Chen Jian and his two friends began their year-long training in the Nottingham Forest Football Club's youth training camp. What they could learn from this training was very interesting, but after all, they would only know the answer after a year.
North Wilford became lively all of a sudden. Hunan Television had a set-up team that had been filming. They would produce five episodes of the show, reflecting the daily life and training of the three lucky boys in Nottingham, England, to the domestic television audience. This was a popular type of entertainment program abroad — reality TV.
After a month of filming, they would leave. After a few days, no one would pay attention to them anymore. It was fine to watch five episodes of a repetitive life, but it was unbearable to watch it for a year.
At that time, the media that went to North Wilford would quickly decrease to the state it was before. Other than the local media in Nottingham, no one from other places would come here to pay attention to the three China boys. That was Tang En's original intention. He could not stop the initial swarm of China media from reporting on the three boys, but he could use a lot of cold methods to pour cold water on them and quickly cool their enthusiasm. Next, he would give the boys a quiet environment.
In fact, Tang En was also looking forward to what Chen Jian could achieve after a year.
※ ※ ※
The three visitors from China made the Nottingham Forest Football Club lively for a while. As Tang En had to lead the team to train and compete everywhere, Allan Adams had some cooperation with China before, so he had the most contact with the Chinese media. The Nottingham Forest Football Club took the opportunity to expand its influence in China. At this time, Allan and Evan began to seriously consider the plan to visit China next summer.
After all, Beckham's contract with the Forest team was only for two years. They had to take advantage of the time he was still with the Forest team to speed up the expansion of the market and make full use of his commercial appeal. Otherwise, when the two-year contract was up, wouldn't it be a waste to sign him for two years when he went to the United States?
Tang En signed Beckham because of his competitive value, while Allan considered his commercial value. It could really be considered as "seeking political power in his position."
※ ※ ※
While the three China boys were still struggling to adapt in Nottingham, Tang En, who came to England five years earlier than them, brought the team to Milan, Italy.
He thought that his team would be bombarded with a welcome from the Italian media.
Unexpectedly, the media that came to the airport to pick up the plane were all from the United Kingdom. There were very few Italian media. Other than La Gazzetta dello Sport, there were no other Italian media. Naturally, there was not a single television station.
Twain rolled his eyes and understood. He smiled.
Great, I was worried that I wouldn't have time to relax before the competition. Now it's all good. The host, the Italians, were so understanding …
The English media squeezed in, and Twain waved his hand. "I won't accept too many interviews before the game. If you have any questions, raise them at the press conference …"
The reporter from La Gazzetta dello Sport did not care so much. He shouted in English, "What are the chances of winning the game against AC Milan, sir?"
Tang En pretended not to hear and walked away. Some of the Forest players were stopped by the media for a brief interview, and the Italian reporter also joined in.
He found Grosso, who was also an Italian.
Grosso was gradually losing his main position in the Forest team. Tang En was dissatisfied with his inability to adapt to the pace of the English league, but in a game like the Champions League, his experience could still help the team. Especially when the Italian team played against AC Milan — he had played for Inter Milan for a season and was no stranger to the city's arch-rival — so he was brought to Milan by Tang En.
The Italian reporter went up to get close to Grosso and asked pointless questions such as whether he could play in tomorrow's game.
Grosso shook his head honestly. "The coach hasn't announced the starting list yet. I don't know if I can start …"
"Life in England doesn't seem to be going well?" The reporter asked, as if chatting.
Grosso was a star player after all. He still had some experience in dealing with the media. He became wary when he heard the question.
In any case, he was now a Nottingham Forest player and had to speak from the standpoint of Nottingham Forest. His current position in the Forest team was not very stable. On the one hand, he could not adapt to the pace of the Premier League, and on the other hand, he could not continue to play because of minor injuries and illnesses. Naturally, he could not adapt to the new league.
But he could not honestly nod and say yes. In that case, his "yes" might become "the team's general is dissatisfied with Tony Twain and bombards him in hopes of getting the main position" the next day.
Grosso was not stupid. He did want to get a stable position, but now he did not want to be used by the media as a weapon …
"It's okay. Everything's okay." Grosso prevaricated.
The Italian reporter was obviously not reconciled and continued to ask, "Does it mean there's still something not good?"
"That means it's fine. Everything's fine."
After spending some time with Tang En, a smarter person would learn a little of his tone of speech, which was perfect to deal with the media.
Grosso did not give the other party a chance to exploit the loophole. As he said so, he found a very suitable reason to bid farewell to the ill-intentioned reporter.
"It's time to board the bus." He pointed to the exit in front of him. Assistant manager David Kerslake stood at the door, with a red bus parked behind him.
The Italian reporter nodded helplessly. He still had not pried anything valuable out of Grosso's mouth … If he could not even get an advantage from his compatriot, then when it came to Tony Twain …
He scratched his head. It seemed that his question had been ignored without a word, which was considered a better treatment.
※ ※ ※
At the pre-match press conference, Tang En finally met the Italian reporters. If they did not come, there would be nothing to report. The media boss would not let them mess around.
Tang En did not make any aggressive remarks at the press conference. His speech looked normal — he simply evaluated their opponent and admitted that it was not a good thing to be forced into a draw at home, but he did not think the Forest team would bid farewell to this season's Champions League competition.
There was no smell of gunpowder. The smile on his face even made people feel that the feud between him and the Italian media had long been written off.
The atmosphere of the press conference was harmonious and friendly. He met Ancelotti and shook hands. The media wanted to stir up the feud between the two teams. They had already thought of headlines like "life and death battle," but there was no place for it to be used. Neither manager seemed to care much about the media's interference in the game.
"They want to provoke me and make me lose my cool. I won't fall for it," Tang En said to Dunn after he came down.
Yes, he could not lose his cool.
Nottingham Forest's coaching staff had already laid out the tactics to deal with AC Milan.
Analyzing the current situation, AC Milan, who had played 0: 0 in the away game, was bound to choose to attack at home, but it would not be an all-out attack. Ancelotti would not be so foolish as to gamble. But he would attack, that was for sure. Nottingham Forest needed to take advantage of that.
Everyone knew what Nottingham Forest was best at — defensive counterattack.
In the away game, in the famous San Siro stadium, would Nottingham Forest dare to surround AC Milan's penalty area and bombard indiscriminately like they did at home?
With Tony Twain's conservative style, he would definitely let the team play defensive counterattack firmly and wait for the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the basis of a solid defense.
Anyone who had studied the Forest team thoroughly over the past few years would think so.
So, Tang En refused to do so.
He let the team continue to attack wildly in the away game and strive to score first. The rest was in his hands.
"The age of their rear defensive line players is almost more than 200 years old. Ancelotti likes to believe in the experience of the veterans. We'll let him know how unreliable the bodies of the veterans are. Break through with speed and force. You're bullying them for turning slowly! Snatch in the front field. As long as the ball is at their feet, snatch it! We're more physically fit than them! We're younger than them! "
Tang En slammed his fist on the tactical board.
To this end, his starting lineup was full of youngsters — the strikers were Nicklas Bendtner and Arshavin, the midfielders were Ribéry, Lennon, van der Vaart, and George Wood, and the rear defensive line was Pepe, Piqué, Gareth Bale, and Rafinha. The oldest player in the starting lineup was the goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar.
Tang En's tactics were simple. There was no earth-shattering magic. It was to take advantage of their younger age, better stamina, and better physical qualities than AC Milan to break through AC Milan and at the same time catch the opponent off guard at the beginning of the game.
This tactic was risky, but it was better than clinging to a draw in the away game. In any case, a football game was a gamble. No matter how perfect the tactics were arranged before the game, it could produce changes that the coaches did not want to see in the first second of the game.
It might be a little complicated to put it this way. Simply put, plans could not keep up with changes.
Tang En decided to start with the ordinary people's habitual knowledge of the Forest team and launch an offensive from a new point of entry.
※ ※ ※
After the game started, the AC Milan players did not expect Nottingham Forest to choose such a crazy tactic in the away game — offense. It was not as simple as offense. In addition to offense, it was still offense!
"If our offense is not effective in 15 minutes, then …" Tang En did not continue. He shook his head. Gambling had to be a little exciting to be fun, right?
Nottingham Forest's offense was indeed fierce, but it had not yet caused AC Milan's old rear defensive line to collapse. Ancelotti was not an idiot. Just like the last time Tang En did not scheme against Fatty An at the City Ground stadium, his offense was parried by AC Milan at the San Siro stadium this time.
There were benefits to being old, too. For example, there was nothing to complain about his battle experience. Maldini's command was impeccable.
Fifteen minutes passed, and the score was still 0: 0.
"Tony, what's next?" Kerslake asked.
"Keep playing like this." Tang En looked at the field and answered without turning his head.
At the end of the first half, the score was still 0: 0.
During the halftime interval, Tang En did not criticize his players for not scoring in the first half. On the contrary, he encouraged the players' performance and told them that the second half was the same as the first. There were no special changes.
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. AC Milan clearly stepped up their offense to strive for a goal.
Ancelotti admitted that his team was stunned by Nottingham Forest's unexpected offensive in the first half and could not react. He spent the second half of the first half pondering. Then he found that although the Forest team's offense was fierce, it was like a tree without roots. In other words, it only looked fierce. An offense without a solid defense was just a product of a spurt of energy. If he could hold on to their offense, it would be very profitable.
Once he understood this, the first half was also over. During the halftime interval, Ancelotti told his team to be more proactive in the second half. If there was a chance to attack, they should boldly press forward and not be afraid of an empty defense. As long as AC Milan dared to press forward, Nottingham Forest's offense would have to withdraw and retreat. At that time, the defensive pressure on their side would naturally be reduced.
That was the case, so AC Milan stepped up their offense in the second half and used offense to suppress offense. The game was interesting to watch.
The two sides fought fiercely. Kaka performed brilliantly from time to time, and Ribéry, the new European Footballer of the Year, also gave it his all. There had been media reports that the game between the two teams was actually a continuation of the feud between the European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year — until now, there were still some people who felt it was unfair that Ribéry only won the FIFA World Player of the Year Silver Ball.
But after thirty minutes, the score was still 0: 0.
In fact, it was like two top masters fighting one-on-one with swords. The fight was brilliant and the sky changed color, making the audience cry out in satisfaction. But in reality, no one really hit the other.
Tang En sat in the technical area and did not get up. He did not cross his legs either. Instead, he tucked his chin in the palm of his left hand and rested his left elbow on his thigh. His eyes were fixed on the field. The television broadcast frequently gave him a close-up shot, but it was impossible to see what his expression was.
Ancelotti could not sit still. Twenty minutes into the second half, he began to get up from the technical area frequently and paced back and forth between the field and the technical area.
He could already see what Tang En wanted to do, but it was different from the time at the City Ground stadium. He could not change anything this time. First, he used up two substitutions, and they were all adjustments to the offense. Second, he could not make Maldini and the others in the rear defensive line ten years younger.
In the eightieth minute, the pace of the game on the field was still going fast because the Forest team had dragged it on. The neutral fans watched in front of the television and cheered, while the AC Milan fans who knew football were silent and frowned at the same time.
The AC Milan players could not run anymore.
On the other hand, Nottingham Forest came from the English Premier League, which had the fastest pace of the game. Their players were still full of energy. What was worse was that Tang En finally got up from the technical area. He decided to make a substitution. He replaced van der Vaart with Petrov, who was not very physically fit, and moved Ribéry to the middle.
Ancelotti's eyebrows jumped.
In the eighty-seventh minute, AC Milan's Italian defensive line collapsed.
Maldini could no longer withstand Nottingham Forest's repeated attacks from his side. Lennon crossed the ball from the flank, and Bendtner pressed on the former best left back in the world with a powerful header!
Dida pounced on the ball and let it go. Ribéry followed up and shot like a loach!
The people in the Nottingham Forest technical area and the substitutes' bench rushed out from their seats with their arms raised high.
Tang En and Kerslake hugged each other excitedly. They finally scored! The oppressive atmosphere that permeated above their heads was swept away. Even better, it was a last-minute goal. If AC Milan did not want to be eliminated, there was only one way — to score two goals in a row in the remaining six minutes! But it was not easy for the AC Milan players, who had followed the Forest team in a fast-paced, high-speed movement throughout the game.
Why did Tang En insist on attacking? It was to drag the aging AC Milan into a fast-paced battle and deplete their strength. Without the help of experience, AC Milan's goal would have been breached long ago and would not have to wait until now. But it was a good time, because there was not much time left for AC Milan.
After the game resumed, AC Milan desperately pressed on to attack, while the Forest team played the defensive counterattack they were best at. It left AC Milan at a loss.
In the end, at AC Milan's home ground at San Siro, Nottingham Forest defeated their opponent 1: 0 and eliminated the team that had been pinned high hopes with a total score of 1: 0 over two rounds.
The San Siro stadium was filled with a sense of loss. There were even tears on the faces of the AC Milan fans in the stands. They could not accept that the powerful AC Milan had stopped in the top 16. Their goal was to break into the final again, and then, no matter who their opponent was, they would eventually win the Champions League.
How could they stop here?
Tony Tang En celebrated the victory wildly on the sidelines. He was like a different person from his calmness during the game. Some AC Milan fans thought it was a provocation to them, and boos sounded sporadically from the Forest team's technical area.
But now, not many AC Milan people were interested in booing Tang En and his team. Failure was an unchangeable fact. They could only hope that the team's performance in the domestic arena could satisfy them. More fans began to leave the stadium in frustration.
At the post-match press conference, Tang En, who had won the game, did not continue to ridicule his opponent. Compared to his previous performance on the sidelines, he was now very calm and gentle.
Yes, it might be strange to use this word to describe Tang En. But now he was like this. He answered everyone's questions with a smile, and there was not the slightest hint of gunpowder in his tone, which made people familiar with him feel strange. Was Tony Tang possessed by aliens?
Ancelotti did not expect Tang En's attitude to be so good. He even took the initiative to hug him twice at the press conference. The first time was before the start, when they walked up and hugged. The second time was after the end. Tang En took the initiative to hug him again and patted him on the shoulder, as if to comfort him.
This surprised Ancelotti, who thought that the man had taken the wrong medicine.
Then, Tang En left the venue with a smile under everyone's surprised eyes.
No one knew why Tang En was so happy, so they discussed and speculated. In fact, it was very simple. Nottingham Forest had defeated AC Milan and moved one step closer to the Champions League final. For the defending champion, the defending season was very, very difficult. Every step forward was worth celebrating.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
