The crushing defeat to Liverpool seemed to be just a small setback, because in the following fourth round of the EFL Cup, Nottingham Forest won the game with an absolute advantage. They eliminated League One (formerly League Two) team Colchester 4: 0 in an away game.
On November 14th, in the thirteenth round of the league tournament, Nottingham Forest beat Middlesbrough 2: 1 at home and maintained a clean sweep against McClaren.
From an outsider's point of view, the Forest team had no problems at all and was moving forward on the right path.
But on November 20th, in the fourteenth round of the league tournament, the Forest team lost 0: 1 to Tottenham Hotspur.
The bad luck was not over. On November 25th, at Villarreal's home stadium, El Madrigal, Nottingham Forest lost 0: 2 in the third round of the UEFA Cup group stage. In front of the Argentine attacking midfielder, Romain Riquelme, George Wood was like a child making his debut. He was completely helpless. Wood always felt awkward when defending against Riquelme. The Argentine's change of pace confused him. He did not know how to defend and was at a loss.
Later, Albertini went to help Wood and was unable to organize an attack. Nottingham Forest's four midfielders were restrained by Riquelme alone. After the game, the Spanish media gave Riquelme a high score of nine points, which he fully deserved. On the other hand, George Wood was given a low score of three points. The media's evaluation was that the young man did not know what he should do during the game. The Forest team's failure was directly related to his poor performance.
After the game, in the face of the reporters' overwhelming doubts about Wood, Tang En dismissed them with the words, "I never make any public comments about my players after the game."
To put it bluntly, if we win, it's fine if you want to hear good things from me. If I'm happy, you'll be happy too. But if we lose, I'm sorry, I'll close the locker room door and whisper to you if you criticize my players. Why should I tell this group of reporters?
※ ※ ※
On the day the game ended, the Forest team took an overnight flight back to prepare for the league tournament three days later.
On the plane back to England from Spain, Tang En paid special attention to Wood. The kid was quiet. He usually did not speak much. At this time, he was practically a mute.
Although they lost a UEFA Europa League group stage game, it was an away game after all, and the situation was not so serious that they could not appear in the group stage after losing this game. Their next match in the group stage was a home game against the weak Partizan Belgrade. They could advance as long as they tied.
Everyone knew this in their hearts, so the other players returned to normal after a short period of depression at the end of the game. Even the young players had a deeper understanding of football than George Wood. They had encountered failure more than once since they started training and learned how to deal with such situations. For a failure of this degree, there was no need to be sad and depressed for a few days. It would only take a few hours. After a good night's sleep, one would realize that nothing terrible had happened to their lives and the world.
They did their own things on the plane, chatting, listening to music, watching movies, sleeping … It was no different from after any away game.
Only an idiot like Wood was affected by his failure.
Tang En turned his head to look at him a few times, only to find that Wood had a straight face and a deep frown on his face. He had been wearing that expression ever since the final whistle blew. At that time, everyone was in a bad mood, and their expressions were similar. Now, it was only his that was different.
Tang En looked around, then got up from his seat and walked to Wood's seat. He patted Albertini on the shoulder. "Demetrio."
The Italian understood what his manager wanted to do. He got up and exchanged seats with Tang En. He sat next to the assistant manager, David Kerslake, while Tang En sat next to Wood.
Wood was completely immersed in his own space and did not notice that the person beside him had changed. Tang En woke him up. "George."
Wood turned his head to look at him.
"Did you call your mother?"
He nodded.
"Yeah …" Tang En adjusted his sitting position and rested his head on the back of the seat. He closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. "Did you guys talk about this game?"
He could not see Wood's expression or movements. After a while, he heard Wood's deep voice. "Yes."
"What did your mother say?"
"She said … I played well."
The corner of Tang En's mouth turned up into a smile. Sophia would never doubt her son's ability and would never speak ill of her son.
"You see, there are still people who praise you. What are you worried about with your brows furrowed? "
"Mother, she …"
"Are you trying to say that you think Mother is lying to you?" Tang En stopped Wood's words at the back of his throat.
Wood froze for a moment, then shook his head. "No."
Tang En opened his eyes with a smile. "George, how many years have you been playing football? Do you know how long that Argentinian has been playing? Your mother didn't lie to you. She said you played well because she knows you better than those brainless reporters. You played very normally in this game. We lost not because you played badly, but because Riquelme, that number 10, was too outstanding. The problem is that simple. "He shrugged and spread his hands.
Wood looked at Tang En and did not speak. Tang En completely understood what he meant. He nodded. "Yes, don't think of this so complicated. There are hundreds of thousands to millions of professional football players in this world. There are always strong players and weak players. Some were strong in the past and weak now. Some are weak now and strong in the future. Riquelme is strong now, and you're weak now … "
"But, I'm not resigned to it …" Wood suddenly interrupted Tang En's torrent of words.
Tang En, who was interrupted, was not unhappy at all. Instead, he looked at Wood and asked, "What did you say just now? I didn't hear it clearly."
"I said …" Wood gritted his teeth and said, "Even if he's better than me, I'm not resigned to losing to him."
Tang En opened his mouth and laughed silently. He realized that Wood was indeed worthy of being the person he valued. His temper and character were similar to his own in the past …
"I understand. I completely understand what you're thinking. But it's useless to just sit here and sulk if you're not resigned to losing to him. George, do you still remember the first time I went to the youth team to watch you play? "
Wood nodded. That day, he had tackled and broken Eastwood's leg. His performance could not have been any worse. He thought his path of earning money from football had ended there. He did not expect to be berated by the man in front of him in the locker room. It made him persevere and, in the end, rely on his own hard work to obtain a first team contract.
"Your performance in that match was really … unbearable to watch." Tang En shook his head as he recalled. "At that time, you had only received systematic training for slightly more than two months. You had no idea what to do on the field at all. You were like a fool."
In order not to disturb the others, Tang En lowered his voice and said, "Then … do you remember the FA Cup with Arsenal's youth team?"
"Then … do you remember the FA Youth Cup against Arsenal's youth team?"
Wood continued to nod.
"You successfully defended against the opponent's midfield core and made him suffer in front of you. Do you know the background of that kid who you stared at until he retreated again and again? "
This time, Wood shook his head.
"Half a year ago, he won the FIFA World Youth Championship and was the best player in that tournament. In other words, he was the best player in the world at that age. But he had no chance at all when you stared at him. "
Wood's expression did not change in the slightest in the face of Tang En's praise.
"Later on, you got the chance to represent Forest's first team. Thinking back to that match, I still remember your debut. It left a deep impression and was flawless." Tang En closed his eyes as he reveled in it. He was not exaggerating. When Ribéry achieved success in the English Premier League, he was not as excited as when he first watched Wood become famous. Because Tang En knew Ribéry would definitely succeed. Even if he was not in Forest, he would go to Marseille in a year's time. Two years later, he would become the best player in Ligue 1. Then, he would be brought by Domenech to the World Cup in Germany and become famous in one battle.
It was like watching a suspenseful movie. Everyone else was watching with relish. Only Tang En had long known the outcome, so he became a little bored.
George Wood was different. Tang En had never heard of this name before. There was no such person in the international football scene. He had let Wood enter the youth team for training in a moment of soft-heartedness. He did not know if the kid would be able to make a name for himself in the end. It was precisely because he did not know the future that he was in such suspense. When Tang En saw the dazzling George Wood in the match between Forest and Reading, a huge sense of achievement instantly filled his heart. It was almost comparable to the feeling of lifting the EFL Cup with his own hands later on.
This was a true player who did not rely on his prehistoric memories to take advantage of the situation and nurture him. In a sense, George Wood's success represented Tony Twain's success.
(To be continued. If you want to know what happened next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support the original reading!)
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