On February 9th, the 31st round of the EFL League, Nottingham Forest hosted Crystal Palace. Four minutes into the game, Forest's young captain, Michael Dawson, scored the first goal with a corner kick. The atmosphere in the City Ground stadium was ignited right from the start.
Then, in the 59th minute, Marlon Hailwood scored a goal to seal the victory. Crystal Palace only managed a face-saving goal in the 75th minute through Andrew Johnson.However, Crystal Palace did not manage to score. He later transferred to Everton after Crystal Palace failed to make it to the Premier League in the 0506 season and immediately became the Toffees' top striker. At one point, he had a high chance of competing for the Premier League's Golden Boot. But he had few chances against Dawson's defense in this game.
Nottingham Forest's 2: 1 win over Crystal Palace gave them two consecutive wins. Since the gap in the top half of the league table was not big, the Forest team's ranking jumped to sixth. They shared the points with Norwich City and once again pressed the other side under them with a goal difference advantage.
Sixth place in the league was a very morale-boosting ranking because according to the English Football Association's promotion and relegation rules, the first and second place in the league could be directly promoted to the Premier League. The third to sixth places were eligible to participate in the play-offs to determine the last place to be promoted to the Premier League.
Nottingham Forest's 32nd round match was postponed to April 16th, which gave the team a chance to rest and adjust. Tang En continued to implement his tactical idea of "control the ball less, pass the ball faster" in training. Everyone saw the results and no one had any objections.
On February 22nd, the 33rd round of the EFL League, Nottingham Forest's home game against Stoke City. The match had left a very deep impression on Tang En. It had also left a beautiful afternoon memory for the 31,000 home fans.
From the second the referee blew the kickoff whistle, the game completely fell into the Forest team's rhythm.
Marlon Hailwood became Forest's biggest contributor in the game and was awarded the Man of the Match award after the game. His performance throughout February was stable and he was also named the League's Player of the Month. In the 13th minute, Hailwood received Andy Reid's pass and poked the ball into Stoke City's goal, opening the prelude to Forest's massacre.
In the 24th and 28th minutes, Hailwood scored two consecutive goals in four minutes, completing his hat-trick of the game.
The City Ground stadium was filled with cheers for the 23-year-old English striker. Even Tang En did not expect the start of the match to go so smoothly. His rapid-fire attacks left Stoke befuddled and disoriented.
They thought that Harewood, who had scored a hat-trick, would take a break, but he scored again in the last minute of the first half!
When Harewood scored the goal, Tang En suddenly felt his seat shake. He turned his head and saw the substitutes' bench and the manager's seats all jump up. Walker was smiling foolishly at him.
"4: 0! Harewood was unstoppable. This was his seventh goal in three consecutive matches! The Forest team is also unstoppable. After experiencing the embarrassing situation of not winning for five rounds, they have come up with a big reversal and won three consecutive games! "
Stoke City had completely lost their will to fight. Just eight minutes into the second half, David Johansson added the icing on the cake and gave Forest a five-goal lead.
At this time, Tang En's opponent changed into an unfamiliar number and face. In fact, Tang En did not recognize anyone. The only difference was that he had more or less heard some of their names. This time, even the name of the person who came up was unfamiliar — Kris Commons.
This was perhaps the only problem that Stoke City had brought to the Forest team. Commons was very active on the flank after he came on. His breakthroughs and passes made Michael Dawson not dare to press forward and attack carelessly. On the left flank where Commons was the main attacking force, Forest's right back, Thompson, was unable to find his bearings due to his sudden attacks. If not for the fact that Stoke City's striker was no longer in the mood to continue fighting, perhaps they would have scored already.
Seeing the danger, Tang En made adjustments. He replaced Williams and put Kash, who had performed well against Wimbledon, on the field. He used Kash's outstanding attacks to suppress Commons' assists. Indeed, very soon, Commons had no choice but to give up on attacking and turn back to defend.
With the crisis averted, the match was back in the Forest team's control. There was no longer any suspense in the remaining time.
In the 85th minute, Ian Jess used a direct free kick to set the score at 6: 0 for the team. The City Ground descended into a frenzy.
The fans had rarely seen such a hearty match in the past few years. Tang En had helped them regain their previous pride and confidence. This match also pushed Stoke City into the abyss of relegation. After 33 rounds of matches, they only had 28 points and were ranked second from the bottom. Before this match, they had been fourth from the bottom. League One had stipulated that the bottom three teams in the league would be relegated to League Two.
After hugging and encouraging the players, Tang En stood at the side of the field. He was no longer as excited as he was after their first victory. He knew that three consecutive victories was just the beginning. It was far from the end.
The Stoke City players lowered their heads and left hurriedly. Tang En noticed the kid who was brought on in the second half, number 24 Commons. He bit his lips tightly and tears seemed to be welling up in his eyes. He did not know if this was the kid's first time representing the First Team. Perhaps this crushing defeat would leave an unforgettable memory in his mind. However, experiencing defeat might be a good thing for him.
This kid was not bad. Too bad he was not in Forest … Andy Reid lacked a good enough complement. If he was not in form or injured, who would start on the left side of Forest's midfield?
Entering March, the breath of spring became stronger. Nottingham Forest seemed to have woken up from the cold winter. New branches emerged from the tree trunks and sprouts sprouted on the branches. They continued to advance forward.
On the 1st of March, Forest faced Watford in an away game. Prior to this match, Watford was ranked eighth in the league. They were only three points behind Forest. After this match, Forest continued to consolidate their fifth place in the league, while Watford slipped to twelfth.
1: 0! Forest obtained a precious three points in an away game, although the process did not look very convincing. This was because the home team had the initiative from start to finish. It seemed to be a carbon copy of Forest's previous match against Stoke City. However, Tang En's challenge to the team before this match was to defend to the death and wait for an opportunity to counterattack. He succeeded. Andy Reid's long shot in the 68th minute silenced the Vicarage Road Stadium.
Forest only had a total of four shots in this match. Two of them hit within the goalpost and one scored. For the rest of the time, they were suppressed in their own half of the field, struggling to defend against the opponent's explosive attacks.
John Motson, who was in charge of broadcasting and commentating the match, mentioned this more than once during the match. "Is this the same Forest team that won three games in a row and swept Stoke City with six goals in the last round of the league tournament?"
After Reid's goal, Tang En's expression was solemn. Walker and Bowyer were also worried that the team's goal would be breached at any time. Fortunately, Dawson led the rear defensive line to resist all the attacks. Luck also helped a little. In the end, Forest, who was heavily criticized by Motson, won four games in a row.
No matter how pathetic they looked on the field, these people could relax on the way back to Nottingham.
On the 5th of March, it was another away game. The Forest team won a beautiful 4: 1 victory over Gillingham at Priestfield Stadium. Forest's performance in this match continued to surprise everyone. It was also an away game, but their performance in the previous match was like a different team. They raised the flag of attack from the start of the match and then scored in the 9th, 19th, 48th, and 52nd minutes respectively. The four goals were completed by four people. They were David Johnson, Marlon Hailwood, Andy Reid, and Gareth Williams.
The home team only scored a consolation goal in the 82nd minute.
Forest's morale was high after five consecutive wins. Even though their ranking had dropped to seventh because of the previous round and the other teams' excellent performance, it did not affect the mood of the Forest people at all. Now, everyone believed that the team could participate in the play-offs for promotion at the end of the season. If they were lucky, they might even be promoted directly to the Premier League.
Photos of Tang En directing the match and participating in the post-match press conference appeared many times in various newspapers. He was even named League One's Manager of the Month for February. Now, almost all of England knew that Forest had a Manager of the Year who had been enlightened by his own players.
This was Tang En's first individual honor. Standing in the technical area of the City Ground stadium with champagne in hand, he asked the reporters who came to interview him to take pictures of him.
He fulfilled his promise with the Evening Post's president and accepted their interview at the most appropriate time.
The person in charge of interviewing Tang En was the Evening Post's top reporter, James Robson. Other than a photojournalist, there was also an "acquaintance" of Tang En's — Pierce Brosnan, the fine-skinned and well-mannered intern reporter. Clearly, he was here to learn from Robson and accumulate experience. He was not the main character of this interview.
Other than the recent five consecutive wins, the biggest focus of the interview was on why the previous Tony Twain was so different from the current Tony Twain.
Tang En had long been prepared for this question, so he called Professor Constantine, who had not appeared for some time, to the City Ground stadium in advance. The few of them sat in the technical area and listened to the old man, who was rather famous in the British academic world, speak with fervor and assurance. He talked about Tang En from mysterious rumors.
James Robson and the others listened to many interesting stories, some from India, some from America, some from Spain, and even some faraway place in Africa. But they did not get the best answer to "what caused such a big change in Tony Twain?" In the end, the reporter could only attribute everything to "mysterious natural phenomena that science is currently unable to explain" and "that accidental collision."
Tang En watched as the other party recorded all of this in a small notebook. He was very satisfied. Back then, he had gone to find Constantine to guard against this move. It was just that he did not expect the person he found to be an authority whose words carried so much weight. Just now, when he introduced Constantine to the three reporters, Tang En knew from the way they looked at the old man.
The interview was very successful, and Tang En was also satisfied. Recently, there had been a series of happy events. The chairman was also very happy with the team's performance and repeatedly promised him that he would still be the team's manager next season. Tang En was even more determined to become a football manager.
After sending off the three reporters, Tang En and Constantine returned to the field.
Tang En stood on the side of the grassy field and looked at the empty red stands around him. Three cleaners were cleaning the stands, and in the distance, there were turf maintenance workers trimming the turf to keep it flat. They were preparing for the next round of the league tournament, where the Forest team would face Grimsby Town at home.
The sun was nice, and it felt warm when it shone on their bodies.
"Professor. Do you know? "
"Yes?"
"My previous wish … was just to be a youth team manager, like Paul, and to nurture young players as an interest."
The old professor sat in the technical area behind Tang En and crossed his legs, feeling the taste of being a manager.
"Some people will never find out what they are really good at, what they really like to do, and what they should really do until they die. I'm much luckier than those people. " Tang En turned around and looked at Constantine's look, who was looking around, and asked with a smile, "How do you feel?"
"Ah … the view isn't as good as it is up there …" Constantine shrugged. "I don't quite understand why I can see the whole situation from here. For the previous few games, I sat in the box, and there were places I couldn't see."
"In fact, there will be blind spots no matter what if you use your eyes to see." Tang En pointed to his head. "The manager's view of the whole situation is here. If you're smart enough, there are no blind spots here. It's just like how you put all those tedious data and formulas in your head. "
Constantine narrowed his eyes and looked at Tang En standing under the sun for a while, then nodded. "Tony, you're indeed the most suitable person to sit in this position." He stood up and gave up the manager's seat.
Looking at the few rows of seats in front of him, Tang En smiled. "That's right. I like this position. I was born to sit here. "
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