Captain George Wood announced a contract extension and the team easily beat Manchester City by 2: 0. The combination of these two events boosted Nottingham Forest's morale and confidence to an unprecedented level.
They were about to welcome their Champions League group stage opponent, Celtic. The Forest players also said in an interview that they would not have any problems winning at home.
Twain asked Dunn to give him a list of names who had expressed such thoughts to the media or were overconfident in their usual training. None of these players were on the starting list for the first Champions League group stage match of the new season.
The problem of overconfidence was the most serious in the backline. Şahin, Bostock, Bentley, Kompany and Rafinha were all on that list.
As a result, Celtic saw another Nottingham Forest team in their away game — the goalkeeper, Akinfeev; the center backs, Pepe and Woodgate; the left-back, Joe Mattock; and the right-back, Nkoulou. In the midfield, the eternal captain, St. George Woodray, continued to be in the starting lineup. His position was unshakable. His partner was Tiago. The right midfielder was Lennon and the left midfielder was Cohen. The forward line consisted of van Nistelrooy and Agbonlahor.
Not starting Ibišević was a strategy to protect him and reduce the pressure on him.
Celtic did not dare to say that they could easily win against a Nottingham Forest team. In reality, because Tang En had always liked to take frequent rotations, the strength of each of his lineups was not too far apart. Any one of them could be said to be the main lineup, and sometimes, under his clever verbal instigation, the lineup that was not favored could burst out with amazing energy … The Portsmouth team in the 07-08 season was deeply affected in this regard. They thought that Nottingham Forest, which had substantially rotated the main lineup, was easy to bully. They planned to beat the arrogant team and the arrogant manager at home. They almost succeeded, but in the end, they were hit by a raging Nottingham Forest team for seven goals.
With these lessons learned, no one dared to underestimate Nottingham Forest's second lineup …
The Celtics put on a defensive and counterattacking lineup in their away game, striving to secure a point and wait for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack.
Tang En expected his opponent to do so. However, the current Nottingham Forest was no longer the team that only knew how to defend and counterattack. His lineup lacked a playmaker like Şahin. However, George Wood's improvement in the offensive aspect was enough for Tang En to be at ease.
There was another advantage to this midfield configuration. With two defensive midfielders in the midfield, they could cut off the opponent's counterattack route from the middle. When the formation was arranged, the two players stood side by side at the back, while the two midfielders were positioned very far forward, almost at the position of the wingers. It looked like there was a long distance between them. But that was not the case in the actual competition. Because Wood and Tiago would always take turns to plug in, and the two midfielders would also retreat to provide support, there was no danger of being cut off if they were too far away.
Tang En had always asked the players to be flexible in their positioning, so his formation did not represent the actual effect. In terms of defense, he required everyone to strictly abide by tactical discipline and not do anything that should not be done. But in terms of offense, he gave the players the greatest freedom, allowing them to freely play within the framework of a tactical framework. As long as he could score a goal, he did not care how the goal was scored …
Back to the competition itself.
The Celtic team deployed a large number of players in the midfield and backfield, just like a spider laying out an inescapable net. They were waiting for Nottingham Forest to crash into them and be trapped in the net. Then, they would use a counterattack to kill them.
Tang En was also not a fool. He asked the team to press up appropriately, but the rear defensive line remained in place. One advantage of letting Joe Mattock and Nkoulou start was that the two rookies were much more obedient than the old foxes — that's right, Bale had already evolved into a wily old foxes! He knew how to play sneakily.
Tang En did not ask the full backs to assist, but he asked the midfielders to plug in from the back. Originally, there were two defensive midfielders, but they took turns to plug in from the front in the game, causing Celtic's defense to be in a state of disarray. Especially Wood, his speed and body made him extremely threatening when he plugged in from the front, not to mention his direct passes were getting sharper and sharper …
The game had only been played for 30 minutes, and Wood had already passed two direct passes through Celtic's thick defensive line. Unfortunately, neither van Nistelrooy nor Agbonlahor were able to receive his ball.
But Celtic was also smart, immediately adjusting their defensive line. They further contracted their rear defensive line, not leaving even a bit of space for Wood to pass.
After seeing this from the sidelines, Tang En got up from the manager's seat and made his first adjustment of the game.
He asked van Nistelrooy to head to the front and Agbonlahor to pull to the side, leaving the middle empty. Then, he strengthened his long shots.
George Wood, Tiago, Lennon, Cohen, Agbonlahor, and even van Nistelrooy would try to do long shots as long as they had the chance.
Although the rate of long shots scoring was probably the lowest among all the ways to score goals, Celtic had created such a good opportunity for Tang En. However, Celtic had created such a good opportunity for Tang En. It would be a waste if he did not take advantage of it. After Celtic's defensive line shrank, there was a large gap in front of the penalty area. There were a few times when Wood received the ball from that position, but no Celtic player rushed up to defend immediately. This gave Nottingham Forest's players too many opportunities to adjust their positions.
What were they waiting for if they did not shoot in such a situation?
It was also Celtic's bad luck.
Wood, who usually had poor accuracy, made two consecutive long shots within the range of the goalpost. Although he did not score, it caused the stands in the City Ground stadium to erupt with loud cheers.
Celtic's reaction was too slow. They still did not rush up to stop Wood's long shots.
Thus, with his third long shot, Wood scored.
"Oh oh oh — George Wood!! A beautiful long shot! Fast speed, great power, tricky angle! His shots are getting better and better! Nottingham Forest is leading 1: 0 at home! "
After scoring, George Wood was surrounded by his teammates, who ran to the sidelines to enjoy the cheers that belonged to him alone.
"This is the best gift he can give to the club after renewing his contract! As always, he plays in a stable state, so stable that it makes his opponents despair … For such a person to renew his contract with Forest for another five years, Tony Twain must be the happiest person in the world! "
Tang En stood up and applauded Wood's goal. At the same time, he turned his head to the side and smiled at Dunn. "Your hard work has paid off. His current long-range shooting skills are worlds apart from the first time I saw him. "
Dunn also applauded. "It's his hard work. I didn't do anything … Demetrio is right. He's also a genius in this area."
Speaking of Demetrio. Tang En was a little absent-minded. If Albertini was one of the people beside him, who knew how happy that Italian would be …
※ ※ ※
After scoring the goal, the match became much easier for Tang En and Forest.
The core of his tactics was to let himself be in the lead and then attack the opponent's counterattack. It was a wretched tactic, but it was the most effective.
Now it all depended on the opponent's mentality.
If Celtic felt that losing an away goal was nothing, then they would continue to defend while waiting for an opportunity to counterattack. Who knows, they might even be able to tie the score at the last moment of the match. That would be a real gain. This was more difficult for Tang En. 1: 0 was the most unsafe score in the world. He had to keep the team on their toes for the rest of the match. They had to be on high alert, constantly besieging Celtic and guarding against the opponent's counterattack. Such a match was too tiring for the players. If he had a choice, he did not want to play the rest of the match like this.
The other possibility was that the Celtics were unwilling to lose in an away game and wanted at least a draw. Then, they would try to attack for the rest of the match. This was Tang En's favorite way of dealing with it. He could exchange moves with the opponent on the field. Of course, he was not going to attack. Only a fool would attack a team that only wanted to score a goal. He would defend steadily and counterattack. The roles of the two teams would be swapped.
Deep down, he still liked to play tricks on others.
This time, Celtic did not do as he wished. They chose to continue defending steadily and wait for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack.
As a result, Tang En had no choice but to stand by the side of the field and supervise the match. He requested his players not to let down their guard.
During the halftime interval, Tang En repeated this request to everyone. He analyzed the current situation for the team and requested them not to underestimate the opponent, not to let their guard down, and not to relax their demands on themselves. The back line was still not allowed to press forward and was on guard against the opponent's quick counterattack.
In this match, he had forced all the players who were so confident and conceited to the bench. From the players' mentality, he was not worried about anything.
Now, they just had to pray that no inexplicable accidents would happen on the field.
At the start of the second half of the match, Celtic planned to take advantage of the start of the match and the opponent's lack of concentration to launch a fierce counterattack to equalize the score. However, Tony Twain had long expected this. Nottingham Forest did not show any signs of "lack of concentration." Instead, they beat Celtic at their own game. They counterattacked a few times and almost scored a goal.
This time, Celtic was well-behaved. They shrank back and did not come out again.
The second half of the match was rather dull. Nottingham Forest surrounded Celtic's penalty area and bombarded them indiscriminately. Due to a lack of luck, they could not score a goal. Celtic's few opportunities to counterattack were also unable to threaten the goal guarded by Akinfeev.
Nottingham Forest finally won a small 1: 0 victory over Celtic at home, giving their journey in the Champions League's Group of Death a good start.
In the post-match press conference, Celtic's head coach, Rod Sterwater, said somewhat helplessly, "This is football. I think a draw is a fair and reasonable result."
Tang En almost laughed out loud. Which eye of yours sees a draw as more suitable for this match? He then said somewhat sarcastically, "I'm not too satisfied because we only won by one goal."
Following that, a reporter asked, "Group C is widely recognized as the Group of Death. Does winning against Celtic mean that Nottingham Forest has the upper hand in advancing out of the group?"
"I've never considered this question. As long as we can continue to win, we will definitely advance. I'm more willing to put my thoughts on our opponents in the round of 16. "
The Scottish reporters might still be a little unaccustomed to Tony Twain's habitual arrogance, but the English reporters were used to it. They changed the question. "Which two teams do you think will appear in this group?"
Tang En tilted his head and looked at the reporter. "If I say that everyone has a chance of advancing, will you be very unhappy? Will you think that I'm beating around the bush? "
His words were the truth. With Tony Twain's personality, it was almost impossible for him to say something that everyone would be happy with. So, he gave his answer. "Nottingham Forest and any other team."
What arrogance! The three teams in the Group of Death had all become his foil …
No one would find it strange. If Tony Twain was not arrogant, people might think it was abnormal. This was the Tony Twain that they, the reporters, liked to see.
A group of people excitedly prepared the headlines for the next day's report:
"Tony Twain Looks Down on Everyone"
"Twain Looks Down on Juventus!"
"Twain Makes Advance Reservations for the Group of Death"
…
And so on.
Of course, Tang En could pretend to be arrogant in front of the media, but that was a way for him to confuse his opponents. There was a saying in Sun Tzu's Art of War, "All is fair in war." It was the same in the world of football.
In fact, his true thoughts were that any opponent in this group was a threat to the team. But there were different levels — the most threatening team was Juventus, followed by Atlético Madrid, and the third was Celtic, whom he had just defeated.
But Tang En was not too worried about the team's morale and state against Juventus — they were the only team that had not won in the UEFA Champions League two years ago. They must win this time! That was what everyone thought.
Playing against Atlético Madrid was a challenge for the team. It was an opponent they had never met before, not to mention that the team had the Silver Boot striker from the World Cup in South Africa, Agüero.
As for Celtic … it would be the last round of the group stage if they returned to their home ground to play against them. If the Forest team qualified then, the situation would be set. Tang En did not care how the match turned out. If Celtic wanted to qualify or fight for a place in the UEFA Europa League, they would inevitably launch a fierce attack on their home ground. When that happened, the Forest team would be able to play the defensive counterattack that they were best at.
※ ※ ※
After the match, the media's attitude toward the match was mixed. The local Nottingham media unanimously praised Nottingham Forest's performance, saying that they had won a crucial victory and made a good start for advancing from the Group of Death. Although the score was not high and the match was not exciting, the three points were the most important.
The match strengthened their confidence, and they could once again look forward to the taste of the team standing at the top of Europe …
Of course, there were also quite a number of media that ridiculed Tony Twain for being "habitually arrogant." With the current Forest team, it was not certain if they could advance from the group stage, let alone in the long run. They had only won 1: 0 against Celtic, who was recognized as the weakest team in the group. How could they still have the cheek to say, "The teams that will advance will be Nottingham Forest and any other team?"
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