Tang En was indeed in a crisis.
The first half was almost over, and his team was trailing 0: 1 at home. Scolari, that old man, was different from his two predecessors. Perhaps it was because of the personal wishes of his boss, Abramovich, that Scolari emphasized ball control and so-called "beautiful football" after he took over. As the new manager, it was natural for him to please the club chairman.
But for Tang En, his understanding of Chelsea had to be completely overturned.
At the start of the game, Chelsea launched a very fierce attack in their away game. That kind of fierceness was completely beyond the expectations of the Nottingham Forest players.
No matter how many managers Chelsea changed, as long as the players were the same, the hatred between them and Nottingham Forest would not diminish. It had only been three months since the end of the UEFA Champions League final. It had not been long enough for them to forget who they had lost to.
A fierce attack in exchange for a goal. Only 13 minutes into the game, Chelsea, playing in their away game, had taken the lead.
And at this time, Nottingham Forest was still in the midst of the opponent's fierce attacks, without even a single shot.
"Whose home field is this?" John Motson asked.
This was also Tang En's question.
Meeting a Chelsea team with a new manager for the first time actually made him feel a little unfamiliar. Scolari's character was as arrogant as any of his predecessors, but he was very honest before this game. Tang En felt that he was holding back his bad ideas.
It was only the first half, and the psychological advantage accumulated from the previous games with Chelsea was slowly disappearing. Tang En felt that he should re-evaluate the opponent in front of him. Because this Chelsea was no longer Mourinho's Chelsea, but "Big Phil's." The Chelsea of Grant's era still had Mourinho's style. Once Scolari took over, Mourinho's signs disappeared one by one.
For example … such a positive attitude in the game, the way they sought to score goals was indeed better than under Mourinho.
Abramovich wanted to see beautiful football, so he fired Mourinho and Grant, who had led the team into the Champions League final, and invited the Brazilian-born Scolari. But … based on Tang En's understanding of the Scolari in his memory, how long could such a scene last?
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Now in front of Tang En was a difficult problem. When he coached the Forest team, as long as the Forest team scored first, the probability of the final victory was as high as 87%. This was very much in line with Nottingham Forest's tactical characteristics — first score a goal, then steadily defend and counterattack. If they could score, they would expand their lead. If they could not score, they would not concede a goal. 1: 0 was also an acceptable result.
In this situation, their opponents only had two choices — to become more and more anxious, or to wait helplessly for death.
Now, Tang En was in the same position as his previous opponents. Which path should he choose?
He roared at the team during the halftime interval, telling them that they must not lose to Chelsea at home and asking them to resolutely play on the flanks. In addition, he asked Eastwood not to always run out of the penalty area to receive the ball. There were five players in the midfield and they would definitely pass the ball to his feet. If he was always too far away from the goal, how could he directly threaten Chelsea's goal?
Eastwood also had his own grievances about this. In the past, he always partnered with strong centers like van Nistelrooy or Bendtner and Viduka. The job of attracting the opponent's defensive firepower was done by these centers. Without much defensive pressure, he could attack freely near the penalty area, which naturally increased his threat.
What about now? He became a center forward, an arrowhead figure, and the target of the opponent's defenders. With Terry and the other strong defenders pressing close to him, it already took almost all his energy to ensure that the football did not drop at his feet. How could he still think of shooting and scoring? Furthermore, his figure was not made to be a strong center forward, and he frequently lost the ball under the opponent's pressing.
Did Tang En not know about his grievances? Of course, Tang En knew, but he had no choice now. Who asked him to leave the Danish kid out of the squad list in order to punish Bendtner?
Even if he did not mention the feud between himself and Chelsea, he would not allow the team to lose to Chelsea, because it was tantamount to showing Bendtner that his team could not play without him.
"I know you have difficulties, Freddy. We won't let you be the point of attack. You just have to control the ball and leave the rest to … "He pointed to Ribéry and van der Vaart." You two actively plug forward and shoot more. "
It was to let Eastwood create opportunities for his teammates who plugged in from behind.
The Romani nodded, but he did not know if he could fulfill the role of a "center forward." To be honest, he did not have much confidence …
"Be patient, you can definitely find a gap in their defensive line. I think Scolari will continue to strengthen the attack in the second half, and their defensive line will definitely have problems. "
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Chelsea did indeed continue to attack in the second half, and their defensive line also had holes. But similarly, Nottingham Forest's defensive line, which was anxious to equalize the score, also had problems.
In this match, Tang En's tactic of setting up two defensive midfielders in the midfield was not successful. George Wood's range of activity was as wide as ever, but his running restricted Tiago's performance. Under Wood's approach of doing everything himself, Tiago was somewhat at a loss. This was the first time the two of them were playing together, so it was understandable that they did not have enough chemistry.
Therefore, the effect of setting up two defensive midfielders was not as good as setting up a single defensive midfielder. Then, Wood noticed the coordination with Tiago as coach, but a bigger problem arose — some of the balls that appeared between the two of them, they would very tacitly … give way to each other! They both thought that the ball was the other's, and instead gave it to the Chelsea players.
Chelsea did not hold back either.
Drogba took advantage of a misunderstanding between the two defensive midfielders and went straight in, easily breaking through the thin defensive line, and then successfully shooting. In the 65th minute of the match, the visiting team, Chelsea, was already leading by two goals!
The Chelsea players were celebrating on the field, and Scolari was also jumping around like a monkey off the field with his hands in the air. Tang En's face was livid.
Not long after conceding the goal, he made a substitution adjustment. Arshavin replaced Tiago, returning to a 4-4-2 configuration with a single defensive midfielder and two strikers. After returning to the familiar formation, the Forest team found the rhythm of the match again.
First, Eastwood returned the ball to van der Vaart, and the Dutchman followed up with a direct long shot, which was saved by Cech's doppelganger. Then, after a corner kick, Pepe's header smashed onto Ashley Cole's arm, who was standing on the goal line. The Nottingham Forest players raised their hands to signal that the opponent had committed a handball foul, but the referee did not see it, turning a blind eye to the Forest players' protests.
Tang En pointed at his eyes in protest to the fourth official, but it was to no avail. It was impossible for the referee to stop the ongoing match and award a penalty to the Forest team. Furthermore, even if the television replays proved that Nottingham Forest had suffered a loss, the referee would not change his decision based on the televised footage. This was prohibited by FIFA.
Without the tall center forward, Tang En instructed the team to play less high balls, more coordination on the ground, and more passes behind the ball, in order to make use of the speed advantage of the players in the formation.
Scolari saw through Tang En's plan, and he very timely signaled for the team to retract their formation — shrinking their defense, not giving Nottingham Forest the chance to play behind the ball and play with speed.
Nottingham Forest also did not care about defense, and almost all of them pressed forward, wanting to equalize the score.
But it was not until the 82nd minute that Nottingham Forest equalized the score with a free kick. The goal was scored by Gareth Bale.
After that, the Forest team's counterattack became even more frenzied, and Scolari had no choice but to deploy his players, replacing the forwards and bringing in the defenders in an attempt to defend this one point advantage.
At this moment, he did not care if the scene was beautiful or not, the most important thing was to get three points. From this point, it could be seen that Scolari was definitely not the kind of person who would listen to his boss and play "beautiful football."
Tang En then sent in Petrov to replace Ribéry, who could not run anymore. This substitution was very helpless … He originally wanted to replace a defender and change to a back three to continue to strengthen the attack. But Ribéry was too tired to run — he directly fell to the ground, his left calf cramping. This situation had never happened at the beginning of last season, it looked like the negative effects of that hectic summer were showing …
The substitution did not bring any positive effects to the team's offense.
In the end, Nottingham Forest suffered their first defeat of the season in their first home game of the season, losing 1: 2 to Chelsea. Ever since they were promoted to the English Premier League, their unbeaten record against Chelsea was thus lost.
Tang En did not care much about the record. On the contrary, he thought it was a good thing that it was broken, otherwise his players would have to bear this inexplicable pressure every season against Chelsea.
But losing a game was definitely not a good thing. They lost the first place in the Premier League, and their plan for a good home start this season was ruined. Most importantly, they lost face in front of Bendtner. The defeat in this game was equivalent to telling Bendtner that without him, the Forest team could not do well …
This was the most infuriating part for Tang En.
During the post-match press conference, a reporter who deliberately wanted to cause trouble deliberately asked why Bendtner did not appear in the squad list for this game, because according to his understanding, the Danish striker was neither injured nor in bad condition.
Tang En glared at the female reporter and said, "He has hemorrhoids, how can you know that?"
The female reporter failed to tease Tang En and was teased instead. She gritted her teeth and glared at Tang En before sitting down.
After leaving the City Ground Stadium, Tang En gave Allan Adams a call to inquire about the news regarding Bendtner's transfer.
In fact, if the Forest team had won this game, Tang En might have changed his mind and forcefully kept Bendtner, displaying a winner's arrogance in front of him. But now that he had lost the game, Bendtner had to go, he had to go. He could not tolerate a player who secretly mocked his football and his style staying under his eyes. Every day he looked at him, he got angry.
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Bendtner did not appear in the stands to watch the game, as if from this moment on, he was no longer a member of Nottingham Forest.
He packed his luggage in the apartment and waited for the call with some apprehension. Like a daughter who had eloped behind her parents' back, he could not hide his excitement and longing for a better future amidst his fear. The television was on, showing Nottingham Forest's home game against Chelsea. He only occasionally glanced at it and was not in the mood to care about who won or lost on the field.
Shortly after Chelsea scored the second goal, Juric called him and said, "They promised to take you away, Nicklas."
Hearing his agent say so, Bendtner sat on the sofa and had the leisure to watch the game on the television. After all, it was the red jersey he had worn for four years.
Looking at his teammates' frantic attacks on the field, but some were like headless flies without a clue, he really did not know how he should feel. It was rare to see Nottingham Forest in such a sorry state. It seemed like there was no way to score at all. Other than long shots, it was long shots. Ribéry and Lennon were forcing their way through, but in the face of Chelsea's gradually shrinking defensive line, they could do nothing but give the ball to the opponent after breaking through.
If he was on the field at this time, then the midfield could send the football to his head and feet. Whether it was shooting or passing the ball to his teammates, it would make the Forest team's offense come alive in an instant.
The television broadcast cut to Twain, who was standing on the sidelines and directing the game. He waved his arms to signal the team to do more long shots, but it looked like he was baring his fangs and brandishing his claws, giving people the feeling that he had fallen into madness.
The media once gave Twain the nickname "The Clown." Unlike Aimar, this "Clown" was obviously insulting. But today, Bendtner sat in front of the television and found that the nickname was really "appropriate."
He really was a clown …
Before the end of the game, Nottingham Forest pulled a goal back, but it did not change the result. Twain quickly left the field with a gloomy face. Bendtner also turned off the television and continued to pack his things.
Now, what happened to Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain had nothing to do with him.
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"Allan, what does Manchester City mean?" Twain was not aware of the latest transfer developments.
"They haven't replied yet."
"I think … Allan, could they feel that the price is too high?"
"They won't, Tony. Just like that reporter friend of yours said, 30 million to buy a Forest team's main center forward for the next 10 years is a fair price. Don't worry about the matters here. Leave everything to me. It's such a pity to lose the game. "
Twain grinned. Was this Allan's subtle reminder that he should put more energy into the team's training and competition, and not fight with other clubs, agents, and the father of a certain rising star in the transfer market?
"We're a team of the same level as Chelsea. It's normal no matter who wins or loses. It's fine as long as the final championship is ours. "
Allan laughed. "Haha! Alright, we're all waiting for the final championship, Tony. "
After hanging up the phone, Tang En walked out of the empty changing room and onto the bus.
"Go back and rest, guys. This game has given us all a reminder — this is a new season. Last season's Double doesn't mean anything. "Twain spread his hands in the bus. "Forget about the Double. Now we have to start from the beginning!"
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On the second day after this round of league matches ended, news came from both Manchester City and Nottingham Forest at the same time.
Nottingham Forest's young center forward, Nicklas Bendtner, had officially transferred to Manchester City. He signed a four-year contract with a weekly salary of 120,000 pounds and a transfer fee of 30 million pounds.
A soap opera had finally come to an end. Some people gained, and some people lost. The people who gained also lost something at the same time. The people who lost lost … gained nothing at the same time.
Tony Twain refused to express any opinion on the transfer. His columns in several media outlets were silent. For the spectators who were far away from the club's internal whirlpool, no one knew how Twain, who had lost Van Nistelrooy's successor, felt at this moment.
Should he be glad that a disobedient BAD BOY had left, or should he be sad that four years of hard work had gone down the drain?
Some people guessed that this silence was proof of his sadness. One of his most valued players had betrayed him. How could he not be sad?
In fact, they were all wrong. Twain was troubled. Two important matters were placed in front of him, making him frown. How could he have the time to care about the Danish kid? If Bendtner left, so be it. If he didn't leave, would the world stop spinning? Would Nottingham Forest not win the championship? Would Tony Twain not drink and smoke?
The midweek Super Cup and the awkwardness of having 30 million euros in transfer funds but no one to buy — damn it, the transfer window was about to end!
But to be honest, when he was free occasionally, he did feel that the past summer was like a dream. The people who once listened to his teachings in the same team were now wearing the jersey of another team. If they met again, they would be enemies.
Piqué, Bendtner … and those who had left long ago, Anelka, Ashley Young, Arteta.
How would they view the days spent in Nottingham Forest these few years? How would they evaluate him as a manager?
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