"The arrogant Englishman."
After the game, the Portuguese media gave Tony Twain such a title. The Englishmen were happy. They liked the title and accepted it on Twain's behalf.
"I believe Benfica will remember Tony Twain, the 'arrogant Englishman,' for a long time."
Back in England, the hype about Bale continued. Twain decided to pay close attention but not interfere too much. He believed Bale knew what he should and should not do if he wanted to succeed. He understood Bale. This was a young player who liked to play with his brain. To be able to play with his brain on the field, he must know how to deal with the things that came after it outside the field.
Furthermore, he had a good father.
※ ※ ※
Due to the continuous fierce battles, the Forest team's fitness coach reminded Twain that the players' stamina was greatly depleted in a short period of time. Under such circumstances, injuries were easy to occur.
Twain was certainly aware of this.
So, in the 12th round of the English Premier League on November 5th, the Forest team fielded a second lineup. In the starting lineup, except for George Wood, the goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, and the striker Anelka, everyone else was rotated.
Wes Morgan and Matthew Upson formed the center back partnership. The left back was the young Gareth Bale, and the right back was the China player Sun Jihai. The left midfielder was Chris Commons, and the right midfielder was Darren Lennon, who was a year older than Gareth Bale. The two center midfielders were the captain Albertini and George Wood, and the strikers were Anelka and Bendtner.
Among them, Sun Jihai's starting lineup excited the Chinese media. The day before the game, Twain released the team's starting lineup in advance, and the Chinese media swarmed in.
Although it was the Forest team's away game, there were still many Chinese with yellow skin and black hair who rushed over.
With the Forest team's resurgence in the Champions League, it also attracted more and more attention from the East. Sun Jihai did not have many opportunities to play since he joined the team. Because the team's results were good, Twain had no need to change the stable starting lineup. So, Sun Jihai could only play as a substitute for Chimbonda.
This time, Sun Jihai's starting lineup stimulated the Chinese fans' attention to the Forest team. The Forest team's popularity in China rose steadily.
In fact, Tang En was also helpless. When he bought Sun Jihai, he had said that Sun Jihai would not be a substitute. But who would have thought that the team would play so well at the start of the season? He had no reason to change the team's main lineup. Therefore, they could only arrange for Sun Jihai to play in the domestic cup and some unimportant league matches. Fortunately, so far, Sun Jihai had not clashed with Tang En because of the lack of competition. He still trained hard every day, waiting for an opportunity. In addition, he had a good relationship with his other teammates. Everyone liked the Chinese man, and the atmosphere in the team was very good. Even Anelka, who was rumored to be very scary, did not find it difficult to get along with him. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he felt at ease staying in the Forest team.
The Forest team was challenging Birmingham City in an away game. The opponent was not strong. Twain had somewhat underestimated the enemy by sending such a lineup.
However, if he could know the result of the other league match in advance, he would definitely regret it. He would rather send all his main players to win this match.
The Forest team was the focus of the media in the previous round of the league tournament because it was a contest between the league's second place and the league's first place. In this round of the league tournament, the media that paid attention to them ran to Manchester. Apart from the supporters of the two teams, no one cared about the match between Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City.
Because in Manchester, there was a big battle going on.
It was a contest between Mourinho and Ferguson.
It was a match that was a hundred times more intense than the one between Chelsea and the Forest team. It was not spectacular, but it was definitely intense.
In the match, the referee showed a total of seven yellow cards. Manchester United had three players, and Chelsea had four players each. Alan Smith, Cristiano Ronaldo, Fletcher, Didier Drogba, Paulo Ferreira, William Gallas, and Makelele.
Manchester United took the lead in the 31st minute, with Fletcher scoring a goal. Following that, the game entered the stage where players on both sides kept getting booked for fouls.
Martin Taylor, who was in charge of the game's commentary, said, "… It's also a high-profile game, but the hatred between Chelsea and Manchester United is clearly much greater. In the match against the Forest team, both sides are still competing on the football. And in this game, the focus of the Chelsea and Manchester United players' competition is on the opponent's feet … "
"… There hasn't been a red card so far. The referee is really being lenient!"
Apart from the supporters of both teams, no one would think that the 1: 0 game was interesting. Manchester United had the last laugh in the game against Chelsea. They defended the dignity of the English Premier League's veteran strong team and former hegemon.
At the same time, in Birmingham City. The Forest team was dragged into a stalemate by the home team. They scored a goal, but they also scored a goal by their opponent. Both sides were 1: 1. No one had a way to threaten the opponent's goal.
The game ended in a draw.
Originally, Tang En was in a good mood. He had played an away game with an almost all-substitute lineup and had not lost yet. He was ready to properly praise the players in the locker room.
At that moment, Kerslake pulled out the headphones plugged in his ears with a dark face. At the same time, he was watching another game on the radio — Manchester United versus Chelsea.
"Chelsea lost," he told Tang En.
Hearing the news, Tang En was also stunned for a moment. Then, he turned around and cursed. If he had to use a word to describe his mood at that moment, it would be — regret.
Why didn't we win against Birmingham City in the away game?! Now that we've won, we'll be tied with Chelsea. We still have one less game! F * ck!
Kerslake looked at Tang En, who had turned his back to him, and clenched his fists tightly. "Tony?"
By the time Tang En turned back, he had already returned to normal. "It's nothing. I'm just a little regretful."
"We didn't expect it either …" Kerslake smiled bitterly.
"I have to call the Portuguese and question him. How could he lose!"
Hearing Tang En's angry words, Kerslake laughed out loud.
"Forget it. The game is over. There's no use saying anything. Back in the locker room, I still have to praise the players' performance. " Tang En pulled up the collar of his coat to resist the cold wind of Birmingham's night. Then, he walked to the home team's technical area and shook hands with the Birmingham manager, who was waiting there.
※ ※ ※
The Forest team did not win the game. From the looks of it now, they had lost a great opportunity to catch up to Chelsea. No one knew what impact it would have in the long run.
As Chelsea had lost to Manchester United and the Forest team had tied with Birmingham City, the difference between the two teams had shrunk to only two points. Chelsea had accumulated 28 points after 12 rounds of the league tournament, while the Forest team was close behind with 26 points after having played one less game.
The team ranked third in the league was something that many people did not expect, except for Tony Twain.
After Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, the team ranked third was called Wigan Athletic.
This newly promoted team, which had lost to Nottingham Forest in the first game of the league tournament, had subsequently achieved seven wins, two draws, and two losses in 12 rounds of the league tournament with the tenacity and indomitability unique to grassroots teams. Like the Forest team, they had played one less game. With 23 points, they dominated Manchester United, who had 21 points, and Arsenal, who had 20 points.
The media exclaimed that Wigan Athletic was replicating Nottingham Forest's "dark horse miracle" from last season.
Since Nottingham Forest was involved, the media pulled Tang En out again, wanting him to talk about his views on Wigan Athletic. Tang En did not give the media any face. He said, "Go look through what I said at the press conference after the first round of the league tournament this season, and then publish it again. I've already said what I needed to say two and a half months ago. I don't want to repeat myself now. "
He was still brooding over his failure to win against Birmingham City in an away game.
※ ※ ※
After the game against Birmingham City, the league tournament was suspended to make way for the national team tournament. Currently, the Forest team also had many players called up to their respective national teams. From a certain perspective, the strength of a team could be seen from the number of national team players in a team. Although the club's manager was always reluctant to have so many players under him go their separate ways on the day of the national team tournament.
The First Team training base in Wilford suddenly became empty.
Tang En still arrived at the training base early in the morning, but he did not go in.
"The team is not training today, Tony." Seeing Tang En standing at the door, Old Ian was a little puzzled.
Tang En turned to look at the old man and smiled. He suddenly felt that this scene was similar to when he first came here.
"I know, Ian. I'll wait for Evan here. "
"Mr. Chairman … Are you going somewhere to participate in some event?"
"Yes, it's a commercial promotion." Tang En was referring to the agreement between them and their partner company, SI. As the image spokesperson for the FM series of games, Tang En had to advertise for every FM game released by SI during the contract period. Today, they were going to participate in the promotional event for FM 06.
"Tony, you're a busy man now," Ian said with a smile.
(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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