Although they had lost a Champions League group stage match, it did not affect Forest Team's morale. Returning to the league tournament, Forest Team defeated Portsmouth 2: 0 at the City Ground Stadium. Of the five rounds of the league tournament, other than the postponed third round, Forest Team had three wins and one loss, accumulating nine points. They were still in the top tier.
So far this season, the most surprising team was no longer Forest Team. No matter how well Tang En's team performed now, it could not surprise people, because they all knew that Forest Team had the ability.
Charlton's performance, on the other hand, surprised many people. After five rounds of the league tournament, Charlton, who had one game left, had four wins and 12 points, ranking second in the league tournament, right behind Chelsea.
Liverpool and Arsenal's performances were also surprising. These two traditionally strong teams were ranked outside the top eight after five rounds of the new season. Arsenal had one game left, two wins and two losses, and six points, while Liverpool had one game left, one win and two draws, and only five points, ranking 11th.
The impact of the Champions League tournament on strong teams competing in multiple tournaments was gradually becoming apparent. This was also a difficulty that Tang En needed to learn to deal with.
Forest Team was lucky. They had just lost to Real Madrid and then encountered a weak team in the league tournament, giving them time to catch their breath. Otherwise, the intense competition schedule that followed would certainly cause Forest Team to suffer.
August 19th, Round 5 of the league tournament.
August 22nd, Round 6 of the league tournament. Forest Team faced Everton at home. Moyes's team was not doing well recently. Tang En did not mind hitting them while they were down.
Next, August 25th, Round 7 of the league tournament. Forest Team faced Arsenal in an away game. This was also the highlight of this round's league tournament.
※ ※ ※
Tang En noticed that Anelka's attitude in recent training had been very positive. At first, he thought it was strange. But later, when he saw the competition schedule, he immediately understood.
August 25th, Round 7 of the league tournament. Nottingham Forest faced Arsenal in an away game.
Tang En did not know what Arsenal represented in Anelka's career. But he knew that it must have left a deep impression on Anelka.
Looking at Anelka's desperate expression on the training field, Tang En laughed in his heart. So money is not your only motivation to play football.
The gossipy English media naturally could not give up on this topic. What would happen when Gunner No. 9 returned to Highbury? The enmity between the teacher and the disciple, the fans' complicated feelings, and how would Anelka treat Arsenal? Who was taking revenge on whom?
As a result, a reporter asked this question during the team's weekly press conference. Tang En's answer was, "Of course, I'm looking forward to Anelka scoring. Which manager doesn't want their own forward to score? Of course, I know that Arsenal has a special meaning for Anelka. He really wants to score in this game, and I hope so too. But … I want you to pay attention to the opponent we are about to face — Everton … "
The reporters did not listen to Tang En. They focused on the feud between Arsenal and Anelka, as though Forest's opponent in the next round of the league tournament was not Everton, but Arsenal.
On August 22nd, the Forest team welcomed their opponent in the sixth round of the league tournament, Everton, at the City Ground stadium as scheduled.
It was no wonder that everyone ignored Everton. After the start of the new season, Everton was unable to get into form. The blow of losing the Champions League qualification at the last minute of last season was a little big for them. The large number of new players brought problems to the team's run-in, and the team was unable to form a fighting unit. Moyes was also helpless. He could only watch helplessly as the league tournament had just started. Everton was ranked third from the bottom with one win and three losses, falling into the relegation zone!
This terrible performance made the Forest fans think that there was no suspense in the game and that the Forest team would win easily, rubbing salt on Everton's wounds.
The reality was that the Forest team was met with fierce resistance from Everton on their home ground.
Perhaps it was because they had snatched their Champions League qualification last season, but Everton was especially enthusiastic when they saw the Forest team. They pressed forward like crazy, playing with no regard for their physical strength.
This was completely out of Tang En's expectations. He did not think that Everton's previous performance would be so tragic, but this game against the Forest team would be so enthusiastic.
Everton's frenzied pressing and snatching made the Forest players very uncomfortable. What was even more uncomfortable was their mentality.
The Forest players were flustered by Everton's snatching, and their formation was in disarray.
Eleven minutes into the game, Everton took advantage of one of the Forest players' mistakes and scored a goal to take the lead!
The City Ground stadium quietened down. This result was also unexpected to the fans: Everton, who had been thought to be a pushover, suddenly showed their might! And they even led us in an away game! This, this, this … What was going on?
"Moyes is using this method to tell the Forest team, who did not take them seriously before the game, that Everton is not to be trifled with! Just when everyone was talking about Arsenal and Anelka, Everton used a goal to pull everyone back from their dreams, telling them the cruel reality — Forest is now one goal behind! "
The commentator was right. Everton's goal brought the Forest players back to reality. After losing the goal, the Forest players calmed down instead. They were not anxious or impatient; they knew how to win this game.
In terms of strength, Everton could no longer compete with the Forest team for the entire season. Moyes knew this. Tang En's team was improving by leaps and bounds. But he hoped to be able to obtain a victory in a local battle, which could be considered as revenge for last season's loss.
That was what Moyes thought, but Tang En would not let him have his way.
Just before the end of the first half, the Forest team equalized the score. The goal was scored by Anelka. The Frenchman had already become the core forward of the Forest team. The team's offensive tactics were all formulated around him.
Tang En kept his word. Anelka kept scoring goals, so he became the core of the Forest team's offense.
And Anelka also used his stable goal scoring to repay Tang En's trust.
It looked like he and the manager were in the honeymoon phase.
The second half had just started when Anelka received a yellow card for a foul. It was actually an unnecessary foul. The opponent took the ball and made a horizontal move in the center circle. Anelka was so excited that he rushed up and hooked the Everton player, Tim Cahill, who had already kicked the ball out.
The referee showed Anelka a yellow card, but no one took it to heart. The probability of a forward receiving a yellow card was not high to begin with, and a yellow card would not affect his future performance.
In the second half, Moyes adjusted his tactics. He had the team's formation retreat, but the pressing and tackling remained the same. The Forest team's offense was not very smooth. Arteta was often surrounded and tackled by two Everton players alone, and he frequently lost the ball. Under such circumstances, Anelka had no choice but to withdraw from the penalty area and take the initiative to return to the midfield to ask for the ball.
The game's time ticked by, and the score was fixed at 1: 1. For the Everton team, which had suffered consecutive defeats, it was not unacceptable to force a draw against the Forest team in an away game. But for the ambitious Tang En, it was not a good thing to be forced into a draw by the Everton team, which was not doing well recently.
He had the team press forward and increase the intensity of their attacks.
Anelka became more and more active. His dribbling and speed were a big problem for Everton.
Time slowly approached the end of the match. The singing from the City Ground stands did not stop, still cheering for the team. The Forest team also did not give up on their attacks. Everton, on the other hand, completely stopped attacking and retreated to defend.
They were determined to hold on to this point.
Anelka would not let them do as they wished. Once he thought of the next match being against Arsenal, his body was filled with endless motivation. One goal was not enough to satisfy him. He wanted to score more goals in this match, to demonstrate his might to Arsenal, to Wenger, and to Arsenal's Vice-Chairman, Dane. He wanted to use more and more goals to declare:
I, Nicolas Anelka, am back! I'm back at Highbury again! This time … I'm here to score goals for you. I'm going to score lots and lots of goals!
※ ※ ※
"Anelka has the ball now, and he suddenly starts to move past Lee Carsley! He's facing the goal! "
There were loud cheers in the stands. The fans knew that Anelka was going to start dribbling the ball past people again. This was one of the things that the Forest fans were most looking forward to.
The Nigerian center-back, Joseph Yobo, did not dare to rashly make a move. He could only follow Anelka's advancing footsteps and try to block the angle of Anelka's shot. Then, he would wait for his other teammates to come up and form a siege.
Anelka saw through Yobo's thoughts. He was certainly not stupid enough to force himself into the encirclement, so he suddenly started again, intending to use his speed to force Yobo into action. Yobo did not dare to make a move because they were already in the penalty area.
Just as he brushed past Yobo like the wind, the Nigerian made a move …
Anelka saw the football roll over, but his feet were caught by something. He staggered and tumbled to the ground.
"A penalty kick!" The 20,000 or so Forest fans in the stands let out a deafening roar.
Tang En clenched his fists and jumped up from his seat.
The referee's whistle rang out.
(To be continued, if you wish to know what happens next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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