This was Tang Jing's first private Christmas with the people she usually only interacted with in interviews. She felt curious, but she appeared rather calm on the surface, deeply hiding her professional habits as a reporter.
She knew that George Wood did not want his private life to be interfered with by reporters. There was once a blind British tabloid that revealed his mother had been a cheap prostitute in the slums not long after Wood became famous. Its tone was rather sarcastic. Because of this, George Wood and Nottingham Forest teamed up to ban the media forever. They did not allow any news about Forest and Wood to appear in the media. Otherwise, they would send a lawyer's letter over.
This was different from Tang En's "ban" of husband and wife quarreling. This was for real. Sure enough, Nottingham Forest was cut off from that media ever since.
When Tang En came in from outside the door, his entire person had changed. He was no longer that depressed look from before. This Christmas could be said to be a decent one.
During the dinner, he would occasionally joke about the mysterious relationship between Tang Jing and Dunn.
In response to Tang En's jokes, Dunn used silence, while Tang Jing appeared rather generous.
Now that Dunn was no longer living next door to Tang En, Dunn also had his own private space while Tang En and Shania enjoyed their world together. So, if he and Tang Jing did something, Tang En would not be too surprised.
The only thing he was surprised about was that with Dunn's introverted personality, he could actually develop a relationship with Tang Jing, who was extroverted and somewhat carefree, a pseudo-strong woman. It was really a little unbelievable.
Tang En felt that the two of them were not compatible at all. For a person like Dunn, if they did not have long periods of intimate contact, others would not be able to see what his strengths were. So, what did Tang Jing like about him?
Tang En felt that he really could not understand men and women nowadays. He had forgotten that his and Shania's "match made in heaven" had also caused others to shake their heads and say that they could not understand it.
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This Western "New Year's Eve dinner" was a little different from previous years due to the addition of the newcomer, Tang Jing. It had a different taste.
Tang Jing was a little reserved at first, but she gradually relaxed.
Tang En's eyes would occasionally glance at Sophia. He could not forget the image of Sophia holding his arm at the door and the little bird still leaning on his shoulder.
He still remembered how he felt when he first met Sophia. At that time, the entire Sneinton slum was grey. The grey sky, the grey cracked streets, the grey walls, the grey roofs, and even the people's expressions were grey...
Only the mother sitting at home peeling potatoes was colorful, lively, and full of a tenacious vitality.
Now, the light on Sophia's body was fading away. Was it because the surroundings were already filled with colors, or was it because Sophia's own light of life was getting weaker?
Twain knew that this woman liked him. But he evaded and tactfully refused. Now that he thought about it, he wondered if he was being too cruel to a weak woman. But Tang En could not accept the idea of loving someone just because he sympathized with them. That would be a kind of torture for both himself and Sophia.
Fortunately, Sophia was a sensible and intelligent woman. In front of Shania, who was more suitable for Tang En, she took a back seat. She was satisfied just by snuggling up to him outside the house today.
In this world, good people were not always lucky, and a good person's life was not necessarily safe …
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After the meal and staying for a while, Tang En and the others said goodbye to Wood and his mother, Sophia.
Tang En first drove Dunn and Tang Jing back to his residence at Bradford Garden Street before going home himself.
When he sent Dunn and Tang Jing to their destination, Tang En did not forget to tease the two with his mouth. "Hey, Miss Tang Jing, it's dangerous to be alone with a man."
"It's dangerous to be with you," Tang Jing retorted, unwilling to be outdone. Ever since she stopped being a reporter, she did not have to take Tang En's attitude anymore. Because there was no relationship between them where one of them needed to rely on the other. This was a great thing for Tang Jing. She finally did not have to act like a "grandson" in front of this arrogant man.
"Ha!" Tang En laughed. "I'm a man with a wife and a family. No matter what, I'm better than a lonely old virgin, right?"
"It's fine if I want to go back with you, but you'll have to wait for the news of you spending the night with your mysterious Chinese lover in The Sun tomorrow, Mr. Twain."
Dunn looked at the two people bickering and felt a little helpless.
"Alright, you win!" After having a wife, Tang En had to pay attention to the image of his private life. For example, if Shania was not by his side for a long time, but Tang En needed it physically, he would no longer call a call girl.
"Good night, I wish you a happy night together!" Before Tang En left, he did not forget to take revenge on Tang Jing and quickly drove away.
"This old hooligan!" Tang Jing could only spit at the back of the car that was quickly driving away.
She and Dunn were indeed considered to have basically established a relationship as a couple, but this relationship had not progressed to the point of going to bed and making love together.
Dunn laughed silently at the back. If Tang En was "old," wouldn't he be in the ground already?
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Tang En drove the car and did not directly return to his home in the northeast of the city. Instead, he circled to the city center.
It was past eight o 'clock in the evening, and it was still very lively here. Young couples, close friends, and relatives were all gathered in the municipal square, waiting to enjoy the fireworks display that would start in a while.
Tang En had nothing to do, so he simply parked the car in the parking lot and sat in the car to enjoy the fireworks. Anyway, there was no need to go home so early. Was he going to spend Christmas with a ghost facing a few hundred square meters of dark and desolate house alone?
When the first firework bloomed in the night sky, there was a burst of cheers from the crowd.
More and more fireworks shot into the sky and bloomed. The commotion also grew louder and wider.
Tang En was not as happy as those young people. He just looked at the sky full of fireworks in a daze. When would there be a time when there would be someone beside him exclaiming in excitement and admiration while he was watching the fireworks here?
It would be New Year's in a few days. When the calendar flipped to 2011, if he wanted to make a wish, what kind of wish should he make?
The sound of fireworks and explosions rang in his ears, as well as the hubbub of voices. Tang En closed his eyes and made a wish in his heart that he did not know when it would come true.
He hoped that he could spend Christmas and New Year's with Shania one year.
Damn it! No matter what, I'm still a married man. Why is it that on this day when we should all be together happily and harmoniously, I'm still a shameful lonely person like when I was in university!
※ ※ ※
After a Christmas that had all four tastes at the same time, Tang En did not have much time to be melancholic. The next day, his team would be facing Birmingham City at home. Work was still the most important.
When he returned to the training base to start the day's work, Tang En did not forget to continue teasing Dunn in private, asking him if he had a good time last night.
Dunn ignored Tang En, who had a lecherous smile on his face, and focused on his own work, making Tang En ask for a snub.
After a Christmas, except for some players who were not very professional and looked tired, everything was as usual. However, Tang En had already secretly noted down those who played too crazily. For the match against Birmingham City, none of them would be on the squad list.
Nottingham Forest's home game against Birmingham City was the eighteenth round of the English Premier League. This was also the first time Tang Jing sat in the VIP box instead of watching the game from the media seats below.
The game ended with Nottingham Forest easily beating Birmingham City by 2: 0. The left-back, Donovan Slijngard, who was on loan from Ajax to Birmingham City, gave the Forest team a big gift in the first three minutes of the game. He helped Nottingham Forest to open the scoring with a wonderful own goal. Not long after the second half started, Eastwood consecutively bypassed two players and scored the ball into the net, displaying his killer style and helping the team to set the score at 2: 0.
The game could be said to be perfect, both in terms of the outcome and process. Nottingham Forest's fans rarely had such an enjoyable time. Their team suppressed their opponent from start to finish in the 90 minutes of the game. Birmingham City only had one shot in the entire game, and it was not within the range of the goalpost. Other than fouls, their players were completely unable to stop Forest's attacks. They could only be completely relegated to supporting roles in the game, unable to create any trouble for Akinfeev. It was to the extent that during the game, the television commentator was worried that Akinfeev would feel too cold …
On the other hand, Nottingham Forest had 22 shots! They had the advantage in terms of ball possession, passing success rate, crossing success rate, interceptions success rate, and headers success rate. Every player on the field played very well to direct such an exciting game.
Every Forest fan who left the City Ground Stadium was in a happy mood. Tony Twain and his players had given them the best Christmas present.
They played offense against Manchester United and offense against Liverpool. Now that they played against Birmingham City, it was only natural that the game evolved into a half-court offense and defense.
Some experts analyzed whether this was a sign that Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain were going to change.
Twain did not give any explanation. Two days later, on December 28th, he led the team to visit the Riverside Stadium and defeated Middlesbrough 1: 0.
Although they had only scored one goal, it was another game that they had complete control over. They had the advantage in every statistical aspect.
This made many experts who had not liked the Forest team in the past feel their jaws drop. They exclaimed that the current Nottingham Forest could not only win but also play well. It was quite like Arsenal's style.
But they were all talking nonsense. Twain would not admit that the Forest team had not learned from Arsenal. Attentive people would notice that although Nottingham Forest's ball possession and other technical statistics had increased, some of their traditional things had not been lost. For example, they emphasized the first counterattack. If the counterattack was unsuccessful, they would quickly retreat to defend. They would never give the opponent the space and time to run around in their own half of the field to find a chance to break the goal. This was something that Arsenal's Wenger rarely used, or even would never use.
Twain could pursue beauty and grandeur when attacking. But when defending, he suddenly turned into a German. He was strict and meticulous to the point of being somewhat harsh.
He allowed the players to make mistakes and even waste chances when attacking. Whoever made a mistake in defense would definitely be reprimanded by Twain.
The outside world was puzzled by the changes in the Forest team, but the Forest team's coaching staff was not surprised at all. Because this was the final result of Twain and their hard work over the past few seasons.
As early as the 06-07 season, Twain had the idea of controlling the game. But various things happened intermittently during that period. It was only now that it could be considered completed. Nottingham Forest had the confidence and ability to ensure efficiency against any opponent and win in a way that pleased the audience.
The reporter, Pierce Brosnan, once again acted as the mouthpiece for Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain. He wrote an article praising the way the Forest team had played the game so far. He felt that the Nottingham Forest fans had another thing to enjoy and show off while enjoying the victory — their team could also play football that everyone cheered for!
Of course, they did not have anything against Tony Twain. In fact, with Twain's success in the Forest team over the past few years and his experience in the team since 1996. No fan would have anything against him. They only said that when they were arguing with the Arsenal fans or the Barcelona fans, they would only make a move if they could win the championship. And the fans of the other two teams could still ridicule Tony Twain's team for playing football that would make even the noisiest monkey fall asleep.
Watching from the stands as the team firmly controlled the initiative of the game from start to finish, casually toying with and dispatching the opponent, the feeling of not having to worry about being pressured by the opponent and suddenly being able to score a goal was simply too good.
So, would Nottingham Forest stick to their new style and continue playing like this?
Twain used practical actions to give his answer.
In the last month of 2010, Nottingham Forest achieved an excellent result of five wins and one draw in all six games. In particular, they did not lose any points in the games against the traditional top two teams, Liverpool and Manchester United. They retreated at the last minute against Manchester United in the away game and almost won against Liverpool at home. It was really not easy.
So, Nottingham Forest won the Team of the Month, and Twain received the 15th Manager of the Month award since he took charge of the team.
Just after receiving the award on January 1, 2011, on New Year's Day, Twain led the team to a difficult 1: 0 victory over Blackburn Rovers in an away game.
After the New Year, the players' condition suddenly became bad. At the start of that game, Twain had planned to use ball control to win. Later, he discovered that the players' condition was not good, so he changed his mind at the last minute and returned to his old routine — playing the stubbornly defensive counterattack that Forest was most familiar with and best at.
In the end, with Agbonlahor's goal in the counterattack that was between an offside and not offside position, they defeated Blackburn Rovers with great difficulty and obtained three points.
The Forest team's game was not beautiful at all, nor was it good to watch. Most of the time, both sides kept making mistakes. It was so dull that it made people want to doze off. It was a stark difference from the previous few games. But they won the game in the end. Twain had confidence when he faced the reporters. "No! I never said my team was going to stick to that style. I don't care if the team plays well or not, as long as we can win! Only a fool would play well but lose the game. "
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