When the entire Nottingham Forest team flew back to London from Lisbon, the smiles on the players' faces had yet to appear. It was also an away defeat, but it was completely different from an away defeat to Villarreal CF. Losing to Villarreal CF, no matter what, they knew it would not prevent the team from advancing from the group stage. So, after one night, the players quickly regained their usual liveliness, chatting and laughing on the plane.
It was different this time.
Losing to Sporting Lisbon meant that they had completely lost this season's UEFA Europa League. There was no hope for this season's championship. So, no one could laugh on the plane.
There were many young people in the Forest team. Some of them were participating in a top league tournament for the first time, their first time participating in a European competition. There was an advantage to such a team — they would be deeply impressed by a defeat. They would not laugh and take it lightly. Such a defeat would continue to affect them in the future.
Tang En still kept a straight face. He was different from the players. It was not entirely because they had lost a game or a UEFA Europa League, but because he felt stupid. A little downwind had made him complacent, and he did not know what to do. If they wanted to win the UEFA Europa League title, they should look at the current strength of the team and themselves. Now that he thought about it, he felt how ridiculous he had been bragging in front of Dunn. He did not know if Dunn thought so too.
In his view, it was not that the players did not do well, but that he, as the manager, was looking in the wrong direction. He did not know the immensity of heaven and earth.
Tang En was in a bad mood, so he did not want to talk to anyone. Kerslake looked at him several times, wanting to say something but hesitating. In the end, he could only sigh and say nothing.
The team flew back to England in silence, back to Nottingham.
Their European competitions for this season were all over.
※ ※ ※
When the team arrived in Nottingham, Tang En announced the dissolution of the team on the spot. The team would take half a day off and resume training the next morning. Although there was a league game in three days, Tang En was not in a hurry to immediately gather the team for training. After a big battle, he wanted the players to rest a little longer and recover their strength.
Of course, this was one reason. The other reason was that Tang En also needed to think carefully about where the Forest team would go for the rest of the season.
In the past, when Tang En thought about such things, he would go back to the bar and think while drinking. Later, when Tang En came, he had someone to talk to, and was more willing to discuss it with Dunn at home.
This time was no exception.
Dunn quietly listened to Tang En's doubts, then asked, "How many points does Forest have now?"
"Forty-seven, Liverpool forty-four." Tang En remembered these statistics very clearly. "But they have one less match."
Dunn nodded. He was much more talkative now than when he first arrived in England. Tang En was very pleased that he could change a person, even if it was just a little. "What about Everton?"
"Fifty-one points, four points behind us. The third place in the league is Arsenal with 61 points, which is also 10 points behind Everton. "
"The top four teams in the league tournament qualify for the Champions League," Dunn said. "A gap of four points shouldn't be too much for you, right?"
Tang En lowered his head and thought for a moment, then nodded. "I understand. The next nine rounds of the league tournament are between us and Liverpool and Everton. "
"Don't forget Charlton, Middlesbrough …" Dunn reminded him.
Twain waved his hand. "They … are nothing to me."
Donna grinned.
Tang En stared at him strangely. "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing." Dunn shook his head, the smile on his face gone. But Tang En did not let it go, continuing to stare at his face. Finally, Dunn raised his hands in surrender. "I was just thinking that you just lost an important match, and now you're full of confidence …"
Hearing Dunn say so, Tang En scratched his head. "I thought about it for a long time on the plane … No, to be exact, I thought about it for a long time on the hotel bed after we lost the match. You were right back then, Dunn. But you didn't continue to persuade me. You wanted me to stumble, didn't you? "
Dunn's lips twitched, but he still did not say anything.
"Now that I think about it, I was very stupid back then. Fortunately, we lost early. If we had lost in the semi-finals, I would have been empty-handed this season. " Tang En sat at the dining table, looking at the cutlery in his hands. The silver metal gleamed under the lights. Then he raised his head and found Dunn looking at him. He laughed self-deprecatingly. "What's the saying again? It's never too late to mend the pen after the sheep are lost. "
Dunn nodded to show he understood, then shook his head. "There's one thing you're right about. Football can't be planned. "
※ ※ ※
Tang En tried his best to appear confident, but in the following Round 30 of the league tournament, the physically and mentally exhausted Forest team was completely out of form. They lost 0: 2 to Tottenham Hotspur. He lost a great opportunity to sit back and reap the benefits of a third party.
In this round, Tony Twain's two competitors engaged in a direct confrontation. The Liverpool derby began at Anfield stadium.
Regardless of the results and rankings of these two teams in the league tournament, those things had no value in the Liverpool derby.
After 90 minutes of intense fighting, Benítez's Red Team defeated Moyes's Everton.
Having sold Gravesen, Everton, who had not had much reinforcements during the winter, was no match for Liverpool in their away game. They were beaten 0: 2 in the first half. In the second half, Everton launched a frenzied counterattack. Perhaps they no longer cared about the fierceness of this game and whether it would affect the entire season. For the derby opponents, this game was far more important than a season's league tournament.
Red and blue were the two most traditional colors in English football. These two colors could be regarded as arch-enemies in almost any city, such as Manchester United in red and Manchester City in blue, Arsenal in red and Chelsea in blue, Liverpool in red and Everton in blue.
Despite Liverpool Football Club's glorious results, in reality, in the city of Liverpool, Everton's history was even older than Liverpool Football Club. Everton was naturally unwilling to lose to Liverpool, even if it was an away game.
In the second half, Everton launched a frenzied counterattack that even the Liverpool people felt a little overwhelmed. They scored a goal in the middle of the game, but their luck was a little bad. At the last moment, their shot hit the crossbar and bounced out.
When the referee blew the final whistle, the score on the big electronic screen was fixed at 2: 1. Liverpool won at home.
In this way, the point gap between the Forest team and Everton did not change. Liverpool caught up and shared the same score as the Forest team with forty-seven points. Then they relied on a narrow goal difference to overwhelm the Forest team and rank fifth. The Forest team fell to sixth.
Charlton, ranked seventh, had 43 points, four points behind Forest.
This was, indeed, a situation where three teams fought for a Champions League spot.
※ ※ ※
The game against Tottenham was a little earlier than Liverpool's derby. When the result of the Liverpool derby came out, Tang En was depressed. Because he knew he had lost a great opportunity. If Forest could beat Tottenham at home, then the gap between them and Everton would be only one point, and they would still maintain a three-point advantage over Liverpool. Even if Liverpool won in the make-up game, they would still have the same points. This might be crucial for the final few rounds of the sprint.
It was too late to say anything now. Another opportunity had escaped. Moreover, the team's form was really not good. There was no way to compete with Tottenham Hotspur, who were waiting for them to tire themselves out.
The loss in this game caused the media to start hyping up the theme of "the end of a young manager." The sports media was perhaps the most ruthless and utilitarian of all the media in the world. Because the hero was determined by victory and defeat in a sports competition. If you performed well, everyone would praise you. No matter how mushy the praise was, they could pin it on you. But if you lost, no matter how good your performance was, there would be a lot of people standing up to criticize you and disparaging you.
This was how cruel the world was — a win was a win, a loss was a loss, and a draw was the most inconspicuous result, and also the most meaningless.
Tang En had seen this kind of thing many times in the media two years ago. The winner was king and the loser was a bandit. When he became a manager and personally experienced these things, he no longer felt indignant about it. Instead, he could use the media to achieve some of his goals.
For example, this time.
Forest's elimination from the UEFA Europa League, two consecutive defeats in the league tournament, and three rounds without a win, these results were described by the media reporters as the Forest team's end.
Unexpectedly, Tang En did not write a rebuttal to these "bullsh * t" comments in his column.
There were twelve days before the next round of the league tournament, during which the national team matches would be held. For the big clubs, this was the time when the FIFA virus spread and spread. For a small club like Nottingham Forest, it was a good time to recuperate and strike after the enemy.
Compared to Liverpool and even Everton, the Forest team had pitifully few national footballers. Edwin van der Sar was still the main goalkeeper of the Netherlands national team. He would compete with the Netherlands in next year's World Cup qualifiers. Of the four main players in the rear defensive line, Hierro had long retired from the national team. Matthew Upson and Leighton Baines were not selected for the England national team. Not to mention Chimbonda, there was no place for him in the French national team.
(To be continued, if you want to know what happened next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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