It was too far away to consider such an illusory matter. Since Wood could not play, Tang En decided to give up too much defense in the away game. He decided to start Albertini and Arteta in the middle of the midfield.
The other side had already scored two goals on their home ground. It was meaningless to go to an away game to defend their one-goal lead. It was better to simply let go of the offense and strive to score more than two away goals, so that they could offset Sporting Lisbon's away goals.
Therefore, for the past week, the Forest team had been practicing their offense with Arteta as the core of the offense and letting him organize the offense. Tang En also took the opportunity to realize the idea in his heart — to let Arteta take the opportunity to gradually establish his position as the core of the team's organization.
From the performance of the substitutes in the last few matches, Tang En firmly believed that the Arteta here was no different from the Arteta he knew. His ability was still there, and so was his talent. That meant he had the potential to be forged into the core of the organization. Twain had previously been worried that his arrival would change the abilities of the other players. Now, it seemed that most of them still maintained their usual standards.
※ ※ ※
After training in Nottingham for three days, the Forest team flew to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. There, they went through two days of adaptation training, familiarizing themselves with the venue, holding a press conference … and so on.
From the moment he stepped off the plane and set foot on Lisbon's soil, Tang En felt all kinds of hostility from the home ground. Who asked them to cripple Sporting Lisbon's main defensive midfielder in the last round and mock Pesero so mercilessly in the post-match press conference?
Now, they had to start their away trip under great pressure.
Two days before the game, Sporting Lisbon fans always came to the sidelines to harass the Forest team's training. So much so that Kerslake had to ask the Portuguese side to block the training ground.
On the day of the competition, the situation was even worse.
The Estadio Alvalade was packed. From the moment the Forest players entered the stadium, ear-piercing boos often rang out. In fact, most of the boos were directed at Forest's manager, Tony Twain.
Twain was no longer the football manager he was two years ago. It was not the first time he had been booed by the fans in the stadium. It was just a difference between the number of people and the number of people. There was nothing fancy about it. He had long since ignored it. Right now, his entire focus was on the match.
From the start of the match, the tactics that both sides insisted on in this match were very clear.
Because they had two away goals in hand and were only one goal behind. Sporting Lisbon did not play in a hurry. Instead, they used a defensive counterattack tactic at home that surprised the commentator.
Nottingham Forest also unexpectedly got into an attacking formation.
It was as if the two teams had switched home and away.
From the first second of the game, the Forest team took advantage of their kickoff to launch a fierce attack on Sporting Lisbon's hinterland.
But without Rochenbach, Sporting Lisbon turned defense into the task of the entire team. Everyone had to participate in defense. Their goal was to not concede a goal at home, and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack.
George Wood's red card was a chain reaction and Pesero knew it. The current Forest team did not dare to cling to that one-goal advantage in the away game. As long as Sporting Lisbon scored a goal, they would be finished. Therefore, the Forest team would definitely strive for goals in this game, the more the better.
Pesero took advantage of the other party's mentality. He first defended steadily and waited until the Forest team began to get impatient before suddenly launching a counterattack. With just one goal, they could defeat the Forest team.
Tony Twain practised his offence for a week, while José Pesero practised his defence for a week. The two of them could be considered to be facing each other.
By the end of the first half, the Forest team had no way to break the home team's goal despite using all their skills. Instead, it was Sporting Lisbon who defended bravely amidst the cheers of the home fans. Their frequent sneak attacks made the Forest team's rear defensive line jittery and Edwin van der Sar flustered.
After the halftime break, the Forest team continued to attack in the second half. But they also slowly began to focus on defense. Twain intended to use offense to suppress the opponent's offense to play a role that defense could also play.
The score remained in a stalemate. The Forest team's tide-like offense forced Sporting Lisbon to spend more energy on defense. Time ticked by. Just when everyone thought the Forest team would clinch a place in the top eight, Sporting Lisbon scored with four minutes left in the game and about to enter injury stoppage time.
It was not Sporting Lisbon's defensive counterattack that persisted for eighty-six minutes, but a corner kick.
The Forest team's defense loosened at the last moment. Matthew Upson did not follow his target. A moment of negligence caused irreparable results.
Sporting Lisbon led Nottingham by 1: 0! If this score remained until the end of the game, Sporting Lisbon would rely on away goals to eliminate Nottingham Forest.
Of course, the Forest team was unwilling. At the last moment, Twain also used the third substitution. He brought on the forward, Bendtner, and replaced the center back, Upson.
Including the three minutes of injury stoppage time, the Forest team actually only had Hiero as a back on the field for the last seven minutes. Leighton Baines and Chimbonda received Twain's instructions to forget about defense and attack with all their might.
The Forest team's formation became a very, very strange 1333 — one back and two full backs moved forward to become the midfielders, on the same line as Albertini.
Twain's all-out attack completely ignored defense. Even so, the Forest team did not get the result they wanted at Estadio Alvalade.
When the German referee blew the whistle to end the game, the cheers in Estadio Alvalade shook the heavens. The Sporting Lisbon players hugged each other to celebrate their hard-fought victory.
The Nottingham Forest players collapsed on the field, panting heavily and looking unwillingly at their jubilant opponents.
Twain did not feel dissatisfied, sad, or depressed about it. When Eastwood was seriously injured and sent to the hospital, when George Wood was sent off with a red card for retaliating, this result had already appeared in his mind.
Looking at the scene of their opponents celebrating their victory and listening to the cheers coming from the stands at Estadio Alvalade, each wave louder than the last.
Twain turned to David Kerslake beside him and said, "I think … you're right, David. I made a big mistake, a very, very big mistake … and now I've failed. "
(To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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