According to Tony Twain's habit of doing things, before he made up his mind on something, he had to determine the path of retreat.
The matter of whether or not to sell Žigić had been bothering him for the past two days. The reason he wanted to keep him was as he had thought in his conversation with Allan. The reason he wanted to sell him was that the Forest team's forward line might not need so many players from the start of the next season. If he could sell a player and earn some usable transfer funds for the team, it was not impossible.
Twain was not stubborn on this matter.
In fact, starting from the second half of the season, the Forest team would use more new tactics and new formations to seek a breakthrough. Twain had led the team for so many years, but this was the first time such a nearly subversive change had occurred. After all, the previous Forest team always gave people the impression of defending and then counterattacking. No matter how they changed, they could not jump out of this circle.
The new formation and new tactics would be more inclined to take the initiative to attack. Twain no longer insisted on his 4-4-2 formation. Instead, he changed to a 4-4-51 formation. A stricter division would be a 4-2-3-1 formation, the Christmas tree formation.
In this way, the need for strikers would be greatly reduced. Only one striker would be used in every game. If too many people were benched, the rotation would not be able to be arranged, and there would inevitably be people who would feel unhappy. Why can he be rotated on, and I can only continue to be on the bench?
If he really wanted to sell Žigić, he would have such considerations.
But with Žigić gone, the team, after all, lacked a center forward. In certain special moments, a center forward like Žigić could play a role that the other strikers could not. Twain was unwilling to throw away a still very useful card in vain.
Ibišević was a striker, but he was not a pure center forward, let alone a standing center forward.
Van Nistelrooy would retire at the end of this season. Eastwood's knee, which had undergone three major operations, was always like a landmine. No one knew when it would be stepped on. Ibišević was the only striker without any hidden dangers. In the new tactics, Agbonlahor would become a more comprehensive player. He could be a striker, but Twain planned to let him play as an offensive right midfielder because his advantage in speed would play a greater role in the flank.
Milan, who was on loan, could also play as a striker, an offensive midfielder, and many other positions. There was no need to worry about playing opportunities.
If he sold Žigić, where would he find a suitable replacement?
In Tang En's mind, the standard for a substitute was to have a certain level of ability, but not to be too strong. That was because if he was too strong, he would definitely ask for a main position, and Tang En would never be able to satisfy this requirement. If Eastwood was healthy and not injured or sick, then he and Ibišević would be the team's main strikers and take turns to play.
In this way, the role of the new striker would not be that big. If possible, Tang En was unwilling to spend money on a third striker. It was too wasteful.
After thinking about it for two days, Tang En thought of someone.
※ ※ ※
"Are you guys free now?" During a break in training, Twain pulled Kerslake and Dunn aside.
"Aren't they training?" Kerslake thought it was strange.
"Let the coaches lead them first. I want you to accompany me to the reserve team's training ground."
"Why do you suddenly want to go to the reserve team?" Dunn asked.
"I suddenly thought of someone, I almost forgot about him …" Twain scratched his head and said a little embarrassedly.
He had indeed forgotten about that person …
※ ※ ※
"You really forgot about him." Standing at the side of Wilford's training ground, Dunn glanced at Tang En.
The reserve team was not part of the youth team, so they trained in South Wilford like the First Team. The two places were not far from each other, and it did not take long to reach.
The reserve team was in the middle of a seven-versus-seven match on the training ground in front of them. There was one person in the yellow team who was very eye-catching because he was currently the tallest on the field.
The person that Dunn, Tang En, and Kerslake had come to see was him — Aaron Mitchell. Two and a half years ago, Tang En had gone to the reserve team to check on Şahin's recovery, but he did not expect the main character that day to be another person.
At that time, Mitchell's performance as a center back was lackluster. If he continued to play like that, the best possibility was to go to the second-tier league and spend his days there. In any case, with his level, it was impossible for him to establish a foothold in the Premier League, let alone play in Nottingham Forest's First Team.
After watching his training and matches, Tang En called him over and suggested that he switch to playing as a center forward from now on. Although they were both players in the middle, his position was moved from the back to the front. It could be said to be an earth-shattering change.
Asking Mitchell to change his position was only out of Tang En's professional habit. Then, after half a year, he was struck down by a heart attack. For another half a year, he was busy fighting with his heart disease and completely forgot about Mitchell. Later, in the process of rebuilding the team, because the Forest team did not lack players in the forward line, he never thought about the poor man who was left in the youth team after he changed his position.
It was not until the matter of Žigić's possible transfer was put on the agenda that he remembered the young man who felt a little similar to Žigić.
Today, Aaron Mitchell was already 20 years old. He had played in the reserve team for two years, but had yet to get a chance to enter the First Team.
Although playing in the reserve team could be said to be a way to enter the First Team, it did not mean that playing here would guarantee a place in the First Team. Many players spent most of their time playing in the reserve team and could only occasionally be transferred to the First Team to solve the urgent situation. This part of the players was considered lucky. More players remained unknown in the reserve team, perhaps went to the lower leagues to find opportunities, or declined. If a player graduated from the youth team and always played in the reserve team, it at least showed that he did not have any outstanding talent and talent. Such a player's future was bleak.
From this point of view, Aaron Mitchell's talent was clearly not outstanding.
Mitchell played as a center forward on the field. His header was still outstanding, of course, thanks to his frightening height. Tang En always felt that Mitchell was taller than the last time he saw him, so he pointed to Mitchell and turned his face to the reserve team coach, Colin Calderwood, next to him. "How tall is he now?"
"2.02 meters," Calderwood replied.
Tang En whistled. "He's as tall as Žigić."
"But he's thinner than Žigić," Dunn said next to him.
Indeed, the 2.02 meters Mitchell's thinness was obvious at a glance. He was a bit like Peter Crouch, who had played for the Forest team.
"How's his physical confrontation?" Tang En asked.
"Very average," Calderwood replied.
The answer made Tang En frown. The center forward he needed must have a strong body, able to compete with the opponent's tall and strong defenders in the penalty area, so that he would not easily lose his position and the ball.
Calderwood certainly knew what Tang En was worried about, so he laughed and continued, "But Tony, he's not quite the same as the traditional center forward …"
"Huh? How is he different? "
"Have you ever seen a center forward who is more than two meters tall and can still ride a bicycle?"
Tang En and the two assistant managers next to him looked at Calderwood in surprise.
"His technique is excellent." Calderwood laughed. "And it's very even. Technically, there's no obvious shortcoming. He can pass the ball to create opportunities for his teammates, and he can pull to the flank to pass. If he dribbles, it's not bad for his height. Maybe it's because he also knows that his physical confrontation ability is not strong, so he works hard in technical training, so … it becomes what you see now. "
As they spoke, Mitchell got the ball. He used the outside heel of his foot to stop the ball during the run. While stopping the football, he also completed a sudden stop and turn to change direction …
"Wow —" Kerslake could not help but exclaim.
After stopping the ball on the flank and slipping past an opposing defender, Mitchell swung his leg to pass the ball. Unfortunately, the teammate in the middle did not expect Mitchell to pass so decisively and missed by a hair's breadth.
Several people stopped talking and began to carefully observe Mitchell's every performance on the field.
Perhaps it was because he used to be a center back, but Mitchell still retained the habit of rushing up and snatching the ball whenever he saw an opposing player take the ball, unlike those pure offensive players who strolled in the front field and watched helplessly as the opponent took the ball past them. This helped Mitchell get a lot of opportunities to counterattack in the front field.
Because of his height of 2.02 meters, his strides with the ball were very big, so he did not feel slow and did not give people a bulky feeling like Žigić. Coupled with his excellent footwork skills, watching him play always gave people an illusion — was this really a big man over two meters tall?
He was also not the kind of center forward who liked to head in front of the goal and wait for his teammates to pass the ball to him. He preferred to pull out, retreat to receive, and overconnect for the attack.
His header was indeed a very sharp weapon. As long as the football flew to his volley, it could not escape nine times out of ten. His amazing height coupled with no inferior jump, coupled with the level and awareness of headers trained from playing as a center back, he could be called an aerial tyrant in front of the goal.
Unfortunately, compared with his excellent headers, his shooting was a bit poor …
Tang En watched his game for 15 minutes and made a rough calculation. His headers had a success rate of up to 80%, but only one of the five shots from his feet hit the goalpost — and it was directly obtained by the goalkeeper because it was too direct.
"Uh … His shooting skills are improving slowly …" Speaking of this, Calderwood was also a little embarrassed.
In the reserves, the tactics developed for Mitchell was that when attacking, he would retreat to receive the midfield pass, then use his footwork skills to dribble the ball to break through, and then divide to the sides to his teammates who had already plugged in, and he would continue to take big strides to insert into the penalty area. After his teammates got rid of the flank defense, they would start to pass, and Mitchell, who was already in position, would fight for the header. At this time, he had two choices: A, to score with his own header; B, to pass to the other teammates and create opportunities for them to shoot.
It was a simple tactic, and Mitchell completed it quite well. He was really impeccable in headers.
Unfortunately, his body was really too thin and weak, and he had almost no ability to fight head-on. This was also an important reason why he could not play as a center back in the beginning …
He did not get the recommendation of the coaches to be promoted to the First Team. This reason was also indispensable.
The English Premier League was the most competitive league in the world. A "reasonable collision" in the English Premier League might be a malicious foul in other leagues. Strikers who were not physically fit would lose out in the competition with others at the start. Other than an anomaly like Wenger, not many coaches would like strikers who looked like they would fall with a gust of wind.
However, Tang En did not care that much. He saw hope in Mitchell, a completely different center forward. He might bring something different to the Forest Team's offense.
"Ask him to report to the First Team tomorrow." Tang En snapped his fingers. "I want him to register for the next stage of the Champions League."
This sentence meant that Žigić could leave with peace of mind …
The two assistant managers did not object to Tang En's decision. They also saw something shining in Mitchell, and his shortcomings could be made up for through training and high-level competition.
After giving these instructions, Tang En left with the two assistant managers. They had to return to the First Team's training ground and could not waste too much time here.
※ ※ ※
Aaron Mitchell only heard the news of his transfer to the First Team from the reserve team's manager, Colin Calderwood, after the end of training. After a brief daze, he was delighted. Ever since he switched to playing as a striker, he had also thought about the issue of his future in the Forest Team. He felt that since the boss wanted him to switch to playing as a striker, then maybe he needed a striker.
However, when he later saw the Forest Team's large and somewhat bloated forward lineup, he felt a little hopeless. He admitted that he was not a player with outstanding talent. The only thing he was proud of was his height and his ability to head the ball.
He constantly practiced his skills in the hope that he would have some characteristics that stood out from other big players.
After Colin Calderwood confirmed that he wanted him to practice how to be a striker, he also noticed Mitchell's efforts and characteristics in this area. Therefore, he recommended a role model for Mitchell to learn from.
This role model was not Žigić in the Forest Team, nor was it van Nistelrooy. It was Ibrahimović far away in Italy, Inter Milan.
In addition to training, he would study the playing characteristics and style of the Swedish high school striker, trying hard to imitate and learn, hoping that he could also become a striker with a height of more than 1.9 meters but excellent footwork skills.
Now, the opportunity had come!
The next day, he went straight to the First Team's training ground and was a little excited to see his star teammates on the sidelines, whom he rarely saw. And those teammates also looked curiously at Mitchell, who stood alone on the sidelines with a silly smile.
Mitchell was not like Moke, who was a quasi-star player whose name had long spread throughout the club even though he was in the reserves. He had been unknown before he came here. Although everyone was in the same club, it was normal to not be familiar with each other.
When the First Team players warmed up together, Aaron Mitchell still stood outside, a little at a loss.
At this time, his savior came.
Tony Twain and two assistant managers walked to the training ground. He saw Mitchell at a glance and waved to him. "Boy, come here!"
"This is your new teammate." Pulling Mitchell over, Twain introduced him to the other players. "Aaron Mitchell, a striker. He used to play as a center back."
Hearing his strange position change, the players exclaimed.
After a brief introduction, Twain let the players warm up, but he kept Mitchell alone.
"There are some things I have to make clear to you in advance to avoid trouble in the future." Twain said to Mitchell, who stood respectfully in front of him. "First of all, the fact that you can be transferred to the First Team proves that you have the ability, so you don't have to doubt your ability. Secondly, don't think that you can get a main position or a chance to start in the First Team. I won't promise you these things now. If you want to have all these, you can only fight for it with your attitude and form in training. You have to know that you can only be ranked last among all the strikers in the First Team. "
Mitchell kept nodding.
"You'd better use a learning attitude to welcome your days in the First Team. I think that will help you."
As he said this, Twain's face, which was wearing sunglasses, was stiff. He did not mind being a little strict with these young people because he knew how cruel professional football was. It was best to have no illusions and be down-to-earth in order to achieve something. In the path of these young people's growth, he was willing to be the number one villain in their hearts.
Seeing that Mitchell's attitude was good and that he accepted it humbly, Twain was very satisfied. He ended the lecture and began to assign specific training tasks. "From today onwards, you will strengthen your shooting training and strength training. The coaching staff will draw up a special training plan for you and practice according to it. I heard that when you were in the reserves, Manager Calderwood asked you to learn from Ibrahimović? "
Mitchell nodded. "Yes, Boss. I want to be a striker like him. "
"Don't get it wrong, boy. Ibrahimović's body is not weak. His shooting ability is also ten light years better than yours. "
These words made Mitchell's expression darken. Although Twain was telling the truth, the truth was not pleasant to hear.
Twain remembered that although Mitchell was already 20 years old, he was still a young player. Sometimes encouragement was needed.
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