The next day, Tang En led the team to an away game.
It was already the 36th round of the English League Championship. Because they lost the last game, the Forest team had fallen to seventh place. However, they were only four points away from third place. The situation was not at its end yet. The media's scolding was still ringing in their ears, but Tang En turned a deaf ear to it. However, contrary to himself, he would even read the evaluation of the Forest team from the day's newspaper to the players after training. Of course, he only picked out the bad ones.
Walker did not understand. Tang En told him that he would know before the game.
Brighton was their opponent for this game. Before this, the team was ranked fourth from the bottom of the league, only one point away from the relegation zone. They urgently needed a victory.
Perhaps others would think that this was a tough battle for the Forest team. Challenging a team that needed to avoid relegation in an away game, even those powerhouse teams could not say that they would win. However, Tang En believed that his team could do it.
If everyone thought that Tang En had spent all his time on one woman these days, then they would be sorely mistaken. He had carefully studied the results of Brighton's previous 11 games. Three draws, four losses, and four wins. Moreover, the results of these three games were separated by time. It was rare for them to win several games consecutively, which showed that the team was very unstable. In the last round of the league tournament, they had won on their home ground. However, this did not mean that the team's home winning percentage was high. So far in the season, they had only won five of their 18 home games. They had scored 23 goals and conceded 28 goals.
No matter how one looked at it, Tang En did not believe that his team should lose to such a team. However, he had learned his lesson. He described Brighton as very scary, saying that away games were difficult to play and that the Forest team would face a strong challenge from Brighton. He had to be careful. In an interview, he said that Brighton would definitely achieve a satisfactory ranking at the end of the season. He also said that he had been a fan of Steve Coppell when he was young and that Brighton would definitely have a bright future under Coppell's leadership.
In reality? Tang En had never seen this person play a game. He did not even know that there was such a person in Manchester United's history. He was not a hardcore Manchester United fan. As for whether the previous Tony Twain had ever seen this person play football, it was unclear. Former England representative team and Manchester United star Steve Coppell retired due to injury in 1983 at the age of 28. He played for Manchester United during one of the darkest periods in Manchester United's history. At that time, Manchester United was still struggling in the Second Division. The winger made 396 appearances for Manchester United and scored 72 goals. He made 42 appearances for England and scored 7 goals. In his best moments, he was the only option for Manchester United and England on the right.
As for his achievements as a manager, his most glorious moment was when he led Crystal Palace to the 8990 FA Cup final in 1990, but they lost to his former club, Manchester United. The following season, he led Crystal Palace to third place in England's First Division (the highest league in England at the time), which was also the best result in Crystal Palace's history.
Although Manchester United could be regarded as the most successful team in English history after the "Reds", Liverpool, the results of the outstanding players from this excellent team who went out to manage were often terrible. Manchester United had a tradition of cultivating great players, but they did not have the soil to cultivate great managers … It was really strange. They had the greatest manager in English football in the past 20 years, Sir Alex Ferguson, but the manager's disciples were not very good. Even his assistant did not perform well when he coached the team alone. There was Brian Kidd, who was trusted by Sir Alex. In 1998, Kidd, who had assisted Sir Alex for seven years, tried to coach the team independently for the first time. But after 44 games, he was dismissed by the Blackburn Rovers executives. More recently, there was the Portuguese Queiroz. His coaching experience at Real Madrid was perhaps a season that he and the Real Madrid fans would never want to recall. Real Madrid's first five-game losing streak in the team's century-long history was born under his hands.
When Tang En transmigrated, Manchester United's former captain, Roy Keane, was coaching at Sunderland and had high hopes of being promoted to the Super League. He did not know if the Irishman could change this embarrassing history.
Tang En's bluff was to make Coppell and his team think that Forest was afraid of them. So, he had been very low-key from the start of the expedition. Whenever the media asked about their plans for the game, Tang En would say, "I'll be satisfied if we can get a point in such a tough away game." It was the complete opposite of the team's confidence when they won five games in a row.
Then, in the hotel room, Tang En read the reports from the local media in Brighton to Walker.
"Brighton is full of confidence. We can't lose a single point on our way to avoiding relegation!"
"And look at this — Coppell is not afraid of the Best Manager … Tsk tsk!"
Walker sat on the sofa and asked Tang En, "What do you think? Even the media in Nottingham think that we'll be in trouble for this game. "
"This is the situation I like the most, Des. I can't wait for the whole world to look down on us … Walker, now you know why I did that after training, right? " Tang En's "did that" was referring to reading bad news from the newspapers to the players. Every time the players heard the reporters and media badmouthing them, they would be filled with anger.
Walker smiled and nodded. "You're too bad, Tony."
"In this world, good people usually don't come to a good end." It was better to give the good person card to the opponent's manager. After defeating him, he could shake his hand and say, "You're really a good person, Manager Coppell." To strengthen his tone, he could even repeat the word "good person" until the other party's eyes brimmed with hot tears.
In Brighton, the Vesdan Stadium, which could hold 7,000 people, was filled to the brim. Brighton's home jerseys were blue and white. At first glance, Tang En thought that he had arrived at Argentina's home ground. It was just that there were fewer people, but the fans' momentum did not lose to the crazy South Americans at all.
"It's only 7,000 people. There's nothing to be afraid of." Amidst the deafening clamor, Tang En grumbled as he entered the locker room. The players were already ready and waiting for his orders.
"You've been looked down upon by them. They've belittled you. The whole world doesn't believe you can win." Tang En shook the newspaper in his hand. "Tell me, guys, what are you going to do?"
Dawson took the lead and stood up. He roared, "Go beat them!" Then, everyone stood up and roared.
"Very good …" Tang En, Walker, and Bowyer all laughed.
After 90 minutes, the final whistle of the game finally sounded. Pierce Brosnan, an intern reporter from the Nottingham Evening Post, who had followed the team to the away field for an interview, gently shook his head. "Another match with a satisfying result, but a thrilling and exciting process …"
The Brighton fans had a hundred reasons to be unhappy with the score of the game, because their team might have a hundred reasons to win the game. But in the end, it was the visiting team, Nottingham Forest, who took the three points.
1: 0. Forest won! David Johnson, the Jamaican, scored a follow-up shot in the 16th minute of the game, earning three points for the team.
Once they won, Tang En no longer had to act like a coward in front of the media. He behaved very arrogantly in the post-match press conference. His answers were few, and his enunciation was very unclear. It was so vague that many reporters could not hear him clearly even if they listened attentively. He was the classic example of someone who was cold and indifferent. Only when he answered Pierce Brosnan's question did he say a few more words.
Of the two managers, one was unwilling to cooperate, and the other was a little depressed because they had lost the game. Neither of them spoke much. The press conference ended hastily after only ten minutes. The media were a little dissatisfied, but what could they do? They did not want to say it, so they could not force them to say it.
When they said their goodbyes, Tang En suddenly went up to grab Coppell's hand. He could finally say the words that he had been preparing for two days.
"You're a good man. I wish you good luck, Mr. Coppell. Good man! "He shook the other party's hand hard. Having said that, he left the confused Steve Coppell behind, turned around, and disappeared from everyone's sight.
Forest, who had obtained the victory in the game, was once again a promoted team. If they could maintain this title until the end of the Premier League, they could guarantee the qualification for the promotion play-offs. For the rookie manager, Tony Tang En, who had only taken over midway through the Premier League, this was a result that could not be better. So, after the game, he said that Coppell was a good man. When he needed victory the most, when he needed the three points the most, this manager immediately handed it over with both hands. If he was not a good man, what was he?
And the result of the game also proved once again that playing well did not necessarily make one an excellent manager. There was no direct correlation between playing level and coaching level. At least at Old Trafford, there would never be an equal sign between a "famous" and a "famous manager."
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