Ibišević finally scored. The reporters watching the game thought they did not have to worry about what to write for the later reports.
But the Bosnian's performance was not over.
He almost scored with a long shot before the end of the first half, but the football just brushed the post and went wide.
This time, the commentator no longer mocked his poor shooting. Instead, he exclaimed, "He almost scored a second time!"
At halftime, the Nottingham Forest players congratulated Ibišević. He finally broke the goal drought. Then they talked excitedly about the bet between the boss and Carl Spicer. They encouraged Ibišević to keep up the good work. Everyone was looking forward to seeing Carl Spicer's bald head.
Twain chuckled and watched the players use the halftime break to joke around. He felt the game was a sure win. There was no need for superfluous words. Norwich City and Nottingham Forest were not on the same level at all. Even if they were at home, they could not stop the Forest team, who had a two-goal lead, from winning the game.
After the start of the second half, Nottingham Forest slowed down their pace a little and consciously retreated.
Because Twain knew that Norwich City, who was trailing at home, was bound to launch a counterattack, they did not care about the gap in strength between the two teams. They only knew that it was not something to be happy about to be "shaved bald" by the opponent at their own home ground.
This was the Forest team's chance to continue to widen the score. As long as Norwich City wanted to attack, they were bound to leave gaps behind. They could seize one or two opportunities to end the game early.
This was also one of Nottingham Forest's usual tactics — fight for the lead in the away game, then retreat to lure the opponent to attack and wait for the opportunity to fight back. As long as they could take the lead, this tactic was almost always tried and tested.
As expected, Norwich City obediently pressed out. They urgently needed a goal — no one wanted to lose at home, and lose without scoring a goal.
Nottingham Forest patiently contended with Norwich City in the middle and backfield.
It was not until the sixty-seventh minute of the game that George Wood intercepted the ball and did a one-two with Cohen to pass the football to Eastwood in front.
The Norwich City players rushed back to defend, but Eastwood did not give them the chance. He passed the football to Bentley on the other side.
Bentley lifted his leg to pass the ball.
Ibišević, who was in the middle, plugged in at high speed. He leaped high and gave a powerful and accurate header!
Norwich City's goalkeeper, Ward, did not even react — when Bentley received the ball, he glanced in front of the goal. Ibišević was still outside the penalty area at that time …
“What_a_GOOOOAL！！！ A clean and beautiful goal! Once again, Nottingham Forest showed us what they were best at, their quick passing and cutting attack. Ibišević made the final decision. He appeared at the most crucial moment where he should have appeared. This goal was effortless for him! "
"That's his second goal of the match! It was amazing. He had not scored a goal in four consecutive games and was criticized for not being able to score. I didn't expect him to suddenly explode in this match! "
After the goal, Ibišević ran towards the camera again and made the exact same celebratory gesture as when he scored the first goal. Then, he was hugged by his excited teammates.
※ ※ ※
Tang En high-fived the people around him off the field in celebration. Then, he glanced at the press box in the stands and said to Dunn beside him, "If I had known that Ibišević would score in this match, I would have sent a ticket to Carl Spicer. I wonder if he's watching the live broadcast of this match? I've already won a tenth of the match! Haha! "
"Whether he wins or loses, Spicer's goal has been achieved — to make a name for himself," Dunn said to him.
"I don't care what his goal is. I just want to make a fool of him." Tang En shrugged and then hugged the team doctor, Fleming, next to him.
※ ※ ※
After Ibišević's brace gave Nottingham Forest a three-goal lead, they slacked off a little. They were not very aggressive in their attacks and did not fight for some of the opportunities. The match was deadlocked in the midfield for a time.
Tang En looked at the time. Unknowingly, it was almost seventy-five minutes.
He walked to the side of the field, cleared his throat, and then shouted into the field, "Ibi! Ibišević! "
Ibišević heard his roar and turned to look.
"Have you run out of strength?" Tang En asked loudly. "Do you need me to replace you?!"
Ibišević shook his head, indicating that he could still run. He had finally found his form and did not want to be replaced early.
"Then continue to look for opportunities to score goals!" Tang En clenched his fist and waved. "3: 0 is not enough!"
After giving the latest instructions to Ibišević, Tang En cupped his hands around his mouth again and made a trumpet shape, "Be more aggressive! Don't be polite at all in the face of such an opponent! Score as many goals as you can!! "
His voice was so loud that not only the Norwich City fans behind the technical area heard it, but even the Norwich City coaching staff next to them and the Norwich City players near the sidelines heard it clearly.
They suddenly felt a sense of anger, as if they were being looked down upon!
The Norwich City fans behind the visiting team's technical area became noisy and changed their ways to scold Tang En. At the same time, they sent a message to the players on the field, "We're being f * cking looked down on. You guys are still half-dead! Buck up! At least score one goal against that son of a b * tch, Nottingham Forest! "
Norwich City's manager, Worthington, was furious and disgusted with Tony Twain's public arrogance. As the manager of a Premier League team, he could not accept such an insult.
He had to fight back and let the bastard Tang En know whose home field he was on now!
He began to deploy his troops and sent two offensive players, determined to score a goal at his own home ground!
If everyone knew what he was thinking before the game, they would feel how pitiful his thoughts were now — before the game, he wanted to at least score a point at home. With a little luck, it would not be difficult to take down Nottingham Forest, who only relied on one striker to score a goal …
The entire Norwich City team was like mad wild dogs on their own home ground, drooling and roaring as they pounced on Akinfeev's goal.
So, when Ibišević scored the fourth goal, they suddenly realized that they had all been tricked by Tony Twain!
※ ※ ※
The situation at the time was like this …
As soon as they saw the entire Norwich City team pressing up to attack as if they were on stimulants, Nottingham Forest tacitly withdrew their formation and shrank their defense. They did not give Norwich City too many chances, and at the same time, they gave Norwich City the illusion that Nottingham Forest did not want to continue attacking after a three-goal lead. Anyway, there were only ten minutes left before the end of the game. Going all out to attack was strenuous and unrewarding, so it was better to save some energy.
This was the practice of most teams.
Norwich City did not suspect anything. They just wanted to score a goal at home to save some face. So, they did not care about the emptiness at the back. From the strikers to the defenders, they all pressed up.
Twice, when they won two corner kicks for the team through the bombardment in front of the goal, the goalkeeper, Ward, even ran to stand near the center circle in one breath, as if hesitating whether to rush up to join in the fun …
No one at Carrow Road realized how dangerous the situation was with five minutes left in the game.
Finally, in the 87th minute. Nottingham Forest seized the opportunity when Norwich City's entire team pressed up. After Akinfeev pounced on the opponent's shot, he immediately threw the ball to launch an attack.
Tiago did not hold the ball too much in the midfield. He did not even make any adjustments. He directly passed the football to Bentley. Then, Bentley sent a straight pass.
Ibišević plugged into the opponent's half of the field. He was not offside!
"He's not offside! He's not offside! " The commentator cried out repeatedly. Now that Ibišević had received Bentley's pass, he was dribbling the ball toward the goal guarded by Ward. A beautiful solo attack!
The Norwich City players, who were waiting for a second chance to attack in front, turned around and saw that it was not their player who was holding the ball, but a Nottingham Forest player. They hurriedly chased back in fright.
But the nearest Norwich City player was nearly twenty meters away from Ibišević. How could they make it in time?
The group of people chased back pointlessly while watching Ibišević run farther and farther away and close to the goal.
Ward bravely attacked, but he was shaken to the ground by Ibišević's feint without any suspense. The next thing in front of Ibišević was the wide goal, lying in front of him, open and waiting for him.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ibišević pushed the football in.
"A hat-trick!!! Oh, my God! This is … unbelievable! " The commentator got up from his seat and leaned over to look down. His mouth was wide open and he could not believe what he saw.
Not to mention that he could not believe it, even the people on the Nottingham Forest side could not believe it — they thought that Ibišević scoring two goals in this game was already considered a big breakthrough. They did not expect him to actually score a hat-trick!
Scoring twice was not new, but a hat-trick was definitely something that could not be sought after.
Even Tony Twain held his head in his hands and laughed in disbelief.
After the goal, Ibišević ran in front of the camera for the third time and made his somewhat exaggerated celebration gesture.
"Is this the Ibišević who 'scored a lifetime's worth of goals in a single season'? A hat-trick! I really hope he's not only in good form in this game … If he's in this form in every game, Tony Twain will wake up laughing even in his dreams! "
"Norwich City collectively pressed forward in the final moments, hoping to score a goal. But they did not expect Nottingham Forest to seize the opportunity instead. They completely forgot who their opponent is. It's not any other team, but Tony Twain's Nottingham Forest! When playing against them, you can't even relax the protection of your own goal for a second! Otherwise, this is the outcome … "
He was right. Now, there were only the cheers of the visiting fans at Carrow Road Stadium. The home fans collectively lost their voices. They had just been frantically cursing the arrogant Tony Twain, but they did not expect their own goal to be lost right after. The people who had calmed down first had already guessed that the "collective ridicule" that was loud enough for everyone to hear was actually a deliberate psychological tactic used by Tony Twain. He wanted the Norwich City people to lose their cool in order to provide Nottingham Forest with a chance to score at least one more goal …
This terrifying man! He was still not satisfied with a three-goal lead. His desire and pursuit of victory and goals seemed to be endless. When would he stop? It must not be because he was satisfied, but because … he was dead.
After Twain expressed a little surprise at Ibišević's "hat-trick," he happily hugged the people on the sidelines to celebrate.
The Norwich City fans who had calmed down first had guessed correctly. The words he had yelled at the team on the sidelines just now were deliberately to provoke the opponent, causing them to press forward to attack and leave the back defense empty.
He thought it was a little unjustifiable to only score three goals against an opponent like Norwich City. The team needed to use a big victory to boost morale and motivate their fighting spirit.
Four goals … was barely enough to satisfy him.
※ ※ ※
The game ended just like that. Norwich City was shaved bald by Nottingham Forest on their home ground, 0: 4. It was not a crushing defeat, but it was absolutely humiliating.
After the game, Tony Twain instead became a supporting character. The main character was the Bosnian striker, Ibišević, who had suddenly erupted after completing a hat-trick.
Ibišević, who was elected the best player of the game, was surrounded by reporters in the mixed zone with champagne as a prize. The reporters were very interested in the reason for his sudden outburst.
Ibišević did not give any fresh explanations. He just said, "Manager Twain trusted me and let me start for five consecutive games. He was under a lot of pressure. I thought I had to do something to help him share the pressure, so I scored. "
Pierce Brosnan squeezed up and asked, "Can you talk about your celebration move? You've never done it before in Germany. What do you mean? I saw you use the same celebration move for all three goals … "
Ibišević remembered Twain's expression and laughed. "It's actually a slap in the face. I exaggerated a little."
"Slap in the face?" The group of reporters were stunned. What kind of celebration move was that?
"Why slap in the face?" A reporter from The Sun rushed to ask. "Slap who?"
"Someone said I can't even score 20 goals in a season, so I plan to slap him once every time I score a goal." Ibišević continued to laugh. "At least 20 times."
Hearing him say so, the reporters were in an uproar.
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