The 42nd round of the English League First Division was over. Nottingham Forest was in third place, four points behind second-placed West Bromwich Albion, and there were still four rounds of the league tournament.
In the 43rd round of the league tournament, Nottingham Forest faced Millwall at home. It was a match that made the whole team's blood boil. Tang En did not have to worry too much about the result. Their rival, West Bromwich Albion, headed north to face fifth-placed Sunderland in an away game. In Tang En's plan, this match was the first chance to narrow the points gap with West Bromwich Albion. He hoped that Sunderland, playing at home, could create some trouble for the opponent.
In the 44th round, Nottingham Forest faced Ipswich Town, who was ranked one place behind them. The West Bromwich Albion people must be happy. The result they most wanted to see in this match must be a draw, or the Forest team losing to Ipswich Town. They had enough reason to believe that Ipswich Town would not let the Forest team off at home, because they also had the possibility of rushing to the second place in the league tournament in the last three rounds. While the third and fourth place teams were fighting each other, West Bromwich Albion was at home, waiting for the exhausted, to face the already relegated Bradford.
Tang En needed to worry about himself in this match, not the opponent. Only by taking down a strong opponent could they be qualified to talk about catching up with West Bromwich Albion.
The 45th round was the second to last round of the English League First Division. Nottingham Forest faced Wigan Athletic at home, and West Bromwich Albion faced Reading in an away game. In this round of the league tournament, it was estimated that there would be no change in the points between the two sides. If Sunderland could beat West Bromwich Albion in the 43rd round of the league tournament, then the difference between the two sides should be only one point.
In this way, the most crucial moment was the last round of the league tournament — the 46th round, where Nottingham Forest faced their direct rival, West Bromwich Albion at home!
If the Forest team's previous performance was stable, then this match would be decisive. As long as the Forest team beat West Bromwich Albion, they could achieve the greatest reversal of the season, rise to the second place in the league tournament, and qualify for direct promotion.
And if the Forest team did not perform well in the previous three rounds and lost points themselves, or if West Bromwich Albion played steadily and suppressed the Forest team by four points, then this match would be meaningless. At that time, Tang En would have to prepare for the play-offs.
When the Forest team rushed to third place, those who had asserted that it was impossible for the Forest team to return to the Premier League at the end of the season shut up. The more they looked down on the team and the manager, the better the team he led performed. Now that the Forest team's qualification to participate in the promotion play-offs could be said to be a done deal, except for a few diehards, most people tactfully did not mention the Forest team's prospects.
The attentive viewers had also noticed that in the recent episodes of "Match of the Day," Lineker had switched from a pen to … a razor!
Mark Lawrenson did not appear on the show, but he promised in his personal column on the BBC website that if he lost, he would definitely shave his beard on Match of the Day.
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Millwall. This was a name that would make the Forest players and Forest fans jealous at the mention of it. Originally, the two teams did not have much of a grudge, but because of the young fan, Gavin Bernard, who was killed in a clash between the fans, the two teams and their respective supporters seemed to have become enemies. When the Millwall fans used Gavin to provoke the Forest team in the EFL Cup quarterfinals, the Forest fans were waiting for this day — to welcome Millwall at the City Ground stadium and beat them up! To retaliate with a middle finger and "F * * k"! To let them know that Nottingham Forest was not to be trifled with! To let them know how serious the sin of blaspheming the dead was!
To prepare for this special match, Nottingham transferred a third of the city's police force, all of which were concentrated on the main roads, commercial streets, bus stations and the City Ground stadium. There were even police cars patrolling back and forth, using loudspeakers to remind the fans on both sides to remain calm and not cause trouble. But who cared?
From the moment the fans from both sides met, the curtains were drawn on the exchange of profanities.
"F * * k your calm! Millwall bastards, don't even think about leaving this city alive! "
"Nottingham country bumpkins, we're going to get back at you for the humiliation of the EFL Cup today! Don't even think about promoting the team you support to the Premier League! Today will be the day you die! "
"The cowards who lost to us 1: 7 still have the cheek to mention that match here? Did you go back to hug mommy and drink her milk? Ahaha! "
"Drink your mother's milk! I'll f * * k your whole family! "
Similar exchanges of words, separated by three layers of police officers, were constantly happening around the City Ground stadium. The fans' emotions had reached the tipping point, and they needed something to vent. Since they were not allowed to rush up and fight to their hearts' content, then there was only the match.
In the locker room, Tang En looked at the players who clenched their fists and shrugged. "I know it's a little difficult for me to ask you to calm down at this time. So, what I want to say is … "He waved his fists fiercely." … Go out and f * * k those bastards for me! Let them know that the outcome of angering us once is to be stepped on by us forever! F * * k them! For victory! F * * k them! For promotion! "
Poor Millwall. Just because their fans were not calm, they had to suffer again and again. In the City Ground stadium, they enjoyed the treatment that Forest had previously enjoyed at the Newden Stadium — as long as they had the ball, they would be greeted by overwhelming boos and curses. And when Forest had the ball, the Millwall fans wanted to use the same method to deal with Forest, but just as their boos started, they were drowned out by louder singing.
Such a terrifying home atmosphere made Millwall lose their fighting spirit, while the Forest players played with more and more vigor amidst the fans' cheers.
By the time the match ended, it was 3: 0! Nottingham Forest won cleanly and neatly, leaving people speechless. When the referee blew the final whistle, the entire City Ground stadium was surrounded by cheers. The Millwall fans were still cursing, but no one cared about them anymore.
Millwall's manager had changed from the incompetent Mr. Alan McReely to the semi-retired player-manager, Dennis Wise. At the press conference, he did not say much about the match, only admitting that Tang En's team was better than Millwall in every aspect and that they deserved to win. Millwall's goal was not this season. A loss was a loss.
Winning the game was something that made Tang En feel very good. However, at the same time, the news from Sunderland halved his joy. Although Sunderland, who was playing at home, caused some trouble for West Bromwich Albion, they did not persist to the end. West Bromwich Albion beat Sunderland 1: 0 in their away game and continued to lead Nottingham Forest by four points with 78 points.
Tang En had won a beautiful victory at home, and the opponent did not drop the ball. Now, the situation had become very disadvantageous for Forest. It was too difficult to hope that West Bromwich Albion would lose to Bradford, who was second from the bottom in the league in the next round. He did not want to place his hopes of promotion in the hands of strangers who had nothing to do with him.
There were still three rounds of the league tournament … No, to be precise, there were still two rounds. If West Bromwich Albion did not make any mistakes, then Forest's home game against West Bromwich Albion in the last round would be meaningless.
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As if to confirm Tang En's worries, Forest played exceptionally hard in the 44th round of the league tournament. On the other side, West Bromwich Albion established a two-goal lead at home early and easily maintained it until the end.
The outcome of the match between Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town was only decided at the last moment. Ashley Young's breakthrough ushered in a free kick for Forest. Eastwood, under great pressure, took the penalty. When he blasted the ball into the goal, the people around him were cheering, but Tang En was almost paralyzed on the ground. It was not only Eastwood who was under pressure, but also him, the manager.
He was unwilling to play in the play-offs because his team's stamina was almost at its limit. The EFL Cup in the middle of the season had consumed too much of their energy. Collymore's freedom at the beginning of the season had left the team with almost no systematic physical training. Now, the aftereffects had all erupted in the final stages of the league tournament. He did not dare to gamble on the play-offs. The team's morale was currently high, and they could temporarily put the problem of stamina to the back of their minds. Once the season ended, could Forest, who had broken this rhythm, still calmly deal with the play-offs?
Tang En did not have the slightest bit of confidence.
Therefore, the best way was to take advantage of the team's high fighting spirit and charge into the top two of the league tournament in one go to obtain the qualification for direct promotion to the English Premier League.
The longer it dragged on, the more trouble there would be. Who knew what would go wrong when the time came?
After all 44 rounds of the league tournament had ended, Nottingham Forest was still four points behind West Bromwich Town. There were still two rounds of games left. No matter how one looked at it, it was impossible for them to achieve the goal of direct promotion.
Just when Tang En was in a bad mood and feeling down, he received a call from Kenny Burns of the Forest Bar.
"Tony, if you feel too stressed, come to my bar for a few drinks. Tomorrow night at 7: 30, come to my bar for a drink. I think … there's someone who might really want to see you. "
"Who?"
"If I tell you, you might not come. So, if you want to know who it is, come and see for yourself! "Burns said with a smile. "Besides, you haven't come to my bar for a long time. Ever since you became the manager of Forest's First Team …"
"Uh … I'm very sorry, Kenny. The pressure of work has made me forget a lot of things. Alright, I'll come on time tomorrow. "
Burns was right. He did not feel as stressed as this season when he had taken over Forest midway through last season. That was because at that time, he was confused about his future and felt like muddling through. Now it was different. He had a clear goal, and he had to work hard towards it. The pressure … came with it.
(To be continued. If you wish to know what happened next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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