On March 13th, in the 36th round of the league tournament, Nottingham Forest defeated the visiting Crystal Palace 3: 2 at home. It was not an easy match to win. During the match, there was a situation in the Forest team where someone could not run. The fitness coach told Tang En not to worry. It was a normal reaction to increased physical training. It would be fine once it passed.
In fact, Tang En was not worried about this problem. It was fine as long as they won the match.
With three consecutive wins, Nottingham Forest's league ranking began to soar, rising from 17th to 14th. They were eight points behind the sixth-placed Wigan Athletic, and they had two matches less than the sixth-placed team. In other words, even if Wigan Athletic won all the remaining matches, as long as the Forest team won the two make-up matches, they would only be two points behind the opponent. It was just a matter of one match.
Therefore, for the following matches, Tang En's request was that no matter how the match played, no matter what method was used, it would be considered good as long as they won. As the pursuers, they had to make the opponents in front feel pressured, so they could not be too particular about the situation.
In the next few matches, the Forest team played stumbling. Tang En did not care, because they won again!
On March 18th, Nottingham Forest defeated Burnley 1: 0 at home. After the match ended, the Burnley manager was dissatisfied with the referee's decision. He felt that the referee had disallowed a goal that Burnley had no problem with. At the same time, he had also sent off one of their players. The Forest team, who had the numerical advantage, only won by one goal. It was no wonder that the Burnley manager was complaining.
But what could he do? Who asked his team to play in an away game?
On March 20th, with such a tight schedule, the Forest team defeated Derby County 4: 2 in an away game. Eastwood performed well, scoring a hat-trick and becoming the biggest contributor to the team's victory. Motson said during the commentary, "Most of the time, Tang En relies on the team to fight as a whole. When the team's overall form is low, he always has a way to win. For example, a misjudgment by the referee, or a sudden outburst by a certain player … "
On March 24th, the make-up match of the league tournament. The Forest team made up for the time they lost on this day. Due to the EFL Cup final, the 33rd round of the league tournament, which had been postponed, was held at this time. The Forest team faced Bradford at home. In the end, they won 2: 1. The Forest team, which had one game in hand, was ranked eighth with 59 points. In front of them were West Ham United, which had 60 points in a game in hand, and Wigan Athletic, which had 61 points in a game in hand.
There was only a three-point gap between eighth and sixth place in the league tournament. Tang En's relentless pursuit finally paid off. As long as they took down Crewe at home in the next round of the league tournament, and if either of the two teams lost between the seventh and sixth place, they would be replaced by the Forest team.
Before this, in order to maintain the current good situation, Tang En had put in a lot of effort and used every method he could think of to continue to encourage the team. He knew that this was not the time to lose. As long as they lost one game, the entire season … No! All their hard work for the past half a season was gone! Therefore, this was not the time to be discouraged …
And when they were only three points away from the sixth place in the league, there was no need for him to encourage them, because everyone was already in a killing frenzy. They knew that if they continued to win, they would be able to appear in the English Premier League next season, and not in the First Division that no one cared about. They were not just fighting for the club, they were also fighting for themselves.
March 27th, Round 39 of the league tournament, at the City Ground stadium. The Forest fans sang and cheered non-stop from the beginning of the game, cheering for the team without a moment's rest. This home atmosphere that made the enemy tremble naturally frightened their opponent, Crewe. Crewe, ranked in the middle and lower reaches of the league tournament, did not even have the will to resist and surrendered. Nottingham Forest defeated Crewe 2: 0. At the same time, from another venue, there was a sound that made the Forest fans jump in joy — Wigan Athletic could not withstand the pressure that the Forest team gave them and lost to Watford 0: 1 in the away game!
In the 39th round of the league tournament, Wigan Athletic became the first team that could not withstand the storm of counterattacks launched by Nottingham Forest.
At this time, the surging Forest team had already attracted the attention of all the teams at the top of the rankings. Who would be the second team to be pulled down by the Forest team?
After the 39th round, West Ham United defeated Gillingham United at home. They were ranked fifth after 63 minutes, while the Forest team with 62 points replaced Wigan Athletic with 61 points and ranked last in the first group. Sixth place in the league tournament! This was a very tempting ranking. It meant that as long as the Forest team maintained this ranking until the end of the season, they would be eligible to participate in the promotion play-offs.
At this point, Tang En had to consider again. Should he set the team's goal to maintain this ranking in the following games? Or should he take advantage of the situation to pursue and attack in one go, winning as much as he could and advancing as much as he could?
This put him in a dilemma.
At the same time, there was another problem that always troubled him. While the consecutive victories were worth being happy about, there was also a hidden worry behind it — the excellent results imperceptibly increased the psychological pressure on the players. Before every game, they would think of "we must not lose." One or two games with this mentality would help them to play well. But if it was like this every game, it would also lead to the team's mental breakdown …
"Victory" was the team's belief, but also their curse. How to deal with this problem was Tang En's biggest headache.
After all the games in March were over, Nottingham Forest's manager, Tony Twain, was named the Best Manager of the Month in League One for maintaining a winning streak in the league tournament. Eastwood was also named the Best Player.
This was not a good sign. So when Tang En received the award — a bottle of champagne — he could not even smile. The huge pressure in his heart was turning into a thick dark cloud, faintly pressing down on his heart.
Giving him this award at this time was not encouraging him, but cursing him: the Best Player of the Month in the league tournament would definitely lose the next game!
As expected. In the 40th round of the league tournament on April 3rd, Forest lost to Sheffield United in an away game. Even though Tang En did not want to lose this game, everyone in the team performed badly. He could do nothing to save the situation from the manager's seat and could only helplessly accept the defeat. The only thing worth rejoicing about was that his away game was not ugly. It was a small 0: 1 loss, and the team did not show any signs of collapse.
At the press conference, Tang En shouldered all the responsibility for the loss. In front of the victor, Warnock, he was very low-key. He praised the strength of Sheffield United and admitted his tactical mistakes — even though those with discerning eyes could see that it was not a mistake that could lead to defeat — but he did not mention the players' terrible performance. He carefully protected these players, practically more than a hen incubating its eggs.
The players were very worried that Tang En, who had lost the game, would end the press conference and return to the locker room to give them a good scolding. Even they themselves knew that everyone's performance in this game was too poor!
Ever since Tony Twain took over Forest, the undefeated record that they had painstakingly maintained in the league tournament came to an end. Anyone in Tang En's shoes would feel displeased.
Naturally, Tang En was also unhappy. Looking at Warnock's smiling face that was full of wrinkles, he was extremely angry. Losing to this old man over and over again was not a small humiliation for the proud Tang En. But what could he do? He had used up all three substitutions and used all the methods he could think of, but he still lost. The game had already ended, and the final whistle had long been blown. Now that there was not even an echo, what use was there for him to be angry?
After putting up with the old man's nonstop boasting for five minutes with a dark face, the press conference finally came to an end.
Tang En and Warnock's fingers touched, treating it as if they had shaken hands. Then, ignoring the reporters around them, he turned around and left, heading for the locker room.
He was very clear about the current situation of the team. In fact, although they had lost the game, the situation was not as bad as he had originally estimated. This was the result of Walker contacting Brosnan through his phone after the game ended, and the reporter, Brosnan, told him the latest battle report.
Forest, who had lost the game, had accumulated 62 points and dropped to ninth place. However, they were only three points away from the team in fourth place. The teams in the top few places were very close. It could even be said that Tony Twain's team had lost at the most advantageous time.
Thinking of this, Tang En's mood improved a lot. Then, thinking again, he suddenly saw the light.
Wasn't he always worried that the team would be under too much pressure after a winning streak, leading to a collapse? Now it's all right, we've lost.
Pushing open the locker room door, Tang En found it very quiet, which he was not used to. He even thought that he had walked into the wrong room with his head lowered.
So, he backed out and closed the door again. Seeing the "AWAY" sign on the door — the away team's logo, he finally confirmed that he had not walked into the wrong room.
Opening the door again, Tang En suddenly could not help but laugh when he saw the group of players who were in a daze because of his action. "I thought I walked into the wrong room." He pointed to the door. "So, I closed the door to see what was written on it. Your silence was a little hard for me to accept. What's wrong with you guys? "
"We lost the game, Boss." The players felt that their manager was asking a question he already knew the answer to. This must be the prelude to a storm, so they rushed to admit their mistake.
Looking at this scene, Tang En shrugged. "Does anyone want to know why I thought I walked into the wrong room just now? Because I was thinking about a problem. Is anyone interested in what I was thinking? "
No one answered him, because everyone could not guess what their manager was planning. If they said the wrong thing, then the first drop of the storm would fall on their heads. No one wanted to be the unlucky one.
Seeing that no one answered his question, Tang En felt a little bored. He scratched his head. "I was thinking … we lost very well, and at the right time."
As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked.
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