The locker room was a little noisy. Everyone was talking about the first half of the game, expressing their own views, or suggesting what other teammates could do better. Only Fernández sat in his seat, playing with the towel in his hands with his head down, as if he had returned to his unsociable self when he first joined the team.
He was still regretting that he had missed the Egg Cutter in the first half.
All the players came in, and Tang En was the last to enter the locker room. The door closed behind him, and the noise outside disappeared in an instant.
Hearing the sudden silence in the locker room, Fernández knew who had come, so he buried his head lower. After more than half a season of getting along, he had already figured out the boss's temper. The team had a chance to end the first half with the lead, but because of his own mistake, they had to accept the result of a draw. The king of Nottingham Forest would be very, very dissatisfied, and a storm of scolding would not be able to escape.
As a player, Fernández was not a person who liked to talk back to the manager, so he could only choose to silently bear the reprimand.
After Tang En entered the room, the expression on his face told the others — he was about to scold someone.
His gaze swept around the locker room and finally fell on the boy who kept his head down and fiddled with the towel in his hands.
In fact, when Fernández missed the football, he only felt it was a pity. But when he saw that Fernández did not choose to continue to run to make up the shot, but instead stood in place in annoyance, an inexplicable anger rose in his heart.
I can allow you to have poor shooting or bad luck, but I don't want to see you like a drowning dog.
Therefore, he admired Ibišević's actions afterward — rushing up to roar at Fernández, who kept his head down and did not speak, fully expressing his dissatisfaction.
Tang En did not think this kind of behavior would affect the harmony of the team. On the contrary, he felt that if everyone in the team was like Ibišević, the atmosphere in the locker room would not be more harmonious.
What I need is a team that is eager to pursue victory, not a team that sacrifices some of the most precious things for the sake of harmony.
Tang En walked straight to Fernández and stopped in front of him, shrouding him in his shadow.
"Matías. You look upset. What are you upset about? " He was not afraid that Fernández would not understand. He had been in England for more than half a year. Although his English was not fluent, he had no problem understanding.
Fernández lowered his head and replied in simple English, "That ball … didn't go in …"
"Just that?"
Fernández did not know what the boss was talking about. That was the only chance he had to be upset about in the first half. For the rest of the time, his performance was average and he did not make any mistakes.
"Actually, I don't care if the ball went in or not." Twain shook his head. "I really don't care. After all, we have an away goal now."
As his voice rang out in the locker room, everyone's attention turned to him and Fernández.
"Your performance has disappointed me, Matthias." Twain stood and Fernández sat. He did not lean over to say these things to Fernández. Instead, he straightened his back and looked down at him. "I don't care if you score or not. What I care about is the attitude you showed … Look at what you did after you missed your first shot. Stay where you are! Hands over head! Were you attacked by terrorists?! "
Twain suddenly raised his voice. Despite being mentally prepared, everyone in the locker room could not help but feel their hearts skip a beat. It was like a car driving on a bumpy mountain road. With a bang, the people in the car hit their heads.
Twain gritted his teeth and stared at Fernández. His eyes could even spit fire.
"As long as the ball is not out of bounds, you have to rush up and shoot! Even if you kick the ball into outer space, I won't have any complaints. If the other side gets the ball first, you have to kick him and the ball into outer space! "
Being scolded by the bad-tempered boss, Fernández lowered his head even more.
Twain could not stand this kind of behavior. He stretched out his hands and yanked Fernández up from his seat. "Raise your head! It's just that you didn't score a goal. What's the big deal? You have to be full of fighting spirit at all times! Fighting spirit! What is fighting spirit? Fighting spirit is not admitting defeat! It's when others say you're trash and you have to rush up and beat them up! Don't f * cking lower your head and keep quiet!! "
Dunn was a little worried about Twain's heart. He coughed at the side. He did not expect Twain to turn around and glare at him. "Do you have a cold, Dunn?"
"Uh … No." Dunn knew it was better for him not to speak at this time.
"I … I'm sorry, boss …" Fernández hurriedly apologized.
"Don't f * cking give me that! Why are you apologizing to me? Fighting spirit is not kneeling down and begging for mercy when others scold you! What should you do? What should you do? "
Although Fernández did not stay at Nottingham Forest for long, he more or less understood what he had to do. So he raised his head. "I'll try to make up for this mistake in the second half, boss."
Twain let go of Fernández's shoulder and even patted him. His face was like the weather in June, instantly changing from gloomy to sunny. "Very good. Looks like you understand. "
Although Twain was merciless when he scolded people, from another perspective, if you did not treat it as a "scolding," perhaps you would not feel so bad. He was actually reasoning with you, but his tone was more intense, his actions more exaggerated, his emotions more rich, and his methods more extreme.
After "reasoning" with Fernández, Twain turned around to look at the others in the locker room.
"Overall, you guys did a good job in the first half. We scored an away goal. As for the goal we conceded … "He glanced at George Wood. "It's not the fault of any of you." He noticed the muscles on Wood's face twitch, and he was secretly happy.
"But we need to make some adjustments. It looks like Quaresma is in good form today. If Mourinho is a smart man, he will definitely make full use of it in the second half. We need to pay attention to marking him. George, I remember you were on the right, right? "
Wood nodded. "Yes."
With two defensive midfielders, Wood leaned to the right and Tiago to the left.
"In the second half, you and Tiago will switch positions. Come to the left. When defending, help Baines and Fernández to restrict Quaresma to the side. "
This was the sentence that Wood wanted to hear the most. His voice was even a little loud when he answered, "Alright!"
Twain certainly knew what Wood was thinking, so he added, "Try not to foul, and absolutely don't get a card."
Although Wood rarely got those meaningless cards now, Tang En still had to give him a special reminder. Making Wood full of fighting spirit to mark Quaresma was a double-edged sword. If he was not careful, he could accidentally cut his own fingers. That would not be worth it.
"Guys, Inter Milan wants to play our defensive counterattack, so you guys need to pay more attention to defense in the second half than you did in the first half. We will defend first when we come up, and slowly grind with Inter Milan in the midfield. The situation is in our favor. As long as they don't score a goal, they will become more impatient as the game goes on. At that time, they will be thrown aside by Mourinho's tactics. That will be our chance. "
Pepe stood up and asked, "Boss, are you saying that we will play defensive counterattack in the second half?"
Twain snapped his fingers. "That's right!"
※ ※ ※
While Twain was "reasoning" with Fernández in the locker room, Mourinho was busy talking to his players about the tactical adjustments for the second half.
Although the 1: 1 score in the first half contained a certain element of coincidence, it was also very clear. Mourinho had discovered one thing: if they still looked at Tony Twain and his Nottingham Forest with the same old standards, then Inter Milan might suffer a big loss in this game.
What was the old standard? It was referring to Tony Twain. Both he and his team were not good at positional warfare. When the opponent stubbornly defended and counterattacked to deal with Forest, Tony Twain and his players were at their wits' end. They could only rely on some set pieces and luck to win the game. At the very least, this habit had not improved before Mourinho left England.
But looking at the first half, the current Nottingham Forest no longer had the problem of not being good at positional warfare. Twain's somewhat special "Christmas tree" was the best choice for positional warfare. In a positional warfare, the first attack was often not important. What was important was the second attack, the third attack … In this aspect, Nottingham Forest's current midfield could do it more easily. When the midfield was thick, the offense would have layers. When defending, there would also be depth. They would not be hit by the opponent's counterattack after one attack, nor would they be broken through by the opponent after a small breakthrough. Looking at how they surrounded Inter Milan's half of the field, they really had the demeanor of a strong team …
If Forest continued to play like this in the second half, Mourinho could not guarantee that Inter Milan would not be able to hold on, so he had to make changes. He guessed that Twain would not persist in the tactics of pressuring Inter Milan in the second half. Thinking about it from another perspective, if he were in Twain's current situation, he would also give up on besieging Inter Milan. That would leave too much space behind him, allowing the opponent to easily counterattack.
"… Nottingham Forest's offense in the second half shouldn't be as fierce as the first, so it's our turn to attack. Also, pay attention to our own back. You all saw how sharp their counterattack was, right? You'll see it often in the second half. "
"Pay attention to their two flanks and pay attention to their quick counterattacks. We also have to strengthen the offense on the flanks and use our offense to suppress their offense. "Having said that, he glanced at Quaresma.
The Portuguese had a satisfied smile on his face as he listened to the manager's arrangements.
Could one game change a player's fate? Mourinho felt that such a thing was not very reliable, but he did need to borrow Quaresma's strength in this game.
He said to pay attention to the offense on the flanks, and Quaresma was also one of the two flanks. The implication was clear.
Quaresma was clearly excited by the manager's intentions. He had been a marginal figure in Inter Milan for a few seasons. He had superb footwork but could not use it to conquer the manager, which disappointed him. Now, this Champions League round of 16 against Nottingham Forest might be a good opportunity. Mancini Jr.'s absence due to his injury might be God's arrangement. As long as he maintained this form and momentum, even if the Brazilian recovered in the future, he could only play as a substitute for him.
Such a future excited Quaresma, and he could not wait for the second half to start soon.
But Mourinho also made his own request to Quaresma, "Ricardo, don't limit your position to the flanks. I know you like the feeling of dribbling the ball on the flanks. But you have to be more flexible in this game. Both flanks and the middle are fine. "
Quaresma nodded to show that he understood. Only a fool would shake his head and object.
After speaking to Quaresma, Mourinho began to look at everyone. "The focus of this game is to strive for goals under the premise that we do not continue to concede goals. You have to remember, a score of 1: 1 is absolutely not good, nor 2: 2 or 3: 3! We have to win, and we can't let them score again. Otherwise, our home advantage is meaningless! Tony Twain and his Nottingham Forest want revenge. No matter what he thinks, no matter what others say, the current situation is not good for us. We are on the edge of the cliff. If we are not careful, we will slip and fall. Be careful! "
Mourinho's last words were tantamount to a tactful admission of his previous mistake. He once said to the players not to care about whether this was a revenge game for Nottingham Forest and to play as a normal game. But now he found that it was simply impossible. If it was really treated as a normal game, then his team was bound to lose. Because the game had long been dragged into Tony Twain's orbit from the beginning of the war of words before the game.
Tony Twain seemed to have a kind of magic that could make people he came into contact with go crazy with him.
Now, Mourinho could only go crazy with him and let the players realize that this game was different from those ordinary games in the past. Why was it different? It was not because they had exploded their heads two seasons ago. That was simply an excuse and cover used by Twain to play psychological warfare. The reason was very simple.
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