As the second leg of the Champions League qualifier with Villarreal clashed with the third round of the English Premier League, Nottingham Forest's third round of the league tournament was postponed to December 14th. The Forest team now had two wins and six points, ranking in the first group.
Because they had qualified for the Champions League, the Forest team now seemed to have the vague feeling of a strong team.
Just when everyone thought so, two days later, on August 27th, the Forest team lost 0: 1 to Fulham in an away game.
The result was beyond everyone's expectations. After the game, the media described the game as "an upset." Before the game, no one thought the Forest team would lose. The betting companies' odds were all in favor of the Forest team. They did not expect the Forest team to lose in an away game to Fulham, who was ranked in the middle and lower reaches.
The result was unexpected not only because of the gap in strength between the two teams, but also because no one expected the Forest team, which had the upper hand after 90 minutes, to lose.
The Forest players were very active and worked very hard, but Fulham's iron bucket formation was very successful. After the Forest team did not score in the 75th minute, the players inevitably became impatient.
But Tang En knew what was going on.
This bunch of kids had won the Champions League qualification and were a little too excited. They were full of effort on the field, but they were not in the right place. Looking at them constantly running, stealing, and then making mistakes in the pass, stealing again, and then making mistakes in the pass … It was not surprising that they lost the game in the end.
Tang En did not lose his temper over the loss. He thought it was a good result. Sometimes it was necessary to lose a game. Losing at this time was better than losing at a crucial moment. He did not want his team to go undefeated for 38 consecutive rounds, win the championship, and then plummet in the second season. He did not care about things like records. For him, nothing was more important than results. If losing was beneficial to a better win, he was happy to see them lose.
That was the case now. If the team kept winning, he could not say if there would be some bad ideas within the team, but it would certainly have an impact that was not conducive to the team's continued progress. Although it was not intentional, losing to a weak team in the fourth round of the league tournament was just right — it could let the hot-headed kids recognize reality and calm down. Lest they suffer a heavier blow later on.
So, in the post-match press conference, Tang En said, "I think it's not a bad thing to lose occasionally."
Some people would think that he was being stubborn, but whether he was stubborn or not, Tang En would let them see in the future.
※ ※ ※
Tang En did not follow the team back to Nottingham. Instead, he and the club chairman, Evan Doughty, took a flight from London to Zurich, Switzerland, to participate in the draw ceremony for the new season's Champions League group stage held at the UEFA headquarters.
He had also participated in the UEFA Europa League draw, but that was on a completely different level from the UEFA Champions League draw. This could be seen as a gathering of the strongest managers in Europe, and it was a gathering that smelled of gunpowder …
The lot-drawing ceremony had not yet begun. Those managers who had arrived at the lot-drawing venue in advance and knew each other would gather together to chat. Tang En was still a newcomer to the European football scene. He did not know any managers here. Even though he arrived very early, there was no one to chat with him. So he and Evan sat quietly on the side as spectators.
Capello was far less serious than he was at the technical area. At this moment, he was also smiling and chatting with others. He looked rather refined with his glasses on.
Rijkaard had been riding the crest of success for the past two seasons. His team's popularity in the European football scene had soared. In the coaching circles, his popularity was also growing by leaps and bounds. There were quite a few people talking to him at this time. Tang En did a rough count. There would always be five people around him.
Ferguson's status in England was high, and it was the same in the European football scene. As the founder of the Manchester United era, his reputation in the coaching circles was not low. Of course, you would never find the Frenchman, Arsène Wenger, within five meters of where he was.
Arsenal's manager had not arrived yet.
"I thought you would go up and find a topic to talk about," Evan said, pointing to the coaches who were gathered in groups of threes and fours.
Tang En snorted. "I'm not interested." His team was one of the 32 participating teams. He was here to participate in the draw ceremony, not to have a tea party.
Evan laughed. "But I'm really happy that my team can appear on such an occasion. Two years ago, it was just a plan."
"In another two years, it will be these people who will take the initiative to talk to us," Tang En said, pointing to the crowd in the hall.
Tang En was not the only one who did not seem to fit in. The media outside the door suddenly became restless, flashing their cameras and accompanied by the screams and female voices of some onlookers.
Such a fanatical scene was rare at a gathering of coaches. Most of the supporters were calmer, only signing autographs or taking photos as a memento. There had never been such a high-pitched scream. Because most coaches did not have anything that could make women scream.
This was the treatment that superstar players received when they appeared.
Some of the coaches who were chatting next to them were attracted by the incident at the door. Even Evan got up and looked over. Tang En chuckled. "Stop looking. The one making such a grand appearance must be our opponent, Chelsea's manager, Mourinho."
He looked steadily forward. Everything that happened at the door had nothing to do with him.
Evan sat down. "Interesting. A manager is more popular and popular than a player."
As expected, the person who entered the door was Mourinho, dressed casually. He did not show any reaction to the welcome just now and walked in without any expression. He scanned the hall slightly at the door, not minding the gazes on him. He found an empty seat and sat down.
But …
Coincidentally, the empty seat he found was next to Tang En's seat. Mourinho only realized it when he walked over. He froze for a moment.
At such a close distance, it was too difficult for both sides to ignore each other.
Mourinho smiled and said, "Mr Twain, we meet so soon."
"Hello, Mr. Mourinho." Tang En also had to get up to greet him.
"Oh, I forgot to congratulate you for making it into the main competition of the Champions League." Mourinho extended his hand.
"Thank you." Tang En also extended his hand. Their hands touched and quickly separated.
"Mr. Tang En, I'm suddenly very interested. Do you think … we'll meet in the Champions League? " Originally, he thought that after the greetings, the two of them would sit down and not say anything more. He did not expect Mourinho to ask again.
"You mean the group drawing lots?" Tang En pretended to be confused.
"No, that's probably too low. The chances of teams in the same national league meeting the same group are too small. "
"Then I don't think we'll have a chance to meet."
Mourinho shrugged. "What a pity. That must be interesting. "Then he pulled out a chair and sat down.
The conversation between the two inexplicably started and inexplicably ended.
Tang En looked at Mourinho, who sat next to him doing nothing. No one took the initiative to come up and talk to the young manager who had been in the limelight for the past two years.
He remembered some of the comments and reports he had read about Mourinho before. Perhaps they were biased, but the Portuguese did not seem to have a good relationship with others …
He had just arrived in England in his first season, and he had almost offended all the managers in the English football circle. Perhaps some people were jealous of Mourinho's current achievements and did not want to come into contact with him. But no matter what the reason was, Mourinho and the current Tang En had something in common. In front of them was a lively crowd, and their surroundings were deserted.
The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, and the AC Milan manager, Carlo Ancelotti, came at the right time. The two men walked into the hall one after the other. Wenger saw Tang En and happily came up to greet him, but he turned a blind eye to Mourinho beside Tang En. The deep conflict between the two men was definitely not just a rumor.
After the two of them arrived, the lot-drawing ceremony was almost about to begin. The UEFA informed the coaches to enter the venue. After they took their seats, the media lined up at the back of the drawing ceremony hall and began to pay attention to the draw for the new season's Champions League group stage on the racks of cameras.
At the same time, the supporters of these teams around the world were also looking forward to the results of the draw. Because it was likely to affect the fate of the team they supported for a season.
Tang En did not do such a thing when he was a fan because he did not have a fixed team to support. But there were a lot of such people around him, following the emotions of the team they liked.
Because it was only the Champions League draw ceremony, there were no messy artistic performances. After the introduction of the 32 participating teams, it entered the most crucial step — the draw of lots.
Tang En could not remember what the specific groupings of the 05-06 UEFA Champions League were in his previous world. Anyway, he believed it would not be exactly the same as what he remembered. Villarreal had been replaced by Nottingham Forest. It would be strange if it was still the same.
(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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