He was the first to reach the locker room. George Wood had already showered and changed his clothes. He was sitting inside, looking up at the television broadcast.
Hearing someone come in, Wood glanced over and saw that it was Tang En. He did not look away but continued to look at the manager.
"If you were here, the score wouldn't be like this." Tang En shrugged. "But I'm not blaming you. I think your choice was understandable in that situation. I just hope you can be smarter next time, George. You can wait until the 89th minute to shove that bastard down. "
Wood froze for a moment, then nodded. "I'm sorry, boss …" He finally lowered his head and apologized to Tang En.
Twain grinned. He walked in and patted Wood on the shoulder. "Well, don't think about it. No one will blame you. I won't, and they won't either. "He pointed to the door. The noise outside was getting louder and closer. The players were coming back.
He knew why Wood did what he did, so he said he understood and did not blame him. For people like him who were not good at expressing their innermost feelings to others, they could only choose the most direct method, even if it might seem silly in the eyes of outsiders.
The first person to walk into the locker room was Ribéry. He was not surprised to see Wood and Tang En standing together. Instead, he gave Wood a thumbs up and shouted, "Well done, George!"
His voice attracted the attention of the people who came later. The other teammates returned to the locker room one after another and expressed the same opinion as Ribéry.
"That's right! I've f * cking hated that bastard for a long time! "Leighton Baines even swore.
As Tang En said, no one complained that Wood's foul was an impulsive act of heroism that disregarded the interests of the team. No one felt that it was Wood's fault that their lead had changed from two goals to one goal. Everyone praised Wood's actions for helping them vent their anger.
Eastwood was very popular in the team. Even though everyone had previously speculated whether Wood really had some irreconcilable conflict with Eastwood, it was really hard to believe those "rumors" after seeing his performance today.
Albertini and assistant manager David Kerslake were the last to enter the locker room. He looked at the situation in the locker room, then turned to ask Tang En, "Boss, how's Freddy?"
This question silenced everyone. The scene of Eastwood being sent directly to the hospital by ambulance was still fresh in their minds. As professional players, they were familiar with the feeling of being injured, and they knew in their hearts that this was definitely not a minor injury or illness.
Twain shook his head. "I don't know. There's no news from the hospital yet. Alright, our goal now is to play the match in front of us well. "He clapped his hands and gestured for everyone to turn their attention back. "The opponent took advantage of our confusion to recover a goal. We can't give them another chance like this in the second half. In the second half, we'll focus on defense. We'll first defend against the opponent's attacks, and then we'll wait for an opportunity to counterattack … "
※ ※ ※
The intermission passed very quickly. For those who sat in front of the TV and watched the commercials and waited for the second half, 15 minutes might be a very long time. But for Tony Twain, who was making last-minute adjustments in the locker room, another fifteen minutes was too little for him.
Eastwood's injury and George Wood's sending off completely disrupted his pre-match plans. He almost had to start all over again in the 15 minutes of the half-time interval. How to contain Nani was the key.
He could not continue to ignore Nani, but who would do it? This really became a problem.
Gunnarsson could not keep up with Nani's pace at all, and Albertini could not move as he sat in the middle. If Wood was there, then he could mark this lively young man. But not now …
In the end, Tang En decided not to use a man-to-man defense, but a zonal defense. Wherever Nani went, there would be heavy defense, mainly to prevent him from breaking through.
After the start of the second half, such a zonal defense brought some trouble for Nani. He always had to face two defenders. Even though Forest had one fewer player than Sporting Lisbon, their entire team returned to their own half of the field to defend. It was not difficult to achieve a numerical advantage in a local area.
Nani quickly found it difficult to find a breakthrough on the flank.
Tang En changed the position of Forest's midfield. Previously, it was a triangular position with two defensive midfielders and one offensive midfielder. After losing the goal, he found that such a combination was too weak in defense. Putting one of them in the offensive midfielder position was a waste of the already tight human resources. So, in the second half, he simply withdrew Ribéry to the right side.
The three midfielders stood parallel, with Ribéry on the left, Gunnarsson on the right, and Albertini in the middle. In this way, the problem of the weak defensive strength in the middle was solved, and they could also take care of the left and right sides. Whether Nani was on the left or right side, he would face a pincer defense from two Forest players (a full back and a side midfielder).
Seeing Nani struggling to cope with the situation, Tang En breathed a sigh of relief on the sidelines. Even though the opponent had obtained an away goal, it was better than losing the game.
Nani's appearance was something he had not expected at all. Was this kid Sporting Lisbon's secret weapon?
Just as Tang En breathed a sigh of relief, Forest lost the goal again …
Because Forest had placed most of their defensive energy on Nani, they had somewhat neglected the others.
This time, the person who seized the opportunity was Sporting Lisbon's other midfielder, Pedro Barbosa.
When Nani attracted too much of Forest's attention, he made use of a simple one-two with Sa Pinto in the midfield, dribbling the ball into his shooting range. Then, he shot a powerful long shot!
Edwin van der Sar did his best to save, but all he could do was rub against the ball. He could not completely change its trajectory, and the ball went into the net!
Seeing the ball fly into the goal, Forest's goalkeepers were stunned for a moment, as though they thought they had seen wrongly — in fact, the ball did not enter the goal. Instead, it went over the crossbar and hit the top of the net …
But reality was cruel. The referee's whistle and hand gestures clearly indicated that this was a valid goal!
In this silence, the cheers from the away fans' stands were particularly ear-piercing.
※ ※ ※
Tang En, who was sitting off the field, did not jump up from his seat and fly into a rage over this goal loss. He just suddenly waved his hand upward and punched the awning of the technical area.
Playing like this on their home ground was simply … f * cking terrible!
Kerslake held his head with both hands. Just like that, the two-goal lead became a 2: 2 draw! He was not resigned to it. No one would be resigned to 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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