Twain got up, walked from the technical area to the sidelines, then whistled. When his yers set their sights on him, he gestured for them to push forward. He was telling the team to continue to press forward, keep attacking, and score more goals.
Wigan Athletic’s three consecutive attacks on the Forest team’s hintend just then had already provoked his squad of proud and arrogant Forest yers. Even without the manager’s reminder, they would also press up to absolutely crush the opponent.
For the rest of the game, Jewell could only look on in astonishment as he watched his team be trampled by the other team.
Twain was right. Jewell had seen through the Forest team’s tactics and studied them thoroughly. He had alsoe up with a lot of ways to curb the Forest team’s most impressive side attacks, but he hadn’t considered that his team, whether in overall or individualpetitive ability, were far from the Forest team. Even if his strategies were on the right track, what was the use if the yers who implemented them were not strong enough?
“Arteta… What a beautiful pass! Eastwood isn’t greedy, and he passes the ball to… Van Nistelrooy!! He scored his first league goal for Nottingham Forest!
“This was Van der Vaart’s first contact with the ball in the game. He tries a long shot—and it hits the Wigan Athletic defender on the leg and bounces out… and Ashley Young makes a pass! Antonio Valencia… goal! Poor Valencia, this is his first league game for Wigan Athletic…
“The frontlinebination of Heskey and Camara simply doesn’t pose any threat to George Wood’s leading defensive line. Wood actually rushed up to participate in the offense… He makes a long shot! Oh, what a pity, he shot too high!”
After the team was leading the opponent by 3:0, Twain, who was standing on the sidelines, turned to the two assistant managers and shrugged, then walked back.
“The game is over,” he said to his two helpers at the 76th minute.
On the other side, Jewell’s face looked ugly. But what could he do about it? His strategy waspletely ineffective against the Forest team. The gap between the strength of the two teams was too wide… even wider than it had been a year before. It wasn’t that Wigan Athletic had weakened. His team had added some yers this summer. The only reasonable exnation was that Nottingham Forest had be stronger, and the speed of their strengthening was far greater than he had anticipated.
“Nottingham Forest has fully demonstrated the strength of a great team. Poor Wigan Athletic, it looks like they can only continue to be ‘the second.’ There’s no suspense in this game. Nottingham Forest takes control of every corner of the field and can score as many goals as they want! Tony Twain is having a really goodugh. This is the perfect beginning of a new season!”
Amid Motson’s praise, the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the game.
Tony Twain took the initiative to go shake the hand of the loser, Jewell, and said, “Wee back to Earth, Mr. Jewell. There are still thirty-seven games in the league. Please continue to fight on!”
Jewell smiled a little helplessly. “Please continue to do well, Mr. Twain.”
They were right. There were still thirty-seven matches in the league, and the new season was just starting. They all needed to keep fighting.
But in any case, Jewell’s team had been defeated, while Twain had received a boost, signifying a good beginning.