<h4>Chapter 810: The Puppet Master</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio <strong>Editor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio
“To our friends and spectators, wee to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals of the 10-11 season. We are now broadcasting live the high-profile game for you at the City Ground stadium, with Nottingham Forest taking on Barcelona at home!”
“Well, we say it’s the City Ground stadium, but I believe a lot of people must think we’re talking nonsense.” The guestmenter next to him interjected.
Thementatorughed, “I couldn’t believe it at first—Nottingham Forest’s pitch is so poor… Half a week ago, Nottingham Forest said it was carrying out maintenance works and turf recement. Who would have thought that such turf would turn out a few dayster? Are we watching a friendly match between Nottingham Forest and an amateur team?”
The guest cleared his throat and said, “By putting it this way, you’d better watch out for protests from Barcelona. You actually liken them to ‘an amateur team.’”
“Ha!” Thementatorughed drily and hurriedly changed the subject., “There’s still some time before the start of the game and we’ve got the starting lineup from both sides. Barcelona’s list is not surprising, extending the same lineup in thest round. Speaking of which, Tony Twain was really wronged by the Catn media—he really did not use any lethal tactics against Messi and the others. Messi, Bojan … Even Iniesta, who had only just returned from the recovery of his injury, continues to be in the starting lineup. George Wood also did not to mark Messi in thest game and did not stand out in his performance.”
“Well, let us take a look at Nottingham Forest… Will you look at that! Compared with Barcelona’s stability, the Nottingham Forest team has changed a lot!” Thementator raised his voice and there was a deliberate sense of mystery.
“First of all, there’s a big adjustment in the rear defensive line. Leighton Baines was automatically suspended for one game due to the umtion of yellow cards. His recement is Joe Mattock, who is thought to be Ennd’s new star defender. Even though he’s young, he already has a record of two appearances in the starting lineup for the Ennd nation team. He has been ced in an important role by Twain since Gareth Bale’s injury. He has received many opportunities to be in the starting lineup for the league tournament and is currently rotating with Baines in the left back position. With Baines currently suspended, he’s naturally the one to rece him. This is not the first time he has yed in the Champions League. But it is believed this young yer will still be a key target for Barcelona to break through from as they have Messi and Alves on this side. We can take a good look at young Joe Mattock’s performance this game. Hopefully he will not betray Twain’s trust…”
“As for the center back here, Pepe is suspended by his red card and the yer who reces him is Woodgate. His partner is Kompany. The right back has also been reced. Rafinha is said to have suffered some injuries in training. Nkoulou has appeared in this position. With a height of 1.88 meters, he can actually y as the center back. He has yed in both positions in the league tournament.”
“In the midfield, Fernández is suspended for umting yellow cards, like Baines. Twain arranges for Lennon to y on the left and Bentley on the right. It’s no surprise that Cohen didn’t appear on the starting lineup. The middle is still the unshakable George Wood and Tiago’s partner. Since Twain started using the double defensive midfielder, Tiago found new lease of life. ?ahin did not start in the game because Tony Twain did not use his recent favorite 4-5-1. Instead he went back to the old 4-4-2 formation. All right,dies and gentlemen, herees the main highlight!”
“Let’s see who the two strikers are in the starting lineup?!”
“Agbohor!”
The guestmenter next to him corresponded with hismentary to say, “There’s no issue with it. Agbohor is very fast and if Tony Twain wants to fight back, he’s a very good yer to deploy. Eastwood is also injured in training and unable to y in the game. There are only a few strikers to choose from…”
“That’s right, but they still have Ibi?evi?. The Super Ibi who scored two goals in a row at Camp Nou and thatst goal might have helped the Forest team win the game if it hadn’t been for the referee’s whistle! But he’s not on the starting list! Yes, you heard right. He’s not on the starting list and he’s not injured. He’s fit as a fiddle, in good shape and can ovee Camp Nou. But he is not on the starting list. Why is he not on the starting list? That we don’t know. Maybe Tony Twain, who is watching from the stands, will know. I believe that if Nottingham Forest lose the game after and is eliminated, he will definitely be bombarded by the media with this question. Having said all that jabber, who is the yer that reced Ibi?evi??”
Aaron Mitchell’s head shot, and name appeared on the screen.
“That’s right, it’s this kid, Aaron Mitchell. The young striker, who was born on May 5th,1990 and about to turn twenty-one, was only transferred from the reserves to the First Team by Twain in January of this season. He had made five appearances on the bench and made one appearance in the starting lineup for the league tournament, with a total of one hundred and seventeen minutes. He has not made his debut in the Champions League and appeared once in the starting lineup for the FA Cup but did not score any goal. His record is clean like a piece of white paper. That’s not a good thing for a striker. What’s more, before he became a striker, Aaron Mitchell yed seven years as a defender in the youth team and one year as a goalkeeper… It wasn’t until the age of eighteen that he started ying as a striker at Twain’s suggestion and then went unnoticed. We don’t have any information on hand about him. Maybe Tony Twain doesn’t have, either. He is neither the yer with the highest goal score in the youth team nor an effective hitter who consistently scores in the Premier Reserve League. We know nothing other than he is very tall. Why would Tony Twain let such a yer be in the starting lineup for such an important game?”
※※※
Thementator’s doubts were also the doubts of all media reporters. ording to Tony Twain’s practice of not releasing the starting lineup until thest minute, they had just gotten the Forest team’s squad list. Everyone was “stunned” by the name of the starting striker.
The English reporters took it slightly better. They at least knew who the written name, “Aaron Mitchell was because he had just made his Premier League debut in thest round, albeit without any contribution. The media in Catalonia, Spain, were baffled. They even had to ask, “Is there such a yer in the Nottingham Forest First Team?”
It was not that the English media would nod and go “Oh, all right.” when they know who Aaron Mitchell was.
In fact, their response was—
“Is Tony Twain crazy?! What’s he doing? Ibi?evi? is not injured and has no problem with his form. Why must he use this young boy?!”
“Lord knows. He’s been acting out of character since his sudden outburst at Camp Nou…”
“No, I think it’s been harder to pin him down since he had a heart attack. Before he was like a hot-blooded young man, now he is a sinister and cunning middle-aged man.”
“Is he having a menopause?”
“I think he’s covering his ass and getting ready for the defeat of the game. Once he loses the game, he can put the me on the boy—‘I have high hopes for him, but his performance… Everybody saw it!’”
“You all seem to know Tony Twain well.” Pierce Brosnan, who had been quiet, finally could not stand it and retorted.
“Ah, look who’s here. The big reporter who knows Tony Twain the best, Pierce Brosnan. Are you saying that you know some inside information?”
Brosnan shook his head awkwardly and said, “I have no idea too…”
A burst ofughter rang out in the crowd. “You have no idea too? Today is full of surprises. I thought Mr. Tony Twain will give you some exclusive information!”
“Anyway, Tony Twain is not the kind of manager who will put the me on the yers after a defeat in the game.” Brosnan might not understand the tactics, but he believed he knew Tony Twain’s character better than these people. “He will only ce the me on himself, and I’ve only even seen a few managers like that.”
The reporters saw that Brosnan was so serious and suddenly felt it was dull—Everyone was joking just now. If you have to talk about it so seriously, then that takes the fun out. You missed the point if you’re being so serious!
The group of people dispersed with the doubt of why Tony Twain had to used Aaron Mitchell and not Ibi?evi? as they got ready to focus on the start of the game.
※※※
The outside media would certainly regard Aaron Mitchell’s performance with preconceived ideas and be determined to find faults. But in the home team’s locker room, Mitchell did not feel any difference in the mood.
It was a Champions League quarterfinal game and he was part of the team, that was all.
Dunn was exining the tactics and the things for everyone to take note of in the game for thest time.
After Dunn finished speaking, he suddenly turned on the television and DVD yer, saying he wanted to show the yers a video.
This surprised many people. They had watched Barcelona’s game video countless times, and long understood this opponent clearly. There was no need to watch any video with ten minutes to go before their appearance.
“This is not a video analysis of the opponent.” Dunn exined and then pressed the y button.
Suddenly a mor which could only exist in a stadium assaulted their senses. It did not seem toe from the tiny square of screen on the TV rack.
“… Offside? Is the ball in an offside position? … Barcelona scored! A beautiful counterattack! The Nottingham Forest yers cannot believe their eyes. The referee invalidated one of their goals with a whistle and almost immediately ruled Barcelona’s goal valid. The situation turned around in an instant! … Tony Twain is in a heated confrontation with the fourth official on the sidelines. He looks furious. If we had copied NBA and gave every manager a microphone, that would have be fantastic… A red card! Tony Twain was sent off to the stands by the referee! The game suddenly reaches another climax toward the end! The Nottingham Forest yers surround the referee but cannot change his mind. Their manager, Tony Twain has been kicked off the pitch again!”
What was showed on the screen was, of course, the mess in the final stages of the game.
After the video finished ying, Dunn said, “Tony wanted me to show you this segment of the video. He hoped that you would not to forget how the other side treated us in thest game, and what we were made to suffer. We are slightly inferior in terms of strength in this game, but he wants you to put aside the disparity in strength and teach your opponent a hard lesson. Teach those who want us to lose… a good lesson!”
Although Dunn did his best and tried very hard to show vehemence in his speech, he was not Twain after all. The effect of his speech was diminished. Fortunately, the yers were outraged by the video just now. Because that reminded them of the scene in thest moment of the first round. No one would feelfortable after experiencing such a stinging defeat.
In fact, each of them had a ball of fire in their hearts. A week of closed-door training did not extinguish the fire gradually but made it burn brighter. Because Tony Twain would always bring up the matter this week and tell them they had been insulted in the away game, so they must take revenge on the home ground.
It was now time for this ball of anger to explode!
While the man sitting in the stands had been nning for a week to take revenge today. Even though he was not in the locker room, his influence was still there.
From the transformation of the training ground, a notice to rece the turf in the City Ground stadium, the ongoing war of words with Barcelona, repeatedly connecting them with the UEFA to remind the public of the close rtionship between the UEFA and Barcelona, the change in the formation and strikers, using a young yer whom Barcelona waspletely unfamiliar with, to using the video as a catalyst in the locker room for thest time, he calcted everything. Now everything was ready except for only one tiny crucial detail.
If anyone thought that Nottingham Forest was finished and scattered because Tony Twain was banned, then they were gravely mistaken!
He was no longer as simple as the king of Nottingham Forest for the game. He was the puppet master of Nottingham Forest…
Even if he was not in the technical area, he could still control every detail of the team.
The moment the Barcelona team filed out of the tunnel, they had in fact embarked on the road to hell in Tony Twain’s eyes.
Hey, Mr. Guardi, do you see the sea of red in front of you? That’s not our Nottingham Forest fans. It’s the redva that spews out of the eighteen levels of hell! It’s erupting and surging in front of your eyes. Do you feel the broiling heat hitting you in the face?
Wee to hell.