Perhaps some teams would treat the UEFA Super Cup as the last important warm-up game before the season, but Tang En would not do so. Unlike the warm-up games like the Railway Cup and the Amsterdam Tournament, Tang En valued this championship title very much. Otherwise, he would not have fought such a big war of words with Liverpool before the game.
And Liverpool's Benítez would not think it was just a slightly more important warm-up game. He made the most detailed arrangements for the game.
The UEFA said it was "the opening show of the new season's European League."
But it turned into a civil war in England, which was somewhat boring. Sevilla fell short in the UEFA Europa League final and was reversed by Gerrard at the last minute, who scored a crucial goal.
Benítez's team seemed to be particularly good at reversals.
In the 2005 UEFA Champions League final, Liverpool reversed AC Milan's three-goal lead and picked up the title. It created the most classic reversal in the 50-year history of the UEFA Champions League final. In the 2006 FA Cup final, Gerrard used a shocking long shot to pierce West Ham United's goal at the last minute, equalizing the score and dragging the game into a penalty shootout. In the end, they won the penalty shootout and once again staged a shocking reversal, picking up the FA Cup title for the seventh time in history. In the 2007 UEFA Europa League final, Liverpool also reversed and defeated the defending champion, Sevilla, in a situation where they did not have the upper hand throughout the game.
Once or twice could be a coincidence, but a third time could not be used as a reason.
Tang En had studied these games. Liverpool seemed to be particularly good at playing against the wind. The more disadvantageous the situation was for them, the greater their rebound energy was. This was a point that had to be noted. He did not want his team to become the object of the opponent's miraculous reversal in the game. For him, that would be a great humiliation.
The game was held at Stade Louis II, a stadium that could accommodate 18,500 people. It would witness who would become the king of the kings of European football in the new season.
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The 18,500 seats in the stands were already full, all of them fans from England. As Liverpool's traditional color was red, and Nottingham Forest's representative color was also red, the stands of the stadium became a sea of red. As far as the eye could see, it was impossible to distinguish which Forest fans were Liverpool fans and which Forest fans were Liverpool fans.
They could only distinguish which team they supported from the songs.
Those who sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" were definitely Liverpool fans, and those who sang "The World in Our Hands" were undoubtedly Nottingham Forest fans.
The Stade Louis II was turned into the Golden Hall of Vienna by the English fans.
Both teams had finished their warm-up and entered the locker room to make their final preparations before the match. At this moment, the main characters of the stadium were the fans of both teams.
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The players sat in the locker room and listened to the manager making the final arrangements. Whether it was the Forest team's locker room or the Liverpool team's locker room, it was the same scene.
This was the first championship of the new season. No one wanted to hand it over to someone else.
Especially when it involved the feud between these two teams.
Who was the one who restricted Liverpool to the UEFA Europa League this season? Who made it so that Liverpool could only participate in the UEFA Europa League for three consecutive seasons? Just to fight for second place in the league tournament, they mercilessly kicked Liverpool into the abyss. What was the difference between second and third place in the league tournament? Do you want to die if you let Liverpool get fourth place in the league and be allowed to participate in the Champions League? There was no more boring excuse in the world than "because we want to get second place in the league tournament, so we're sorry." You might as well just say "for the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play."
Well, let's go back further. Thirty years ago, who snatched away the league title that belonged to Liverpool? And who knocked them out in the first round when Liverpool had the ambition to pick up the Champions League title for the third time in a row? Or was it that took the EFL Cup from the hands of the Liverpool people and defeated the arrogant "Red Army" Liverpool twice in a year?
Nottingham Forest! This feud between our two clubs is huge!
Even if we still can only participate in the UEFA Europa League this season, it's worth it to beat you! We want the world to know that you can get the Champions League title just because we can't participate!
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Tang En had thought about it for a long time over the past few days and finally decided to stick to the defensive counterattack that the Forest team was good at. If Liverpool was successfully angered by his psychological warfare, they would bombard at all costs, hoping to use more goals to fight back against his previous humiliation. Under such circumstances, defensive counterattack was undoubtedly the best weapon to deal with them.
But if that old fox, Benítez, did not fall for it and continued to slowly grind with the Forest team, then the defensive counterattack would not have any fatal loopholes that would lead to a goal loss. No matter what the situation was, a solid defense was never wrong.
When Tang En could not guess the other party's intentions, he decided to deal with it by remaining unchanged. You want to draw a circle for me that I can't jump out of? I'm not going to enter the circle to play with you!
The Arsenal manager, Wenger's coaching philosophy was that no matter who the opponent was, whether they were strong or weak, and no matter what the current situation was, Arsenal would only play their own football and would never be led by the opponent. Therefore, even though Arsenal's failures were sometimes very "Arsenal" — meaning that they had the upper hand in the game but could not win — they were still a powerful force in English football.
Tang En also decided to deal with Benítez the same way. Regardless of whether the other party was affected by his psychological warfare, he wanted the Forest team to stick to the way they were best at playing.
"First stabilize the defense, then wait for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack." Tang En's words could be memorized by many of the Forest team members. Seeing him raise his index finger, they knew what he was going to say.
However, no one expressed any impatience or mischievous expressions. Tang En had absolute authority in this locker room. Beckham was currently the biggest star player in the team. On his first day in the team, Tang En could punish him by making him run laps because he was late. It could be seen that there was no one in this world that Tang En did not dare to control.
Anelka's example was still alive and well in front of everyone. If anyone dared to go against Tang En, it would not be as simple as being sold off. You would first sit on the bench for a season until your popularity plummeted and your competitive form and level could not be guaranteed. Then, when you were forgotten, you would be sold off at a low price.
"If Liverpool comes up and attacks, that is the situation we want to see the most. But I don't think the possibility is high. Benítez will certainly not choose such a risky approach. He will slowly contend with us in the midfield. If that's the case, let him contend with us. Set pieces are the key of the key. I hope you can seize every set piece to create a threat to the opponent. " Tang En stood in front of the players and did his own analysis of what might happen in the game. The tactical board was blank. What he said did not need to be messed up on the whiteboard. That kind of work had already been done at the tactical meeting last night.
"In addition, the rear defensive line and midfield should not be pulled back too far. Don't be interrupted in the middle. Don't give the opponent too many opportunities for long shots."
Everyone nodded to show that they understood.
Liverpool was a team with the ability to shoot long shots. Their captain, Gerrard, had an outstanding long shot technique. In the FA Cup final and the UEFA Europa League final, his long shots had made outstanding achievements for the team. Another expert long shot was Liverpool's full back, Riise. In last season's FA Community Shield, Chelsea lost to Liverpool because they lost to Riise's long shot after a long-distance raid.
If they set up a defensive formation, Benítez would certainly get his players to step up their long shots. Maybe they would even increase the practice of long shots in the training a few days before the game.
So, they could not give the opponent space to lift their legs for long shots.
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On the other side, Benítez had already laid out the specific tactics for the game. He looked at the players on the team and suddenly wanted to say something other than tactics.
He had been at Liverpool for three seasons. Apart from the first season where they miraculously won the Champions League title, the next two seasons were not satisfactory. They did not play well in the league tournament, so they had to turn to the cup competitions. They won one FA Cup and one UEFA Europa League. Although there was a championship title every year, it was far from enough for the Liverpool fans. The "Reds" were England's number one powerhouse. Their goal was not something like the FA Cup or the UEFA Europa League every year.
It was either the league title or the Champions League title. At the very least, they had to qualify for next season's Champions League, right?
This season, the new American boss increased his investment and bought players everywhere. He himself used his advantage as a Spanish manager to attract a lot of Spanish players to join and continue to transform Liverpool. The transfer he was most proud of was persuading Torres to join the team.
In fact, it was a little difficult for Liverpool, who did not even qualify for the Champions League, to buy Torres. But Benítez's identity as a Spanish manager played a key role. He personally flew to Madrid to find Torres and had a long talk with him. He told him his grand plan and let him know that there was still hope for him to join Liverpool.
At the same time, Torres was deeply disappointed with Atlético Madrid this season. He had long wanted to leave the team with no future. In particular, Atlético Madrid did not hesitate to throw the game at home to Barcelona in order to prevent Real Madrid from winning the title. The most hardworking player in that game was Torres, but he could not do anything alone. It was this game that made him realize that there was no future to speak of in a team like Atlético Madrid.
Benítez's appearance made him decide to take a gamble. Many Spanish players did not fare well after they went abroad. The most famous example was former Valencia midfielder Mendieta. This had something to do with Spanish players not adapting to the style of football in other countries' leagues.
Liverpool was different. First of all, the team's manager was Spanish, so there were a lot of Spanish players in the team. Torres could save the trouble of adapting to the team and the language barrier. Playing under a manager who understood the Spanish players was obviously better than going to a team that was completely unfamiliar to the manager and teammates.
Therefore, Torres chose Liverpool, who did not even qualify for the Champions League, rather than the Serie A giants like AC Milan and Juventus.
With Torres's addition, Benítez was confident that he could set off a red storm in the Premier League this season and return Liverpool to the top of English football.
Of course, Benítez must have never heard of the Chinese saying, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." But he also knew how important a good start was for Liverpool now.
He came back from his contemplation and saw that the players were preparing for the game. The locker room was not as full of music and laughter as it used to be. It seemed that the players, like himself, knew the significance of this game.
He was not good at instigating like Tony Twain. Every main club had its own strengths and weaknesses. It was said that Twain was not good at training, which was handled by his assistant manager. But Twain's emotional mobilization was absolutely top-notch.
Benítez looked at his players. Fortunately, this game did not require him to make any passionate speeches.
"Remember the last game of last season?" Benítez asked with a calm expression. "For me, it was a disgrace."
He did not want to represent the entire Liverpool team because he was not qualified to represent. No one was qualified to represent anyone. But he knew that the Liverpool players thought the same as he did. In the last minute of the last game of last season, the Champions League qualification that was in their hands was gone. Could the enemy, Nottingham Forest, understand the huge drop in their mood?
No, they couldn't. So, we'll let them experience that sense of loss in today's game.
Didn't that egomaniac, Tony Twain, claim before the game that Nottingham Forest would definitely win? Since he made such a boast, then let him lose face in front of all Europeans.
"I don't want any other result than victory." He inadvertently uttered the famous Twain quote that often appeared in the newspapers.
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"Other than victory, I don't f * * king accept any other result!" Twain waved his arm down and said the "unharmonious" version of the sentence.
"I believe you all remember the last game of last season? We deprived Liverpool of this season's Champions League qualification in order to win. They were very disappointed and angry. Of course, I understand their anger and disappointment, as well as their desire to take revenge. I bet the Liverpool players' minds are full of thoughts of defeating us in the Super Cup and completing their revenge. Anyone can be dissatisfied with this. If we lose the qualification to participate in the Champions League, I will also teach the people on the other side a good lesson. "Tang En put his hand in front of his neck and drew a line, causing the team members to laugh.
"In fact, this can't be helped. We're a professional team, not philanthropists. If we want to win, the opponent can only accept defeat. No one wants to be a loser. I don't want to, and you certainly don't want to. For example, Liverpool wants us to be a loser in this game, but we can't let them get what they want. I know there are players in the team who just joined the team this summer, so you have to understand and accept my set of football concepts. Nottingham Forest has a lot of enemies in English football and European football. These enemies only appeared after I became the manager of this team. Since you chose to join the Forest team, you have to be aware that we are not welcome in many places. Listen to the boos outside. If we go to Anfield, it will only be louder. George has the right to speak on this point. "Twain pointed at Wood, and everyone laughed even more happily. That's right. Every time Wood went to an away game, he would be booed from start to finish by the opposing fans. If his psychological quality was not strong enough, his legs would turn to jelly, not to mention the game.
"I said so much just to let you understand. Liverpool certainly has a reason to seek revenge on us, but whether they can get what they want is not up to them. There are countless teams who want to find us for revenge, but they have never succeeded. This time is no exception. "
Twain said it confidently. He did not say it deliberately to reassure the players. The current Twain was not the rookie who had just come out. The current Nottingham Forest team was also not the Nottingham Forest team that could be swept by Liverpool 4: 1.
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