Aaron Mitchell's transfer to the First Team signified the official start of Žigić's transfer.
Allan picked a few teams with the highest bids and accepted their applications. As for Žigić himself, he had no special views on the transfer. He was not the kind of loyal subject who would pledge his life to the Forest team. If the other party could offer better conditions than what he had at Nottingham Forest, he would naturally not refuse. At the same time, Mitchell, who was the same height as him, was suddenly transferred to the First Team. He was also very clear that the boss did not have the intention to keep him, so there was no point in continuing to stay.
The three clubs that Allan Adams accepted bids were Newcastle of the English Premier League, Hamburg of the Bundesliga and Villarreal of La Liga. All three clubs have offered a price of 10 million pounds. It was no wonder that Allan came to Twain. It was indeed very attractive to be able to offer 10 million pounds at this time.
The negotiations went smoothly, and in the end, Žigić chose to go to Villarreal of La Liga. This team offered the best individual treatment, and at the same time, they had the strength to compete for the Champions League every year.
Three days later, Nottingham Forest and Villarreal officially announced the completion of the transfer at the same time. Žigić had transferred to Yellow Submarine for 10 million pounds. Originally, Twain bought Žigić for 10 million euros. Now that it had become pounds, it was equivalent to 10.8 million euros. In today's economic environment, a small profit was already very good.
At least it showed that Twain's vision was good. He did not lose money when he bought the player.
After Žigić left, his number 9 jersey was left behind, and Twain gave it to Mitchell.
When he handed over the jersey, he still said sternly with a straight face, "The number doesn't mean anything. The number 9 is also not a symbol of the main force."
Mitchell was already used to the boss's tone and attitude. He nodded and said, "I know, boss. I'll work hard. "
Twain grinned, but it was just a smile.
※ ※ ※
Žigić left. He had scored a total of 21 goals and had 25 assists for the team in two and a half seasons at Nottingham Forest. This result was not bad. However, his two seasons at the Forest team were the darkest two seasons for the team. There was no championship, no glory. He came empty-handed and left empty-handed.
In the hearts of the Nottingham Forest fans, Žigić's position was absolutely incomparable to that of strikers such as van Nistelrooy and Eastwood. He didn't even leave behind any classic moments that were worth reminiscing about. He left just like that.
Not long after Žigić's transfer was settled, Bostock also accepted a loan deal from Fulham. In the contract, Tang En specifically stipulated one condition: when Fulham and Nottingham Forest played, Bostock was not allowed to play.
This clause in the contract was not unfamiliar in La Liga, but it was rarely used in the English Premier League. Tang En's actions were somewhat "shameless," but he did not want Forest to be overturned by a player he had groomed. The "tragedy" of Eto 'o against Real Madrid in Mallorca must not happen to Nottingham Forest.
The former Real Madrid player, Pablo Garcia, once talked about this clause, which he called the "shit clause." It was clear how much he hated this clause.
Twain did not care about the reputation of this line. As long as it was useful to him, it was good!
Fulham did not care about this clause either. In any case, from their point of view, there was only half of the season left. This was their only chance to meet Forest. If they were not allowed to play, then so be it.
Bostock, on the other hand, had a small objection. He hoped to fully display his abilities in the match against Forest to attract more attention from Tang En and help him fight for a main position next season.
This was the situation that Tang En was most worried about. He was afraid that the loaned players would come to the match with the mentality of proving themselves to their old employers. They would perform 200% better than usual and become the star players that defeated Forest. So, he had to nip this possibility in the bud.
In the end, Bostock accepted this condition. What else could he do if he did not accept it? He could either accept it or continue to sit on the bench in the team. Sometimes, Tang En was a kind friend. Most of the time, he was an evil demon.
During the winter transfer period, Nottingham Forest sent away two players and did not bring in anyone. Tang En felt that the current lineup was enough to handle all the upcoming matches.
※ ※ ※
On January 16th, Nottingham Forest challenged Everton in an away game. In this match, Tang En showed everyone his new formation for the first time.
Moyes had seriously studied Forest's recent performances before the match. He felt that Tang En would still stick to the offensive strategy. But he did not expect Tang En to change the formation.
All along, no matter how Tang En changed, there were a few things that he would always stick to: First, focus on defense. Second, attack from the flanks. Third, two forwards. Fourth, a defensive midfielder.
4231。 This was the formation used by the Forest team in the game against Everton.
The four defenders were Joe Mattock, Pepe, Woodgate, and Nkoulou. This was normal. But for the first time, he did not set up a defensive midfielder in the midfield!
It was not that George Wood did not play. Wood was not injured or sick. His condition was fine and he was not banned. How could he not play? It was just that his position on the field had changed.
He was no longer a pure defensive midfielder. His and his partner Tiago's positions had both moved forward, from defensive midfielders to central midfielders. This change was not to be underestimated. The responsibilities of a defensive midfielder and a central midfielder were different. A defensive midfielder focused on defense, while a central midfielder was more in charge of connecting defense and offense. They needed to play a bigger role in offense.
Although Forest's coaching staff had been focusing on developing George Wood's offensive abilities since a few seasons ago, his position had always been a defensive midfielder. There were more demands on his defense.
Now that his position had changed, it meant that he could attack freely. Be it for Wood or Forest, this was a rare breakthrough.
In the midfield, he and Tiago were responsible for organizing the offense. At the same time, they shouldered the heavy responsibility of defense. They could be said to be the busiest person in the team.
The "3" in front of them were Cohen, Fernández, and Agbonlahor. Cohen and Agbonlahor were on the left and right flanks, while Fernández was placed in the middle. He could make use of his ability to pass the ball well and shoot long shots. He could complete the final pass for the team's offense and score goals at the same time. Although he was called an attacking midfielder, he was not an organizing midfielder. He was more like a scoring midfielder.
This was also one of the reasons why Tang En used Fernández and not Şahin. Şahin was slightly inferior to Fernández in scoring ability.
It was not surprising for Agbonlahor to play on the right flank because he had played in this position many times at Aston Villa. It was not the first time he played as an attacking right midfielder at Forest.
The striker at the front was Ibišević.
At the same time, Tang En asked the two full backs to actively assist. He changed his previous rule of not allowing the full backs to plug in and assist easily. It was obvious that he was determined to play offensive football at Everton's home ground.
Although the coaching staff often let Wood play in the position of a central midfielder during normal training, it was the first time in actual combat. So, Nottingham Forest's coaching staff had been nervously watching the progress of the game. They wanted to see if the content of the training could be fully utilized in the game.
At first, Wood was not used to it. He always had to run back and become a defensive midfielder. So, Tang En loudly berated him on the sidelines, telling him to return to his position.
He was allowed to retreat. After all, a central midfielder had to take care of defense. But he was not allowed to retreat and not come up.
While Wood was still trying to adapt to his new role, Tiago took on the responsibility of organizing the offense. He used to play in this position and did not need to adapt to it. He could immediately get into the role.
※ ※ ※
At the start of the game, it could be seen that it was the first time the entire Forest team tried out this formation and tactics in a game, because they were all getting used to it.
Moyes did not understand why Tang En would suddenly use a tactical formation in this match that even his own players had yet to fully adapt to. But he would not think about such things that he could not understand. Since Forest had not yet gotten into the rhythm of the game, then I won't hold back!
He directed the team to launch a fierce attack in front of Forest's goal. Finally, in the 17th minute of the game, their genius forward, James Vaughan, displayed his talent outside the penalty area. After receiving a pass from his teammate, he had intended to break into the penalty area, but he was intercepted by Tiago outside. Tiago's tackle did not completely stop Vaughan. He staggered and quickly adjusted his center of gravity. Before Wood could come over to intercept, he suddenly raised his leg and shot a powerful volley! The football flew past Akinfeev's fingers like a cannonball and rushed into the goal!
"A world-class shot!" The commentator roared excitedly, "When Wayne Rooney was still at Everton, he once scored an almost identical goal in a game against Arsenal! Vaughan's performance has long made the Everton fans forget about Rooney. As Everton's main striker, he has scored 11 goals so far this season! His future is limitless! "
This goal ignited the atmosphere at Goodison Park. The Everton fans set off a blue wave in the stands, as if a storm had descended on the sea.
Tang En was a little depressed. This was the difference between a genius player and an ordinary player. An ordinary player could only raise his hands and surrender when faced with Tiago and Wood's combined interception. On the other hand, a genius could seize the fleeting opportunity and shoot the ball into the goal through the gaps between the players.
This was definitely not his fault as a manager.
Now that the team was falling behind, should they switch back to the 4-4-2 formation they were most used to? With Forest's current personnel allocation, it was not impossible to switch to a 4-4-2 formation. Agbonlahor could be the striker, and Cohen could play on the right flank.
But Tang En firmly said "No!"
They had to persevere in the 4-4-2 formation. He firmly believed that once the adaptation period was over, it would be Everton's turn to be unlucky!
The power of the 4-4-2 formation had undoubtedly been demonstrated in training. It was just a matter of how to successfully unleash this power in actual combat.
The key was George Wood. If he could not get into his role, it would affect the performance of the entire team.
Tang En believed that Wood's football intelligence would not be that bad. After all, he was someone that Albertini thought highly of. Who was Albertini? The midfield commander was famous for his football intelligence!
After struggling on the field for 20 minutes, George Wood finally gradually adapted to his new position. But he had his own understanding — he did not fix himself in the position of a central midfielder. He was more flexible, similar to the traditional "Box to Box" players in England. He could perform outstandingly and actively on both the defensive and offensive ends.
Such a player had a wide range of activities and a higher demand on his stamina. But stamina happened to be Wood's forte. He did not have to worry that sprinting back and forth would cause him to run out of stamina in the latter half of the match. This was just right.
Tang En laughed when he saw this scene off the field. Although it was different from what he had arranged, it was better this way.
Let him find the most suitable method for himself to play in the match. Who knows, he might do even better than all of us think.
Wood began his performance of sprinting from one penalty area to another.
He intercepted Everton's attacks and organized Forest's attacks. He constantly appeared where he was needed. He was full of energy and looked like Superman.
"George Wood has tackled Vaughan's dribbling! Is that a foul? No, it's a clean and neat tackle! "
"George Wood's through ball. What a beautiful sight! It penetrated Everton's defense! Unfortunately, no one could receive it — he used too much force … "
"He tried a long shot, but it went over the crossbar!"
"Oh oh oh oh — George Wood! He's stifled Everton's counterattack once again! "
…
Nottingham Forest's tactics were formulated with the two central midfielders in the midfield as the core. The two central midfielders were, of course, George Wood. If Wood survived, the entire team would survive.
In the 40th minute of the first half, Wood intercepted Tim Cahill's ball in the midfield and passed it to Tiago. Tiago then distributed it to Cohen on the flank.
Cohen passed the ball from the flank. Everton's goalkeeper, Tim Howard, made a misjudgment and did not touch the ball, allowing the ball to pass over his head.
How could Ibišević let go of such a good opportunity? He shook off Joseph Jabot, who was defending against him, and jumped up to head the ball into the empty net!
This was the advantage of having two central midfielders. They could intercept on the spot and immediately launch a counterattack. There was no delay, and they would not give the opponent a chance to intercept in the midfield.
※ ※ ※
During the halftime interval, Tang En affirmed his players' performance in the second half of the first half. He told them to continue playing the same way in the second half. Everton simply could not withstand Forest's all-out attack.
Sure enough, after Everton resisted for a while in the second half, the situation on the field was completely controlled by Nottingham Forest. The five midfielders were not just for show. The specialty of this tactic was to control the midfield and stifle the opponent's counterattack in the opponent's half of the field. At the same time, they pressured their defensive line and pressed forward step by step, striving to gain the upper hand on the field and turn the advantage into a victory.
Twain had also deliberately used Everton as a guinea pig. He was afraid of accidents happening to opponents that were too strong, and opponents that were not strong enough did not have the qualifications to be test subjects. Therefore, Everton, a team that was in the middle, had a stable performance, and had the qualifications to fight for the Champions League, became the best choice.
Poor Moyes …
In the 80th minute of the match, Nottingham Forest's situation of pressuring Everton in the second half finally came to an end.
This time, it was Fernández who pulled the ball and opened up a gap. Tiago directly passed the ball and Ibišević successfully scored his 14th goal of the season against an offside position. His total goal tally had reached 16.
There were still four goals left to win the bet. For Ibišević, this was no problem at all.
In the end, Nottingham Forest relied on Ibišević's two goals to win the away game against Everton. But in reality, the real reason for their victory was Tang En's "Christmas Tree." The well-known Christmas Tree formation was AC Milan's 4321. But Tang En's 4231 also looked like a Christmas tree. So, Tang En simply called it "my own Christmas Tree," "one of a kind" and "the only one in the world." "The other 4231's are not called Christmas Tree formations. Only my 4231 is a Christmas tree."
The game's statistics explained the reason for Everton's loss — Nottingham Forest's possession rate was 50%, their passing success rate was 79%, and their steals success rate was as high as 89%. They shot 14 times, and 10 of them hit the target. In comparison, Everton only shot six times, and three of them hit the target. They were completely at a disadvantage.
In the post-match press conference, Moyes helplessly admitted this reality. "They had complete control of the situation. They deserved to win …"
Tang En was very pleased. "I'm very happy to see this scene. We won without any suspense."
A reporter asked him why he uncharacteristically gave up on the 4-4-2 that he had used for a few seasons.
Tang En spread out his hands. "Why? Don't tell me the 2: 1 score and three points still can't answer your questions? "
"But isn't your style of football defensive, counterattacking, and 4-4-2?"
"That's what you think. My style is the same after — victory. Only winning and becoming champions are my style of football. Everything else is just a means to serve this result. As long as I can win and become champions, I don't care if it's defensive, counterattacking, or going all out. I don't care if it's a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-1. "Tang En threw out his unscrupulous theory with a smile.
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