Mourinho did not underestimate Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain, so he was not surprised when Nottingham Forest launched a fierce attack on their home ground.
Even so, the difficulty of the game gave him a headache.
Nottingham Forest was bent on taking down Manchester United on their home ground and sending off their boss with a victory. Their performance in the game made it seem as if they were the ones fighting for the league title.
Manchester United naturally could not hand over the victory of this game. If they lost to Nottingham Forest, they would basically lose the league title. Who would want to fall before the finish line?
The game was in a stalemate from the start. The battle in the midfield was fierce between the two sides. George Wood and Chen Jian had originally planned to be the main attackers in this game, but Manchester United's strong pressure forced them to temporarily switch to defense. Similarly, with Wood and Chen Jian holding firm in the middle, Manchester United's offense could not advance and could not threaten Forest's goal.
The midfield could not organize an effective attack, but Forest did not panic. They had other ways, such as long passes.
Wood and Chen Jian retreated from their positions and became defensive midfielders. They basically stayed in front of the defensive line and did not move forward. When they organized the offense, they would hold the ball and look for opportunities in front of them to pass a long ball over. Mitchell was 2.01 meters tall and he was as eye-catching as a lighthouse in the front field. Long passes would find him and he would then pass the ball over to them or directly control the ball. In any case, apart from his outstanding height, he also had excellent footwork skills. It was not a problem for him to control the ball under his feet.
Balotelli, on the other hand, cruised beside Mitchell, waiting for an opportunity to shoot.
In comparison, Manchester United, without Rooney, was slightly inferior in terms of impact. They could not do it even if they wanted to do a long pass. Their forwards looked too thin and weak in front of Forest's center back.
To deal with Manchester United, Twain used two weeks to make his team "a little harder." Their playing style and small movements had to be hard. Therefore, in the first half of this game, the focus of both teams was not on how to attack, but on how to stop the opponent's attack with fouls that would not be seen by the referee.
As Twain's last game in charge, the first half was definitely not exciting. There were fewer high-quality attacks from both sides. However, the fans in the stands still watched with relish and enthusiasm. The Manchester United fans were concerned about whether their team could win the title, so they did not care about the situation. They were not Real Madrid and Barcelona fans, who prioritized the appearance of the game over the results. The Nottingham Forest fans were not the kind of people who pursued beautiful scenes. Otherwise, Tang En would have been dismissed 38 times in the first year of his coaching career. He had to be dismissed once in every round of the league tournament. As long as they could win, they would feel that it was a good thing.
Only a portion of the neutral fans would find the game, which was broadcast live to the world, a little boring, but the intense collisions were still a little entertaining. It was a football game. Of course, it was impossible to have goals every minute, and it was also impossible to have wonderful shots and miraculous saves every minute. A true fan would not let go of every tiny detail on the field.
There were a lot of small details in this match …
When Balotelli's free kick went too high, the camera did not focus on Balotelli, who was taking the free kick. Instead, it immediately cut to Tang En, who was sitting in the manager's seat. In the camera, Tang En jerked his head up, revealing a regretful expression. The camera then turned to Mourinho. The Portuguese was expressionless, as if he was not worried that his team would be the first to lose.
Following that, George Wood and Manchester United's midfielder, Adrian, exchanged kicks. In the end, Adrian, who was three years younger than Wood, lost possession of the ball in front of Manchester United's penalty area. Mourinho's expression changed when he saw this scene, and he started grumbling to the assistant manager beside him.
Nottingham Forest took the opportunity to launch an attack, which was their most threatening attack in the first half. Wood passed the ball to Chen Jian. Chen Jian pretended to do a long shot, but he stopped the ball. He looked at Gareth Bale, who was plugging in from the left, and stuffed the ball straight into the middle. Mitchell leaned on Manchester United's center back, Evans, to control the ball. Balotelli plugged in in front of him, attracting the attention of Manchester United's defenders. Just when everyone thought that Mitchell would pass the ball to Balotelli, Mitchell suddenly used his heel to knock the ball behind him. There, Gareth Bale had already plugged into the penalty area. He was not offside, and no one was marking him!
With such a good opportunity, Bale did not hesitate. He lifted his leg and shot!
The ball went straight to the near corner. Fortunately, Manchester United's goalkeeper, Ruffy, was focused and quickly fell to the ground to knock the ball out of the end line.
This attack caused a huge burst of cheers and applause in the stands. It was considered one of the few highlights of the first half. Tang En felt it was a pity that the ball did not go in, and Mourinho stood up from his seat. He could not sit still in the face of Forest's smooth attack.
In fact, for Manchester United, as long as they could maintain a draw, they would be able to win the championship. But Mourinho's mind had never considered this possibility. He knew how much power Tang En had. If the plan was set at the level of "maintaining a draw can win", then the final result was likely to be his own failure. Only by setting the goal as victory could the team really achieve the results they wanted.
Following that, Manchester United made adjustments. They could not shrink back just because Forest was on home ground and attacking fiercely. He wanted the team to press out and use one or two high-quality attacks to dampen Forest's spirit.
But he had just adjusted for less than ten minutes when the whistle sounded to end the first half.
※ ※ ※
"0: 0! Mourinho should be satisfied with this score. As long as his team maintains a draw in the final round of the league tournament, they can win the league title with the advantage of goal difference. " The commentator, John Motson, said so, but Mourinho certainly did not think so.
In the locker room, Mourinho was merciless in his criticism of the team's performance in the first half.
"Do you know what kind of game this is? This is a game that will determine whether we become heroes or a laughing stock this season! "
Part of the reason why Mourinho lost his temper at the players was because he felt that in the competition with Tang En, these players were far from having the fighting spirit of Forest's players, which made him feel embarrassed.
On the contrary, Tang En praised the team's performance in the first half in the locker room.
Although there were not many quality attacks in the first half, Nottingham Forest had the upper hand overall. Tang En's tough style of play for the team made Manchester United very uncomfortable.
Other than praise, Tang En did not say too much. It was as if this was an ordinary league game. These people were professional players who had played in countless professional leagues and received training in this area since they could remember. Such a game, although the opponent was a little strong and the meaning was a little special, should still be able to handle it. It was a pity that he could not continue to lead them.
He left the rest of the time to the players and pushed the door open to walk out.
In fact, Tang En had a lot to say, but he could not. He was afraid of disturbing the players' emotions and state. If the players lost the game because of him, he really did not know how he would face this group of people.
Tang En came to the tunnel alone. The staff there saw him, and Tang En also saw them. He waved to those people, indicating that it was nothing and that they should go back to what they were supposed to do. He just came here to get some fresh air.
With Tang En's prestige here, no one dared to come up and disturb him.
So, in the noisy stadium, he obtained a moment of peace.
At this time, Tang En suddenly wanted to smoke. Since his heart attack, he had not smoked. It had just been ten years since he quit smoking. It was reasonable to say that he would not smoke again and would not want to smoke again. But today, he had such a desire to light a cigarette for himself.
He patted his pocket. There was nothing in it, of course.
Tang En smacked his lips.
Although he would return to this stadium in the future, it was absolutely impossible as a manager. At the time of parting, did he miss it? Tang En found that he did not miss it. Perhaps it was because his feelings for this stadium were too shallow. If it were the City Ground stadium, perhaps he would be quite reluctant to miss it. Back then, before the City Ground stadium was about to be demolished, he had specially driven there to say his final goodbyes and met Kenny Burns in the dusk and chatted with him for a while.
Today, this modern and beautiful stadium could not make him feel the same way.
He still remembered when he first arrived here, he always scoffed at the "atmosphere of history," thinking it was synonymous with decay, aging, and backwardness, so he looked down on the old facilities and buildings in the club. He did not expect that one day, he would also start to miss those "old antiques."
Perhaps it was because he had become an antique like those old antiques.
Since he was outdated and lagging behind, he would have to retire from the stage. Retiring at this time was not a disgrace to his reputation.
※ ※ ※
When Tang En returned to the locker room, the players were already ready to go out under the direction of the assistant manager, Kerslake. Tang En waited at the locker room door for them to come out. He patted their shoulders one by one and sent them to the field.
The second half of the game was no different from the first. Although Mourinho asked his team to strengthen their offense, the Forest team's defense remained solid. The Forest team also continued to use the long passes in the first half to harass Manchester United's rear, not allowing them to turn out in full force.
As time went by, Manchester United's offense began to weaken because they felt that even if they ended up with an even score, the league title would still be theirs.
A draw was actually the result that Manchester United wanted. In front of the title, they were not afraid of anything even if they could not beat Nottingham Forest. But on Mourinho's side, it was an absolutely unacceptable result. Not to mention the fact that the idea of a draw was too dangerous, even if it was a personal grudge, Mourinho would never allow his team to draw with the Forest team.
Tang En retired after directing this match. If the result was a draw, Tang En would retire. If the result was a draw, would he not be able to beat him for the rest of his life?
That would not do!
Mourinho stood up from the manager's seat and roared loudly against the singing of the Forest fans in the stadium. He wanted his team to strengthen their offense and attack from the flanks.
Mourinho was not satisfied with the draw, and the Nottingham Forest players were also not satisfied with the 0: 0 score.
When Mitchell was in a good position without anyone marking him, and Balotelli chose to forcibly shoot at the ball and sent it flying, Mitchell could not stand Balotelli's behavior and loudly complained to him, "What are you doing? My position is better, can't you see it? "
Balotelli ignored him and only held his head in his hands, regretting that he had missed an opportunity.
His attitude made Mitchell very unhappy. After all, Balotelli's popularity within the team had always been mediocre. He chased after him and wanted to argue with him, but he was stopped by Wood.
"That bastard, doesn't he know that we have to take the lead to win now?" Mitchell complained to Wood.
"You don't have to say this kind of thing." Wood pointed to the side of the field. Mitchell glanced at it and shut up.
They all saw the scene of the boss getting up from the manager's seat and walking to the side of the field.
The next second, they saw Twain shouting at the field.
"Mario! What are you doing?! You should pass the ball! " His voice could still be heard in such a noisy environment. It really made people wonder if he had a loudspeaker installed in his body. "Pass the ball, pass the ball, pass the ball!! Pass the ball to a teammate in a better position! You're not a kid anymore, do you still need me to teach you this kind of thing?! "
In fact, after shouting so many words, the players on the field might not be able to hear them clearly, but it expressed an attitude — I am very angry!
Balotelli was not very popular in the team. He did not even give face to George Wood, but he still respected Twain very much. Seeing Twain lose his temper, he knew it must be because he chose to shoot at the goal instead of passing the ball.
So he waved at Twain, meaning to say that he would pay attention next time …
Only then did Twain return to the manager's seat and sit down.
This small detail made the commentator, Mortensen, relish.
"Tony is still the king here, even if he does not deliberately show it. But seeing how the usually unruly Balotelli is so obedient under him, no one will doubt that he is the king. "
Balotelli, who was taught a lesson by Twain, was much more obedient. When there was a chance again, he passed the ball out many times and did not dare to eat alone anymore.
※ ※ ※
There was really nothing to be excited about in this last game. For the Manchester United fans, it was nervous and exciting.
As time went on in the second half of the game, the exciting scenes on the field gradually increased. This may have something to do with the request of both managers, so the two teams simply played a game of offense.
Exciting shots also began to appear, and of course, even more exciting saves happened from time to time. This must have made the neutral fans feel very happy.
Although the scene was lively, the score was still 0: 0. No one scored a goal.
During this period, Nottingham Forest hit the goalpost once, while Manchester United hit the goalpost once and the crossbar once. Both teams seemed to have bad luck.
The game also quickly passed by in the exciting attacks of both sides.
From the looks of it, this game would end with a score of 0: 0.
If that was really the case, the Manchester United people would be dancing with joy because they had successfully defended their title. Only Mourinho was dissatisfied because he would no longer have the chance to defeat Tony Twain …
※ ※ ※
PS, there are two updates today. After this game, there will be another update at 6 pm, please look forward to it.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
